Coalescing the lean and circular economy

Growing population along with technological advancement to pace the production speed like never before has raised alarming concerns and attracted attention globally. Circular Economy, a fairly new concept has emerged to address such issues by proposing closed loop system in contrast to linear system. While the concept of Circular Economy presents a great potential, there yet remain the challenge for its adaptation in the existing manufacturing sector, especially at SMEs level. Many new techniques, methods and models are being developed, many of which require a complete change in the existing system, which not only have capital requirements but also upskilling labour. For SMEs it is challenging to have such transition due to higher capital and skills requirements. This research explores the possibility to combine the existing concept of Lean with Circular Economy for speedy and easy adaptation of Circular Economy principles within manufacturing sector, especially at SMEs level. A novel conceptually developed framework is proposed to merge the vitality of Lean and Circular Economy.N/

Lean manufacturing adoption in the transport and logistics sector of Thailand - An exploratory study

This paper investigates the adoption status of lean manufacturing (LM) in the transport and logistics sector of Thailand. A survey questionnaire was design, validated and distributed among Thai transport and logistics companies. In total, 120 useable responses were received and analysed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of LM is relatively high, with PDCA, 5S and root cause analysis being the most implemented LM approaches and tools. However, the LM’s implementation was found to be mainly contained within individual departments or improvement projects, rather than being a company’s wide strategy. Main challenges to LM implementation included: organisational structure of companies, misalignment between goals of individuals and their companies, and lack of sustainment of a lean culture. Main benefits were the ability to identify and reduce waste, increased productivity and better organisation of workstations. On the other hand, lack of understanding, knowledge and expertise in LM were the main reasons for not implementing it, plus the use of technology-based tools instead of LM. Non-LM companies showed interest in adopting LM in the future, with JIT, Kaizen and Six Sigma being the most likely to implement. This study is among the very first of its kind. It offers academics, researchers and practitioners interested in LM and/or the transport and logistics sector with some initial evidence of the adoption of LM in this industrial sector of Thailand

Investigating the benefits and challenges of the implementation of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in the aerospace industry

Aerospace companies implement certain quality management and environmental standards, e.g. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 requirements specific to the aerospace industry. The big question is whether the implementation of the ISO standards has provided its hope for returns.The aim of this research is therefore to analyze the benefits and challenges of the implementation of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in the aerospace industry. This study aims to investigate two underlying subjects – quality management and environmental management, and explore how they influence firm performance and how they are implemented in the aerospace industry.Nine participants from different aerospace companies were interviewed. The results suggest that these companies were put under pressure internally and externally by the customers for pursuing the certification. Major factors that affect the implementation include size of company, employee participation, and company commitment.It also discovered that ISO 14001 seems to mainly impact the managers and employees related to environmental work. This study found that the larger the company size, the more sensitive it becomes toward customer pressure on commitment to sustainability

Research Trends in Dry Port Sustainability: A Bibliometric Analysis

This study consolidates research on operational sustainability in dry ports. A total of 232 papers published in the last 23 years (2000–2023) are reviewed to assess the breadth of research perspectives in dry port sustainable operations. Additionally, the findings summarize current research trends, identify flaws in the body of knowledge, and suggest potential research areas. A bibliographic analysis approach is deployed to explore the existing body of knowledge, review the concepts in depth, and narrow the focus on potential research areas. Within this context, a content analysis technique has been utilized to explore and understand the conceptual underpinnings of specific themes, typically involving trending subjects like sustainability, dry ports, inland ports, economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability. Tools such as BibExcel and VOSviewer were utilized to assist in conducting the bibliometric analysis. The majority of dry port research has concentrated on the definition, functions, policy and governance, location analysis, ownership, and dry port-seaport interaction. Less attention is paid to dry port sustainability in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the interaction of internal and external collaboration with dry port sustainability, dry port social sustainability, dry port economic sustainability, dry port environment sustainability, and dry port service quality. Specifically, there has been limited research output on the sustainability of dry ports within the context of landlocked nations. This study will raise awareness of unexplored areas for further research by focusing on critical issues that are not generally covered by scholars in existing literature, such as dry port internal sustainability management and external collaboration

Innovation and growth in family-owned Mexican SMEs

This paper studies the relationship between innovation and the level of growth in family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this is done within the context of Mexico. The conceptual framework of analysis is based on the hypothesis that innovation in products, processes and management systems contribute to the achievement of growth in family-owned SMEs. To test this hypothesis, a model of structural equation of second order was developed with data collected from 206 family-owned SMEs located in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The empirical evidence provided by the analysis supports the hypothesis, showing that family-owned SMEs that increase their innovation activities will also significantly increase their opportunities for growth. This finding can be used to inform the business growth strategies formulated by the owners, or managers, of family-owned SEMs. These also indicate policy-makers that by designing effective policies and providing incentives to support innovation in family-owned SMEs, the government would not only contribute to the growth of these organisations but also to the growth of their regions and countries. Despite the importance of innovation and family-owned SMEs, evidence suggests that studies focused on investigating innovation in this type of organisations are very limited. This paper fills this gap by providing a refined understanding of the relationship between innovation and growth in family-owned SMEs

Measuring operational excellence: an operational excellence profitability (OEP) approach.

The pursuit of operational excellence in the manufacturing industry is at rise, but its measurement still lacks of appropriate indicators to determine its financial benefits. The ambiguity is due to the impact arisen from manufacturing fluctuations such as price and cost, production mix, and direct and indirect parameters variations. Manufacturing fluctuations distort the cost benefit of operational excellence. This paper therefore proposes the OEP (Operational Excellence Profitability) indicators to isolate the impact of manufacturing fluctuation, and distinctly identify the payback of operational excellence strategies and initiatives through cost benefits of achieving higher efficiency and yield. The paper presents the conceptual and mathematical development of the proposed OEP indicators and the formulas used for their calculation. Hypothetical and industrial-based investigations and applications of the OEP indicators are conducted for their validation. The results obtained from the hypothetical exercise and industrial case suggest that OEP indicators can provide an effective cost benefit analysis of operational excellence. This would contribute in providing manufacturing organisations with more complete information regarding the performance of their processes, which will allow their directors and managers to take better decisions related to the management and improvement of their processes.N/

Achieving resilience in the supply chain by applying IoT technology

In the past few decades, competition has increased between organizations as a result of globalization and fast development in IT. Companies these days are continuously looking to expand their market geographically to attract new customers. With that in mind, the main concern of companies is to achieve their customers’ requirements, which makes the supply chain (SC) longer and more complex. This leads to increased difficulty in managing the SC along with controlling risks and disruptions in SC. Such as loss of a critical supplier, a fire accident in the production facility, or an act of terrorism. To deal with these risks, SC must be designed to provide an efficient and effective response, keep its process working and be capable of recovering to their original state after disruptive events, this is considered as the core of supply chain resilience (SCRes). Furthermore, companies that design their SC with capabilities to react quickly to any disruptions in its process have the opportunity to become more stabilized and acquire an improved position in the market. Researchers have been exploring ways to acquire supply chain resilience, such as encouraging and improving collaboration between SC partners or by increasing the organization’s visibility through monitoring SC events and patterns. Studies have shown that IT has a role in improving SCRes, such as information-sharing systems to promote collaboration and visibility tactics. However, recent research trends are exploring new and emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). Despite the growing interest in IoT, minimal research has been carried out for its application in SCRes. Research in this direction is necessary to explore opportunities provided by IoT to redesign SC which in turn reinforces flexibility of supply chains and aspects of analysis of the product quality and how it could enable companies to improve their SCRes. This study is directly focused to identify and highlight this gap.N/

Transport operations optimisation through lean implementation – a case study

Lean has benefited industries, however, the research regarding its implementation in the transportation sector is limited. Therefore, there is huge potential for the implementation of Lean in the transportation sector. With the growing population and production, traffic congestion is no surprise, placing constraints on transport operations. This research utilises two extensions of the Lean tools of Transportation Value Stream Mapping (TVSM) and Transportation Overall Vehicle Effectiveness (TOVE). This research presents a case study of company XYZ based in Thailand, to optimise their transport operations through utilisation of Lean and its extensions mentioned earlier. As a result, the TOVE index is projected to improve from 17% to 31% and TVSM from 51% – 70%. The empirical study presented in this research paves the way for further research and adoption of Lean in transportation operations.N/

Waste slags as sustainable construction materials: a compressive review on physico mechanical properties

Rapid industrialization and urbanization in emerging nations have resulted in the accumulation of various industrial wastes. As a result, reusing and recycling these wastes into an economical, durable, and environmentally friendly building material may be the most effective means of mitigating their environmental impact. Such wastes are being dumped in greater quantities, which pollute the ecosystem and the land. As a result, its efficient use and management are required, which presents a global issue for its viable recycling and safe disposal. The current review examines the use of various slags, including cupola slag, electric arc furnace slag (EAFS), steel furnace slag (SFS), and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) in the development of sustainable construction materials considering the potential of such waste in greener concrete composites towards eco-friendly infrastructure. In order to produce environmentally acceptable construction materials, these waste slags have been used as a partial and full replacement of cement, fine and coarse aggregate with or without supplementary materials ranging from 10 to 60% for cupola slag, 20 to 50% for EAFS, 10 to 50% for GGBFS, and 10 to 30% for SFS are suggested. This review will be an inclusion that helps readers to identify gaps in experimental viability, material characterization, and physico-mechanical behaviour of waste slags, pointing to the potential for application in the production of sustainable building materials