Logistics engineering curriculum integrated through student projects

This paper describes an innovative curriculum developed for new Logistics Engineering degree programs at the Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology. The core of the program is based on a sequence of four major courses, which focus on the Product Development, Process Analysis and Optimization, Logistic Processes and Service Engineering. Each course is built around a practical team project. With the project effort as the background, the courses introduce students to key issues in global engineering competence, including collaboration and teamwork, work organization and management, engineering ethics, cross-cultural communication, critical thinking and problem solving, and integration strategies for design, manufacturing and marketing. Projects also introduce entrepreneurial components, as the teams have to develop their concepts in the context of a start-up company. The first course in the series, introduces 2nd year students to basic concepts of consumer product development. It covers the principles of design and innovation process, and also explains essential design tools, such as Quality Function Deployment and Pugh Matrices. It also reviews key manufacturing methods and systems. Students work in small teams to develop their own product ideas from initial concepts to a business plan for a start-up. The course is offered in English. The second course, offered to 3rd year students, introduces fundamental concepts related to industrial process analysis and improvement. Students learn necessary data collection and analysis techniques (such as, for example, Value Stream Mapping) and also the basics of process simulation using a commercial software package. Student teams work with industrial sponsors and develop competing innovative ideas for process transformation and improvement. While the first two courses have already been offered for the first time in the past year in the engineering program (level 1), the third course is still in the planning phase. It will be offered to 4th year students in the first year of their master\u27s program. It will focus on Supply Chain processes, assessment of their performance, lifecycle analysis and management. The student group project will be carried out in an industrial setting, dealing with real-life assignments. The final course, integrating knowledge acquired by the students in the preceding sequence, is focused on the issues of service engineering. It covers such topics as, for example, organizational design, global issues and design of service operations

Analysis, Modeling and Imporvement of Stamped Parts Quality Using Generalized Linear Models

This paper presents an approach used for improving the visual quality of body panels produced in an automated press shop of a car manufacturer. To solve the complexproblem of panels’ visual defects,the optimal values of process parameters based on Generalized Linear Models (GLZ) were identified and deployed. The project focused on parts exhibiting excessive rejection rates. To deal effectively with the case in which the distribution function representing the number of defects in the panels was found to be binomial with presence of some covariates in the model, the research approach focused on development of Log it Models. After identifying the potential causes of defects and selecting the most significant process factors from typical factor sets varying from 20 to 40 for each part, the levels of factors, number of replications and appropriate methods for running the experiments regarding to practical limitations and shop floor scheduling were established. Finally, the optimal values for process variables minimizing number of defects and used effectively to set up action plans for improving the panels’ quality were identified.Implementing the plans, the process capability was increased by 0.25 for those non-satisfactory parts and production costs fell between 3-7% among them

Concurrent Manufacturing System Optimization for Two-Product Operation

Product/process design and optimization are typically aimed at a single product for a single customer. Such approach, however, often leads to underutilization of available production capacity. It is therefore reasonable for the manufacturer to make an effort to minimize available excess capacity to improve overall facility performance. Excess capacity can be allocated to the production of another product/process design, which can be also independently optimized. However, exploring possible synergies between the two products/processes may bring higher benefits. This paper presents a case where a manufacturing process (plastic blow moulding) was shared among two different products for two different customers, each with a different set of needs. These customer needs were mapped into core value-creating processes, recognizing both the differences in their requirements as well as the similarities in their expectations. Conflicting differences in complexity, production volumes and quality requirements were reconciled using QFD_based approach, and led to improved customer satisfaction and cost performance

Linking Supply Chain Strategy and Processes to Performance Improvement

AbstractThis paper proposes a model that will assist companies, particularly the small and medium-sized enterprises, assess their performance by prioritizing supply chain processes and selecting an adequate strategy under various market scenarios. The outlined model utilizes and integrates the SCOR framework standard processes and AHP approach to construct, link, and assess a four level hierarchal structure. The model also helps SMEs put more emphasis on supply chain operations and management. The use and benefits of the proposed model are illustrated on a case of a family owned, medium-sized manufacturing company

Games, Planes and Other Useful Distractions:Teaching Online Diverse International Students

The global pandemic triggered a rapid shift to online delivery of courses, and necessitated a re-evaluation of which in-class, active learning activities can be effectively migrated to the online environment without losing their original pedagogical purpose. In particular, team-based interactions or interactions involving physical objects posed a set of instructional design challenges online. Context of this presentation are online teaching experiences from a large, second-year engineering class with a culturally diversified student body. A key part are weekly studio sessions, which focus on a set of hands-on exercises, providing students with opportunities to bridge general concepts/theories and their practical applications in the context of each team-based project. It describes a ground-roots approach of faculty incorporating learning activities that help students develop teamwork, collaboration, communication, etc. skills. Additional aims are also to help students to lower cultural anxieties, develop interpersonal connections, and a sense of belonging

Mnemotopika polskich protestantów

opoi of memory of Polish protestants The article describes so-called mnemotopoi of Polish Protestants’ image of the past  included in the language conceptualized into repeating forms. The term is related to E.R. Curtis and his concept of common places (loci  communes).The conducted analysis allowed to distinguish between three forms of commemorating topic (or simply topoi). First of them has initial character and is connected with Biblical traditions, strong awareness of German roots of Reformation and with relationships with German cultural circle. Second of them is the topic of threat and harm, including also the topos of besieged fortress. The third is the topic of choice (e.g. the topic of salt of the earth) – cultural and religious superiority of Protestant countries saved in their historical memory. According to Evangelicals, the religious superiority means eliminating magic from religion

Neopogaństwo w Polsce a duchowość New Age

"Nowe ruchy religijne (dalej NRR) to wg Eileen Barker takie, które podzielają „religijny lub filozoficzny światopogląd albo twierdzą, że dysponują środkami, które pozwalają osiągnąć pewne wyższe cele, takie jak transcendentna wiedza, duchowe oświecenie, samorealizacja czy «prawdziwy» rozwój wewnętrzny"1 • Ta ogólna definicja obejmuje ruchy, które narodziły się w latach 60. XX w. (a przynajmniej po II wojnie światowej). W innych ujęciach tego zjawiska obejmuje ono wszelkie grupy, które po prostu są nowe, czyli obejmuje okres dwu pierwszych pokoleń wyznawców."(...

Czy miesięcznice smoleńskie były uroczystościami religijnymi? Prawo a polska kultura religijna

Na przykładzie konfliktów wokół Miesięcznic Smoleńskich z 2017 r. Autor omawia problem uwzględniania w sprawach toczonych z art. 196 Kodeksu karnego (dot. obrazy uczuć religijnych) tradycji polskiej kultury religijnej. Stosując jako analogię zasadę „obrony z kultury” (cultural defense) Autor przywołuje historyczne korzenie polskiej tradycyjnej religijności, której główne cechy ukształtowały się w dobie baroku (sarmatyzmu). Jedną z najważniejszych cech tej religijności jest ścisłe połączenie sfery religii i polityki. Brak państwowości w okresie zaborów i PRL wzmocnił, podobnie jak w kulturze diasporalnego judaizmu, związek między religią i pozareligijnymi dziedzinami życia. Autor sugeruje rozważenie czynnika kulturowego podczas analizowania spraw o obrazę uczuć religijnych, które współcześnie rodzą się z powodu kurczenia się dominującego charakteru tego typu kultury. Zderzenie się jej z liberalnym i lewicowym dziedzictwem oświecenia (które determinuje współczesną kulturę prawną Polski) doprowadza do licznych konfliktów, które polegają na narastaniu różnic w zakresie wrażliwości symbolicznej i postrzegania fundamentów aksjologicznych Państwa. Różnice te ilustruje Preambuła do obecnej Konstytucji