Past and Future Practical Solutions for Torsional Vibration Damping in Vehicle Industry

In addition to material and production costs, consumption and emission limits, the requirements for performance, efficiency and space utilization must be met when it comes to the design of today's internal combustion engines for the automotive industry. As a result, three new design trends have been emerged (based on J. Pfleghaar and B. Lohmann's paper in 2013): 1. downsizing: reduction of engine size (number of pistons and stroke) for fuel and space-saving and CO2 emission reduction purposes, 2. downspeeding: reduction of engine speed to save fuel, which necessarily entails significantly higher torques being generated and transmitted in the engine, 3. turbo supercharging: increasing the pressure and compression ratio in the engine piston cylinder to cover the increased torque demand, which is accompanied by NOx gas emissions. Due to these new design trends, significant transverse, axial, and torsional oscillations can occur on the engine's crankshaft. To avoid power loss and fatigue due to the torsional oscillations, a torsional vibration damper is advised to be installed on the free end of the crankshaft or integrated into the flywheel. This review paper focuses on the possible reasons for torsional vibrations, the applied methods used to dampen them, and expected future trends

Importance of Value Analysis in Domestic and International Outlook

The value analysis is a well-known and widely used multi-criteria group decision-making procedure that not only looks for the cheapest, or not only the better, but also satisfies the desired and necessary needs at the lowest cost. Covering all important details of the project (product, service, procedure, process), the so-called multidisciplinary team of internal and/or external experts works together with the consultant. Value analysis identifies project functions and focuses on the most impactful intervention points. It then explores alternative solutions and creates optimal solutions for functions to cost-effectively satisfy and/or increase performance. Value analysis is now used by almost every large company in the world and is widespread in all industries. According to expert estimates, around 50,000 value analysis projects are carried out in Europe every year. Based on the provisions of the EN 12.973:2000 Value Management Standard in Hungary, the Public Procurement Act recommends the contracting authority require the tenderer to apply the method. This review paper reviews the process of the formation and development of value analysis, its fields of application in international comparison, the main methodological frameworks, its current challenges, and new opportunities

Cloud Computing Solutions for Speeding-up the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME's) Businesses in China

China has experienced rapid digitalization in the last decade. Cloud computing makes possible for different users to access data resources from any geographical location through the Internet. This new paradigm has the ability to benefit businesses by offering low-cost, flexible, and customizable solutions that provide companies significant competitive advantages in the strongly competitive business environment on long-term timescale. It can be essential for all business, but it is especially indispensable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) to make prosperity in today’s accelerating social, economic and technological changes. In recent years, the SME’s have allocated more budget to invest in implementing digitization and data-based decision making processes as they have become more aware of the importance of technological development and managing information on boosting their competitiveness in values creation activities. However, they are restricted by the size of the business. Transformation of information construction and digitization process is still in its infant stage as a consequence of a shortage in experts and available resources. This situation has gradually changed with the advent of cloud computing technology. By leveraging cloud computing technology, SME’s could completely support the digital transformation process in an efficient and effective manner. Nevertheless, for those business organisations who make efforts for application of any cloud computing solution in their business processes, they have to face with some serious emerging questions. Whether the business deployed on the cloud provided by service providers has sufficient system robustness, and whether the data stored in the cloud has sufficient security. This review paper is aiming to provide comprehensive, relevant landscape about the different cloud computing solutions (Infrastructre as a Service -IaaS) Platform as a Service -PaaS; Software as a Service -SaaS) and services models (public, private and hybrid cloud). Besides that this study focuses on which cloud service model should SME’s choose and how Chinese SME businesses should take into account their own informational structure in the age of digital transformation improving businesses performance while minimizing operational expenses and risks at the same time

Challenges of the Innovative Chinese Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME's) in the Last Decade

China managed to built-up a working market economy transforming itself into dominant player on global scale and put more emphasize on innovation-driven growth. In the course of this unprecedented process, Chinese Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) have established in huge numbers and become the most dynamic actors in the market economy. They have significant role in the domestic economy in profit creation, employment absorption, taking into practice different types of innovations largely contributing to the social stability and raising of well-being of the local communities. Furthermore, internationalization has also become important factor for the continuously developing SMEs in China. Beyond the observed negative tendencies- significant shrinkages of the SME’s profits - can be many different reasons. The central government has tendency to prioritizing the large size state enterprises in certain industrial and service sectors, the insufficient size and frequency of the strategic innovations largely due to the lack of know-how, information, skills, competencies, attitude, network-based co-operations and experience of domestic and international markets. These also pointed out the relevance on the strategic innovation and how to impact on the product and process innovation on the SME’s technologies, business models, reshaping the corporate cultures and values as well to stop and reverse his negative trends. It means a defined product strategy, adequate financial and human resources, New Product Development (NPD) R&D resources, high quality project teams, senior management commitment, innovative environment and culture. Crossfunctional teams and top management should responsible for the implementation. This review paper is aiming to give a comprehensive landscape about the current situation of and the special features of the Chinese SME sector and the obstacles that can hindering or slow down their successful innovation processes. These challenges are particularly difficult for SMEs with smaller scale and weaker risk tolerance. Chinese domestic firms have comparative advantages, such as cheap labour resources, better knowledge about Chinese local market comparing to foreign MNEs from developed countries. Facing strong competition both from large-sized State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and foreign Multinacional Enterprises (MNEs), Chinese SMEs should pay more attentions to indigenous innovation by taking advantage of Chinese huge domestic market

Lessons Learnt from the Past Economic Growth Patterns and Regional Disparities in Central and Eastern European Countries

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have undergone exceptional economic boom over the past two decades maintaining sustainable growth. The economic environment determines that in these countries GDP grew more rapidly compared to the core EU states implementing their continuous convergence, although some cyclical slowdown will be observed. Nevertheless, due to the rapidly changing, globalising business environment and the emerging unprecedented challenges linked to the constantly raising ratio of high added value content knowledge-based products and services, digitization era including many disruptive technological solutions, the shortcomings of the global supply and vendor chains, lack of materials and components in many industrial sector, the negative social and economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic besides the unpredictable other events (e.g. outbroken war between Russian and Ukraine), the CEE countries have been forcing to restructuring their economies. This economic transformation process means making significant shift from the previous export-oriented, foreign capital inflow (FDI) attractive exogenous factors driven economic growth toward the endogenous, innovation and knowledge-based economy driven development to speed-up their catching up processes to the developed core EU member states changing the middle-income trap phenomenon. It means that due to raising of the labour workforce incomes the CEE countries cannot compete anymore with their exogenous, FDI attraction-oriented driven economic development model but they are weak yet for the time being to producing innovation-based, high added value content products and cutting-edge technologies improving their national economical competitive positions integrating on higher level in the global value chains. In order to overcome these difficulties and find the best, adequate solutions for the next time period 2021-2027, it is definitely need to analyse the past decade economic growth patterns and regional disparities of CEE countries. Despite all of them have to face the almost the same future challenges but their past economic structure have had different characteristics and reached the economic growth on different pathways due to their historical, social and economic background. The aim of this paper is to reveal the past economic growth patterns, development dynamics and the regional disparities in the CEE region and the possible reasons beyond that via comprehensive benchmark analysis

Human Elements of Chineese-Style Innovation beyond the Knowledge-Based Economic Transformation

China has been building globally one of the most powerful knowledge and innovation-based economies. The country’s main strategic goals were becoming a superpower with efficient economy that was able to minimise the object poverty and transform the country into upper-mid class income, economicaly developed region. According to the traditional Chineese maxim: “strong nation is a rich nation”, that used to be regarded as a tool holding the leading position around the world. The investments, realised by the private companies were encouraged in many cases by governmental initiatives as well. China has continually transformed the elements of its innovation strategy and refined them in the global direction of innovation. Despite of the growing literature on Chinese innovation, consensus as to a unique model of Chinese innovation management has yet to emerge. In this context, one of the most crucial but less discussed aspect can be the engagement of the well-educatated, experienced high quality labor work force in China. During the last decades you can observe a significant shifting toward the previous, cheap and huge amount labor workforce corporate attitude toward attracting and managing talents, providing Chineese manner “tailor made” onboarding and personal and professional development of the adequately recruited and selected labor workforce, eliminating the labor turnover but on different way compared to the Western countries methods. This review paper is aiming to reveal the specific features of Chineese-style Human Resource Management (HRM) practice linked with the Chineese traditions and cultural values

A tudásalapú társadalom és gazdaság kutatás-fejlesztési és innovációs súlypontjai Magyarországon

A kiélezett globalizációs verseny olyan kihívásokat jelent, amelyekkel a világ valamennyi, a tudásvezérelt gazdaság kiépítésében érdekelt országának szembe kell néznie. A magyar gazdaságnak és társadalomnak a tudáson és az innováción alapuló, új minőségű fejlődési pályára kell lépnie. Nemzetközi összehasonlításban Magyarország innovációs teljesítménye alapján az EU-tagországok középmezőnyében foglal helyet, a felzárkózó országok között. Magyarországon 2003-ban megkezdődött az innovációs rendszer átfogó reformja. A jelenleg társadalmi egyeztetés alatt levő középtávú kormányzati kutatás-fejlesztési és innovációs stratégia a magyar gazdaság versenyképességének növelését szolgálja. A nemzeti innovációs rendszer elemei területileg egyenlőtlenül fejlettek, ezért a jövőben kiemelt figyelmet kell fordítani a régiók innovációs képességének növelésére

A COVID-19 járvány hatásai Komárom-Esztergom megye gazdaságára néhány autóipari vállalat 2020. évi esettanulmányos vizsgálatán keresztül

Komárom-Esztergom megye (KEM) egyik húzóágazata az autóipar, amely szerkezeti átalakulás előtt áll. Ennek hátterében az alternatív elektromos hajtások előtérbe kerülése, a demográfiai folyamatok miatti munkaerőhiány, valamint a „COVID-19” okozta válsághelyzet termelésre, keresletre, beruházásokra gyakorolt kedvezőtlen gazdasági hatások miatt az Ipar 4.0. folyamathoz köthető automatizációs, robotizációs, digitalizációs, mesterséges intelligencia alkalmazásával kapcsolatos globális trendek állnak. A koronavírustól függetlenül elindult egy alkalmazkodási folyamat megyei cégek körében, újra pozícionálva termelésüket, újra gondolva a munkaerő-kapacitást, a termelési láncstruktúrát, a készletezési politikát. Ez hozzájárult ahhoz, hogy nagyobb megrázkódtatások nélkül tudták megoldani a COVID-19 járvány negatív hatásait jelentő kihívásokat. Jelen esettanulmány áttekinti néhány kiválasztott autóipari vállalat (a végtermék gyártó cég - OEM, az első körös beszállító cégek -TIER1, valamint helyi, magyar tulajdonú kis-és középvállalat) példáján keresztül, hogy milyen megoldásokkal sikerült a cégeknek úrrá lenni a járvány okozta nehézségeken. A koronavírus által előidézett gazdasági recesszió miatt (reálgazdasági és pénzpiaci bizonytalanságok) „visszalassultak a dolgok”, de a rugalmasság, kreativitás – segített a cégeknek a talpon maradásban. A kreativitást rendszerszinten azonban nem lehet az összeszerelő, bérmunka tevékenységet végző, a gyártási folyamatokat részelemeire bontó és nemzetközileg egységesített, szigorú protokollok szerint működtető multiszegmensbe bevinni. Érdemes lenne az OEM vagy a TIER1 helyett inkább a TIER2 – a kisebb méretű, második körös beszállító cégeket bevonzani a megyébe (ezekről egy részletes listát kellene készíteni). Az innováció az autóiparban nem az OEM vagy a TIER1 itteni egységeinél, hanem ezek második vagy harmadik körös beszállítóinál vannak. Ide lehetne eladni a magyar ötleteket is

Innovation Trends of the Chinese Automotive Companies in 2022

Although China ranks first in global production and sales, there is still a gap between the innovation level of the Chinese automobile industry and its potential automobile power. China has to make more efforts to become global-scale leader in the automotive industry. Automotive industry means an industry with high capital, technology intensive and strong industrial relevance. It can not only promote direct and indirect employment and at the same provide tangible contribution to regional GDP production leading remarkable social and economic impacts. With the rapid development of China's automobile industry, it is bound to take the road of autonomy and internationalization, but the global open market and the competition of automobile giants will inevitably bring great challenges to this sector. International leading Chinese automobile enterprises can dominate the global automobile market but to what extend mainly depends on their continuous innovation ability to obtain technical advantages, and then form a strong core competitiveness combined with their resource advantages, brand influence and first mover advantage. In order to survive in the strong market competition and develop sustainably, Chinese automobile enterprises have also improve their innovation ability. Innovation is a complex system engineering. It is a process to form the final product and meet the market demand through systematic market analysis, preliminary research, product planning, development and design, test and trial production. The different ways of combination and configuration of these elements and their structures constitute different modes of innovation. After half a century of development, China's automobile industry has formed a development path with distinctive Chinese characteristics from introduction to independent innovation. Modern enterprise product innovation is a market-oriented system engineering based on the overall concept of products. From the perspective of a single project, product innovation manifested in the breakthrough and improvement of the quality of a technical and economic parameter of the product, including the development of new products and the improvement of old products complemented by minimizing the costs of production exploiting the existing capacities much better. From the overall investigation, product innovation runs through the whole process of product conception, design, trial production and marketing. It is a three dimensional combined innovation of functional innovation, form innovation and service innovation. In such an external environment, it is particularly important to carefully analyse the problems, advantages and disadvantages of China's automobile industry innovation and choose the correct strategic model, which is the main focal point of this review paper