Industrial Transformation Roadmap for Digitalisation and Smart Factories:The Danish SMEs Model

Today only some sections of the supply chain are digitalized, but some companies are also already far with Industry 4.0, where the virtual factory and the physical factory work closely together (digital twin). Industry 4.0, which started in Germany among the large OEMs, seems to have not resonated much with SMEs. There is an imminent challenge of coming up with a feasible transformation roadmap which will resonate effectively and efficiently with SEMs as they are the core backbone of every performing economy. This research investigates Smart Factories/Industry 4.0 in the Danish SMEs model perspective. This research's main objectives are to develop a feasible roadmap in the form of a conceptual framework for easy industrial transformation to the digitalizing and smart way of (doing things) developing products and/or services. This research employs quantitative research methods such as surveys and interviews where applicable as well as a literature review in the SMEs perspective. Previous research has shown that the digital evolution coined as Industry 4.0 was started among large companies. However, this initial precedence has not resonated very much with all-inclusive industrial evolution, especially within the SMEs perspective. The main industrial implication will be the definition of a clear feasible roadmap for what this research terms as an industrial transformation process - "digital change management process - Industry 4.0/Smart factory" in the industrial SMEs perspective - the Danish Model. This research seeks to propose a conceptual smart factory roadmap in an Industry 4.0 perspective, which could be adopted among manufacturing SMEs to effectively, and efficiently transform their production operations. The Danish model perspective or angle of Industry 4.0.</p

Supply Chain Efficiency of Environmentally Friendly Microalgae-Based Biodiesel Production

Environmentally friendly algae-based biodiesel production includes biofuel extraction that represents a technological process which inflicts minimal damage to the environment or does not harm it. Biodiesel that is almost completely based on renewable resources can be utilized as one of the most promising biofuels, and it is environmentally safer than petrol-diesel for several reasons such as: 1. Microalgae have high photosynthesis efficiency and can grow very fast; 2. Microalgae can be cultivated without occupying farmlands, and thus it is possible to reduce the potential damage to the agricultural ecosystem and the traditional food webs; 3. Fresh water is not essential and nutrients can be supplied by wastewater and CO2 by gas combustion during cultivation; 4. Microalgae can be collected very quickly, obviously accelerating the biodiesel production process; 5. The property of their uniform cell structure with no bark, stems, branches or leaves make the commercial production attractive, thus making the operation and control of reproduction conditions much more practical; 6. The general properties as well as the physical biodiesel fuel properties from algae oil (e.g. density, viscosity, acid value, heating value, etc.) are comparable to those of fuel diesel. This paper investigates in detail this option presenting advantages, but also existing limits and gaps. Undoubtedly, incorporating the principles of supply-chain management enabled by information technology (IT) systems to support these processes is a more effective and efficient option to enhance the efficiency of algae-based biodiesel production

Advanced Animal Track-&-Trace Supply-Chain Conceptual Framework: An Internet of Things Approach

Information and data transmission, as well as total visibility in terms of supply chain track-&-trace, is seriously lacking in current industrial logistics-&-supply-chain management activities. This paper proposes the application of RFIDs and the Internet of things’ enterprise systems architecture to, propose a low-cost feasible cloud solution. This solution would keep track of health history, birth records, ownership history and track location of each animal by using an electronic solar-powered tag instead of the current passive ear tags. This paper employs GPRS, GSM and the Google Earth function along with RFIDs to design an enhanced proposed enterprise system-architecture framework in the form of a business process model. Various areas such as e-health, e-commerce, and cloud-based manufacturing have been revolutionized by discoveries in digitized practices. Advancements in the Internet of things led to the advent of asset tracking systems, condition monitoring and various intelligent systems that exchange data over the cloud. Farmers are very vulnerable to stock theft, straying animals and high business risks due to poor animal health management practices. Existing tracking systems have high ownership costs since some of them rely on GSM network providers whose services are costly for farmers. Innovations in digitized systems continue to add more value to businesses and individuals across broad range sectors. Authors of this paper propose a low-cost intelligent animal tracking system for an African free-ranging environment. Economies worldwide are ever becoming digital and animal husbandry practices stand to benefit from this digitisation approach

Mechanical Properties of Heat-treated Medium Carbon Steel in Renewable and Biodegradable Oil

The heat treatment of steels under controlled conditions alters their physical and mechanical properties, enabling them to meet the desired engineering applications. In this study, the suitability of a Namibian local oil (marula oil) as an alternative quenchant to SAE40 engine oil (Standard quenchant – a synthetic oil derived from natural or crude oil) for industrial heat treatment of medium carbon steels was investigated. SAE40 engine oil served as the control. The mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength, percentage elongation and hardness) of the treated and untreated samples were investigated at the temperatures of 850oC, 900oC, 950oC and 1000oC. The untreated sample had the highest amount of elongation (40%), while the sample quenched in marula oil had the highest hardness (24.33HRD) and tensile strength (530.32 N/mm²) values compared with both the untreated and the SAE40 engine oil quenched samples. Hence, marula oil showed high potential as an alternative quenchant to petroleum based SAE40 engine oil for quenching medium carbon steels, without cracking or distortion

Concurrent Engineering (CE): A Review Literature Report

This report is a review of work published in various journals on the topics of Concurrent Engineering (CE) between 2000 and 28th July, 2010. A total of 80 articles from 28 journals, eight (8) Conference Proceedings and two (2) books were reviewed. This report intends to serve two goals. First, it will be useful to researchers who are interested in understanding and following the recent trends in the area of CE. Finally, this report will be useful to businesses or industries; because it seeks to highlight the current engineering unanswered but justified research and development (R&D) questions raised in research papers for research and/or development needs. The report is summarized to identify key references in the form of a literature review; thus, identifying key journals and other key forums such as conferences and societies as well as some books in the field of CE. The summary will also identify most cited authors by using a sample statistical report from Harzing’s Publish or Perish software. This report will also seek to address the issues and trends, including future perspectives of CE and the CE Product Life Cycle (PLC)

Cloud Solutions and Market Analysis in the Nordic Countries

Cloud computing is one of the most exciting terms to information technology (IT) service providers because of its benefits to both providers and customers. This concept has a profound effect on the way consuming IT. It achieves economies of scale by significantly reducing the cost of technology infrastructure and increasing the flexibility of using different computing facilities. According to an IDC report, more and more companies, especially small and medium sized companies, are planning 20% more investment in cloud solutions over the next five years. It’s impossible to ignore this large and fast growing market. Therefore, it’s very necessary to discuss the current status of cloud solutions and its market. This report will provide an analysis of the vendors that are involved in this market. In the end, some advices and suggestions on their business strategies will be provided for cloud solutions vendors from three aspects: market strategy, product and services strategy, and company strategy

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A Review Literature Report

This report is a review of work published in various journals on the topics of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) between 2005 and 28th May, 2010. A total of 154 articles from 49 journals were reviewed. This report intends to serve two goals. First, it will be useful to researchers who are interested in understanding and following the recent trends in the area of ERP. Finally, this report will be useful to both researchers and businesses or industries; because it seeks to highlight the current unanswered but justified research and development (R&D) questions raised in research papers for research and/or development needs. The report is summarized to identify key references in the form of literature reviews; thus, identifying key journals and other key forums such as conferences and societies in the field of ERP. The summary will also identify most cited authors by using a sample statistical report from Harzing’s Publish or Perish software. This report will also seek to address the issues and trends, including future trends of the ERP System Life Cycle (SLC) into six major and sub phases

Benchmarking Performance Measurement Systems in Botswana’s Construction Sector

The performance of Botswana’s construction industry has been steadily declining in recent years. Furthermore, the industry has been docked with many projects that are not delivered on time, go over budget, sub-standard quality or are just abandoned. The frequency of occurrence of such projects has been alarming and has raised the question of whether there is a comprehensive system in place to monitor and control these projects. Some of the adverse effects of these delays and misappropriations are; costs escalating above budgeted values and quality of the deliverables shifting from the standard and agreed specification. Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) can be used to determine progress towards achieving certain goals and milestones in the life cycle of a project. These PMS are not new to the construction industry as they have been adopted in the industry for some time now. Therefore, the advantages of employing or implementing such systems are well documented but a lot of troubles apparently solvable by PMS are still encountered within Botswana’s construction industry. A research survey was conducted on construction companies in Botswana with the purpose of finding out the extent of adoption of performance/progress measurement systems in Botswana’s construction industry and the barriers to their implementation in the industry. From the research it was found that most companies have not adopted PMS due to lack of understanding on the methods

Engineer-to-Order: A Maturity Concurrent Engineering Best Practice in Improving Supply Chains

General Engineer-to-Order (ETO) design of product capacity projects among many others, includes design for large electric machine, huge centrifugal pumps, diesel/natural fuel power plant engines, steam turbine, boiler, ship power, et cetera. ETO is basically a product development process, which starts with a product specification and finishes with an engineering design as its deliverable. It rarely includes manufacturing processes. The main drawback is with issues concerning its long lead-time. Research shows that an excessive lead-time is more often than not caused directly or indirectly by factors related to the design phase. This chapter thus, endeavours to introduce a best practice concurrent approach for reducing the lead-time at an engineer-to-order product design/development stage by seeking to integrate business information technology systems in the design and operational phases. It also introduces a new concurrent best practice approach by way of seeking to integrate other related business systems, e.g., (Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)) such as (Enterprise Service Architecture (ESA) application processes with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)) as a platform for applications and processes for effective communication. Furthermore, the chapter presents and discusses a model of classical concurrent engineering (CE) ETO operational process. ETO key elements, ETO success factors, and series of state of the art ETO classical ERP engineering design tools, as well as the “best practice” product life cycle are all discussed