Enablers and Constraints in Implementing Lean Manufacturing: evidence from Brazilian SMEs

Lean Manufacturing has revolutionized the global manufacturing environment at an unprecedented rate. In scholarly and managerial literature, many works have reported that Lean Manufacturing is a very efficient approach and a straightforward way towards process improvements, in terms of productivity and value adding activities ratio. However, many studies on Lean Manufacturing have highlighted many problems in its implementation. The analysis carried out within the research project is aimed to the factors enabling or constraining the Lean Transformation of a firm’s production system, along with the most relevant tools or practices to be applied. The research methodology used is the so-called “Normative Delphi” with a panel formed by 32 experts coming from 16 Brazilian SMEs. Our results are partially consistent with what has already been discussed in the literature and we found that the most relevant tools/practices are: value stream mapping, 5S methodology, and Kaizen (Gemba walks); the top three enabling factors are: knowledge and sponsorship of senior management, focus on continuous improvement, and employee development fostered by the company; finally, the main critical constraints are: little support from the top management, resistance to change by middle management, and poor or non-qualified Lean training activities

A novel interpretation of Service Management in the perspective of Lean Production

The culture and the operational methods of service management (SM) have become a formidable competitive weapon even for manufacturing firms. The term "service factory" has been proposed for identifying that particular integration of products and services, achieved by the excellent manufacturing firm. On the other hand, Lean Production (LP) emerged as one of the most popular topics in business and manufacturing literature. Since the cardinal work of the International Motor Vehicle Program at MIT several companies have gained superior performances by adopting the Toyota Production System. Lean production is seen as the third step in an historical progression, which took industry from the age of the craftsman through the methods of mass production and into an era that combined the best of both. Starting from the analysis of literature related to both the concept of service management and LP practices, the authors propose a novel interpretation of Service Management in the perspective of Lean Production. In the paper a matrix-based model is developed and highlights the relationships between the main practices that characterize Lean production with four distinctive features of Service Management. The model shows how the traditional characteristics of service factory underlie the functioning of Lean Production firms

Epidemic mitigation by statistical inference from contact tracing data

Contact-tracing is an essential tool in order to mitigate the impact of pandemic such as the COVID-19. In order to achieve efficient and scalable contact-tracing in real time, digital devices can play an important role. While a lot of attention has been paid to analyzing the privacy and ethical risks of the associated mobile applications, so far much less research has been devoted to optimizing their performance and assessing their impact on the mitigation of the epidemic. We develop Bayesian inference methods to estimate the risk that an individual is infected. This inference is based on the list of his recent contacts and their own risk levels, as well as personal information such as results of tests or presence of syndromes. We propose to use probabilistic risk estimation in order to optimize testing and quarantining strategies for the control of an epidemic. Our results show that in some range of epidemic spreading (typically when the manual tracing of all contacts of infected people becomes practically impossible, but before the fraction of infected people reaches the scale where a lock-down becomes unavoidable), this inference of individuals at risk could be an efficient way to mitigate the epidemic. Our approaches translate into fully distributed algorithms that only require communication between individuals who have recently been in contact. Such communication may be encrypted and anonymized and thus compatible with privacy preserving standards. We conclude that probabilistic risk estimation is capable to enhance performance of digital contact tracing and should be considered in the currently developed mobile applications.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Absorbing customer knowledge: how customer involvement enables service design success

Customers are a knowledge resource outside of the firm that can be utilized for new service success by involving them in the design process. However, existing research on the impact of customer involvement (CI) is inconclusive. Knowledge about customers’ needs and on how best to serve these needs (articulated in the service concept) is best obtained from customers themselves. However, codesign runs the risk of losing control of the service concept. This research argues that of the processes of external knowledge, acquisition (via CI), customer knowledge assimilation, and concept transformation form a capability that enables the firm to exploit customer knowledge in the form of a successful new service. Data from a survey of 126 new service projects show that the impact of CI on new service success is fully mediated by customer knowledge assimilation (the deep understanding of customers’ latent needs) and concept transformation (the modification of the service concept due to customer insights). However, its impact is more nuanced. CI exhibits an “∩”-shaped relationship with transformation, indicating there is a limit to the beneficial effect of CI. Its relationship with assimilation is “U” shaped, suggesting a problem with cognitive inertia where initial learnings are ignored. Customer knowledge assimilation directly impacts success, while concept transformation only helps success in the presence of resource slack. An evolving new service design is only beneficial if the firm has the flexibility to adapt to change

The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG. X. Differential abundances in the XO-2 planet-hosting binary

Binary stars hosting exoplanets are a unique laboratory where chemical tagging can be performed to measure the elemental abundances of both stellar components with high accuracy, with the aim to investigate the formation of planets and their subsequent evolution. Here, we present a high-precision differential abundance analysis of the XO-2 wide stellar binary based on high-resolution HARPS-N at TNG spectra. Both components are very similar K-dwarfs and host planets. Since they formed presumably within the same molecular cloud, we expect that they possess the same initial elemental abundances. We investigated whether planets can cause some chemical imprints in the stellar atmospheric abundances. We measure abundances of 25 elements for both stars with a range of condensation temperature TC = 40-1741 K, achieving typical precisions of ~0.07 dex. The northern component shows abundances in all elements higher by +0.067 ± 0.032 dex on average, with a mean difference of +0.078 dex for elements with TC > 800 K. The significance of the XO-2N abundance difference relative to XO-2S is at the 2σ level for almost all elements. We discuss that this result might be interpreted as the signature of the ingestion of material by XO-2N or depletion in XO-2S that is due to locking of heavy elements by the planetary companions. We estimate a mass of several tens of M⊕ in heavy elements. The difference in abundances between XO-2N and XO-2S shows a positive correlation with the condensation temperatures of the elements, with a slope of (4.7 ± 0.9) × 10-5 dex K-1, which could mean that both components have not formed terrestrial planets, but first experienced the accretion of rocky core interior to the subsequent giant planets. Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), operated on the island of La Palma by the INAF - Fundación Galileo Galilei at the Roche de los Muchachos Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in the framework of the large programme Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS; P.I. A. Sozzetti).Final reduced spectra (FITS) are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/583/A135</A

VizieR Online Data Catalog: XO-2N and XO-2S spectra (Biazzo+, 2015)

Final reduced spectra used for the elemental abundance measurements. We observed both XO-2 components with the high resolution HARPS-N@TNG (R~115000, λ~3900-6900Å) spectrograph between November 20, 2012 and October 4, 2014. Solar spectra were also obtained through observations of the asteroid Vesta. The spectra reduction was obtained using the 2013 November version of the HARPS-N instrument data reduction software (DRS) pipeline. A detailed description of the observations and data reduction is reported in Paper II (Desidera et al., 2013A&A...554A..29D) (2 data files). <P /

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG . XIV. Investigating giant planet migration history via improved eccentricity and mass determination for 231 transiting planets

We carried out a Bayesian homogeneous determination of the orbital parameters of 231 transiting giant planets (TGPs) that are alone or have distant companions; we employed differential evolution Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to analyse radial-velocity (RV) data from the literature and 782 new high-accuracy RVs obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph for 45 systems over 3 years. Our work yields the largest sample of systems with a transiting giant exoplanet and coherently determined orbital, planetary, and stellar parameters. We found that the orbital parameters of TGPs in non-compact planetary systems are clearly shaped by tides raised by their host stars. Indeed, the most eccentric planets have relatively large orbital separations and/or high mass ratios, as expected from the equilibrium tide theory. This feature would be the outcome of planetary migration from highly eccentric orbits excited by planet-planet scattering, Kozai-Lidov perturbations, or secular chaos. The distribution of α = a/aR, where a and aR are the semi-major axis and the Roche limit, for well-determined circular orbits peaks at 2.5; this agrees with expectations from the high-eccentricity migration (HEM), although it might not be limited to this migration scenario. The few planets of our sample with circular orbits and α> 5 values may have migrated through disc-planet interactions instead of HEM. By comparing circularisation times with stellar ages, we found that hot Jupiters with a5 ≲ Q'p ≲ 109, and that stellar Q's ≳ 106 - 107 are required to explain the presence of eccentric planets at the same orbital distance. As aby-product of our analysis, we detected a non-zero eccentricity e = 0.104-0.018+0.021 for HAT-P-29; we determined that five planets that were previously regarded to be eccentric or to have hints of non-zero eccentricity, namely CoRoT-2b, CoRoT-23b, TrES-3b, HAT-P-23b, and WASP-54b, have circular orbits or undetermined eccentricities; we unveiled curvatures caused by distant companions in the RV time series of HAT-P-2, HAT-P-22, and HAT-P-29; we significantly improved the orbital parameters of the long-period planet HAT-P-17c; and we revised the planetary parameters of CoRoT-1b, which turned out to be considerably more inflated than previously found. Full Tables 1, 2, 5-9 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/602/A10

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. XV. A substellar companion around a K giant star identified with quasi-simultaneous HARPS-N and GIANO measurements

Context. Identification of planetary companions of giant stars is made difficult because of the astrophysical noise, that may produce radial velocity variations similar to those induced by a companion. On the other hand any stellar signal is wavelength dependent, while signals due to a companion are achromatic. Aims: Our goal is to determine the origin of the Doppler periodic variations observed in the thick disk K giant star TYC 4282-605-1 by HARPS-N at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) and verify if they can be due to the presence of a substellar companion. Methods: Several methods have been used to exclude the stellar origin of the observed signal including a detailed analysis of activity indicators and bisector and the analysis of the photometric light curve. Finally, we have conducted an observational campaign to monitor the near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity with GIANO at the TNG in order to verify whether the NIR amplitude variations are comparable with those observed in the visible. Results: Both optical and NIR radial velocities show consistent variations with a period at 101 days and similar amplitude, pointing to the presence of a companion orbiting the target. The main orbital properties obtained for our giant star with a derived mass of M = 0.97 ± 0.03M☉ are M_Psini = 10.78 ± 0.12M_J; P = 101.54 ± 0.05 days; e = 0.28 ± 0.01 and a = 0.422 ± 0.009 AU. The chemical analysis shows a significant enrichment in the abundance of Na I, Mg I, Al I, and Si I while the rest of the analyzed elements are consistent with the solar value demonstrating that the chemical composition corresponds with an old K giant (age = 10.1 Gyr) belonging to local thick disk. Conclusions: We conclude that the substellar companion hypothesis for this K giant is the best explanation for the observed periodic radial velocity variation. This study also shows the high potential of multi-wavelength radial velocity observations for the validation of planet candidates. Based on observations collected at the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), operated on the island of La Palma by the Fundación Galileo Galilei of the INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the frame of the programme Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS)

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. XII. Characterization of the planetary system around HD 108874

In order to understand the observed physical and orbital diversity of extrasolar planetary systems, a full investigation of these objects and of their host stars is necessary. Within this field, one of the main purposes of the GAPS observing project with HARPS-N at TNG is to provide a more detailed characterization of already known systems. In this framework we monitored the star, hosting two giant planets, HD 108874, with HARPS-N for three years in order to refine the orbits, to improve the dynamical study and to search for additional low-mass planets in close orbits. We subtracted the radial velocity (RV) signal due to the known outer planets, finding a clear modulation of 40.2 d period. We analysed the correlation between RV residuals and the activity indicators and modelled the magnetic activity with a dedicated code. Our analysis suggests that the 40.2 d periodicity is a signature of the rotation period of the star. A refined orbital solution is provided, revealing that the system is close to a mean motion resonance of about 9:2, in a stable configuration over 1 Gyr. Stable orbits for low-mass planets are limited to regions very close to the star or far from it. Our data exclude super-Earths with Msini ≳ 5M⊕ within 0.4 AU and objects with Msini ≳ 2M⊕ with orbital periods of a few days. Finally we put constraints on the habitable zone of the system, assuming the presence of an exomoon orbiting the inner giant planet. Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Fundación Galileo Galilei of the INAF at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the IAC in the frame of the programme Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS).Table A.1 is also available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/599/A90</A

VizieR Online Data Catalog: TrES-4b RV and Ic curves (Sozzetti+, 2015)

The TrES-4 system was observed with HARPS-N on 17 individual epochs between March 2013 and July 2014. We carried out Ic-band precision photometric observations of two complete transit events of TrES-4 b with the CAHA 1.23-m on UT 2013 July 6 and UT 2014 June 30. (2 data files)