Modelling information flow for organisations delivering microsystems technology

Motivated by recent growth and applications of microsystems technology (MST), companies within the MST domain are beginning to explore avenues for understanding, maintaining and improving information flow, within their organisations and to/from customers, with a view to enhancing delivery performance. Delivery for organisations is the flow of goods from sellers to buyers and a classic approach to understanding information flow is via the use of modelling techniques. Cont/d

A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

Manage risk of sustainable product–service systems: a case-based operations research approach

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Sustainable product–service systems (SusPSSs) offer an innovation-driven approach to production based on providing results or functions with minimal material use and emissions. Networks of SusPSSs partners are central to the decision-making of sustainability policies. Evaluations and assessments of network-oriented risks sources are therefore crucial to informing an industrial firm’s reorientation towards SusPSS. Traditionally, these risks beleaguer production and continue to grow in significance with complex production and innovation processes. This article presents a novel operations research application for evaluating network-oriented risks of industrial firms in pursuing SusPSSs. The model conceptualises a framework for network risk metrics and applies a fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making technique to evaluate levels of risk associated with reorientations to SusPSS approaches. It takes explicit account of multiple risk sources in aiding decision-making and assists in indicating strategies for improving business sustainability. In addition, it compares and ranks alternative SusPSSs as a system and on an indicator basis, which is a practical and effective decision support tool. A case study of an industrial firm is conducted to verify the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach in supporting firms’ decision on SusPSSs

Analysing RMS and peak values of vibration signals for condition monitoring of wind turbine gearboxes

AbstractWind turbines (WTs) are designed to operate under extreme environmental conditions. This means that extreme and varying loads experienced by WT components need to be accounted for as well as gaining access to wind farms (WFs) at different times of the year. Condition monitoring (CM) is used by WF owners to assess WT health by detecting gearbox failures and planning for operations and maintenance (O&M). However, there are several challenges and limitations with commercially available CM technologies – ranging from the cost of installing monitoring systems to the ability to detect faults accurately. This study seeks to address some of these challenges by developing novel techniques for fault detection using the RMS and Extreme (peak) values of vibration signals. The proposed techniques are based on three models (signal correlation, extreme vibration, and RMS intensity) and have been validated with a time domain data driven approach using CM data of operational WTs. The findings of this study show that monitoring RMS and Extreme values serves as a leading indicator for early detection of faults using Extreme value theory, giving WF owners time to schedule O&M. Furthermore, it also indicates that the prediction accuracy of each CM technique depends on the physics of failure. This suggests that an approach which incorporates the strengths of multiple techniques is needed for holistic health assessment of WT components

How robust is your project? from local failures to global catastrophes:a complex networks approach to project systemic risk

Current societal requirements necessitate the effective delivery of complex projects that can do more while using less. Yet, recent large-scale project failures suggest that our ability to successfully deliver them is still at its infancy. Such failures can be seen to arise through various failure mechanisms; this work focuses on one such mechanism. Specifically, it examines the likelihood of a project sustaining a large-scale catastrophe, as triggered by single task failure and delivered via a cascading process. To do so, an analytical model was developed and tested on an empirical dataset by the means of numerical simulation. This paper makes three main contributions. First, it provides a methodology to identify the tasks most capable of impacting a project. In doing so, it is noted that a significant number of tasks induce no cascades, while a handful are capable of triggering surprisingly large ones. Secondly, it illustrates that crude task characteristics cannot aid in identifying them, highlighting the complexity of the underlying process and the utility of this approach. Thirdly, it draws parallels with systems encountered within the natural sciences by noting the emergence of self-organised criticality, commonly found within natural systems. These findings strengthen the need to account for structural intricacies of a project's underlying task precedence structure as they can provide the conditions upon which large-scale catastrophes materialise

D3.3 Serious Gaming Approach to support Usability of IOT oriented User CoCreation

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