Industrial Services Characterization for Bidding Process

International audienceWhen responding to call for tenders, many bidding companies offer services. This paper focuses on how to model industrial services during the bidding process to be able to easily develop them. A product offer configuration model is presented, then a reflection about the extension of this model to service offers is conducted. A study of the literature about service definition is dealt and services characteristics are identified. Their impact on the product offer model is analyzed and new characteristics are introduced. This work makes possible to propose a typology to adapt the product offer model to services

Product v Service system configuration: a generic knowledge-based model for commercial offers

At a time when modes of consumption are rapidly evolving, consumer attitudes and expectations are changing. Today, customers want more and more products and services that can be customised to their needs. Furthermore, they are more willing to pay for usage of a product rather than ownership. On the other hand, companies are adding more and more services to the products they are bringing to market in order to create added value and differentiate themselves from their competitors. To adapt to these new market trends, companies now have to offer their customers a more sophisticated catalog of solutions, in both product and services, including all conceivable combinations of the two. The aim of this article is to propose a generic knowledge-based model, dedicated to commercial offer configuration which is able to cope with the whole variety of solutions a company can deliver. To our knowledge, although some works on product configuration, service and product-service system configuration exist, none of them is generic enough to support product, service and product-service configuration at the same time when defining commercial offers. In this article, after giving a state-of-the-art assessment of product and service configurations, the need for a generic model able to cover the whole range and diversity of commercial offers is established, a knowledge-based model is defined and its relevance is demonstrated on seven use-cases coming from secondary and tertiary sector companies

Improving design coordination in computer supported environments in SMEs : implementation of a tool for capturing and analysing collaboration between actors

To remain competitive in a context of multi-partner projects companies are increasingly concerned with the coordination of design projects. Information systems such as PLM or CSCW are implemented to support the coordination of product information flows. Project managers are nevertheless finding it increasingly difficult to manage projects effectively. The impact of collaboration aspects on the design process is especially difficult for them to evaluate. Indeed, failing to integrate collaboration aspects into coordination can account for a great deal of design mistakes and finding a solution could lead to improved design coordination. The main obj ective of this researchi s then to help project managersi mprove coordination in design processes through a detailed analysis of collaboration between actors. A model of coordination and an associated model of collaboration have been devised together with a tool ('CoCa') to be used by researchers, consultants or project managers in the analysis of collaboration. This analysis can lead to the understanding of collaboration aspects and identification of the problems caused. Consequently, guidelines can be defined to prevent the re-emergence of the identified design problems in new projects. These guidelines are recommendations to introduce collaborative aspects, flexibility in the design process and elements for decision making when defining future design situations. Finally, a study of a specific application implementing PLM tools demonstrates that they are not able to manage firstly design projects and human resources whilst taking into account collaborative aspects or, secondly, the necessary synchronisation between human design activities and document workflow tasks. It is thus evident that these two factors are needed in PLM tools in order to apply the proposed model of coordination. An industrial partnership with an SME led to the study of its information system, an experiment with the CoCa tool, practical design process improvements, and implementation of a PLM prototype.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Kaizen en contexte Lean : La santé des opérateurs mise à mal

Le Kaizen est une méthode de résolution de problèmes qui implique la participation des opérateurs de production. Si elle permet d'obtenir des résultats opérationnels à court terme, force est de constater qu'à moyen-long terme, les résultats s'amenuisent notamment en raison de la dégradation de la santé des opérateurs. Dans cet article, nous nous intéresserons aux limites de la pratique du Kaizen qui peuvent, en partie, contribuer aux mauvais résultats constatés. Dans les limites, nous évoquons le choix et l'analyse des indicateurs de production qui est faite au cours des réunions Kaizen. De notre point de vue, cette pratique ne permet pas une analyse pertinente des problèmes remontés par les opérateurs. En piste de réflexion, il nous semble que les limites du Kaizen relèvent d'une question plus large d'ordre socio-cognitif. En effet, l'approche sous-tendue par le Kaizen renvoie à des représentations dans lesquelles l'Homme est envisagé comme passif, ce qui ne rend pas compte de la complexité du travail réalisé par les opérateurs. Ainsi, l'approche considérant l'Homme comme actif nous semble plus appropriée

Evolving Trends of Selection Criteria for Industrial Suppliers

The industrial company needs innovation to remain competitive in the global economy. Successful introduction of new products is important to the company survival. However, in the context of partnership and subcontracting, this capacity almost always depends on the performance of suppliers whose contributions to the project can influence both the industrial strategy of the company and the product architecture. In this case, the selection of industrial suppliers must be taken into consideration to minimize any industrial risks. These conditions will have a direct impact and consequences on the technical and technological characteristics of the product, as well as on the duration and overall cost of it. Our work initially illustrates a selection methodology for industrial suppliers. Based on a survey done on more than 50 international companies, we identify the rank of the most used criteria. Then, by using a statistical technique on MATLAB 2019 (Friedman’s analysis), we list the most important criteria for selecting an industrial supplier in 2020

Configuration and Response to calls for tenders: an open bid configuration model

During bidding process, bidders have to submit offers which will suit the customers' requirements. The OPERA project aims at building a decision support tool to help bidders to design offers using CSP and compare them on orignial indicators. The objective is (1) to help bidder to have the same routine for bid answer-ings (2) to help them to design more accurate responses and more efficiently. One of the major tasks during bidding process is offer elaboration, which is in our case, 90% a configuration problem and 10% an innovative design one. Four industrial partners are part of the OPERA project: two in the secondary sector and the two others in tertiary one. This paper presents the first results of this project for open bidding configuration. Therefore, we have built a first version of an open generic bidding model which gathers three types of offers data: (1) context characterization data, (2) data defining the product or service and (3) data defining its delivery process, in case of success. Context data allow to characterize the customer profile, the call for tender characteristics, the bidder profile and the environmental factors. The product is decomposed on subsystems and components using a bill of materials and we propose some tracks to extend our model to services. The process is composed of activities, characterized by a couple (resources, workload). This model has been tested on one use case for each industrial partner. This paper is illustrated by a generic instance of a bike open bidding configuration

Knowledge Modelling for an Electrical PLM System in Aeronautics

Management of the whole product lifecycle is a major stake that most companies have now integrated into their strategies. Research works have been focused on this asset but mainly for mechanical products. In previous work proposes a knowledge modelling approach in a mechanical context, centred on expert users’ collaboration. In this paper, we worked with an aeronautical company in charge of electrical maintenance. Its objective was to improve its business processes, from design phase to production phase, by developing a new PLM system, integrated to its electrical CAD software. Our research aim is to evaluate the genericity of previous knowledge modelling approach in this electrical context. We propose then an integrated knowledge model based on three dimensions: (electric) product modelling, (aeronautics retrofitting) process/project modelling and organization/collaboration modelling. We show how this model identifies generic vs expert knowledge and how ‘business rules’ can be defined to support collaboration and to reduce time of development process. Finally, we propose a global PLM system and we detail the impact on the collaborations and on the whole ‘product’ lifecycle. This PLM system is actually developed by an electrical CAD editor, ensuring the integration between CAD data and PLM database. We conclude on future work extending this first PLM system: a generic problem-solving approach for capitalizing and reusing knowledge then an augmented reality environment for using PLM product data during installation phase

Méthodologie d'exploitation d'un modèle produit-processus en réponse à appel d'offres

En réponse à appel d’offres, l’élaboration d’une solution technique, le chiffrage des livrables et l’estimation d’un délai de livraison sont essentiels. Dans un contexte concurrentiel accru où les clients expriment un fort besoin de personnalisation et de délais courts, les entreprises soumissionnaires ont besoin d’outils et méthodes de conception pour rester compétitives. Le projet ANR OPERA propose d’outiller ces entreprises soumissionnaires pour les aider lors de l’élaboration d’offres. Nos travaux portent sur la mise en oeuvre d’un modèle générique d’offre produit-processus à l’aide à la fois de techniques pour la résolution de problèmes de satisfaction de contraintes et pour le retour d’expériences. Cet article présente ensuite une méthodologie d’exploitation de ce modèle, décomposée en cinq phases : Initialisation, Spécialisation, Implémentation, Exploitation et Maintien et actualisation. La phase d’Initialisation permet de démarrer le déploiement de cet outillage modèle/méthode dans l’entreprise. La phase de Spécialisation explique comment passer du modèle générique au modèle spécifique de l’entreprise. Le modèle est implémenté dans l’entreprise via la phase d’Implémentation. La phase d’Exploitation explique comment utiliser le modèle pour élaborer une offre, et la phase Maintien et actualisation concerne la mise à jour du modèle. Un cas d’étude tiré du projet OPERA est présenté

Industrial Services Characterization for Bidding Process

When responding to call for tenders, many bidding companies offer services. This paper focuses on how to model industrial services during the bidding process to be able to easily develop them. A product offer configuration model is presented, then a reflection about the extension of this model to service offers is conducted. A study of the literature about service definition is dealt and services characteristics are identified. Their impact on the product offer model is analyzed and new characteristics are introduced. This work makes possible to propose a typology to adapt the product offer model to services.Outils logiciels et ProcEssus pour la Réponse à Appel d'Offre

A Methodology for Implementing a Product-Centred Bid Model for Suppliers

Early phases of product development are critical for next phases and impact the product definition. During bid process, suppliers generate offers for a customer that must both meet customer's requirements and be realizable in terms of technical aspects, costs and due date. Our aim is to propose a methodology for implementing a generic bid model, composed of context parameters, customer's requirements, the product i.e. technical solution, its delivery process, and associated risks. Key Performance Indicators allow to evaluate different solutions. The bid model is exploited with two different approaches. First, we use Constraint Satisfaction Problems to formalize expert knowledge and identify variables/constraints and relations. Second, we use case database to reuse past experiences. This model and the methodology are applied with a company developing harbour cranes. An initialisation phase allows to define existing bid process. Then, the generic model is adapted through a specialisation phase, using specific knowledge from company's experts. Finally, the specific model is implemented and tested in an implementation phase. Future work will be focused on a software tool development