Birla Institute of Technology and Science

About: Birla Institute of Technology and Science is a education organization based out in Pilāni, Rajasthan, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Population. The organization has 8897 authors who have published 13947 publications receiving 170008 citations.

Selection of lean manufacturing systems using the analytic network process – a case study

Abstract: Purpose – Lean manufacturing (LM) has attracted the attention of industries all over the world. Many operation managers have implemented or will be implementing LM because of the benefits reported by other companies or because their customers have demanded it. This paper aims to present a case study of a medium‐sized valve manufacturer in which the decision of implementing LM is made by analyzing the capabilities, practices, tools and techniques of alternative manufacturing systems apart from understanding its effect on the decision areas of the operations department.Design/methodology/approach – A multi attribute decision making (MADM) model, namely, the analytic network process (ANP) has been used for this purpose, which structures the problem related to selection of alternative manufacturing systems in a hierarchical network form. In this problem, it links the performance measures or competitive priorities, decision areas, and the elements with alternatives available to the decision maker and provides ...

Multi-objective optimisation of strength and volumetric shrinkage of FDM parts

Abstract: In the present work, the relationships between two important quality objectives, namely, strength and volumetric shrinkage of fused deposition modelling (FDM) parts and selected process parameters, namely the build interior, the horizontal build direction and the vertical build have been determined through a minimum number of experiments based on face centred central composite design. Specimens have been manufactured on an FDM machine and tests have been conducted to evaluate strength and volumetric shrinkage. The relationship for each of these two response variables in terms of the three process parameters has been constructed using analysis of variance. The resulting two objective functions are optimised simultaneously using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. In order to validate the Pareto optimal solution, three randomly chosen experimental runs at intermediate parameter values (other than design of experiments levels) were repeated and good correlation was found between these results and th...

COVID-19 pandemic! It's impact on people, economy, and environment

Abstract: The paper reviews the (a) existing knowledge on corona virus disease (b) policy responses to it, and (c) its impact on the people, economic activities, and environment of India. The pandemic has increased a sense of fear and insecurity among people due to probable job and pay loss. As well, the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government has increased cases of domestic violence and child abuse. The industrial sectors—tourism, aviation, agriculture, construction, retail, hotels, textile, gems/jewellery, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), manufacturing, and start-ups are temporarily closed leading to a significant revenue loss. Consequently, existence of many sectors and employability of a sizable number of employees is at stake. Despite the economic slowdown, the lockdown has become a boon for the environment to revive due to less pollution and reduced discharge of effluents to water from factories. The policy formulators should consider this as wakeup call and thereby align the people, economy, and environment strategically.

Antimicrobial activity of hemocompatible silver doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles synthesized by modified sol–gel technique

Abstract: Silver doped hydroxyapatite (Ag x Ca100−x (PO4)6 (OH)2) nanorods were synthesized using a modified sol gel method at a low temperature of 100 °C Silver concentration was varied as x = 1, 3 and 5 X-ray diffraction studies showed that the synthesized silver doped hydroxyapatite (Ag-HAp) was fully crystalline with hexagonal structure and an average crystallite size of 25 nm At all the doping concentrations, the nanoparticles were rod shaped with an average length of 110–180 nm and diameter of 20–25 nm as determined from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies These compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activities against E coli (MTCC 2345) and S aureus (MTCC 737) Antimicrobial activity was observed for all the three silver doping concentrations with the highest activity for x = 3, in terms of the zone of inhibition and the percentage reduction in the number of colonies Hemolysis ratios for x = 1 and 3 Ag-HAp samples were below 2 %, indicating that they are highly hemocompatible and can be a promising biomaterial for tissue engineering applications in orthopedics