Showing papers in "International Journal of Collaborative Enterprise in 2011"

Best collaboration practices in supply chain of technical wholesale items

Abstract: This study focuses on collaboration in the supply chain of technical wholesale items in the Finnish machinery industry. The research aims to explore the collaborative best practices to improve the future performance of this supply chain. In the current state, all the technical wholesale items are usually managed with the same management model, although there can be remarkable differences in demand behaviour and criticality among the items. Therefore, the item segmentation and management model for different segments are needed in the future. The collaborative effort should be focused on demand management and proactive exception management especially concerning critical items with unstable demand. Furthermore, there is development potential in the order-delivery process applied in the studied supply chain. Currently, a lack of cost knowledge and transparency makes the optimisation of this process difficult.

An approach of multi disciplinary collaboration in conceptual automotive development

Abstract: Conceptual automotive development processes are characterised by a wide range of different working fields and influencing factors, which leads to the participation of several departments, engineering service provider and component supplier An important factor for a successful development states an optimised interaction of the different involved parties and departments based on efficient collaborative development processes, using computer aided tools, methods and strategies The present publication treats the development of an integrated approach for the automotive concept phase, which is based on an integrated virtual product representation model This model enables access of all involved parties and consists of several interlinked modules to cover the requirements in view of product structure management, geometry creation and functional simulation

Data and ontological modelling approach to allowing traceability through freight transportation chain

Abstract: The role of goods transportation in a globalising world economy becomes very important for the balance of the international supply chains. For this reason, the establishment of goods traceability solution on all their multimodal transport chain, can contribute to the control of flows and allows thus to optimise the supply chain in its totality. To achieve this goal, this paper presents two new modelling approaches for the design of our traceability solution. Thus, we will present our modelling data approach for enabling goods traceability in a multimodal transport context. In a second phase, we will present an integration approach for our traceability solution according to a service-oriented architecture, and which will lead to the modelling of new ontologies for semantic description of our traceability web services.

The heuristics of effective maintenance policy under the given availability

Abstract: Maintenance actions are very important for all industries and manufacturers. The minimum maintenance cost with good maintenance actions is a target goal of all manufacturers on the basis that we cannot entirely avoid machine failures. Nevertheless, do more maintenance, will reduce chances of machine breakdowns but will produce more maintenance cost. Contrary, do less maintenance, will produce less maintenance cost but has more changes to face with machine breakdowns. Then, the optimal maintenance policy will be helpful for solving this problem. Thus, this study and its model formulations are mainly interested on the methodology of sharing maintenance downtime between preventive and corrective maintenance under the given availability. This will be helpful for reducing the maintenance cost under the given certain availability. Therefore, the approach has emphasised with repair rate, maintenance downtime and to be concerned with the maintenance actions under the given availability. Furthermore, the heuristics are solved by the Lagrange multiplier approach, and based on the arrangement of maintainability between preventive and corrective maintenances. Additionally, the complex realistic scenarios of the maintenance optimisation will be the solution which will be useful and to be the benefit for reducing the total maintenance cost, unplanned stoppage, and reduce the contingencies from machine failure.

Articulating knowledge sharing processes in multinational e-business product design

Abstract: A grounded-theory case study method was applied to a profitable multinational e-business company in the mobile communication service/product industry The objective was to examine how new product development (NPD) subject matter specialists learned and acquired knowledge to produce innovative designs An overarching research motive was to determine why it seemed this multinational organisation and its NPD community of practice did not apparently value contemporary university education A brain storming technique was used in a focus group (n = 17) to capture and contrast the NPD knowledge acquisition process with educational psychology theories applied in similar e-businesses studies Three models were created to externalise the tacit NPD processes The unique features in the NPD models were: a knowledge continuum (innate, tacit, and explicit); and a knowledge acquisition methodology that contained three similar phases when compared to a common educational psychology theory, but the phases were ordered differently and in the opposite direction

Maintenance planning and management: a state of the art survey

Abstract: Maintenance management has become one of the most important functions in an organisation. The main objective of maintenance is to keep machine resources running by increasing the availability through repair activities as in corrective maintenance or some proactive activities as in preventive maintenance. According to the literature, maintenance management is explored in several areas. A comprehensive review of some researches in the area of maintenance and quality is presented in this article.

Optimal burn-in time and imperfect maintenance strategy for a warranted product with bathtub shaped failure rate

Abstract: 'Burn-in/preventive maintenance' programme is an efficient approach used to minimise the warranty servicing cost of a product with bathtub shaped failure rate. Burn-in is a widely used method to improve the quality of product during its 'infant mortality' period and preventive maintenance is a scheduled necessary activity carried out during its 'wear-out' period. In this paper, an optimisation model is developed to determine the optimal burn-in time and optimal imperfect preventive maintenance strategy that minimises the total mean servicing cost of a warranted product with an age-dependent repair cost. We provide a numerical study to illustrate our results.

A Q-learning-based adaptive grouping policy for condition-based maintenance of a flow line manufacturing system

Abstract: There has been a considerable progress in condition-based maintenance (CBM) in which maintenance actions are carried out as warranted by the condition of machines to reduce the associated maintenance costs and increase the availability of machines. If the maintenance activities are carried out individually, setup costs would be higher and the system downtime would be longer than if the maintenance activities are carried out together on a group of machines. So, finding an optimal grouping policy is an important problem in itself. This paper investigates a Q-learning algorithm to come up with a grouping policy that would reduce set up costs and increase the uptime efficiency of a flow line manufacturing system. The breakdown of even a single machine in a flow line system could affect the availability of the entire system, particularly when there are no storage buffers in between successive machines. The results reported here show that proposed Q-learning-based grouping policy is capable of reducing the number of repair or maintenance interruptions considerably.

Hybrid minimal repair and age replacement policy for two-dimensional warranted products

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate a hybrid minimal repair and age replacement policy for a repairable product sold with a two-dimensional non-renewing failure replacement warranty. We first model product failures using the one-dimensional approach and then use a more appropriate formulation to model the effect of age and usage to the product degradation. Under this policy, for a given usage rate y, the product is directly repaired minimally when it fails in (0, Sy] and replaced with the new one on the first failure in (Sy, ?y] or when its age reaches ?y, whichever occurs first. We obtain the global optimal solution of Sy, for a given ?y which minimises the expected cost per unit time to the buyer. We present numerical examples to illustrate the properties of the optimal solution.

A drama theory analysis of supply chain collaboration

Abstract: Collaboration often involves the interaction of multiple participants whose interests differ and hence are vulnerable to conflicts. The participants should explore new strategies for examining underlying assumptions during the interaction in order to reach a trustworthy agreement. However, there is a lack of understanding of how both emotive and rational behaviours of the chain members play a key role in dealing with different perceptions and preferences. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of drama theory in the analysis of interactive decision making which often involves conflicts amongst multiple participants for process improvements in supply chain collaboration. Drama theory provides the analysis of strategic interaction to identify dilemmas, whereas a framework for collaboration is used as a tool to find initiatives for resolving dilemmas. An illustrative case study outlined in this paper is able to structurally expose and resolve different perceptions of the chain members.

ERP and TOC collaboration: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Abstract: ERP is vital to manage an enterprise and is being implemented the world over with a reasonable success. Though, it provides a total, integrated solution for the organisation's information-processing requirements, yet, it fails to respond to changes in the rules, procedures, measurements, and even in the belief systems. Additionally, it involves high costs, time and energy, and after dragging on for years, yields very little performance improvement. A new ERP system benefits companies, in cleaning up data and tightening procedures. But, unless a company's business processes are reengineered, its performance will not be substantially improved. However, if the TOC is coupled with ERP, then the business process improvements begin to show results. This paper supports the view that with TOC, the benefits of ERP materialise better and the collaboration of the ERP and TOC (ERP-TOC) becomes more powerful tool for improving profits and performance.

Reverse engineering system for generator engine parts

Abstract: In this modern world, there are always pressure on the designer and the manufacturer to respond to the consumer needs. Rapid product development (RPD) assists manufacturers and designers in meeting the demands by reducing product development time. Engineering involves designing, manufacturing, constructing, and maintaining of products, systems, service and structures. There are two types in a design process: 1) forward engineering; 2) reverse engineering. In this paper, an attempt has been made to derive all the parameters, which are necessary for designing the components of a generator using reverse engineering. Even though lots of methods are available for redesigning, the reverse engineering is selected by performing analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The data acquisition is done using laser scanner device. The data sculpt software draw profile lines using scanned data. Then the exact model is created using Pro E software. The manufacturing drawing is prepared using the collected data.

Inter-organisational collaboration: a conceptual model

Abstract: A need for successful collaborative strategies is an enduring issue in organisations management. Several qualities of 'successful' partnerships have been identified. Individuals who consider themselves a member of the partnership are more central to the network of organisations invited to join the partnership and maintain a greater proportions of unique ties relative to ties common across multiple actors. Different aspects of collaborative networks were studied and a conceptual model is proposed for inter-organisational collaboration. The proposed model encompasses four major dimensions: facilitators, barriers, motivators and outcomes. Several factors are identified for each dimension. All of these factors in combination with each other can determine suitable collaboration type.

Collaborative systems and internal marketing communications in knowledge transfer

Abstract: This paper explores a new model of knowledge sharing via collaborative systems, facilitated by internal marketing communications. While it is well documented that collaborative systems can potentially enhance knowledge sharing within organisations, a major deficit in the literature involves the mechanisms to educate and motivate associates to use these systems in productive ways. In this paper, we revisit the foundation of the value of collaborative systems and its potential value to the sustainable competitive advantage of an organisation. We present two case studies which serve as validation for the original premise. We conclude by proposing a model for the missing piece; development of a systematic internal marketing communications strategy to inform, educate and motivate associates to effectively use the collaborative systems.

E-learning system in epidemiology: a Bayesian network approach

Abstract: E-learning technologies have been rarely used in the field of epidemiology. Although various webpages have been developed, only a few focused on a complete knowledge management environment. The main idea behind this work is the development of a real time web-platform environment in which users can interact directly under a human machine search process. The platform refers to the epidemiology modules, which are divided into subsections, that can be easily be navigated. The assessment of the website is used for the evaluation of the platform including a wide range of questions considering the SERVQUAL model. A very important feature of the system evaluation is the integration of queries for the extraction of specific information regarding the questionnaires. The queries have been developed through the ontologies of the system. The appropriate ontology design techniques have been used to assure the validity of the query output. Uncertainty of the ontology system could be achieved by proposing Bayesian type statistical techniques like Bayesian network.

Reliability growth planning for electronics design under distributed manufacturing paradigm

Abstract: This paper proposes an integrated reliability management programme for faster time-to-market electronics products which are designed under the distributed manufacturing chain. Our objective is to resolve the reliability issue across the product life cycle from design, manufacturing, integration, and field deployment. The idea is to bridge the reliability information gap between the manufacturer and the customers through an effective failure tracking and corrective action system. Engineers can leverage the field information to carry out reliability analysis, implement corrective actions, and monitor the reliability growth rate. The system consists of four modules: 1) stochastic-based reliability prediction tools; 2) real-time failure mode rate charts; 3) corrective action effectiveness functions; 4) reliability monitoring mechanism. The proposed reliability management system will be illustrated through the design and deployment of automatic test equipment. The study shows that reliability growth for capital-intensive equipment can be approached from the entire life cycle. This is particularly important for new technologies or products developed in the faster time-to-market environment.

On the exploitation of relationships in online communities of practice

Abstract: Numerous tools aiming at facilitating or enhancing collaboration among members of diverse communities have been already deployed and tested over the web. Taking into account the particularities of online communities of practice, this paper introduces a framework for mining knowledge that is hidden in such settings. Our motivation stems from the criticism that contemporary tools receive regarding lack of active participation and limited engagement in their use, partially due to their inability of identifying and meaningfully exploiting important relationships among community members and collaboration-related assets. Particular attention is given to the identification of requirements imposed by contemporary communities and learning contexts. Our overall approach elaborates and integrates issues from the disciplines of data mining and social networking.