Technical performance measure

Abstract: Many firms expend a great amount of effort to increase the customer value of their product development (PD) processes. Yet, in PD, determining how and when value is added is problematic. The goal of a PD process is to produce a product "recipe" that satisfies requirements. Design work is done both to specify the recipe in increasing detail and to verify that it does in fact conform to requirements. As design work proceeds, certainty increases surrounding the ability of the evolving product design (including its production process) to be the final product recipe (i.e., technical performance risk decreases). The goal of this paper is to advance the theory and practice of evaluating progress and added customer value in PD. The paper proposes that making progress and adding customer value in PD equate with producing useful information that reduces performance risk. The paper also contributes a methodology-the risk value method-that integrates current approaches such as technical performance measure tracking charts and risk reduction profiles. The methods are demonstrated with an industrial example of an uninhabited combat aerial vehicle.

Abstract: We develop a theory that examines how a particular type of third-party quality signal, certifications, influences an actor's long-term reputation by addressing two different types of uncertainty. The first type deals with the degree to which the capabilities of an actor can be inferred over time based on known performance dimensions. We label this technical uncertainty. The second type deals with assessing whether the perceived capabilities of the actor meet the standard of desirability, which we call performance standard uncertainty. We propose and test that certifications will positively influence the long-term reputation of actors in situations that involve minimal technical uncertainty, and that, across levels of technical performance, certifications will have an inverted U-shaped relationship with assessments of actors such that certifications will have the greatest impact on assessments of actors who are close to the uncertain standard of desirability. We test our hypotheses in the context of the voting for Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, an environment where comprehensive technical performance measures leave little technical uncertainty. Our results support our hypotheses and suggest that certifications can influence an actor's reputation by reducing performance standard uncertainty rather than just technical uncertainty, as previously presumed.

Abstract: The planning activity of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collection networks is a topic of interest for researchers and managers, due to both the complexity of the problem and its important practical implications, in accordance with the guidelines that recent laws have addressed in a large number of industrialized countries. Nevertheless, even if these new legislation directives aim to reduce the critical effects of human activities on the environment, approaches for coupling the planning phase of a WEEE transportation network with the analysis of its environmental impact are rare in literature. Specifically, in this paper, a WEEE transportation network in the North of Italy (precisely, in the Reggio Emilia district) is addressed by means of an integrated solution approach. The methodological steps regard the following topics: data collection techniques, vehicle routing methods and heuristic procedures for creating different system scenarios, simulation modelling for obtaining solutions satisfying technical performance measures, LCA methodology for assessing the environmental impact of such solutions, multi-criteria decision methods for selecting the best choice under the joint technical and environmental perspective.

Abstract: Automation introduction in hospital applications has become increasingly important in recent years. Delivery, transportation and distribution services are examples of critical operations that can be automated. This paper examines clinical laboratory and pharmacy deliveries in middle to large size hospitals, in order to evaluate whether or not a fleet of mobile robots can replace a traditional human-based delivery system. The complexity of the problem derives from its multi-objective character, since several, often contrasting factors must be taken under consideration. The problem has common characteristics with transportation system design and automation introduction evaluation in manufacturing. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to build a decision problem that synthesized economic and technical performance as well as social, human and environmental factors. The technical performance measures were assessed through computer simulation. This research provides a methodology to approach automation introduction evaluation in a hospital environment. The final results enable a better understanding of the delivery and transportation requirements of middle to large size hospitals and how a fleet of mobile robots can meet these requirements. We applied our methodology to the University of Virginia Health Science Center. We show with a high overall confidence that a fleet of mobile robots can achieve better final results than a human-based transportation system according to a representative preference structure formulated by a hospital manager. An ANOVA analysis indicates that the final results were not excessively dependent on the input data of the simulation model. In addition, a sensitivity analysis indicated that the results are stable with respect to variations in the decision maker's preference structure.

Abstract: NASA has set demanding goals for technology developments to meet national needs to improve fuel efficiency concurrent with improving the environment to enable air transportation growth. A figure shows NASA's subsonic transport system metrics. The results of Boeing ERA N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concept Study show that the Blended Wing Body (BWB) vehicle, with ultra high bypass propulsion systems have the potential to meet the combined NASA ERA N+2 goals. This study had 3 main activities. 1) The development of an advanced vehicle concepts that can meet the NASA system level metrics. 2) Identification of key enabling technologies and the development of technology roadmaps and maturation plans. 3) The development of a subscale test vehicle that can demonstrate and mature the key enabling technologies needed to meet the NASA system level metrics. Technology maturation plans are presented and include key performance parameters and technical performance measures. The plans describe the risks that will be reduced with technology development and the expected progression of technical maturity.