scholarly journals Analysis of Technology Effectiveness of Lean Manufacturing Using System Dynamics

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Hosseini-Nasab ◽  
Mohammad Dehghani ◽  
Amin Hosseini-Nasab

In today’s competitive environment, organizations are seeking to improve their position in the market. Lean manufacturing is an effective tool for elevating the competitiveness of organizations based on the fact that each can find its own way of improvement. Technology improvement is considered to be one of lean manufacturing’s dimensions. Technology is defined as the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems, or methods of organization, with the aim of solving a problem or creating an artistic perspective. A dynamic model could be appropriate for analyzing the interrelated behavior of technology and lean manufacturing. Despite the fact that there are plenty of papers and case studies on the applications of Lean manufacturing in organizations, only a few are focused on the dynamic aspects of the system. In this paper, a dynamic model is presented in which Lean manufacturing is linked with technology by causal relationships. The notable advantage of the presented model is the ability to alter a parameter to find how it affects others parameters by considering key results. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the results of such analysis could somewhat improve the efficiency of technology improvement on Lean manufacturing.

Author(s):  
Geoffrey J. Peter

The author developed and taught the second hands-on graduate course in a series of three Environmentally Friendly Manufacturing (EFM) courses offered at the Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering and Technology (MMET) Masters Program at the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), Portland Center. Courses in this series include Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing (ECM-1), Lean Manufacturing (LM) emphasizing Green and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), and Emission Control in Manufacturing (ECM-II). The first two-thirds of the course curriculum consisted of regular classroom lectures, limited homework, two case studies, discussions, videos, and visits to two companies that were implementing or had implemented LM. In addition, a guest lecturer from Washington State Department of Ecology discussed relevant LM and environmental case studies. The final third of the course curriculum consisted of hands-on industry-based case studies. Students gained real-world experience in the manufacturing facilities of the four companies that elected to participate in the pilot project. The LM course, taught from an engineer’s point of view, emphasized the engineer’s role at the initial product design stage, and or manufacturing process design, including building design. This paper describes the course content of the LM curriculum, the innovative methods developed to teach the course, and the methods used to teach LM to graduate students with different undergraduate educational backgrounds including individuals with no prior industrial experience. It discusses three industry-based case studies, company profiles, and the benefits derived by participating companies and graduate students. Curriculum effectiveness was determined at the end of the course in part through students’ and industry participant’s comments. Future publication will describe the contents and case studies of the third ECM II in the EFM course curricula.


Author(s):  
Gisela Hirschmann

This chapter contains two case studies analyzing the evolution of pluralist accountability in response to the violation of the rights of detainees held in Kosovo by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and the NATO-led military operation KFOR. The analysis reveals that while pluralist accountability evolved in the case of detentions by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), it failed with regard to KFOR detentions. The competitive environment stimulated regional organizations to sharpen their profiles as external accountability holders, in both cases by establishing an Ombudsperson Institution and a Human Rights Advisory Panel. However, the difference in UNMIK’s and KFOR’s vulnerability with regard to human rights demands explains why pluralist accountability evolved only in the case of UNMIK.


2019 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
pp. 01011
Author(s):  
Martin Hotový

This paper presents the use of tools and approaches of system dynamics in the analysis of the efficiency of BIM tools implementation in relation to the management and planning of investments in the construction sector. The dynamic model based on the approach of system dynamics allows to simulate the impact rate (range) of BIM implementation in strategic investment decision-making in the construction sector. Based on the analysis, the key parameters critically affecting the large construction investment projects are determined. The proposed model is implemented as a submodel in the dynamic model designed for potential refinements in the strategic planning of the extent of investments into projects of civil infrastructure of the Czech Republic. The model allows to test different strategies in the virtual world before their implementation. The prediction of future developments based on the proposed model allows to streamline planning and decision-making processes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
NICCOLO DURAZZI

Abstract The article investigates the causes and consequences of the increased engagement of British universities with employability and skills initiatives. By employing case studies of six universities based in England, it asks whether the increased engagement between higher education and the labour market is driven by universities or business and whether such engagement has increased the diversity of the higher education sector. Findings suggest that the alignment between labour market needs and educational provision in universities is strongly mediated by the competitive environment within which higher education institutions have been operating since the late 1990s: the higher education market – not the labour market – is the key driver for universities to engage in employability and skills initiatives. The article also questions the assumption that ‘competition’ leads to ‘differentiation’ in higher education. Rather, isomorphic tendencies seem to prevail over differentiation in the context of a highly competitive higher education market.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Mindila ◽  
Anthony Rodrigues ◽  
Dorothy McCormick ◽  
Ronald Mwangi

Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm in strategic management literature focuses on firm internal endowments in terms of resources, capabilities and dynamic capabilities for their development. By establishing a learning mechanism, where they are able to adapt and influence the environment, enterprises build a dynamic competence and sustainable competitive advantage. This paper posits that this dynamic competence or strategic flexibility as referred to by strategic management scholars is a phenomenon that needs to be understood by scholars and practitioners in MSEs so that effective intervention programs can be designed. The paper argues that by treating strategic flexibility as a CAS provides a methodology within which models based on known theories in strategic management are employed and tested using system dynamics. The paper also posits that System Dynamics (SD) modeling is a good modeling methodology that captures the dynamism in a CAS. The paper therefore presents a conceptual model for strategic flexibility and a system dynamic model that reveals the variables in play and their relationships. In so doing the paper exposes influence points in the CAS that act as intervention points by practitioners in strategic flexibility of firms. The paper presents ICTs as interventions at the influence points and presents a generic strategic flexibility system dynamic model that brings to play the impact of ICT.


Author(s):  
Hossein Mohammadi ◽  
Arash Haghpanah ◽  
Mohammad Eghtesad

In this paper, a novel approach for dynamics based stabilization of a four-wheel mobile robot is presented. One of the well-known and well-established approaches for stabilization of mobile robots is converting the kinematic model of the robot to a chained form. In order to extend this method to dynamic based stabilization, kinematic and dynamic subsystems of the mobile robot state-space model can be considered as two subsystems of a cascade and then feedback passivation of cascades can be utilized for stabilization of the whole system dynamics.


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