Engineering Commons^™

Developing A Lean Based Model For A Hospital Pharmacy Environment, Jason North

Masters Theses

Lean strategies have become necessary in healthcare due primarily to two factors: a demand for efficiency and a need to reduce medical error. The case for the necessity of a lean program is based on trends of increasing costs and decreasing revenues resulting from government intervention. Profit margin per patient has been reduced, and therefore more patients per time period must be seen in order to meet profitability goals. Preventable medical error is shown to be a leading cause of death.

Current research in the area of hospital and healthcare efficiency proves that a parallel exists between healthcare efficiency today …

Causal Analysis Of Fatal Trenching Accidents, John Patrick Wagner

Masters Theses

A study was performed by the Construction Industry Research and Policy Center at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville to identify causation for U.S. trench collapse fatalities in the construction industry that occurred during the years 1997-1999. Of the 1217 fatality case files analyzed, 44 were categorized as trench collapse fatalities. The 44 trench collapse case files were analyzed and the contributed factors of the fatalities were identified in an effort to determine the causation of collapses. The results of the study showed a large number of trenches without any type of protective devices being used. The findings of the fatal …

Using Simulation Techniques To Evaluate Group Technology Heuristics: A Recommended Methodology For Comparison And Optimization, Ashley Nolen Akerman

Masters Theses

Machine cell formation is an important issue in industrial and manufacturing engineering. Properly assigned machine cells can improve manufacturing system efficiencies and decrease unnecessary material movement. To address the need for proper cell formation techniques a myriad of heuristics have been created that attempt to optimize the grouping of machines. Further, much industrial engineering research has been conducted on the application of simulation technology to manufacturing system evaluation.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the combination of traditional machine grouping heuristics with simulation technology and to create a generalized meta-model based upon this evaluation. This investigation analyzes the …

Integration Of Lean Manufacturing And Value Engineering Techniques To Improve The Internal Distribution System In A Manufacturing Company, Sripadjaraj Prahladaraj

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The XYZ Corporation is located in Lafayette, Georgia. The company produces cooking ranges for the North American market. It has 1500 employees with a daily production capacity of 1000 to 1500 cooking ranges. The company is implementing lean manufacturing techniques to improve their performance. One of their projects is to develop a distribution system, which will help in streamlining the internal distribution of Very High Pressure (VHP) adhesive tapes. The aim of this research is to develop a lean distribution system by applying techniques of lean manufacturing systems. To understand the existing process of distribution, a flow diagram was created. …

Implementation Of Critical Path Method And Critical Resource Diagramming Using Arena Simulation Software, Jamie Ehresman Gunter

Masters Theses

A relatively new resource management tool, which considers both time and resource requirements, is Critical Resource Diagramming (CRD). CRD is a simple extension to the CPM technique developed for resource management purposes. It is a graphical tool used mainly for resource scheduling.

The purpose of this study is to use the Arena simulation software and CRD to solve problems. This will be accomplished by setting up an example problem in the simulation program, Arena, and the CRD approach will be used as a deterministic and probabilistic problem.

The Arena output results for the deterministic parts of the example were compared …

A Computer Modeling Approach Using Critical Resource Diagramming Network Analysis In Project Scheduling, Vincent Gilles Delgado

Masters Theses

The problem of resource constrained project scheduling (RCPSP) continues to be an important topic in project management. Different scheduling processes have been introduced to solve cases of RCPSP. Most of the developed methods are based on a network analysis approach. The two main technique of project network analysis used for planning, scheduling, and control are PERT and CPM. These approaches assume unlimited resource availability in project network analysis. In realistic projects, both the time and resource requirements of activities should be considered in developing network schedules. Another particularity of the methods created, so far, is the focus on activities during …

Investigating Graphical User Interface Usability On Task Sequence And Display Structure Dependencies, Tirthankar Sengupta

Dissertations

Designing Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) requires the consideration of task sequence requirements (sequence of operations arising from task structures and application constraints) and display structure (layout of the elements of the interface) relationships. The basic purpose was to understand the usability differences of the interfaces through efficiency, motor performance, and search performance.

Thirty-two subjects performed experiments in four groups. The experiments differed in display structure and compatibility of task sequences. Subject mouse actions, mouse coordinates and eye positions were recorded. The derived measures, click efficiency, mouse traversal and eye visits to different areas of interest (namely the tool, object, and …

Development Of Internet Based Lean Assessment Methodology And Tool: Utopex, Prashant M. Hulloli

Masters Theses

Lean implementation is a complex process and requires a comprehensive lean assessment methodology that collects information from all the areas of an organization, and helps to determine the current state of the organization. A lean assessment tool is a stepping-stone for successful lean implementation as it provides as accurate accounting of a company’s current state and helps develop future strategies for business activities. It is quite essential to develop a lean assessment tool that focuses on manufacturing systems, support systems, operational excellence (integration of lean & six-sigma), and cultural sustainability of the organization. The assessment tool is developed focusing on …

Supply Chain Risk Analysis, Venkata R. Kallepalli

Theses

A new decision support system is proposed and developed that will help sustaining business in a high-risk business environment. The system is developed as a web application to better integrate the supply chain entities and to provide a common platform for performing risk analysis in a supply chain. The system performs a risk analysis and calculates risk factor with each activity in the supply considering its interrelationship with other activities. Bayesian networks along with fault tree structures are embedded in the system and logical rules are used to perform a qualitative fault tree analysis, as the data required to calculate …

Human Factors Approach Towards Improving Readability Of Bus Schedules, Anand Tharanathan

Theses

Due to an increasing concern over the readability of existing bus schedules of a public transportation agency the schedule format was redesigned. Two prototype schedules were designed based on the gathered information from the literature survey, focus group meetings and data from other public transportation agencies' schedules. One of the prototypes was designed by giving primary importance to the direction of travel and was named the directional prototype schedule. The other prototype was designed by giving primary importance to the day of the week, and was named weekday / weekend prototype schedule. A time based laboratory experiment and a subjective …

Case Studies In Disassembly Process Planning, Riteshkumar Dhimmar

Theses

The rapid advancement in technology started in last century and still continuing resulted in decreased life cycle of electronic products. It also resulted in increased product disposal rate and filling land fill space faster causing shortage of such space and consequently creates major environmental problems. So, since couple of decade environmental concern has focused on production process and environmental regulations imposed by government has watched industrial pollution. With government regulations to control environmental problems; consumers are also aware of adverse effects of product disposal forcing manufacturer to become more responsible for safe product disposal and recycling of used product.

A …

Supply Chain Risk Mitigation, Roshan R. Pai

Theses

In recent years, especially post 9/11, there has been an increasing awareness for securing business supply chains against probable disruptions. With globalization and lean inventories, the efficiency of supply chain has greatly enhanced over the years, but at the expense of new vulnerabilities. Supply chain vulnerabilities have resulted in disruptions to the economic stability and security. As a result, risk analysis and mitigation has now grown to become one of the key links to business stabilization. To ensure business continuity, it is necessary to identify key assets (physical and operational) within the supply chain and secure them against probable threats. …

Simulation Analysis Of Anti-Rollover Mechanism For Vehicles, Mohib L. Raid

Theses

Rollover accidents are considered the most significant safety problems for all classes of light vehicles, especially pickups, Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV), Light Truck Vehicle (LTV) and vans. The main objective of the research is the design of a new mechanism able to keep the vehicle stable under various road conditions and high speeds, to prevent the vehicle from rolling over and to maintain the stability for the vehicle by creating an anti-rolling torque on the vehicle body capable of turning the vehicle smoothly to stable position.

An Enhanced Dynamic Slope Scaling Procedure With Tahu Scheme For Fixed Charge Network Flow Problems, Xinyan Pan

Masters Theses

In this thesis, a heuristic algorithm for solving large scale fixed charge network problems (FCNFP) based on the dynamic slope scaling procedure (DSSP) and tabu search strategies is presented. The proposed heuristic (the enhanced DSSP) integrates the DSSP with the classical short-term memory intensification and long-term memory diversification mechanism in the tabu search to improve the performance of the pure DSSP. With the feature of dynamically evolving memory, the enhanced DSSP evaluates the solutions in the search history and it iteratively adjusts the linear factors of the LP approximations of the FCNFP to produce promising search neighborhoods for good quality …

Modeling And Validation Of A Brake Hose, Jai Thomas

Masters Theses

Various computer aided design (CAD) softwares have the capability to depict rigid bodies in space accurately. However, the same is not true for the flexible components. This is because flexible components in an automobile are subject to large elastic deformations during the movement of the rigid components to which they are attached.

This research details the application of the principles of computation of the orientation of entities in a simplified coordinate system, vector mathematics, the file I/O features and structured C++ programming to view the rubber hose in CAD after modeling the hose using simulation software. Further validation of the …

The Relationship Of Project Team Attributes To Project Interim Performance, Vickie S. Parsons

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The factors associated with project success, or failure, have not been conclusively resolved in the project management literature. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of project team attributes and interim project performance using a statistical research design. An abundance of research has focused solely on the importance of technical project components as they relate to cost, schedule, or technical performance. However, research into internal team attributes has been sporadic and, generally, associated with subjective measures of project performance or less than optimal statistical techniques. Prior assessment of project performance has also been concentrated at project completion. …

Modeling And Analysis Of Hospital Facility Layout Problem, Amol Shrikrishna Padgaonkar

Theses

The optimal solution to any facility layout problem is an important aspect and a major concem as it involves significant material handling and transportation cost. The objective is to arrange the departments within the predefined facility boundaries in the way that the interaction between the functions is efficient and the overall movement cost is minimized. While facility layout problems have traditionally focused on manufacturing facilities, there has been little work on analyzing layouts for hospitals. The thesis focuses on hospital facility layout problems (HLP) to (i) minimize the movements of patients and (ii) minimize the movements of accompanying resources such …

Investigation Of Nascar Restrictor Plate Manifold Insert Using Wave Engine Simulation And Response Surface Methodology, John Mason Gross Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing growth in computer processing power, computer based computational fluid dynamics simulations are finding increasing acceptance and use in the field of internal combustion engine development. Once fully developed, such simulations provide detailed and expedient tools for testing existing theories, as well as new ideas. While numerous studies on wave propagation and fluid flow in intakes manifolds exist, most restrict the analysis to a single intake runner and port, examining only the dynamics from the runner-to-plenum junction downstream to the valve. While such analyses provide comprehensive models for wave propagation dynamics in the runner, little is published on …

Optimizing Combat Capabilities By Modeling Combat As A Complex Adaptive System, Steven Mains

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Procuring combat systems in the Department of Defense is a balancing act where many variables, only some under control of the department, shift simultaneously. Technology changes non-linearly, providing new opportunities and new challenges to the existing and potential force. Money available changes year over year to fit into the overall US Government budget. Numbers of employees change through political demands rather than by cost-effectiveness considerations. The intent is to provide the best mix of equipment to field the best force against an expected enemy while maintaining adequate capability against the unexpected. Confounding this desire is the inability of current simulations …

Implementation Of Lean Method And Value Analysis In The Sandblasting Production Shop At Intersign Corporation, Elbert Zeth Nassey

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Intersign Corporation is a small signage manufacturing company in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which employs fewer than one hundred workers. The company produces variety of signage products and customized applications including room signs, room IDs, signs, suite IDs, nameplates, safety signs, menus, activity boards, traffic control signs, and many more. One of the company's main products, and the main subject in this study, is sandblasting products. Sandblasting production is a job shop operation which is placed in a 55 x 100 ft building (building B). In the near future, the company will expand this production by moving several workstations into the new …