Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Sustainable Purchasing Practices: An Investigation Into Current Industry Awareness And Practice., Francis X. Palisi

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This research study illustrates the growing importance of sustainable purchasing practices and answers two important questions: what is the current awareness of U.S. organizations on sustainable purchasing practices with regards to evaluating, selecting, and retaining suppliers and to what extent are these practices being implemented? The research conducted is based upon an in-depth literature review of green purchasing and sustainability initiatives. With an ever increasing global economy with no intention of slowing down it is ever important to look towards sustainability practices and the biggest impact organizations can make is in the purchasing department. The researcher begins by explaining their …

Safety, Ergonomics And Human Factors Engineering On Biomedical Devices Design, Alejandra Sandoval Vazquez^, Noe Vargas Hernandez*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

A Case Study Investigation On Purchasing Green Transport And Logistics Services, Pietro Evangelista, Maria Huge-Brodin, Karin Isaksson, Edward Sweeney

Conference papers

In the context of green supply chain management, green purchasing has received increased attention over the past decade and the strategic importance of introducing green aspects into purchasing practices has been recognised. Despite this growing importance, little has been written in relation to purchasing green transport and logistics services. Considering the strong environmental impact associated with transport and logistics activities, much remains to be learned concerning buyer’s practices when sourcing more sustainable services from third party logistics companies (3PLs). The aim of this paper is to explore practices of buying green transport and logistics services in three different European countries …

An Investigation Into The Relationship Between An Engineering Manager's Purpose-Seeking Beliefs And Behaviors And The Engineering Manager's Perception Of Employee Creativity, Initiative And Purpose-Seeking Behavior, Charles Burton Daniels

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organizations have placed an overwhelming emphasis on extrinsic motivation of its workforce, normally in the form of financial incentives, in an attempt to assure individual and organizational high performance. While a significant level of financial resources is expended in this attempt to predict and influence employee behavior, no objective evidence exists of a favorable return of investment. In fact, the primary impact of most extrinsic motivation might actually be demotivation – the opposite of the intended use.

In this research the prevailing literature was examined and a conclusion about the power of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was synthesized to …

A Discrete Event Simulation Of Network Centric Operations: Modeling Unbalanced Combat Configurations In Symmetric Engagements, Mahmoud Turki Khasawneh

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Network Centric Operations (NCO) has been dubbed the most significant revolution in military affairs (RMA) in the past 200 years. The promise of NCO is based on the notion that information sharing and connectivity is fundamental to the effectiveness of a combat force. This due to the ability of a properly networked force to self-synchronize itself as it engages enemy forces. The purposeful arrangement of assets in a combat force is what makes it 'properly networked'. What is a purposeful arrangement of combat assets? How should a force organize to enhance information sharing and connectivity? And how does connectivity within …

A Unified Enterprise-Wide Cost Modeling Framework For Engineering Applications Based On Systems Engineering Principles, Yousuf S. Mohammed

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the present research the problem of enterprise-wide cost modeling is approached from a systems engineering standpoint. What this does is to use each stage of product life cycle to obtain useful information that helps in estimating the cost of the system. Once a generic framework is developed for estimating the core cost, layers of other factors that affect the cost are applied to the core cost, such as risk and uncertainty, maintainability, supply-chain and socioeconomic conditions. The cost model is expanded to accommodate a product domain ranging from a simple object to a system in the following hierarchy: System, …

Examining Combat Effectiveness In Asymmetric Engagements With Balanced Forces Using The Information Age Combat Model, Nevan E. N. Shearer

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

With advances in networked communications, the capabilities of command and control (C2) have come to play an increasingly larger role in battlefield success. Within the past two decades a new military strategy has evolved, known as Network-Centric Operations (NCO), which puts information superiority on the frontline. Moreover, the information advantage that is gained through information superiority is translated into a tactical war-fighting advantage.

A research gap has been identified in the investigation of networked combat force configurations in the realm of asymmetric engagements. Specifically, the research question is, how should an information age combat force be networked in order to …

Agile Knowledge Management; A Review, Reconceptualization, And Extension To Military Applications, Dogan Ozturk

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the conceptual background of agility in knowledge management, re-conceptualize it and extend it to military applications with a special focus on Counterinsurgency (COIN).

An initial qualitative exploration of agility in knowledge management was performed. Three different concepts and their interrelationships were analyzed: (1) knowledge management, (2) agility in operations, and (3) military organizations in the COIN environment. Findings from this initial qualitative analysis were used to inductively redefine, re-conceptualize and extend the concept of Agile Knowledge Management (AKM), as well as, to compare and adapt the AKM concept to the military environment …

Determining Kanban Size Using Mathematical Programming And Discrete Event Simulation For A Manufacturing System With Large Production Variability, Abigail Michele Gaston

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In order to become more competitive and aggressive in the marketplace it is imperative for manufacturers to reduce cycle time, limit work-in-process, and improve productivity, responsiveness, capacities, and quality. One manner in which supply chains can be improved is via the use of kanbans in a pull production system. Kanbans refer to a card or signal for productions scheduling within just-in-time (JIT) production systems to signal where and what to produce, when to produce it, and how much. A Kanban based JIT production system has been shown to be beneficial to supply chains for they reduce work-in-process, provide real time …

An Analysis Of Factors Affecting The Effective Use Of Knowledge Management In Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-Ied) Operations, Umit Gencer

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigates factors that influence effective use of Knowledge Management (KM) in Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) operations in the military.

The study suggests that effective KM program is determined by the interaction of three organizational capabilities: knowledge infrastructure, knowledge process, and leadership orientation.

A self-administrated survey was conducted on 300 NATO staff officers who have served in C-IED environments. A structural equation modeling technique was used to test a set of hypotheses using 118 completed responses collected from the survey.

The results suggest that out of the 11 constructs within the model; two are rated as 'attribute needs …

Rapid Prototype Development Of A Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Powered By A Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System, Michael P. Molesworth, Jacob K. English

Theses and Dissertations

Remotely-Piloted Aircraft (RPA) provide users with unique mission capabilities, particularly on-demand overhead surveillance. However, a capability gap has been identified between the range and endurance of RPAs powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) and the reduced acoustic signature and smaller logistical footprint associated with electric-powered RPAs. This research, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, aims at advancing systems engineering education by evaluating the utility of a tailored systems engineering approach. The tailored systems engineering approach used herein focuses on conducting a concept evaluation study on the rapid prototype development of a parallel hybrid-electric RPA (HE-RPA) and its …

Effect Of Gold Content On The Microstructural Evolution Of Sac305 Solder Joints Under Isothermal Aging, Mike Powers, Jianbiao Pan, Julie Silk, Patrick Hyland

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Au over Ni on Cu is a widely used printed circuit board (PCB) surface finish, under bump metallization (UBM), and component lead metallization. It is generally accepted that less than 3 wt.% Au in Sn-Pb solder joints inhibits formation of detrimental intermetallic compounds (IMC). However, the critical limit for Au content in Pb-free solder joints is not well established. Three surface-mount package platforms, one with a matte Sn surface finish and the others with Ni/Au finish, were soldered to Ni/Au-finished PCB using Sn-3.0Ag- 0.5Cu (SAC305) solder, in a realistic manufacturing setting. The assembled boards were divided into three groups: one …

Assessing Aviation E-Marketplaces: A Mmulti-Criteria Approach., Emilio Esposito, Pietro Evangelista, Michele Mastroianni, Renato Passaro, Edward Sweeney, Claudia-Maria Wagner

Books/Book chapters

After a proliferation of logistics e-Marketplaces during the dot.com boom of 1998-2000, there has been a high rate of failure and survivals are developing much more slowly than expected. This is the case in the aviation industry where a large number of B2B e-Marketplaces emerged according to the focus of aviation companies’ strategies on electronic B2B in the late 1990s. However, the current use of e-Marketplaces in the industry is low and many of them have ceased trading. The traditional e-Marketplaces model has been characterised by poor quality portals and a lack of technical standards. Such an approach is unsustainable …

The Morphology Evolution And Voiding Of Solder Joints On Qfn Central Pads With A Ni/Au Finish, Julie Silk, Jianbiao Pan, Mike Powers

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In this paper, we report on a comprehensive study regarding the morphology evolution and voiding of SnAgCu solder joints on the central pad of two different packages – QFN and an Agilent package called TOPS – on PCBs with a Ni/Au surface finish. Samples were isothermally aged at the equivalent of 0, 2, 7 and 14 years service life. Representative solder joints were cross-sectioned and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) in order to investigate the evolution of the solder joint morphology as a function of Au content and isothermal aging. IMC thickness was …

New Window On Optical Brain Imaging; Medical Development, Simulations And Applications, Chemseddine Mansouri, Nasser H. Kashou

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

In this chapter we hope to give a technological review of near-infrared light and systems, discuss optode design considerations including background on the fiber design as it relates to this field and finally touch on current trends and applications. For the latter, we will focus on diffusion theory and simulation of photon propagation using a head model. We will follow this with concluding remarks.

A Study Of Queuing Theory In Low To High Rework Environments With Process Availability, Adam J. Brown

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

In manufacturing systems subject to machine and operator resource constraints the effects of rework can be profound. High levels of rework burden the resources unnecessarily and as the utilization of these resources increases the expected queuing time of work in process increases exponentially. Queuing models can help managers to understand and control the effects of rework, but often this tool is overlooked in part because of concerns over accuracy in complex environments and/or the need for limiting assumptions. One aim of this work is to increase understanding of system variables on the accuracy of simple queuing models. A queuing model …

Network-Based Data Collection For A Project-Based Freshman Class, Samuel Bogan Daniels, Cheryl Q. Li, David Harding

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The hands-on experience for engineering students is often lacking with class sizes increasing and classroom resources under constant pressure. Even with smaller class sizes and studio classrooms there is only so much equipment and technical support to run experiments and allow for student interaction. Network-based data collection and control may alleviate some of these issues and allow for more hands-on experiences, although remote, in the classroom. This paper discusses the interesting problems and not so obvious pitfalls of setting up some simple network-based data acquisition systems for a multidisciplinary freshman level engineering course. The course as currently taught includes some …

Throughput Analysis And Bottleneck Management Of Production Lines, Hatice Ucar

Wayne State University Dissertations

Companies are increasing their manufacturing excellence in order to stay competitive in the globalizing market. Plants are becoming more complex year by year due to increasing product classes, hardware complexity, etc... The design and operation of manufacturing systems is of greater importance today than it was in the past. Many studies have been carried out on the design and operation of manufacturing systems by academicians and practitioners over the years, however, there is still no agreement on how to best predict and improve the factory performance (Gershwin, 2000). The studies are based on either analytical approaches or simulation-based approaches. Success …

Sampling Based Progressive Hedging Algorithms For Stochastic Programming Problems, Nezir Aydin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Many real-world optimization problems have parameter uncertainty. For instances where the uncertainties can be estimated to a certain degree, stochastic programming (SP) methodologies are used to identify robust plans. Despite advances in SP, it is still a challenge to solve real world stochastic programming problems, in part due to the exponentially increasing number of scenarios. For two-stage and multi-stage problems, the number of scenarios increases exponentially with the number of uncertain parameters, and for multi-stage problems also with the number of decision stages.

In the case of large scale mixed integer stochastic problem instances, there are usually two common approaches: …

A Framework For Personalized Dynamic Cross-Selling In E-Commerce Retailing, Arun K. Timalsina

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cross-selling and product bundling are prevalent strategies in the retail sector. Instead of static bundling offers, i.e. giving the same offer to everyone, personalized dynamic cross-selling generates targeted bundle offers and can help maximize revenues and profits. In resolving the two basic problems of dynamic cross-selling, which involves selecting the right complementary products and optimizing the discount, the issue of computational complexity becomes central as the customer base and length of the product list grows. Traditional recommender systems are built upon simple collaborative filtering techniques, which exploit the informational cues gained from users in the form of product ratings and …