Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Adaptability Of A Supply Chain Trading Agent’S Strategy: Evolutionary Game Theory Approach, Yoon Sang Lee, Riyaz T. Sikora

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

With the increase in the complexity of supply chain management, the use of intelligent agents for automated trading has gained popularity (Collins, Arunachalam, B, et al. 2006). The performance of supply-chain agents depends on not just the market environment (supply and demand patterns) but also on what types of other agents they are competing with. For designers of such agents it is important to ascertain that their agents are robust and can adapt to changing market and competitive environments. However, to date there has not been any work done that assesses the adaptability of a trading agent’s strategy in the …

Freeform Extrusion Fabrication Of Advanced Ceramics And Ceramic-Based Composites, Wenbin Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is a recently developed freeform extrusion fabrication process for producing dense ceramic components from single and multiple constituents. In this process, aqueous paste of ceramic particles with a very low binder content ( < 1 vol%) is extruded through a moving nozzle to print each layer sequentially. Once one layer is printed, it is surrounded by oil to prevent undesirable water evaporation from the perimeters of the part. The oil level is regulated just below the topmost layer of the part being fabricated. Infrared radiation is then applied to uniformly and partially dry the top layer so that the yield stress of the paste increases to avoid part deformation. By repeating the above steps, the part is printed in a layer-wise fashion, followed by post-processing. Paste extrusion precision of different extrusion mechanisms was compared and analyzed, with an auger extruder determined to be the most suitable paste extruder for the CODE system. A novel fabrication system was developed based on a motion gantry, auger extruders, and peripheral devices. Sample specimens were then produced from 3 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia using this fabrication system, and their properties, including density, flexural strength, Young's modulus, Weibull modulus, fracture toughness, and hardness were measured. The results indicated that superior mechanical properties were achieved by the CODE process among all the additive manufacturing processes. Further development was made on the CODE process to fabricate ceramic components that have external/internal features such as overhangs by using fugitive support material. Finally, ceramic composites with functionally graded materials (FGMs) were fabricated by the CODE process using a dynamic mixing device"--Abstract, page iv.

Quantifying Restoration Costs In The Aftermath Of An Extreme Event Using System Dynamics And Dynamic Mathematical Modeling Approaches, Akhilesh Ojha

Doctoral Dissertations

"Extreme events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and the like, lead to devastating effects that may render multiple supply chain critical infrastructure elements inoperable. The economic losses caused by extreme events continue well after the emergency response phase has ended and are a key factor in determining the best path for post-disaster restoration. It is essential to develop efficient restoration and disaster management strategies to ameliorate the losses from such events. This dissertation extends the existing knowledge base on disaster management and restoration through the creation of models and tools that identify the relationship between production losses and restoration costs. The …

Biofuel Supply Chain Restructuring -- An Economic Viability And Environmental Sustainability Investigation For Enhancing Second Generation Biofuel Adoption, Rajkamal Kesharwani

Doctoral Dissertations

"Biofuel is a promising clean alternative to fossil fuels. Currently, first generation biofuels are commercially produced by using corn grain as biomass feedstock. However, the use of edible matter of crops, may lead to a competition between food and fuel. Therefore, there is a significant push in both industry and academia to commercialize second generation biofuel manufacturing technology, which uses non-edible matter from crops. Most research focuses on individual manufacturing processes for producing second generation biofuel, but the economic and environmental impacts of a large-scale adoption of second generation biofuel manufacturing have been less widely reported.

This work investigates the …

Application Of Computational Intelligence To Explore And Analyze System Architecture And Design Alternatives, Gene Lesinski

Doctoral Dissertations

"Systems Engineering involves the development or improvement of a system or process from effective need to a final value-added solution. Rapid advances in technology have led to development of sophisticated and complex sensor-enabled, remote, and highly networked cyber-technical systems. These complex modern systems present several challenges for systems engineers including: increased complexity associated with integration and emergent behavior, multiple and competing design metrics, and an expansive design parameter solution space. This research extends the existing knowledge base on multi-objective system design through the creation of a framework to explore and analyze system design alternatives employing computational intelligence. The first research …

Landing-Gear Impact Response: A Non-Linear Finite Element Approach, Tuan H. Tran

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary objective of this research is to formulate a methodology of assessing the maximum impact loading condition that will incur onto an aircraft’s landing gear system via Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and appropriately determining its corresponding structural and impact responses to minimize potential design failures during hard landing (abnormal impact) and shock absorption testing. Both static and dynamic loading condition were closely analyzed, compared, and derived through the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) airworthiness regulations and empirical testing data.

In this research, a nonlinear transient dynamic analysis is developed and established via NASTRAN advanced nonlinear finite element model (FEM) to …

Analysis Of User Preference With N95 And Powered Air-Purifying Respirators In A Healthcare Work Environment, Brittany Renee Carver

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

For those working in the healthcare field, personal protective equipment is vital. Healthcare workers are often first responders when it comes to dealing with patients who are infected or when a disease outbreak occurs. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all healthcare operations to provide employee protection against blood borne pathogens. With the increase of life-threatening disease outbreaks, such as SARS in 2003 and Ebola in 2014, it is of the upmost importance to make sure respirators are best suited for users and acceptable for long term use. It has been shown through previous studies that due to …

Towards A Framework For Smart Manufacturing Adoption In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Sameer Mittal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Smart Manufacturing (SM) paradigm adoption can scale production with demand without compromising on the time for order fulfillment. A smart manufacturing system (SMS) is vertically and horizontally connected, and thus it can minimize the chances of miscommunication. Employees in an SME are aware of the operational requirements and their responsibilities. The machine schedules are prepared based on the tasks a machine must perform. Predictive maintenance reduces the downtime of machines. Design software optimizes the product design. Production feasibility is checked with the help of simulation. The concepts of product life cycle management are considered for waste reduction. Employee safety, and …

Aircraft Interior Design And Satisfaction For Different Activities; A New Approach Toward Understanding Passenger Experience, Golnoosh Torkashvand, Lucas Stephane, Peter Vink

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Among airlines and aircraft manufacturers there is much attention for passenger experience. However, there is not much literature on how the activities of passengers can be supported by the aircraft interior. The current study focuses on the need finding and requirements analysis of flight passengers. Twenty-three activities were defined based on retrospective interviews and brainstorming sessions. Respondents were asked to rate their overall perception related to the importance of each of those 23 activities on a Linkert scale, from “not at all important” to “extremely important”. On a separate question they were also asked to rate their overall satisfaction by …

Assignment Of E-Commerce Orders To Fulfillment Warehouses, Ahmad Basem Zamka

Theses

For large e-commerce companies such as Amazon, when an order comes, this order might be available at more than one fulfillment centers. Therefore, the question of which fulfillment center this order should be fulfilled from would arise.

In a typical situation, customer demand is fulfilled from the closest fulfillment center. However, this approach does not always provide the optimal solution since there are so many factors that could be involved in making such a decision. These factors might include inventory balance, product correlations, and future demand.

Our decision model focuses on putting future orders in consideration while assigning orders to …

Detecting Special-Cause Variation 'Events' From Process Data Signatures, Timothy M. Young, Olga Khaliukova, Nicolas André, Alexander Petutschnigg, Timothy G. Rials, Chung-Hao Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The ability to detect the special-cause variation of incoming feedstocks from advanced sensor technology is invaluable to manufacturers. Many on-line sensors produce data signatures that require further off-line statistical processing for interpretation by operational personnel. However, early detection of changes in variation in incoming feedstocks may be imperative to promote early-stage preventive measures. A method is proposed in this applied study for developing control bands to quantify the variation of data signatures in the context of statistical process control (SPC). Control bands based on pointwise prediction intervals constructed from the Bonferroni Inequality and Bayesian smoothing splines are developed. Applications using …

Quality Function Deployment (Qfd) For Designing Rock Sugar Chopping Machine, Janejira Pannavatkulthon

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this research is to study and apply the principles of quality function deployment to design rock sugar chopping machine for selected sugar factory in order to increase productivity of current chopping process. The design of machine is analyzed using House of Quality which is a part of quality function deployment methodology. The data collection was conducted by on-site investigation and face-to-face interview with the owner of sugar factory. It is found that the main problem of this factory is inadequate of in-house production capacity and the bottleneck of manufacturing processes is chopping process. The result of this …

Product Development Of Rice Milk Soap, Jiradej Ekthumrong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this research is to develop rice into rice milk soap using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in order to add value to the product. The current rice production process can produce some broken rice, which is of low value. In order to increase value, the study is conducted to develop it into rice milk soap product. Quality Function Deployment is used to analyze and develop the product that best answer customer needs. There are data collection on customers through surveys to gain insights used for product development and rough product to market business plan. The result of this …

Assessing Feasibility Of Water Accounting Toolkit For In A Poultry Processing Plant, Kantinant Silabhusith

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In this project, we will be looking into the use of a toolkit called water accounting as applied to a food processing plant and determine its effectiveness as a toolkit for monitoring water usage in a factory. The main objective of this thesis report is to 1. Recommend reducing water consumption by applying the water accounting toolkit. 2. Provide a standardized tool for the case study company to measure their sustainability progress and communicate that information clearly. This report will also discuss the extent in which the company can reduce their water consumption and their various methods in which to …

Decision Support System For Supplier Selection In Gas Pipeline Industry, Kawinkorn Ampornmaha

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this research was to study and analyse both the quantitative and qualitative decision criteria for pipeline fabrication supplier selection in the gas pipeline industry in Rayong, Thailand. The decision-making process was analysed by the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique or AHP and computed using SpiceLogic software. The data collection was carried out by providing questionnaires to experts and specialists at the management level. It was found that the main factors were quality, technical capability, delivery, cost and financial stability. All the main factors were considered with the decision-making process for purchasing and selecting with the best supplier. The …

Tracking System Design For A Production Warehouse Of Automobile Condensers, Kittisak Lertkajornkitti

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In order to survive in a harshly competitive market, a company needs to enhance not only its core operational efficiency but also the performance of other business functions, including the supportive ones. As such, in this thesis, we will explore how we could improve the performance of one important supportive operation in a Thai automobile condenser manufacturer, namely the warehousing process, using RFID tracking technology. RFID tracking technology is brought into consideration by the company’s management team due to its current warehousing issues, including inventory mismatch, inventory misplacement, and faulty delivery. We found that the root cause of these problems …

Strategic Supplier Selection:The Case Of International Food Trading Company, Natchanok Paramaporn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of the research project is to develop strategic supplier selection system for an international food trading company using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The products involved are canned food for worldwide export. The decision makers consist of a president and two marketing managers. The chosen decision criteria listed by weight of important are ‘Export Capability’ (54%), ’Pricing Policy’ (28%), ‘Technological Catch-up’ (10%), ‘Ethical Practices’ (5%), and ‘Environmental Management’ (3%). The sub-criteria chosen are ‘Number of Food Safety Certificate’ (54%), ‘Net Selling Price’ (23%), ‘Automation in Production Process’ (8%), ‘Payment Terms’ (5%), ‘Worker’s Safety and Health’ (4%), ‘Adverse Weather …

Improvement Of Inventory Policy For Furniture Fittings Manufacturer, Natchaya Suntipiromkul

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this research is to improve the management of inventory in a furniture fittings manufacturer so that shortage and overstock could be reduced. Based on our initial investigations, such inventory problems were caused not only by inefficient production planning but also a lack of inventory control system that linked those plans with the stocks of raw material required. To better address the issues, two different models have been therefore proposed, namely more accurate demand forecasting models for products with different demand patterns and inventory control models for raw materials of those products. Regarding the development of more accurate …

Preventive Measures For Project Schedule Control Of Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant, Pakorn Prabhawong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objectives of this research are to analyse the construction critical paths of the combined cycle gas turbine power plant projects and to determine the delay preventive measures for project schedule control. First, the planned and actual construction schedules of the combined cycle gas turbine power plants have been studied and analysed to see their critical paths and also the near-critical path which could potentially become critical. Construction schedules of four power plants constructed in Thailand have been obtained and analysed. Their capacities and main equipment arrangement are summarized in Chapter 5.1. The common work breakdown structures have been set …

An Implementation Of Stock Allocation Plan Of Retail Store Based On Cluster Analysis, Punnakrit Natekijcharoen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This thesis presents an implementation of cluster analysis on retail store clustering so that better cluster-based stock allocation plans could be effectively devised and efficiently executed. For the case study company, stock allocation is one of its key strategic decisions as improper stock allocation, especially during special occurrences with high sale volumes, may lead to loss of sales – and so overstocking at some stores/clusters. Based on our initial investigations, we find that the current clustering technique is somewhat inefficient as it simply divides the stores into four groups with equal members based on store’s sales performance. Besides, the coefficient …

Big Data Analytics For Improving Customer Win-Back Rate In Townhome Segment, Warot Lilahajiva

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Thailand’s real-estate market is now facing with negative growth, where most developers are encountered with challenges in generating satisfactory revenue, particularly from new customers. In order to improve the revenue stream, customer win-back approach that focuses on current customers in the sales funnel and re-engages them by offering more attractive residential projects is therefore initiated. In particular, we focus on the development of predictive analytics model that potentially increases customer win-back rate by exploring the current databases, identifying significance for win-back (based on past performance), and testing the resulting predictions via several machine learning algorithms. The proposed method returns a …

Reducing The Defects Of A-Pillar Stamping Partin Automotive Assembly Process, Hassakorn Rojpitinithikorn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The goal of this research is to minimize defects in the process of automotive assembly. Regarding the one-year defect and value; the biggest defect cost come from portion of the A-Pillar stamping parts. Therefore, by using Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) to examine it and perform experiments using the Design of Experiment (DOE), we investigated the production process as well as figuring out the cause of the problems that happen in the stamping process. The results found that the issue arose from the design of stamping die, which is the risk of springback problems of parts, is not good …

A Development Of Family Continuity Management For Medical Staffs Based On Business Continuity Management, Kananut Charoenthammachoke

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nowadays, the Business Continuity Management (BCM) is one of the most effective programs to reduce impact from crisis, incident, or any disaster for organizations focusing on their continuity operations. In addition to handling the incident which disrupts or interferes the business processes, the BCM has been developed into a new term of strategy like “resilience.” The purpose of this research is to develop and implement the BCM framework program for family. In this study, the proposed “Family Continuity Management” (FCM) program training was conducted for 51 medical staffs. There are 10 phases in the FCM training program experiment. The samples …

Utilizing User-Generated Content To Analyze Tours And Activities In Bangkok: A Tripadvisor Case Study, Naina Chugh

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The overarching goal of this paper is to gain visibility on tourist preferences and whether or not the needs of tourists are being met. With the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector being the backbone to the global economy and the sector becoming more saturated and competitive, insights on T&T are vital now, more than ever. The rise of social media and user-generated content has effectuated the opportunity for a systematic analysis of tourist preferences via user-generated content. This paper is focused on gaining insights into tourism in Bangkok, Thailand through user-generated content scraped from TripAdvisor’s online reviews of tours and …

Customer Churn Prediction For A Software-As-A-Service Inventory Management Company, Phongsatorn Amornvetchayakul

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This thesis proposes customer churn prediction model for a Software-as-a-Service inventory management company in Thailand. Software-as-a-Service is the fast growing and high market values industry as a new emerging online business. Customer churn is a critical measure for this business. Thus, this thesis focuses on seeking a customer churn prediction model specified for a Software-as-a-Service inventory management company in Thailand which is facing a high churn rate issue. This thesis executes the prediction models with four machine learning algorithms: logistic regression, support vector machine, decision tree and random forest. The results show that the optimized decision tree model is capable …

Smes' Obstacles In Thailand: The Analysis Of The Association Between The Difference In Size, Sector, Region And The Problems That Occur In Business Operations, Phoom Traithaiteera

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand has increased these years. The objectives of this research were to identify obstacles in business operations and develop a guideline to promote and support SMEs in Thailand. The data was collected in the questionnaire; the respondents of this research are entrepreneurs entering the government services by the Department of Industrial Promotion between the years 2016 - 2018 with a total of 1,297 enterprises. This research used a chi-square test for independence to determine whether there is a significant association between the two variables. The results showed that the small sized …

Forecasting Daily Foreign Tourists For A Tour Operator In Thailand, Pornpawit Niamjoy

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Tour operators are playing an important role in the tourism industry which is an essential part of industries for Thailand's economy. Accurate tourist forecasting of daily tourist demands for tour operators is very important in revenue management and planning of tour operators, such as providing a guide or vehicle for each day. This research has presented and compared the forecasting models that will be selected to be suitable for the tour operator for a case-study company. The forecasting models used in this research consist of Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model (SARIMA), Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model with exogenous …

A Study Of Factors Affecting To Long-Term Relationship Of Outsourcing, Thitiporn Katato

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

"Outsourcing" is very important for the organization's strategy to seek to reduce costs and specialize in a limited number of core areas. Thailand is known worldwide as a key outsourcing service provider. To know the factors affecting long-term relationship outsourcing are essential for the business continuities of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers in Thailand. Based on the literature review, this research proposes a model that cooperation, control, and improvement will affect performance and then further affects outsourcing long-term relationship. Using a data set collected from 322 questionnaire surveys through e-mails, and 200 sent to personal to test proposed hypotheses from …

Improvement Of Forex Pairs Trading Strategy With Machine Learning Algorithms, Ronnachai Jirapongpan

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This thesis aims to study machine learning to improve the trading performance of pairs trading strategy. Pairs trading strategy is one of the most well-known algorithm trading developed in the 1980s by a group of scientists and mathematicians. The concept of the pairs trading strategy is to exploit the mispricing of two equities which their prices tend to move in the same manner. When the algorithm captures the mispricing behavior by equations or indicators, traders open a short position on the equity which its price is relatively higher than the equilibrium and open long position of the other equity. If …

ออกแบบระบบคำนวณเงินนำส่งกองทุนคุ้มครองเงินฝากและกองทุนเพื่อการฟื้นฟูและพัฒนาระบบสถาบันการเงิน, แพรววินิต กันทะวิน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีจุดประสงค์เพื่อแก้ไขสาเหตุการคำนวณเงินนำส่งไม่ถูกต้อง ลดรอบเวลาการทำงาน และลดเวลาปฏิบัติงานของพนักงานระดับกลางในกระบวนการคำนวณเงินนำส่งกองทุนคุ้มครองเงินฝากและกองทุนเพื่อการฟื้นฟูและพัฒนาระบบสถาบันการเงิน โดยแบ่งการดำเนินงานออกเป็น 4 ส่วนได้แก่ การเพิ่มกระบวนการตรวจสอบและแก้ไขข้อมูลอัตโนมัติในกระบวนการรับข้อมูลเข้าระบบสำรองข้อมูล การเปลี่ยนผู้ตรวจสอบในกระบวนการป้อนข้อมูลเข้าระบบบัญชี การปรับปรุงกระบวนการคำนวณเงินนำส่งให้เป็นมาตรฐาน และการประยุกต์ใช้ระบบอัตโนมัติแบบหุ่นยนต์เพื่อทดแทนการปฏิบัติงานของพนักงาน ผลการวิจัยพบว่า สามารถตรวจสอบและแก้ไขสาเหตุการคำนวณเงินนำส่งไม่ถูกต้องได้ รอบเวลาการทำงานลดลงจากเดิม 26 วัน เหลือ 10 วัน และเวลาปฏิบัติงานของพนักงานลดลงจากเดิม 577 นาที เหลือ 85 นาที