Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

The Effect Of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program On Organization's Innovation/Dynamic Capabilities, Mohammed Alomairy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the effect of Baldrige performance excellence program on organization's innovation/dynamic capabilities improvement. According to the literature, there is little or no practical method for building dynamic/innovation capabilities within organizations. The study hypothesizes that Baldrige performance excellence program helps organizations to systematically develop the required dynamic/innovation capabilities for innovation. Twenty-four organizations that had implemented Baldrige program over the past five years participated in this research study. Two types of data were measured/collected from these organizations; Performance excellence data and Innovation capabilities data. To avoid bias in the data collection, the two data were measured and collected at different …

A New Six Sigma Implementation Approach For Power Generation Gas Turbines Repair Process Development, Somesh Ghunakikar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Power Generation gas turbines used for heavy duty application mainly constitutes three modules; compressor, combustion and turbine. Typically, all these parts are designed by OEM companies for specific number of hours and cycles (also known as starts) before they become dysfunctional. In addition, Gas Turbine (GT) also have intended repair interval depending upon the type of part application and anticipated damages during service operation. Thus, GT parts need inspections and repair (overhaul) after certain operating hours in order to recondition them so that they can be fit for reoperation to produce power. In this dissertation, a unique six sigma DFSS …

Modeling And Solving Large-Scale Stochastic Mixed-Integer Problems In Transportation And Power Systems, Zhouchun Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, various optimization problems from the area of transportation and power systems will be respectively investigated and the uncertainty will be considered in each problem. Specifically, a long-term problem of electricity infrastructure investment is studied to address the planning for capacity expansion in electrical power systems with the integration of short-term operations. The future investment costs and real-time customer demands cannot be perfectly forecasted and thus are considered to be random. Another maintenance scheduling problem is studied for power systems, particularly for natural gas fueled power plants, taking into account gas contracting and the opportunity of purchasing and …

Assessing The Effect Of Social Networks On Employee Creativity In A Fast-Food Restaurant Environment, Mitchell Rabinowitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Creativity has been widely recognized as critical to the economic success of organizations for over 60 years. Today, it is considered to be the most highly prized "commodity" of businesses. As such, there have been numerous efforts to better understand creativity with the goal of increasing individual creativity and therefore improving the economic success of organizations. An emerging area of research on creativity recognizes creativity as a complex, social process that is dependent upon many factors, including those of an environmental nature. In support of this perspective, a growing amount of research has investigated the effect of social networks on …

Data Mining Models For Tackling High Dimensional Datasets And Outliers, Orestis Panos Panagopoulos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High dimensional data and the presence of outliers in data each pose a serious challenge in supervised learning. Datasets with significantly larger number of features compared to samples arise in various areas, including business analytics and biomedical applications. Such datasets pose a serious challenge to standard statistical methods and render many existing classification techniques impractical. The generalization ability of many classification algorithms is compromised due to the so-called curse of dimensionality. A new binary classification method called constrained subspace classifier (CSC) is proposed for such high dimensional datasets. CSC improves on an earlier proposed classification method called local subspace classifier …

A Biomechanical Comparison Between Expert And Novice Manual Materials Handlers Using A Multi-Joint Emg-Assisted Optimization Musculoskeletal Model Of The Lumbar Spine, Denis Gagnon, André Plamondon, Christian Larivière

Études primaires

Expertise is a key factor modulating the risk of low back disorders (LBD). Through years of practice in the workplace, the typical expert acquires high level specific skills and maintains a clean record of work-related injuries. Ergonomic observations of manual materials handling (MMH) tasks show that expert techniques differ from those of novices, leading to the idea that expert techniques are safer. Biomechanical studies of MMH tasks performed by experts/novices report mixed results for kinematic/kinetic variables, evoking potential internal effect of expertise. In the context of series of box transfers simulated by actual workers, detailed internal loads predicted by a …

The Influence Of Operational Resources And Activities On Indirect Personnel Costs: A Multilevel Modeling Approach, Bradley C. Boehmke, Alan W. Johnson, Edward D. White, Jeffery D. Weir, Mark A. Gallagher

Faculty Publications

Indirect activities often represent an underemphasized, yet significant, contributing source of costs for organizations. In order to manage indirect costs, organizations must understand how these costs behave relative to changes in operational resources and activities. This is of particular interest to the Air Force and its sister services, because recent and projected reductions in defense spending are forcing reductions in their operational variables, and insufficient research exists to help them understand how this may influence indirect costs. Furthermore, although academic research on indirect costs has advanced the knowledge behind the modeling and behavior of indirect costs, significant gaps in the …

Improving Machine Changeover/Setup Times By Increasing U.S. Manufacturers' Knowledge Of 5s, Nicole Schra-Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 5S process is one of the techniques born out of Japanese manufacturing. Ohno, the developer of 5S, found that when manufacturing waste is eliminated, costs are reduced and profits increase. This is the bases of 5S and this research. The cost of U.S. manufactured products is higher compared to the cost of products from other global manufacturers that use 5S. This study was conducted to determine if implementing 5S in U.S. manufacturing could change U.S. manufacturing cost and if using 5S could impact U.S. manufacturing. The research questions focused on the relationship between 5S and changeover/setup times on production …

Strategies To Improve Data Quality For Forecasting Repairable Spare Parts, Uyi Harrison Eguasa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor input data quality used in repairable spare parts forecasting by aerospace small and midsize enterprises (SME) suppliers results in poor inventory practices that manifest into higher costs and critical supply shortage risks. Guided by the data quality management (DQM) theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to identify the key strategies that the aerospace SME repairable spares suppliers use to maximize their input data quality used in forecasting repairable spare parts. The multiple case study comprised of a census sample of 6 forecasting business leaders from aerospace SME repairable spares suppliers located …

Exploring Maintenance And Facility Operations Strategies For California Community Colleges, Virginia Parras Grande

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

California community college leaders are looking for strategies to sustain facilities and maintenance operations because the governor only approved the allocation of $87.5 million in the 2014-2015 Budget Act for facilities maintenance operations. Guided by the change and strategy theories, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore the strategies that a select group of college leaders have used to sustain or improve their facilities maintenance operations. The data collection process included a review of college planning documents and semistructured interviews with 10 senior administrators from 3 large California community colleges who have used strategies to address sustaining or …

Optimal Energy Management System For A Net Zero Building Using Multi-Agent Systems Approach, Arzhang Ghassemi Pashakalaei

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Buildings have a significant impact on energy usage and the environment. Much of the research in architectural sustainability has centered on economically advanced countries because they consume the most energy and have the most resources. However, sustainable architecture is important in developing countries, where the energy consumption of the building sector is increasing significantly. The aims of this Thesis are investigating using the hybrid system, which formed by interconnecting two source of renewable energy as solar (PV arrays) and wind (turbine) along with city grid for compensation purposes wherever it is required. In this Thesis, after literature review, we consider …

A Novel Approach To Control Corrosion Behaviour On Bio Materials Using Taguchi Method (Design Of Experiments), Sai Dhiresh Kilari

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the present work, the Taguchi method, from the design of experiment (DOE) has been used to optimize the dip testing method to test the corrosion resistance of bio degradable materials such as PLA (Polylactic acid)and PCL (Polycaprolactone). A L9 (9) orthogonal array of Taguchi design was used, which involves nine experiments for three parameters (pH, sample, temperature) with three levels was used. Corrosion resistance in various pH change of HCL solution was evaluated by dip tests at various temperatures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed on the obtained measured data and S/N (signal to noise) ratios. The lower the …

Enhancing Surface Finish Of Fused Deposition Modeling Parts Through Targeted Chemicals And Design Of Experiments, Saurabh Nayyar Nayyar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most popular rapid prototyping (RP) technologies due to its low operational cost, high fabrication speed, and range of applications served. However, FDM fabricated parts generally have poor surface finish quality which have limited their utilization in end-use applications. To enhance surface quality of FDM materials, several researchers have regulated key process parameters using the FDM material, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), with varying results. The main goal of this research is to investigate the effects of a post-fabrication chemical treatment process on the surface roughness for FDM parts of the FDM material ULTEM. …

Design Of Experiments-Based Scara Robot Parameter Evaluation For Embedding Electronics Into 3d Print, Sreekara Charith Boppana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive manufacturing processes combined with enhanced technologies for electronics production enables a highly flexible manufacturing of personalized 3D electronic devices. Due to the enormous progress within the last years, these technologies made their way from prototyping towards manufacturing. The growing request for products manufactured in batch size, making use of a robot to incorporate the electronic components necessary to make functional 3-Dimensional-Structural Electronics will extend the mass production possibilities. There is significant interest in automation of a process is which parameters are influential in the occurrence of assembly defects and which adjustments should be made to those variables to reduce …

Post-Disaster Supply Chain Interdependent Critical Infrastructure System Restoration: A Review Of Data Necessary And Available For Modeling, Varun Ramachandran, Suzanna Long, Tom Shoberg, Steven Corns, Hector J. Carlo

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The majority of restoration strategies in the wake of large-scale disasters have focused on short-term emergency response solutions. Few consider medium- to long-term restoration strategies to reconnect urban areas to national supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure systems (SCICI). These SCICI promote the effective flow of goods, services, and information vital to the economic vitality of an urban environment. To re-establish the connectivity that has been broken during a disaster between the different SCICI, relationships between these systems must be identified, formulated, and added to a common framework to form a system-level restoration plan. To accomplish this goal, a considerable collection …

Assessing Safety Culture Among Personnel In Governmental Construction Sites At Saudi Arabia: A Quantitative Study Approach, Omar Alrehaili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety is an essential issue for organizations to survive, especially for hazardous industries such as the construction industry. The construction industry is considered to be one of the major industries that help in the growth of the economy and the infrastructure of all countries. Recently, scholars have paid increasing attention to the concept of safety culture due to its role in decreasing the occurrences of accidents and injuries. Safety culture has become the focus of all industries and has received much attention in recent years, especially within the construction industry. Absence of this culture is a major cause of injuries …

The Role Of 'Metasystem' In Engineering A System Of Systems, Polinpapilinho F. Katina, Charles B. Keating, Joseph M. Bradley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Fundamentally, a system of systems is characterized by operational independence, managerial independence, evolutionary development, emergent behavior, and geographical distribution. However, value-wise, a system of systems should provide greater capability beyond that which individual systems can provide. Enabling this greater capability has to be purposely designed for and managed. In this paper, we argue that this is the primary role of the metasystem structure and its execution. A metasystem is a governing structure that provides coordination and integration of multiple systems, brought together to achieve overarching missions and functions beyond those of the constituent systems. This paper articulates the differences between …

Tractor Hydraulic Power Data Acquisition System, J. B.W. Roeber, Santosh Pitla, Michael F. Kocher, Joe D. Luck, Roger M. Hoy

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Tractor hydraulic power is used on a wide range of agricultural implements; however, the availability of operational hydraulic data at points other than full engine throttle position is limited. Operators could utilize this hydraulic data to maximize field efficiency and minimize machinery costs when determining suitable machinery for field operations. A field usable hydraulic test apparatus capable of measuring tractor hydraulic pressure and flow rate data was developed. The goal of this study was to determine if a hydraulic flow and pressure measurement device could be installed on the rear of a tractor to provide implement hydraulic power consumption at …

Achieving Value Co-Creation In It Outsourcing, Szu-Yuan Sun, Li-Shan Chen

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Over the past few decades, information technology outsourcing has become a widely used and researched means for enterprises to enhance their performance. As future collaboration is the most desirable outcome between enterprises and IT outsourcing vendors, the purpose of this study is to construct a new model to examine: 1) whether information technology outsourcing satisfaction impact future collaboration, 2) whether value co-creation impact outsourcing satisfaction, 3)which factors influence value co-creation, and 4) whether trust influence enterprises’ commitments. This research assumes that: 1) trust predicts enterprises’ commitments; 2) customer orientation and participation, service quality, communication culture, and enterprises’ commitment predicts value …

Identifying Four Key Means Of Business Value Creation Using Enterprise Systems: An Empirical Study, Prithvi Bhattacharya

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Enterprise Systems (ES) is increasingly becoming the choice of IT platform for most large organizations in the world. As a result, the potential of such systems to create more business value is of key interest to both industry and academia. The aim of this study is to identify the key means of business value creation that Enterprise Systems can enable. The contribution of this paper is that it identifies and proposes four key means by which Enterprise Systems can create business value: (a) Operational Efficiency (b) Mergers and Acquisitions, (c) Innovation (in product and process), (d) Strategic Decision Making. This …

Choice Of Agile Methodologies In Software Development: A Vendor Perspective, Sriram Rajagopalan, Saji K. Mathew

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The purpose of this research was to develop understanding about how vendor firms make choice about agile methodologies in software projects and their fit. Two analytical frameworks were developed from extant literature and the findings were compared with real world decisions. Framework 1 showed that the choice of XP for one project was not supported by the guidelines given by the framework. The choices of SCRUM for other two projects, were partially supported. Analysis using the framework 2 showed that except one XP project, all others had sufficient project management support, limited scope for adaptability and had prominence for rules.

Enhancing The Use Of Web 2.0 Technologies In Higher Education: Students’ And Lectures’ Views, Razep Echeng, Abel Usoro

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Learning quality enhancement with Web 2.0 tools needs good implementation framework and lessons from best practice. However, there is not much research on what constitutes best practice in the implementation of Web 2.0 in learning activities. This research seeks to fill this gap by seeking the views of students and lecturers on increased adoption of Web 2.0 social tools in learning activities. The research reports on the quantitative and qualitative study carried out in UK. This research reveals that improved learning experience with the use of Web 2.0 tools in higher education is positively related to perceived usefulness, perceived ease …

Trends In Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Vs. Proprietary Applications, Vijay K. Agrawal, Vipin K. Agrawal, A. Ross Taylor

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study examines factors valued by IS managers in deciding if COTS software is a viable alternative to proprietary software. The results indicate managers who anticipate increased usage of COTS packages in 5 years used the same top three factors in the formation of their decisions to adopt COTS as their colleagues who anticipated either zero change in COTS usage or an increased usage of proprietary software used in deciding not to adopt COTS software. Managers anticipating increased COTS usage had a statistically significant higher value for each of those items compared to managers not anticipating growth in COTS software.

Online Trust Cues: Perceptions And Application, Antonina A. Bauman

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This qualitative study analyzes perceptions of online trust cues as identified by shoppers from three countries: Germany, Russia, and the USA. A novel approach of the repertory grid method is used to study online trust cues in business-to-consumers commercial online transactions. This study resulted in the list of web site elements and features that consumers recognize as trust cues and use to evaluate e-vendor’s trustworthiness. Findings show that out of fourteen categories of online trust cues, identified by online shoppers, three categories of online trust cues are found to be common across three cultures while eleven categories are culture specific. …

Evaluation Of Classification And Ensemble Algorithms For Bank Customer Marketing Response Prediction, Olatunji Apampa

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This article attempts to improve the performance of classification algorithms used in the bank customer marketing response prediction of an unnamed Portuguese bank using the Random Forest ensemble. A thorough exploratory data analysis (EDA) was conducted on the data in order to ascertain the presence of anomalies such as outliers and extreme values. The EDA revealed that the bank data had 45, 211 instances and 17 features, with 11.7% positive responses. This was in addition to the detection of outliers and extreme values. Classification algorithms used for modelling the bank dataset include; Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, Naïve Bayes and the …

The Perceived Business Benefit Of Cloud Computing: An Exploratory Study, Thomas Chen, Ta-Tao Chuang, Kazuo Nakatani

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The objective of the research is to study the benefits of cloud computing perceived by adopters and examine the impact of moderating factors on the relationship between the type of cloud computing and the perceived benefit. The moderating factors include firm size and value-chain activities. A measurement instrument of a 5-point Likert scale was administered on businesses of different sizes in Taiwan. The benefit of cloud computing measured in the study were: cost reduction, improved capability and enhanced scalability. The results show that the perceived benefit of cloud computing varies depending on the type of cloud computing, the value chain …

การปรับปรุงกระบวนการออกแบบชุดสายไฟในรถยนต์, ทิวารัตน์ สวัสดี

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยฉบับนี้ ทำการศึกษาเกี่ยวกับบริษัท ออกแบบสายไฟในรถยนต์ที่ให้ความสำคัญในเรื่องความพึงพอใจของลูกค้า ซึ่งเป็นหนึ่งในปัจจัยที่สำคัญที่สุดในการออกแบบผลิตภัณฑ์ ด้วยเหตุนี้บริษัท จึงใช้วิธีการทั้งหมดในการออกแบบกระบวนการออกแบบผลิตภัณฑ์ตามความต้องการที่หลากหลายของลูกค้า จึงทำให้มีการเปลี่ยนแปลงการออกแบบเป็นจำนวนมาก งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อปรับปรุงกระบวนการออกแบบชุดสายไฟในรถยนต์ที่มีผลต่อกำหนดการผลิตโดยใช้การวิเคราะห์ Fault Tree และ Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) เป็นเครื่องมือหลัก FTA ใช้สำหรับการวิเคราะห์สาเหตุหลักและใช้ FMEA เพื่อจัดลำดับความสำคัญสูง (RPN) ซึ่งแสดงให้เห็นถึงความสำคัญของปัจจัยต่างๆในชุดสายไฟในรถยนต์ที่มีผลกระทบสูงต่อการออกแบบชุดสายไฟในรถยนต์ และหลังจากมีการปรับปรุงกระบวนการออกแบบและควบคุมปัจจัยที่ส่งผลเสียต่อกระบวนการออกแบบจะพบการขอเปลี่ยนแปลงการออกแบบที่ลดลงจาก 0.26 ครั้ง ต่อการออกแบบ 1 ครั้ง เป็น 0.06 ครั้ง ต่อการออกแบบ 1 ครั้ง แสดงถึงกระบวนการออกแบบที่ถูกปรับปรุงให้สามารถสร้างความพึงพอใจแก่ลูกค้าที่มีต่อผลิตภัณฑ์มากขึ้น

Applications Of Digital Manufacturing In Manufacturing Process Support, Vukica Jovanovic, Mihael Debevec, Niko Herakovic, Alok Verma, Mileta Tomovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In this study, the authors developed three new approaches and models for improvements related to manufacturing processes. The main focus was on planning in a digital environment before the actual manufacturing process is carried out. The first approach is digital manufacturing, which gives affords the opportunity for performing an entire manufacturing process in a virtual environment. In this way, engineers virtually define, plan, create, monitor, and control all production processes. The planning phase can be done simultaneously, while other manufacturing processes are already in place. In this way, processes can continue with no interruption. Various product lifecycle management tools have …

The Reconfigurable Machinery Efficient Workspace Analysis Based On The Twist Angles, Ana M. Djuric, Vukica Jovanovic, Mirjana Filipovic, Ljubinko Kevac

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A novel methodology for the calculation, visualisation and analysis of the Reconfigurable Machinery Efficient Workspace (RMEW), based on the twist angles, is presented in this paper. The machinery's kinematic parameters are used for calculating the workspace, while the efficient workspace is associated with the machinery's path and includes the end-effector position and orientation. To analyse and visualise many different machinery efficient workspaces at the same time, the calculation is based on the previously developed and validated complex reconfigurable machinery's kinematic structure named n-DOF Global Kinematic Model (n-GKM). An industrial robot is used as an example to demonstrate …

Assessing Leanness Level With Demand Dynamics In A Multi-Stage Production System, Rehab M. Ali, Ahmed Deif

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Purpose

Design/methodology/approach