Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Incorporating E-Commerce Technologies Into Small And Medium Manufacturing Industries In Tanzania, M. A.M. Victor

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Businesses worldwide are making use of the new opportunities which have been brought up by the developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), particularly the Internet. Big businesses, especially those multinationals in the developed nations have invested heavily on these technologies and they are reaping their benefits. This paper reports on a study conducted to look at the key issues to be considered in order for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Tanzania be able to position themselves technologically in what is termed as E-commerce. Cost and benefits, policy, training and infrastructure issues are looked at in this study.

Weibull Model Development For Fatigue Crack Growth, Bobby Day, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

This effort is an attempt to "Weibullize" fatigue crack growth rate data as a function of stress intensity range (ΔΚ). It is not a classical Weibull application in that it does not address a population but rather treats rate of crack growth as a fraction of the highest rate of crack growth rate in the data set (usually the final data point of the set) as the "failed fraction of a population." All da/dN values are converted to a percentage or fraction of the 100% data value, processed into a linear relationship and plotted against the natural log of the …

A Review Of Nanotechnology Applications, Nick Ledbetter, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

A review of current technology research efforts has been conducted in this paper. In nanoscience, objects are measured in nanometers, 1 billionth of a meter. For comparison, a human hair is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick and the smallest feature on current computer chips measures about 200 nanometers. Since nanotechnology has a wide range of applications from computer chip manufacturing, new materials, renewable energy, interconnection technology to mount the nano-chips, and in medical science, this review presents a broad summary of development efforts in the government and private sector laboratories. Therefore this project on the one hand prepares a review of …

Using Simulation To Evaluate And Improve Performance Of The Contact Center At Bluecross Blueshield Of Tennessee, Charat Siriphongvuttikorn

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is a not-for-profit organization in health care financing with more than 4,300 employees and has a service area covering ninety five counties in Tennessee. The company now has three customer service divisions and the regional division is the biggest customer service division of the company.The objectives of this study are to evaluate the performance of the contact center of the regional division and improve its performance through the simulation while still maintaining the standard service level required by the BlueCross BlueShield Association. The simulation model was built by using Pro Model 2002 to represent the operation …

Semester Project For Engineering Entrepreneurship, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This is the semester, team-based, student project required for my special topics course on Engineering Entrepreneurship. The semester project focuses on developing a preliminary business plan for a company. This will entail coming up with an idea, exploring the marketability of the idea, and developing preliminary plans for the business.

Aligning Hierarchical Goals In An Organization: The Path From Training To Performance, Jeanette Denise Selby-Lucas

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Training is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and with the advent of the training technology revolution and the possibilities it provides to business and government, as well as to the academic community, it is important to determine if the money invested in training by these communities is providing the expected performance on the part of those who are trained. This can be done by quantitatively evaluating the relationship between training and performance.

This study extends the scholarly literature by developing the concept of organizational alignment through a combination of Human Performance Technology literature and traditional engineering methodologies. Organizational training and performance is …

Comparison Of Repair Costs Of Two Wheel Drive Tractors Under Tanzania Conditions, S. M. Mpanduji

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The repair costs of 2WD tractors were investigated in order to provide important information, which lacks in the scope of agricultural mechanization in Tanzania. Previously repair cost functions established for tractors in developed countries were used for both theoretical and practical purposes. The findings of this study have revealed that repair costs of tractors vary substantially from one make to another. The prediction functions developed in this study indicated that the magnitudes of repair costs in Tanzania are higher than the repair costs established in Europe and North America. The reason for this could be either due to high cost …

Analysis Of Costs And Delivery Intervals For Multiple-Release Software, High-Way Sun

Dissertations

Project managers of large software projects, and particularly those associated with Internet Business-to-Business (B2B) or Business-to-Customer (B2C) applications, are under pressure to capture market share by delivering reliable software with cost and timing constraints. An earlier delivery time may help the E-commerce software capture a larger market share. However, early delivery sometimes means lower quality. In addition, most of the time the scale of the software is so large that incremental multiple releases are warranted.

A Multiple-Release methodology has been developed to optimize the most efficient and effective delivery intervals of the various releases of software products, taking into consideration …

A Taxonomy Of Scheduling Problems In Semiconductor Device Test Operations, Tali Freed, Robert C. Leachman, Kenneth H. Doerr

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Semiconductor device test facilities differ not only by production volume and tester brands. The complexity of the devices and the characteristics of the testers affect the scheduling methodologies as well. Goals and strategies vary from one firm to another, leading to a variety of objectives and performance measures. Due to random yield lot size is variable and lot priorities are common. Changeover times are oftentimes sequence-dependent. Since semiconductor device testing systems are very costly, scheduling methods that increase the throughput of the facility are financially significant. In this paper we describe a variety of semiconductor device testing environments, develop mathematical …

Course On Engineering Entrepreneurship, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This is the syllabus and course note packet for students in my Engineering Entrepreneurship course. This special-topic class focuses on starting and managing a successful business. Topics will include: marketing, finance, human resources, operations, legal issues, initial public offering, and succession and estate planning. Due to the engineering background of the students, special emphasis will be on exploring the legal issues involved in the process of applying for a patent. The course will enable a student to evaluate his or her own desires and prospects for a career as an entrepreneur. In so doing, it will provide the aspiring entrepreneur …

Generic Cost Estimation Framework For Design And Manufacturing Evaluation, Uday A. Kilkami

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A major drawback of current cost estimation models is their incapability of embracing effectively complete product development stage. Parametric estimation works well in early stages of design, but in detail design stage, a more complete estimation is provided by process model based and detail estimation techniques. A major paradigm shift is proposed in this work whereby ‘Cost’ is to be considered as a design parameter from scientific perspective, and it is to be treated as a design consequence rather than as an operational outcome. A comprehensive framework using System Analysis fundamentals is designed to study ‘Process Cost’ aspects of part …

Definition And Evaluation Of Bus And Truck Automation Operations Concepts, H.-S. Jacob Tsao, Jan Botha

Faculty Publications

Traffic congestion will continue to worsen and likely worsen at a faster rate than ever. People throughput and freight throughput have become critical issues for California and the rest of the nation. PATH has been funding a one-year research project entitled “Definition And Evaluation of Bus And Truck Automation Operations Concepts,” proposed by the authors. This report summarizes the results of the research project achieved during the first six months. During those six months, we reviewed literature and developed operating concepts for both urban bus automation and inter-city truck automation. We also selected a small number of most promising operating …

The Need For Pfc Abatement In Semiconductor Manufacturing, Mohsen Manesh, Brian Kendrick

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Perfluorocompounds (PFCs) are highly stable chemical compounds used in two integral steps of semiconductor manufacturing: chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chambers and etch chambers. Unfortunately, PFCs are also greenhouse gases linked to global warming. This, combined with their long atmospheric lifetimes gives them global warming potentials much higher than C02 the principal greenhouse gas. In a series of voluntary agreements with the United States and other national governments, the worldwide semiconductor industry has set a goal of reducing PFC emissions to 90% of their 1995 levels. To reach this goal, researchers have explored four main methods of reduction: substitution of PFCs, …

The Quality Problem Solving Method And Its Effectiveness At Nortech Inc., Jeffrey Henderson

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Effect Of Exposure Time On The Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior Of Aircraft Skin Material, Kathryn Lemasters, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this research project is to identify the effects of service exposure on aircraft materials. The senior author participated in the KC-135 Corrosion Prevention Program conducted by the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Data from this research program was analyzed to compare the fatigue crack growth rates of aged aircraft materials with those of virgin materials. 2024-T3(clad) Middle Tension (M(T)) specimens were machined from the fuselage and upper wing skins of a retired aircraft. Fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) and mode 1 stress intensity factor range (Δ K) plots were generated for both sets of data. The …

Creep-Fatigue Life Prediction Of Low Alloy Steels, James Toland, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The creep-fatigue behavior of Cr-Mo steels has been examined from published data. The published data were compiled in an earlier effort and used in this paper to develop a multivariate best-fit equation to predict the low cycle fatigue life. The fatigue test temperatures were representative of temperatures experienced in nuclear power plants, which varied from room temperature to 600°C. Within this temperature range, depending upon the test parameters used, creep and fatigue processes interact and failure occurs in the lowcycle fatigue regime.

A Window-Based Software For Fatigue Crack Growth Data Reduction, B. Keeton, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this research is to develop a Windows-based program to present the fatigue crack growth rate and mode I stress intensity factor range data. Microsoft Visual Basic was used to write the code. The program developed in this study calls out the input data in terms of crack length (α) and the number of cycles (Ν). Secant and seven point polynomial distribution was used to fit the data. The installation procedure for the program was copied onto a disk to install the program. Future work is needed to further modify the a-N data and therefore to present da/dN-ΔΚ …

Dwell Sensitivity Behavior And Modeling, E. Pyburn, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Since engineering materials are exposed to dwell-times in service, it is important to understand the effects of dwell times on the fatigue life. The mechanisms controlling deformation and failure under dwell conditions are in terms of metallographic damage namely; transgranular fracture, intergranular fracture, mixed intergranular transgranular fracture modes, surface striated damage, creep damage and oxidation. These mechanisms are very difficult to include in a quantitative model to predict the dwell sensitivity behavior of high temperature materials. Published creep-fatigue data were compiled from various sources for a number of materials such as copper alloys (NARloy-Z, AMZ1RC), steel alloys (9Cr-lMo), and nickel …

Statistical Modeling Of Fatigue Crack Growth, Ignacio Guerra, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this research is to fit normal and lognormal distributions to fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) data and present the data in terms of cumulative frequency distribution (f (x)) and a variant of da/dN and mode I stress intensity factor range (ΔΚ), z. The probability density functions (F(da/dN)) were also plotted for the data. The data was compiled from open literature, conducted on a hot section turbine disk material Inconel 718 under a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) project, through the Advisory Group on Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). Incomel 718 was tested at 650°C utilizing various specimen …

Life Prediction Of Stainless Steels Used In Nuclear Reactors, Jonathan Clark, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Effects of dwell times and temperature on creep-fatigue behavior of stainless steels have been examined from published data. The temperatures of these materials varied from 430°C to 816°C. Within this temperature range creep and fatigue processes interact and failure occurs in the low-cycle regime. A least square best fit equation was developed from the compiled data fitting all the data points. The variables were temperature, strain rate, dwell time and strain range and were used with and without transformation functions to derive the equation. Statistical analysis was performed showing a very high coefficient of correlation value for the life prediction …

Failure Modes Of Biomedical Implants, Andrew Gratton, Bert Buford, Tarun Goswami, Dana Gaddykurten, Larry Suva

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The metallic biomaterials are very well known among various biomaterials. Stainless steel was used successfully as an implant material in the surgical field, then Vitallium, cobalt based alloys were used as implant materials. Titanium is the newest metallic biomaterial among three main metallic biomaterials, stainless steels, Co-based alloys and titanium alloys. These materials are used for the instrumentation replacing failed hard tissue, for example, artificial hip joints, artificial knee joints, bone plates, dental implants and in similar applications. Biocompatibility characteristics of titanium alloys make it the preferred choice for such applications, additional factors being light weight, excellent mechanical properties, corrosion …

A Simulation Based Experiment For Comparing Amhs Performance In A Semiconductor Fabrication Facility, Gerald Mackulak, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

As the cost and complexity of constructing a semiconductor fabrication facility increases, responsive tools are needed for designing and planning its operations. Discrete-event simulation paired with design of experiments is an effective combination. This article demonstrates how simulation in combination with design of experiments is used to compare the intrabay layout of two automated material handling systems. The difference in stocker robot utilization, number of vehicle moves per hour, and average delivery time for the two intrabay layouts will be compared using a fractional factorial experimental design. The study demonstrates that the distributed storage option is preferable for maximizing manufacturing …

Physical-Statistical Modeling And Optimization Of Cardiovascular Systems, Dongping Du

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heart disease remains the No.1 leading cause of death in U.S. and in the world. To improve cardiac care services, there is an urgent need of developing early diagnosis of heart diseases and optimal intervention strategies. As such, it calls upon a better understanding of the pathology of heart diseases.

Computer simulation and modeling have been widely applied to overcome many practical and ethical limitations in in-vivo, ex-vivo, and whole-animal experiments. Computer experiments provide physiologists and cardiologists an indispensable tool to characterize, model and analyze cardiac function both in healthy and in diseased heart. Most importantly, simulation modeling empowers the …