Industrial Engineering Commons^™

A Measurement Tool For Circular Economy Practices: A Case Study In Pallet Supply Chains, Maria Grazia Gnoni, Fabiana Tornese, Brian K. Thorn, Andres L. Carrano, Jennifer A. Pazour

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

A circular economy (CE) is an economic system where products and services are traded in closed loops or ‘cycles’. This work develops a framework for assessing the extent to which product supply chains incorporate circular economy principles, and applies this framework to a specific material handling application, the wooden pallet supply chain. The main decisions affecting circularity and the most common decision alternatives for the wooden pallet supply chain are identified for the Pre-manufacturing, manufacturing, product delivery, customer use, and end-of-life phases. A streamlined life cycle assessment tool is developed for supporting a quick analysis about how the level of …

On The Unique Features And Benefits Of On-Demand Distribution Models, Jennifer A. Pazour, Kaan Unnu

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

To close the gap between current distribution operations and today’s customer expectations, firms need to think differently about how resources are acquired, managed and allocated to fulfill customer requests. Rather than optimize planned resource capacity acquired through ownership or long- term partnerships, this work focuses on a specific supply-side innovation – on-demand distribution platforms. On-demand distribution systems move, store, and fulfill goods by matching autonomous suppliers' resources (warehouse space, fulfillment capacity, truck space, delivery services) to requests on-demand. On-demand warehousing systems can provide resource elasticity by allowing capacity decisions to be made at a finer granularity (at the pallet-level) and …

Synthetic Order Data Generator For Picking Data, Mohammadnaser Ansari, Behnam Rasoolian, Jeffrey S. Smith

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Sample data are in high demand for testing and benchmarking purposes. Like many other fields, warehousing and specifically order picking process are not exempt from the need for sample data. Sample data are used in order picking pro- cesses as a way of testing new methodologies such as new routing and new storage allocation approaches. Unfortunately, access to real order picking data is limited because of confidentiality and privacy issues which make it difficult to obtain practical results from the new methodologies. On the other hand, order data follows a highly complex and correlated structure that cannot be easily extracted …

Optimization Of A Fast-Pick Area In A Cosmetics Distribution Center, Mario C. Velez-Gallego, Alice E. Smith

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Fast-pick areas are commonly used in order picking warehouses to improve labor efficiency by concentrating picking activities within a compact area, thus minimizing the distance traveled by the pickers. One problem that must be solved when a fast-pick area is to be implemented is the so-called assignment-allocation problem. This deals with deciding which products should be assigned to the fast-pick area, and how much space should be allocated to these products. This research was motivated by the picking operation of a cosmetics distribution center where several fast-pick areas are in place. A mixed integer linear programming formulation is proposed for …

Service Flow Networks For Functional Design Of Distribution Centers, Michael Schmidt, Detlef Spee, Michael Ten Hompel

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This work deals with the determination of an approach for concept planning of distribution centers. For this purpose, the "Distribution Center Design Process" is defined. Solution concepts for logistics centers are developed and evaluated in an eight-step process. In particular, it will be focused on formalization of the functional area, which has not been considered scientifically, yet. This results, among other things, in the definition of services and basic transformation properties of handling units. These can be used to create and semantically test service flow networks, which describe the functional sequence and transformations of service objects in distribution centers.

Progress In Autonomous Picking As Demonstrated By The Amazon Robotic Challenge, Dominik Colling, Jonathan Dziedzitz, Kai Furmans, Patric Hopfgarten, Kai Markert

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

The automation of the picking process is a longheld dream in intra-logistics. while the expert judgment in recent years was, that there is no immediate applicability to be expected for applications in areas, where the variety of products is high. However, the recent advances in computer science, mechanical engineering and material handling systems design have moved the field substantially forward. In this article we want to show, how the Amazon Robotic Challenge has driven this development process and how capable the technology is. The Amazon robotic Challenge (ARC) and its increasingly difficult challenges are described first. Then the applied technology …

The Small World Of Material Handling Research, Parag J. Siddique, Kevin Gue, Md Salahuddin Ayuby

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Using data from 88 journals over an 8 year period, we investigate the relationships among researchers in material handling. We apply social network analysis to measure many attributes of the network, including papers published each year, papers published per author, number of collaborators per author, strength of collaboration between authors, and how influential an author is in the network. We observe that collaboration patterns in material handling follow a scale-free structure in the presence of some hub-like researchers. According to social network theory, these hub researchers facilitate rapid dissemination of knowledge in the network. We conclude that the scientific community …

A Design Methodology To Optimize Supply Chain Network Performance, Dheeraporn Nippaya, J. David Porter

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Organizations are constantly looking for new ways to reduce costs while still providing high customer service levels to face stringent competitive environments and the ever- increasing market globalization. An alternative these organizations can pursue to respond to these challenges and to gain a competitive differentiation is to optimize their supply chain network (SCN). This research aims to develop an effective SCN design strategy to locate facilities (i.e., plants and distribution centers) and to balance the allocation of customers to these facilities to satisfy capacity limitations and customer demands with minimum total cost and maximum level of service. It is anticipated …

Economic And Performance Analysis Of Dual-Bay Vertical Lift Modules, Fabio Sgarbossa, Martina Calzavara, Alessandro Persona

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Warehouse picking is one of the most time and cost consuming activities in a warehouse, often requiring the presence of human operators, who travel within the aisles to retrieve the items needed by the customers. Several studies demonstrate that the travelling activity can represent even the 50% of the total picking time, with a subsequent creation of a separate storage and picking area for small objects. In the last years, new solutions for order picking systems have been developed, especially for small items. One of these solutions requires Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs), storage columns with extractable trays. In this paper, …

Collaborative Bots In Distribution Centers, Russell D. Meller, Dima Nazzal, Lisa M. Thomas

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This research investigates the business case for using autonomous collaborative robots (“bots”) in warehouses. Bots are designed to work collaboratively with human workers in warehouses to fill orders, primarily in e-commerce environments. In order-picking applications, a bot knows the location of every item in the warehouse, and when an item needs to be picked for an order, the bot navigates to that item and waits. Human workers are assigned to patrol specific zones, and when they see a bot waiting, the worker walks to the bot, reads the instructions off the screen, executes the task, and moves on. The bot …

A Performance Calculator For Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval System Design, Banu Yetkin Ekren, Anil Akpunar, Tone Lerher

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

In this study, we present an analytical model based tool that can estimate critical performance measures from a pre-defined shuttle-based storage and retrieval system (SBS/RS) design. SBS/RS is relatively a new automated storage and retrieval technology and mostly used for mini-load material handling. In this study, we develop an open queuing network model based tool estimating critical performance measures: the mean travel time of lifts/shuttles, utilization of lifts/shuttles, amount of energy consumption and energy regeneration per transaction, waiting times and number of jobs waiting in queues, etc., from a pre-defined SBS/RS design. By the developed tool, one can evaluate an …

Urban Parcel Logistics Hub And Network Design: The Impact Of Modularity And Hyperconnectivity, Benoit Montreuil, Shannon Buckley, Louis Faugere, Reem Khir, Shahab Derhami

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This paper examines how exploiting the hyperconnectivity and modularity concepts underpinning the Physical Internet enables the parcel logistics industry to meet the worldwide challenges to efficiently and sustainably offer faster and more precise deliveries across urban agglomerations, notably across the world’s megacities. It emphasizes disruptive transformations of package logistics hubs and networks, such as multi-tier world pixelization, multi-plane parcel logistics web, smart dynamic parcel routing and hub-based consolidation, and modular parcel containerization.

Dynamic Batching For Order Picking In Warehouses, Jelmer Pier Van Der Gaast, Bolor Jargalsaikhan, Kees Jan Roodbergen

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Dynamic batch picking is characterized by combining product demand from multiple customer orders into one pick tour where new orders are continuously received. Using modern order-picking aids, updated picking instructions can be included in the current pick tours which allows pickers to be re-routed to pick for new orders even when they already started a pick tour. We develop a mathematical model for dynamic batch picking that minimizes the order throughput time of incoming customer orders. In case of new order arrivals, we can quickly re-optimize the model and determine new updated pick tours. This allows for short order throughput …

Influential Factors In Consumer's Adoption Of Innovative Products, Mahdokht Kalantari

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the challenges involved with the process of diffusion of innovations in the contexts of innovative educational materials and technological innovations.

Chapters 2 and 3 discuss building and using Online Brand Communities (OBCs) to disseminate innovative math educational materials. OBCs are known to be important platforms where consumers can communicate with the brand as well as other consumers. Through the effective use of these platforms, brands could accelerate the process of diffusion of their innovations. However, OBCs will not survive if consumers do not get engaged and participate in these communities. The purpose of this section of the …

The Impact Of Machine Learning Algorithms On Benchmarking Process In Healthcare Service Delivery, Egbe-Etu Emmanuel Etu

Wayne State University Theses

Currently, organizations have adopted and implemented a variety of innovative quality management philosophies, approaches, and techniques to stay competitive in an ever-changing global economy. Benchmarking is one of such techniques deployed by organizations to stay competitive. The motivation for this research stems from a real-world problem being faced by hospitals in the healthcare industry who have amassed a ton of data and want to embark on benchmarking project to assess the performance of the emergency departments due to challenges faced with poor management of operations which has led to high patient boarding rates, high patient wait-times, poor quality service, low …

Differences In The Throughput Performance Of The Warehouse Depending On The Quality Of The Calculation Parameters, David Sourek

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This article explores the quality level of the parameters that are used to determine the throughput performance of the warehouse. In our model case, this is a rack warehouse where the storage and picking of goods is ensured by forklifts. All kind of goods are stored on pallets. The aim of our research is to assess to what extent the quality level (accuracy) of the description of warehouse processes influences the accuracy of the determination of the throughput performance of the warehouse. In the first part of the article, we defined the parameters and the ways in which different levels …

การประยุกต์ใช้สารหล่อเย็นน้อยที่สุดในการกลึงชิ้นงานดรัมไฮคลัช, ณัฐรดา ขำจีน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การกลึงเป็นกระบวนการหลักที่ใช้ในการแปรรูปชิ้นส่วนยานยนต์ และจากความต้องการผลผลิตที่มากขึ้น จึงต้องใช้ความเร็วในการตัด และอัตราการป้อนตัดที่สูง ซึ่งการตัดดังกล่าวทำให้อุณหภูมิในการตัดสูง เป็นสาเหตุให้อายุการใช้งานของมีดตัดลดลง ไม่เพียงส่งผลกระทบต่อคุณภาพผิวของชิ้นงานแล้ว ยังส่งผลให้อัตราการผลิตต่ำลงด้วย จากการหยุดเครื่องจักรเพื่อทำการเปลี่ยนมีดตัดใหม่ ดังนั้นการใช้การใช้สารหล่อเย็น (คูลแลนท์) เป็นวิธีหนึ่งที่นิยมใช้เพื่อช่วยลดอุณหภูมิที่เกิดขึ้นขณะตัด ลดอัตราการสึกหรอของมีดตัด ช่วยยืดอายุการใช้งานของมีดตัด และชิ้นงานได้คุณภาพตามที่ต้องการ อย่างไรก็ตามใช้การใช้สารหล่อเย็นก็ไม่ได้เป็นทางเลือกที่ดีเสมอไป จากต้นทุนที่สูงและปัญหาด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม ดังนั้นการใช้เทคนิค MQL จึงเป็นทางเลือกหนึ่งที่เริ่มใช้มากขึ้นในปัจจุบัน เพื่อแก้ปัญหาที่กล่าวมาข้างต้น งานวิจัยนี้ได้เสนอการใช้เทคนิค MQL มาใช้ทดแทนการตัดแบบเปียกที่ใช้ในกระบวนการผลิตปัจจุบัน โดยนำมาประยุกต์ใช้ เพื่อศึกษาเงื่อนไขการตัดที่เหมาะสมสำหรับวัสดุเหล็กคาร์บอนเกรด SAPH370 ด้วยเครื่องมือตัดคาร์ไบด์ โดยเงื่อนไขการตัดที่เหมาะสมจะพิจารณาจากปริมาณสารหล่อเย็นน้อยที่สุด และอายุการใช้งานของมีดตัดสูงสุด ภายใต้ความขรุขระผิวเฉลี่ย (Ra) ไม่เกิน 1.2 ไมโครเมตร จากงานวิจัยนี้ได้เสนอเงื่อนไขการตัดที่เหมาะสมที่อัตราการป้อนตัด 0.10 มิลลิเมตรต่อรอบ ความเร็วในการตัด 300 เมตรต่อนาที และปริมาณการใช้สารหล่อเย็น 5 มิลลิเมตรต่อชั่วโมง

An Engineering Analytics Based Framework For Computational Advertising Systems, Mengmeng Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Engineering analytics is a multifaceted landscape with a diversity of analytics tools which comes from emerging fields such as big data, machine learning, and traditional operations research. Industrial engineering is capable to optimize complex process and systems using engineering analytics elements and the traditional components such as total quality management. This dissertation has proven that industrial engineering using engineering analytics can optimize the emerging area of Computational Advertising. The key was to know the different fields very well and do the right selection. However, people first need to understand and be experts in the flow of the complex application of …

The Design, Test And Evaluation Of A Sensing System For Process Analytical Technology (Pat), Trevor Murphy

Theses

Increased globalisation and competitiveness has given rise to a more dynamic and diverse global market that has begun to place incredible strain on manufacturing supply chains. Conventional manufacturing methods such as the batch manufacturing methods employed largely by the materials processing industries i.e. pharmaceuticals, polymers and magnesium processing plants are ill-suited to cope with the demands of today. As products evolve with technological advancements they become more complex to produce and require alternative approaches to manufacturing to ensure product quality while reducing costs and increasing manufacturing efficiencies.

A potential solution to the growing demands on today's supply chain is process …

Regression Analysis Of Factors Impacting Problem Solving Engagement Within Lean Systems Implementation, David M. Parsley Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Organizations around the world have attempted to implement the concepts of the Toyota Production System (TPS), commonly referred to as Lean, with limited sustainable success. The central principles of TPS, continuous improvement and respect for people, are grounded in the Japanese values of Monozukuri and Hitozukuri. Monozukuri deals with creating or making a product, while Hitozukuri conveys the idea of developing people through learning. In order for organizations to adopt these values they must have a system that engages employees at all levels in applying problem solving to improve their work. This research uses organizational assessments obtained from a variety …

A Methodology On Weapon Combat Effectiveness Analytics Using Big Data And Live, Virtual, Or/And Constructive Simulations, Won Jung Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Weapon Combat Effectiveness (WCE) analytics is very expensive, time-consuming, and dangerous in the real world because we have to create data from the real operations with a lot of people and weapons in the actual environment. The Modeling and Simulation (M&S) of many techniques is used for overcoming these limitations. Although the era of big data has emerged and achieved a great deal of success in a variety of fields, most WCE research using the Defense Modeling and Simulation (DM&S) techniques were studied without the help of big data technologies and techniques. The existing research has not considered various …

Comparative Analysis Of The Effects Of Virtual Reality Active Video Game And Controller-Free Active Video Game Play On Physiological Response, Perceived Exertion, And Hedonic Experience, Shanon Wooden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over 60% of US adults are overweight or obese. Sedentary lifestyles are considered major contributors to the high rates and increasing prevalence of obesity. Physical activity is a critical component in shifting from sedentary lifestyles. Studies indicate that less than half of U.S. adults meet the CDC/ACSM physical activity recommendations. Interactive video games can increase PA, but no study has yet assessed physiologic effort, hedonics, and perceived exertion for playing immersive virtual reality (VR) and controller-free screen-based active video games (AVGs), compared to treadmill walking and resting. We ran 25 subjects (9 female, 16 male) in 10-minute sessions of five …

A Framework For Prioritizing Opportunities Of Improvement In The Context Of Business Excellence Model In Healthcare Organization, Alia Aldarmaki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today's world, the healthcare sector is facing challenges to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. More and more improvement projects are being adopted to enhance healthcare services, making it more patient-centric, and enabling better cost control. Healthcare organizations strive to identify and carry out such improvement initiatives to sustain their businesses and gain competitive advantage. Seeking to reach a higher operational level of excellence, healthcare organizations utilize business excellence criteria to conduct assessment and identify organizational strengths and weaknesses. However, while such assessments routinely identify numerous areas for potential improvement, it is not feasible to conduct all …

Inspection Process Flow Development For A Warehouse, Pahalawaththage Perera

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The project is based on a medical device outsourcing company in the US. In 2018 the company added a 44,000 sq ft new warehouse. With the scales of growth and market competition, it has come to a need to optimize production capacity to achieve 98% monthly on time delivery target. Optimizing production capacity comes with efficiently managing operations that impact overall product lead time. A primary factor that impacts the overall product lead time is production preparation time. Production preparation time is impacted by lead times of 3 operations managed by the new warehouse - Receiving Inspection, Incoming Inspection, and …

การเพิ่มระดับการยอมรับเทเลเมติกส์สำหรับการประกันภัยรถยนต์ในประเทศไทย, พีระวิช คงเมือง

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

เทเลเมติกส์เป็นเทคโนโลยีใหม่ในอุตสาหกรรมประกันภัยรถยนต์ในประเทศไทย ถือกำเนิดจากความต้องการเปลี่ยนแปลงพฤติกรรมของผู้ขับขี่ให้มีความปลอดภัย ซึ่งยังไม่ได้รับการยอมรับจากลูกค้ามากนัก ผู้วิจัยจึงได้ทำการสำรวจความต้องการของลูกค้าและปัญหาการใช้งาน จากนั้นได้ทำการศึกษาทฤษฎีและงานวิจัยที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการยอมรับนวัตกรรมและเทคโนโลยี เพื่อศึกษาปัจจัยการยอมรับเทเลเมติกส์ โดยทำการวิจัยตามกระบวนการพัฒนานวัตกรรม 5D เพื่อตอบสนองความต้องการของลูกค้าอย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ การวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลและทดสอบสมมติฐาน พบว่า 2 ปัจจัยคือ สภาพสิ่งอำนวยความสะดวกในการใช้งาน และแรงจูงใจภายนอก ส่งผลต่อความตั้งใจในการใช้งาน จากนั้นใช้เทคนิคการแปลงความต้องการเชิงคุณภาพในการออกแบบแนวคิดผลิตภัณฑ์ และนำผลการศึกษาที่ได้มาใช้ในการพัฒนาเทเลเมติกส์ในครั้งนี้ ผู้วิจัยได้ทำการวิเคราะห์สถานการณ์ในปัจจุบัน โดยใช้ทฤษฎีการแพร่กระจายนวัตกรรมและศึกษาข้อกำหนดทางกฎหมายในเรื่องค่าเบี้ยประกันภัยรถยนต์ ทำให้ผู้วิจัยได้ตัดสินใจนำเทคโนโลยี Beacon เข้ามาใช้ร่วมกับแอพพลิเคชั่นเทเลเมติกส์ ซึ่งสอดคล้องกับปัจจัยการยอมรับด้านสภาพสิ่งอำนวยความสะดวกในการใช้งาน ผลการประเมินความคิดเห็นของผู้ทดลองใช้งาน 39 คน พบว่า ความตั้งใจในการใช้งาน ค่าเฉลี่ยอยู่ 3.01 ส่วนเบี่ยงเบนมาตรฐาน 0.95 เมื่อทดสอบสมมติฐานก่อนพัฒนาและหลังพัฒนา สรุปได้ว่า มีความแตกต่างอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับความเชื่อมั่น 95%

Contribution Of Physical Internet Containers To Mitigate The Risk Of Cargo Theft, Yanyan Yang, Eric Ballot, Miguel Gaston Cedillo-Campos

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Different from current dedicated goods distribution solutions, the goods in the Physical Internet are encapsulated in modular dimensioned standard easy-to-interlock smart containers in an open interconnected logistic system. This paper aims to study the performance of the application of this cross-chain innovative packaging solution, especially its potential against cargo theft risks. To attain this, both qualitative and quantitative studies are carried out. With a scenario-based cost-justification model, different case studies are examined. Results suggest that through the modularity and standardization, the application of Physical Internet Containers will significantly improve the logistics performance and reduce cargo theft risks.

A Framework For Modeling Material Handling With Decentralized Control, Kai Furmans, Kevin R. Gue

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Despite decades of research in material handling, the academic community still has no accepted way of describing material handling requirements in a way that machines and algorithms can process them. Such a “way of describing” requires a language with which to describe requirements, objects, relationships between objects, and so on. We propose a modeling framework that differs from existing research in two ways: First, we address material handling modeling from the bottom up rather than from the top down, meaning we define a set of elementary functions and then combine them into processes and more complex relationships that allow us …

Pull-Driven Order Fulfillment In Distribution Centers, Dima Nazzal, Shankar Shanmugasundaram, Sung Kim, Russell D. Meller

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

One of the challenges facing e-commerce fulfillment is the rigidity of the wave management system that often dictates a fixed batch size that must be processed before the next wave of orders is released. As a result, operation managers usually push multiple waves, which lead to accumulation at bottleneck resources, and poor synchronization at sortation engines. We demonstrate the power of operating an order fulfillment engine using the “pull” paradigm. We hypothesize that a pull-driven order fulfillment can meet the same throughput requirements achieved by the push-driven wave-based order fulfillment, but with higher speed, higher service levels, more level resource …

A Motion Capture System Framework For The Study Of Human Manufacturing Repetitive Motions, Francis Mendez, David Wierschem, Jesus Jimenez

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Our research proposes a framework to obtain and analyze real time data concerning the dynamic and natural motion of individuals in manufacturing-like processes that involve human labor. The framework that we propose consists of five main components: a tracking system, a system of sensors, a processor that collects time series data, data processing and discovery module, and an alert or reporting component. Using motion capture cameras, data is collected on a variety of human subjects performing simulated labor-intensive manufacturing operations. This data is analyzed for identification of actual and optimal activity motions. This project has significant potential impact for contribution …

Digital Design Of Intralogistics Systems: Flexible And Agile Solution To Short-Cyclic Fluctuations, Anike Murrenhoff, Christoph Pott, Moritz Wernecke, Philipp-Akira Burger

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

In times of fast-paced, fluctuating and individual markets, intralogistics systems, such as warehouses, have to adapt to the resulting volatile performance demands dynamically. Hybrid systems, in which humans and machines work together efficiently and communicate in socio-technical networks, can be the answer to manage these high-frequency markets. Hybrid systems of the future need to adapt frequently and permanent change becomes the “new normal”. A one-time planning of warehousing systems upon first installation becomes obsolete. This results in the question of how to design and implement processes for future logistics systems in an agile way in order to exploit the flexibility …