scholarly journals Robust Optimization Approaches for a Natural Pharmaceutical Complex Product of Atractylodes Japonica Koidz and Schisandra Chinensis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 7006
Author(s):  
Hyeon-ae Jang ◽  
Sun Young Kim ◽  
Yun Young Lim ◽  
Jong Lae Lim ◽  
Sangmun Shin
Keyword(s):  
Robust Optimization ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Mathematical Optimization ◽  
Response Functions ◽  
Design And Optimization ◽  
Contour Plots ◽  
Atractylodes Japonica ◽  
Input Variables

Experimental results pertaining to natural pharmaceutical complex products (NPCPs) often exhibit large variabilities in their associated response variables. To improve the quality of an NPCP, systemic studies (i.e., statistical analysis and mathematical optimization), including variability analysis and robust optimization, are often required. To this end, a systemic approach for an NPCP development process is proposed by integrating robust design and optimization methodologies. A quality function deployment method can be used to systematically define a standardized manufacturing process and relevant process variables for Chong Kun Dang (CKD)-497. Based on those variables, an experiment is designed using response surface methodology to mathematically estimate the output response functions associated with input variables. In addition, a design space (DS), which can guarantee the quality of an NPCP, is demonstrated by utilizing the overlaid contour plots of the estimated response functions. Finally, a CKD-497 case study is conducted for verification and validation.

scholarly journals Using Neural Networks in Order to Analyze Telework Adaptability across the European Union Countries: A Case Study of the Most Relevant Scenarios to Occur in Romania

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10586
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Mihaela Iordache ◽  
Codruța Cornelia Dura ◽  
Cristina Coculescu ◽  
Claudia Isac ◽  
Ana Preda
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Working From Home ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Final Layer ◽  
Degree Of Satisfaction ◽  
Input Variables

Our study addresses the issue of telework adoption by countries in the European Union and draws up a few feasible scenarios aimed at improving telework’s degree of adaptability in Romania. We employed the dataset from the 2020 Eurofound survey on Living, Working and COVID-19 (Round 2) in order to extract ten relevant determinants of teleworking on the basis of 24,123 valid answers provided by respondents aged 18 and over: the availability of work equipment; the degree of satisfaction with the experience of working from home; the risks related to potential contamination with SARS-CoV-2 virus; the employees’ openness to adhering to working-from-home patterns; the possibility of maintaining work–life balance objectives while teleworking; the level of satisfaction on the amount and the quality of work submitted, etc. Our methodology entailed the employment of SAS Enterprise Guide software to perform a cluster analysis resulting in a preliminary classification of the EU countries with respect to the degree that they have been able to adapt to telework. Further on, in order to refine this taxonomy, a multilayer perceptron neural network with ten input variables in the initial layer, six neurons in the intermediate layer, and three neurons in the final layer was successfully trained. The results of our research demonstrate the existence of significant disparities in terms of telework adaptability, such as: low to moderate levels of adaptability (detected in countries such as Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Italy); fair levels of adaptability (encountered in France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, or Romania); and high levels of adaptability (exhibited by intensely digitalized economies such Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc.).

scholarly journals Strategies for improving the quality of the ground coffee product: a case study at SMEs X Malang, Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 924 (1) ◽  
pp. 012066
Author(s):  
D M Ikasari ◽  
I Santoso ◽  
T Julian
Keyword(s):  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Selling Price ◽  
Coffee Production ◽  
Marketing Effectiveness ◽  
National Drug ◽  
Coffee Beans ◽  
Hierarchy Process ◽  
Ground Coffee

Abstract SMEs X is one of the SMEs in Malang City that produces ground coffee. The increasing number of ground coffee producers in Malang City make SMEs X must be able to survive in the competition so that SMEs X needs to improve the quality of ground coffee products. The methods used are Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results show that five essential attributes for consumers to improve the quality of ground coffee include unique packaging forms, packaging materials that can maintain quality, attractive packaging colours, convenience for consumers to reach sales locations, and convenience for consumers to get products. Strategies that can be used to improve the quality of ground coffee include redesigning the packaging, improving the ground coffee production process, selecting good quality coffee beans, resetting the selling price of the product, increasing marketing effectiveness, and applying for a permit from the national drug and food agency.

Statistical process control application on service quality using SERVQUAL and QFD with a case study in trains’ services

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Akbarzade Khorshidi ◽  
Sanaz Nikfalazar ◽  
Indra Gunawan
Keyword(s):  
Process Control ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Statistical Process Control ◽  
Control Charts ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Process Capability ◽  
Statistical Process ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to implement statistical process control (SPC) in service quality using three-level SERVQUAL, quality function deployment (QFD) and internal measure. Design/methodology/approach – The SERVQUAL questionnaire is developed according to internal services of train. Also, it is verified by reliability scale and factor analysis. QFD method is employed for translating SERVQUAL dimensions’ importance weights which are derived from Analytic Hierarchy Process into internal measures. Furthermore, the limits of the Zone of Tolerance are used to determine service quality specification limits based on normal distribution characteristics. Control charts and process capability indices are used to control service processes. Findings – SPC is used for service quality through a structured framework. Also, an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire is created for measuring quality of train’s internal services. In the case study, it is shown that reliability is the most important dimension in internal services of train for the passengers. Also, the service process is not capable to perform in acceptable level. Research limitations/implications – The proposed algorithm is practically applied to control the quality of a train’s services. Internal measure is improved for continuous data collection and process monitoring. Also, it provides an opportunity to apply SPC on intangible attributes of the services. In the other word, SPC is used to control the qualitative specifications of the service processes which have been measured by SERVQUAL. Originality/value – Since SPC is usually used for manufacturing processes, this paper develops a model to use SPC in services in presence of qualitative criteria. To reach this goal, this model combines SERVQUAL, QFD, normal probability distribution, control charts, and process capability. In addition, it is a novel research on internal services of train with regard to service quality evaluation and process control.

Improving the weight of Technical Attributes in Quality Function Deployment by the Integration of Techniques for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Kumar Singh ◽  
A.M. Rawani
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Solution Method ◽  
Ideal Solution ◽  
Quality Function ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Service ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis study aims to integrate the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method with quality function deployment (QFD) which helps to improve the weight of technical attributes by calculating the closeness of particular attributes with the best attributes and farthest from the worst technical attributes simultaneously.Design/methodology/approachFor the fulfilment of the aim of the study, detailed literature is reviewed and a suitable tool for score calculation has been selected. Further, the proposed methodology is applied in a literature-based case study, and a new weight is calculated and compared with the previous weight.FindingsThe finding of the study suggests that higher weightage is assigned to those technical attributes which is very close to the best technical attribute, and lower weightage is assigned to the technical attributes which are very close to worst technical attributes. Therefore, the weight calculated with the help of the proposed methodology will suggest to optimally invest the resources on technical attributes so that the maximum customer satisfaction is achieved.Practical implicationsThe proposed method will help in better score calculation of QFD. Therefore, the use of the proposed method will help in better product and service design for maximum customer satisfaction.Social implicationsProposed methodology aims to help managers, administrators, QFD practitioners and product/service designers to design a new product/service or mange the quality of existing product/services in an effective way.Originality/valueThis is the first kind of study, in which modification in score calculation has been proposed. This modification will help in the better assignment of resources for maximum customer satisfaction.

scholarly journals The passenger service improvement using fuzzy QFDbased on evidence reasoning approach; case study

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Mirzazadeh
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Service Improvement ◽  
Transportation Industry ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Intelligent Decision ◽  
Human Thinking

The airline service quality is an important issue in the international air travel transportation industry. Thefirstpassengers' encounter with airline staff is at the airport and therefore, improving the quality of passenger services is one of the main objectives of airlines.The study applies an extension of the Quality Function Deployment to examine the performance of Iran Air in passenger service and propose suggestions for improvement.Human judgments are often vague, and it is not easy for passengers to express the weights of evaluation criteria and the satisfaction of airline service quality using an exact numerical value. Fuzzy logic is a methodology to deal with ill-defined nature of the customer's linguistic judgments required in the QFD.Also, the evidential reasoning based QFD is a methodology for synthesizing various types of assessment information provided by QFD team members. The presented model can be considers vagueness of human thinking style.The Intelligent Decision System (IDS) software has been used to solve the problem. The results have been demonstrated that the stafftrainingand the appropriate delayed flight handling are the most important elements of customer satisfaction and the highlighted areas for service improvement.

scholarly journals Identification of Technical Solutions to Improve Primary Education: A Real-Life Application

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 821-828
Author(s):  
Zafar Iqbal ◽  
Lubna Shoukat ◽  
Muhammad Waheed
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Education ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Real Life ◽  
School Level ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Technical Solutions

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a meticulous procedure of translating consumers’ needs and demands into appropriate solutions. The application of QFD has been expanded, leaving no definite boundary for its potential use, to almost every field of life. It helps   identify not only the needs and demands of a certain matter but also helps find out the solutions of those matters along with assigning them the priorities. Primary education enjoys the fundamental role and provides the foundation for further upbringing of children with respect to their educational, social, intellectual, cultural, emotional and physical proficiencies. This research article is aimed at exploring the Voices of Parents, (VOPs) (parent’s needs and demands) regarding their children’s educational requirements at primary school level. This objective is achieved by identifying significant VOPs and then converting these into Technical Solution for better and high quality of education.  With the help of QFD methodology, a real-life case study has been conducted to identify VOPS their technical solutions, then the order of these technical solutions is determined and, finally, suggestions are made about which technical solution is the most important and which one is the least. The findings provide a guide line for primary school stakeholder to identify problems and their solutions for better standard and quality of education.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT USERS’ SATISFACTION USING QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT: BELGRADE CASE STUDY

Transport ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanko Bajčetić ◽  
Slaven Tica ◽  
Predrag Živanović ◽  
Branko Milovanović ◽  
Andrea Đorojević
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
Transport System ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Passenger Transport ◽  
Quality Function ◽  
Qfd Method

This paper presents a case study using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method to identify urban public transport users’ needs and requests and to improve service quality in urban public passenger transport in Belgrade. In order to determine users’ satisfaction, a direct interview – survey a sample of 15000 of urban public passenger transport system users, according to the defined questionnaire has been performed. Results of these interviews are used as input in the first stage of QFD method. An overall unit of eight features and a total of 48 sub-features were defined, which describes all aspects of quality of system and services in urban public passenger transport. The results show that for maximizing effects of quality of service improvement and satisfying customers’ requirements, the public transport service providers and managers in Belgrade should focus primarily on the service reliability and vehicle elements. The two most important quality of service sub-features in urban public passenger transport system in Belgrade based on frequency of statements of users was regularity with 4896 (32.64%) and vehicle comfort (not crowded vehicles) with 3446 (22.97%) statements. Based on the service features analysis within the house of quality, it was defined that the biggest influence is generated through system functioning parameters (reliability): frequency with relative importance 22.0%, staff (drivers) with relative importance 14.0% and headway with relative importance 13.0%. Based on absolute importance the greatest importance should be assigned to vehicle frequency – rank 1, staff (drivers) – rank 2 and headway – rank 3.

Robust Optimization Exploration Using NURBs-Based Metamodeling Techniques

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Steuben ◽  
Cameron J. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Robust Optimization ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Composite Structures ◽  
Test Functions ◽  
B Splines ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Input Variables ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Robustness Metrics

Non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBs) demonstrate properties that are highly conductive to performing metamodeling for engineering design purposes. Previous research has resulted in the development of algorithms capable of fitting NURBs metamodels to design spaces of many input variables and performance indicies, and performing various discreet optimizations upon these metamodels. In the present research we expand upon this basis by illustrating the development of robust optimization algorithms that leverages the unique properties of NURBs metamodels. This optimization is conducted in a general fashion by considering both optimality and various robustness metrics as global or local model properties, and illustrates the tradeoffs between them using a novel graphical approach. The appeal of this approach is demonstrated by a series of test functions of one performance index and one or two performance indicies. A case study in designing composite structures of specific stiffness, of four and five design variables, follows. We proceed to discuss the future of NURBs metamodeling techniques and the potential for considering model properties besides optimality and robustness during optimization.

scholarly journals Integrating E-SERVQUAL and Kano Model into Quality Function Deployment to Improve Website Service Quality: An Application to University's Website

2016 ◽  
pp. 52-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorie Pandora Kesuma ◽  
Achmad Nizar Hidayanto ◽  
Meyliana ◽  
Kongkiti Phusavat ◽  
Dina Chahyati
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Design Framework ◽  
Kano Model ◽  
Quality Function ◽  
The University

Today's internet technology has been utilized in various fields, one of which is to provide services in the field of education. Internet technology in the form of website enables organizations to provide anywhere anytime services to their customers, thus it is expected increasing customers' satisfaction. This research aims to develop a service design framework that can be used to evaluate the quality of website service at the university and formulate solutions for its improvement, by combining E-SERVQUAL, Kano Model, and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). To demonstrate the use of the proposed framework, we conducted a case study in one of the private universities in Palembang, Indonesia. Step by step of the framework usage is discussed, to provide a better understanding of the framework we are proposing.

Misophonia: An Evidence-Based Case Report

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-690
Author(s):  
C. S. Vanaja ◽  
Miriam Soni Abigail
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Case Report ◽  
Case History ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Management Option ◽  
Pure Tone Audiogram

Purpose Misophonia is a sound tolerance disorder condition in certain sounds that trigger intense emotional or physiological responses. While some persons may experience misophonia, a few patients suffer from misophonia. However, there is a dearth of literature on audiological assessment and management of persons with misophonia. The purpose of this report is to discuss the assessment of misophonia and highlight the management option that helped a patient with misophonia. Method A case study of a 26-year-old woman with the complaint of decreased tolerance to specific sounds affecting quality of life is reported. Audiological assessment differentiated misophonia from hyperacusis. Management included retraining counseling as well as desensitization and habituation therapy based on the principles described by P. J. Jastreboff and Jastreboff (2014). A misophonia questionnaire was administered at regular intervals to monitor the effectiveness of therapy. Results A detailed case history and audiological evaluations including pure-tone audiogram and Johnson Hyperacusis Index revealed the presence of misophonia. The patient benefitted from intervention, and the scores of the misophonia questionnaire indicated a decrease in the severity of the problem. Conclusions It is important to differentially diagnose misophonia and hyperacusis in persons with sound tolerance disorders. Retraining counseling as well as desensitization and habituation therapy can help patients who suffer from misophonia.

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