A Hybrid Methodology for Validation of Optimization Solutions Effects on Manufacturing Sustainability with Time Study and Simulation Approach for SMEs

The properties of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make them one of the most important categories of enterprises for the economics of challenging world. SMEs, in most countries, are still enterprises with marketing and financial challenges. In addition, most of these challenges are related to their production and product characteristics. On the other hand, SMEs should fulfil the costumer’s demands. In order to reach these goals, SMEs must reach the highest level of production quality and quantity and successfully sustain them. Consequently, various manufacturing paradigms have been offered by an Industry 4.0 concept, which offers a variety of solutions to increase the productivity and enhance the performance of SMEs. It should be noted that implementation of these manufacturing paradigms for SMEs is quite difficult and sometimes risky for several reasons. Still, amidst all these difficulties and challenges, the benefits and idealism of the Industry 4.0 paradigms prevail. From productivity to market, it is difficult to deny that SMEs are frightened by the challenges they face and fleeing from the potential of overcoming them. This paper is an extended version of the research by Ghafoorpoor Yazdi et al. (2018) and conducts a hybrid methodology to satisfy the SMEs by validating and verifying any optimization idea before implementing the Industry 4.0 concept. To reach the study goals, an intelligent Material Handling System (MHS) with agent-based control architecture has been developed. The developed MHS has been utilized for auto parts distribution. The system performance has been evaluated, and some solutions have been provided to optimize the performance of system. To evaluate the target system’s performance, an analytical time study method has been utilized. The time study has an Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) standard approach to identifying the matters that need to be resolved and optimized to increase system performance. The other part of the methodology is generating a simulation model of the real system by use of ARENA® software to evaluate the system’s performance before implementing the optimization idea and modifying the real system. Furthermore, as the sustainability strategies create many synergistic effects for SMEs, after evaluating the effects of the optimization ideas on OEE percentage, the influence of the OEE changes on manufacturing sustainability has been investigated. The results show that optimizing the OEE in SMEs with sustainability approaches can create competitive advantages, rather than simply focusing on reducing unsustainability.

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An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) and Manufacturing Sustainability in Industry 4.0 with Time Study Approach

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10093031 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3031 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Poorya Ghafoorpoor Yazdi ◽

Aydin Azizi ◽

Majid Hashemipour

Keyword(s):

Flexible Manufacturing ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Material Handling ◽

Sustainable Manufacturing ◽

Fast Response ◽

Study Data ◽

Time Study ◽

High Productivity ◽

Affective Factors ◽

Study Results

Nowadays, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming increasingly competitive. In order to fulfill the rapidly changing market and diversified demands of customers, the SMEs need to achieve and maintain high productivity and quality, with fast response, sufficient flexibility, and short lead times. Therefore, Industry 4.0 offers various manufacturing paradigms that might be a solution in order to increase the productivity of SMEs such as intelligent and flexible manufacturing. Furthermore, in the last decade, the emphasis on adopting eco-friendly practices, implementing sustainability measures, and protecting the environment has continued to grow, to gain traction across SMEs. In fact, because of this need, many SMEs are now adopting sustainable manufacturing practices in response to this increased focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship. The main purpose of this paper is to design and study the implementation of a sustainable, intelligent material handling system for material distribution with utilizing an agent-based algorithm as control architecture. A time study-based methodology has been implemented to evaluate the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to identify the matters that need to be resolved and optimized to increase the OEE percentage with consideration of the sustainability of the system. An exhaustive analytical trend applied to the generated time study data. Accordingly, further hardware, software, and layout design limitation and problems detected, and the proper solutions were anticipated. The observed time study results were presented, a fundamental set of analytical observation and information with associated histograms was reviewed. In addition, the study aims to recognize and analyze effective factors on the sustainability of improved processes, using a simple model. To do this, using experts’ viewpoints, affective factors on the sustainability of process improvement activities are determined.

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Hidden “holes” in the capital of banks and the supply of credit to the real sector of economy

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2018-5-49-68 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 49-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. E. Mamonov

Keyword(s):

Credit Risk ◽

The Other ◽

Real Sector ◽

Capital Management ◽

Loan Loss ◽

Short Term ◽

The Real ◽

Ex Post ◽

The One

Our analysis documents that the existence of hidden “holes” in the capital of not yet failed banks - while creating intertemporal pressure on the actual level of capital - leads to changing of maturity of loans supplied rather than to contracting of their volume. Long-term loans decrease, whereas short-term loans rise - and, what is most remarkably, by approximately the same amounts. Standardly, the higher the maturity of loans the higher the credit risk and, thus, the more loan loss reserves (LLP) banks are forced to create, increasing the pressure on capital. Banks that already hide “holes” in the capital, but have not yet faced with license withdrawal, must possess strong incentives to shorten the maturity of supplied loans. On the one hand, it raises the turnovers of LLP and facilitates the flexibility of capital management; on the other hand, it allows increasing the speed of shifting of attracted deposits to loans to related parties in domestic or foreign jurisdictions. This enlarges the potential size of ex post revealed “hole” in the capital and, therefore, allows us to assume that not every loan might be viewed as a good for the economy: excessive short-term and insufficient long-term loans can produce the source for future losses.

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Computer Vision and robotics in postal automation

Human Systems Management ◽

10.3233/hsm-1999-183-411 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 18 (3-4) ◽

pp. 265-273

Author(s):

Giovanni B. Garibotto

Keyword(s):

Image Processing ◽

Computer Vision ◽

Pattern Recognition ◽

Material Handling ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Short Description ◽

The Other ◽

Functional Requirements ◽

Postal Automation ◽

And Robotics

The paper is intended to provide an overview of advanced robotic technologies within the context of Postal Automation services. The main functional requirements of the application are briefly referred, as well as the state of the art and new emerging solutions. Image Processing and Pattern Recognition have always played a fundamental role in Address Interpretation and Mail sorting and the new challenging objective is now off-line handwritten cursive recognition, in order to be able to handle all kind of addresses in a uniform way. On the other hand, advanced electromechanical and robotic solutions are extremely important to solve the problems of mail storage, transportation and distribution, as well as for material handling and logistics. Finally a short description of new services of Postal Automation is referred, by considering new emerging services of hybrid mail and paper to electronic conversion.

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A Tool for the Analysis and Characterization of School Mathematical Models

Mathematics ◽

10.3390/math9131569 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (13) ◽

pp. 1569

Author(s):

Jesús Montejo-Gámez ◽

Elvira Fernández-Ahumada ◽

Natividad Adamuz-Povedano

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Modeling ◽

Mathematical Models ◽

Educational Research ◽

Analysis Procedure ◽

Real System ◽

The Real ◽

School Model ◽

Corresponding Analysis ◽

Three Components

This paper shows a tool for the analysis of written productions that allows for the characterization of the mathematical models that students develop when solving modeling tasks. For this purpose, different conceptualizations of mathematical models in education are discussed, paying special attention to the evidence that characterizes a school model. The discussion leads to the consideration of three components, which constitute the main categories of the proposed tool: the real system to be modeled, its mathematization and the representations used to express both. These categories and the corresponding analysis procedure are explained and illustrated through two working examples, which expose the value of the tool in establishing the foci of analysis when investigating school models, and thus, suggest modeling skills. The connection of this tool with other approaches to educational research on mathematical modeling is also discussed.

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BeiDou Satellite Unhealthy States and the Impact on System Performance

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s18124196 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 4196 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Caibo Hu ◽

Chuang Shi ◽

Jinping Chen ◽

Yidong Lou ◽

Fei Wang

Keyword(s):

System Performance ◽

Satellite Orbit ◽

Service Area ◽

The Other ◽

Classification Method ◽

Positioning Accuracy ◽

General Classification ◽

Broadcast Ephemeris ◽

Beidou System ◽

The Impact

The BeiDou system satellites may be unhealthy due to many reasons, affecting system performance in different ways. Therefore, it is important to analyze the causes and characteristics of the satellites’ unhealthy states. In this study, these states are classified into five types based on the broadcast ephemeris. Three criteria are presented, based on which a general classification method is proposed. Data from July 2017 to June 2018 are analyzed to validate the method, from which we know that the average unhealthy duration due to satellite maneuvers is much longer than the duration of unhealthy states related to satellite orbit or clock anomalies, and the other unhealthy states may be caused by inbound or outbound satellites. Statistics show that most of the time, the number of unhealthy satellites is no more than two and the average positioning accuracy in the service area will decrease by no more than 0.75 and 1.2 meters when one or two BDS satellites are unhealthy, respectively.

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Stochastic Processes with a Particular Type of Variograms

Research Letters in Signal Processing ◽

10.1155/2007/61579 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2007 ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chunsheng Ma

Keyword(s):

Stochastic Process ◽

Brownian Motion ◽

Stochastic Processes ◽

Series Expansion ◽

Real Line ◽

Random Fields ◽

The Other ◽

Simple Construction ◽

The Real ◽

Line Form

This paper is concerned with a class of stochastic processes or random fields with second-order increments, whose variograms have a particular form, among which stochastic processes having orthogonal increments on the real line form an important subclass. A natural issue, how big this subclass is, has not been explicitly addressed in the literature. As a solution, this paper characterizes a stochastic process having orthogonal increments on the real line in terms of its variogram or its construction. Our findings are a little bit surprising: this subclass is big in terms of the variogram, and on the other hand, it is relatively “small” according to a simple construction. In particular, every such process with Gaussian increments can be simply constructed from Brownian motion. Using the characterizations we obtain a series expansion of the stochastic process with orthogonal increments.

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GazeEMD: Detecting Visual Intention in Gaze-Based Human-Robot Interaction

Robotics ◽

10.3390/robotics10020068 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 68

Author(s):

Lei Shi ◽

Cosmin Copot ◽

Steve Vanlanduit

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Load ◽

Real World ◽

Robotic Manipulator ◽

Similarity Score ◽

Human Robot Interaction ◽

Experimental Results ◽

The Other ◽

Robot Interaction ◽

Run Length ◽

The Real

In gaze-based Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), it is important to determine human visual intention for interacting with robots. One typical HRI interaction scenario is that a human selects an object by gaze and a robotic manipulator will pick up the object. In this work, we propose an approach, GazeEMD, that can be used to detect whether a human is looking at an object for HRI application. We use Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD) to measure the similarity between the hypothetical gazes at objects and the actual gazes. Then, the similarity score is used to determine if the human visual intention is on the object. We compare our approach with a fixation-based method and HitScan with a run length in the scenario of selecting daily objects by gaze. Our experimental results indicate that the GazeEMD approach has higher accuracy and is more robust to noises than the other approaches. Hence, the users can lessen cognitive load by using our approach in the real-world HRI scenario.

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Distribution of rational points on the real line

Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society ◽

10.1017/s1446788700013008 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 243-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

T. K. Sheng

Keyword(s):

Algebraic Number ◽

Rational Number ◽

Real Line ◽

Rational Points ◽

The Other ◽

Liouville Numbers ◽

The Real ◽

Other Hand ◽

Image Position

It is well known that no rational number is approximable to order higher than 1. Roth [3] showed that an algebraic number is not approximable to order greater than 2. On the other hand it is easy to construct numbers, the Liouville numbers, which are approximable to any order (see [2], p. 162). We are led to the question, “Let Nn(α, β) denote the number of distinct rational points with denominators ≦ n contained in an interval (α, β). What is the behaviour of Nn(α, + 1/n) as α varies on the real line?” We shall prove that and that there are “compressions” and “rarefactions” of rational points on the real line.

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An Artificial Intelligence of Things-Based Picking Algorithm for Online Shop in the Society 5.0’s Context

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21082813 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (8) ◽

pp. 2813

Author(s):

Muslikhin Muslikhin ◽

Jenq-Ruey Horng ◽

Szu-Yueh Yang ◽

Ming-Shyan Wang ◽

Baiti-Ahmad Awaluddin

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

System Performance ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Online Shopping ◽

Robotic Manipulators ◽

Data Driven ◽

Key Points ◽

Detection And Localization ◽

Picking System

In this study, an Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT)-based automated picking system was proposed for the development of an online shop and the services for automated shipping systems. Speed and convenience are two key points in Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0. In the context of online shopping, speed and convenience can be provided by integrating e-commerce platforms with AIoT systems and robots that are following consumers’ needs. Therefore, this proposed system diverts consumers who are moved by AIoT, while robotic manipulators replace human tasks to pick. To prove this idea, we implemented a modified YOLO (You Only Look Once) algorithm as a detection and localization tool for items purchased by consumers. At the same time, the modified YOLOv2 with data-driven mode was used for the process of taking goods from unstructured shop shelves. Our system performance is proven by experiments to meet the expectations in evaluating efficiency, speed, and convenience of the system in Society 5.0’s context.

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8-hydroxyquinoline-5-(N-4-chlorophenyl) sulfonamide and fluconazole combination as a preventive strategy for Candida biofilm in haemodialysis devices

Journal of Medical Microbiology ◽

10.1099/jmm.0.001377 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 70 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Letícia Fernandes da Rocha ◽

Bruna Pippi ◽

Angélica Rocha Joaquim ◽

Saulo Fernandes de Andrade ◽

Alexandre Meneghello Fuentefria

Keyword(s):

Biofilm Formation ◽

Synergistic Effects ◽

Local Treatment ◽

The Other ◽

Antibiofilm Activity ◽

Preventive Strategy ◽

Clinical Issue ◽

Microdilution Method ◽

Broth Microdilution Method ◽

Time Kill

Introduction. The presence of Candida biofilms in medical devices is a concerning and important clinical issue for haemodialysis patients who require constant use of prosthetic fistulae and catheters. Hypothesis/Gap Statement. This prolonged use increases the risk of candidaemia due to biofilm formation. PH151 and clioquinol are 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives that have been studied by our group and showed interesting anti-Candida activity. Aim. This study evaluated the biofilm formation capacity of Candida species on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyurethane (PUR) and investigated the synergistic effects between the compounds PH151 and clioquinol and fluconazole, amphotericin B and caspofungin against biofilm cells removed from those materials. Further, the synergistic combination was evaluated in terms of preventing biofilm formation on PTFE and PUR discs. Methodology. Susceptibility testing was performed for planktonic and biofilm cells using the broth microdilution method. The checkerboard method and the time–kill assay were used to evaluate the interactions between antifungal agents. Antibiofilm activity on PTFE and PUR materials was assessed to quantify the prevention of biofilm formation. Results. Candida albicans, Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis showed ability to form biofilms on both materials. By contrast, Candida parapsilosis did not demonstrate this ability. Synergistic interaction was observed when PH151 was combined with fluconazole in 77.8 % of isolates and this treatment was shown to be concentration- and time-dependent. On the other hand, indifferent interactions were predominantly observed with the other combinations. A reduction in biofilm formation on PUR material of more than 50 % was observed when using PH151 combined with fluconazole. Conclusion. PH151 demonstrated potential as a local treatment for use in a combination therapy approach against Candida biofilm formation on haemodialysis devices.

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