Antecedents of kaizen culture and its effect on operational performance: perspective of manufacturing companies in Malaysia

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of kaizen culture on innovation and operational performance of electrical and electronic manufacturing companies in Malaysia. A research framework, with underpinning theories of dynamic capabilities and socio-technical systems, was conceptualized to investigate the interplay of these relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 123 manufacturing companies using an online survey and analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics version 24.0 and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (SmartPLS) version 3.2.8.FindingsUltimately, the findings proved that kaizen culture is crucial for organizations to optimize their operational performance and can be nurtured through the implementation of process innovation and organizational innovation.Originality/valueUnlike past studies, this research examines the concepts of innovation, kaizen culture and operational performance in a single study; thus, provides further opportunities for new discoveries through such relationships. Also, the novelty is identifying that kaizen culture can be nurtured via innovation.

Nanocellulose based carbon ink and its application in electrochromic displays and supercapacitors.

Conventional electronics have been highlighted as an unsustainable technology; hazardous wastes are produced both during their manufacturing but also, due to their limited recyclability, during electronic end of life cycle (e.g., disposal in landfill). In recent years additive manufacturing processes have attracted significant interest as a more sustainable approach to electronic manufacturing. Despite the field of printed electronics addressing some of the issues related to the manufacturing of electronics, many components and inks are still considered hazardous to the environment and are difficult to recycle. Here we present the development of a low environmental impact carbon ink based on a non-hazardous solvent and a cellulosic matrix and its implementation in electrochromic displays and supercapacitors. As part of the reported work, a different protocol for mixing carbon and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) (rotation mixing and high shear force mixing), nanocellulose of different grades and different carbon: nanocellulose ratio were investigated and optimized. The rheology profiles of the different inks showed good shear thinning properties, demonstrating their suitability for screen-printing technology. The printability of the developed inks was excellent and in line with those of reference commercial carbon inks. Despite the lower electrical conductivity (400 S/m for the developed carbon ink compared to 1000 S/m for the commercial inks), which may be explained by their difference in composition (carbon content, density and carbon derived nature) compared to the commercial carbon, the developed ink functioned adequately as the counter electrode in all screen-printed electrochromic displays and even allowed for improved supercapacitors compared to those utilizing commercial carbon inks. In this sense, the supercapacitors incorporating the developed carbon ink in the current collector layer had an average capacitance = 97.4 mF/cm2 compared to the commercial carbon ink average capacitance = 61.6 mF/cm2). The ink development reported herein provides a step towards more sustainable printed electronics.

Health Risk Assessment of Metals via Multi-Source Oral Exposure for Children Living in Areas with Intense Electronic Manufacturing Activities

Oral ingestion is the predominant pathway of metal(loid)s exposure. In this study, the health risks of typical metal(loid)s (including Mn, As, Cr, Cd, and Pb) via multi-source, oral pathways for children aged 3–12 years, living in an area of China dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, were studied based on the field sampling of duplicated diet, soil, and drinking water. Child-specific ingestion parameters were measured (except the soil ingestion rates, which were from a previous study of the same population), and a Monte Carlo method was applied to determine the uncertainty of the risk assessment. It was observed that children living in such environments were at risk of metal(loid)s exposure, with the accumulative carcinogenic risk exceeding the maximum acceptable level. Food intake was identified to be the primary exposure pathway. Moreover, Pb and Cr were the major risk elements to local children’s health. Compared with primary school students, kindergarten children experienced a higher risk. This study highlights that high attention should be paid to children living in suburban areas dominated by the electronic manufacturing industry, and that priority should be given to studies on metal(loid)s exposure deriving from different types of food and their corresponding bioavailability, in order to further discern the precise risk sources to protect children’s health.

How Retailer Co-Opetition Impacts Pricing, Collecting and Coordination in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain

The cooperative and competitive (i.e., co-opetition) behavior between retailers plays a significant role in the development of operations and marketing strategies in a supply chain. Specifically, retailers’ co-opetition relationship pivotally influences the sustainable performance in a closed-loop supply chain. This study examines the impact of retailer co-opetition on pricing, collection decisions and coordination in a closed-loop supply chain with one manufacturer and two competing retailers. Based on observations in some industries (e.g., electronic manufacturing, fabric and textile, etc.), the cooperative and competitive relationships between retailers can be classified into the following three different modes: Bertrand competition, Stackelberg competition, and Collusion. In this paper, we establish a centralized and three decentralized game-theoretic models under these three co-opetition modes and characterize the corresponding equilibrium outcomes. The results indicate that the Bertrand competition mode yields the highest return rate, which is also superior to the other two modes for both the manufacturer and the supply chain system in terms of profitability. However, it can be shown that which mode benefits the retailers would depend on the degree of competition between the retailers and the relative remanufacturing efficiency. Interestingly, we find that the retailer’s first-move advantage does not necessarily lead to higher profits. In addition, we design a modified two-part tariff contract to coordinate the decentralized closed-loop supply chains under three different retailer co-opetition modes, and the results suggest that the optimal contractual parameters in the contracts highly rely on the remanufacturing efficiency and the competition degree between the two retailers. Several managerial insights for firms, consumers and policy makers are provided through numerical analysis.

A study of morbidities among electronic equipment manufacturing workers in Goa

Background: Electronic equipment manufacturing units are among the most common industries all over the world. It involves a large amount of employees required for processing, manufacturing, building and setting up electronic equipments. Workers are usually sedentary and involve very less physical movement. Chronic illnesses are common among these sedentary workers of which most important are cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, obesity and diabetes. Considering the importance of the subject and the lack of published evidence on health status of electronic manufacturing workers, our study was done with an aim of assessing selected morbidities among electronic equipment manufacturing units in Goa.Methods: Our retrospective record based cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of one month in March 2019. The study was done in electronic equipment manufacturing workers. Data included sociodemographic details of the workers and details of periodic medical check-up. The data analysis was done using and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Chi square test was used to assess association between qualitative variables.Results: Among the 109 electronic manufacturing workers, it was observed that 10.1% (11) had obesity with a BMI >30, 24.8% (27) had hypertension (>140/90) and 31.2% (34) had diabetes mellitus with HbA1c >6.5. In addition, 24.8% (27) had far vision defect and 39.4% (43) had near vision defect. 42.2% (46) had abnormal lung function tests, 0.9% (1) had hearing disability and 4.6% (5) had abnormal ECG findings. Among male workers 0.9% (1) had elevated PSA levels, whereas all PAPs smear reports were normal among female workers.Conclusions: This study highlights the need of periodic medical check-up of the electronic manufacturing workers for timely detection and early management of their health problems.

Research Issue on Green Product Design and Manufacturing of Electronic Manufacturing Industry

In the industrial society, the concept of green product research is becoming prevalent in many manufacturing industries. The green technology is implemented to develop an environmentally green product that brought attention to a growing technological field as it attains sustainable growth in a market. The green process includes logistics, manufacturing, and product design to reach a high level of sustainability. The utilization of green technologies in manufacturing industries reduces the major effect of industrial outcomes on environment. The product manufactured in the electronic industries is rapidly utilized by more population. This paper deals with the research issue faced during product manufacturing in electronic industries. Initially, the issues encountered during product development are air pollution, solid waste, and water pollution. The product is enriched with the characteristic features such as an increase in efficiency, reduction in toxic content, and must be eco-friendly. The developed green product should satisfy environmental standards. Environmental Conscious Manufacturing (ECM) accountability to satisfy the government rules and regulations for product development in the manufacturing industry and also deals with the customer’s expectation. The eco-friendly product includes eco-design, recycling, clean production, low cost, and reclamation of products. The eco-design is responsible for improving the environmental outcomes and also reliable for a reduction in long-term cost. The green product design and manufacturing focus mainly on energy conservation and the development of a product with less wastage. The research on green product manufacturing is mainly to save the environment by reducing carbon foot print and to make the product in less cost. The main consequence faced during the development of the green product is destroying the environment by utilizing natural resources. Thus, in this paper, the issues faced during the green product design and manufacturing of the electronic manufacturing industry are discussed.

Flexible Hall sensor made of laser-scribed graphene

Graphene has shown considerable potential for sensing magnetic fields based on the Hall Effect, due to its high carrier mobility, low sheet carrier density, and low-temperature dependence. However, the cost of graphene in comparison to conventional materials has meant that its uptake in electronic manufacturing has been slow. To lower technological barriers and bring more widespread adoption of graphene Hall sensors, we are using a one-step laser scribing process that does not rely on multiple steps, toxic chemicals, and subsequent treatments. Laser-scribed graphene Hall sensors offer a linear response to magnetic fields with a normalized sensitivity of ~1.12 V/AT. They also exhibit a low constant noise voltage floor of ~ 50 nV/$$\sqrt {{\mathrm{Hz}}}$$ Hz for a bias current of 100 µA at room temperature, which is comparable with state-of-the-art low-noise Hall sensors. The sensors combine a high bendability, come with high robustness and operating temperatures up to 400 °C. They enable device ideas in various areas, for instance, soft robotics. As an example, we combined a laser-scribed graphene sensor with a deformable elastomer and flexible magnet to realize low-cost, compliant, and customizable tactile sensors.

A NEW MIMO SLOT ANTENNA FOR 5G APPLICATIONS

A new MIMO slot antenna is proposed in this paper, the proposed antenna consists of tuning stub with certain dimensions in the top layer of the FR-4 dielectric substrate to increase the matching between the feed line and slot in the ground plane, this antenna feeds with 50-ohm characteristic impedance microstrip feed line. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are (50×50×1.6) mm2, the FR-4 epoxy substrate has a relative dielectric constant of ɛr=4.3, the tangent loss of tan (δ) =0.025. A bandwidth of 9.083 GHz (25.917–35) GHz and gain (6.33) dBi compatible with 5G applications are achieved with this antenna. To get the desired gain and bandwidth, several slots are etched on the ground, Using CST tools, the simulation results are collected. And the proposed antenna is manufactured in the Ministry of Science and Technology's- Electronic Manufacturing Center, a reasonable agreement is reached between simulation and measured performance.