Perception of the sociology of absences in the agricultural machinery industry supply chain

Studies on supply chain management have been focused on competitiveness from the alignment of suppliers to the company's main strategic interests, with the assumption that this alignment benefits all chains. In this approach, unmet interests of these suppliers are hidden when submitted to the subordination of the main company. This work aimed to understand how the supply chain of the agricultural machinery industry is managed, with the sociology of absences as a category of analysis. This is a descriptive and qualitative approach research, with the participation of six respondents, executives of companies providing implements for the three main agricultural machinery companies in the world. During the research, we sought to connect seven dimensions of supply chain management with the macro-sociological procedure of investigation of the sociology of absences. The results showed that the supply chain management of the agricultural machinery industry promotes the five non-logical existence (monocultures), putting smaller companies' supply chain members in a situation of absence and concealment, disregarding their knowledge and interests.

Selection of Production Mix in the Agricultural Machinery Industry Considering Sustainability in Decision Making

Competition among companies is growing globally, with the need to increase productivity and efficiency in the product sector. However, there is also a growing concern about global warming and the depletion of natural resources, as well as their effects on human health. In this context, all human activities that involve intense usage of resources must take into account sustainability as one of the decision criteria. This work presents the application of decision-making methods to define the best product mix in the agricultural machinery industry. With this objective, the current schedule of the production line was identified, along with the production flow, by performing an inventory analysis and an environmental impact study (endpoint). A total of seven alternatives for the production mix of grain trailers were defined, considering different materials and production processes. The selection of the best schedule according to the different criteria was performed through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the managerial implications for decision making. The results obtained through AHP identified a single alternative as being the best, which facilitates the decision making. The DEA method identified two alternatives as the most efficient, and in this case the manager can choose between a product mix that generates lesser environmental impact or greater profitability. Although applied to agricultural industry, the presented methodology can be easily adapted to other activities related to the built environment, such as construction industry.

Customer Loyalty and Powerful Brand in Heavy Machinery Industry

Market of the heavy machinery industry is growing fast. Customers have choices in purchasing new or used equipment or they can decide to rent or leas. Today's brand concept embraces all the things that a product or service offers, including how a product shapes consumers' behavior. The brand's special value is the perception that consumers have to a brand, which is perceived by many factors. This research is based on the Keller model, which includes the main four criteria’s: brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. The most important reason that customers would changes suppliers is the lack of providing services and products based on customer needs. Through this case study the company, TECHNOCAT, seeks to understand the correlation of the brand and customer re-purchases, whether the value of the brand affects customer decisions in future purchases. The researcher conducted a survey study. The expert panels in the field validated a questionnaire; Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.82 for reliability testing. Managers of the mining businesses and owners of machines are the target population. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23.0 with descriptive statistics and multiple regression were utilized for data analysis, and AMOS was used for the structural equations. The finding presented results from 132 respondents. The study showed that there is a significant relationship between brand equity with an intention to buy again. Furthermore, certain factors; awareness, quality, loyalty, and association with the intention of re-buying, have significantly influence on repurchasing.

Correlational investigation of manufacturing technology and environmental impact in an agricultural machinery industry

<p>There is a relation between the environmental impacts to the high emissions in the environment and the natural resources depletion, which can be measured with the useful life of the products, affected by the manufacturing technologies and the sustainable development. In this background, the present article aims to evaluate the environmental impact generated by the manufacturing technology in an agricultural machinery industry, in the grain trailer production, regarding the lifecycle from the cradle to the gate. The study consists in a practical adoption in the industry, where the product and the production flow were identified, the inventory analysis was performed and later the environmental impact was evaluated, considering three categories of ending damage (endpoint): human health, ecosystem and the scarcity of resources, in addition to twenty-two environmental impact categories (midpoint). There is a strong correlation among the use of carbon steel and stainless, the laser machining process and the environmental impact, where the human health damage category is the most impacted in the carbon dioxide element, gas associated to the greenhouse effect. The consumerism of the natural resources for the energy generation is the category which most affected in the scarcity of the fossil resources.</p>

Collectivism, individualism and solidarity in global value chain restructuring in the Global North: Workers’ resistance in the Swiss machinery industry

Global value chains (GVCs) have become the dominant form of industrial organization in the global economy. Although the economic outcomes of GVC restructuring have been measured and the determinants theorized, there is a lack of empirical research on the real processes of GVC restructuring and its impact on labour in the Global North. This article helps to address this gap by investigating the effect of the participation in GVCs on the lead firms’ value-capturing strategies and on workers’ ability to defend and improve their working conditions in the Swiss machinery industry. Based on a critical GVC approach and a qualitative study of two work conflicts, the study demonstrates how GVCs shape a variety of new strategies for capital and labour; enhancing forms of management strategies and weakening the possibilities for workers’ counterstrategies by eroding collectivism and solidarity and promoting individualism among workers.

Innovative Solving Process Problems of Micro-Turbine Machining Using Computer-Aided Innovation Method

With the increasingly fierce competition in the global market, technological innovation is regarded as an important factor for manufacturing companies to ensure their future competitive advantages. Modern mechanical design and manufacturing technology has become the mainstream trend of the machinery industry, and the rise of micro-processing production technology is an unstoppable international trend. Therefore, the machinery manufacturing industry must increase its efforts to develop and update micro-processing production technology and keep up with the pace of upgrading of the machinery industry. At present, most of the processing technology innovation activities are highly dependent on the personal knowledge accumulated for a long time in the previous projects, and the success rate of the innovative methods is low. TRIZ theory (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) provides a systematic theory and method tool for people to discover and solve problems creatively, due to TRIZ theory is mainly applicable to product innovation design, it lacks specific parameters and principles for process innovation. In recent years, the Computer-Aided Process Innovation (CAPI) introduced on the basis of computer technology provides designers with an effective way to obtain process innovation inspiration and improve process technology innovation efficiency. This paper takes the innovative solution of the micro-turbine machining process problem as an example to verify the effectiveness of the computer-aided process innovation solution method.

Directions of efective system of managment decisions making on the example of agricultural machinery industry enterprise

In Ukraine, taking into account the constant changes in the economy and policy, the enterprises need to improve management decision-making systems for efficient and well-established production process. Thus it is especially important for the state economy to establish a system of management of the machine-building industry in the field of agricultural production as they: provide the main share of revenues to GDP in Ukraine; are the main source for ensuring the food and agricultural products development. The objective of the paper is to investigate more thoroughly the theoretical foundations of the management decision-making system formation, to develop the direction for optimization under the conditions of uncertainty and risk on the example of agricultural machinery industry enterprise. The theoretical foundations of management decisions at the enterprise as a process for developing and selecting the most effective solution to achieve the best results in the enterprise are outlined in this paper. The factors influencing management decisions such as: degree of risk; information; time; personal qualities of the leader are considered. Methods for application contributing to the most optimal decisions such as: traditional, systematic, economic-analytical, systemic and targeted are identified. Analysis of the current state of agricultural machinery industry development in Ukraine, which shows the dynamics in the direction of deteriorating their condition is carried out. Therefore, there is the need to make management decisions concerning the establishment of their system in management. For example, the agricultural machinery company JSC «Elvorti» is considered. The problem of effective management which requires optimization of directions in the process of making managerial decisions in order to improve its activities is determined. The following factors of the influence on crisis phenomena in the given industry: external factors (political, economic) and internal factors (lack of working capital) significantly affecting the activities results are considered. On the basis of JSC «Elvorti» activity analysis, it is proved that it is necessary to take optimization measures and certain directions in the management decision-making process in order to ensure effective operation. The directions for control, simplification of decision-making process due to automation of document circulation on the basis of 1C, motivation of the personnel which will be able to improve organizational structure of the enterprise and production process are proposed.