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.

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.

Exploring the individual, social and organizational predictors of knowledge-sharing behaviours among communities of practice of SMEs in Malaysia

Purpose To compete in a globally challenging environment, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly pressured to leverage their relational capital to stay competitive. The purpose of this study is to model the KS behaviour of SMEs in an increasingly networked world through communities of practice (CoP). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a survey instrument developed based on prior literature from SMEs operating only in the electronic manufacturing industry. A total of 120 responses were received of which only 100 were valid. SmartPLS, a second-generation analysis software, was used to analyse the model developed. Findings The findings indicated that affect, reward, perceived consequences and social factor were all positive predictors of KS behaviour of SMEs in communities of practice. Interestingly, the facilitating conditions were found to negatively influence KS behaviour. Practical implications The findings are helpful to SMEs who are embarking on knowledge management (KM) practices in their respective companies and may be used to leverage the drivers of KM to improve more sharing behaviour that keeps SMEs competitive. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, few studies have explored the individual (i.e. perceived consequences, affect), social (i.e. social factor) and organisational (i.e. facilitating condition, reward) predictors of KS behaviour among CoP’s in Malaysian SMEs.

Perceived Work Environment and the Occurrence of Accidents: A Study Based on Kuching Area of Sarawak

Perceived work environment could be described as the opinions and attitudes of workers towards their work condition. Elements of perceived work environment such as physical environment, supportive work environment, and perceived work tasks may possibly be important factors that influence the occurrence of accidents. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived work environment and the occurrence of accidents within an electronic manufacturing industry in Kuching, Sarawak. A cross-sectional survey utilizing a bilingual self-report questionnaire was conducted to garner data from 50 workers. Independent t-test and Pearson moment correlation were used to assess data. The results indicated that the occurrence of accidents was not affected by age group. Although physical environment and perceived work tasks did not demonstrate significant relationships with the occurrence of accidents, supportive work environment exhibited a significant inverse relationship, thereby indicating that accidents could be lowered in the presence of higher supportive work environment. Thus, support and help from co-workers are essential determinants of safety at the workplace.

Design of a novel dexterous robotic gripper for in-hand twisting and positioning within assembly automation

Purpose – This paper aims to design a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. The growing demand from traditional high-mix low-volume and new massive customized manufacturing industry requires the robot with configurability and flexibility. In the electronic manufacturing industry particularly, the design of the robotic hand with sufficient dexterity and configuration is important for the robot to accomplish the assembly task reliably and robustly. It is important for the robot to be able to grasp and manipulate a large number of assembly parts or tools. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, a novel jaw-like gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed for online in-hand precise positioning and twisting. It retains the simplicity feature of traditional industrial grippers and dexterity features of dexterous robotic hands. Findings – The gripper is able to apply suitable gripping force on assembly parts and performs reliable twisting movement within limited time to meet the industrial requirements. Manipulating several cylindrical assembly parts by robot, as an experimental case in this paper, is studied to evaluate its performance. The effectiveness of proposed gripper design and mechanical analysis is proved by the simulation and experimental results. Originality/value – The main originality of this research is that a novel jaw gripper with human-sized anthropomorphic features is designed to be suitable for precise in-hand posture transitions, such as twisting and re-positioning. With this gripper, the robotic system will be sufficiently flexible to deal with various assembly tasks.

Analysis of Production Management System of Electronic Manufacturing Industry

In this paper, by studying a lot of advanced electronics manufacturing enterprise production management mode, put forward a basic structure of complete quality control system, and the elements of this structure is introduced in detail. Practice has proved that These practices on the establishment of "stable process" and improve the "product quality" has a very effective role.

Analyzing the Success Factors on the Implementation of Product Data Management: A Case Study of Electronic Manufacturing Industry

For promoting competitive advantages, many companies seek new ways to decrease costs in global markets. Information products contain more functionality, and their developments are continuous process to meet customer requirements. Developers have to manage and control a range of technology and increasing amount of product data. This research selects an old established enterprise named T-company in Taiwan as the subject. We found out 21 theoretical critical success factors (CSFs) from 6 case studies via three research and development departments of T-company. We pointed out 10 most important CSFs should be the critical point before and during the product data management implementation, which can be a reference model to executives of related electronic businesses.