The construction industry ranks high in the number of occupational incidents due to the complex and interdependent nature of the tasks. However, construction firms using lean construction have reported better safety performance than the rest. The situation reflects the limitation of traditional planning methods used in construction firms focusing on project level planning, at the expense of production level planning. Lean construction involves participants in the formal production planning process to minimize variability in workflow thus reducing probability of incidents. Considering the involvement of various participants in the production planning process, this research study hypothesized that communication levels afforded by participants during formal production planning have a positive impact on safety performance. The goal of this research study was to understand the role of communication in the formal production planning process and its impact on safety performance. A case study approach was adopted for analyzing two projects, one following formal production planning and another following traditional project planning. Weekly subcontractor coordination meeting was selected as the unit of analysis. Data has been collected using direct observations, open-ended interviews, and examination of archival documents. For this study, the independent variables were categories of communication and dependent variable was recordable incidence rate (safety performance). Communication data was analyzed using Robert Bales' Interaction Process Analysis. Based on the analyses, the participants involved in formal production planning demonstrated: more sensitivity and higher degree of control by frequently providing suggestions/opinions, more enthusiasm in exchange of commitments, sincerity by declining inquiry for commitments in case of conflict of interest, and greater involvement by engaging in frequent dialogues with others. In addition, participants involved in production planning adopted a proactive approach toward safety performance by ensuring that safety was considered while preparing production plans, thus helping improve awareness. The findings indicated a better safety record by the project following formal production planning in comparison to the other project. The research study provides a "meso" level understanding of the role of communication among project participants during formal production planning, and indicates that production planning might have a beneficial impact on safety performance. / Ph. D.

Today's highly competitive marketplaces require production systems that are flexible and responsive to changing demands. To remain competitive, companies need close coordination and exchange of computer interpretable information between product design and the manufacturing system. Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP) is an essential key for achieving closer links among design and manufacturing activities. The purpose of process planning is to generate feasible sequences for producing a part in a given production facility. To generate process plans automatically (true generative CAPP), design information along with production facility information needs to be appropriately represented. Most CAPP systems assume feasible designs as input and lack the capability to evaluate designs for manufacturability with respect to the production facility. The objective of this research is to develop a true generative CAPP system that is an integral part of a design for manufacturability (DFM) application for machined components. It involves determining appropriate representation schemes of machined components and production facility resources. The created CAPP Module, developed using C++, consists of five process dependent modules for automatic process plan generation and evaluation: (1) Process selection, (2) Machine/Tool Selection, (3) Setup/Fixture Planning, (4) Operation Sequence Planning, and (5) Process Plan Evaluation. Process plan generation is performed by the first four modules. Evaluation of process plans is performed by the Process Plan Evaluation Module. Criteria such as cost, resource utilization, and production requirement, are used to generate the most appropriate process plan and to select additional process plans as needed. / Master of Science

The primary purpose of this thesis is to quantitatively analyze the production features of the Indonesian manufacturing sector. In particular, using concepts from traditional neoclassical theory of the firm, attention is focused on such aspects as returns to scale and the elasticity of factor substitution. Some empirical knowledge of these features of a production activity is important because of the crucial role they play in many theories of, for instance, growth and development economics, international trade and public economics. In order to measure returns to scale and elasticities of substitution, the approach adopted was that of production function analysis, using econometric techniques. Cross-sectional Indonesian data for 1983 were fitted to both Cobb-Douglas and CES-type production functions, and the unit of observation is the establishment. Ordinary least squares method was applied in estimating the regression models. Chapter One is an introductory exposition. It describes the aim and the purpose of the study, while Chapter Two gives a general description of the manufacturing sector as a component of the national economy. Chapters Three and Four are the main substance of the thesis. In Chapter Three, a theoretical discussion of production functions and common problems usually encountered on the estimation of neoclassical aggregate production functions are given. The chapter is concluded with the discussion and definitions of the data used for the study. Two specifications for the tests of returns to scale and one specification for the tests of elasticity of substitution were formulated in chapter four. And 20 industries were tested for each specification. The results indicate that the majority of these industries show constant returns to scale. Moreover, most of them show elasticity of factor substitution greater than one. / M.A.

There exists today a variety of Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) systems that have been designed, developed, and implemented irrespective of the facility's condition and status. It is often found in practice that Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) constituents such as production control, loading, sequencing, scheduling, etc. do not interact with Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), or CAPP. They operate as stand alone techniques that are not interrelated in the CIM scenario. This could be overcome through increased, improved communication between CAD, CAPP, CAM, and other CIM constituents. CAPP has to be tied into the computerization of other CIM functions. An approach in this direction is what this research presents. Its uniqueness is that it relates CAPP in a flexible manufacturing system atmosphere with scheduling, in effect relating CAPP with production control. It integrates process selection and route generation with factors such as facility congestion, work in process, flowtime, machine utilization and dynamic shop conditions. The generation of alternate routes, and the incorporation of this technique in a CAPP system is an unique approach to the problem of interrelating CAPP with other CIM components. This involved the design and development of software that can model facility capacity, understand part construction, maintain and track shop status, reason through the facility capacity to arrive at possible machining sequences and job routes, and apply a heuristic to arrive at the job route through the facility. This results in the introduction and implementation of the concept of dynamic scheduling and alternate route generation in CAPP systems. The objective in global terms was to construct a CAPP system that considers routing and production control for a FMS that consists of several high capacity, modern machines. The concepts mentioned above are combined and coalesced in a CAPP system that truly provides computerized assistance to the process planning function at a macro-level. This research attempts to create a truly integrated CAPP system within a CIM atmosphere. / Ph. D.

Currently many American industrial firms are considering the adoption of Just-In-Time (JIT) as an inventory control/material flow system. A JIT system can have several configurations. Examples exist of JIT being applied system-wide between all the echelons which make up a channel. There are also examples of firms adopting JIT only on the materials management side, or alternatively, only on the physical distribution side of a particular focal organization (echelon) within a channel. The reality of uncertainty in the channel's operation and environment suggests that alternative inventory systems (such as JIT) must be evaluated under a range of internal operational uncertainty and external demand uncertainty conditions. This study offers a rational methodology to anticipate the performance impact of alternative system designs under realistic operating conditions. The G.P.M. simulation model was used to represent the operation of a channel under sixteen treatment conditions. The research design was full factorial with two levels each of four factors (physical distribution JIT, materials management JIT, materials management operational uncertainty, and demand uncertainty). The response variables which were used as indicators of channel performance included: profitability, order cycle time, standard deviation of order cycle time, and percent customer orders filled. Eleven research hypotheses explored the relationship between JIT configuration and uncertainty, both in terms of profitability and physical distribution service level maintained. The major conclusions of the research are: 1. JIT is not the unidimensional system often depicted in descriptive studies. JIT effects tend to be complex, interactive, and level dependent. It is particularly difficult to predict the effect of JIT on one echelon, or on subsystems within echelons. 2. Rather than the inherent positive effects often attributed to JIT, results indicate negative effects for both profit and service under a range of uncertainty conditions. 3. Results support the common criticism of JIT that its performance is sensitive to uncertainty, particularly demand uncertainty. The performance of non-JIT systems were also shown to have similar sensitivity to uncertainty. 4. Most synergistic interactions between factors were not significant, but the statistical procedure for means comparison was acknowledged to be conservative. 5. Results also indicated that JIT systems may make the job of maintaining high customer service levels more difficult. / Ph. D.

This Master´s thesis analyzes the software support of production planning in 2VV Ltd., which deals with manufacturing and suppling air conditioning systems as are air curtains, ventilation units and ventilation products. This thesis is divided into three parts. The theoretical part describes the theoretical base of manufacturing, production planning process and its software support. The analytical part contains global analysis and critical analysis of the current status of order processing and production planning with software support and its results. The last part lists possible improvements of production planning in the company.

M. Tech. (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Production planning in the manufacturing industry has previously been viewed as a less strategic function for achieving businesses’ bottom-line goals. Many companies in the manufacturing industry focus more on strategic sourcing and cost saving initiatives for financial profits and often neglect the operational planning initiatives. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of production planning on business performance as a risk management technique. A quantitative approach was adopted for the study and a questionnaire was distributed physically and electronically to production managers, operation managers, supply chain managers and general managers; 306 respondents participated. The data obtained were analysed by means of the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SSPS). Model fit and hypotheses between the relationships identified in the study were tested through the Smart PLS 3 software. Business performance was evaluated through four indicators, namely production planning, production scheduling, lead time delivery and first to market. The results of the study show that production planning has a positive impact on the production scheduling function for lean production cost saving initiatives. The study also found that production planning positively influences lead time delivery and first to market because it manages the flow of material, production and delivery to the end user. Production scheduling and first to market proved to have very significant and positive relationships with business performance. These constructs have proved to deliver a competitive advantage and also improved customer satisfaction. The findings of this study present general key strategies to improve operational efficiencies and this study can contribute to increasing the literature in lean manufacturing and production excellence.

O problema de planejamento da produção integrado ao problema de corte de estoque surge em várias indústrias de manufatura, tais como indústria de papel, móveis, aço entre outras, e consiste em um problema de otimização combinatória bastante complexo, devido ao fato de integrar dois problemas conhecidos na literatura de difícil resolução. As aplicações práticas deste problema vêm aumentando em muitas empresas que buscam tornar seus processos produtivos mais eficientes. Neste trabalho, estudamos o problema de otimização integrado que surge em pequenas indústrias de móveis, em que placas de MDF disponíveis em estoque devem ser cortadas em itens menores, de diversos tamanhos e quantidades para comporem os produtos demandados. O modelo matemático de otimização linear inteiro proposto permite que alguns produtos sejam antecipados e estocados. Essa antecipação da produção aumenta os custos de estoque, porém com o aumento da demanda de peças é possível gerar padrões de corte melhores e diminuir os custos com a perda de material. Consideramos no modelo dois tipos de variáveis de antecipação, uma de estoque convencional para atender uma demanda em carteira e outra para aproveitar a produção e atender uma demanda prevista, chamada variável oportunista. A função objetivo consiste em minimizar os custos dos processos de produção e de corte. Para resolver a relaxação linear deste problema, propomos um método lagrangiano e utilizamos a estratégia de horizonte rolante. Alguns testes computacionais são realizados e os resultados apresentados / The integrated problem of cutting stock and production planning arises in a several manufacturing industries, such as paper, furniture, steel among others, and it is a complex combinatorial optimization problem, due to the fact that it integrates two well-known NP problems of the literature. The real world applications of this problem have increased in many industries that search for more efficient production process. In this work, we studied an integrated optimization problem that arises in small furniture industries, where MDF boards available in inventory must be cut into enough quantities of items to compose demanded finish-goods. The model of integer linear optimization proposed allows anticipating some products and keeping them in inventory. This production anticipation makes increase the inventory costs, although makes it possible to determine better cutting patterns and decreases the costs of the cutting process. We consider in the model two types of anticipation variables, the first one to the ordinary inventory to meet ordered products and an other one, called chance variables, to meet a forecasting demand. The objective function is to minimize the costs of production process and waste of material. To solve a linear relaxation of this problem, we proposed lagrangian approach and used a rolling horizon strategy. Some computational tests are performed and results shown

Enquanto alguns indivíduos preferem processar informações no mundo exterior (extrovertido/extrospectivo), outros preferem processá-las de forma reflexiva (introvertido/introspectivo). Tal diferença induz vivências distintas e portanto gera aprendizados distintos, mesmo para estudantes no mesmo ambiente de aprendizagem. O problema examinado nesta pesquisa foi a assimetria no aprendizado de Planejamento e Controle da Produção (PCP) por estudantes com diferentes Estilos de Aprendizagem (EA) do modelo Ativo/Sem-preferência/Reflexivo em ambiente dinamizado pelo jogo de empresas (JE) Politron. A pergunta problema da pesquisa foi: a vivência com JE gera uma experiência mais efetiva para o aprendizado dos estudantes com EA Ativo? O objetivo central foi testar a hipótese de entrosamento do EA Ativo-Reflexivo com o ambiente de aprendizagem. O aprendizado no domínio cognitivo foi verificado com uma prova objetiva. Pela taxonomia de Bloom (ANDERSON; KRATHWOHL, 2001), a prova testou o desempenho escolar para os objetivos de aprendizagem dos processos cognitivos (recordar, entender, aplicar e analisar) e dos tipos de conhecimento (fatual, conceitual e processual). Os EA Ativo-Reflexivo foram mapeados com o modelo index of learning styles (ILS) de Felder e Silverman (1988). Foram conduzidos dois quase-experimentos de teste antes e depois com amostras separadas. No primeiro, com 375 estudantes, buscaram-se evidências de assimetria no aprendizado de estudantes com diferentes EA Ativo-Reflexivo. No segundo, com 100 estudantes, estudou-se o efeito do aumento de ênfase nas atividades reflexivas sobre a assimetria no aprendizado dos estudantes. No primeiro quase-experimento observou-se menor aprendizado dos estudantes com EA Ativo. Os resultados observados foram interpretados sob a ótica da teoria de aprendizagem vivencial de Kolb, D. (1984, p. 42) em que a aprendizagem depende de quatro etapas de um ciclo: existência imediata e concreta, observação reflexiva, conceitualização abstrata e experimentação ativa. Supôs-se que o menor aproveitamento dos estudantes com preferência Ativa, tenha decorrido da falta de atividades reflexivas, o que teria limitado o fechamento do ciclo de aprendizagem. Os Reflexivos, que preferem a transformação do conhecimento pela observação reflexiva (introspecção), foram estimulados a experimentar ativamente os conhecimentos no jogo de empresa fechando o ciclo de aprendizagem mais efetivamente que os Ativos: na reflexão, apoiados nas suas preferências pessoais, e na ação, pelas situações impostas pelo jogo. Para testar esta suposição, desenvolveu-se o segundo quase-experimento, ampliando-se as atividades reflexivas da vivência. O resultado levou à aceitação da igualdade das médias dos estudantes Ativos, Reflexivos e Sem preferência. Baseado nas referências e nos resultados observados sugere-se que agentes de aprendizagem incorporem em seus planos de ensino e aprendizagem o caráter cíclico da aprendizagem vivencial (KOLB, D. 1984). Em concordância com as observações de Felder e Spurlin (2005), Seno e Belhot (2009) e Felder (2010), sugere-se a criação de oportunidades de aprendizagem balanceadas aos estudantes com diferentes EA. Aos educadores que já adotam o jogo de empresas, ressalta-se a importância dos momentos reflexivos, sobretudo para os estudantes Ativos serem estimulados a analisar os resultados do JE e fazer observações reflexivas diminuindo assim a assimetria de aprendizado. / While some people prefer to process information upon the outer world (extroverted), others prefer to process it reflectively (introverted). This difference leads to distinct experiences and therefore to distinct learnings, despite the students being in the same learning environment. The research problem was the learning asymmetry in Production Planning and Control (PPC) by students with different Active-Reflective learning styles in a business game-based learning environment. The research question was: does the use of a business game generate a more effective learning process for students with an Active learning style? The main objective was to test the meshing hypothesis of the Active-Reflective learning style with the learning environment. The learning outcomes were assessed by means of an exam. Using Bloom\'s taxonomy (ANDERSON; KRATHWOHL, 2001) the exam assessed learning outcomes of the cognitive processes (remembering, understanding, applying, and analyzing) and of the types of knowledge (factual, conceptual and procedural). Active-Reflective learning style of each student was assessed using the Felder and Silverman (1988) inventory of learning style (ILS). Two quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test with separate samples were conducted; the first one, with 375 students, to evaluate the differences in the learning of students with different learning styles (Active-Reflective). The second one, with 100 students, aimed to study the effect of the increase of reflective activities on asymmetry of students learning due to their learning styles (Active-Reflective). The first quasi-experiment showed lower learning by Active students. To explain the results, the Kolb, D. (1984, p. 42) experiential learning theory was used. The experiential learning relies on the four stages of a cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. It was assumed that, the lower learning of the students with Active learning style, was caused by the lack of reflective activities during the business game. The Reflective students, who prefer the transformation of knowledge by reflective observation (introspection), were encouraged, by the game, to experiment actively the knowledge. They would have been able to close the learning cycle more effectively than the Active students: by reflecting, due to their personal preferences, and, by acting, due to the circumstances imposed by the business game. To confirm this assumption the second quasi-experiment was developed increasing the reflective activities of the experience. The results, then, led to the acceptance of the learning equality of students regardless of their Active-Reflective learning style. Based on the references and data observed in this study, it is suggested that the learning agents consider, in their teaching and learning plans, the cyclical nature of experiential learning, as defined by Kolb, D. (1984). In accordance with the studies of Felder and Spurlin (2005), of Belhot and Seno (2009) and of Felder (2010), it is suggested providing learning opportunities in a balanced way to students with any learning style. To the educators that already use games, it is important to encourage students, especially the Active ones, to review the results of the game and make reflective observations.

This research focuses on large-scale manufacturing systems having a number of stations with multiple tools and product types with different and deterministic processing steps. The objective is to determine the production quantities of multiple products and the tool requirements of each station that maximizes net profit while satisfying strategic constraints such as cycle times, required throughputs, and investment. The formulation of the problem, named OptiProfit, is a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) with the stochastic issues addressed by mean-value analysis (MVA) and queuing network models. Observing that OptiProfit is an NP-complete, nonconvex, and nonmonotonic problem, the research develops a heuristic method, Differential Coefficient Based Search (DCBS). It also performs an upper-bound analysis and a performance comparison with six variations of Greedy Ascent Procedure (GAP) heuristics and Modified Simulated Annealing (MSA) in a number of randomized cases. An example problem based on a semiconductor manufacturing minifab is modeled as an OptiProfit problem and numerically analyzed. The proposed methodology provides a very good quality solution for the high-level design and operation of manufacturing facilities.