Tese de mestrado. Inovação e Empreendedorismo Tecnológico. 2006. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto

In recent years supply chains have gained the attention of both academia and industry. In this thesis, a novel state-space model of a multi-node supply chain is presented, controlled via local proportional inventory-replenishment policies. The model is driven by a stochastic sequence representing customer demand. The model is analysed under stationarity conditions, guaranteed to arise if the control parameters lie in a certain range which is identified and a simple recursive scheme is further developed for updating the covariance matrix of the system in closed form, i. e., as an explicit function of the control parameters. This allows us to analyse the effect of inventory policies on the "bullwhip effect" (demand amplification) for chains with an arbitrary number of nodes. The three-node model is subsequently analysed in detail under information sharing and the optimal policy is derived, which minimises inventory fluctuations (and inventory mean) under a probabilistic constraint related to downstream demand. It is shown that this policy can never lead to demand amplification in the chain, as long as the gain parameter of the downstream node lies in the stability region. Finally, issues related to estimation schemes based on local historical data are discussed. The main results and conclusions are illustrated via numerous examples and simulations. An alternative model of the supply chain is also developed using timed Hierarchical Coloured Petri Nets (HCPN). This approach considers supply chains as event-driven systems and studies decentralised control structures by analysing the impact of various continuous inventory policies and known forecasting methods followed by supply chain participants. CPN-Tools [fCPN] are used for the design of decision-making policies and simulation results are presented to highlight the main issues arising in real systems and to provide insights for future modelling and simulation work. Finally, a detailed case study is undertaken, for the production line of the "Bridngorth Aluminium Ltd" company which produces high quality rolled aluminium lithographic strips. An efficient representation for such production processes is provided and subsequently used for an extensive analysis and performance evaluation through appropriate metrics. In particular, the work addresses the implementation of an overall model in a simulation environment, capable of integrating the various aspects of the specific production management processes.

This thesis shows how utilising dynamic simulation to estimate unit costs and manufacturing resources, can aid design decisions. A framework specification is introduced that integrates Computer Aided Design (CAD), Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Activity Based Cost (ABC) methodology. The framework aids a design team in understanding the consequences of design decisions in terms of unit cost and manufacturing resources, by returning aggregated unit cost and manufacturing based data, directly to the design team, within the design environment. Dynamic Resource Estimation System (DRES) has been developed to implement the framework and conduct two case studies based on representative aerospace components. The purpose of the first case study is to determine the benefits and applications of integrating a dynamic supply chain simulation and unit cost estimation. The second case study is used to show that the framework is capable of handling significantly different components and to highlight the effort required to implement a new component within the framework. This thesis concludes that there are three primary benefits provided by the framework, which are: firstly, the framework can accurately predict required resources to fulfil a supply chain for a specific production rate, which can be utilised by manufacturing engineers to aid production planning; secondly, the framework increases refinement of a component unit cost estimate, by including manufacturing time and dynamically determined resource requirements into an ABC cost model; and thirdly, the framework has the ability to compare multiple supply chain options and different supply chain types at the same time from component geometry.

This thesis describes a sociocultural study which addresses the question of how New Product Development (NPD) practices in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) are influenced by obscure practices, deployed to meet emerging challenges that enable SMEs to remain relevant to their markets. Prior research in this area has assumed that a company’s innovation potential can be objectively explained by looking at critical factors such as peoples’ skills (e.g. leadership), company resources, capabilities, and its external orientation. However important, these variance-based approaches are generally discussed in isolation from the dynamic and idiosyncratic contexts where they emerge (such as the NPD process). As a result they fail to provide a holistic view of the phenomena that promote agility and innovation. This study’s purpose was to develop a methodological approach to explicate obscurity in SMEs’ innovation practices. To achieve this, the study employed a design-led qualitative research strategy to bring to the forefront the underlying contextual, situational and relational phenomena impacting a common core practice in manufacturing SMEs, their NPD process. The aim was to increase our knowledge of the notion of obscure practices in their effort to meet their emerging challenges. The research began by developing a theoretical model to consolidate ideas derived from: 1.Strategic management variance literature, which led to a multi-level theoretical framework (people, firm, and external levels). 2. Models of NPD processes, which led to the adoption of a generic process-model (Initiation, Development and Implementation) used as periods to study organisational practices. 3. Sociocultural literature, which led to the adoption of Activity Theory (AT) to guide analysis of NPD activities. The study approached its methodology in order to meet two key requirements. With regards to the sensitivities of the SME context (such as the disruption to participants’ day to day practices), the study developed a design-led process-mapping tool for data collection that provided rich insights in an engaging and fast way, whilst it allowed the triangulation and visualisation of the data, which was collected from staff members across different expertise and positions. In addition, an Activity Theory framework was adopted as a means to analyse the data and make sense of its complexity in line with the need to capture multi-level phenomena across different periods of the NPD process. The thesis provides a number of contributions to contemporary design research and beyond. First, it demonstrates the value of integrating variance and process-based research approaches and the richness of insights gained by applying them to organisational settings. Second, it argues for the usefulness of ‘obscurity’ as a term to describe the not-well-articulated practices that take place in the day-to-day business, as opposed to terms such as hidden, invisible, silent, and/or tacit. Third, it shows the value of the adopted research method (i.e. the Pytheas tool), to surface obscurity in innovation practices in a non-prescriptive, fast and engaging way by enabling participants to self-reflect on their own practices and by visualising organisational contexts in such a way that the richness and the depth of the practices can be captured and better appreciated. Consequently, the contributions of the study primarily concern design practitioners and strategists who need to find ways to better construe the organisational settings to which they are called to offer their expertise. Businesses may also benefit by this method as it provides a platform through which members can develop a greater awareness of their respective strengths and weaknesses and, through the visualised outcomes, it offers a legacy that businesses can use, revisit and refer to during their efforts to achieve agility and increase their innovation potential.

The aim of this thesis is to understand what supply chain quality management (SCQM) is and to examine SCQM practices in the Chinese automobile industry by comparing the different SCQM implementation between Chinese Self-owned Brands (CSBs) and Joint Ventures (JVs). This thesis attempts to reveal and understand SCQM practices in order to provide new insights in dealing with quality issues along the supply chain. Hence, in this thesis three research questions (RQs) are explored and answered: RQ1) What are the main factors impacting on SCQM in the Chinese automobile industry? RQ2) What are the differences between CSBs and JVs in the field of SCQM? RQ3) Why do such differences occur? A mixed research methodology was implemented to answer these three RQs. First, a case study in seven Chinese automobile companies was conducted. Resulting from this qualitative method, this research proposes a robust SCQM framework and generates SCQM measurements. SCQM is conceptualised as a multidimensional construct and the framework is composed of companywide quality management, supplier-side SCQM, customer-side SCQM, and performance. The measurement model evaluation, structural model evaluation, and multigroup analysis were conducted in sequence to investigate multi-dimensionality of SCQM, test the relationships among these dimensions, and clarify the different SCQM between CSBs and JVs. Variance-based structural equation modelling of Partial Least Square (PLS) on the platform of Smart-PLS 3.0 was used to analyse the 196 quantitative data that were collected from CSBs and JVs. Further, six follow-up interviews were then conducted to identify the root causes of the findings of the survey study. This research finds that companywide quality management cannot directly influence operational performance due to the complexity of China’s automobile supply chain. It illustrates that customer-side SCQM practices have the most significant influence on operational performance. This study also clarifies that ownership bears a critical impact on the relationship between customer-side SCQM practices and operational performance. It extends the SCQM literature by studying a large number of automobile companies in China and comparing the different supply chain level quality practices between CSBs and JVs. It provides good breadth to the literature by answering the calls for ownership and emerging market research. This thesis also enhances the understanding of managers about the best SCQM practices to assist companies in moving from their current practices to their preferred one. It also illustrates significant directions for supply chain level quality system designs for automobile companies.

The dynamic business environment has prompted the companies to improve their competitiveness in terms of manufacturing efficiencies by exploring faster, better and cheaper modes of product development. In this concern, different approaches are configured such as lean manufacturing, just in time and lead time reduction. The study focuses on a critical investigation into the reduction of Lead Time within discrete manufacturing in Kurdistan region of Iraq and the reasons behind this research, that area has evolved gradually as well as the government has an action plan for national recovery and development of reconstruction, where lead-time has become a major issue in manufacturing industry. Specifically, current research study aims at contributing to the strand by focusing on a critical investigation into the reduction of lead time within discrete manufacturing in Kurdistan region of Iraq, where lead-time has become a major issue in manufacturing industry. Mainly, the study has the goals of developing reliable techniques for reducing the lead time through application of assessment survey, capacity planning and key performance indicators in order to implement and control the manufacturing processes. The rationale behind the present study is consisted of economic development within the region, which has attracted a large number of foreign direct investments, but the expanded lead time is causing hurdles with the lack of a strategic plan for resolving the issue which has not keenly addressed in literature so current study would be beneficial for both the stakeholders such as researchers relying on literature and for practitioners as well. In order to conduct the analysis, current research applies the mixture of quantitative and qualitative research. Specifically, for quantitative analysis, a survey is conducted using questionnaires as data collection tool and SPSS analysis for exploring the cause and effect relationship. Mainly, the data are collected from eight Kurdistan based manufacturers. On the contrary, the qualitative analysis is conducted through the case studies. The development of a comprehensive conceptual framework has been applied for focusing on quick response manufacturing both at batch and mass production level. The framework is a contribution to academic knowledge. Through the outcomes of the study, specific factors which are explored to be the main causes of extension in lead time include ineffective forecasting for material requirements, capacity planning, inaccurate demand analysis, decreased resource efficiency and shipment delays. As the most effective solution to these issues, the findings explained that the lot for lot technique is much better than the fixed period requirements which are mostly used in the Iraq region. Moreover, just in time manufacturing strategy and closed loop capacity is also proven to be fruitful along with the splitting order tactic. It is concluded from the findings of this study that the basic issue lies with management in different areas like in human resource, quality, information acquiring, technological developments and operational efficiency. So, it is recommended to the practitioners to higher efficient management squad at the most basic level to eradicate the root cause of the lead time issue. This research will provide new simple strategies for reducing manufacturing lead-time because this is particularly important, as it can be used to provide guidance to industry practitioners on how to reduce manufacturing lead time.

A firm’s ability to survive and prosper is often a function of its ability to design and develop new products that meet the needs of heterogeneous markets. The way in which a product is designed can have profound implications for product market structure and who is able to profit from an innovation, but despite this few industry studies have examined how and why product and industry architectures co-evolve and correspond across time. Notions of architectural co-evolution and correspondence are grounded in the modularity literature and assume a path towards increasing product modularity and industry specialisation. However, scholars have recently hinted that a reverse path towards increasing product and industry integration may be equally feasible. This research study contributes to the literature by proposing three stylised hybrid product and industry reintegration types that enhance our understanding of how and why reintegration may occur in product markets. Furthermore, the presence of a correspondence in the design characteristics between architectural layers (the so-called ‘mirroring hypothesis’) has also been suggested in the literature, such that product component design is often a blueprint for the way task, knowledge and firm boundaries are partitioned within a given product market. This research study finds that architectural correspondence is hard to sustain over time as firms often maintain a broader knowledge than task boundary for strategically important product components that offer differentiation opportunities or competitive advantage, contributing to the literature on contingencies that ‘mist the mirror’. Of particular interest to this research study is the UK personal pensions sector, a non-physical product, largely under-explored in the product modularity literature. By analysing the co-evolution and correspondence of a non-manufactured product over a 30-year period this research study breaks new ground. The research study makes use of a retrospective longitudinal research design, based upon semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 31 key personnel. The interview data was subject to a combination of matrix and template analysis.

Packaging occupies an indispensable part of everyday life. Even though packaging is meant to ensure that products arrive in excellent condition, so as to satisfy required needs, more often than not, consumers, as well as industrial users are more interested in the product itself than its packaging. However, if the packaging fails, the product is potentially unfit to serve its purpose. In order to meet the demands of industry, the packaging industry in Greece has evolved, mainly through new investment. This investing has boosted the market by adding quality to the products and affects corporate efficiency in a positive way. Industrial operations are subject to environmental legislation, such as the 94/62 EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, which aims at optimising the various methods used in reprocessing the packaging materials after their having been used. The literature review enables comprehension of particular issues pertinent to the discussion on packaging, since it draws attention to various kinds of paper packaging. This research explores the role and importance of paper packaging in the supply chain and in proposing improvements that may ameliorate current packaging practices. This research project explores packaging operations, as well as the issues related to the packaging supply chain, with respect to the Greek market. Moreover, it seeks to identify the occurrence of impediments, which arise as a result of inner operating discrepancies between the European Union countries, regarding the implementation of Directives such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC). Key issues related to packaging are thoroughly scrutinised in this research. Among them, the relation between packaging and the environment is investigated, the overpackaging issue, along with packaging redesign, are examined, as they are all interrelated facets of the research, regarding the endeavour to enhance packaging performance. Therefore, packaging performance is examined in relation to some major aspects such as warehousing, storage, and transportation, as well as how to improve packaging expenditure. From this point of view, the issues examined are subsequently connected to the analysis of the current environmental problems and the ways to minimise them. This study includes not only a survey of both the market and the supply chain but also of the participants in them. A detailed case study of multiple respondents’ categories was developed for this reason. The data, which were collected through a specially designed questionnaire adjusted to the various categories of the respondents, were treated and analysed in order to assist the conclusions. Following the above, this research delves deeply into issues of paramount significance, such as overpackaging and packaging redesign, approaching them with laboratory methods. The research applies both theoretical methods, based on the literature, and common industrial practices. Originating from industrial sources, the data give evidence to the reliability of the results, adding insight into the issues investigated. Furthermore, this research points out the potential to significantly ameliorate a company’s packaging performance through analysing and conducting crucial modifications to packaging design. Problems such as the packaging legislation and the discrepancies related to it among countries, not only of the EU but also of those not belonging to it, are thoroughly investigated, showing the unstable market circumstances created due to the rivalry among countries, which stems from inadequate legislation.

Reliable temperature time series are necessary to quantify how our world is changing. Unfortunately many non-climatic artefacts, known as inhomogeneities, affect these time series. When looking at real world data it is often not possible to distinguish between these non-climatic artefacts and true climatic variations that are naturally found in our world. Therefore, trying to remove the non-climatic artefacts with complete confidence is problematic, but leaving them in could lead to misinterpretation of climate variations. In creating realistic, homogeneous, synthetic, daily temperature series the truth can be known about the data completely. Known, created inhomogeneity structures can be added to these series, allowing the distinguishing between true and artificial artefacts. The application of homogenisation algorithms to these created inhomogeneous data allows the assessment of algorithm performance, as their returned contributions are being compared to a known standard or benchmark, the clean data. In this work a Generalised Additive Model (GAM) was used to create synthetic, clean, daily temperature series. Daily data pose new challenges compared to monthly or annual data owing to their increased variability and quantity. This is the first intercomparison study to assess homogenisation algorithm performance on temperature data at the daily level. The inhomogeneity structures added to the clean data were created by perturbing the inputs to the GAM, which created seasonally varying inhomogeneities, and by adding constant offsets, which created constant inhomogeneities. Four different regions in the United States were modelled, these four regions are climatically diverse which allowed for the exploration of the impact of this on homogenisation algorithm performance. Four different data scenarios, incorporating three different inhomogeneity structures, were added and evaluations also investigated how these impacted algorithm performance. Eight homogenisation algorithms were contributed to this study and their performance was assessed according to both their ability to detect change points and their ability to return series that were closer to the clean data than they were on release. These evaluations sought to aid the improvement of these algorithms and enable a quantification of the uncertainty remaining in daily temperature data even after homogenisation has taken place. Evaluations were also made of the benchmarks as it was important that benchmark weaknesses were taken into account. It was found that more climatologically diverse regions were harder to model and less climatologically diverse regions were easier to homogenise. Station density in a network and the presence of artificial trend inhomogeneities did not impact algorithm performance as much as changes in autocorrelations did, and the latter area was an area that most algorithms could improve on. This work feeds into the larger project of the International Surface Temperature Initiative which is working on a wider scale and with monthly instead of daily data.

There has been increased interest internationally in using public procurement as an innovation policy. China too has employed innovation oriented public procurement (IOPP) to implement its ‘indigenous innovation’ strategy. This thesis explores China’s IOPP policy processes, evaluates the appropriateness of these policies, and explains key issues identified. Literature strands on innovation, policy, public procurement, and IOPP are drawn upon to analyse IOPP and related policies. IOPP processes are conceptualized as dynamics shaped by the institutions, actors and interactions of innovation and public procurement systems. IOPP policies are framed as horizontal mixes of cross-domain interventions, and vertical mixes of goals, rationales, instruments, designed implementation structures, actual implementation processes, and outcomes. A criterion for evaluating policy appropriateness is coherence between the various dimensions. Macro-level policies impact on micro-level processes which in turn provide evidence of implementation. A multi-level case study methodology is adopted to link up macro/national, meso/regional and micro/local levels of policy design, articulation and implementation. Implementation is characterized through three IOPP policy channels, a channel being a characteristic group of policies to promote IOPP. Channel 1 employed ‘innovation catalogues’, which was unexpectedly terminated in 2011 in response to concerns from other countries over China’s perceived protectionist tendency. Channel 1 was found to be a centralized mechanism to implement general IOPP across all regions, sectors and levels of governance. As a one-size-fits-all approach requiring cross-domain, cross-level coordination, it failed to achieve coherence with the institutional fragmentation of China’s innovation and procurement systems. The other two channels were implicit, strategic IOPP approaches i.e. commercialization projects for ‘major technological equipment’ with a rationale of pre-commercial procurement (Channel 2), and demonstration programmes for emerging technologies with a rationale of creating lead markets (Channel 3). These two channels realized better coherence with China’s systems as both were targeted at specific sectors and levels. Cross-case analysis suggests that micro-level IOPP processes were more frequently shaped by local contexts of stakeholders, interactions and informal institutions rather than IOPP policies. Interventionist local governments and proactive suppliers played stronger roles than procurers in initiating IOPP. IOPP cycles followed diverse and informal pathways not always competition-based, which might have breached de jure procurement regulations but China’s weak formal institutions allowed this flexibility. Informal institutions sometimes mitigated flaws of formal ones and facilitated IOPP, but could easily play competing roles (notably regional protectionism) that hinder policy implementation. This thesis contributes to IOPP knowledge by: offering a conceptual approach to IOPP policy analysis concerning implementation and appropriateness evaluation; uncovering China’s IOPP dynamics based on which the understanding of IOPP as a research subject is deepened. Policy implications include lessons for catching-up countries emphasizing institutional capacity and government capability, and more general issues highlighting policy differentiation and complementarity, and intermediation.