M.Ing. / The principles of lean were understood to be relevant to the operations of a manufacturing enterprise meaning processes associated with material supply, component production and delivery of products and services to the customer. It was identified there was growing awareness that lean principles could be transferred readily to other functions and sectors. The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of lean principles to knowledgebased activities such as engineering design and product development. The organization under study was Olifant Manufacturing Company (OMC), a division of British Aerospace Systems, Land Systems South Africa. Lean product developments (LPD) was identified as one of the leading approaches currently adopted by organizations attempting to maximize value, increase quality, shorten lead times, and lower the costs for product development (PD) processes. The justification for the research was due to and in response to current adverse market trends. There would be the adoption of processes that would radically reduce the product development lead time, product introduction lead time to market, increase process efficiency and product quality and reduce development costs at OMC. The problem statement was formulated as: “Would the researched Lean principles enable OMC to improve its traditional PD to LPD?” The Life Cycle Management (LCM) framework was the mandated organizational framework that guided the execution of projects at BAE Systems The development of the research literature was guided by research questions that sought to identify the relevant framework that would be tailored within the overarching (LCM) framework to enable process improvements. The main findings were that Lean transformation is an organizational journey that would begin with a top down philosophy or strategy approach. Aspects of Lean Product Development were identified and were found to be integrated into a system framework that integrated the transformation of people, processes and tools and technologies.

M.Ing.(Engineering Management) / Delays are a major problem faced by construction companies. The majority of the leading delays factors found from reviewing other studies were avoidable delay factors. The avoidable delay factors are factors caused only by the contractor. The reviewed studies gave recommendations for addressing the delay factors; however this study found that projects nevertheless still failing in South African construction industry and other countries even after the various studies made recommendations on how to avoid the delay factors. The objectives of this study were to establish the top ten avoidable delay factors and their mitigation measures in various countries and also to establish which of the proposed mitigation measures for each of the top ten avoidable delay factors were believed to be the answer in South African construction industry. A questionnaire was developed with questions that will probe the respondents to select the mitigation measures that will address each of the ten avoidable delay factors. The option answers were specifically designed to be close-ended. The size of the sample required was 80 and this study managed to get 82 responses. The survey was launched using SurveyMonkey which is an online survey platform. The data received was analysed for reliability and validity. The reliability was determined using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and was applied using the testretest approach. All questions had a coefficient greater than 0.6 which meant that the responses were reliable (strong). The validity was established using face validity. The responses were analysed to establish which mitigation measures have more frequency of selection. Some of the questions had some mitigation measures receiving more than 80% of the selection and some questions had some mitigation measures getting almost the same percentage selection. Most (60%) of the provinces of South Africa agreed on which mitigation measure must be used for addressing the avoidable delay factors.

The research thesis reflects a positive improvement to the plant efficiency through strategic optimisation planning and controlling systems. It’s important to note that the set goals of the research were achieved, with total employee buy-in contributing to the success and sustainability of these improvements. Purposive sample methods allowed for the twenty employees from a total of 172, to be interviewed for both the pre and post testing. The paradigm of the research contributed to integrative communication between brainstorming and action. The efforts of the total workforce must be commended, for strategically aligning the organizational goals and objectives to realization. The content of the thesis, show a direct relationship between the plant optimisation and the increase in the production volumes. The understanding of the downtime reports for the period specified is a direct reflection to the improvement in quality, and the reduction of the overall poor workmanship graphs indicates positively to the reduction in cost. The last value driver, on-time delivery shows a vast improvement in maintaining the customer satisfaction, when considering the increase to the production volume capacity. These improvements have made further volume increases probable, and the understanding of Ikhwezi Trucktech management to negotiate with realized information for future capacity planning.

Diploma thesis "Modern methods of production control" is engaged in the activities of production companies in general and the application of different methods, both in the manufacturing process control as such and as secondary service production processes as well. In the first part of the thesis are described processes with a theoretical base for the manufacturing enterprise, including the stratification of production management from different perspectives and division of production itself. The second part of the thesis is focused on the practical use and application of selected methods and production control in the particular Czech company, which is operating in production of plastic products for automotive industry. Selected methods are described in terms of content, achieving the objective and advantages or disadvanteges, reulting from their application. Among methods you can find e.g. Just in Time, Poka-Yoke, Lean Production, ERP, 5S, Project management, Kanban, TPM, Theory of constraints, FMEA, OEE, Continuous Improvement Processes and others.

Orientadores: João Mauricio Rosário, Oscar Fernando Avilés Sanchez / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T23:43:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CastilloEstepa_RicardoAndres_D.pdf: 29085349 bytes, checksum: e43675a3a033cb5217e30c08ce3fb21e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Neste trabalho é proposta e desenvolvida uma estratégia de coordenação baseada em agentes (holons) para sistemas automatizados de produção compostos por módulos de manufatura colaborativos heterogêneos, a qual permitirá a esses sistemas se adaptar dinamicamente às mudanças e perturbações do ambiente industrial moderno. Para realizar a validação da estratégia proposta é projetada e simulada uma configuração para um sistema de manufatura flexível formado por: uma mesa hidráulica, um robô articulado, uma mão robótica como sistema de sujeição e um robô móvel. Na estratégia de coordenação proposta é utilizada uma arquitetura do tipo holárquica (ADACOR), dentro da qual os hólons projetados poderão trabalhar tanto de forma independente atingindo objetivos locais quanto de forma integrada cooperando entre si para alcançar objetivos globais de produção. A coordenação e reconfiguração das operações dos hólons dentro do sistema, de maneira que esses possam trabalhar de forma colaborativa (coordenação ¿ cooperação) é desenvolvida utilizando uma técnica de inteligência artificial coletiva conhecida como Stigmergia, combinada com redes neurais artificiais auto-organizativas. Dessa maneira o processo de reconfiguração do sistema de manufatura é otimizado disponibilizando de forma local a informação global do sistema, além disso neste trabalho também é acrescentado um componente adaptativo no interior dos holons da arquitetura hibrida ADACOR, desse modo adicionando flexibilidade, adaptabilidade e rapidez de reconfiguração na obtenção dos planos de manufatura ao lidar com falhas ou perturbações. A estratégia proposta neste trabalho também poderá ser utilizada em outras aplicações que precisem da integração colaborativa de dispositivos mecatrônicos / Abstract: In this work is proposed and developed an agents (holons) based coordination strategy for automated production systems composed of heterogeneous collaborative manufacturing modules, this strategy will allow these systems dynamically adapt to changes and disturbances of the modern industrial environment. In order to validate the proposed strategy is projected and simulated a configuration for a flexible manufacturing system comprising: a hydraulic table, an articulated robot, a robotic hand as a gripping system, and a mobile robot. In the proposed coordination strategy is used an holarchical type architecture (ADACOR), within this architecture the projected holons (agents) can work both in an independent manner reaching local objectives or in an integrated manner cooperating each other to achieve the global production objectives. The coordination and reconfiguration between the holons inside the system in order that these can work in a collaborative form (coordination ¿ cooperation) is developed using a collective artificial intelligence technique known as Stigmergy combined with self-organizing neural networks. Therefore, the reconfiguration process of manufacturing system is optimized providing locally the global information of the system, in addition in this work is also added an adaptive component into the holons of ADACOR hybrid architecture, aiming flexibility, adaptability and speed of reconfiguration in obtaining manufacturing plans to deal with failures or disturbances. The strategy proposed in this work can also be used in other applications that require the collaborative integration of mechatronic devices / Doutorado / Mecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto Mecanico / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

abstract: Recent advances in manufacturing system, such as advanced embedded sensing, big data analytics and IoT and robotics, are promising a paradigm shift in the manufacturing industry towards smart manufacturing systems. Typically, real-time data is available in many industries, such as automotive, semiconductor, and food production, which can reflect the machine conditions and production system’s operation performance. However, a major research gap still exists in terms of how to utilize these real-time data information to evaluate and predict production system performance and to further facilitate timely decision making and production control on the factory floor. To tackle these challenges, this dissertation takes on an integrated analytical approach by hybridizing data analytics, stochastic modeling and decision making under uncertainty methodology to solve practical manufacturing problems. Specifically, in this research, the machine degradation process is considered. It has been shown that machines working at different operating states may break down in different probabilistic manners. In addition, machines working in worse operating stage are more likely to fail, thus causing more frequent down period and reducing the system throughput. However, there is still a lack of analytical methods to quantify the potential impact of machine condition degradation on the overall system performance to facilitate operation decision making on the factory floor. To address these issues, this dissertation considers a serial production line with finite buffers and multiple machines following Markovian degradation process. An integrated model based on the aggregation method is built to quantify the overall system performance and its interactions with machine condition process. Moreover, system properties are investigated to analyze the influence of system parameters on system performance. In addition, three types of bottlenecks are defined and their corresponding indicators are derived to provide guidelines on improving system performance. These methods provide quantitative tools for modeling, analyzing, and improving manufacturing systems with the coupling between machine condition degradation and productivity given the real-time signals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Industrial Engineering 2020

Au cours de la dernière décennie, le système de contrôle de production (PCS) Constant Work InProgress (CONWIP) a été étudié par un nombre croissant de publications. Compte tenu des défis industrielsactuels, tels que la nécessité de s’adapter, la personnalisation croissante des produits, la réduction des délaiset l’importance grandissante du service rendu aux clients, le ConWip semble être un PCS efficace et agilepour les industriels. Cette thèse débute par une revue systématique des travaux sur le ConWip remontant à2003 basée sur une méthode de classification originale. Cette méthode permet de catégoriser les papiers quise concentrent sur le dimensionnement, la performance, le contexte d’implémentation et la comparaison avecd'autres PCS. En plus de proposer une clé de lecture pour interpréter les approches de recherche, les critèresconsidérés répondent à des questions sur la façon de mettre en oeuvre, la façon d’optimiser et les raisonspour lesquelles utiliser le ConWip. Une étude sur les pistes de recherche proposées ou applicables au ConWipa ensuite permis de mettre en évidence les plus prometteuses et d’en extraire les principales tendances.L'objectif consiste ici à mettre à jour les lacunes de la recherche existante sur le ConWip. L'une d'entre ellesamène à des questions clés liées à la mise en oeuvre du ConWip dans un environnement caractérisé par unmix produit élevé et/ou par un mix gamme opératoire élevé. Dans ce contexte, quatre algorithmes qui génèrentdifférentes gammes génériques sont ensuite présentés. Ces gammes, appelées « gammes enveloppes » sontimplémentées dans Wipsim, un outil d'ingénierie utilisé dans les projets de conception et d'amélioration deslignes d'assemblage ConWip, qui permet de calculer les paramètres ConWip optimisés pour chacune desgammes. Un échantillon de données, dérivé d'un cas industriel, est utilisé pour tester les quatre algorithmes.Nous les comparons à travers leur sensibilité au mix produit et selon l'impact induit par l'introduction dedifférents produits atypiques dans le mix. Nos expériences montrent que nos algorithmes génèrent desgammes enveloppes pertinentes et aident les praticiens à choisir le plus adapté à leur contexte spécifique. / In the past decade, a growing body of literature has investigated the CONstant Work InProgress (ConWip) production control system (PCS). In view of the current industrial challengesentailing adaptability, product customisation, decreas- ing leadtimes and customer satisfaction, ConWipseems to be an effective and adaptive PCS for manufacturers. A ConWip systematic review datingback to 2003 and provides a guide for understanding through an original classification method. Thismethod enables the differentiation of papers that concentrate on Con- Wip sizing, performance andcontext as well as a comparison with other PCSs. In addition to providing a key to interpreting theresearch approaches, the criteria considered answers questions on how to implement, how to optimiseand why and when to use ConWip. The survey of research avenues proposed or applicable to CONWIPclassify them, highlight the most promising and extract the main trends. The final aim is to provide somegaps. One of the them deals with key questions related to the implementation of ConWip in a highproduct mix and/or high routing mix environment. Four algorithms that generate different genericroutings are presented. These routings are implemented into Wipsim, an engineering tool used inprojects to design and improve ConWip assembly lines, which allows the optimized ConWip parametersfor each routing to be calculated. A sample of data, derived from an industrial case, is used to test thefour models. We compare them via their sensitivity to the mix product and through the impact of theintroduction of different, atypical products. Our experiments show that our algorithms generatedworthwhile generic routings and help practitioners choose among them, depending on a specificcontext.

Please read the abstract in the section, 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Eng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / unrestricted

A challenge for healthcare organizations is that operational efficiency suffers from variation in production. This is because variation in healthcare is hard to predict and the methods and IT-support tools for handling variation are suboptimal. The concept of production control can be used to describe the coordination of activities so that healthcare can be delivered on time, of adequate quality and at a reasonable cost, and thus includes the use of IT-support tools to handle variation. The objective of this report is to suggest improvements for production control in hospital departments through the development of a prototype for a new IT-support tool. In order to achieve this, a case study was conducted at the pediatric oncology department at Karolinska University Hospital (KS). The case study includes observations and interviews to investigate production control at department Q84, as well as associated roles and IT-support tools. Four IT-support tools were identified at the department, two of which were used interchangeably. Due to lack of integration between these systems and the fact that one system contained data manually synchronized from the other, handling changes required double labor. An improvement suggestion is therefore presented, consisting of a prototype which demonstrates that production control can be improved by automating the maintenance of a system at the department while fulfilling the organization’s information security policy. The development of the prototype was aligned with the lean philosophy which KS strives to adopt. Through an investigation of the production system, a role for production control and associated IT-support tools at a hospital department can be identified and analyzed and through the prototyping of an IT-support tool for production control, improvements and optimizations can be made.

A challenge for healthcare organizations is that operational efficiency suffers from variation in production. This is because variation in healthcare is hard to predict and the methods and IT-support tools for handling variation are suboptimal. The concept of production control can be used to describe the coordination of activities so that healthcare can be delivered on time, of adequate quality and at a reasonable cost, and thus includes the use of IT-support tools to handle variation. The objective of this report is to suggest improvements for production control in hospital departments through the development of a prototype for a new IT-support tool. In order to achieve this, a case study was conducted at the pediatric oncology department at Karolinska University Hospital (KS). The case study includes observations and interviews to investigate production control at department Q84, as well as associated roles and IT-support tools. Four IT-support tools were identified at the department, two of which were used interchangeably. Due to lack of integration between these systems and the fact that one system contained data manually synchronized from the other, handling changes required double labor. An improvement suggestion is therefore presented, consisting of a prototype which demonstrates that production control can be improved by automating the maintenance of a system at the department while fulfilling the organization’s information security policy. The development of the prototype was aligned with the lean philosophy which KS strives to adopt. Through an investigation of the production system, a role for production control and associated IT-support tools at a hospital department can be identified and analyzed and through the prototyping of an IT-support tool for production control, improvements and optimizations can be made.