Reverse logistics is an important process that is often misunderstood. Reverse logistics can cause considerable cost, but provide numerous opportunities. Many organisations do not understand the correct processes and procedures to follow and how to manage reverse logistics efficiently. The focus of this study was on best practices in reverse logistics. A best practice framework was developed to help organisations overcome problems and manage their reverse logistics more efficiently. This study adopted a mixed method research approach with both qualitative and quantitative elements. A comprehensive literature study was conducted to develop a conceptual best practice framework in reverse logistics and a survey was conducted to seek inputs from industry in South Africa to refine the framework into a workable instrument in practice. The study concluded that the best practices identified in literature have proven to be important in practice, and applying such practices will enable organisations to manage their reverse logistics more efficiently. / Business Management / M. Com. (Logistics)

產品循環與國際貿易理論提出後， 有許多的相關報告與驗證， 但是甚少是以企業的觀點來切入探討分析。 台灣在過去數十年間快速的經濟發展， 由農業社會轉入工業社會， 對經濟的貢獻上， 也由勞力密集產業轉變為技術密集與資本密集的產業。 而這一切的改變是否有脈絡可循， 我們認為產品生命循環理論是一個非常重要的參考理論根據。 因而我們嚐試以企業的角度， 並由手機產業之實務資料與資訊的融合與分析， 套用產品生命循環的理論模型， 同時探討分析國際採購因素， 以相互對照並探討出其關聯性與脈動模式。 論文中， 我們先從行動通訊技術概論開始導入， 以了解行動通訊技術的演進概況。 並藉由全球行動終端機之產業產銷概況， 先了界該產業世界輪廓與局勢。 並對照亞洲主要手機生產國家， 如台灣、中國大陸、日本與韓國等之行動終端機產業與其產銷狀況， 及比較手機之技術領先國近年來在本產業生產的變化， 以該產業的生產國度轉移情況， 驗證產品生命循環理論與國際貿易關係， 同時探討平均國民所得因素對在手機產業之產品生命循環影響的關鍵程度。 同時， 我們也以台灣的手機相關企業為例， 探討其繼個人電腦產業之後， 成功的以技術模仿國的角色接替並取代了領先國的產品設計與生產的成功因素， 並分析技術模仿國的新產品導入時機與關鍵因素。 另外， 我們也企圖分析探討韓國及其相關的企業， 如何以技術模仿國的地位， 運用其所能掌握的優勢及不同的產品策略， 成功的開創出另類的“新產品”定位， 藉以擴大市場佔有並獲取利潤的極大化， 以探討技術模仿國的新產品導入的策略。

近年來因雲端運算(Cloud Computing)、智慧型行動載具(Smart handheld Device)等資訊與通訊技術的整合與匯流，再加上金融證券產業政策開放、國際化與自由化、證劵業在中國大陸發展的限制逐步鬆綁等諸多因素，原本各有自己領域的資訊服務廠商都開始磨拳擦掌，紛紛在手持式裝置上推出各種證券服務商品，這對過往在Ｂ２Ｃ領域獨佔鰲頭的E公司無異是最大的衝擊。 本研究將藉由探討E公司現行定位、分析因智慧型行動載具之演進，對金融資訊服務廠商所產生的市場改變、衝擊與競爭，進而找出新的市場商機、訂定新的市場定位與策略，期盼能為該公司發展再造藍海市場商機。 主要結論為：金融證券資訊服務產業已經是一紅海市場。為解決E公司面臨的產業困境，思考E公司未來發展走向，重新定位E公司的核心競爭力(Core Competence)，如何利用現有智慧型行動載具的特性化阻力為助力，在金融證券資訊服務產業這一片紅海中開闢新藍海。本研究將依據波特(Michael E. Porter)的五力分析及競爭論(On Competition)與洪順慶教授之新產品開發流程，提出新舊產品策略及商業模式(Business Model與Go-To-Market Model)的建議：  舊產品:運用該公司在證券資訊市場的領先地位，作業流程核心管理能力，通路優勢與客戶特性，為進入衰退期的既有產品(專業股票機)發展社群服務，增加老客戶黏著度，並搶食競爭對手市場，以延續該產品生命週期。  新產品:善用既有的雲端優勢及智慧型手持式裝置資通訊整合匯流與Web2.0的新技術，開發客製化(Tailor-Made)、主動揭露(Event Push、Calendar Push)，推出智慧的(Smart)、簡易的(Simple)、方便的(Convenience)的理財生活管家服務，開闢新藍海。 / During the past few years, the information service industry of the securities market has change hugely and the competition becomes more and more intensely, due to the opening and internationalization of the government industry policy and the rapid development of the ICT technology--includes cloud computing, evolution of mobile communication and smart handheld device, and ICT convergence…. Because of these changes, the information service vendors of the securities market have started penetrating their services into mobile device with low-price or price-free strategy. The impact to the E-Corp, the leading company with the B2C business model, is most fiercely. First, the study will analysize the change, impact and competition of the information service industry of the securities market, and will apply E-Corp as the case-study-company and probe the current positioning of E-Corp. Finally, the study will try to find out the new business opportunities for vendors, and will make suggestions on marketing repositioning and product development and business strategy to E-Corp. Exectuctive summary:The information service industry of securities market is a red ocean market. The study will utilzie the theories of Five-Force-Analysis (Michael E. Porter), Product Life Cycle (SC Horng, NCCU Taiwan), Core Competence (Gary Hamel & C.K. Parhalad), and will also think how to apply new technologies, such as cloud computing, smart handheld device, Web2.0,…to solve E-Corp dilemma and to help E-Corp to creat new blue ocean business and market. The suggestions are:  For current product: To extend the product life cycle. First, to apply the strength of the leading position in industry, channel strength and procedure management core competence to develop community network service to increase customers’ loyalty and to low down the rate of loss. Second, to seize the competitors’ customers.  For new product:Apply the strength of cloud computing the E-Corp has, and utilize ICT convergence and smart handheld devices, Web2.0 technologies to extend the service from securities to financial/wealth management service with the functional characters of event push/calendar driven, and smart/simple/convenience.

Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics around the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has been focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. However, few efforts have investigated sustainable production decision making, where engineers are required to concurrently consider economic, environmental, and social impacts. An approach is developed to assess broader sustainability impacts by conducting economic assessment, environmental impact assessment, and social impact assessment at the work cell level. The results from the assessments are then integrated into a sustainable manufacturing assessment framework, along with a modified weighting method based on pairwise comparison and an outranking decision making method. The approach is illustrated for a representative machining work cell producing stainless steel knives. Economic, environmental, and social impact results are compared for three production scenarios by applying the sustainable manufacturing assessment framework. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the robustness of the results. For future research, it is desired that a tool which integrates manufacturing information system information and the sustainable manufacturing assessment approach can be built to assist production engineers in considering sustainability performance when making decisions. / Graduation date: 2012

Die Nachhaltige Ersatzteilversorgung mit Elektronikkomponenten stellt die Hersteller vieler technischer Systeme vor neue Herausforderungen. Der technologische Wandel im Halbleitermarkt ist so schnelllebig, dass sich die elektronischen Bauelemente oftmals schon beim Start der Serienproduktion des Gesamtsystems im Serienauslauf befinden. Die Automobilindustrie ist von dieser Problematik besonders betroffen, weil sie Fahrzeuge in großen Serien über vergleichsweise lange Zeiträume mit harten Kostenzielen und hohen Qualitätsmaßstäben fertigt und auch nach Serienende mit Ersatzteilen versorgen muss. Die einzelnen Kfz-Elektronikkomponenten durchlaufen dazu im Vorfeld eines Fahrzeugeinsatzes umfangreiche Freigabeuntersuchungen. Die Konfiguration eines Kraftfahrzeugs wird außerdem einer gesetzlichen Typprüfung unterzogen, so dass eine spätere Abwandlung der ursprünglichen Komponenten nicht ohne weiteres zulässig ist. Änderungen an der einzelnen Komponente sind demnach nur noch mit erheblichem Aufwand möglich. Diese Situation zwingt die Automobilhersteller und ihre Zulieferer für Kfz-Elektronik zu neuen Konzepten im Management ihrer Ersatzteilspektren. Die vorliegende Arbeit entwickelt ein Management-Support-System für das herstellerseitige Ersatzteilmanagement von Kfz-Elektronikkomponenten auf Basis eines integrierten Methoden-, Daten- und Prozessmodells. Ferner werden Fragen der Systemintegration innerhalb eines Unternehmens und entlang der Wertschöpfungskette untersucht. Ersatzteilmanagement wird dazu als Strukturprozess innerhalb des Ersatzteilwesens betrachtet, der die Abwicklungsprozesse der Ersatzteilversorgung gestaltet und die Versorgungsstrategien zur einzelnen Kfz-Elektronikkomponente festlegt. Auf dem Wege der Lösungsfindung werden unterschiedliche Sichtweisen auf die Problematik gewählt. Vorherrschend ist dabei ein systemtechnischer Modellierungsansatz. Als konkrete Modellierungstechnik für das Ersatzteilmanagement-Support-System wird die Unified Modelling Language (UML) in Kombination mit dem ARIS-Unternehmensmodell nach Scheer eingesetzt. Die Praxisrelevanz wird an einem durchgängigem Fallbeispiel nachgewiesen.

本研究透過個案研究，運用資料包絡分析法(DEA)的評估方式，分析製藥業在不同生命週期及通路上資源分配之行銷策略與銷售績效之關聯性。研究結果發現： 一、不同生命週期「成長期」、「成熟期」及「衰退期」產品，其整體銷售技術效率、純銷售技術效率與銷售規模效率之差異，均達統計上之顯著水準。「成長期」產品效率值最差、「成熟期」產品效率值次之、「衰退期」產品效率值最佳。 二、不同生命週期產品在主要銷售通路醫學中心、醫院、診所與藥房的銷售比重不同。「成長期」與「成熟期」產品的主要銷售通路均在醫學中心，而「衰退期」產品的主要銷售通路在藥房。其銷售績效差異在醫學中心與藥房通路，衰退期產品與成熟期、或成長期產品比較，均達到統計上之顯著差異水準，但在醫院與診所通路的銷售績效，三類產品族群的差異就不明顯。 三、個案藥廠對其主要銷售的藥品，雖然都有非常明確的個別產品銷售策略與目標，但差額變數分析結果顯示，仍有部份產品在資源分配及運用上，可以加以改善以提高銷售績效。 / This research is conducted using Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) assessment method to analyze the particular pharmaceutical company on the association between marketing strategy and sales performance with different life-cycle products and sales channels. The results are as follows: 1.Sales performance appears significant differences among different life-cycle products with respect to the overall technical efficiency、pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The results revealed that products in「Growth Stage」had the worst efficiency performances, 「Maturity Stage」products placed the second, and「Decline Stage」products were the best. 2.Sales weight differs from different life-cycle products in the major sales channels of medical centers, hospitals, general practitioners and drug stores. The main sales channel of「Growth Stage」and「Maturity Stage」products are in medical centers；while「Decline Stage」products are in drug stores. Statistics showed that the sales performance differed substantially when the three different life-cycle products were distributed to sell in medical centers and drug stores; however, the results were not as evident in hospitals and general practitioners channels. 3.Although the case pharmaceutical company has very clear sales strategies and goals for its individual products, the analytical results showed some changes could be made to improve sales performance.

As empresas de manufatura necessitam integrar seus processos internos digitalmente para se tornarem mais competitivas e entregarem produtos com maior qualidade ao mercado consumidor. Informações definidas nas primeiras etapas de projeto precisam ser recuperadas em todas as fases do ciclo de vida de um produto. Para alcançar este objetivo são necessários modelos de informação que incorporem inteligência e permitam a representação do mundo real. Por outro lado, fabricantes de produtos eletroeletrônicos precisam cumprir requisitos ambientais presentes em marcos regulatórios, como a Diretiva RoHS, para poderem vender seus equipamentos em diversos países. O presente trabalho propõe a aplicação de modelos semânticos para ajudar as empresas a cumprir os requisitos estabelecidos pela Diretiva RoHS. O modelo, criado usando uma ontologia de referência, estabelece relações semânticas entre entidades que representam fases do ciclo de vida do produto, estruturas de produtos e objetos de negócios. Processos de negócio modelados permitem identificar fluxos de informação, bem como atividades que estão ligadas aos requisitos RoHS, percebidas por meio da geração de relatórios disponíveis no framework denominado Projeto Essential. O modelo semântico resultante é, portanto, útil para converter as necessidades relacionadas com o meio ambiente, endereçando requisitos através de um processo de desenvolvimento de produtos que aborda a diretiva RoHS. Um produto eletroeletrônico fabricado por indústrias nacionais foi selecionado para demonstrar a viabilidade da solução proposta. / Manufacturing companies need to integrate their internal processes digitally to become more competitive and deliver higher quality products to the consumer market. Information defined at early design stages needs to be recovered at all stages of the life cycle of a product. To accomplish this, information models that incorporate intelligence and enable the representation of the real world are necessary. On the other hand, electronic products manufacturers need to comply with environmental requirements present in regulatory frameworks as the RoHS Directive in order to offer their products in several countries. The present work proposes the application of semantic models for helping companies meet the requirements established by the RoHS Directive. A model, created using a reference ontology, establishes semantic relationships between entities that represent product lifecycle stages, product structure and business objects. Business processes, modeled in the form of activity and information flows, are linked to RoHS requirements that can be viewed through the reports in the Essential Project open source framework. The resulting semantic model is, therefore, useful for converting environment-related needs to design requirements through a product development process that addresses the RoHS Directive. A consumer electronics product has been selected for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed solution.

La « conception pour la fabrication » ou DFM (Design for Manufacturing) est une méthode maintenant classique pour assurer lors de la conception des produits simultanément la faisabilité, la qualité et le rendement de la production. Dans l'industrie microélectronique, le Design Rule Manual (DRM) a bien fonctionné jusqu'à la technologie 250nm avec la prise en compte des variations systématiques dans les règles et/ou des modèles basés sur l'analyse des causes profondes, mais au-delà de cette technologie, des limites ont été atteintes en raison de l'incapacité à sasir les corrélations entre variations spatiales. D'autre part, l'évolution rapide des produits et des technologies contraint à une mise à jour « dynamique » des DRM en fonction des améliorations trouvées dans les fabs. Dans ce contexte les contributions de thèse sont (i) une définition interdisciplinaire des AMDEC et analyse de risques pour contribuer aux défis du DFM dynamique, (ii) un modèle MAM (mapping and alignment model) de localisation spatiale pour les données de tests, (iii) un référentiel de données basé sur une ontologie ROMMII (referential ontology Meta model for information integration) pour effectuer le mapping entre des données hétérogènes issues de sources variées et (iv) un modèle SPM (spatial positioning model) qui vise à intégrer les facteurs spatiaux dans les méthodes DFM de la microélectronique, pour effectuer une analyse précise et la modélisation des variations spatiales basées sur l'exploitation dynamique des données de fabrication avec des volumétries importantes. / The DFM (design for manufacturing) methods are used during technology alignment and adoption processes in the semiconductor industry (SI) for manufacturability and yield assessments. These methods have worked well till 250nm technology for the transformation of systematic variations into rules and/or models based on the single-source data analyses, but beyond this technology they have turned into ineffective R&D efforts. The reason for this is our inability to capture newly emerging spatial variations. It has led an exponential increase in technology lead times and costs that must be addressed; hence, objectively in this thesis we are focused on identifying and removing causes associated with the DFM ineffectiveness. The fabless, foundry and traditional integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business models are first analyzed to see coherence against a recent shift in business objectives from time-to-market (T2M) and time-to-volume towards (T2V) towards ramp-up rate. The increasing technology lead times and costs are identified as a big challenge in achieving quick ramp-up rates; hence, an extended IDM (e-IDM) business model is proposed to support quick ramp-up rates which is based on improving the DFM ineffectiveness followed by its smooth integration. We have found (i) single-source analyses and (ii) inability to exploit huge manufacturing data volumes as core limiting factors (failure modes) towards DFM ineffectiveness during technology alignment and adoption efforts within an IDM. The causes for single-source root cause analysis are identified as the (i) varying metrology reference frames and (ii) test structures orientations that require wafer rotation prior to the measurements, resulting in varying metrology coordinates (die/site level mismatches). A generic coordinates mapping and alignment model (MAM) is proposed to remove these die/site level mismatches, however to accurately capture the emerging spatial variations, we have proposed a spatial positioning model (SPM) to perform multi-source parametric correlation based on the shortest distance between respective test structures used to measure the parameters. The (i) unstructured model evolution, (ii) ontology issues and (iii) missing links among production databases are found as causes towards our inability to exploit huge manufacturing data volumes. The ROMMII (referential ontology Meta model for information integration) framework is then proposed to remove these issues and enable the dynamic and efficient multi-source root cause analyses. An interdisciplinary failure mode effect analysis (i-FMEA) methodology is also proposed to find cyclic failure modes and causes across the business functions which require generic solutions rather than operational fixes for improvement. The proposed e-IDM, MAM, SPM, and ROMMII framework results in accurate analysis and modeling of emerging spatial variations based on dynamic exploitation of the huge manufacturing data volumes.

O objetivo do trabalho foi sensibilizar moradores e alunos de uma comunidade piloto quanto à correta separação, destinação e valorização dos resíduos sólidos, visando à melhoria nas condições de trabalho e de renda dos catadores de materiais recicláveis da central de triagem. A metodologia principal foi a pesquisa ação, que envolveu três etapas: fase exploratória, de ação e de avaliação. Para embasamento das ações de sensibilização, a fase exploratória contou, primeiramente, com o estudo da dinâmica de trabalho em uma central de triagem. Tal estudo se justifica pelo fato de que uma central de triagem é o elo principal entre a fonte geradora de resíduos sólidos e as indústrias recicladoras. Além disso, foi realizado diagnóstico da percepção de moradores e alunos sobre a separação e a valorização dos resíduos sólidos, em uma um bairro piloto, alvo das ações de sensibilização. Na fase de avaliação, novo estudo do entendimento da comunidade piloto foi feito para compreender se a sensibilização trouxe mudanças de percepção e se houve algum tipo de interferência nos gargalos diagnosticados na central de triagem. Os principais resultados apontaram as etapas de triagem e do rejeito como gargalos, as quais sofrem interferência da segregação nas fontes geradoras e da deficiência dos sistemas de logística reversa para escoamento dos resíduos. As ações de sensibilização com alunos e moradores resultaram em aprimoramento da percepção quanto à importância do envio de materiais limpos e secos à coleta seletiva; ao conhecimento de uma associação de catadores e à importância de destinar resíduos especiais, como lâmpadas fluorescentes, às revendas, diminuindo a recepção de resíduos perigosos na central de triagem. Os resultados servirão para embasar as discussões com a cadeia produtiva visando ao escoamento sustentável dos resíduos, e as ações já foram replicadas no município em toda a rede municipal e estadual de ensino, e em residências atendidas pelo programa das agentes comunitárias de saúde. / The objective of this work was to sensitize residents and students in a pilot community for proper separation, disposal and recovery of solid waste in order to improve working conditions and income of recyclable materials collectors from a sorting center. The main methodology was action research, which involved three stages: exploratory, action and evaluation. The working dynamics study in a sorting center based sensitization actions, in exploratory stage. The main link between the source of solid waste and recycling industries is a sorting center that is why this study is important. Moreover, perception diagnosis of separation and recycling of solid waste was made with residents and students in a pilot neighborhood. New study was done in the evaluation phase to find perception changes and to know if sensitization actions interfered in the sorting center bottlenecks diagnosed. The main results showed that steps of sorting and tailings are bottlenecks, suffering interference from domiciliary segregation and deficiency of reverse logistics systems for waste disposal. Sensitization actions with students and residents improved the perception of sending clean and dry recyclable materials to selective collection. Also improved the knowledge of an association of recyclable material collectors and the importance of devoting hazardous wastes such as fluorescent lamps, to resellers, decreasing the receipt of this kind of waste at the sorting center. The results will be used to support discussions with the producers chain toward sustainable waste disposal. Actions have already been replicated in the city throughout municipal and state schools, and homes served by the program of community health workers.

Esta Tese desenvolveu um instrumento para avaliação de desempenho ambiental no gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos industriais. A verificação das práticas considera o transcurso do ciclo de vida do produto por meio de indicadores e índices tendo como parâmetros alicerçadores a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos e conceitos afins, como a logística reversa, a Produção mais Limpa e o Ecodesign, além de normas da série ISO 14000 tais como Sistemas de Gestão Ambiental, Integração de aspectos ambientais no projeto e desenvolvimento de produtos, Rotulagem ambiental e Avaliação de Desempenho Ambiental. O objetivo central da Tese, que foi desenvolver um modelo para avaliação de desempenho ambiental, esta contido neste panorama, o qual recorreu aos recursos da modelagem fuzzy a fim de assessorar as organizações na tomada de decisões. A metodologia, de natureza qualitativa e quantitativa, embasou a construção do instrumento denominado Índice de Desempenho Ambiental da Gestão de Resíduos Sólidos Industriais (IDEA PNRS+L). Este se constitui de 26 indicadores e 23 índices, concebido na forma top-down soft decision tree. O cálculo dos índices, compostos de regras fuzzy, variáveis e suas inferências, incluiu a visão de um grupo de especialistas, em pesquisa de opinião, para ajustar os graus de influência das variáveis de cada índice. Nas simulações, testes e aplicação do instrumento em uma indústria para avaliar as suas potencialidades, o IDEA PNRS+L mostrou-se sensível, mesmo para pequenas variações dos dados de entrada, plausível e confiável, ao reproduzir o comportamento estabelecido em sua concepção. Os parâmetros alicerçadores que constituíram o corpo teórico, concluindo, foram assaz abrangentes e permitiram a construção do instrumento de avaliação de desempenho ambiental IDEA PNRS+L, considerado adequado para a arbitragem das organizações. Concomitantemente, foram recuperadas as normas, concepções de iniciativas governamentais e atitudes profissionais ambientalmente corretas apoiadas em conceitos vanguardistas de produtos e serviços. / This Thesis develops an instrument for evaluating environmental performance in management of industrial solid waste. The practices verification consider the industrial product life-cycle through indicators and indices based on the National Policy on Solid Waste parameters and related concepts such as reverse logistics, Cleaner Production and Ecodesign, and standards like ISO 14000 series such as environmental management systems, integrating environmental aspects in product design and development, environmental labels and Environmental Performance Evaluation. The central Thesis’ aim, that was to develop an environmental evaluating model, contains this panorama, which calls on a fuzzy modeling tool to assist organizations in making decisions. Two methodological research groups covered the dicussions and the instrument construction called Environmental Performance Index of Industrial Solid Waste Management (IDEA PNRS+L): qualitative and quantitative. This fuzzy modeling is composed of 26 indicators and 23 index, conceived in top- down soft decision tree form. The index calculation - composed of fuzzy rules, variables and their inferences - included a group of specialists respondents view, through a survey, to adjust the variables influence degrees of each index. In the simulations, testing and application of the created instrument in an industry to assess their potential, IDEA PNRS+L was sensitive even to small variations of the input data, plausible and reliable, to reproduce the behavior established in the initial configuration. Concluding, the fundamental parameters that formed the theoretical framework were quite comprehensive and allowed the construction of Environmental Performance Evaluation called IDEA PNRS+L, appropriated for industrial arbitration. Simultaneously, the rules, government initiatives concepts and accurated environmentally professional attitudes supported by avant-garde products and services concepts were recuperated.