IT Solutions for Sustainable Living

Production wastes consist of inventory, motion, transportation, waiting, over-processing, over-production, and waiting. Improper management of these identified wastes causes interruption of the production system due to unplanned stoppage time, quality issues, material delinquencies, and other related issues. Thus, in this research, wastes hunting activities were conducted to identify the production wastes using a proper method known as the value stream mapping (VSM). This research was conducted focusing on an electronic-based company because their finished good and product required hundreds of small components and most of the potential wastes were hidden due to the fact that the assembly process is using either a semi-automation or fully automation process. The objective of this research was to define the proper way of the waste detection process to create the opportunity for continuous improvement activity. The result obtained showed that the percentage of wastes was 95%, and this situation appeared as hidden waste causing the issues in the production system.

This paper presents a review of the Six Sigma concept and applications employed in manufacturing industries that were analyzed based on published articles. The Six Sigma concept is widely recognized and utilized by worldwide organizations, especially in continuous improvement activities solving the production issues. This research was conducted by chosen articles related to the implementation of the Six Sigma in selected case study industries. The main objectives of this research are to identify the success factors of Six Sigma implementation, to define the suitable tools applied in the Six Sigma methodology, and to identify the constraints and limitations of the Six Sigma implementation. The outcomes obtained from the review articles showed that even though the implementation of Six Sigma is generally similar in terms of methodology, the application of the tools is significantly different based on the problem statement, and the completion time is also different due to complexity of the selected process.

This paper presents a risk assessment for solving the production variation in small medium-sized enterprises (SME). In industrial practice, the risk issue, unsafe working condition, and workplace accidents have increased concurrently with the industrial development. The risk assessment becomes a mandatory process in producing the finished good product in the production system. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is widely used to identify and solve the potential risk in the production floor. In the FMEA, the risk priority number (RPN) is calculated through the multiplication of rating given to potential risk occurrence of different hierarchical levels of failure modes. Thus, in this paper, the main objective is to identify and investigate the selected processes in SME. This risk assessment will detect the potential failure of the production system and indirectly can be predicted upfront. Therefore, the production risk assessment can be performed and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the production flow of the SME.

Risk assessment is a technique used to manage the hazards and risk that potentially cause a harm or injury, especially in workplace. This technique also identifies an appropriate way to eliminate or control the hazard risk. Every workplace has hazards but due to lack of knowledge, underestimated risks, and potentially meeting unexpected situations, are causing the workplace accident. Thus, in this research, a risk assessment has been conducted for the hazard identification and the countermeasure was recommended. The selected case study consists of the job-shop production system, involving the process of regular services and new installation on the customer’s site of fire extinguishers. Potential hazards such as exposer to the chemical powder and gases, leakages, and injuries during installation were identified. The theory of Cronbach’s alpha has been used in the determination of the worker's awareness by using constructive questionnaires results from selected workers. The obtained results of the developed questionnaires potentially provide a significant result based on the calculated mean score of Cronbach’s alpha theory. At the end of this research, a risk control was suggested based on the hierarchy of control to increase safety awareness in the workplace.

There has been a decline and the number of injuries in the workplace in recent times. However, micro, small and medium enterprises remain one of the high-risk industries. The purpose of this study is to explore the important of safety and health, to develop a model to improve the implementation of safety and health in micro, small and medium enterprises in Malaysia and also to verify the developed safety and health management system model using survey. This industry has made a significant contribution to the country’s economic growth. However, when safety and health management is not implemented systematically, accidents can occur and this can affect the country's economic growth.

Cost-effectiveness analysis plays a crucial role in the purchasing Strategy. In order to optimize the cost benefits, analysis of failure data is essential. This research proposes the purchasing strategy of the tube lamp model using life cycle cost (LCC). The study combined failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) method and the LCC analysis for a better decision making in the order to improve the maintainability, maintenance effectiveness and reduce the maintenance costs. Qualitative and quantitative analysis helps to identify critical parameters and recommended maintenance action. It also includes how cost–benefit analysis is useful to evaluate the life cycle costs of the measured object.

Energy consumption in higher education buildings is huge due to their large number of buildings and population. Within the educational buildings, university campuses have complex functions by providing space for various activities and disciplines. University campuses with library building have different features and changing energy needs compared to other buildings. The electricity consumption in the building comes from the use of air conditioning systems including air handling unit operations, lighting, computers, office equipment and elevator systems. In this research, energy consumption analysis was conducted at Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak (PTAR) at Permatang Pauh campus. This project is aims to  determine the energy consumption of library buildings and to analyze the connection between the indoor temperature and humidity. The study is based on the electricity consumption by using the Fluke 1750 with data logger. It is found that the energy consumption of chillers system is to be around 46.7%, lighting and sockets follow with 22.5%, AHU with 19.7 and 11% for others. This study shows that the indoor temperature and humidity have the highest influence on the building energy consumption.

This paper presents a compact rectangular slotted microstrip bandpass filter in a 3D planar electromagnetic simulation software called Sonnet Suites. The microstrip filter design is symmetric along the inverse diagonal and consists of a dual-mode microstrip square ring resonator with an alternative perturbation element. This design has a compact rectangular structure of 1 × 1 cm. The substrate used is FR-4 with a dielectric constant of εr = 4.4 and a thickness of 1.6 mm. The filter has a center frequency of 4.33 GHz and a bandwidth of 1.9 GHz, with S₁₂ is nearly zero while S₁₁ is −23 dB. This filter can be implemented between 3 and 5 GHz operating frequencies in wireless.

Wireless communication is one of the most important technologies and something that we use in our everyday life. Most of the technologies that existed use OFDM as a medium to provide their services due to the advantages given such as high data rate, high spectral efficiency, resistance to distortion and many more. However, OFDM suffers from high PAPR that could lead the system to work in nonlinear region and introduce distortion to the system. Hence, it is crucial for OFDM to find a solution to this problem. In this paper, we proposed to SLM as PAPR reduction technique. We also used Riemann Matrix to optimize the phase sequence in SLM.

In this work a dual-band CPW pentagonal Sierpinski gasket fractal antenna is design for WiMAX 3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz applications. The work has started by Antenna A as initiator stage while the improvement stage of Antenna B as the first-iteration stage of the proposed antenna is done. The Antenna A is designed by a pentagonal-shaped patch, while the Antenna B is consisted of the pentagonal patch antenna with the first-iteration slot of the pentagonal shaped. As the investigation done, the Antenna B has a sensitivity of—31.70 dB at 3.5 GHz and—22.00 dB at 5.8 GHz, which is acceptable for WiMAX and WLAN operation applications. In this case, this Sierpinski gasket technique that is used in the work had improved the performance of the antenna, focusing on the return loss and effect to shift the resonant frequency.

Pipeline inspection is a part of the pipeline integrity management for keeping the pipeline in good condition. The pipeline internal inspection is normally carried out through nondestructive testing techniques and technologies such as magnetic-flux leakage technology inn axial and circumferential, ultrasound technologies, eddy-current technologies and in-pipe inspection robot. Traditional in-pipe navigation robots are of rigid type with some limitations in terms of adaptability to different pipe diameters. This paper describes the development of a soft in-pipe navigation robot which can hop and crawl for maneuverability in horizontal and vertical pipes for pipe inspection. The robot consists of four motors, cables, elastic ribbons and cable-driven soft artificial muscles. The elastic ribbons control the contraction and elongation of the robot for propulsion, while the artificial muscles anchor the robot to provide a strong grip in a pipeline. The buckling and releasing characteristics of the artificial muscle and elastic ribbons are studied based on the performance of the robot. These findings can aid in navigations and inspection inside pipelines with corners and different pipe diameters.

A health indication system device for machines is rarely produced as the condition of the machine usually checked by the machinist via the usual method and it is manually conducted. The usual method of determining the condition of the machine through vibration is quite complicated as it involves formulas and calculations. The issue of machine health is very paramount to any company that is involved in production works as the maintenance of the machines plays an important part to sustain the production quantity and quality. Therefore, a machine health indication system has been developed to indicate the condition of the machine through vibration checking confirming the actual condition or any changing machine’s condition from time to time via a device. The machine health check is importantly required to avoid the development of minor problems into major problems which can lead into cost issues. In addition, the benchmark of this project is based on the process of fault severity determination on checking and monitoring the machine condition through vibration as in the subject of vibration and analysis. The purpose of this project is to determine the condition of the machine through vibration in the fastest and simplest way possible. The use of a microcontroller, liquid crystal display, accelerometer, and some other electronic equipment assembled together help in the accomplishment of that. A mechanism or device based on the development of a health indication system for machines will be attached to the main motor of the machine near the motor bearing in order to attain the exact vibration value in determining the condition of the machine.

The interaction of an internal or external fluid flow, such as aerodynamic or turbine flow, with any moveable or deformable structure is known as fluid structure interaction (FSI). Many industrial engineering challenges include fluid structure interaction analysis and dynamics analysis to increase functionality or operational efficiency. FSI is the framework behind the most elegant approaches developed in the FSI field by researchers. There are various methods by which the interaction analysis of the fluid structure can be performed. The current study's goal is to provide an overview of the importance of FSI in any context. Fluid structure interactions are a major concern in the design of many engineering systems, and failing to comprehend the consequences of oscillatory interactions, especially in material-based structures, can be fatal. The interaction of a fluid and a solid body happens all the time in nature, and it happens at all scales and disciplines. While one of the oldest and most classical problems in fluid mechanics is the mathematical theory of body motion in a liquid, mathematicians have only recently become interested in a systematic analysis of the fundamental problems related to fluid structure interaction from both theoretical and computational perspectives.