Advances in Manufacturing, Production Management and Process Control

Applications of Advanced manufacturing methods in the nuclear industry to ensure quality, security, process codes and standardisation are increasingly needed to ease adoption of new technologies. Many assemblies and decommissioning tasks are still heavily dependent on experienced human engineers and practitioners. Human error in production plays a large part in the development of standardisation to avoid defects and increase productivity. Risks to humans, previously considered as “part of the job” are no longer acceptable. Within European manufacturing, a greater problem exists; a dwindling skilled workforce capable of delivering high precision manufactured products. To address these issues this paper describes the motivation, design and implementation phases of the SERFOW (Smart Enabling Robotics driving Free Form Welding) project, which is an automated fusion-welding cell, linking future nuclear industry manufacturing requirements by mimicking human skill and technical experience combined with academic knowledge and UK based innovation. Development of key machine vision systems combined with novel robotic grasping technology and experienced welding engineers has made possible the construction of a potentially disruptive robotic manufacturing platform.

Software is playing an ever-increasing role in providing the flexibility and efficiency required for handling complex processes. However, the IT capabilities of manufacturers are mostly limited to legacy systems or expensive, slow and inflexible development of new software. Therefore, new paradigms are needed for managing and scaling modern manufacturing processes with the help of software systems. This paper presents the organizational concepts of a software eco-system for the shop floor based on independent software modules called Apps. Additionally, we present the methodology used in the creation of industrial Apps. These concepts were successfully implemented in real world manufacturing scenarios. We focus on describing the specific challenges and requirements for industrial Apps, the technical architecture of the ScaleIT platform and a step by step process model to identify App ideas. An evaluation in the form of a questionnaire describes the assessment of the App-based approach by an industrial consortium.

Pain, fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders may be the consequence of awkward and inadequate postures caused by the improper design of work activities and poorly designed workstations. The good design of workstations following the ergonomics principles is necessary to avoid these adverse effects. This study aimed to define a set of ergonomics principles for the design of assembly workstations for both left-handed and right-handed users. An experimental study was performed at the university laboratory involving both left-handed and right-handed users for the assembly of a centrifugal electric pump. The experimental study proved that left-handed and right-handed users differently interact with the objects in the space. Four fundamental ergonomics principles for the design of assembly workstations for both left-handed and right-handed users have been defined, based on the results of the laboratory test. The proposed principles help designers and practitioners during the design of assembly workstations, proving the importance of the ambidextrous design of workstations.

Background: The objective of Industry 4.0 is to bring into existence smart, self-regulating and interconnected industrial value creation through the integration of cyber-physical systems into manufacturing. Industry 4.0 is a new paradigm of production and one that leads to a faster and more precise decision-making, entirely new approach to production, work organization manner of work task performance, which may have a significant influence on the health and safety of workers. Objectives: To provide an overview of potential effects (positive and negative) of Industry 4.0 on occupational health and safety and to list some of the recommendations regarding the integration of OHS into manufacturing in the Industry 4.0 context. Methods: A critical review of the literature currently available on this topic. Results: There are many risks as well as opportunities for occupational health and safety that derive from Industry 4.0. A considerable challenge, especially in the transitional period, is posed by insufficiency of initiatives with respect to occupational health and safety including standards and regulations, which may render them incommensurate in the face of newer and newer threats as Industry 4.0 technologies emerge. Furthermore, it may lead to forfeiting the proactive approach towards occupational health and safety that has been established in the most industrialized countries. Further research is required to enhance integration of occupational health and safety into manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0. To achieve this, an interdisciplinary approach needs to be adopted drawing on the expertise of a team comprising engineers, IT experts, psychologists, ergonomists, social and occupational scientists, medical practitioners, and designers. The overview was carried by the research group IDEAT.

The reduction of waste is a constant concern for companies that form part of a supply chain. In industrial processors, these are related to logistics solutions, because the production process of the different products is highly automated. In the case of the Peruvian potato, this model is not applicable due to its irregular characteristics. In this context, this paper proposes an improvement in the process of elaboration of processed potatoes in order to reduce or eliminate waste in food sector companies. Identification tools are used for activities that do not generate value, such as the VSM, and other continuous improvement tools such as Kaizen and 5S, as well as a simulation model. In the validation, an 89% increase in the product yield, as well as a 72% efficiency increase, is obtained.

Unpredictability is a crucial feature of the modern environment. It is a characteristic that gives the organization both opportunities and threats. The enterprises’ success is determined by their ability to adjust efficiently their activity and potential to changes and challenges that appear in the environment. Companies that aim to stay on the market and act efficiently must become agile organizations. It means that they must be able to identify opportunities fast and use them for their own development. The estimation whether the appearing situation is recognized and assessed as favorable by the organization is determined by the potential and assets that it possesses or can potentially possess. Human capital is the superior factor that generates the potential of the organization and that integrates all other assets. Each action initiated by the organization is connected with involving human capital both in a causative and executive approach. The more the organization provides a good configuration of human capital features for the maximization of its quality, the better the results of its actions will be.The aim of this paper is to present the results of research on a group of Polish enterprises that examined the qualitative features of human capital that affect the formation (stimulation) of enterprise agility. It has been chosen from a group of factors describing qualitative features of the human capital to point at characteristics that significantly contribute into the upgrading the level of agility of enterprises by identifying and reaching for opportunities. Qualitative features have been grouped into four groups: competences, interpersonal relations and contacts, culture and organizational climate. The results obtained from the research initiated a selection of a set of qualitative features of human capital that represent crucial importance for enterprise agility.

The fourth industrial revolution has brought new challenges to the production workers in so-called smart factories. The flexible production process and many different product variants call for well-trained human workers. This paper contributes towards a better understanding of manual assembly workers in their everyday environment, since most advances in the production environment are technologically driven. Findings based on the Contextual Design methodology will be discussed and further analyzed in the crosscutting aspects of user, work, social, and environmental context.

The paper presents the relation of proexploitation attributes with selected criterion of agility of public transport vehicles manufacturing. Moreover, it describes the expert method of inferring about future states of public transport vehicles (exploitation and service phases as well as elimination and utilization phases) based on earlier process of product development and manufacturing. A numerical formalization of the expert intuition of twenty specialists is a starting point of the method. The examined dependency regards the relation between pro-exploitation attributes of vehicle with the selected criterion of agility associated with product development process of vehicles. Hypothesis about the essential relation of selected criterion of agility with proexploitation attributes of vehicle was verified with the method of progressive inference.

This paper concerned with designing, building, and developing of Intelligent Autonomous Environment (IAE). IAE is a system of integrated industrial buildings, or a residential district, or a shopping district, etc., defined as an intelligent environment that has all systems of self-steering and adaptation. This paper focuses on IAEMS’s organizational structure designing and developing. The main problems of designing are complexity and changeability of IAS. The response to such complexity and changeability context of IAE is the presented methodological conception of organizational structure designing, based on agile approach assumes: 1. Continuously scanning the environment and adopting the organizational strategy to the requirements of external and internal stakeholders. 2. Changing the list of business processes of IAE (function tree of IAE) in accordance with the stage of IAE cycle. 3. Flexibility of organizational structure forms in different stages of IAE life cycle. 4. Flexibility transformation organizational structures from one stage of the life cycle to the next one

The printing sector in Peru constantly faces the need to reduce production time because late deliveries to the customer owing to high manufacturing time are critical problems. Previous studies have proposed using the lean manufacturing philosophy to reduce idle times by improving the flow of information within the production processes in large manufacturing companies but not printing SMEs using these tools in a make-to-order environment. This document focuses on implementing an affordable lean manufacturing model in an SME company with a make-to-order environment to reduce its manufacturing times. Therefore, the Kanban, Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED), and value stream mapping (VSM) processes will be adapted for implementation in these companies. Then, the model is validated through its application in a case study; through process simulation, production times were reduced by 24% for an SME, delivering all orders on time, and eliminating 100% penalty costs for late orders.

In spite of different understanding of agility the dominating viewpoint is that agile enterprise is focused on using opportunities. Opportunity is a situation existing in the enterprise’s environment that favours the enterprise achieving its goals with use of disposable resources. On the base of open systems theory commonly accepted in strategic management the business environmental changes can be recognized by the enterprise either as opportunities or threats. In this paper the focus is on influence of macroenvironment on opportunities. The undertaken problem is if turbulences in macroenvironment result in enterprise shift to agility. As a measure of this shift, some of the company’s activities were taken that are symptoms of its agility. To get an answer for the research problem the macroenvironment have been segmented according to PEST analysis and for each segment factors potentially influencing the enterprise’s opportunity has been defined. Statistical data about the value of these factors and the symptoms of opportunities were used, their reliability was checked as a measure of changes in the environment and occurrence of opportunities and their correlation was analyzed. The study has been run internationally however in this paper only data from two countries are presented. The results indicate the crucial macroenvironmental factors affecting the shift to agility. Such results can be useful for managers who are interested to exploit market opportunities by shaping their businesses agile.

Globalization and development of IT systems are conducive to changes in the entrepreneurs’ approach to the methods of carrying out tasks related to running a business. The growing competition and the need to quickly respond to the changing business environment mean that business owners are more willing to switch to agile business management methods. Cloud computing as a modern form of providing IT solutions can be successfully used in agile enterprises. The tools provided in the subscription model are increasingly being chosen by such enterprises. The aim of the article is to present the tools available in the cloud computing for managing a agile enterprise and to focus on security aspects of such solutions. The research conducted on several dozen companies using the software provided in the subscription model allowed to draw the conclusion that most enterprises are not aware of the threats on the Internet and can not protect themselves against them. In most cases, companies are not aware of the possibility of leakage of confidential data, business secrets and management models. Full confidence in cloud computing and data stored on the Internet makes small and medium enterprises an easy target for cybercriminals. As a result of the conducted research, the article presents not only the most frequently chosen software for agile enterprise management, but also selected options to increase the protection of corporate data stored in the cloud.

New technologies are changing today’s logistics processes. The role of humans and the tasks they perform will therefore undergo decisive changes in the future. Companies will need to develop qualification strategies to cope with changing tasks, for which competency models are essential. Current research has dealt little with competency changes caused by the digitalization of automotive logistics. This leads to a lack of future-oriented competency models. Thus, this paper designs a competency model for logistics employees that integrates future competencies for operational and planning activities. General and logistics-specific competency models and studies on competency changes by digitalization are analyzed. The competency model created consists of professional, methodological, social, and personal competencies. It also considers the process for implementation and future adjustments. The model is applied and evaluated in selected logistics processes and identifies process-specific competencies and future changes. In addition, the competency model can conduce to strategic personal planning.

Target-oriented qualification concepts that train and sensitise the process planners and other actors involved for resource-oriented manufacturing are essential in the field of chipping production. Concepts supporting the conscious and sustainable handling of resources such as material and energy requirements are currently not available for employees.The specification of a work task occurs through process planning. Therefore, the essential knowledge, skills and proficiency ought to be determined for the respective work task. Derived from this is the competency profile. By means of this profile, an employee-related target-performance comparison is possible. Subject of this comparison are the competencies required for the considered task. Furthermore, a presentation of the qualification demand is feasible with the help of this profile.A method has been developed by the junior research group MoQuaRT and allows the identification and development of competencies with the aid of a partially standardised competency profile for the resource-efficient chipping production.

The workstation becomes comfortable environment when adopting appropriate criteria for its design and adjustment in the accomplishment of the routine tasks. Organizational and cognitive design deserves attention of entrepreneurs to avoid human error and failure. This design is based on discussions about cognitive processing, standards with risk analysis and guidelines for good practice. The writing and the execution of the procedures demand revisions to the control of the tasks and their conformity in the multidisciplinary aspects. The failed on the task analysis due to human and organizational factors investigates the chronology, logic and materialization of the failure indicating the need of revision the culture design and the process. This research discusses the workstation to achieve the best performance of the task with criteria that decrease or nullify the human error. This activity results in increased productivity, profit and quality of life in addition to the reduction of human error, fatigue and cost of production reaching industrial sustainability.

The Echizen Japanese paper has a long history, in the 4–5 century the paper was reported in Japan, it has been left in the ancient documents of “Shosoin” who had crowded the paper in Fukui Prefecture Echizen. Higher than 1500 years before the request is to have responded with high technology. High technology of craftsmen built by the inquisitive to the new technology and hard work that Persistent, leading to now. It is said to Echizen Japanese paper in Japan of handmade Japanese paper, to make the largest Japanese paper. Its work is carried out in a work called “Nagasisuki” and “Tamesuki”. Work of this large-format sum papermaking is performed by the two people of the craftsman. Skilled artisans to indicate from the beginning of the work to determine the can of the product end. And the working process of a large-sized paper in this study, the behavior analysis of the skilled person performs, an object of the present invention is to analyze the differences in behavior of a person skilled two people.

This case of study takes place at a university’s information technology center where it is possible to damage computers seriously during the initial checking due to procedural or human errors. Thirteen technicians were observed in this work. They perform tasks and subtasks suffering from mental and physical workload that can cause human errors since an average of 300 maintenance orders must be attended weekly. According to the participants, changing the power supply is the task that can cause the most severe damage on computers in case of error, so human error identification and mental workload evaluation techniques were applied using TAFEI and NASA TLX correspondingly. Results found that human errors are mainly due to the poor identification of the equipment waiting to be repaired, while Mental Demand is the highest source for mental workload. Recommendations are given to prevent human errors and reduce mental workload.

Productive processes in agro-industries, in their majority, are still handmade and they keep hazardous tasks health. In Colombia the cane sugar exploitation has a relevant importance, it allows to produce sugar, ethanol, paper, and another popular product called “Panela”. Panela’s production is one of the most traditional and important agro-industries in Latin America, generating about 353.000 jobs in Colombia, it is classified as one of the riskiest agricultural industries, reporting 9.524 occupational disease cases per 100.000 workers in 2012.This study propose a job assignment’s strategy to minimize the maximum cumulative postural risk differences between each pair of workers, considering the study case of a small panela productive unit of Colombia. The problem has been represented by a Mixed Integer Linear Programing Model (MILP) and solutions were obtained by using exact methods and a proposed GRASP, from which it was got reductions of about 65% respect to the current situation.

Work stress has become a widespread problem in Mexico due to new forms of work organization, new work relationships, and new employment patterns especially in maquiladora industry. The objective of this research is to diagnose work stress by gender using the Job Strain Index in a sample of middle and high managers of the maquiladora industry in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. As methods, the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and the Job Strain Index were used and statistical tests for the verification of proportion differences by gender were applied. The sample is composed of 177 men and 55 women, of which the proportion that suffers stress (JSI > 1) is 19.2% for men and 38.2% for women. Results show that the proportion of stressed men is significant less than the proportion of stressed women. This means that there is a direct relationship between gender and work stress in middle and senior managers in this sample where women are more likely to suffer work stress than men are.

In this study, we analyze the techniques of experts and non-experts as a hairdresser and compared their skills based on eye tracking technology. The first purpose of this research is to clarify the differences between the beauty skills of experts and non-experts. The second purpose is to provide the findings to assist in the development of building educational programs for beauty skills of non-experts. In this study, the characteristics of experts were indicated based on video recording, eye tracking technology, and interview survey from experts.

In the paper of the world, there is a word “Jiai” the evaluation criteria of the paper. It is expressed as “Jiai is good” a good paper. Fiber dispersion state of the “Jiai”, Unevenness is felt visually when the light is transmitted, or it refers to the characteristic expressions such as uniformity of the paper. In general, the Japan Federation of Printing Industries” Symmetry degree of fibrous tissue that make up the paper. Look through the paper on the entire surface is a good thing symmetry “Jiai”. That there is a partial thickness thin non-uniformity is bad “Jiai”. It is defined as. Among the evaluation of “Echizen Washi” Japanese traditionalpaper, the total thickness of the paper refers to the uniformity of such density. In this experiment, the method of evaluation of handmade “Washi” Japanese traditional paper, Comparative study the evaluation criteria, Whether to the evaluation of what kind of Japanese paper by evaluators for the purpose.

Mochi is Japanese traditional rice cake which is very close relation to Japanese persons daily life and culture. Steamed rice is subjected impact energy by wooden hammer. Properties finished Mochi were different between that made by expert and non-expert. Motion analysis of Mochi pounding was conducted. The hammer motion was analyzed. Stick pictures were obtained as basic data.

In the situation where organizations have become participants in the global competition war and are looking for different ideas to allow them to prevail, one of such ideas is World Class Manufacturing (WCM) which requires improvement of quality, cost, and order/service lead time [1]. On the other hand, however, what complicates the matter is the concept of culture since it is difficult to define but also crucial for success.That article is an attempt to present the World Class Manufacturing approach and what it requires of the organization. Additionally, the concept of culture is discussed as are some of its important elements to consider. In conclusion, those elements of culture that are the most relevant for WCM are identified.The article is a part of the co-author’s dissertation research which in its empirical section provides an analysis of companies with a variety of national backgrounds but in the same industry with respect to the influence of certain factors on progressing towards the implementation of World Class Manufacturing in the organization. The analysis was performed in the SYDYN research group.

Thermal comfort is a subjective experience in which the human body feels satisfied with the thermal environment. The human thermal sensation is mainly related to the heat balance of the whole body. This balance is not only affected by environmental parameters such as air temperature, average radiant temperature, wind speed and air humidity, but also by human activities and dress. Local thermal discomfort includes evaluation indexes such as draft, vertical temperature difference, ground heating and cooling, and radiation asymmetry. When these parameters are estimated or measured, the overall thermal sensation of the person can be predicted by calculating the predicted mean thermal sensation index (PMV). Internationally, the currently accepted standard for predicting and evaluating indoor thermal environment comfort is ISO 7730-2005 and American Standard ASHRAE 55-2013. In the ISO 7730-2005 standard, the comfort is evaluated for the steady-state and non-steady-state thermal environments. The evaluation of the steady-state environment mainly evaluates the PMV, PPD indicators and local thermal discomfort. The unsteady environment is mainly evaluated from indicators such as temperature cycle and drift. In terms of thermal comfort evaluation, after extensive experiments, the researchers tried to link the four elements that make up the thermal environment (air temperature, humidity, wind speed and ambient average radiant temperature) to the thermal sensation of the human body. However, heat balance is not a sufficient condition for human thermal comfort. The Fanger thermal comfort equation and its evaluation indicators have their limitations. Studies have shown that the actual thermal sensation of the test subjects is significantly higher than the PMV through the thermal comfort survey of winter and summer residential buildings, and pointed out that there is a lack of equations. To this end, this paper carried out a test for the thermal sensation characteristics of Chinese people, conducted thermal comfort tests on nine environmental conditions of refrigeration and heating through 40 subjects of different ages, and determined the differences in thermal sensory characteristics of human body at different ages, analyze the test results and correct the PMV equation according to the results to make it more in line with the physiological characteristics of Chinese people. The test results show that the thermal sensation index of children and the elderly is significantly different, the children’s thermal sensation is obviously cold, while the elderly are obviously warm, and the thermal sensation characteristics of adults with different genders are also different. Men are more like cold than women. When testing for the elderly and children, gender has little effect on the characteristics of thermal sensation, and there is no obvious difference between hot and cold in different genders.

Physiological studies have shown that when people are in thermal comfort, their thinking, observation and operation skills are in the best state. At present, the relatively perfect models of human thermal comfort are based on the research of physiology and psychology of Westerners. However, there are great differences in thermal regulation parameters such as body size and composition between Chinese and Westerners. For example, there is a big difference between the standard human body model in China and the standard human body model in the West. Moreover, the differences in social and natural environment between China and the West lead to some differences in thermal psychology and preferences between Chinese and Westerners. These differences will affect the thermal sensation of the human body in the environment. Therefore, the establishment of a human body model based on the thermal physiological and psychological characteristics of the Chinese people is of great value to improve the prediction accuracy of the thermal comfort state of the Chinese people. Through collecting a large number of basic data of human thermal sensation in China, this paper studies the difference of demand for environmental thermal comfort among different populations. The results show that children feel the hottest in the same thermal environment, followed by “young (adult) men”, “young (adult) women” and “old people” feel the coldest. Generally speaking, the test results are correct. The lower the temperature, the greater the air velocity, the colder the feeling, and the less the influence of humidity on comfort.

Machine tools are widely used in manufacturing sectors; such as automotive industry, metal cutting industry, aerospace industry etc. Purchase of a machine tool is a long-term capital investment decision and requires a high initial investment cost. Machine tool producers offer a wide-ranging types and models of machine tools. On the other hand, expectations and requirements of the manufacturing companies differ depending on the parts produced and their strategic objectives. High stiffness, rigidity, metal cutting performance, surface finish and low tolerance range are common expectations from machine tools. This paper aims to develop a technical evaluation model to help manufacturing companies in their machine tool purchasing decisions. In the proposed model, first components used in machine tools are analyzed and based on this analysis a technical evaluation model is developed. The application of the developed model is illustrated by making a selection among nine different machine tool alternatives.

The home health care routing and scheduling problem (HHCRSP) is an extension of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) that are scheduled and routed to perform a wide range of health care services. Nurses, doctors and/or caregivers provide these services at patients’ home. In this study, a mathematical model for HHCRSP is presented. The model is extended to take into account additional characteristics and/or constraints based on specific services, patient needs. In the home health care (HHC) problems, services that must be performed simultaneously or within a convinced time are undoubtedly very important. Thus, we consider several numbers of services, skill requirements for the care workers and time windows. Generally, the main aim of the HHC problems is minimizing the travelling distance as well as maximizing the patients’ satisfaction. Thus, the model in this study contains both of these objectives taking into account several measurements.

One of the most important problems affecting companies that assemble and market vehicles is stock depletion of finished products. Therefore, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have attempted to manage this situation by using tools such as the Q mode, which continuously reviews inventories but does not indicate when and in what quantity a company must supply its sales outlets but requires a more complex level of supplier development and supply chain management efficiency than SMEs can achieve. Likewise, with our proposal we achieved a 50% decrease in stock depletion, based on an analysis of model results, with a confidence level of 95% and a certainty level of 75.30%, projecting a profit of 59000 soles with a return cost of 1.41 and a recovery period of 2 years and 4 months, ensuring both the sustainability and profitability of the proposal.

In classical scheduling problem, it is assumed that all orders must be processed. In the order acceptance and scheduling (OAS) problem, some orders are rejected due to limited capacity. In make-to-order production environment, in which the OAS problem occurs, accepting all orders may cause overloads, delay in deliveries and unsatisfied customers. Oğuz et al. (2010) introduced the OAS problem with sequence-dependent setup times and release dates. In this paper, we propose a new mixed integer programming formulation with O(n2) decision variables and O(n2) constraints for the same problem. We conduct a computational analysis comparing the performance of our formulation with Oğuz et al. (2010) formulation. We use the benchmark instances, which are available in the literature. We observe that our formulation can solve all the instances up to 50 orders in a reasonable time, while Oğuz et al. (2010) formulation can solve only the instances with 10 orders in the same time limit.

In order to operate properly, manufacturing enterprises find it increasingly critical to create a proper production environment. To that end, focus is placed on worker health and safety along with other environmental factors that boost efficiency. Organizations need to take measures to ensure that their tasks are performed optimally and that their employees enjoy comfort and well-being. Due to the nature of such requirements and measures, enterprises are compelled to make use of ergonomic criteria [1–3] to select the scope of their response, employ tools to identify issues, analyse any issues discovered and make improvements. The process requires the use of quality management tools associated with quality engineering. This article defines the options for using traditional as well as new quality management tools. It identifies the need to employ such tools and the potential benefits they can bring, including those applicable to broadly-defined ergonomics of the workplace.

A technological device (TD) is an object that facilitates the execution of a given process; often formed by a set of interconnected parts that combine to make an operational whole; used for a specified purpose, such as energy conversion, mechanical work, information processing; and has a specified structure depending on the given work parameters and its assigned purpose.The aim of the proposed method is to improve the design process of the way technological devices are operated from the point of view of operator fatigue. This method is a tool that will help the engineer design ergonomic conditions for TD operation and a safer workplace. The direction of ergonomic modification of TD operation processes is determined by those ergonomic factors for which relevant system relations were identified in the chain of operation during ergonomic diagnosis. The essence of the proposed design method is the process integration of work system resources.

The aim of the publication is to emphasize the role of effective communication practices in shaping and maintaining a high level of occupational safety in production processes. Theoretical considerations were supported by a synthetic review of research results and supplemented by a case study of a manufacturing company. The study exploits the author’s questionnaire for the Communication Performance Assessment in the area of Health and Safety (CPA-OHS). The results of the research clearly indicate deficits in vertical communication - between employees and supervisors. The main problems are related to the lack of freedom in daily communication between employees and management and a low level of mutual understanding. The survey showed that the consequences of the current problems in the area of interpersonal communication may be intensified in the near future as a result of a deep reconstruction of the human-machine relationship, based for the first time in the history of civilization on cooperation with non-human intelligence.

The main objective of this study is to contribute toward a comprehensive understanding of the advantages of modern technology not only in business management but also from the aspect of work safety and ergonomics.For better use of resources, an enterprise needs to plan and undertake a variety of planning activities like demand planning, production planning, materials planning and budgeting, and financial planning. In this case, employees are a very important resource and should be the main focus of these plans. Their competences, knowledge, skills and needs should be taken into account when designing and implementing management information systems.The article presents the way an improved information system for business management can affect work safety and ergonomics in the company. The paper includes the procedure for a needs analysis in the field of ergonomics and work safety in order to prepare guidelines for the information system.

In the mining industry, the mining cycle is a very important part in the operating stage of every mining unit. Through the exploitation method used, the mining cycle provides mineral ore, which subsequently undergoes various metallurgical processes and its commercialization and thereby generates profits to the mining company. Currently, within this cycle, the hauling and transportation stages are those that have a lower efficiency with respect to the drilling and blasting stages. Therefore, the sector is always seeking effective ways to optimize these processes, reduce downtime and increase productivity. Six Sigma is a technique that allows for the continuous process improvement. In this study, the factors that generate inefficiency in the hauling cycle are determined, and alternatives are implemented to solve the main problem and improve the operations cycle.

The interest of the present investigation is to identify information related to the requirements that Mexican local companies must have in order to be considered as suppliers of the Electronic Sector Maquiladora Industry. For the effects of this research, the Bell and Pavitt model with the matrix of technological capabilities adapted by Dutrenit was chosen. Only the bonding dimension will be analyzed; which is defined as those necessary support capabilities to receive and transmit information, experience and technology of the suppliers of components and raw materials of subcontractors, consultants, service companies and technological institutions. Therefore, the objective is to identify if the technological capability of linkage is an important factor for the Mexican local pro-monitoring to increase its integration in the Decree for the Promotion of the Manufacturing, Maquila and Export Service Industry (IMMEX) electronic sector. The results of the research will allow identifying the technological capabilities of linking the local Mexican supplier of the electronic sector, and thus identify the type and class of suppliers that are required to boost their development.

ISO 13528-2005 “Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparisons” gives a robust method for calculating mean and standard deviation—Algorithm A. The algorithm gives a robust estimate of population mean and population standard deviation through continuous iterative calculations. In each step, the original value compared with the predetermined range ends. But in practical applications, some experimenters use the values from last iteration instead of the original value, and believe that it brings better results to the experiment. Through simulation, this paper shows that it is unreasonable to use the last iteration results, and the original data should be used for calculation.

This research will focus on proposing a model based on surveys conducted among people of the affected area. The questions were classified by indicators and variables selected to generate solutions to reduce social conflicts, which arise due to the emission of the particulate matter generated in the area before hauling tasks. Particulate matter is produced by hydraulic shovels, which load mineralized material and discharge it to a dump truck in mining operations. This survey was conducted among people who are specifically located in the Huari region. A study of the Social Conflict Monitoring Model (MMCS) tool was executed. It is used for recording, monitoring, and controlling this type of social conflicts, so that mining operations will not be affected in the short or long term. In addition, this model will help in discovering the opinions and/or comments when they are informed on a new method, which decreases generated particulate matter.

Using the previous data and experience of the service time provided by bank tellers to customers, this paper constructs a bank service time sampling inspection program based on Bayes method, and re-formulate the sampling plan $$ \left( {{\text{n}},\uplambda} \right) $$ for the mean value. In this paper, we use nonlinear programming theory to determine (n, λ) in the “λ”-type sampling plan. Then, compared with the conventional sampling inspection program, it is found that the sampling inspection plan for banking service time based on Bayes method requires fewer samples, which is valuable for reducing the sampling cost and strength.

This paper presents an approach to prediction of the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) for components of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV). The focus is paid on the batteries which are a crucial element of these systems and influence the possible operation times considerably. For batteries, two aspects are taken into consideration, if the remaining useful life should be predicted: the State of Charge (SOC) and the State of Health (SOH). Both aspects include non-linearity and are influenced by many factors such as temperature and discharging velocity. To solve such problem a new estimator of SOC and SOH was developed. The proposed approach was applied for Health-Aware Model Predictive Control (H-A MPC) of two cooperate AGV.

ISO 13528-2005 “Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparisons” introduced a robust method for calculating the mean and standard deviation—Algorithm A. In cases where it is not possible to use the classical statistical method to eliminate outliers, Algorithm A can be used without deleting the abnormal data and give a good estimate of population mean and population standard deviation. This method is widely used in proficiency testing to calculate assigned value and standard deviation for proficiency assessment. The iterative calculation of Algorithm A has a parameter c, called cut-off values, which usually takes between 1 and 2. In the actual application process, the cut-off values is often misused, and is taken to more than 2 which is not within the recommended range. By using simulation, this paper shows that the reasonable value of parameter c should be between 1 and 2. When the value exceeds 2, it does not satisfy the actual assumption.

Empirical methods play an important role in the field of geomechanics due to the recognized complexity of the nature of rock mass. This study aims to analyze the applicability of empirical design methods in vein-shaped hydrothermal mining deposits (narrow vein) using Bieniawski and Barton classification systems, Mathews stability graphs, Potvin and Mawdesley geomechanics classification systems, and mining pit dilution based on the equivalent linear overbreak/slough (ELOS). In most cases, these methods are applied without understanding the underlying assumptions and limits of the database in relation to the inherent hidden risks. Herein, the dilutions obtained using the empirical methods oscillate between 8% and 11% (according to the frontal dimension), which are inferior to the operative dilution of the mine at 15%. The proposed model can be used as a practical tool to predict and reduce dilution in narrow veins.

The modern man’s living environment is shaped by many factors, including the factors of anthropopressure. Emissions, industrialization, urbanization, noise, waste water and waste, are some of the types of human pressure observed in the environment of our lives. With the development of societies, the amount of both industrial and municipal waste increases. Therefore, in recent years, waste management has become a subject of analysis and preventive measures. The activities carried out in the European Union to reduce the level of waste generation and storage are successful. The policy of the “recycling society” and the “closed circuit economy” is being implemented. Poland has also taken steps to improve waste management.The aim of the article is to present the analysis and assessment of the current situation in the field of waste management in Poland, compared to other European Union countries, paying attention to the method of waste management, including their transboundary movement.

The analysis of ergonomic properties has been made in relation to ergonomic evaluation of objects of digital world. The proposal is to extent three recognized domains of Ergonomic (physical, cognitive and organizational) by the new one: informational. Some appropriate related topics are proposed. Information/cyber security issues are formulated as ergonomic objects in the digital environment. It is propose to add to four recognized general ergonomic properties (learnability, serviceability, controllability, inhabitability) to add resilience of human-system integration as one more ergonomic property. The technique to measure “ergonomicity” are discussed with the appropriate 4-point scale that is based on use of 4 levels of ergonomic indices: integral complex, group and single.

At present, timber is the only commodity whose demand will increase at worldwide levels. Peru, despite being one of the countries with the highest forest potential, cannot compete with countries such as Brazil and China due to high production costs. Therefore, the aim of this article is to develop a production management model based on Lean Manufacturing techniques to increase production capacity by improving processes and reducing costs. For this, Knowledge Management, Change Management, and Production Management were implemented. The model was validated in a Peruvian timber company, where a 49% reduction in the cleaning and organization time was achieved. Calibration periods were reduced by 61%, and preventive maintenance periods by 72%.

There is a high margin of informality in small- and medium-sized companies in the bakery sector because of their lack of focus and poor standardization of their activities. Bakery SMEs, the activities of which have not yet been standardized, usually perform activities inefficiently, unnecessarily extending production times. The current average productivity of Lima-based SMEs is 1.7, a figure that, when compared with countries in the Pacific Alliance, is low. In addition, currently no methodologies seek continuous process improvement. Therefore, a Lean Process Management model was established to reduce activities and times. As validation, a production time simulation was performed in a warehouse, increasing the productivity to 2.08, with a percentage variation of 87.39% when compared with the initial productivity.

Flow maintenance management in manufacturing companies is a complex process that has a significant impact on the profitability of operations. Effective supervision is nowadays almost impossible without IT support, but on the other hand, successful implementation of information systems requires a multi-stage project and entails overcoming a number of barriers. Therefore, it is not surprising that even large organizations from around the world achieve low efficiency in the implementation of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) in order to increase reliability and efficiency. This article presents the conditions for implementing computerized solutions and outlines the factors that should be considered during the implementation of CMMS. They have been determined by a research carried out as part of the project, the purpose of which was to investigate what features of the organization and external factors facilitate and which hinder the implementation of CMMS. The project was carried out in the SYDYN research group.

Faced with the need to reduce costs to remain competitive in the market, several companies are seeking internal process improvements, focusing on process optimization coupled with the importance of speed in logistics activities. The present work, characterized as a case study, aims to evaluate the operational efficiency of the picking activity in the Distribution Center of a multinational company located in Joinville, Brazil, presenting proposals for improvements in the processes and layout of the warehouse. Using Operational Research tools, it was possible to simulate different approaches for the picking sector in order to compare them identifying the most productive one. The results showed that it was possible to reduce the total picking time of the company up to 25%, reducing the company’s costs in this activity by approximately R$ 120.000,00 per year, in the best scenario found in the development of the work.