Ensuring Sustainability

Most Spanish municipalities, including Madrid, cover the costs of their waste management programmes through fixed fees or directly from taxes, regardless of the amount of waste generated in each household. In this study, we investigate the features of variable fee schemes for municipal solid waste services and we identify two successful European case studies of pay-as-you-throw systems. Next, we set the foundations for the design of a variable rate pricing system in Madrid, complemented with a survey capturing some key aspects required to gain citizenship acceptance. The results show that approaching waste services design from an usage perspective, just like other utilities, such as electricity or gas, provides economic incentives for waste prevention and recycling increased rates, and it is aligned with the European objectives of diverting waste from landfills.

Circular economy (CE) has reached a quite relevant position on academic research studies nowadays, and it has been considered a key driver for long-term organization supply chains sustainability and competitiveness increase. Some theoretical models have been developed trying to identify the most relevant key parameters and conditions that allow to define a specific supply chain, or a sector or organization, as “circular economy practice”. Between the models, one of them was developed and established by the well-known Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF). This research tries to analyze the applicability and fulfillment of EMF model to the Spanish glass sector, through a deep analysis of real practices already applied in this industrial sector. After the analysis, it is possible to infer that this sector meets almost all the EMF model characteristics. Nevertheless, there is still some run for circularity improvement in the sector, since still renewable energy application is below current demanding standards.

Sustainability and the circular economy are the answer to today's challenge of resource depletion and waste generation. The transition to circular economy requires technological and process innovations: However, the capacity for innovation has often been a point of difficulty, and the problem is worse in small-sized companies because of the scarcity of resources. Our aim is to show how a company committed to sustainability overcomes the obstacles in the innovation process.

The main theme of this literature review is supply chain (SC) models that focus on circular economy (EC), Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and green operations. Special interest is paid to optimisation models and intelligent and digitalised supply chains, whose operations are based on circular business models. This circularity approach allows resources to be reused to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental concerns. This literature review analyses the current research state according to: objectives and the context; research methodology and methods; benefits; limitations and critical points.

System of Systems (SoS) paradigm has been extensively applied to a wide variety of fields. In recent years, some works have shown that the supply chain can be conceptualized as a SoS, yet they do not consider market competition among supply chains. We develop a competitive supply chain SoS framework that extends existing approaches to incorporate multi-chain market competition, yielding an illustrative case of an uncommon SoS with competitive constituents. While satisfaction of customer needs in a certain market is a key objective for supply chain management, it is only achieved by the set of competitive supply chains.

This research on supply chain response (SCR) is a topic of interest to academics and professionals that helps to meet customer expectations in a timely manner and contributes to the achievement of supply chain (SC) objectives. Various definitions of SCR are found in the scientific literature, each valid for the purpose of the research that proposes it. The wide range of definitions prevents from establishing a framework for analysis and improvement of the SCR that can be applied to any type of SC. For the study of the definitions of SCR, a qualitative content analysis methodology was applied. The level of analysis of the SC and the research method applied by the author of the definition were also taken into account in the analysis. The common characteristics of the various definitions, the differences between them, and the shortcomings of each have been determined. The main contribution of this research is the proposal of a general definition of SCR that has the common elements of existing ones and is useful for any type of SC. A general definition will allow addressing the supply chain response with a common framework for any type of supply chain and not only those mentioned in the academic literature.

This paper presents a general review of blockchain applications. It addresses financial applications that are the origin of this recent technology, Internet of things (IoT) applications and also logistics and supply chain areas. Additionally, other application areas are reviewed as reference models for further research. The most widely employed modelling approaches and software tools are also identified. Here HyperLedger, which is a private blockchain, seems to be the most convenient one for supply chains. Finally, a critical discussion about the reviewed articles is carried out.

Today, complex and challenging industrial requirements face challenges related to distribution and production necessities. This changing environment also creates opportunities, which with the introduction of a disruptive technology such as blockchain will enhance the emergence of the connected supply chain as an essential element in the industrial world. By using blockchain, firms will have faster access to data, such as sales patterns on newly commercialized products or interruptions in the upstream supply, with the guarantee that the data is verifiable, transparent and perfectly traceable. This paper offers an analysis of blockchain technology and smart contracts exploring the capabilities and advantages of this technology in making traditional supply chain management a new and sustainable digital process.

Many businesses distribute their goods though several supply chains in order to cover different kinds of clients. A methodology is proposed to evaluate if the best solution supposes a separated flow for each one or some common activities along the supply chain may be shared and obtain scale economies. The objective is to evaluate the level of synergies among different supply chains, each for a different set of clients. The evaluation for the distribution of pharmaceutical products is given as example. In this case, three types of clients are provided: pharmacies, public health centres and public health companies.

The need to adapt to increasingly competitive markets, adapting to new organizational forms and pursuing greater flexibility, forces companies to make decisions more agile. To face current dynamism, it is necessary to provide information systems for planning with sufficient flexibility to achieve the proposals established in the traditional operations planning and control system (OPCS) scheme. This is possible due to the introduction of new Industry 4.0-based production technologies that give decision-making more flexibility and efficiency. In this paper, a conceptual framework for the integration of the tactical and operational planning is proposed, doing more emphasis in the expert system that integrates and coordinates the specific decisions of both levels.

Production planning and control system (PPCS) proposes a hierarchical system in which decisions follow an (almost) unidirectional flow for coordination between the objectives, plans and activities of the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Information systems have played a fundamental role in the implementation of these systems in organizations. However, these systems also have drawbacks due to their rigidity in decision-making, where coordination between different levels (with frozen plans) is not always possible in a short term, and not so much, by the productive capacity itself. The Industry 4.0 paradigm promotes, among other things, autonomous decision-making, interoperability, agility, flexibility, efficiency and cost reduction. This paper proposes the adaptation of the instruments available in the tactic and operational scope of the PPC system so that they are able to take advantage of the real flexibility and current information in their environment to provide solutions, with and expert system, which are more adjusted to the reality of each moment.

Natural products such as vegetables can be influenced in their cultivation by many variables, some controllable and others not, which affect the homogeneity of the resulting product. This lack of homogeneity must be considered in all processes of the supply chain. Another aspect to consider is the degradation over time of these products, interpreted as shelf-life for inventory policies. In this work, this problem is considered for the production scheduling of a vegetable packaging machine. Specifically, the machine packages broccoli and cauliflower, which are natural raw materials that suffer lack of homogeneity. In addition, the real case described in the paper suggests possible replacement of demand and different combinations of products. The full description of the problem and the framework in which it is located is assumed as one of the contributions of this paper. The other one is the successfully design of two mathematical models which represent the complexity of the problem faced.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is nowadays a major and very relevant manufacturing key tool in many manufacturing companies that seek to improve business competitiveness by adjusting processes to highly demanding customer requirements. This particular study seeks to deepen the understanding of additive manufacturing adoption impact into aerospace companies purchasing process. In the study, it had been analyzed the potential consequences that would be expected on the aerospace companies purchasing processes, after the adoption of AM considering the scenario in which AM is implemented in-house the aerospace companies. Expected process changes identified in the study are both an important organizational opportunity and also a serious threat for quick AM adoption at aerospace companies.

With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), it is time to take a review of learning process as an approach for production scheduling. Neural networks, reinforcement learning, multi-agent systems, etc., have been successfully applied to solve a variety of complex problems. However, although combinatorial problems are also complex, it is not evident that the application of AI techniques can help to solve them in a satisfactory way and specifically in the field of production scheduling. At this time, it is interesting to know if researchers propose AI applications to solve scheduling problems in a global way and these are more efficient than those used up to now, or on the contrary, the dominant research lines focus on some partial aspect of the resolution. This paper makes a review of the different contributions that the AI field has made in recent years on the problem of the flowshop and jobshop scheduling. The work aims to see which are the AI methods that have been used, which have greater presence and what possibilities they offer in future.

Telecommunications networks have to be upgraded and redesigned to meet changing demand as new technologies are developed. This paper presents an optimization model (mixed integer linear programming) for deciding how to expand an existing network with the minimum cost, where relevant costs are both capital and operational expenditures. The efficiency of the model has been evaluated solving randomly generated instances for different sizes.

Routing and scheduling of health and socials workers to deliver care at patients’ homes have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, this research generally deals with the idealistic static variant of the problem. Progressing from the static to the dynamic alternative is not a straightforward endeavour. Also, there has not been a clear-cut delimitation between static and dynamic models. This work proposes a clear differentiation between static and dynamic models and suggests a framework to design models appropriate for a broad range of home care routing and scheduling problems.

We propose two new formulations for the objective function of the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) that are based on a geometric transformation of the feasible solutions. The transformation consists in conceptualizing a VRP solution as a polygon and transforming it into an inscribed polygon in which the corresponding edge lengths remain unaltered (equivalent cyclic polygon). Experimentation with a set of problems taken from the literature shows that for some cases, the new formulations lead to better results, which suggest the interest of further research on the proposed transformation.

The use of artificial neural network (ANN) is growing significantly, and their areas of application are varied. In this case, the main aim of the study is to present an overall view of trends and research carried out in ANNs specifically in management science. To this aim, the data of publications about ANN in the field of management through Scopus database have been analysed. Documents in the field of management science composed by: Business, Management and Accounting; Decision Sciences; Econometrics and Finance; and Social Sciences published from 2000 to 2019 have been obtained and downloaded. Then, text-mining and network analysis software have been applied to gather, clean, analyse and visualize article data. Thus, it has been found that the pioneer country in this research area is China, followed by the USA and India. The study allows to conclude that in the field of management science, ANNs are mostly used for: logistic regression, prediction, classification, forecasting, modelling, data mining and clustering, among others. In addition, it has also been found that the most used neural network is the convolutional neural network (CNN).

Most of the companies that have decided on a subscription box model are startups that have gone bankrupt when they were still in their early days. One of the main reasons for this has been the high fulfillment costs they incurred. As subscription models undergo rapid growth, fulfillment costs per customer stay the same or even increase in the mid-term due to companies continually forced to increase the variety of items included in the subscription boxes, increase the types of boxes they offer, or even improve the logistics offer, for example, by offering greater flexibility in the order delivery windows. To respond to this, we developed a cost model for the fulfillment operations of a subscription box model, based on a real case study. The model analyzes the evolution of fulfillment costs, as these businesses expand their market to new populations, increase their number of customers, and vary their offer of products with new subscription boxes.

Traditional project management methods are no longer able to foster the competitiveness of construction companies. Variability and uncertainty within the construction projects put both efficiency and productivity into jeopardy. Additionally, the present scenario that construction firms need to confront in Spain is determined by systemic factors (globalization and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis); within this context, the production approach must shift from increasing revenues to enhancing competitiveness. To that end, the industry should embrace a new management paradigm. The new model should encourage cooperation among the different parties (owners, design team, contractors). Still, at the same time, it needs to take into account that activities interdependence is a critical factor when it comes to production planning and control.

Risk management has become a topic of interest in the management literature in general and particularly in the project management discipline. Notwithstanding, there is not widespread agreement on the concept of risk. An extensive literature review allows us to identify four types of uncertainty: stochastic, aleatoric, epistemic and ontological. The use of appropriate techniques and tools is basic for quality risk management. This paper aims to present a summary of the tools and techniques recommended to deal with each type of uncertainty.

Businesses with a technology management office can monitor and evaluate their technologies more efficiently. Companies measure technological maturity in their processes and products with the purpose of fulfilling properly their customers’ needs. There is a wide range of methods for measuring technological maturity, where two major currents stand out. On one side, it is the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), which was developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the methods made from its foundations. On the other side, there are the methods mainly made from foundations such as technology life cycle. This paper aims at giving a brief review of the main methodologies used for measuring technological maturity. Some of the features of these methods to be described will be a description of their performance, their inputs and where they have been implemented by their creators.

This study presents an analysis of implementation and assessment of a frame of reference to adapt and execute an evolutionary continuous improvement process (CIP) in a mature small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) that works in the capital goods sector. For this, the research team developed a continuous improvement model (CIM) to implement improvement routines and develop an organisational culture of continuous improvement (CI) to improve companies’ CI maturity level. Case study methodology was used in the investigation, where, in the same context, eight units of the aforementioned company were analysed for two years to have a holistic view of the organisation’s evolution. To analyse the implementation of the CIP, we developed an evaluation system based on a questionnaire completed by the company’s management and CI leaders. The assessment results explain how the implementation of the CIM through the application of the CIP helps develop improvement routines and increase the organisation’s CI maturity level. In this specific case, the application of the assessment system shows that although the assimilation of the routines evolved positively in most cases, not in all routines maturity level 2 was achieved, thus emphasising the needs of the organisation and the future actions to be implemented during the following CIP cycles.

This paper presents an exploratory analysis focused on identifying and characterizing business model innovation (BMI) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a phenomenon that has gained increasing attention in management and challenges many companies’ competitiveness. Based on a purposive sample of 84 SMEs participating in public-supported BMI projects, we explore different BMI-related elements using a two-step cluster analysis, along with an examination of the predictors’ importance and mean differences. The results underline the relevance of BMI management and BMI capabilities in SMEs, as well as stating a degree of importance in the prediction of clusters, suggesting further research opportunities. The research shows two different groups of SMEs that are statistically significant for all clustering variables. The value of this ongoing research lies in its contribution to the quantitative research of BMI in SMEs, as well as in the study of this strategic phenomenon.

Crowdsourcing is a business approach based on collective contributions. It has had successful results in both the private sector and the research field due to the capability to apply the methodology to a variety of disciplines, including technological, operational and managerial ones. Although the topic has been analyzed in a fragmented way throughout the years, this paper has reviewed more than 100 studies in order to define crowdsourcing as a new strategic methodology that provides high-quality solutions and successfully brings companies and users together resulting in a productivity increase and innovation growth. Moreover, this article includes a new component to the pillars theory (Hosseini, M., Phalp, K., Taylor, J. and Ali, R., 2014, May. The four pillars of crowdsourcing: A reference model. In Research Challenges in Information Science (RCIS), 2014 IEEE Eighth International Conference on (pp. 1–12). IEEE.), the evaluation mechanism, which validates and corrects the results obtained on the earlier model that relays on crowd selection, platform efficiency, judgment assertiveness, well-defined tasks and objectives. This also applies to solutions aligned with expected outcomes, which could tip the scale toward an optimal result. Finally, the evolution of crowdsourcing activities at a financial institution is analyzed in all levels of its ecosystem: macro-, meso-, micro- and their interdependence. The case study shows that the evaluation mechanism helps not only to identify the best ideas but to align innovation with business strategy and customer satisfaction.

Crowdfunding is a financing method that seeks to obtain funds from multiple participants to finance a business initiative. This paper aims to study crowdfunding from a risk management perspective, reviewing risks and their connection with stakeholders in a specific crowd model, equity crowdfunding. For that purpose, an extensive review of literature has been carried out to identify the risks involved, and based on the crowdsourcing pillars theory (Hosseini et al in The four pillars of crowdsourcing: a reference model. Proceedings—international conference on research challenges in information Science, 1–12, 2014) as reference of participants, a case study analysis of different entities within the crowd ecosystem was made, proving the pillars/risks connections. As a result of the paper findings, a matrix of risk generators/takers is proposed; an instrument to better detection and mitigation of risks was carried by each pillar. The research showed that this new matrix model approach helps to identify risks not previously detected and simplifies business decision making to enhance each participant’s experience, highlighting the role of regulators and technology in risk mitigation and aligning the business strategy with the most risk vulnerable pillar: the funder.

This research aims to determine which are the most appropriate strategies for fostering IGL among the employees who work in a Romanian bakery. Therefore, a multi-phase methodology that combines documentary analysis with analytic network process is employed. Data are collected from the human resource managers of one of the most important Romanian bakeries and processed using SuperDecisions® software. The results bring forward the fact that intergenerational learning can be fostered through training, mentoring, and communities of practice. Besides, when selecting which intergenerational learning strategy to implement, the managers should take into account employees’ commitment, work satisfaction, and also the organizational culture. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications. On the one hand, they extend the literature from the human resource management and knowledge management field by presenting the case of a bakery and on the other hand, they offer the human resource managers a viable tool for deciding how to enhance intergenerational learning.

The 2030 Agenda calls for universities to incorporate the SDGs in their processes, organizations and structures. In the field of teaching, MOOCs have rapidly expanded in higher education institutions and might be a potential ally for incorporating the SDGs in university contexts. However, there is a lack of research in using MOOCs for this purpose. This paper focuses on analyzing how MOOCs can be an effective tool for introducing the SDGs in universities. In order to do so, a case study methodology is applied to an online itinerary developed by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Our findings reveal that MOOCs can be a useful tool to support universities to generate interdisciplinary knowledge on sustainability, break down organizational silos, stimulate collaboration with stakeholders from various sectors and promote action-oriented teaching.

Business intelligence (BI) platforms are increasingly being implemented in companies in their search for competitive advantages. Nevertheless, their complexity and cost are an obstacle to their inclusion both in companies (especially small and medium-sized enterprises—SMEs) and in university syllabi. This paper analyzes how to overcome these obstacles by comparing, in the context of developing BI learning activities within engineering management programs, three free and easy-to-use software applications (Pentaho Report Designer, Saiku with Pentaho and Power BI) that could be a first step in the introduction to the field of business intelligence through data visualization.

This paper presents a project aimed at equipping Engineering Management students with the competences and skills required for the forthcoming Connected Industry 4.0. Specifically, it is aimed at applying an open source, cloud-based ERP for teaching Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) at a core operations course taught in several undergraduate programs at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).