Industrial Engineering in the Digital Disruption Era

Table of Contents

1. Frontmatter

2. Industrial Engineering

   1. Frontmatter

   2. 3-D Printing: a Non-disrupting Technology for Sales, Distribution, and Logistics

      Reinhard Koether

      Abstract

      Experts forecast that 3D printing was a disruptive technology for conventional supply chains based on mass production, economies of scale, global transportation, and local inventories. However, 3D printing has many limitations in customers supply: Long operational times cause high manufacturing cost. 3D printing is not precise enough for functional surfaces and many parts and products have to be coated, assembled, or post-processed before they can be sold to customers. Spare parts could be ideal applications, but they must have the same abilities as original parts, and spare part business is too important to give away design data for 3D printing. So 3D printing is and will be limited to small volume production with new design options like the bionic design or lightweight design and for customer-configured products.

   3. A Comparative Study of Multiple Objectives for Disaster Relief Logistics

      Esra Agca Aktunc, Mahdi Samarah

      Abstract

      Disaster relief logistics is a critical part of humanitarian emergency operations. In this study, we develop integer programming models with a focus on the pre-disaster location selection for depots in which relief items would be stored and the post-disaster distribution of relief items to demand locations. The goal is to determine the optimal depot locations and depot-demand node allocations by minimizing the total transportation cost of delivering relief items. We incorporate performance measures that represent the efficiency, efficacy, and equity of the decisions in our models in terms of total transportation cost, total waiting time, and percent of unmet demand, respectively. We consider the uncertainties that would affect the decisions made in terms of demand and transportation times in our case study by analyzing the results under various scenarios. We provide observations regarding the performance of different objectives under different scenarios for demand and transportation network conditions.

   4. An Integrated Employability Aptitude Survey-Cognitive Test Model for Assessing Students’ Skills Retention Threshold

      Faeza Saleh Dlhin, Adham Ahmad Mackieh, Kehinde Adewale Adesina

      Abstract

      An integrated employability aptitude survey-cognitive test is proposed to assess the retention threshold of students with the view of appraising the capabilities of engineering students in readiness for engineering positions. Numerical ability, space visualization, numerical reasoning, and symbolic reasoning responses are adapted into the model. One hundred six undergraduate students of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Eastern Mediterranean University selected across freshman, sophomore, junior and senior in the 2016–2017 academic years assessed their aptitudes through the proposed EAS cognitive tests. Analysis of variance is employed to analyze the model, and the results indicate a significant difference between students’ abilities in terms of raw scores and respective academic levels. Academic years and CGPA groups are found to have significant effects on the student’s percentile. Additionally, strong correlations between CGPA and the student’s percentile are found. However, space visualization ability is not affected by academic progression.

   5. Optimal Order Quantity for the Mean-Variance Newsvendor Problem with Stockout

      Akram El-Tannir

      Abstract

      This paper extends the formula that derives the optimal order quantity for the risk-neutral newsvendor under stockout. Its objective is to maximize the mean-variance risk-averse profit utility function under the general demand probability distribution. The obtained formula is applied for the cases of the Uniform, Normal, and Exponential distributions. The obtained results confirmed earlier findings that the optimal order quantity for the risk-averse newsvendor problem with stockout using the mean-variance utility can either be less than or greater than the optimal quantity of the risk-neutral case.

   6. Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes

      Alheri Bawa Magaji, Juliet E. Ikhide, A. Tarik Timur, Seldjan Timur

      Abstract

      The study examines university students’ attitudes toward sexual harassment and their perceptions of sexual harassment behaviors in a culturally diverse university in North Cyprus. Data is collected from 460 university students. The findings suggest that university students’ perceptions about what constitutes sexual harassment behavior were similar, regardless of their gender. However, women were more likely than men to perceive a wider range of verbal and non-verbal behaviors as sexual harassment. Furthermore, different perceptions of sexual harassment behavior were identified based on culture and age. When attitudes toward sexual harassment were compared, it was found that female students had lower tolerance levels and that age had an effect on attitudes toward sexual harassment.

   7. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

      Mohamad Alhijazi, Qasim Zeeshan, Hamed Ghasemian

      Abstract

      Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a widely used risk assessment approach for identification, quantification, and mitigation of potential failures in systems, products, processes, designs, and projects. Previous research efforts have focused on FMEA of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT)s, but there is a lack of application of FMEA for the failure analysis of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)s. This paper aims at the enhancement of reliability of VAWTs by applying system FMEA augmented with Fuzzy Logic (FL), and Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory. A total of 12 probable failure modes have been identified, quantified and prioritized. The application of Fuzzy-FMEA and DS-FMEA approach based on three experts’ opinions accommodates the diversity of opinions and accounts for the uncertainty in decision making, due to any lack of knowledge and experience of the FMEA team.

   8. Research Areas and Suggestions for Sustainable Manufacturing Systems

      Emine Bozoklar, Ebru Yilmaz

      Abstract

      Nowadays, sustainable manufacturing systems gain further awareness and importance because of considering economic, environmental, and social factors. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation to gain knowledge about sustainable manufacturing systems and related basic concepts such as circular economy, industrial symbiosis, eco-industrial parks, and life cycle assessment. Moreover, some suggestions for future research areas are presented to help to fill gaps in this field after many studies from the related literature are evaluated in detail.

   9. Binary Satin Bowerbird Optimizer for the Set Covering Problem

      Ilker Kucukoglu

      Abstract

      The set covering problem (SCP) is one of the most studied NP-hard problems in the literature. To solve the SCP efficiently, this study considers a recently proposed bio-inspired meta-heuristic algorithm, called satin bowerbird optimizer (SBO). Since the SBO was first introduced for the global optimization problem, it works on a continuous solution space. To adapt the algorithm to the SCP, this study introduces a binary version of the SBO (BSBO). The BSBO simply converts real value coded solution vector of the SBO to binary coded solution vector by applying a binarization procedure. In addition to binarization procedures, a solution improving operator is employed in the BSBO to transform infeasible solutions into feasible solutions and remove redundant columns to reduce solution cost. The performance of the proposed BSBO is tested on a well-known benchmark problem set consists of 65 instances. With regards to the best-known solutions of the instances, efficient results are obtained by the proposed BSBO by finding near-optimal solutions. Furthermore, standard deviations of the runs demonstrate the robustness of the algorithm. As a consequence, it should be noted that the proposed solution approach is capable of finding efficient results for the SCP.

   10. Crew Constrained Home Health Care Routing Problem with Time Windows and Synchronized Visits

       Shokirov Nozir, Bulent Catay, Tonguc Unluyurt

       Abstract

       Population aging, rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases worldwide, and growing health care costs have substantially increased the demand for home health care (HHC) in recent years. To gain a competitive advantage in the market and lower public expenditure, HHC service providers and governmental institutions mainly focus on increasing service quality while decreasing their costs. These objectives have resulted in various challenging optimization problems that have been widely studied in the past few years, including routing and scheduling problems. In this paper, we study an HHC routing and scheduling problem with time windows, where service is provided to patients requesting different types of care using a limited crew. We first provide the mixed integer programming formulation of the problem. Then, we perform a computational study to investigate the benefits of allowing synchronized visits to patients. Our results show that synchronized visits guarantee HCC service to all patients in some instances which are otherwise infeasible, and may reduce the total travel distance in other cases.

   11. Multi-criteria Group Decision Making in the Selection of CNC Woodworking Machinery

       Fatma Betul Yeni, Mehmet Mustafa Acipayamoglu, Emre Cevikcan

       Abstract

       The machine selection process has been an important issue for companies for many years. The wrong selection of the machine leaves a negative result on the efficiency, precision, flexibility, and sensitive production capacity of the company, and this leads to many problems. In this study, a real case application in a company that serves in the wood industry sector is carried out for the process of CNC woodworking machine selection. First, the main criteria and sub-criteria affecting machine selection are defined. For the decision-making process, 3 senior executives of the company are considered as decision-makers (DM). During the evaluation of alternatives under these criteria, the AHP method, one of the most popular Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, is used. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted for a different scenario to see the change in the rankings of alternatives.

   12. A Mathematical Model and an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for In-Plant Milk-Run Design

       Kadir Buyukozkan, Sule Itir Satoglu

       Abstract

       As a result of the product diversification, many types of components are used in the products’ bill-of-materials. Consequently, smaller quantities of many different types of components are needed to be distributed. All these factors complicated the part-feeding to the assembly lines. In this study, a mathematical model is developed for an in-plant milk-run material supply system that periodically distributes multiple parts by using multiple vehicles to the stations of the assembly lines. This model is called the Multi-Vehicle Milk-Run Model. As the proposed mathematical model is NP-hard, an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm is developed to solve the large instances. The proposed ABC Algorithm is tested based on the optimum solutions (where available) and the best-known feasible solutions of different sized instances of a real washing machine assembly plant. Hence, the performance of the ABC Algorithm is validated.

   13. Predicting the Medical Tourism Demand of Turkey

       Erkan Isikli, Seyda Serdarasan, Saliha Karadayi-Usta

       Abstract

       There is an emerging need in understanding the trends and determinants of the medical tourism industry, which have a significant impact on the host country’s economy. Turkey’s popularity as an international tourism destination combined with the expertise of Turkish medical professionals and advanced technology available in the leading medical facilities make Turkey one of the most popular travel destinations for medical tourism. While the expanding literature on medical tourism offers conceptual and theoretical knowledge on this topic, the number of empirical studies is somewhat limited. Forecast of medical tourism demand is a critical input into decisions related to investments in healthcare, tourism, and transportation infrastructure. This study models Turkey’s medical tourism demand incorporating several factors. Due to the relatively high number of indicators and a small number of observations, Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) was employed to predict the response, and the results were compared with those of the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation. The empirical findings are expected to help policy makers and practitioners to deepen their understanding of medical tourism demand for Turkey.

   14. Effects of the Awareness of University’s CSR on Students’ Word-of-Mouth Intentions

       Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun, Seldjan Timur

       Abstract

       Under recent circumstances such as globalization, edu-tourism and the privatization of institutions of higher education, the resultant competition in the higher education industry has forced universities to adopt an approach that is more business-oriented to compete in and overcome the challenges of the industry. One of the major challenges facing universities is student attraction and retention, as students face little or no barrier in transferring from one university to another. As a result, universities continue to seek effective ways to remain attractive to prospective students in addition to ensuring that their current students do not leave. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a means for firms to improve societal well-being, it likewise offers the opportunity to have a positive reputation and competitive advantage. Studies reporting the positive effect of CSR on stakeholders’ behavior are gradually increasing; thus, universities can use CSR as a part of their competitive strategy and positively influence the behavior of their students. However, for this strategy to be effective, attention has to be given to the significant role played by students’ understanding and awareness of the university’s CSR activities. This study investigates the association between students’ awareness of their university’s CSR initiatives and their intentions to recommend their university. This is particularly relevant primarily because studies that have explored the effect of CSR on stakeholders’ behavior have hardly considered the higher education sector thus leaving a void in literature this study seeks to fill. The primary data for this study is obtained from a structured questionnaire survey administered to students of Eastern Mediterranean University. Based on a conceptual model developed on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study investigates the causative relationships among awareness of CSR activities, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, attitude and Word-of-Mouth intention using PROCESS macro. Theoretically, the present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in this field by recommending and empirically analyzing an extended TPB model to predict students’ recommendation intentions as a result of being aware of their university’s CSR activities. This study is also relevant to the managers of higher education institutions as the findings suggest they can leverage on their CSR activities to build a reputation and gain competitive advantage.

   15. The Effect of Working from Home on Work and Private Life: Automotive Sector Application

       Murat Durucu, Cahit Ali Bayraktar

       Abstract

       Today, the increase in the sense of independence and developments in communication technology increase the importance of working from home. Working from home is not defined as bringing home the work that the employee cannot rise to the workplace, but rather working from home by the management at a certain frequency rather than going to work. Working from home has positive and negative effects on work-life. While some studies have positive findings that working from home will improve work performance, some studies have found that being away from the workplace will decrease team performance, create obstacles for progress and adversely affect business life. One hundred eighty employees, including 66 managers of the company to apply to work from home in the Turkish automotive sector, did take part in this study. As a result of the study, it has been concluded that the increase in transportation time and frequency of working from home reduces the level of communication between the manager and the employee and contributes positively to the establishment of work-family balance. It was obtained that working at home posed a barrier to progress at both the executive and employee levels and prevented teamwork. As a result, to increase the motivation of employees to work from home, it may be suggested that companies should place systems of teamwork in their enterprises, provide the necessary technological tools for remote teamwork and establish systems that closely monitor the results of the work of workers from home in their career plans.

   16. Selection of Optimum Maintenance Strategy Using Multi-criteria Decision Making Approaches

       Tolga Gedikli, Beyzanur Cayir Ervural

       Abstract

       An appropriate maintenance strategy can improve the availability and reliability levels of industries, while improper maintenance strategy can significantly reduce the effectiveness of companies. This paper aims to select the optimal maintenance strategy utilizing four decision-making techniques in a food company in Turkey. In this study, four multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods (Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) and Weighted Product (WP)) are used to determine the optimal maintenance strategy. In this context, four main criteria (safety, cost, reliability, and added-value), twelve criteria and five alternatives (corrective maintenance, time-based preventive maintenance, opportunistic maintenance, condition-based maintenance, and predictive maintenance) are defined according to focus group meetings in the company and the literature review. The obtained results are compared with each other, and then the appropriate maintenance strategies are identified.