Engineering Business Management

The performance of the supplier is a crucial factor for the success or failure of any company. Rational and effective decision making in terms of the supplier selection process can help the organization to optimize cost and quality functions. The nature of supplier selection processes is generally complex, especially when the company has a large variety of products and vendors. Over the years, several solutions and methods have emerged for addressing the supplier selection problem (SSP). Experience and studies have shown that there is no best way for evaluating and selecting a specific supplier process, but that it varies from one organization to another. The aim of this research is to demonstrate how a multiple attribute decision making approach can be effectively applied for the supplier selection process.

The work presented in this article constitutes a contribution to modeling and forecasting the demand in a food company, by using time series approach. Our work demonstrates how the historical demand data could be utilized to forecast future demand and how these forecasts affect the supply chain. The historical demand information was used to develop several autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models by using Box-Jenkins time series procedure and the adequate model was selected according to four performance criteria: Akaike criterion, Schwarz Bayesian criterion, maximum likelihood, and standard error. The selected model corresponded to the ARIMA (1, 0, 1) and it was validated by another historical demand information under the same conditions. The results obtained prove that the model could be utilized to model and forecast the future demand in this food manufacturing. These results will provide to managers of this manufacturing reliable guidelines in making decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodological framework which could support managers in the selection of Knowledge Management Systems. The framework is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process approach. Several aspects should draw the attention of an organization's upper level of management seeking to implement a Knowledge Management System and many specific issues have to be considered. As such, the framework has been built by making use of an ad-hoc hierarchical structure, where each singular specificity is described and compared, second-order criteria are studied and analysed, and optional decisions are highlighted and evaluated. This methodological framework offers a good applicability to different business contexts, since its hierarchical arrangement suits most of the needs of numerous organizations. Consequently, it can be regarded as a holistic approach able to assist decision makers in their Knowledge Management System selection process.

In this study, a hybrid model based on ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems), a predictive intelligent-based technique, and TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) was implemented for sustainable supplier selection. Selection of supplier is a crucial task for companies to achieve the objectives of inbound and outbound supply chain system. This selection process may be complex due to the inclusion of diverse subjective and objective factors. There is, therefore, the need for a reliable methodology to provide higher accuracy in predictions of anticipated supplier performance, and this article makes contributions in that direction. The model was applied in the retail end of a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry to select the best possible suppliers using the sustainability criteria of the triple-bottom-line. Available data from the FMCG retail sector was fed into the TOPSIS and ANFIS model to rank the suppliers. Results indicated that th...

This study aims to evaluate the effects of individual creativity, group creativity, internal organizational characteristics, and external factors of knowledge creation toward organizational creativity of small firms in Indonesia creative industry. In addition, it evaluates the relationship between the organizational creativity and the performance. The study was carried out using a cross-sectional survey with 34 samples (convenience sampling). The correlation between key variables was analyzed using path analysis. Results indicate that organizational creativity is significantly influenced by group design creativity, while individual creativity, organizational characteristics, and external factors of knowledge creation have no significant effect on organizational creativity. The results of the study show that if the small creative industry wants to improve its performance, one of the creativity variables that needs to be optimized is the creativity of the design group.

Reducing time-to-market is one of the most challenging tasks that pharmaceutical companies deal with. In this sense, the recipe development process represents one of the most critical phases. Multi-site production companies require an efficient recipe development model, with a robust modular structure, which must be appropriately shared among local laboratories and plants. To this extent, the ANSI/ISA-88 batch manufacturing standard, rising in the context of process control and automation, is rapidly becoming widely used in pharmaceutical companies. This paper presents a step-by-step approach to assessing the compliance to the ANSI/ISA-88 standard along with a BPM-oriented methodology applicable to the redesign of any generic recipe development process. Redesigning a recipe development process is a complex activity and can mask several pitfalls and criticalities. Thus, along with the methodology, some general evidence and suggestions are provided based on the experience of a project carried out in a large multinational pharmaceutical company.

В отраслевой структуре экономики африканских стран, как правило, преобладает добыча минеральных ресурсов, а также производство сельскохозяйственной продукции. Традиционные для западных стран отрасли индустрии, такие как черная металлургия, угольная, химическая, а также нефтяная промышленность, получили свое преимущественное развитие лишь к середине XX-го века.

The recruitment is the main function of HR department and the recruitment process is the first step towards making the competitive quality and the recruitment strategic advantage for the association. A quantitative method used to analyze this study, the researchers prepared questionnaire and distributed at Telecommunication Companies in Erbil-Kurdistan. The objective of this research paper is to determine the recruitment and selection procedures in organizations, and finding out the methodologies that are involved in the process. Moreover, finding out how being qualified and having certificates affects the recruitment process, and how different criteria such as gender, race, and culture effect on it as well. The survey was conducted at Telecom Companies. Employees filled the survey. Data was collected and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used as the statistical analysis tool while descriptive statistics were calculated and used in the interpretation of f...

Integration of distributed generations that fluctuate widely (such as Photovoltaic panels, Wind power, Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Systems), poses a chance to the stability of power technology and distribution structures. However, the primary reason is that the electricity ratio between supply and demand may not be balanced. An extra or scarcity inside the production or intake of electricity can disrupt the system and cause critical problems which include a drop/rise in voltage and, under difficult conditions, power outages. The use of Energy Management Systems can effectively increase the balance between supply and demand and decrease peak load throughout unplanned durations. The energy management system is capable of not only sharing or exchanging energy between the different energy resources available, but also of economically supplying loads in a reliable, safe and effective manner under all conditions necessary for the operation of the power grid. This work outlines th...

The purpose of this study is to avoid delays and cost changes that occur in emergency reconstruction projects especially in post disaster circumstances. This study is aimed to identify the factors that affect the real construction period and the real cost of a project against the estimated period of construction and the estimated cost of the project. The case study is related to the construction projects in Iraq. Thirty projects in different areas of construction in Iraq were selected as a sample for this study. Project participants from the projects authorities provided data about the projects through a data collection distributed survey made by the authors. Mathematical data analysis was used to construct a model to predict change in time and cost of the projects before the start of the construction. The artificial neural networks analysis was selected as a mathematical approach. The most important factors identified leading to schedule delays and cost increase were contractor fai...

This paper investigates how companies in the fashion industry organize, plan and perform their New Product Development process (NPD). The results have been achieved through an empirical study carried out by the authors with the support of the GeCo Observatory, an Italian research initiative launched in 2012. This paper shows the details of eight selected case studies from the Italian fashion industry.

e-commerce is expected to radically change customers' shopping experiences. Market figures show that even though e-commerce has already taken off, the path to realizing its full potential is still long. In the physical goods segments, the strategic importance of logistics -both as a cost driver and as a service enablerhas been recognised by the majority of companies, but it remains unclear how to adapt the ʺlogistics strategyʺ to possible forms of the ʺlogistics problemʺ. This issue is even more important for those Dotcoms that need to design their logistics strategies from scratch.

Although there is broad agreement that ambidexterity somehow relates to the simultaneous pursuit of exploratory and exploitative activities, a lack of conceptual clarity exists regarding the extent to which ambidexterity concerns matching the magnitude (BD) of exploration and exploitation on a relative basis, or concerns the combined magnitude (CD) of both activities. This fragmentation has inspired different operationalization of the construct and limited its usefulness, both for scholars and practitioners, since interpretations, comparisons and analysis between cross studies or research have become more difficult. This article proposes and tests an alternative measure of ambidexterity, which attempts to simultaneously and explicitly include in an overall index both the combined (CD) and the balanced dimension (BD).

The main purpose of this study is identifying the various factors affecting change management success, as well as examine their relevance in the case of a Moroccan construction company. A combination of a literature review and research action was employed to this end. Specifically, an in-depth review of 37 organizational change management models was conducted to identify the factors that affect change management success. Additionally, a research action approach validated the identified factors. Several factors that affect organizational change management success were identified and categorized into 12 categories relevant to the successful implementation of organizational change initiatives within the case company. While further research is needed to explore the relevance of the identified factors in other organizations and sectors, this study provides an integrated understanding of change management success based on the analysis of various organizational change models. Understanding...

Modern production systems must guarantee high performance. Increasingly challenging international competition, budget reductions for the health sector and constant technological evolution are just three of the many aspects that drive pharmaceutical companies to continuously improve the productivity of their lines. The scientific literature has for many years been proposing calculation models for estimating the productivity of a machine. One of the most famous, and still used, is overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). This allows the calculation the valuable output considering the six 'big losses'. The limitations of this approach are noticeable when considering a production line instead of a single machine. Numerous researchers have proposed alternative methods or changes in OEE, to be able to cover the widest spectrum of possible cases. In this study, we wanted to evaluate how such theoretical models related to OEE are actually able to represent the world of tight production flows or whether, in these cases, a more complex type of simulation should be preferred. To do this, we carried out a case study of a production line in the pharmaceutical industry, and the results showed that the simulation approach gives better results because of the peculiarities not considered by the theoretical models.

In recent years, governmental pressure on reducing the cost of drugs, together with the growth in the number of generic manufacturers, have given a considerable boost to competition in the pharmaceutical sector. Such relevant market change has highlighted the necessity of controlling and improving performance in order to reduce costs while maintaining high qualitylevels, both enhancing working capital management and increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of production lines (activities that had previously been somewhat neglected in the pharmaceutical sector). In this paper, the paradigm of buffer design for availability (BDFA)-an approach developed to conciliate these apparently conflicting strategies to achieve performance improvement and cost reduction-is briefly recalled and discussed, being contextualized in the state-of-the-art of buffer design research. Its valuable practical applicability and effectiveness is then demonstrated by the means of a real case study application, and future developments are eventually presented.

Floor storage systems are used in the shoe industry to store fashion products of seasonal collections of low quantity and high variety. Since space is valuable and order picking must be sped up, stacking of shoeboxes should be optimized. The problem is modelled based on shoe features (model, type, colour, and size) and with the goal of forcing similar boxes into locations close to each other in order to improve workers' ability to retrieve orders fast. The model is encoded in Constraint Logic Programming and solved comparing different strategies, also using Large Neighbourhood Search. Simulation experiments are run to evaluate how the stacking model affects picking performance.

Most of the literature on healthcare digitalization is focused on the benefits, the barriers and the determinants of the adoption of ICT-based solutions within hospitals. Little is understood about how hospital digitalization can be accomplished or how this digitalization fosters an increase in hospital performance -both in terms of quality improvement and cost rationalization -by ambidextrously combining the exploration and exploitation of hospital assets. This paper sheds a preliminary light on the topic, identifying a set of action-oriented propositions for smart healthcare digitalization within hospitals.

The objective of this study is to explore whether companies obtain benefits from integrating Project Management Tools with Enterprise Information Systems and also show that this is being exploited by companies that are involved in management of large and mega projects. After reviewing the literature on Project Management Theory, Information Systems Theory, and the companies’ software solutions to such integration, some results are reached and discussed. In order to acquire a deeper understanding on such integration that project management companies carry out for mega projects, firstly the Marmaray Tube Project’s main contractor was contacted, and only one insufficient result was obtained and is presented in the Appendix A. Then, the company called Acibadem Project Management located in Turkey is analyzed as it manages large hospital construction projects that are mostly similar to mega projects’ small sub- projects, and the results are presented in the form of case studies. Data taken from the case study is used in the main research in order to evaluate and perceive that what benefits a project management company involved in large hospital construction projects can be received from integrating its PM tool with its ERP system.

The comparison and conclusion between the literature review and the case study indicate that integration between PM tools and ERP systems is important particularly during the Project Definition Stage; some areas such as Finance, Procurement, Purchasing, and HR could be connected to the project management activities in order to initiate the Project Delivery accurately. By integration, fragmented areas of organizations could be combined so that a structured project management system could be developed. Reporting between users in an organization would be carried out in only one software environment, which facilitates communication difficulties.

The layout re-arrangement of fashion production lines realizing many small batches is rarely deployed according to well-known engineering procedures. In fact, it would often appear too complex to call a plant engineer for the proper layout design of such small production lines. Rather, it is preferred to apply empirical methodologies when considering, generally, factory know-how, general business needs, safety requirements, and so on. In the present work, the results of a fashion manufacturing line re-layout were compared by analysing the current situation with the solutions provided by a ʺhomemadeʺ company design, both through a systematic layout planning approach and a broader lean reengineering activity.

Pharmaceutical industries are continuously seeking out new strategies to improve their operations and gain a competitive advantage. Maintenance tends to be a key management issue for many pharmaceutical companies. Proper maintenance management requires information about maintenance performance for the planning and controlling of maintenance processes. However, it is generally difficult to reconcile production and maintenance goals. This work presents an integrated management system that can help in finding optimal maintenance strategies via a multi-object approach. The availability of an integrated system allows for detecting potential management problems and optimizing costs. Furthermore, the proposed method offers significant additional input data that can be useful to analysts for improving maintenance management.

In human resource management practices of various nations, companies have to adapt to the local specifics. This claim is strongly supported by the results of the international Central and Eastern European International Research Team research. Based on the instances of research conducted in various countries, we can clearly see that only the 'best practice' is not enough when used exclusively, and a 'best fit' perspective has to support it, which optimizes the usage of resources to the local economical-social environment. Our notes revealed that non-central areas have many more employees per human resource (HR) specialist, which may result in excess tasks. In the case of companies from Central Hungary (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 region), one HR professional usually deals with 55 employees, while in non-central regions, this number may reach up to 112 workers. This means that in non-central areas, HR employees have double the work. Also, their daily operative work may bring in a huge overload, which concerns all functions of HR. Critical issues are HR planning, training, development and keeping talented individuals (talent management), which mean serious questions and problems for companies that are not in the Central Hungarian region.

This paper investigates the applicability of enterprise architectures in the context of current business environment by examining the application of Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture to WorleyParsons, a global engineering, procurement and construction management enterprise, under the backdrop of a similar study carried out on Fluor Daniel during mid-nineties of the last century. The outcome of this study recommends the need for new enterprise architecture, the People-Centric Enterprise Architecture that not only focuses on human dimension in modern enterprises as the central thread, but also includes more business characteristics of the enterprise other than engineerings.

Africa is a continent with fifty four states and has many different cultures, natural resources and good land for аagriculture but is the poorest continent where people are still suffering from lack of foods, medical cares, problem of clean water, unemployment rates and lack of social amenities. We should ask ourselves, have we really gained our independence? The answer is No! Our colonial master’s should be blamed for the long failure of economy development in Africa. The colonial master’s such as some Europeans countries and America have invaded our lands and they have destroyed the entire African continent
with their political ideology. In addition, they have been setting internal confusion among Africa states to enrich their economy interest.

Business process management (BPM) is a well-known holistic discipline used widely in practice for managing business processes and achieving better organizational performance. However, recently, due to technological development, using a traditional approach to BPM is not enough anymore. The answer to the limitations of the traditional BPM has been found in the introduction and application of the social software principles in the management of business processes within a new and emerging area called social BPM. In order to investigate its implementation and usage within the companies, a literature review has been conducted. It confirmed that social BPM is a developing phenomenon. Overall, 31 papers with case studies dealing with the usage of social BPM have been selected for further analysis. The case studies have been analysed with regard to structure, process and content dimensions as well as risk management and crisis.

The impact of Lean Manufacturing (LM) implementation on organizational performance is an ongoing discussion. The effect of implementing LM tools on operational performance across various industries in Zimbabwe, a country with an unstable real gross domestic product is evaluated. A structural model of LM that is aligned with the Toyota Production System (TPS) house was proposed. A structured survey questionnaire was used for the collection of data in identified companies. Of the 600 companies contacted, 214 useful responses were obtained implying a response rate of 35.6%. The structural and operational models were tested using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and SmartPLS 3. The result indicated that operational performance was improved by implementing the selected LM tools.

Today, the food sector is one of the sectors most vulnerable to intentional contamination by debilitating agents . Some cases of contaminated food have indicated that product quality risk is one of the vulnerabilities in the global supply chain. A series of company scandals, affecting reputation and causing the recall of products and increasing costs have hit the food industry. The obvious problem is that even a minor incident in one part of the chain can have disastrous effects on other parts of the supply chain. Thus, risks are transmitted through the chain. Even though the dangers from members in the supply chain are small, the cumulative effect becomes significant. The aim of this study is to propose an integrated supply chain risk management framework for practitioners that can provide directions for how to evaluate food quality risk in the global supply chain. For validating the proposed model in-depth, a case study is conducted on a food SME distributor in Central America. The case study investigates how product quality risks are handled according to the proposed framework.

Dispute is recognized as critical cause of deficiency and low performance in construction projects. Plenty of studies have been done in construction dispute management recently; however, there are no studies on construction dispute elimination. This study aims to propose a building information modeling (BIM) approach to control conflict causes before the occurrence of dispute. BIM is one of the latest platforms that promote a high level of collaboration, information sharing, and coordination where its implementation ranges from project initialization to completion stage. The circumstances associating with BIM technology can be utilized to explore the possibilities in conflict and dispute resolution system. Questionnaire surveys are used to collect the primary data. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi attribute utility technique (MAUT) are adopted to develop an algorithm and a decision-making framework to manage and resolve the potential conflict causes, particularly for the Malaysian construction industry. Data analysis emerged that five critical conflict factors in Malaysian construction industry are insufficient monitoring of CPM scheduling and updates requirements; failures to understand and correctly bid or price the works; delay in running bill payment; inadequate contractors' management, supervision, and coordination; and error and omission in design that are originated from time, cost, quality, and documentation. Further analysis to prioritize BIM functions in construction conflict management has been done by the combination of AHP and MAUT results. Consequently, it is affirmed that clash detection and cost estimating, 4D scheduling, 3D visualization and structure analysis as BIM functions obtained the highest score to control conflicting factors.

This paper presents a new application of dielectric resonator antenna in radio frequency identification system. A curved dual-band dielectric resonator antenna for RFID applications is proposed. The tag antenna is designed to operate at 2.45 GHz (2.25- 2.55 GHz) and 5.8 GHz (5.65- 5.95 GHz) bands. The radiation characteristics of the tag antenna in free space are investigated. The radar cross sections under different loads are obtained. The effect of curvature on the tag antenna performance is explained. Two examples are considered. In the first example, the tag antenna is mounted on cylindrical bottle filled with the Palmitic Acid material or water like materials. The effect of the object properties on the radiation characteristics and the radar cross section is investigated. In the second example, the tag antenna is mounted on spherical bottle filled with the Palmitic Acid material. The radiation and backscattering characteristics are calculated. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is used for simulation and the Finite Integration Technique (FIT) is used to verify the simulated results.

The competitive nature of the contemporary business scenario requires productivity-driven organizations to be aware of the efficiency level of their dealers. The recent economic and financial crisis has highlighted the need for effective evaluation methods going beyond the limits of traditional performance assessment methodologies in the retail industry. The automotive industry is no exception to this logic. In this sector, traditional methods are often based only on market share performances, ignoring the key role of input-output ratios on the overall productivity of the parent company. Following this lead, in this paper we propose a method to evaluate the performance of dealerships taking into account both their market share performances and their efficiency. In order to assess dealership efficiency we use the DEA technique, and apply the proposed methodology to a multinational automotive company considering its Italian dealer network.

Facility management is an evolving discipline that has received attention from both professionals and researchers in recent years. Modern facility management considers various interests related to material resources, and among others, social and environmental interests. An important opportunity for the improvement of this discipline derives from the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies for the management of material resources. In this paper, we shall study the problem of industrial facility management, an area with important economic implications. Starting from a facility management model for the maintenance of industrial assets, we develop a general approach to maintenance based on the Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems, which allows us to reason about the implementation of an effective Organisational Facility Management Unit. The objective is the continuous improvement of maintenance activities, from which also derives the improvement of the production process perf...