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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, a case study on applying lean principles in manufacturing operations to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process and its impact on performance and second, introducing cardboard prototyping as a Kaizen tool offering a novel approach to testing and simulating improvement scenarios.

The study employs value stream mapping, root cause analysis, and brainstorming tools to identify root causes of poor performance, followed by deploying a Kaizen event to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process. Using physical models, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement were identified by the Kaizen approach at the workstations and assembly lines, enabling the testing of various scenarios and ideas. Changes in lead times, throughput, work in process inventory and assembly performance were analyzed and documented.

Pre- and post-improvement measures are provided to demonstrate the impact of the Kaizen event on the performance of the assembly cell. The study reveals that implementing lean tools and techniques reduced costs and increased throughput by reducing assembly cycle times, manufacturing lead time, space utilization, labor overtime and work-in-process inventory requirements.

This paper adds a new dimension to applying the Kaizen methodology in manufacturing processes by introducing cardboard prototyping, which offers a novel way of testing and simulating different scenarios for improvement. The paper describes the process implementation in detail, including the techniques and data utilized to improve the process.

In the current era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing industries are striving toward mass production with mass customization by considering human–robot collaboration. This study aims to propose the reconfiguration of assembly systems by incorporating multiple humans with robots using a human–robot task allocation (HRTA) to enhance productivity.

A human–robot task scheduling approach has been developed by considering task suitability, resource availability and resource selection through multicriteria optimization using the Linear Regression with Optimal Point and Minimum Distance Calculation algorithm. Using line-balancing techniques, the approach estimates the optimum number of resources required for assembly tasks operating by minimum idle time.

The task allocation schedule for a case study involving a punching press was solved using human–robot collaboration, and the approach incorporated the optimum number of appropriate resources to handle different types of proportion of resources.

This proposed work integrates the task allocation by human–robot collaboration and decrease the idle time of resource by integrating optimum number of resources.

With hybrid simulation techniques getting popular for systems improvement in multiple fields, this study aims to provide insight on the use of hybrid simulation to assess the effect of lean manufacturing (LM) techniques on manufacturing facilities and the transition of a mass production (MP) facility to incorporating LM techniques.

In this paper, the authors apply a hybrid simulation approach to improve an educational automotive assembly line and provide guidelines for implementing different LM techniques. Specifically, the authors describe the design, development, verification and validation of a hybrid discrete-event and agent-based simulation model of a LEGO® car assembly line to analyze, improve and assess the system’s performance. The simulation approach examines the base model (MP) and an alternative scenario (just-in-time [JIT] with Heijunka).

The hybrid simulation approach effectively models the facility. The alternative simulation scenario (implementing JIT and Heijunka LM techniques) improved all examined performance metrics. In more detail, the system’s lead time was reduced by 47.37%, the throughput increased by 5.99% and the work-in-progress for workstations decreased by up to 56.73%.

This novel hybrid simulation approach provides insight and can be potentially extrapolated to model other manufacturing facilities and evaluate transition scenarios from MP to LM.

Maintaining the safety of the human is a major concern in factories where humans co-exist with robots and other physical tools. Typically, the area around the robots is monitored using lasers. However, lasers cannot distinguish between human and non-human objects in the robot’s path. Stopping or slowing down the robot when non-human objects approach is unproductive. This research contribution addresses that inefficiency by showing how computer-vision techniques can be used instead of lasers which improve up-time of the robot.

A computer-vision safety system is presented. Image segmentation, 3D point clouds, face recognition, hand gesture recognition, speed and trajectory tracking and a digital twin are used. Using speed and separation, the robot’s speed is controlled based on the nearest location of humans accurate to their body shape. The computer-vision safety system is compared to a traditional laser measure. The system is evaluated in a controlled test, and in the field.

Computer-vision and lasers are shown to be equivalent by a measure of relationship and measure of agreement. R² is given as 0.999983. The two methods are systematically producing similar results, as the bias is close to zero, at 0.060 mm. Using Bland–Altman analysis, 95% of the differences lie within the limits of maximum acceptable differences.

In this paper an original model for future computer-vision safety systems is described which is equivalent to existing laser systems, identifies and adapts to particular humans and reduces the need to slow and stop systems thereby improving efficiency. The implication is that computer-vision can be used to substitute lasers and permit adaptive robotic control in human–robot collaboration systems.

Drawing upon a political economy approach, this article aims to analyze the transformations in the labor market within the context of contemporary capitalism, focusing on the phenomenon of financialization.

Financialization is defined as a distinct wealth pattern marked by a growing proportion of financial assets in capitalist wealth. Within financial markets, corporate performance is continuously assessed, in a process that disciplines management to achieve expected financial results, with consequences throughout corporate management.

We find that this phenomenon has implications for labor management, resulting in the intensification of labor processes and the adoption of insecure forms of employment, leading to the fractalization of work. These two mechanisms, added to the indebtedness of workers, constitute three elements for disciplining labor in contemporary capitalism.

We argue that these forms of discipline constitute a subsumption of labor to finance, resulting in an increase in labor exploitation. This formulation of the relationship between financialization and changes in the realm of labor also contributes to understanding the unrealizing potential of social free time in contemporary capitalism.

This study aims to examine the full mediating role of supply chain flexibility (SCF) between lean production (LP) and business performance (BP) found in the previous literature. This effect negates the direct LP-BP effect (the so-called “total eclipse effect”). The authors analyze the individual contributions that the different SCF dimensions (sourcing flexibility; operating system flexibility, distribution flexibility and information system [IS] flexibility) make to the “total eclipse effect” between LP and BP produced by SCF. The relational resources-based view and resource orchestration theory are used to support the theoretical framework.

Covariance-based structural equations modeling (CB-SEM) is used to test the SCF LP-BP total eclipse hypothesis and four additional mediation hypotheses, one for each of the SCF dimensions. Data obtained via a questionnaire given to 260 companies are analyzed with CB-SEM, and SPSS Process is used to evaluate the mediation effect.

Research results indicate that only one of the dimensions (operating system flexibility) has a full mediation effect between LP and BP and is, therefore, the main contributor to the eclipse effect. Two other dimensions (sourcing flexibility and distribution flexibility) have partial mediation effects, so they also contribute to developing the eclipse effect, although to a lesser extent. Finally, IS flexibility is neither a full nor a partial mediation factor and does not contribute to the eclipse effect.

These findings have some important implications. For academia, they generate new knowledge of the role that each of the SCF dimensions or components plays in the LP-BP relationship. For company management, the findings offer supply chain managers specific information on the individual effects that the different types of SCF flexibility have between LP and BP. This will allow companies to target their efforts to develop certain types of flexibility in LP contexts depending on the outcomes that senior managers want to achieve with their SCs.

Following the imperative for human-centric digital innovation brought by the paradigm of Industry 5.0, the article aims to integrate the dispersed and multi-disciplinary literature on individual risks for workers to define, explain and predict individual risks related to Industry 4.0 technologies.

The paper follows the question, “What is the current knowledge and evidence base concerning risks related to Industry 4.0 technologies, and how can this inform digital innovation management in the manufacturing sector through the lens of the Industry 5.0 paradigm?” and uses the method of systematic literature review to identify and discuss potential risks for individuals associated with digital innovation. N = 51 contributions met the inclusion criteria.

The literature review indicates dominant trends and significant gaps in understanding risks from a human-centric perspective. The paper identifies individual risks, their interplay with different technologies and their antecedents at the social, organizational and individual levels. Despite this, the paper shows how the literature concentrates in studying risks on only a limited number of categories and/or concepts. Moreover, there is a lack of consensus in the theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The paper concludes by illustrating an initial understanding of digital innovation via a human-centered perspective on psychological risks.

Findings yield practical implications. In investing in the adoption, generation or recombination of new digital technologies in organizations, the paper recommends managers ensure to prevent risks at the individual level. Accordingly, the study’s findings can be used as a common starting point for extending the repertoire of managerial practices and interventions and realizing human-centric innovation.

Following the paradigm of Industry 5.0, the paper offers a holistic view of risks that incorporates the central role of the worker as crucial to the success of digital innovation. This human-centric perspective serves to inform the managerial field about important factors in risk management that can result in more effective targeted interventions in risk mitigation approaches. Lastly, it can serve to reinterpret digital innovation management and propose future avenues of research on risk.

With revolutions in the telecommunication sector having led to wide unprecedented consequences in all facets of human life, this paper aims to examine the relationship between cell phone tower base stations (CPTBSs) and residential property prices within the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), South Africa.

The authors align their work with global literature and assess how the impact of CPTBSs influences residential property values in South Africa. The authors use a semi-log hedonic pricing model to test the hypothesis that proximity of CPTBSs to residential properties does not account for any variation in residential property prices.

The results show a significant impact that proximity of CPTBS has on residential property sale prices. However, the impact of CTPBSs’ proximity on residential property prices depends on their distance from the residential properties. The closer a residential property is to the CTPBS, the greater the impact that the CTPBS will have on the selling price of the residential property.

With international studies offering mixed findings on the impact of CPTBSs on residential property values, there is limited research on their impact in South Africa. The findings of this study offer crucial insights for the real estate practitioners, property owners, telecommunications companies and the public, providing a nuanced understanding of the relationship between CPTBSs and property values. This research helps property owners understand the effects of CPTBSs on their properties, and it assists property valuers in gauging the impact of CPTBSs on property values.

Presently, 6 Degree of Freedom (6DOF) visual pose measurement methods enjoy popularity in the industrial sector. However, challenges persist in accurately measuring the visual pose of blank and rough metal casts. Therefore, this paper introduces a 6DOF pose measurement method utilizing stereo vision, and aims to the 6DOF pose measurement of blank and rough metal casts.

This paper studies the 6DOF pose measurement of metal casts from three aspects: sample enhancement of industrial objects, optimization of detector and attention mechanism. Virtual reality technology is used for sample enhancement of metal casts, which solves the problem of large-scale sample sampling in industrial application. The method also includes a novel deep learning detector that uses multiple key points on the object surface as regression objects to detect industrial objects with rotation characteristics. By introducing a mixed paths attention module, the detection accuracy of the detector and the convergence speed of the training are improved.

The experimental results show that the proposed method has a better detection effect for metal casts with smaller size scaling and rotation characteristics.

A method for 6DOF pose measurement of industrial objects is proposed, which realizes the pose measurement and grasping of metal blanks and rough machined casts by industrial robots.