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Article
Publication date: 21 December 2022

Ezgi Aktar Demirtas, Ozgul Sevval Gultekin and Cigdem Uskup

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the production shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks, has become increasingly significant. It is…

Abstract

Purpose

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the production shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks, has become increasingly significant. It is vital to quickly provide high-quality, hygienic PPE during pandemic periods. This comprehensive case study aims to confirm that Kaizen and 5S applications reduce wastage rates and stoppages, which as a result, created a more efficient and sustainable workplace in a small–mediumenterprise (SME) producing PPE in Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach

The method for this case is discussed with the help of a flowchart using the DMAIC cycle: D-define, M-measure, A-analyse, I-improve and C-control.

Findings

The total stoppages due to fishing line, gripper, piston and yarn welding have decreased by approximately 42.4%. As a result of eliminating wasted time and reduced changeovers, a total of 5,502 min have been saved per month. This increased production of approximately 10.55% per month, led to an addition of 506,184 units.

Originality/value

The use of lean manufacturing (LM), Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and continuous improvement methodologies are not common in textile SMEs. Based on the current literature reviewed, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive case study that combines statistical tools, such as hypothesis tests and LM practices, in the production process for a PPE company operating as a textile SME.

Details

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-4166

Keywords

Expert briefing
Publication date: 28 November 2023

On November 7-8, senior Emirati officials gathered in Abu Dhabi for an annual meeting focusing on diversifying the economy, chiefly away from reliance on Abu Dhabi's oil, an…

Case study
Publication date: 24 November 2023

Prashant Chaudhary

The expected learning outcomes are to understand the complexities involved in the integration of two carriers with different business strategies and approaches, the merger of two…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

The expected learning outcomes are to understand the complexities involved in the integration of two carriers with different business strategies and approaches, the merger of two brands with distinct personas and identities and the confluence of two different cultures; figure out the strategic options in front of the Tata Group and how it can deal with various macro- and micro-level business challenges, defy the financial hiccups and manoeuvre the operational complexities to accomplish mission Vihaan.AI; and develop a pragmatic approach to macro and micro business environmental scanning for making strategic business decisions.

Case overview/synopsis

In November 2022, Tata Group, the salt to software conglomerate, announced the merger of Air India (AI) and Vistara. This would lead to the formation of the full-service airline under the brand name “Air India”. The obvious reason behind this was the higher recognition, salience and recall of the brand AI as compared with Vistara in the global market. The Tata Group envisaged the brand AI to be a significant international aviation player with the heritage, persona and ethos of the brand Vistara in the renewed manifestation of AI. To realise these goals, Tata Group laid down an ambitious plan called “Vihaan.AI”, which was aimed at capturing a domestic market share of 30% by 2027.

Complexity academic level

This case study can be taught as part of undergraduate- and postgraduate-level management programmes.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.

Book part
Publication date: 11 July 2023

Javier Vidal Olivares

Alliances between companies are an example of a collaborative strategy adopted in anticipation of highly uncertain markets. Since 1980, the commercial airline industry has been…

Abstract

Alliances between companies are an example of a collaborative strategy adopted in anticipation of highly uncertain markets. Since 1980, the commercial airline industry has been affected by a progressive liberalization worldwide. In this historical context, most airlines reacted with defensive movements in the face of high competition. In the case of airlines in the Spanish market, one of the largest in the world due to the weight of the tourism sector in its economy, airlines responded in various ways to the intensification of competition. Iberia, the main Spanish airline, established different defensive alliance policies. In the 1980s, alliances were mainly collaborative. Since 1998, airline alliances have become coopetitive in nature, as was the case with the creation of One World group (American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Iberia). The partners began to interact in a more horizontal way, maintaining various agreements (code-sharing, handling, schedule coordination, shared sales, fleet maintenance) without renouncing their independence in the face of global competition. Iberia has subsequently modified the composition of its portfolio to move towards a more vertical collaboration with the integration into the IAG Group (Iberia, British Airways, Air Lingus and Vueling). This second phase is a quest to increase market power with deep changes in the nature of its alliances while maintaining coopetitive alliances.

Details

Collective Entrepreneurship in the Contemporary European Services Industries: A Long Term Approach
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-950-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 June 2023

Kenneth Button

Here we consider the various ways in which airlines integrate their business activities. The thin markets, long distances, poor infrastructure, and challenging terrain over which…

Abstract

Here we consider the various ways in which airlines integrate their business activities. The thin markets, long distances, poor infrastructure, and challenging terrain over which many airlines based in developing countries operate can make it difficult to reap the economies of scale, scope, and density that carriers in more developed nations enjoy. There also remain institutional barriers to cross border trade in airline services. As a response to this, airlines from developing regions “cooperate” in a number of ways. This may involve multinational ownership, code sharing, or joint ventures. The rationale for these actions, together with discussion of the outcomes of some of them, is considered here.

Details

Airlines and Developing Countries
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-861-4

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Syed Mithun Ali, Muhammad Najmul Haque, Md. Rayhan Sarker, Jayakrishna Kandasamy and Ilias Vlachos

Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry plays a vital role in the economic growth of this country. As the global trend in the fashion market has introduced a high-mix…

Abstract

Purpose

Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry plays a vital role in the economic growth of this country. As the global trend in the fashion market has introduced a high-mix, low-volume ordering style, manufacturers are facing an increased number of changeovers in their production systems. However, most of the Bangladeshi RMG manufacturers are not yet ready to respond to such small orders and to improve the flexibility of their production systems. Consequently, the industry is falling behind in global market competition. Thus, this study aims to advance the current performance of RMG manufacturing operations to respond to the fast-fashion industry's challenges effectively using quick changeover.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a Single-Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is applied to attain quick changeover following the best practices of lean manufacturing.

Findings

This study examined the performance of the SMED technique to reduce changeover time in two case organisations. The changeover time was reduced by 70.76% from 434.56 min to 127.08 min and 42.12% from 2,664 min to 1,542 min for the case organisations, respectively. The results of this study show that companies require improved changeover times to address the demand for high-mix, low-volume orders.

Originality/value

This study will certainly guide practitioners of the RMG industry to adopt SMED to reduce changeover time to meet small batch production.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Sümeyye Üstüntağ and Nazim Paşayev

This study aims to comparatively reveal the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of horse tail and mane hairs, which have the potential to be used in many areas.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to comparatively reveal the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of horse tail and mane hairs, which have the potential to be used in many areas.

Design/methodology/approach

Physical properties of horsehairs such as diameter, density, moisture and water absorption were measured. Fourier transform infrared, field emission scanning electron microscopy and amino acid analyzes were applied to the hairs. Thermal stability of horsehair was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry analysis. In addition, breaking strength and elongation values of mane and tail hairs were measured.

Findings

As a result of morphological analysis of horsehair, it was observed that there are usually gaps in the internal structure of horsehair, but the size and continuity of these gaps vary. It has been determined that there is a significant difference between the tenacity values of tail and mane hairs as well as geometric characteristics. In addition, amino acid analysis has shown that the amino acid contents of horse tail and mane hairs are similar and not much different from sheep’s wool.

Originality/value

Horsehair has been used for various purposes such as clothing, accessories, brushes, upholstery and reinforcement material. To use horsehair in accordance with its application area and performance characteristics, it is necessary to know its physical, thermal and mechanical properties. It is considerable to reveal the similar and different aspects of tail and mane hairs to determine whether they are alternatives to each other. Therefore, revealing the characteristics of tail and mane hairs comparatively constitutes the originality of this study.

Details

Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1560-6074

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 April 2023

Neha Singh, Rohit Biswas and Mamoni Banerjee

The purpose of this article is to develop relationships between many major issues relevant to the agriculture supply chain.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to develop relationships between many major issues relevant to the agriculture supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

With the purpose of gaining an all-encompassing understanding of the agriculture supply chain, this work uses 233 filtered research articles and three bibliometric analysis tools, namely VOSviewer, term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and Person correlation. The collected research publications were also catalogued using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA).

Findings

Using analytic techniques, a total of 12 keywords were obtained. The study found that agri-products are in dire need of digitisation via Internet of things (IoT) and blockchain due to the usage of economic variables and comprehensive management of total food waste throughout transportation, anchoring quality and the predominant variable.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited to the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) indexing in order to assess the viability of the linked idea and problem.

Originality/value

This study aims to generate vital knowledge in the field of horticulture-focused agriculture supply chain based on previous justification and relationship formation.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2023

Sida Wan and Victor Kuzmichev

The purpose of this paper is to present a fit prediction case study of virtual twins of women jacket. For this reason, several basic principles of clothes fit prediction were…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a fit prediction case study of virtual twins of women jacket. For this reason, several basic principles of clothes fit prediction were developed and verified.

Design/methodology/approach

To develop the principles of fit prediction, the women's jacket sleeve was selected as the study object. The study objects were categorized into three types: the patterns and two virtual sleeves generating on full avatar from Clo3D and on dummy (arm partly removed). Through series of subjective and objective evaluation experiments, the relationship between the similar indexes of the patterns and the virtual sleeves was built, including fit criteria range, the categorization of the indexes in terms of its sensitiveness, and the linear regressions to predict several indexes of virtual sleeves after its pattern parameterization. The results obtained were verified in case study by the virtual and real sleeves generating.

Findings

The proposed principles of clothing fit prediction based on parallel research of the flat patterns and its virtual 3D shapes. The principles include the choosing of virtual twins of human body for virtual try-on, the establishing of indexes common schedule for patterns and virtual sleeves, the creation of criteria and its ranges for perfect fit and poor fit evaluation, and the application of existing relations between the patterns and the sleeves for predicting indexes responsible for fit.

Research limitations/implications

The authors propose and verify the validity of the principles to predict several parameters of virtual 3D sleeve of women's jacket which are forming the level of fit. The result of this study can be used to convenient fit prediction and to find the misfit reasons.

Practical implications

This study developed basic principles for predicting the fit of the clothing through the virtual simulation and the statistical analysis. Through studying the jacket sleeve, the several related ranges, the row of more sensitive indexes, and the equations were presented and verified, which certified the validity of proposed principles.

Social implications

The results can effectively predict the sleeve fit before sewing, which reduce the time and materials cost and the operator's skill requirements.

Originality/value

The authors propose and verify the validity of the principles to predict several parameters of virtual 3D sleeve of women's jacket which form the level of fit. The result of this study can be used for convenient fit prediction and to find the misfit reasons.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2024

Yumin He, Tingyun Gu, Bowen Li, Yu Wang, Dongyuan Qiu, Yang Zhang and Peicheng Qiu

Electric spring (ES) is a demand response method that can stabilize the voltage of critical loads and improve power quality, especially in a weak power grid with a high proportion…

Abstract

Purpose

Electric spring (ES) is a demand response method that can stabilize the voltage of critical loads and improve power quality, especially in a weak power grid with a high proportion of renewable energy sources. Most of existing ESs are implemented by voltage-source inverter (VSI), which has some shortcomings. For example, the DC-link capacitor limits the service life of ES, and the battery is costly and hard to recycle. Besides, conventional VSI cannot boost the voltage, which limits the application of ES in high-voltage occasions. This study aims to propose a novel scheme of ES to solve the above problems.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, an ES topology based on current-source inverter (CSI) without a battery is presented, and a direct current control strategy is proposed. The operating principles, voltage regulation range and parameter design of the proposed ES are discussed in detail.

Findings

The proposed ES is applicable to various voltage levels, and the harmonics are effectively suppressed, which have been validated via the experimental results in both ideal and distorted grid conditions.

Originality/value

An ES topology based on battery-less CSI is proposed for the first time, which reduces the cost and prolongs the service time of ES. A novel control strategy is proposed to realize the functions of voltage regulation and harmonic suppression.

Details

COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering , vol. 43 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0332-1649

Keywords

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