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Reciprocating compressors offer an efficient method of compressing almost any gas composition in a wide range of pressures and have numerous applications. Condition monitoring of critical rotating machinery is widely accepted by operators of centrifugal compressors. However, condition monitoring of reciprocating machinery has not received the same degree of acceptance. An earlier study (Townsend et al., 2016) was conducted on temperature monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of continuous pressure monitoring on electric-driven compressors.

This research analyzes the impact of continuous pressure monitoring on a fleet of 14 compressors transporting CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery. The reliability and efficiency data on 14 reciprocating compressors over a three-year period were analyzed for failures detectable by the condition monitoring technology. The engineering economic analysis is presented to determine the impact this technology will have on the productivity of the compressors.

The study considers utilizing condition monitoring technology to analyze the pressure of the swept volume of the compressor cylinders. The results of the study indicate that continuous pressure monitoring technology has a strong impact on the productivity of the compressor fleet. The internal rate of return not only exceeds the operators hurdle rate, but the payback period is also dramatic. Pressure monitoring was found to be economically better than temperature monitoring.

The study reveals the economic benefits of implementing condition monitoring in the form of continuous pressure monitoring on reciprocating compressors.

Reducing wear of undercarriage track propulsion systems used in heavy construction equipment decreases the maintenance costs and increases the equipment's life. Therefore, understanding key factors that affect the wear rate is critical. This study is an attempt to predict undercarriage wear.

This research analyzes a sample of track-type dozers in the eastern half of North Carolina (NC), USA. Sand percentage in the soil, precipitation level, temperature, machine model, machine weight, elevation above sea level and work type code are considered as factors influencing the wear rate. Data are comprised of 353 machines. Machine model and work code data are categorical. Sand percentage, elevation, machine weight, average temperature and average precipitation are continuous. ANOVA is used to test the hypothesis.

The study found that only sand percentage has a significant impact on the wear rate. Consequently, a regression model is developed.

The regression model can be used to predict undercarriage wear and bushing life in soils with different sand percentages. This is demonstrated using a hypothetical scenario for a construction company.

This work is useful in managing maintenance intervals of undercarriage tracks and in bidding construction jobs while predicting machine operating expense for each specific job site soil makeup.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of including the cost consequence of failure in the a priori risk assessment methodology known as failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA).

A model of the standard costs that are incurred when an electronic control module in an automotive application fails in service was developed. These costs were related to the Design FMEA ranking of the level of severity of the failure mode and the probability of its occurrence. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to establish the average costs expected for each level of severity at each level of occurrence. The results were aggregated using fuzzy utility sets into a nine-point ordinal scale of cost consequence. The criterion validity of this scale was assessed with warranty cost data derived from a case study.

It was found that the model slightly underestimated the warranty costs that accrued, but the fit could be improved with adjustments dictated by actual usage conditions.

Cost data used in the simulations were derived from government and academic surveys, analyses, and estimates of the manufacturing cost structure; and nominal costs for various quality issues experienced by Tier 2 automotive electronics supplier. Specificity is lacking. The sample size and the type of the failure modes used to validate the model are constrained by the number and type of products which have had demonstrable performance concerns over the past three years, with cost data available to the authors. The power of the validation is limited. The validation is considered a screening assessment.

This work relates the characterization of risk with its potential cost and develops a scaling instrument to allow the incorporation of cost consequence into an FMEA.

A ranking scale was developed that related severity and occurrence rank scores to a cost consequence rank that keys to a cost of quality figure (given as percent of sales) that would accompany a realization of the failure mode.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimal model of an integrated quality and safety management system (QSMS).

Keywords related with these systems were identified from international standards and subsequently mined from a selection of peer reviewed articles that discuss and propose varying forms of integrated models for both systems. Cluster analysis was used to establish the degree to which integrated models, as described in the articles were quality dominant vs safety dominant. Word counts were utilized for establishing content and attributes for each category. An optimal integrated model was developed from the final cluster analysis and substantiated by a one-way analysis of variance. Experts from industry were consulted to validate and fine-tune the model.

It was determined that characteristics of an optimal integrated model include the keywords “risk,” “safety,” “incident,” “injury,” “hazards,” as well as “preventive action,” “corrective action,” “rework,” “repair,” and “scrap.” It also combines elements of quality function deployment as well as hazard and operability analysis meshed into a plan-do-check-act type work-flow.

Given the vast array of clustering algorithms available, the clusters that resulted were dependent upon the algorithm deployed and may differ from clusters resulting for divergent algorithms.

The optimized model is a hybrid that consists of a quality management system as the superordinate strategic element with safety management system deployed as the supporting tactical element. The model was implemented as a case study, and resulted in 13 percent labor-hour saving.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that illustrates the role of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in creating organisational innovation climate by investigating the relationship between LSS’s intangible impacts and organisational innovation climate factors.

A self-administrated survey questionnaire was distributed among 145 public sector officials to get their opinions on the relationship between various observable elements of LSS’s intangible impacts and organisational innovation climate factors, where a response rate of 73.8% was achieved. The collected data were demographically, descriptively and statistically analysed. Accordingly, a house-of-pillars-based framework that illustrates the role of LSS’s intangible impacts in creating innovation climate in an organisation was developed.

Results from this study indicated that LSS’s intangible impacts on organisational structure and hierarchy, culture, change adaptability, utilisation of staff and staff’s behavioural aspects are positively related to many of organisational innovation climate factors such as trust and openness, challenge and involvement, support for ideas and freedom and autonomy.

The findings of this study are based on the data collected from public sector organisations in the UAE and are supported by relevant literature. However, this study can provide useful guidance for further research for the generalisation of the results to wider scopes in terms of sectors and geographical domains.

The findings of this study will provide UAE public sector officials with a clear roadmap on how to use LSS for promoting innovation and fostering its implementation in practice. This study will also encourage professionals in public sectors to integrate LSS into their innovation strategies to enhance organisational innovativeness and improve service quality.

It is one of the first studies that explores LSS’s intangible impacts and assesses their relationship with organisational innovation climate factors. Hence, this study offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners and is expected to lay a foundation for a better understanding of how LSS’s intangible impacts can be used in creating organisational innovation climate.

This research brings together two streams of thought applied to decision-making: lean thinking and stakeholder theory. Both have been identified as ways to improve organizational value. Previous studies disagree regarding whether they can work together. This study investigates if managers balance stakeholders and lean thinking in decision-making.

This research investigates if both lean thinking and stakeholder salience share common literature by using data mining. It surveys organizations that perceive themselves as lean and have multiple diverse stakeholders to determine whether waste and salience are considered when making decisions. An ANOVA is done to see if organization type, management level, organization size, geographic location, or lean maturity has an effect on the priority of stakeholder salience or lean thinking's waste variants when making decisions.

Findings of this research are: 1) stakeholders salience criteria are considered more often than lean thinking's waste variants in decision-making by managers as a whole and in particular by middle-level managers and senior managers. However, lean thinking's waste variants are considered as often as stakeholder salience criteria by first-line managers. 2) The ranking of stakeholder salience in making decisions is not affected by organization type, respondent position, organization size, perceived lean experience, or geographic location. The organization type, organization size, lean experience, and location do not affect the ranking of lean thinking variants either. But the ranking of lean thinking's waste variants is significantly different for first-line, middle-level, and senior managers. Middle-level managers rank lean thinking higher than that of either first-line or senior-level. Because of this, middle managers have a more balanced approach in using lean thinking and stakeholder salience than other managers. 3) Stakeholder salience criteria have a significantly higher ranking than lean thinking variants in making decisions for all organization types: manufacturing and nonmanufacturing.

This research demonstrates a significant disconnect exists between lean thinking and demands of stakeholders that impacts the value of an organization, and only middle-level managers bring balance and awareness of both streams of thought. An empirical instrument has been developed to balance the stakeholder salience criteria with the lean thinking variants.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ISO 9001 certification on US firms’ financial operating performance for a period of five years including one-year prior to certification, year of certification, and three fiscal years after certification.

The paper is based on an examination of a sample of 397 firms that had received ISO 9001 certification from 1991 to 2002. Certified-firm, non-certified-firm, and matched-control-firm operating performances were examined over the same period based on the ratio of pre-tax operating income to total assets (EBITA/TA). Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test for significant differences in operating performance among the certified, non-certified, and matched-control firms.

The paper concludes that there was significant improvement performance from prior year to year of certification. The certified firms performed better than the non-certified firms. The certified firms also performed better than the matched-control firms.

Based on the research approach and the findings, the paper recommends the use of newer ISO data; any additional certifications; and further research into the lack of significant operating values by the certified firms in the post-certification years.

The paper shows that ISO 9001 certification is statistically related to operating performance. Certified firms have better operating performance. The positive significance in decile operating performance from prior year to certification year is an important finding for the implementation of ISO 9001.

The paper satisfies the need to study when ISO 9001 certification impacts firms’ financial operating performance.

Aeroplanes are repairable systems consisting of several non‐repairable parts; tyres are one of these. Proper record of failure data is valuable in interpreting the failure pattern, for comparative evaluation of the quality of tyres of various manufacturers, and for prediction of the future needs in a specified planning horizon or for specified operational hours. Analyses failure data of several aeroplane tyres in an aviation set‐up, and interprets these in a reliability framework. Three parameters Weibull model is found to be quite appropriate for reliability characterization of tyres. These reliability models can be effectively integrated into a computerized material requirement planning system of the aviation facility to forecast the number of tyres needed for a given planning horizon.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of individual components' reliability on a system's reliability. The system refers to the Financial Management Information System (FMIS), the US Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) web‐based project approval and tracking software. Its components are 61 project information fields.

The analysis would view each highway project‐funding request as an activity with cycle‐dependent performance for which success probability can be calculated as Reliability, R. The reliability analysis of the 61 FMIS fields results in a series system with R_sys the “estimated reliability” of finding “true” values in all 61 information fields during one highway‐related project funding authorization review.

Of an estimated 200 projects approved, there was previously estimated a 50 percent to 80 percent unreliability rate, while the study found an unreliability rate of approximately 80 percent.

Owing to the nature of federal government software, data can be very difficult to acquire in this working environment, but a simple calculation was relatively successful in confirming the “estimated reliability” of finding “true” values and showing how the reliability could dramatically decrease.

The paper contributes to the applicability of reliability analysis to project approval software, showing the progression from estimated data to bounding the estimate using reliability theory.

Certification information published by a company will be responded by the market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of ISO 9001 certification on the stock market reaction as indicated by stock returns reaction of companies in Indonesia.

This study used event study method with the period of 13 days. It consists of 6 days before and after ISO 9001 certification announcement and 1 day at the time of the event. It analyzed by using pair sample t-test and one sample t-test. The stock return data is obtained from companies that are ISO 9001 certified and it tested for their stock reactions before and after the certification.

The results of empirical research showed that the average and companies cumulative abnormal returns in Indonesia react quickly and positively on the first day after ISO 9001 certification announcement. This study proved the differences between abnormal returns before and after the ISO 9001 certification announcement period.

The company's success in implementing ISO 9001 will have an impact on investment in the capital market with a positive response from stock market players. The implication of this study is the further research can examine directly the impact of ISO 9001 implementation on investor behavior in the capital market.

Based on the development of the literature review, this is the first study which examined the impact of ISO 9001 certification announcement on investor reactions in the short term. Therefore, companies in Indonesia need to implement a quality management system for investors in Indonesia.