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1 – 10 of over 2000Pingan Zhu, Chao Zhang and Jun Zou
The purpose of the work is to provide a comprehensive review of the digital image correlation (DIC) technique for those who are interested in performing the DIC technique in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the work is to provide a comprehensive review of the digital image correlation (DIC) technique for those who are interested in performing the DIC technique in the area of manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
No methodology was used because the paper is a review article.
Findings
no fundings.
Originality/value
Herein, the historical development, main strengths and measurement setup of DIC are introduced. Subsequently, the basic principles of the DIC technique are outlined in detail. The analysis of measurement accuracy associated with experimental factors and correlation algorithms is discussed and some useful recommendations for reducing measurement errors are also offered. Then, the utilization of DIC in different manufacturing fields (e.g. cutting, welding, forming and additive manufacturing) is summarized. Finally, the current challenges and prospects of DIC in intelligent manufacturing are discussed.
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Camilla Lundgren, Jon Bokrantz and Anders Skoogh
The purpose of this study is to ensure productive, robust and sustainable production systems and realise digitalised manufacturing trough implementation of Smart Maintenance – “an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to ensure productive, robust and sustainable production systems and realise digitalised manufacturing trough implementation of Smart Maintenance – “an organizational design for managing maintenance of manufacturing plants in environments with pervasive digital technologies”. This paper aims to support industry practitioners in selecting performance indicators (PIs) to measure the effects of Smart Maintenance, and thus facilitate its implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
Intercoder reliability and negotiated agreement were used to analyse 170 maintenance PIs. The PIs were structurally categorised according to the anticipated effects of Smart Maintenance.
Findings
Companies need to revise their set of PIs when changing manufacturing and/or maintenance strategy (e.g. reshape the maintenance organisation towards Smart Maintenance). This paper suggests 13 categories of PIs to facilitate the selection of PIs for Smart Maintenance. The categories are based on 170 PIs, which were analysed according to the anticipated effects of Smart Maintenance.
Practical implications
The 13 suggested categories bring clarity to the measuring potential of the PIs and their relation to the Smart Maintenance concept. Thereby, this paper serves as a guide for industry practitioners to select PIs for measuring the effects of Smart Maintenance.
Originality/value
This is the first study evaluating how maintenance PIs measure the anticipated effects of maintenance in digitalised manufacturing. The methods intercoder reliability and negotiated agreement were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the categorisation of PIs. Such methods are rare in maintenance research.
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Elena Stefana, Paola Cocca, Federico Fantori, Filippo Marciano and Alessandro Marini
This paper aims to overcome the inability of both comparing loss costs and accounting for production resource losses of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)-related approaches.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to overcome the inability of both comparing loss costs and accounting for production resource losses of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)-related approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a literature review about the studies focusing on approaches combining OEE with monetary units and/or resource issues. The authors developed an approach based on Overall Equipment Cost Loss (OECL), introducing a component for the production resource consumption of a machine. A real case study about a smart multicenter three-spindle machine is used to test the applicability of the approach.
Findings
The paper proposes Resource Overall Equipment Cost Loss (ROECL), i.e. a new KPI expressed in monetary units that represents the total cost of losses (including production resource ones) caused by inefficiencies and deviations of the machine or equipment from its optimal operating status occurring over a specific time period. ROECL enables to quantify the variation of the product cost occurring when a machine or equipment changes its health status and to determine the actual product cost for a given production order. In the analysed case study, the most critical production orders showed an actual production cost about 60% higher than the minimal cost possible under the most efficient operating conditions.
Originality/value
The proposed approach may support both production and cost accounting managers during the identification of areas requiring attention and representing opportunities for improvement in terms of availability, performance, quality, and resource losses.
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Krisztina Demeter, Levente Szász, Béla-Gergely Rácz and Lehel-Zoltán Györfy
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different manufacturing technologies are bundled together and how these bundles influence operations performance and, indirectly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different manufacturing technologies are bundled together and how these bundles influence operations performance and, indirectly, business performance. With the emergence of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, manufacturing companies can use a wide variety of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) to build an efficient and effective production system. Nevertheless, the literature offers little guidance on how these technologies, including novel I4.0 technologies, should be combined in practice and how these combinations might have a different impact on performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey study of 165 manufacturing plants from 11 different countries, we use factor analysis to empirically derive three distinct manufacturing technology bundles and structural equation modeling to quantify their relationship with operations and business performance.
Findings
Our findings support an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary perspective. I4.0 technologies build on traditional manufacturing technologies and do not constitute a separate direction that would point towards a fundamental digital transformation of companies within our sample. Performance effects are rather weak: out of the three technology bundles identified, only “automation and robotization” have a positive influence on cost efficiency, while “base technologies” and “data-enabled technologies” do not offer a competitive advantage, neither in terms of cost nor in terms of differentiation. Furthermore, while the business performance impact is positive, it is quite weak, suggesting that financial returns on technology investments might require longer time periods.
Originality/value
Relying on a complementarity approach, our research offers a novel perspective on technology implementation in the I4.0 era by investigating novel and traditional manufacturing technologies together.
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Marcus Bengtsson, Lars-Gunnar Andersson and Pontus Ekström
The purpose of the study is to test if it, by the use of a survey methodology, is possible to measure managers' awareness on, and specifically if there exist preconceived beliefs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to test if it, by the use of a survey methodology, is possible to measure managers' awareness on, and specifically if there exist preconceived beliefs on, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) results. The paper presents the design of the survey methodology as well as a test of the survey in one case company.
Design/methodology/approach
Actual OEE logs from a case company are collected and a survey on the data is designed and managers at the same case company are asked to answer the survey. The survey results are followed-up by an interview study in order to get deeper insights to both the results of the survey as well as the OEE strategy at the case company.
Findings
The findings show that the managers at this particular case company, on a general level, does not suffer too much from preconceived beliefs. However, it is clear that the managers have a preconceived belief that lack of material is logged as a loss much more often than what it actually is.
Research limitations/implications
The test has only been performed with data from one case company within the automotive manufacturing industry and only the managers at that case company has been active in the test.
Practical implications
The survey methodology can be replicated and used by other companies to find out how aware their employees are on their OEE results and if possible preconceived beliefs exists.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt at measuring if preconceived beliefs on OEE results exist.
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Markus Brummer, Karl Jakob Raddatz, Matthias Moritz Schmitt, Georg Schlick, Thomas Tobie, Rüdiger Daub and Karsten Stahl
Numerous metals can be processed using the additive manufacturing process laser-based powder bed fusion of metals (PBF-LB/M, ISO/ASTM 52900). The main advantages of additive…
Abstract
Purpose
Numerous metals can be processed using the additive manufacturing process laser-based powder bed fusion of metals (PBF-LB/M, ISO/ASTM 52900). The main advantages of additive manufacturing technologies are the high degree of design freedom and the cost-effective implementation of lightweight structures. This could be profitable for gears with increased power density, combining reduced mass with considerable material strength. Current research on additively manufactured gears is focused on developing lightweight structures but is seldom accompanied by simulations and even less by mechanical testing. There has been very little research into the mechanical and material properties of additively manufactured gears. The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of lightweight structures in additively manufactured gears under static loads.
Design/methodology/approach
This research identifies the static load-carrying capacity of helical gears with different lightweight structures produced by PBF-LB/M with the case hardening steel 16MnCr5. A static gear loading test rig with a maximum torque at the pinion of T1 = 1200 Nm is used. Further focus is set on analyzing material properties such as the relative density, microstructure, hardness depth profile and chemical composition.
Findings
All additively manufactured gear variants show no failure or plastic deformation at the maximum test load. The shaft hub connection, the lightweight hub designs and the gearing itself are stable and intact regarding their form and function. The identified material characteristics are comparable to conventionally manufactured gears (wrought and machined), but also some particularities were observed.
Originality/value
This research demonstrates the mechanical strength of lightweight structures in gears. Future research needs to consider the dynamic load-carrying capacity of additively manufactured gears.
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Azemeraw Tadesse Mengistu and Roberto Panizzolo
The lack of suitable indicators tailored to manufacturing industries’ needs, particularly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has been the major challenge to measure and…
Abstract
Purpose
The lack of suitable indicators tailored to manufacturing industries’ needs, particularly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has been the major challenge to measure and manage industrial sustainability performance. This paper aims to empirically analyze and select the useful and applicable indicators to measure sustainability performance in the context of SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review was carried out to identify potential sustainability indicators from the literature. A questionnaire was designed based on the identified indicators and then pretested with the selected industrial experts, scholars, and researchers to further refine the indicators before data collection from the Italian footwear SMEs. Fuzzy Delphi method with consistency aggregation method was applied to analyze and select the final indicators.
Findings
The study’s findings show that the selected indicators emphasized measuring progress toward achieving industrial sustainability goals in terms of increasing financial benefits, reducing costs, improving market competitiveness, improving the effectiveness of resources utilization, and promoting the well-being of employees, customers and the community. In doing so, Italian footwear SMEs can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting health and well-being, promoting sustainable economic growth, providing productive employment and decent work, and ensuring responsible consumption and production.
Social implications
The results of this study have significant social implications in terms of promoting the well-being of employees, customers, and the community.
Originality/value
By providing empirically supported indicators tailored to measure and manage sustainability performance in the context of SMEs, this paper contributes to the existing knowledge in the field of industrial sustainability performance measurement. Furthermore, it links the selected indicators to their respective SDGs to provide policy implications.
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Alberto Sardi, Enrico Sorano, Alberto Ferraris and Patrizia Garengo
The literature highlights the relevance of performance measurement and management system in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to face the current competitive environment…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature highlights the relevance of performance measurement and management system in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to face the current competitive environment. However, a number of studies investigate how performance measurement and management system is effective for evolving and how contingency factors could influence this change. Newer experiences are sporadic and rarely investigated by researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this study is to identify the feasible evolutionary path of performance measurement and management system in leading SMEs to respond to current business challenges. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of key contingency factors influencing this evolution.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal case study, based on retrospective and real-time investigations, is performed to investigate the primary evolutions of the performance measurement and management system and its key determinants.
Findings
The findings highlight two evolution paths, increasing the maturity of performance measurement. The first path highlights a strong command and control of performance management; the second path shows a democratic and participative of performance management. Moreover, management information system, organizational culture and management style are highlighted as key contingency factors in the change of performance management.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to knowledge in performance measurement field, showing how the efforts for developing performance measurement and management system in a leading SME could determine two different evolutionary paths. Furthermore, the paper describes the increasing role of organizational culture, management style and management information system in performance management evolution, as well as the relevance of online chats and social media in performance management activities.
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Guijian Xiao, Tangming Zhang, Yi He, Zihan Zheng and Jingzhe Wang
The purpose of this review is to comprehensively consider the material properties and processing of additive titanium alloy and provide a new perspective for the robotic grinding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this review is to comprehensively consider the material properties and processing of additive titanium alloy and provide a new perspective for the robotic grinding and polishing of additive titanium alloy blades to ensure the surface integrity and machining accuracy of the blades.
Design/methodology/approach
At present, robot grinding and polishing are mainstream processing methods in blade automatic processing. This review systematically summarizes the processing characteristics and processing methods of additive manufacturing (AM) titanium alloy blades. On the one hand, the unique manufacturing process and thermal effect of AM have created the unique processing characteristics of additive titanium alloy blades. On the other hand, the robot grinding and polishing process needs to incorporate the material removal model into the traditional processing flow according to the processing characteristics of the additive titanium alloy.
Findings
Robot belt grinding can solve the processing problem of additive titanium alloy blades. The complex surface of the blade generates a robot grinding trajectory through trajectory planning. The trajectory planning of the robot profoundly affects the machining accuracy and surface quality of the blade. Subsequent research is needed to solve the problems of high machining accuracy of blade profiles, complex surface material removal models and uneven distribution of blade machining allowance. In the process parameters of the robot, the grinding parameters, trajectory planning and error compensation affect the surface quality of the blade through the material removal method, grinding force and grinding temperature. The machining accuracy of the blade surface is affected by robot vibration and stiffness.
Originality/value
This review systematically summarizes the processing characteristics and processing methods of aviation titanium alloy blades manufactured by AM. Combined with the material properties of additive titanium alloy, it provides a new idea for robot grinding and polishing of aviation titanium alloy blades manufactured by AM.
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Diego Tlapa, Jorge Limon, Jorge L García-Alcaraz, Yolanda Baez and Cuauhtémoc Sánchez
The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of Six Sigma (SS) and the underlying dimensions of its critical success factors (CSF) via an analysis of the effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of Six Sigma (SS) and the underlying dimensions of its critical success factors (CSF) via an analysis of the effects of top management support (TMS), implementation strategy (IS), and collaborative team (CT) on project performance (PP) in Mexican manufacturing companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a SS literature review, a survey was conducted to capture practitioners’ viewpoints about CSFs for SS implementation and their impact on performance in manufacturing companies. A factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted in order to identify and analyze causal relationships.
Findings
The results suggest that CSFs grouped in the constructs TMS, IS, and CT have a positive impact on PP as measured by cost reduction, variation reduction, and quality improvement.
Research limitations/implications
Although the empirical data collected supported the proposed model, results might differ among organizations in different countries. In addition, the study did not analyze a unique performance metric; instead, general PP dimensions were used.
Practical implications
Boosting the TMS, IS, and CT enhances positive PP of SS in manufacturing companies.
Originality/value
IS as a construct has not been studied exhaustively; this work contributes to a better understanding of it and its impact on PP. Additionally, studies of SS in Latin America are limited, so this study gives a complementary vision to practitioners and researchers about it.
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