Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology to industry and academia on how to reengineer the order fulfillment process (OFP) by capitalizing on integration and coordination across the entire supply chain to sustain supply chain management.

A case study at a semiconductor equipment manufacturer in Singapore is undertaken.

This paper confirms that the traditional OFPs present companies a challenge to satisfy the demanding customer requirements while achieving performance optimization of each supply chain partner; and it is imperative to reengineer the OFPs to stay competitive. To successfully reengineer OFPs, the efforts should be systematically organized to, for example, exploit potential processes as many as possible, determine an optimal process based on mathematically sound grounds.

The use of a single case study may limit the generalizability of the findings.

A methodology incorporating accountability‐centered approach and simulation is developed for companies to reengineer OFPs while considering the entire supply chain.

The literature does not provide solutions for reengineering OFPs regardless of the fact that OFP reengineering is an emerging area of interest. This paper presents a valuable contribution to this topic by introducing a methodology and by applying the methodology to a semiconductor equipment manufacturer in Singapore.

The purpose of this paper is to make performance improvements and timely critical execution enhancements for operational flight program (OFP). The OFP is core software of autonomous control system of small unmanned helicopter.

In order to meet the time constraints and enhance control application performance, two major improvements were done at real‐time operating system (RTOS) kernel. They are thread scheduling algorithm and lock‐free thread message communication mechanism. Both of them have a direct relationship with system efficiency and indirect relationship with helicopter control application execution stability through improved deadline keeping characteristics.

In this paper, the suitability of earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduling algorithm and non‐blocking buffer (NBB) mechanism are illustrated with experimental and practical applications. Results of this work show that EDF contributes around 15 per cent finer‐timely execution and NBB enhances kernel's responsiveness around 35 per cent with respect to the number of thread context switch and CPU utilization. These apply for OFP implemented over embedded configurable operating system (eCos) RTOS on x86 architecture‐based board.

This paper illustrates an applicability of deadline‐based real‐time scheduling algorithm and lock‐free kernel communication mechanism for performance enhancement and timely critical execution of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle control system.

This paper illustrates a novel approach to extend RTOS kernel modules based on unmanned aerial vehicle control application execution scenario. Lock‐free thread communication mechanism is implemented, and tested for applicability at RTOS. Relationship between UAV physical and computation modules are clearly illustrated via an appropriate unified modelling language (UML) collaboration and state diagrams. As experimental tests are conducted not only for a particular application, but also for various producer/consumer scenarios, these adequately demonstrate the applicability of extended kernel modules for general use.

This paper aims to describe an effort to provide for a robust and secure software development paradigm intended to support DevSecOps in a naval aviation enterprise (NAE) software support activity (SSA), with said paradigm supporting strong traceability and provability concerning the SSA’s output product, known as an operational flight program (OFP). Through a secure development environment (SDE), each critical software development function performed on said OFP during its development has a corresponding record represented on a blockchain.

An SDE is implemented as a virtual machine or container incorporating software development tools that are modified to support blockchain transactions. Each critical software development function, e.g. editing, compiling, linking, generates a blockchain transaction message with associated information embedded in the output of a said function that, together, can be used to prove integrity and support traceability. An attestation process is used to provide proof that the toolchain containing SDE is not subject to unauthorized modification at the time said critical function is performed.

Blockchain methods are shown to be a viable approach for supporting exhaustive traceability and strong provability of development system integrity for mission-critical software produced by an NAE SSA for NAE embedded systems software.

A blockchain-based authentication approach that could be implemented at the OFP point-of-load would provide for fine-grain authentication of all OFP software components, with each component or module having its own proof-of-integrity (including the integrity of the used development tools) over its entire development history.

Many SSAs have established control procedures for development such as check-out/check-in. This does not prove the SSA output software is secure. For one thing, a build system does not necessarily enforce procedures in a way that is determinable from the output. Furthermore, the SSA toolchain itself could be attacked. The approach described in this paper enforces security policy and embeds information into the output of every development function that can be cross-referenced to blockchain transaction records for provability and traceability that only trusted tools, free from unauthorized modifications, are used in software development. A key original concept of this approach is that it treats assigned developer time as a transferable digital currency.

The rapid development of e-commerce has caused not only explosive growth of the express delivery industry, but also ever-greater operational pressures. Models from the sharing economy may provide new ideas for operational improvement. The purpose of this paper is to consider an optimization method that reduces costs and increases efficiency. The proposed method enables a shared distribution system based on revenue-sharing and cooperative investment contracts.

The authors design a two-echelon supply chain (SC) of the shared distribution system with one shared distribution company and N express companies. In this SC, the express companies provide only inter-city transportation, and they outsource internal-city transportation to a shared distribution company. This distribution system differs from that of the traditional express delivery industry. The traditional system of delivery requires large numbers of empty trips (with no load to deliver), because the operating mode of urban distribution has been the franchise. To offer greater efficiency and performance, the authors introduce the sharing economy mode of express delivery. The authors examine the potential of a joint optimal decision-making strategy that involves revenue-sharing and cooperative investment contracts based on an order flow proportion (OFP) and a revenue-sharing factor (RSF). In this shared distribution system, the most important innovation is that all of the express companies jointly invest in and establish a shared distribution company based on OFP or RSF principles.

The profitability of an SC with revenue-sharing contracts based on an OFP system is much higher than that of a decentralized SC, and it is very close to the profitability of a centralized SC. In SCs with revenue-sharing contracts that are based on RSFs, there are many possible combinations of RSFs that can increase the overall profitability. The analyses indicate that the OFP system offers the best solution in designing revenue-sharing contracts based on RSFs.

This study indicates that revenue-sharing contracts based on both OFP and RSF principles can increase overall SC returns by 0.21 to 0.44 percent. In sum total, this improvement could mean a 0.84 to 1.76bn Yuan increase in revenues for the 400+ bn-Yuan express delivery industry.

The authors find that a combination of equity investment and SC coordination contracts makes the cooperation between SC members much more stable. Through this kind of shared distribution system, the scale of economy can further reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of the express delivery industry.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new danger‐aware Operational Flight Program (OFP) for the unmanned helicopter's auto‐navigation based on the well‐known time‐triggered message‐triggered object (TMO) model.

In this design with the TMO, the danger‐awareness means two things. First, an unmanned helicopter maneuvers on safe altitudes to avoid buildings or mountains when navigating to the target position. It is assumed that minimum safe altitudes are given on evenly spaced grids and on the center points of every four adjacent grids. A three‐dimensional (3D) path‐finding algorithm using this safe‐altitude information is proposed. Second, a helicopter automatically avoids a zone with very high temperature caused by a fire.

Since the auto‐flight control system requires componentized real‐time processing of sensors and controllers, the TMO model that has periodic and sporadic threads as members, has been used in designing the OFP. It has been found that using the TMO scheme is a way to construct a very flexible, well‐componentized and timeliness‐guaranteed OFP.

As the RTOS, RT‐eCos has been used. It was developed a few years ago based on the eCos3.0 to support the real‐time thread model of the TMO scheme. To verify this navigation system, a hardware‐in‐the‐loop simulation (HILS) system also has been developed.

Designing an OFP by using the real‐time object model TMO and the proposed 3D safe path finding algorithm is a whole new effective deadline‐based approach. And the developed OFP can be used intensively in the phase of disaster response and recovery.

Most of the past studies related to organisational justice focussed on different types of justice, such as procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice either separately or collectively. Still, further investigation on the overall concept of fairness is required to extend theoretical generalisability. Moreover, researchers argued that overall fairness rather than a specific type represents more concrete situation about employees’ perception of fairness within an organisation. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of overall fairness perception (OFP) in relation to workplace outcome as well as its predictive ability on employees’ attitude and behaviour in term of psychological ownership and citizenship behaviour.

A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of financial institutions in Malaysia, which yielded 150 completed usable responses. Smart PLS (version 3) software and SPSS were utilised in order to analyse the data.

The results revealed that overall fairness plays a crucial role as a mediator as well as a predictor. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

This study provides useful insights for the mangers of financial institutions. It also suggests strategies about how to manage justice and workplace outcomes at workplace.

This paper is among the pioneers to address the mediating role of OFP in relations to workplace attitude and behaviour in non-western context.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the short- and long-term financial strategies to augment SMEs’ performance in emerging markets. Using a resource-based theoretic perspective; the analysis has investigated the mediating role of distinctive management competencies (DMCs) between efficient financial strategies and SMEs’ business growth.

The empirical data were drawn from a cross-industrial panel of 273 SMEs from Spain and 224 SMEs from Pakistan across all manufacturing sectors over the period of 2006-2013. Multivariate tests are conducted to estimate the impact of efficient financial strategies on SMEs’ performance. The advanced mediation version of Kenny and Judd (2013) is used to test mediation confirmation of DMCs; while Sobel test is applied to examine robustness of mediation results.

The robustness check of 497 privately held SMEs confirmed that practicing efficient financial strategies has significant influence on SMEs’ performance. Stimulatingly, mediating effect of DMCs, that are used for executives’ prudent financial decisions have been traced in both respondent countries. Based on the findings, it is argued that efficient financial strategies realistically translate into DMCs, which taken together are likely to lead more effective and significant to improve SMEs’ performance.

The results suggest that power of distinctive managerial decisions is a crucial factor in the employment process besides efficient financial strategies identified in previous studies. The results of this study are of great importance to managers and major stakeholders, such as investors, creditors, financial analysts and policymakers, to inflate their efforts to reduce the incidence of business failure and for survival and growth of SMEs.

The paper raises a new theoretic explanation by determining the intervening role of DMCs in translating EFS into improved SMEs’ performance, thereby supplementing the extant theories.

A deeper understanding of what needs to be considered to improve the targeted incorporation of employees’ knowledge into continuous improvement (CI) programmes in industrialised housebuilding (IHB) is required. This paper aims to address the current lack of involvement and connect it to structural and corporate culture factors. To avoid misjudgements in improvement activities as well as to use the full potential of performance improvement ideas, CI tools and measures need to be adapted to facilitate this integration. Relevant factors are analysed and their influences on CI measures are assessed.

The research approach is built upon an explorative case study supported by a comprehensive literature review. Empirical data were collected through participant observation, guided interviews and company documents.

The influences on employee involvement within CI programmes and the corresponding suitability of important CI measures were evaluated on a set of relevant factors. These factors include unique building projects, project-based focus on order fulfilment, fragmented order fulfilment process, separation of order fulfilment activities in terms of space and time, procedural rules for dealing with on-site failures, short-term contracts with subcontractors and the practice of evaluating and monitoring performance on site.

The research paves the way for the development of suitable tools, measures and methods to effectively involve employees from all profession within a CI programme in IHB. The empirical part of this research is based on a single case study.

This work extends the body of knowledge of CI application in the construction industry with an analysis of factors influencing its implementation and management.

Among different BPR strategies and methodologies, one common feature is to capture existing processes and represent new processes adequately. Business process modeling plays a crucial role on such effort. This paper proposes a generic structure for modeling business processes in order to capture essential concepts of business process and represent them structurally. The generic structure possesses two main features suitable for business process modeling: one is that it can represent a business process in various concerns and multiple layers of abstraction, and the other is that it lowers the barriers between process representation and model analysis by embedding verification and validation with the model. The generic modeling method is illustrated by an order fulfillment process in supply chain networks.

A prerequisite for the successful adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies in industry is the identification of areas, where such technologies could offer a clear competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the unique value-adding characteristics of AM, define areas of viable application in a firm value chain and discuss common implications of AM adoption for companies and their processes.

The research leverages a multi-case-study approach and considers interviews with AM adopting companies from the Swiss and central European region in the medical and industrial manufacturing industries. The authors rely on a value chain model comprising a new product development process and an order fulfillment process (OFP) to analyze the benefits of AM technologies.

The research identifies and defines seven clusters within a firm value chain, where the application of AM could create benefits for the adopting company and its customers. The authors suggest that understanding the AM process chain and the design experience are key to explaining the heterogeneous industrial maturity of the presented clusters. The authors further examine the suitability of AM technologies with agile development techniques to pursue incremental product launches in hardware. It is clearly a field requiring the attention of scholars.

This paper presents a value-driven approach for use-case identification and reveals implications of the industrial implementation of AM technologies. The resultant clustering model provides guidance to new AM adopters.