Search results

This paper aims to demonstrate the practicability of the liquid metal printer, developed in the authors’ laboratory, in the direct manufacture and assembly of circuit boards at the end customer side using GaIn24.5 alloy as printing ink at room temperature.

A practical procedure for printing a real designed frequency modulation (FM) radio circuit on flexible and transparent substrate using liquid metal printer was established. Necessary electronic components are then assembled on this circuit board. To enhance the mechanical stability of the FM radio circuit board, we further package the circuit board using room temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber. Finally, an efficient way to recycle the liquid metal ink and electronic components is presented at the end of circuit board’s life cycle.

Methods of designing the circuit patterns that are applicable to liquid metal printer are similar to the conventional printed circuit board (PCB) designing strategies. The procedure of applying liquid metal printer for printing the circuits is entirely automatic, cost-effective and highly time-saving, which allows the user to print out desired device in a moment. Through appropriate packaging, the FM radio circuit board can be flexibly used. These PCBs own many outstanding merits including easy modification and stretchability. Nearly all liquid metal ink and components can be recycled.

The present end-customer-oriented liquid metal printing opens the way for large-scale personal electronics manufacture which is expected to initiate many emerging applications in education, design, industry, entertainment and more maker targets.

This study aims to identify the dominant brand attributes based on the survey conducted among 100 young consumers to know their perceptions toward sustainable brands, using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, arithmetic hierarchical process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS).

In total, 100 young consumers (18 to 24 age group) were asked to provide the pairwise comparisons for the 10 brands. MCDM methods were applied on triple bottom line dimensions to identify the best alternative. AHP is applied to compute weights for the brands’ attributes necessary for brand’s sustainability, further analyzed by TOPSIS method to rank Forbes’ top 10 brands as per young consumers’ intentions to buy.

Apple is the most sustainable brand perceived by young consumers followed by Google and Samsung. Being the top brand in Forbes list Apple also fulfills its responsibility toward the environment and recognizes young consumers’ perception accurately. Google is also contending with the same strategy and succeed in achieving a sustainable brand image. Samsung despite at number seven and second-highest revenues after Apple has managed excellently in building sustainable brand image.

Findings have shown that the top global brands do not show the same order as they exhibit in their top ranking (Forbes, 2019), and thus, create a research gap to be fulfilled by identifying the causes for the same. The results show that brand consistency and performance can be achieved through implementing sustainable and green practices such as acting social responsibility, high-quality green products, environment protection, etc., and transforming these into capabilities.

The study is an attempt to further validate Forbes’s top brands based on their perception among young customers. The study may help practitioners and policymakers to understand and get familiar with a new methodology to evaluate brands and also how to develop a positioning strategy for targeting young consumers. The paper will be a useful source of information for marketers to know how young consumers from developing countries perceive top brands on the basis of sustainability.

The social benefits of brand sustainability are related to improvements in the quality of environment, health and well-being. To link these, an enabling environment must be created that optimizes resource use, allocation and distribution.

The study is a unique attempt to use AHP and TOPSIS to evaluate the best – performing green brand from the perception of young customers in developing counties. Besides, the study provides brands attributes’ framework for sustainability and is significant for developing a model as per the choices of the young consumers.

Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.

Explores the operations of US and Japanese electronics manufacturers in South‐East Asia from two perspectives. Uses views from a small number of company headquarters in North America and Japan to build two general strategies for commodity electronics manufacturing in the South‐East Asia region. The result of the US strategy would be to retain core technologies at the home base, while the stated Japanese strategy is to transfer technologies rapidly to offshore sites. Tests these disparate strategies against operational realities in a large study of the manufacturing technology level and R&D capability of electronics manufacturing sites in South‐East Asia. Site observations suggest that there is much commonality between the operational configurations and approaches.

This paper summarises recent developments in Taiwan’s electronics industry, with a focus on the three major sectors of the industry:computers (information electronics), communications, and consumer electronics. Current major business practices and prospects of each industrial sector are discussed. The paper concludes with an assessment of the future development possibilities of Taiwan's electronics industry.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

This study investigates the competencies required for quality management professionals to meet the needs of industry 4.0. The authors use a case study strategy at an electronics manufacturer in southern Malaysia, to adapt their role to be relevant in the industry 4.0 environment. In doing so, this study answers the following four questions: (1) How are the changing technological trends expected to impact the future role of quality in industry 4.0? (2) What are the competencies gap between current and future roles of quality professionals? (3) What are the views and practices related to quality roles? (4) How can the gaps identified be closed to meet the quality challenges of industry 4.0?

The research methods consist of a comprehensive review of literature on the technological trends towards industry 4.0 and the impact on the role of quality and competence that may be required in the future, as well as internal document review on the current roles of quality professionals in an electronics manufacturer in southern Malaysia, to identify the competence gap. Empirical data was collected based on surveys conducted on 64 quality professionals with a response rate of 96.88%. Interviews were conducted on three decision-makers from critical areas in the electronics manufacturer for viewpoints from three different perspectives: finance, operations and talent development.

Quality professionals will require technical competencies to interpret large amounts of data from processes to make strategic decisions, the use of new AR tools and be aware of data security risks. Methodological competencies will be required to use data to identify the source of problems, to access reliable sources of learning and the ability to use new tools for solving complex problems efficiently. Social competencies will be required in communications across multi-sites, suppliers and customers in new collaborative virtual platforms, with the ability to retain tacit and explicit knowledge, in a decentralized environment that will require leadership ability to make decisions. Personal competencies required will be the ability to work in a flexible workplace and time and more frequent work-related changes.

The limitation of the study is based on what the authors currently know of the future, which may not be much for the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer, who have not been exposed much to the technology yet. The potential for the future landscape to change dramatically with rapid technology changes may also result in a different set of skills for future quality professionals. The quality professionals who were involved in this study were the quality executives, engineers and managers, irrespective of their gender, age, length of service and experience in the field of quality. Therefore, these variables were not taken into consideration for this research.

This research helped to identify the role of quality in industry 4.0 and key competencies that the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer will require to adapt to their role in industry 4.0. However, based on the questionnaire and the interview comments of key personnel, it can be concluded that quality professionals lack awareness of their new roles in industry 4.0. This could be due to the fact that the new technology is not implemented by quality professionals but by the innovation team based in Singapore headquarters, as was also advised by the operations head.

The benefit of industry 4.0 technology is clearly shown by Philips's new Dutch factory with robotized technology that was able to produce the same output with one-tenth of the workers of its China factory (Rifkin, 2014, chapter 8). Rojko (2017, p. 80) also shared a similar view that industry 4.0 is expected to reduce production costs by 10–30%, logistics costs by 10–30% and quality management costs by 10–20%. The importance of this research can be seen from the findings of “The Future of Jobs” (2018, p. 22), which suggests that the window of opportunity for organizations to leverage the new technology to re-skill is within the period of 2018–2022, in order to enable employees to reach full potential in the high value-added tasks. The electronics manufacturer may need to keep to this timeline to maintain its competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the competence gap of current quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer with the competencies required in industry 4.0. This led to the third objective, to identify the views of stakeholders based on the propositions derived from the gaps identified, to triangulate the findings, to conclude the competency gaps of the current quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer. Finally, the objective of this paper was to make a recommendation on how to prepare the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer for their role in industry 4.0. The research identified the technical, methodological, social and personal competencies gap of the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer by looking at the changes expected in industry 4.0 from four aspects, factory (people and process), business, product and customers.

Managing the production and operations of a contemporary electronics manufacturing is challenging. Companies need to be proactive for uncertainties of the market in a productive way. This paper analyses the electronics manufacturing context and proposes the data system implementations based on context requirements. The general trends in electronics manufacturing are time‐based competition, increasing product variety and new technologies. Cost structure changes are driving productivity. Price erosion is forcing flexible operations and fast inventory turn rates. The uncertainties in electronics manufacturing that need especial management are: volume – the change in demand and its effect on lead‐time of order‐fulfilment; product mix – managing product variety and lot sizing issues and product life cycles – changing products and production technologies. Managing and measuring these dimensions require wide implementation of ERP packages. In some cases, more advance planning tools such as product configurators and advanced planning systems are required.

The paper examines the role played by foreign direct investment in developing local linkages in Singapore’s electronics industry. Backward material linkages have developed as a result of two processes: the development of indigenous local suppliers, mostly within the fabricated parts sector, and foreign investment by overseas suppliers, especially in the hard disk drive sector. The economic development potential of these suppliers varies, and local suppliers in contract manufacturing offer the best hope for future indigenous growth within the supply base. Public policies targeted towards supplier development and upgrading the quality of multinationals play a significant role in facilitating local linkage development in Singapore.

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast manufacturing strategies and practices, and its impact on business performance between Korean and Japanese firms in the electronics industry. It is based on the premise that: (1) manufacturing strategies and practices differ significantly between these two countries; and (2) these differences significantly impact firm's manufacturing operations and business performance. The focus of the study is to explore the differences that may exist between Japanese and Korean firms in manufacturing strategies and business practices by analyzing survey results of electronics firms from both countries. Differences between Japanese and Korean firms are investigated in several respects.