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The purpose of this paper is to develop a preventive maintenance (PM) model for auxiliary components whose failures may not necessarily correspond to system failure but rather to faster system degradation.

The concept of load sharing was utilized to build a suitable Markov model for the problem. Regression analysis was used to estimate the various transition rates of the model. A real field application was used to illustrate the model.

Models addressing the design of an optimal PM strategy for such a problem are rare in the literature. The load‐sharing concept was borrowed and found very useful to model this problem. Regression analysis based on real field data was also found to be useful to estimate the model transition rates.

This paper addresses a problem that is not given enough attention in the currently available literature. Available models assume that a PM activity will restore the equipment to an as new, or at least to a better, condition. There exist situations, however, where a PM activity does not amend any damage but instead slows down further deterioration.

The purpose of this paper is to implement the six sigma (SS) strategy in a bag sector under actual operating circumstances based on defining-measure-analyze-improve and control (DMAIC). During the project, several statistical tools and methods have been used efficiently to create inferences. Thus, to measure and enhance system efficiency, the author calculate reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) indices. Based on this research, the author show how the SS method and RAM analysis are very helpful in determining maintenance intervals, as well as in planning and organizing the appropriate maintenance strategy.

This study introduces the step-by-step application of the DMAIC methodology for the identification and reduction of bag production line downtime and examines the present operations management. Thus, statistical techniques are used to analyze the failure and repair database. Pareto analysis, histograms and descriptive statistics at the machine and line-level of the historical data were conducted. Trend and serial correlation testing validated the hypothesis of independence and identical distribution of database was performed. In addition, with their best fit allocation, the RAM of both the bag production line and its machines was estimated at separate mission times.

The main goals of the applied method are to understand the nature of the downtime patterns and to accurately and quantitatively estimate the RAM characteristics of the bag production system. The assessment defines the production line's critical points, requiring further enhancement through an efficient maintenance approach. Therefore, by improving plant efficiency and safety, the author can decrease unplanned downtime and equipment failures.

This research is expected to serve as an attempt to conduct SS DMAIC methodology through RAM assessment and its impact on system efficiency under actual circumstances. The benefit of the methodology is that the manufacturing process is continuously monitored by suitable indicators, the use of which leads to a continuous improvement cycle.

In an attempt to attain a better understanding of the research work on building information modeling (BIM) adoption, this study aims to examine the criticality of BIM adoption barriers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) developing countries from the lens of the sociotechnical theory. Further, the study investigates the differences in the perceptions of various constructions players (owners, contractors and designers) to BIM barriers, as well as possible discrepancies in the perception of BIM users and non-BIM users to the significance of the perceived constraints.

To reach this aim, the study starts with a systematic evaluation and a critical review of the literature on BIM barriers. A set of 22 BIM adoption limitations was drawn from the literature which was used to design the survey. To capture a broad perception, a mixed approach was used, and data were collected through an interview study and a survey involving Architecture, Engineering and Construction professionals in the MENA construction sector. The collected data were analyzed using the mean score, standard deviation and nonparametric tests. The further principal component analysis (PCA) grouped the barriers to uncover the latent factors of BIM barriers.

The actors ranked the barriers as follows: lack of knowledge and BIM awareness, commercial issues and investment cost, lack of skills and BIM specialist, interoperability and lack of client demand. The examination of the PCA resulted in four underlying BIM limitation factors namely: human, technological, structural and financial. The analysis of the ranking indicated that 16 of the 22 barriers are considered critical in the MENA area. The results of the Mann–Whitney test indicated that there is a statistically significant difference in perceptions of BIM users and nonuser for seven barriers, pointing out that users care most about the financial barriers; however, nonusers are mostly concerned with structural and technological barriers. However, the results of the Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the three categories of stakeholders in ranking all BIM barriers.

The outcomes will back policymakers and construction participants with the knowledge to develop policy propositions that can positively affect BIM adoption in the construction industry. The significance of this study lies in being one of the very first explorative investigations that comparatively and empirically explored BIM adoption barriers across the whole MENA developing countries.

While several research studies have examined BIM adoption barriers in various countries, none to the best of the authors' knowledge have attempted to study the whole MENA region as one entity, and none highlighted the impact of user's roles on their perception of adoption barriers within their community. The results contribute to the discussion of the relationship among practitioners' level of involvement in BIM projects and their perception of adoption barriers which is underrepresented in extant studies. The above can assist with prioritizing the barriers that are considered to be more significant given the characteristics of the community under study. The result revealed the value of the structural and human attributes in prioritizing BIM adoption barriers within the MENA construction industry.

This study aims to examine relationships between several key technology acceptance variables that predict workers’ wearable sensing devices (WSDs) acceptance in the construction industry by using technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model. The study proposes a hybrid conceptual model to measure construction field workers’ intentions to use WSDs and their usage behaviors. The study introduces variables that are instrumental in understanding and improving WSD acceptance in construction.

The study was carried out using a structured literature review, online survey and structural equation modeling. A total of 195 field workers across the USA, with experience in using WSDs, participated in the study.

Results indicate that all three theories predict WSD acceptance with variables explaining at least 89% of the variance in actual use, with the UTAUT outperforming other models (91%). However, the differences between the predictive power of these models were not statistically significant. A hybrid conceptual model is proposed using findings from the present study.

The study contributes to knowledge and practice by highlighting key variables that influence WSD acceptance. Findings from this study should provide stakeholders with critical insights needed to successfully drive WSD acceptance in the construction industry.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that evaluates the predictive strength of multiple technology acceptance theories and models within the construction worker safety technology domain. Additionally, the study proposes a hybrid conceptual model which could provide practitioners and researchers with information pertinent to enhancing WSD acceptance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide comprehensive information on preventive maintenance (PM) planning and methods used in the industry in order to achieve an effective maintenance system.

The literature review is organized in a way that provides the general overview of the researches done in the PM. This paper discusses the literatures that had been reviewed on four main topics, which are the holistic view of maintenance policies, PM planning, PM planning concept and PM planning-based in developing optimal planning in executing PM actions.

PM policy is one of the original proactive techniques that has been used since the start of researches on maintenance system. Review of the methods presented in this paper shows that most researches analyse effectiveness using artificial intelligence, simulation, mathematical formulation, matrix formation, critical analysis and multi-criteria method. While in practice, PM activities were either planned based on cost, time or failure. Research trends on planning and methods for PM show that the variation of approaches used over the year from early 1990s until today.

Research about PM is known to be extensively conducted and majority of companies applied the policy in their production line. However, most analysis and method suggested in published literatures were done based on mathematical computation rather than focussing on solution to real problems in the industry. This normally would lead to the problems in understanding by the practitioner. Therefore, this paper presented researches on PM planning and suggested on the methods that are practical, simple and effective for application in the real industry.

The originality of this paper comes from its detail analysis of PM planning in term of its research focus and also direction for application. Extensive reviews on the methods adopted in relation to PM planning based on the planning-based such as cost-based, time-based and failure-based were also provided.

There is a great deal of concern among the Egyptian economy that small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) potentials are not fully used although they dominate it and contribute to its success. The question is what challenges are preventing those SMEs from performing efficiently. This research aims to focus on examining the issues regarding the supply chain of Egyptian SMEs, exploring the areas that need improvement and assessing the impact of technology in enhancing their performance and whether they afford applying it.

In this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted at 14 Egyptian SMEs. Then, the business process at six of the fourteen SMEs was observed. After that, a representative sampling was applied and a company was chosen as a representative case company. Moreover, the selected company’s documents were analyzed to capture the full image of the current supply chain performance in Egyptian SMEs. Finally, the Six Sigma DMAIC approach was used to assess the effectiveness of the current supply chain and identify the problems faced and how to deal with these deficiencies.

The current process of the supply chain was analyzed and the result shows the obstacles and constrains facing SMEs in Egypt. Despite the clear benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, Egyptian SMEs still do not use it to solve their problems due to its high cost and their low budgets. However, the investigation concludes that SMEs in particular can benefit from the RFID technology and will be able to pay back the cost of the system applied after a certain period of time that is measured by calculating the breakeven point of having the RFID system against the current situation. As a result, improvements were realized and recommended for the organization.

This research develops a model that suits SMEs in the Egyptian market. The use of a case study approach with a quality measurement tool, namely, the Six Sigma DMAIC approach, especially after surveying several SMEs, and observing the business process at some of them, makes this a thorough investigation which proves that even SMEs can use the RFID technology despite its high cost that hinders its utilization. Thus, this research helps decision-makers in Egyptian SMEs make better informed decisions and guides them to when will they be able to pay back the cost of the system applied.

This study examines the underlying relationships between the critical factors of building information modeling (BIM) implementation and the factors' groupings among architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations in Saudi Arabia. The objectives of the study are to (1) identify the critical factors for BIM implementation, (2) analyze the interrelationships between the critical factors and (3) compare the critical factors between the different organizational characteristics.

First, potential factors were identified through a systematic literature review and interviews with AEC professionals. Then, a questionnaire survey was sent to AEC professionals and the collected data were analyzed using the following techniques and tests: mean score ranking, standard deviation, normalized value, factor analysis (FA), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey test.

The analyses show that 14 factors are critical for BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia. The top critical factors include the existence of standard contracts on data security and user confidentiality, consistent views on BIM among stakeholders and the availability of guidelines for implementing BIM. Of the 14 critical factors, 9 can be grouped into 4 underlying factors: environmental, governmental, legal and organizational. The analysis shows that the criticality of the most critical factors grouped by the FA varies between different levels of BIM competency. Finally, the presence of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in realizing BIM projects is a new and emerging critical factor for BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia.

This study differs from prior works on BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia by using FA to explore the underlying relationships among factors of BIM implementation and the factors' groupings. Based on the FA results, a roadmap for implementing the BIM was developed. These findings will help to purposefully and efficiently customize BIM implementation strategies and initiatives to ensure successful BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia.

The usefulness of technology for managing projects in the construction industry is indisputable. The potential utility of immersive technologies (ImTs), including virtual and augmented reality, has recently received significant attention. However, the construction industry, especially in developing countries, lags on the implementation of technology generally and ImTs specifically. Forecasting the potential successful ImTs acceptance at the individual level is essential to strategic planning. The study's objective was to develop and test a conceptual model of factors influencing ImTs acceptance at the individual level in the construction industry.

A survey of construction management-level professionals in South Africa was undertaken. The study extended two complementary models, the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), to analyze behavior towards technology acceptance using structural equation modelling.

Results indicated that attitude significantly influenced the intention to use ImTs and perceived usefulness (PU) positively and significantly predicted the intention to use and usage attitude (UA). Further, the effects of perceived enjoyment (PEn) on UA, and social norms (SNs) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on intention to use were positive and significant. Perceived ease of use (PEU) had negative and non-significant effects on intention to use and UA. By explaining 82% of the variance, the study established that the proposed model successfully evaluates how management-level professionals in the construction industry accept ImTs.

The study provides valuable insight into the acceptance of ImTs from the perspective of management-level stakeholders in the South African construction industry. It offers fundamental direction to create a general theory on integrating ImTs in construction.

This study systematically surveyed the intention to accept ImTs in the South African construction industry using an extension of the TAM and TPB models.

Medical technologies and assets are one of the main drivers of increasing healthcare cost. The rising number and complexity of medical equipment have forced hospitals to set up and regulate medical equipment management programs to ensure critical devices are safe and reliable. The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into maintenance management-related activities for medical equipment. The paper proposes applying a tailored reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) approach for maintenance activities selection for medical equipment. Such approach will support assets management teams in enhancing operation, decrease risk and cost, and ultimately improve health of patients served by these equipment.

The traditional RCM approach will be used with a focus on criticality reduction. By criticality, the authors refer to the severity of failures and occurrence. The proposed method relies on the use of reliability growth analysis for opportunity identification followed by a thorough failure mode and effect analysis to investigate major failure modes and propose ways to reduce criticality. The effectiveness of the proposed method will be demonstrated using a case of one of the leading obstetric and gynecological hospitals in United Arab Emirates and in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

The case examines the relationship between the current practice of planned preventive maintenance and the failure rates of the equipment during its life span. Although a rigorous preventive maintenance program is implemented in the hospital under study, some critical equipment show an increasing failure rates. The analysis highlights the inability of traditional time-driven preventive maintenance alone in preventing failures. Thus, a systematic RCM approach focused on criticality is more beneficial and more time and cost effective than traditional time-driven preventive maintenance practices.

The study highlights the need for utilizing RCM approach with criticality as the most important prioritization criterion in healthcare. A proper RCM implementation will decrease criticality and minimize the risk of failure, accidents and possible loss of life. In addition to that, it will increase the availability of equipment, and reduce cost and time.

This paper proposes a maintenance methodology that can help healthcare management to improve availability and decrease the risk of critical medical equipment failures. Current practices in healthcare facilities have difficulty identifying the optimal maintenance strategy. Literature focused on medical maintenance approach selection is rather limited, and this paper will help in this discussion. In addition to that, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation supports the initiative of adopting RCM on a large scale in healthcare. Therefore, this paper address the gap in the literature for medical equipment maintenance and the work is in line with the recommendation of leading healthcare association. The paper also presents statistical review of the total number of received maintenance work orders during one full year in the hospital under study. The analysis supports the need for more research to examine current practice and propose more effective maintenance approaches.

The purpose of this study is to describe latent classes explaining the innovation logic in the Finnish construction companies. Innovativeness is a driver of competitive performance and vital to the long-term success of any organisation and company.

Using finite mixture structural equation modelling (FMSEM), the authors have classified innovation logic into latent classes. The method analyses and recognises classes for companies that have similar logic in innovation activities based on the collected data.

Through FMSEM analysis, the authors have identified three latent classes that explain the innovation logic in the Finnish construction companies – LC1: the internal innovators; LC2: the non-innovation-oriented introverts; and LC3: the innovation-oriented extroverts. These three latent classes clearly capture the perceptions within the industry as well as the different characteristics and variables.

The presented latent classes explain innovation logic but is limited to analysing Finnish companies. Also, the research is quantitative by nature and does not increase the understanding in the same manner as qualitative research might capture on more specific aspects.

This paper presents starting points for construction industry companies to intensify innovation activities. It may also indicate more fundamental changes for the structure of construction industry organisations, especially by enabling innovation friendly culture.

This study describes innovation logic in Finnish construction companies through three models (LC1–LC3) by using quantitative data analysed with the FMSEM method. The fundamental innovation challenges in the Finnish construction companies are clarified via the identified latent classes.