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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) in China’s sugar manufacturing industry using firm-level data from 2002/2003 to 2012/2013 crushing seasons, and further explore the determinants of TFEE.

Modified data envelopment analysis is used to measure the TFEE of each sugar mill during the crushing seasons. Then heteroskedastic fractional probit model is applied to estimate the determinants of TFEE because of the bounded nature of TFEE and heteroskedasticity of unbalanced panel.

The results show that throughout the crushing seasons, the average TFEE is 0.57; there are spatial differences of TFEE in Guangxi sugar industry, highest in southern area; the TFEE of foreign-owned sugar mills is larger than that of private-owned and state-owned sugar mills; the larger the enterprise size, the higher the TFEE; private ownership, large size, raw material, safe productivity, total recovery rate as well as technical progress can improve TFEE significantly.

This paper analyzes TFEE using a rich data set at firm level, allowing the existence of firm heterogeneity, as well as being complementary to the study of energy efficiency in China’s sugar industry. Moreover, ownership structure is involved in the determinants of TFEE, which is rarely done in literature. Lastly, heteroskedastic fractional probit model is employed to recognize the bounded nature of TFEE as well as selection bias of unbalanced panel to study the determinants of TFEE.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the growth mechanism of Indian sugar industry by deploying quantitative and qualitative metaphors.

The research paper has been composed through comprehensive primary research survey using a structured questionnaire, and qualitative discussion following semi- structured interviews with industry professionals on emerging issues across the whole value chain of sugar industry. Respondents regarding primary survey were selected using the purposive sampling, and this collected quantitative information has been verified on the lenses of multiple stream modelling (MSM).

To support the data analysis, MSM – a policy-making framework has been developed which found that government being a central construct exerts a profound presence across whole value chain; in suppliers’ mechanism, marketing of sugar and sugar mills’ infrastructural expansions. Nationwide uniformity in sugar policy instead of states’ monopolistic policies, rational and mutual benefits-based decisions collectively by the government, mills management and sugarcane growers, and diversification in production processes are enumerated as the proposed solutions against the chronical industry problems.

This study enriches extant Asian sugar industry literature. For policymakers, the proposed results should be of help in identifying specific policies to support the competitiveness of local systems and individual manufacturing companies in the Indian sugar industry suggesting that the development of growth mechanisms can contribute simultaneously to improve the financial, market and operational performance of both individual firms and supply chains.

Cyclicality in production, rising sugarcane farmers’ problems and resulting severe financial distress of mills are some of the topical issues of Indian sugar industry, and the study has explored these issues factually, quantitatively and qualitatively in proximity of industry professionals and described in this depository with the help of document analysis.

The subject area of the case is operations management and capacity planning. The case adopts different operation strategies to use the idle capacity.

The case study is suitable for discussion in masters level classes. The case explains the situation of a company which is fighting for its survival. The case reveals the alternative operations strategies it applies to maximize its capacity utilization and reduce its costs.

The case describes a paper producing company which is earning low margins. The company’s capacity remains unused during the off-seasons. The company then plans to share its capacity with another dying industry. Both the companies plan to cooperate and share resources. However, there are other attractive alternatives too and the dilemma situations leave the gap for continuous discussions.

The case aims at providing potential alternatives to the students and initiating healthy discussions. The students will be able to understand the capacity utilization dilemmas and applicability of the operations strategy concept in practice.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The purpose of this study is to examine the financial and operating performance of Saraswati Sugar Mills Limited and its impact on the society in the employment generation and upliftment of the socio‐economic status. The study also aimed at finding out the factors responsible for low performance (if any). It helped in comparison of changes in static data from years 1995‐1996 to 2010‐2011.

Ratio analysis and quantitative techniques such as discrete and continuous time approach has been used to analyze the data. To do financial appraisal, five financial ratios namely working capital turnover ratio, percentage of net sales to capital employed, percentage of gross profit to capital employed, cost output ratio, and value added per man/month were calculated and analyzed to understand the changes in financial and operating position of the company.

The findings revealed the mixed trends of profit and losses. Net sales and capital employed showed an increasing trend while percentage of net profit to capital employed and cost output ratio declined from 1995‐1996 to 2010‐2011. Working capital was utilised effectively. Value added per man/month also registered an increase of 120.11 percent. In nutshell, the financial and operational performance analysis shows the efficiency of the Saraswati Sugar Mills Private Limited and its contribution towards sustainable development of its immediate society.

The ideal situation could have one if a comparative analysis of both private as well as co‐operative sugar mills can lead to a better analysis and therefore, to a better practical approach.

This study provides a framework for performance evaluation when both discretionary and non‐discretionary variables are to be taken into consideration.

An integrated intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) modelling-based framework for examining the performance analysis of a packaging unit (PU) in three different stages has been proposed.

For the series and parallel configuration of PU, a mathematical model based on the intuitionistic fuzzy Lambda–Tau (IFLT) approach was developed in order to calculate various reliability parameters at various spreads. For determining membership and non-membership function-based reliability parameters for the top event, AND/OR gate transitions expression was employed.

For 15%–30% spread, unit’s availability for the membership function falls by 0.006442%, and it falls even more by 0.014907% with an increase in spread from 30% to 45%. In contrast, for 15%–30% spread, the availability of non-membership function-based systems reduces by 0.007491% and further diminishes. Risk analysis has presented applying an emerging approach called intuitionistic fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis (IFFMEA). For each of the stated failure causes, the output values of the intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid weighted Euclidean distance (IFHWED)-based IFFMEA have been tabulated. Failure causes like HP1, MT6, FB9, EL16, DR23, GR27, categorized under subsystems, namely hopper, motor, fluidized bed dryer, distributor, grader and bin, respectively, with corresponding IFFMEA output scores 1.0975, 1.0190, 0.8543, 1.0228, 0.9026, 1.0021, were the most critical one to contribute in the system’s failure.

The limitation of the proposed framework lies in the fact that the results obtained for both reliability and risk aspects mainly depend on the correctness of raw data provided by the experts. Also, an approximate model of PU is obtained from plant experts to carry performance analysis, and hence more attention is required in constructing the model. Under IFLT, reliability parameters of PU have been calculated at various spreads to study and analyse the failure behaviour of the unit for both membership and non-membership function in the IFS of [0.6,0.8]. For both membership- and non-membership-based results, availability of the considered system shows decreasing trend. To improve the performance of the considered system, risk assessment was carried using IFFMEA technique, ranking all the critical failure causes against IFHWED score value, on which more attention should be paid so as to avoid sudden failure of unit.

The livelihood of millions of farmers and workers depends on sugar industries. So perpetual running of these industries is very important from this viewpoint. On the basis of findings of reliability parameters, the maintenance manager could frame a correct maintenance policy for long-run availability of the sugar mills. This long-run availability will generate revenue, which, in turn, will ensure the livelihood of the farmers.

Mathematical modelling of the considered unit has been done applying basic expressions of AND/OR gate. IFTOPSIS approach has been implemented for ranking result comparison obtained under IFFMEA approach. Eventually, sensitivity analysis was also presented to demonstrate the stability of ranking of failure causes of PU.

To meet energy demand and tackle the challenges posed by global warming, Bagasse-based Cogeneration Power Generation (BCPG) plant in sugar mills have tremendous potential due to large-scale supply of renewable fuel called bagasse. To meet this goal, an integrated framework has been proposed for analyzing performance issues of BCPG.

Intuitionistic Fuzzy Lambda-Tau (IFLT) approach was implemented to compute various reliability parameters. Intuitionistic Fuzzy Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (IF-FMEA) approach has been implemented for studying risk issues results in decrease in plant's availability. Moreover, IF- Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (IF-TOPSIS) is implemented to verify accuracy of IF-FMEA approach.

For membership and non-membership functions, availability decreases to 0.0006% and 0.0020% respectively for spread ±15% to ±30%, and further decreases to 0.0127% and 0.0221% for spread ±30% to ±45%. Under risk assessment failure causes namely Storage tank (ST3), Valve (VL6), Transfer pump (TF8), Deaerator tank (DT11), High pressure heater and economiser (HP15), Boiler drum and super heater (BS22), Forced draft and Secondary air fan (FS25), Air preheater (AH29) and Furnace (FR31) with Intuitionistic Fuzzy Hybrid Weighted Euclidean Distance (IFHWED) based output scores – 0.8988, 0.9752, 0.9400, 0.8988, 0.9267, 1.1131, 1.0039, 0.8185, 1.0604 were identified as the most critical failure causes.

Reliability and risk analysis results derived from IFLT and IF-FMEA approaches respectively, to address the performance issues of BCPG is based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the industrial experts and maintenance log book. Moreover, to take care of hesitation in expert's knowledge, IF theory-based concept is incorporated so as to achieve more accuracy in analysis results. Reliability and risk analysis results together will be helpful in analyzing the performance characteristics and diagnosis of critical failure causes, which will minimize frequent failure in BCPG.

The framework will help plant managers to frame optimal maintenance policy in order to enhance the operational aspects of the considered unit. Moreover, the accurate and early detection of failure causes will also help managers to take prudent decision for smooth operation of plant.

The results obtained ensure continuous operation of plant by utilizing the bagasse as fuel in boiler and also mitigate the wastages of fuel. If this bagasse (green fuel) is not properly utilized, there remains a dependency on coal-based power plants to meet the power demand. The results obtained are useful for decreasing dependency on coal, and promoting bagasse as the green, and alternative fuel, the emission by burning of these fuels are not harmful for environment and thereby contribute in preventing the environment from harmful effect of GHGs gases.

IFLT approach has been implemented to develop reliability modeling equations of the BCPG unit, and furthermore to compute various reliability parameters for both membership and non-membership function. The ranking results of IF-FMEA are compared to IF-TOPSIS approach. Sensitivity analysis is done to check stability of proposed framework.

This paper aims to presents a novel integrated fuzzy decision support system for analyzing the issues related to failure of a milk process plant unit.

Process failure mode effect analysis (PFMEA) approach was implemented to list failure causes under each subsystem/component and fuzzy ratings for three risk criteria, i.e. probability of failure occurrence (O_f), severity (S) and non-detection (O_d) are collected against the listed failure causes through experts feedback. A new doubly technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (DTOPSIS) approach was implemented within fuzzy PFMEA tool for ranking of listed failure causes. The proposed decision support system overcomes the restrictions of classical PFMEA and IF-THEN rule base PFMEA approaches in an effective way.

Failure causes such as electrical winding failure (RM4), high pressure in plate region (C1), communication problem in supervisory control and data acquisition control (MS3), insulation problem (ST2), lever breakage (B2), gasket problem (D3), formation of holes (PHE5), cavitations (FP7), deposition of milk particle inside the pipeline because of improper cleaning (MHP2) were acknowledged as the most critical one with the application of proposed decision support system.

The analysis results are based on subjective judgments of the experts and therefore correctness of risk ranking results are totally dependent upon the quality of input data/information available from these experts. However, the analyst has taken proper care for considering the vagueness of the raw data by incorporating fuzzy set theory within the proposed decision support system.

The proposed fuzzy decision support system has been presented with its application on milk pasteurization plant of a milk process industry. The analysis based ranking results have been supplied to maintenance manager of the plant and a consent was shown by him with these results. Once the top management of the plant took decision for the implementation of these results, the detailed robustness of the proposed decision support system could be evaluated further.

The analysis result would be highly useful for minimizing sudden breakdowns and operational cost of the plant which directly contributes to plant's profitability. With the decrease in the chances of sudden breakdowns there would be high safety for the people working on/off the plant's site. Further, with increase in availability of the considered plant the societal daily demand related to dairy products could be easily fulfilled at reasonable prices.

The performance and proficiency of the proposed decision support system has been evaluated by comparing the ranking results with classical TOPSIS and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) approaches based results.

Identifying and prioritizing supply chain risk is significant from any product’s quality and reliability perspective. Under an input-process-output workflow, conventional risk prioritization uses a risk priority number (RPN) aligned to the risk analysis. Imprecise information coupled with a lack of dealing with hesitancy margins enlarges the scope, leading to improper assessment of risks. This significantly affects monitoring quality and performance. Against the backdrop, a methodology that identifies and prioritizes the operational supply chain risk factors signifies better risk assessment.

The study proposes a multi-criteria model for risk prioritization involving multiple decision-makers (DMs). The methodology offers a robust, hybrid system based on the Intuitionistic Fuzzy (IF) Set merged with the “Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution.” The nature of the model is robust. The same is shown by applying fuzzy concepts under multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) to prioritize the identified business risks for better assessment.

The proposed IF Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for risk prioritization model can improve the decisions within organizations that make up the chains, thus guaranteeing a “better quality in risk management.” Establishing an efficient representation of uncertain information related to traditional failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) treatment involving multiple DMs means identifying potential risks in advance and providing better supply chain control.

In a company’s supply chain, blockchain allows data storage and transparent transmission of flows with traceability, privacy, security and transparency (Roy et al., 2022). They asserted that blockchain technology has great potential for traceability. Since risk assessment in supply chain operations can be treated as a traceability problem, further research is needed to use blockchain technologies. Lastly, issues like risk will be better assessed if predicted well; further research demands the suitability of applying predictive analysis on risk.

The study proposes a hybrid framework based on the generic risk assessment and MCDM methodologies under a fuzzy environment system. By this, the authors try to address the supply chain risk assessment and mitigation framework better than the conventional one. To the best of their knowledge, no study is found in existing literature attempting to explore the efficacy of the proposed hybrid approach over the traditional RPN system in prime sectors like steel (with production planning data). The validation experiment indicates the effectiveness of the results obtained from the proposed IF TOPSIS Approach to Risk Prioritization methodology is more practical and resembles the actual scenario compared to those obtained using the traditional RPN system (Kim et al., 2018; Kumar et al., 2018).

This study provides mathematical models to simulate the supply chain risk assessment, thus helping the manufacturer rank the risk level. In the end, the authors apply this model in a big-sized organization to validate its accuracy. The authors validate the proposed approach to an integrated steel plant impacting the production planning process. The model’s outcome substantially adds value to the current risk assessment and prioritization, significantly affecting better risk management quality.

The purpose of this study is to assess the current practices and state of solid waste management systems (SWMS) in one medium‐sized Indian town, identifying main issues and problems to its ineffectiveness, inefficiency and to gain some suggestions and recommendations to improve the SWM infrastructure and practices in such Indian towns.

A medium size city, Aligarh, having a population of about 0.7 million and situated 130 km from the capital city of India, Delhi, was selected for this study. An extensive literature review was conducted to establish a theoretical framework. Field visits were conducted to collect the primary data and to understand the SWMS of the city, including interaction and interviews with the various officials and workers of the municipality responsible for SWM and residents of the city. A protocol was developed to analyze the sources, quantification, and to determine the composition of waste streams. Existing reports related to SWM and recommendations of planners/NGOs/consultants for improving the system were studied.

Despite all efforts being made by the local municipality within their limited resources, the solid waste management situation in Aligarh is still not adequate. The waste is being dumped on low lying or open areas in the outskirts of the city without engineering and scientific methods. This situation of SWMS can be compared with other Indian towns of similar size.

The paper discusses problems, opportunities and perspectives in the existing solid waste management system in Aligarh city and assesses the potential for its improvement.