Changing Customer Requirements Research Articles

Using intelligent ontology technology to extract knowledge from successful project in IoT enterprise systems

ABSTRACT Learning from success projects to build business process for customer requirements change is critical successful factor for other project in IoT enterprise systems. We proposed an ontology-based technology to mine the core knowledge of successful projects. From precious experiences of each successful projects, two ways of ontology-based domain knowledge pattern will be defined, first is for application project management, and second is for software engineering process. To decompose the project knowledge from the same application domain with tree structures. The results of this paper reduce development and requirement cost, and user satifaction is better than without ontology.

Decentralized Production Circulation and Arrangement in Supply Chain Using Smart Operatives

Under the assumptions of complete sharing of information between organizational departments and the presence of an independent decision making authority for the entire supply chain, previous supply chain research highlights centrally controlled models. Due to information privacy, most of the facilities in the supply chain are functionally centralized in exercise. Collaboration between these functional units is most important for responding to rapid changes in customer requirements and for resolving conflicts. Intelligent Agent Systems have been shown to be effective in achieving collaboration and effective communication in the environment of distributed decision making. In this paper, intelligent agents are proposed and validated Reducing cost of a decentralized distribution planning process for development for multiple echelons, multiple products and multiple intervals.

Bank Intermediation in times of digitalized corporate customers and competitors? — Relationship Lending as safe haven

Within a two-dimensional framework, this article provides an literature-based discussion of how banks' corporate lending business is affected by digitization. On the one hand, technological advances induced by digitization are changing internal processes and business models among the banks' corporate customers. This creates a change in customer requirements and demand for financing of digitization projects. On the other hand, alternative providers of corporate loans are emerging in the form of online marketplace lenders. We first note that there is a funding gap for digitization projects that could hamper progress in technological development. Investments in digital technologies differ from “traditional” investments in their lack of tangible assets and a high degree of uncertainty about the project outcome which could be the main drivers of this funding gap. As digital marketplace lenders experience high growth rates especially in past periods of reduced credit supply by banks, we argue that marketplace lenders could fill this gap. Under this assumption, we discuss whether, marketplace lenders can fulfil essential intermediation functions and conclude that traditional competitive advantages of banks over marketplace lenders are diminishing. We therefore extend our discussion and examine the extent to which the concept of relationship lending provides banks with competitive advantages over marketplace lending. We conclude banks need to focus on the personal approach. Of particular importance is the expertise of the loan officer in evaluating innovation projects, whereas interpersonal trust, customer orientation and service quality form the basis for the continuity of customer loyalty in competition with fintech lenders.

Meeting Changing Customer Requirements in Food and Agriculture Through the Application of Blockchain Technology

This research summarizes the implementation of blockchain technology in the food and agriculture industry in Canada. Our research indicates that blockchain solutions are an existing and proven set of technologies. We also describe how blockchain based supply chain traceability information has many more benefits than its current use for food safety and product recalls. We recommend that costs for development of blockchain based solutions should also be distributed across stakeholders, and apportioned by the relevant industry associations. Our research indicates that adoption of blockchain technology in agriculture will achieve critical mass earlier when the industry applies a consortium approach, in a regulatory environment that is supported by government. This report also makes recommendations relevant to the integration of blockchain for end consumers of food.

СТРАТЕГІЧНЕ УПРАВЛІННЯ ПІДПРИЄМСТВАМИ В УМОВАХ ЦИФРОВОЇ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ

In the modern process of digitization and increased competition in the markets, industrial enterprises must manage their production rationally and efficiently, in accordance with rapidly changing customer requirements. This is evidenced by global trends in national economies: the share of products manufactured by sectors of the traditional economy is constantly decreasing, and digital – is increasing, forming a competitive advantage in commodity markets. The development of globalization, digital information and communication technologies leads to a reduction in the product life cycle, increasing the rate of change of customer needs and market processes. This requires industrial enterprises to create conditions for business development based on digital technology solutions or business models that have not been used before, the result of these tasks will be the transformation of existing and the formation of new competitive advantages in the market. Due to the constant changes in the environment under the influence of digitalization change the structure and management conditions of all components of production systems, so it is necessary to continuously adapt production. The tasks of such adaptation are realized by strategic management of enterprises on the basis of the provisions of the Industry 4.0 concept. The author offers methodical recommendations for strategic renewal of the enterprise on the basis of such components of the production process as; enterprise resources, market environment, digital technologies and competitive advantages. It is proved that digital transformation should be carried out at the stage of maturity in five areas: formation of regulatory framework, advanced technology, creation of a single digital platform, training and retraining to work in the digital ecosystem, search and implementation of new technological solutions, transition to a new business paradigm based on effective digital development strategies. It is proved the necessity of introduction of a technique of an estimation of a level of digital maturity of the industrial enterprises in Ukraine.

Methodology for iterative system modeling in agile product development

Nowadays, manufacturing companies are challenged by dynamic market environments caused by increasing globalization, digitization and climate change. Therefore, the ability to act with speed, flexibility and efficiency in product development becomes inevitable for success. Moreover, various stakeholder requirements have to be considered and time to market has to be reduced. The development of complex mechatronic systems also requires an interdisciplinary cooperation of various engineering domains, i.e. mechanics, electrical engineering and computer science.Agile product development addresses these challenges with its focus on the iterative development of functional system increments. As a result, it enables to reduce time to market and improves handling of changing customer requirements. The model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach with its centralized system model serves as a single source of truth and data repository. Thereby, it enhances efficiency and transparency along the product development process. The integration of MBSE into agile product development offers numerous opportunities, such as virtual prototypes and the build-up of a product’s digital twin. As the design of a complete system model at the beginning of a development process requires high temporary resources, an iterative approach should be applied to incrementally build the system model along the product development process.In this paper a methodology for the iterative system modeling in agile product development is presented. In each agile sprint, design parameters based on a development question are elaborated. The information that supports answering the development questions is provided by the system model. Since the system model itself can only provide but not process information it is necessary to select the best toolset to process the necessary information. By transferring the information back to the system model, the elements of the system model itself are iteratively developed and updated.

TO THE QUESTION OF ARCHITECTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION ADAPTATION OF STRUCTURAL-PARAMETRIC SHAPING

Nowadays, computer means that have received the general name BIM (Building Information Modeling) are quite common for the automated design of architectural objects, i.e. building information modeling. The advantage of this approach is the comprehensive consideration of many factors that take place throughout the entire life cycle of various buildings. This helps to improve quality, reduce costs during construction and their further operation.The performed analysis of literary sources on the outlined topics showed that one of the basic components of BIM-technologies is computer geometric modeling. Computer geometric modeling not only visualizes the created objects, but also serves as a reliable basis for the coordination of conflicting requirements for them from a large number of professional disciplines that are involved in construction processes. Therefore, the proper improvement of the means of automated shaping is an urgent task for the further development of architectural design.Computer parametric geometric modeling is quite effective now. Its main advantage lies in providing flexible and productive modifications of the developed building or structure in accordance with the changing requirements of customers, the need to optimize the various technical or economic characteristics, etc. This approach is very progressive in comparison with the previous nonparametric methods. But it also has certain disadvantages. These features define the foundations for improving modern shaping.One of such directions is structural-parametric geometric modeling, which is used in mechanical engineering, in particular in the domestic aviation industry. From a theoretical point of view, it is a generalization of the parametric approach, since it is the simultaneous use of several different parametric models of analyzed object or process. At the same time, the studied variants differ in the composition and interaction of their elements, i.e. the structure, and the values of their parameters. As scientific research has shown, for the rational architectural and construction application the machine-building means of shaping require proper adaptation, i.e. the development of appropriate new methods and techniques of computer modeling. This publication is devoted to these aspects on the example of the designing of orthodox churches.

Business-to-Business Selling in Transition: A Digital Dynamic Managerial Capability Framework

Abstract Despite an increased understanding of changing customer behavior and requirements for more digitalized selling opportunities, the use of new advanced technologies (such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation) in business-to-business (B2B) selling is still in an early stage among Finnish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the increased complexity of expanding relationships and rapidly evolving technologies to be managed in the ecosystem era challenges many SMEs. In order to assist managers in these enterprises to enact a digital transformation and to survive in the ecosystem era, this article draws analytical insights from various streams of literature (B2B selling and sales management, dynamic managerial capabilities, digital transformation, and ecosystems) and establishes a new understanding of the dynamic capabilities of managers in relation to the digital transformation occurring around B2B-selling processes. The article contributes to the sales management literature by developing (1) a framework of digital dynamic managerial capabilities as a means to address the current digital transformation in B2B selling, and (2) a research agenda for further study in the field of B2B selling. With regard to managerial implications, the article offers insights for managers on how to identify and develop their dynamic capabilities needed for strategic digital transformation.

Production planning for a ramp-up process in a multi-stage production system with worker learning and growth in demand

In a response to changes in customer requirements and environmental dynamics, product lifecycles have become shorter and shorter over the last decades. As a result, production ramp-ups have become more frequent in many industries, and they now often account for a significant share of the entire product lifecycle. Due to the prominent role production ramp-ups play in the lifecycle of a product, efficient production ramp-ups are now an important determinant of business success. This work proposes a mathematical model for managing production ramp-ups in a serial multi-stage production system. In the scenario considered here, both the productivity of workers and demand increase over time until a steady-state phase is reached at the end of the ramp-up. The model proposed in this paper supports the assignment of workers to the different stages of the production system and the balancing of production and demand to ensure a smooth transition from the production ramp-up to steady-state production. The model is analysed in numerical experiments to illustrate its potential for managing the production ramp-up. Our experiments show that high learning rates can have drawbacks in terms of large inventories if learning is not aligned with demand growth and across production stages.

Methodology for the identification of alternative manufacturing changes for safety\u2013critical components

A variety of factors are forcing companies to change their products and the components these products are composed of. Examples of current factors are changing customer requirements, product optimizations or ever-shorter product lifecycles. These component changes, particularly in safety–critical components in the medical and aerospace industry, pose great challenges and are limited in scope. The challenges and limitations arise from the high costs and the amount of time involved in component recertification as required by law, as well as revalidations of the manufacturing after a change has been implemented. Some component changes are even mandatory. In this case there are no options for reducing recertification efforts by choosing between different design changes. In contrast, there are alternative manufacturing options with which to implement the prescribed component changes that can reduce the amount of revalidation required on the manufacturing side. Due to the fact that changes to the manufacture of safety–critical components require validation, the existence of alternative manufacturing changes offers the potential to save time and money by selecting the best-suited alternative. In order to be able to select the best-suited alternative, all alternative manufacturing changes must be known, which poses a challenge for technology planners dealing with the complex manufacture of safety–critical components. Therefore, a methodology is introduced to support technology planners in identify alternative manufacturing changes with which to implement scope-restricted changes to safety–critical components. The methodology is validated by applying it to a case study from the medical industry.

TQM Components as a Source of Competitive Advantage in a Beverage Organization

This study reports on a case study of TQM adoption in searching for answers of why and how organizations adopt such approaches to gain competitive advantages within a Bangladeshi beverage company. It focuses organizational approaches to adopt TQM as a strategic option and the subsequent changes in organizational set-up. Moreover, using the resource-based theory, this study explores what TQM components help achieving competitive advantage. Findings reveal that due to the change in customer requirements in respect to tastes and quality; and increased price pressure led the case organization to adopt TQM. The result shows that the case organization has brought a series of changes in adopting TQM including appointing a consultant; encouraging a culture of continuous learning; developing a mechanism of communicating information; involving top management along with the employees in the improvement process; and emphasizing the use of teams. Following the resource-based view, findings show that the adoption of TQM helped the case organization in identifying its capabilities that facilitated the achievement of competitive advantage. The findings may help other organizations to learn lesson from the case organization through the identification of tacit resources that are generated by a TQM initiative.

The demand of a customer-oriented approach to managing companies in the financial market

The article notes that the intensification of competition in the financial services market, changes in customer requirements necessitate a reorientation of companies' activities to the needs, requests and preferences of customers. The urgency of the customer-oriented approach to management is substantiated by the example of an insurance company and its content is revealed through the formation of an aggregated structure of the company's business processes for such blocks as management, client, and development of insurance products, operations, and ensuring functioning. It is concluded that the concentration of the efforts of the insurance company on the formation of client assets will significantly change the processes of interaction of the company's managers with clients and increase the level of profitability of the company's business.

Modelling and analysis of manufacturing tasks for combined phase-out and ramp-up production

Abstract Rising technical developments and changing customer requirements are forcing companies to renew products to ensure their competitiveness. Industrial practice shows that ramp-up products often undergo minimal design changes compared to phase-out products. In combined production, the manufacturing system of the ramp-up product is used for the further manufacturing of the phase-out product too. However, not all phase-out and ramp-up products are suitable for a combined phase-out and ramp-up production. The analysis of deviations and similarities in manufacturing tasks is the basis for the design of combined manufacturing systems and reduction of planning errors such as the faulty investment in tools or machines.

A new model to compare intelligent asset management platforms (IAMP)

Nowadays, no business activity escapes the fourth industrial revolution, called industry 4.0, which is characterized by digitalization of processes. The possibility of simultaneously having systems with greater interconnection, more information and greater flexibility, allows companies to have a clearer view of their processes and consequently improve their effectiveness and efficiency. The digital transformation can no longer be based simply on making the processes more efficient, but on creating more sustainable and profitable customer relationships, continuously aligning the value of the product with the changing customer requirements. Even though managing assets over the Internet is increasingly common, much effort is needed to identify the functionality that should be provided by these platforms to enhance existing asset management practices.The effort of IT vendors is focused on the development of IoT platforms, which allow, among other functions, to create a connection between machinery and digital systems, protect all devices and data against hacking or attacks, control operations and maintenance of equipment or perform different analyses of assets or systems. The aim of this paper is to understand the functionalities of the existing IAMP platforms, providing a system that evaluates these functionalities based on the business objectives from the point of view of asset management. This methodology allows maintenance managers guiding the evolution of the life cycle of their assets according to the business value conception. This makes this methodology especially suitable for supporting new challenging scenarios of maintenance management. In this paper we first talk about the structure of an IAMP, then how they integrate the asset management model and a summary of the features and modules that have the most known IAMP platforms. Finally, an evaluation system of IAMP platforms and a case study is presented based on their content for asset management.

СВІТОВИЙ ДОСВІД ЗАПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ГНУЧКИХ МЕТОДОЛОГІЙ УПРАВЛІННЯ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНІСТЮ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ ТА ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙ

The article explores the features of flexible management methodologies, among which Kaizen and Agile are highlighted. These methodologies are designed to work in changing market conditions and customer requirements. It is noted that all these methodologies are focused on the evolutionary development of organizations, thus gradual improvements that ultimately maintain the competitiveness of organizations at a high level. The components of Kaizen and Agile are highlighted and their basic principles are compared. It is noted that Kaizen has become the source for some Agile techniques. An analysis of the implementation of the Agile methodology in the world was carried out, which showed the spread of its influence in the global world. The advantages of adopting Agile that companies implemented flexible technology receive are primarily the ability to manage changing priorities, the visibility of the project, aligning business with IT, and team morale. However, there are many problems with the implementation of this methodology; one of the main is the organizational culture that does not contribute to change and communication. However, some Agile methods, such as Scrum, have fairly clear implementation rules that must be introduced in their entirety, and they must be fully followed. The problems of Scrum introduction are mainly connected with insufficient adherence to the Scrum process, which eliminates its advantages. The Agile methodology helps organizations grow larger than the critical size for such organizations.

Promoting process approach to management

Increasing environmental dynamics and deepening competition are forcing businesses to seek effective responses and, within them, appropriate management approaches to be competitive and succeed in the market. The process approach, which in recent years has become an integral part of managerial practice in the company, emphasizes the business processes. Focusing on processes and improving them in companies is an effort to better respond to changing customer requirements. This paper deals with the possibilities of applying and using methods and techniques to support the business process management in companies and deals with the essence and benefits of individual methods to support the performance and competitiveness of a company.

Classification of forecasting methods in production engineering

Abstract Business management is a continuous decision-making process. It is difficult to imagine a company that does not use forecasting techniques. Even small enterprises without relevant forecasting departments more or less consciously anticipate future events, forecasting the volume of production and setting directions for development. Today’s production companies must quickly adapt to changing customer requirements, implementing structural and technological changes and delivering projects related to the production of new products. Under the dynamically changing conditions, the functioning and effective management of modern enterprises depend on future-oriented information. This increases the validity of forecasting. This article aimed to identify forecasting methods and areas of their use in production engineering. The publications on this subject were reviewed in the Scopus database, using the time frame from January 1970 to June 2018. An original classification of research subareas was created using VOS viewer software, and then, a bibliometric map was developed to visualise the results of the word coexistence analysis. The analysis of the co-occurrence and co-classification of words made it possible to indicate research subareas of forecasting in production engineering and related emerging research areas and issues.

Product Innovation and Supply Chain Sustainability

Rapid changes in customer requirements require dynamic product and process designs making innovation critical for market competitiveness. Product innovation and sustainable supply chains can be central competitive dimensions. To explore this relationship, semistructured interviews of various case study industrial tools manufacturing managers were completed. We find a heterogeneous set of relationships that provide insights to managing this nexus for competitiveness.

Meeting Changing Customer Requirements in Food and Agriculture Through Application of Blockchain Technology

This document summarizes research supporting the implementation of blockchain technology in the food and agriculture industry in Ontario. First, our research indicates that blockchain technology based solutions are an existing and proven set of technologies, where it has already been proven that the source of food items can be identified in seconds where previous processes required days and weeks of effort. Second, we also describe how blockchain based supply chain provenance information has many more benefits than its current use for food safety and product recalls. Consumers are willing to pay premium prices for food based on reliable supply chain information that matches the consumers expectations and values. Costs related to blockchain technology based solution development and implementation will be relatively small in comparison to revenues generated through increased market share by organizations providing useful information to consumers, and other stakeholders in the food supply chain. Third, we recommend that costs for development of blockchain based solutions should also be distributed across stakeholders, and apportioned by the relevant industry associations. Implementation of smart contracts can be used to guarantee a pre-arranged distribution of revenues and costs across stakeholders across the food supply chain. A consortium approach will reduce individual organization related risks, and will ensure that complete end to end supply chains participate in blockchain based technology solutions. Our research indicates that adoption of blockchain technology in agriculture will be achieve critical mass earlier when the industry applies a consortium approach, in a regulatory environment that is supported by government. Finally, this report also makes recommendations relevant to the integration of blockchain technology with per item labelling, one of the core competencies and strengths of the project partner, Accu-Label Inc. Instead of each organization attempting to navigate their own path through the different choices in technologies, we recommend a consortium approach where a blockchain technology based solution is selected and implemented through existing industry associations. Industry associations by design address the needs of their members, and therefore have a built-in relationship of trust with their members. This preexisting trust between industry associations and their members will enable pre-arranged distribution of costs and revenues related to implementation of blockchain technology between different stakeholders. Industry associations can pilot simpler low cost blockchain based solutions to reduce the risks developing more complex and expensive solutions. Blockchain based smart contracts provide an additional layer of assurance by pre-defining conditions of revenue/cost distribution, and automating the process. Summary of Recommendations: 1. Pilot different blockchain technologies to determine the best fit for the industry and organization. 2. Determine information that is of value to stakeholders in the supply chain, such as end consumers, and that they are willing to pay for. 3. Distribute the costs of blockchain technology development across different stakeholders in a consortium approach through industry associations. 4. Ensure that a robust mechanism exists to bridge information flows with physical food product flows.

Aspects of software quality applied to the process of agile software development: a systematic literature review

The importance of quality in software engineering is widely recognized today. As a result, agile methods have incorporated quality practices in the software development process to achieve quality software quickly and in harmony with rapidly changing customer requirements. Experts have published a substantial amount of information related to the diverse aspects of software quality and agile development. This work aims to perform a systematic literature review of the following characteristics: critical success factors, metrics to measure quality, quality attributes, agile practices, quality models, and agile principles considered by these models. 773 papers related to quality in the agile development process were identified, of which, for the preparation of this article, 71 papers were selected. This study catalogs 118 critical success factors, 137 agile practices, 102 metrics, and 70 quality attributes that affect the agile software development. In addition, 14 quality models, which do not cover all the aspects of quality related to agile development, were studied to prepare this paper. 28.17% of the studies analyzed consider the agile practices as they affect the quality of software, which is the most studied aspect.