Continuous Product Improvement Research Articles

120 Awardee Talk: Amino acid and energy requirements of high producing sows

Abstract Improvements in genetic selection, nutrition, health, and management has led to continuous improvement in sow productivity over the past 10 to 20 years. Today’s sows are more prolific with greater number of pigs gestated, nursed, and weaned per litter than in the past. Modern genotype females are also faster growing and leaner than predecessors. These changes in reproductive performance and body composition alter nutrient requirements during gestation and lactation. Gestation nutrient requirements appear to be met with approximately 11 to 12 g/d of standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine and 5,000 to 6,000 Kcal/d NE. Providing greater lysine intake increases protein deposition and sow weight gain and may reduce stillbirth rate; however, the magnitude of economic benefit provides marginal economic response. Increasing energy and amino acid intake the last 3 to 4 days pre-farrowing appears to be a better alternative to shorten farrowing duration, increase the number of pigs born alive, and their weaning weights, than providing extra feed from d 90 of gestation through farrowing. During lactation, the goal is still to increase feed intake to minimize sow weight loss. Lysine requirement estimates in lactation seem to vary from study to study possibly reflecting the degree of sow muscle and fat catabolism. A summary of several lactation studies predicts a daily lactation requirement of 27 g SID Lys from the diet with an additional 13 g mobilized from body tissue for each 1 kg of litter growth. From a feed management standpoint, the availability of equipment to provide ad libitum consumption has been a major benefit in lactation. In conclusion, the literature suggests there are many successful ways to feed sows in gestation, peri-partum, and lactation, indicating that today’s sows are extremely resilient to nutritional challenges.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE APPLICATION OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AGAINST GIANT EXTRA MEGA BEKASI

Intense competition would demand the company to provide quality products to the consumer. But the attention the company is not limited to the quality of the resulting product, but also on aspects of the process, the human resources (HR) and the environment. Giant hypermarket is a retail company in Indonesia which is facing competition in retail business which rapidly, one way that's done to Giant hypermarket compete by implementing Total Quality Management (TQM), through the continuous improvement of product, labor, and the environment. TQM is a system achieve the objectives of the Organization, one of them an increase in employee productivity. Keywords : the application of total quality management, the influence of the application of total quality management, factors in influencing the success.

Do trustful labor–management relations enhance innovation? Evidence from German WSI data

Analyzing a sample of German firms, our Probit analysis shows that conflictual Anglo-Saxon type labor–management relationships are negatively related to the probability of performing R&D and to introduce innovations. We add to the Varieties of Capitalism literature a number of arguments of why cooperative Rhineland labor relations are superior in handling the ‘routine’ innovation model in knowledge-intensive industries. Notably if innovative competences are based on the stepwise accumulation over long periods of bits and pieces of knowledge for the continuous improvement of products, processes or systems, cooperative Rhineland labor relations appear to be superior to conflictual Anglo-Saxon labor relations.

The Principal Role of Organic Fertilizer on Soil Properties and Agricultural Productivity -A Review

As a key component of agricultural sustainability, organic fertilizer contributes greatly to improving soil fertility. Therefore, the objective of this review is to revise the role of organic fertilizer on agricultural product and productivity. The newly sourced artificial fertilizer had a short-term benefit, but it had severe long-term side effect such as soil toxicity and decline soil fertility. Afterward, the idea of organic farming was acceptable to developed organic agriculture system. The use of organic fertilizers has advantage of being cheap, improving soil structure, texture and aeration increasing the soils water retention abilities and stimulating healthy root development. Organic fertilizer has many sources such as minerals, animal source, sewage sludge and plant. Vegetables, animals and residue materials had a contribution to improve soil organic matter content in soil. Therefor it is recommended that, using integrated nutrient management is a continuous improvement of soil productivity on longer term basis through appropriate use of organic fertilizers (i.e. animal manure, plants residue and sewage sludge) and their scientific management for increments of optimum growth, yield and quality of different crops.

The Impact of Customer Focus, Obsession On Quality, Education and Training, Teamwork And Continuous Improvement On Product Quality

The purpose of this study is to study the direct and indirect interactions between CustomerFocus, Education and Training, Team Cooperation, and Continuous Improvement ofProduct Quality. The study was carried out in the Small and Medium Industry soun noodlesin Klaten Regency. The subjects of this study were the owners of Small and MediumIndustries soun noodles.This study has a contribution, especially in explaining themechanism to provide educational programs and job training for employees to continue toimprove their skills and work skills, build strong teamwork supported by high morale andcontinuously develop and diversify products based on customer demand, feedback betweencustomers, quality of competitors, and ways employee work.

Management Game

Digital disruption and continuous productivity improvement require more from people management, thus raising the bar for leadership competencies. International studies indicate that leadership competence gaps are large and traditional leadership training methods does not seem to solve this problem. This article's findings supports this situation. The authors will open the complexity behind organizational productivity development and present game theoretical architecture that simulates management behavior effects to human performance. New methods enable practice-based learning that enables formatting leaders' behavior so that it will create long-term success with continuous change. The authors will present gamified leadership training procedure and discuss the practical learning experiences from a management simulation game. The authors' study reveals challenges at interactive leadership skills, thus, it is argued, that there seems to be problems at the leadership mind-set. Therefore, more sophisticated learning methods and tools should be used.

Organic Connection between Small Farmers and Modern Agriculture in China: Obstacles and Solutions

As the basic main body of the agricultural production and operation over thousands of years in China, the small farmers have been playing an important role in the agricultural and rural development for a long time. However, the obstacles between the small farmers and the modern agricultural development are gradually appearing with the continuous improvement of productivity, which are mostly reflected in such fields as the technological utilization, the agricultural service, the small farmers’ quality and the capital element. From the view of the future development tendency, solutions to break those obstacles mainly include promoting the agricultural technological innovation and the equipment upgrading, developing the small farmers’ professional cooperatives, improving the agricultural socialization service system, cultivating the new-style professional farmers, and perfecting the rural financial system.

Absorptive capacity and technology: influences on innovative firms

ObjetivoAnalisar a relação entre produção ágil (tecnologia de produção flexível) e capacidade de absorção.Design/metodologia/abordagemUm banco de dados de 1.864 empresas de manufatura espanholas é usado no Business Strategies Survey (o maior banco de dados espanhol desse tipo). Nossa abordagem teórica é baseada na teoria de recursos e capacidades dinâmicas. A metodologia inclui análise estatística descritiva e regressão linear com efeito moderador.ResultadosEmpresas ágeis com maior capacidade de absorção são mais inovadoras e obtêm melhores resultados que empresas menos ágeis. A capacidade de absorção modera a relação entre a tecnologia de produção flexível e os resultados da inovação.Limitações/implicações da pesquisaTrata-se de um estudo transversal que limita o estabelecimento de relações causais. Isso mostra a importância de se estudar a capacidade de absorção no processo de implementação da produção ágil.Implicações práticasExistem várias implicações de gerenciamento. A primeira é que os sistemas ágeis de produção devem ser integrados ao sistema de inovação da empresa, porque a melhoria contínua da produção ágil deve ser reforçada com os resultados de conhecimento externo e atividades internas de inovação. A segunda é que as empresas que usam fontes externas de conhecimento para melhorar os processos de produção podem aproveitar melhor esse benefício, não apenas nas operações, mas também nos resultados da inovação. A adoção de tecnologia de produção flexível não pode ser mantida fora dos processos de aprendizagem organizacional baseados em conhecimento externo. Nossos resultados também apoiam a contribuição do agrupamento de empresas colaboradoras para melhorar seus processos de produção através da capacidade de absorção e com isso a implementação de sistemas ágeis de produção.Implicações sociaisnão aplicávelOriginalidade/valorEste é o primeiro estudo, na medida do nosso conhecimento, que considerou o papel da capacidade de absorção, como competência / capacidade interna, para influenciar a relação entre tecnologia flexível e inovação.Palavras-chaveCapacidade de absorção, Tecnologia de produção flexível, InovaçãoTipo de artigoTrabalho de pesquisa

Foreign direct investment in developing economies

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate how the productivity spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Latin American economies are manifested. Specifically, the paper sought to identify the role of foreign presence and government intervention through an industrial policy on total factor productivity in Latin American countries. Design/methodology/approach The analyses in this study were performed in two stages. The first step consisted of decomposing the total factor productivity growth, in technical efficiency change (EC) and technological efficiency change (TC), using the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). In the second stage of this research, the specific EC and TC indexes of each country – obtained with the MPI – are used alternately as a dependent variable in a regression analysis with dynamic panel data. The variables were collected from the World Development Indicators database, available in the World Bank database, and cover the period from 1994 to 2014. Findings FDI has contributed to not only the catch-up effect – i.e. to continuous improvements in production processes and products using the same technology – but also in terms of productivity, due to technological innovations and the frontier-shift effect. Industrial policies, such as the FDI attraction, when established in isolation, are not able to contribute to the generation of productivity spillovers, measured in terms of technical and technological efficiency. Research limitations/implications The limitation of the present study lies precisely in the nature of data aggregation that actually limits a more in-depth analysis of the object of study. The available data set for the analysis in this study does not provide a detailed examination of the domestic corporations’ characteristics, the sectors and motivations of multinational corporations of each one of the analyzed economies. Practical implications The outcomes of this research present several practical implications, as its development is based on the recognition that productivity is essential for the development of a country. It remains the Achilles' heel of the Latin American economies, and therefore, it is necessary and essential to move toward a change in its development model and, more specifically, in its industrial policies, with a focus on investment and innovation to achieve the new sustainable development objectives. Among the main challenges presented to governments in the region is the emergence of policies aimed at establishing a sustainable development path through industrial policies capable of accelerating productivity growth. Social implications The evidence presented in this study highlights the importance of better understanding the real effects of state intervention through the use of industrial policy instruments and how they affect foreigners’ investment decisions, as the lack of clear industrial policy orientation that is systematically integrated with MNEs’ operations may result in economic development opportunities below the ideal. Originality/value The research results corroborate the foundations of spillover effects theory and with the recognition that the intensity of the effect of the foreign participation on the performance of economies will depend on the absorption capacity of host economies.

Propuestas para la mejora continua del área de producción de una empresa productora de carne de cerdo, mediante herramientas de manufactura esbelta

The present project took place in a pork production company, which wants to reduce the waste of the products of the slicing area, specifically in the products Belly Slice, Kataroso Slice 120 gr and Belly Slice (3cm), aiming to identify activities that do not add value, through lean manufacturing tools, to propose improvement actions in the slicing process in the production area. The procedure used was to describe the activities of the process, generate specifications table of products, determine cycle time and productive capacity, determine sample size, prepare Value Stream Map (VSM) of the current process, identify activities that generate waste, perform VSM of the future situation and, finally, generate proposals for improvement. As a result, was obtained a program to monitor production, adapt the production line as a manufacturing cell and create a format for preventive maintenance of machinery and equipment; as well as the information that will lay the foundations for the products under study. With these actions, the intention is to contribute to the continuous improvement of performance, productivity and efficiency indicators.

Continuous Improvement of Productivity and Quality with Lean Six-Sigma: A Case Study

Continuous improvement of productivity and quality is a potential requirement of any competitive organization. Lean six-sigma is known as the useful and popular method to do it. In this paper, a case study in the mechanical manufacturing process would be presented as a successful implementation. The seven quality control tools would be integrated in specific systematic steps of the PDCA cycle and DMAIC process, and lean technology. The case study shows the promising results on improvement of productivity and quality of a mechanical production line. It could be considered to implement for other production or assembly line in other fields such as electronic assembly line, garment line, and furnitune assembly line.

Benchmarking de qualidade e sustentabilidade da produção científica em Administração

The aim of this article is to develop a framework that would support the classification of the production of articles in Business Administration and from which can be offered a quality benchmarking and sustainability of academic research in this area. Punctually, aims to contribute to the qualification of work to be submitted to national Qualis A or B of Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (CAPES). Part is a literature review on the state of research directors under the publications in seven national periodicals area, unranked as A or B. It is then made a compilation of the criteria available to the reviewers authors of these journals and three other international Area administration to assess the production they submitted. The literature review resulted in the selection of 51 articles that link the main problems of research in this area. We conclude that the periodic evaluation criteria coincide with those mentioned in selected articles but do not allow exploring evaluation aspects underlying the blind practices and peer review. Continuous improvement of products is internationally recommended. The result is a frame of reference to assist in building a submission benchmarking system well qualified by periodic evaluation system of CAPES/Brazil.

KONSEPSI MANAJEMEN MUTU DALAM PENDIDIKAN

Abstract: This journal focuses on the quality of professionally managed educational institutions through integrated quality management. Educational institutions as producer services sector should pay attention to quality; quality of managerial and academic aspects. These two aspects can be achieved through the application of the concept of total quality management (TQM). TQM is a management concept that places all insan (civitass academica) of higher education institutions as individuals who have responsibility for quality in accordance with their duties and functions. TQM is an approach to doing business that seeks to maximize the competitiveness of institutions through continuous improvement of products, services, people, processes and the environment. TQM is the starting point for improving quality that will be under the jargon of do the right thing, first time, and every time. Quality Management is part of management that aims to achieve Quality objectives through planning, monitoring, assuring and improving Quality. Involving all members of the organization brings us closer to Total Quality Management (TQM). Efficient Total Quality management system within the organization can facilitate rapidly challenges in the market. Total quality management embodies target and mission in youth education. TQM improves the quality of management and quality of work in educational institutions in general. Important points for educational improvement are scientific and technological development, social change and organizational change. The efficiency and success of education depends not only on quantity but also on quality. The indicators system The quality of education, as well as the criteria associated with the Quality indicators help schools to identify key areas of their activities - their own advantages, disadvantages and opportunities.

A Framework for the Capture and Analysis of Product Usage Data for Continuous Product Improvement

Product improvement, usually through changes in design and functionality, is relying more and more on the continuous analysis of large amounts of data. Product data can come from many sources with varying effort in obtaining the data, e.g., condition monitoring and maintenance data. Intelligent products, also known as “product embedded information devices” (PEID), are already equipped with sensors and onboard computing capabilities and therefore able to generate valuable data such as the number of user interactions during the use phase. The internet of things (IoT) makes data transfer possible at any time to close the loop for the product lifecycle data and methods like machine learning promote new uses of those data. This paper proposes a methodology to capture the most relevant data on product use and human–product interaction automatically and utilize it as part of data-driven product improvement. Product engineers and designers will gain insights into the use phase and can derive design changes and quality improvements. The methodology guides the user through research on product use dimensions based on the principles of user-centered design (UCD). The findings are applied to define what usage elements, such as specific actions and context, need to be available from the use phase. During systems development, machine learning is suggested to fuse sensor data to efficiently capture the usage elements. After product deployment, use data are retrieved and analyzed to identify the improvement potential. This research is a first step on the long way to self-optimizing products.

Empirical analysis of productivity enhancement strategies in the North American automotive industry

Even though there is a pressing need for continuous productivity improvement, studies that employ robust empirical analysis of strategies and factors to enhance productivity in the North American Automotive Industry are very scarce. In this study, robust and hybrid models of the most popular productivity measurement in the automotive industry, Hours per Vehicle (HPV), is developed. Data examined in this research was compiled for a 9-year period, 1999–2007, for North American automotive manufacturers. Through practical considerations and a comprehensive literature review, 14 important variables that influence HPV were defined and developed. A hybrid method, the combination of multiple M-estimators and a lasso, was developed and was shown to be the best method to determine a robust regression model to estimate HPV. The vehicle variety, number of available working days in a year, car model types, new model launch, and car assembly and capacity utilization penalize HPV. However, annual production volume, flexible and lean manufacturing, platform sharing strategy, and year of production improve HPV. Using lean and flexible manufacturing, platform strategy, and reducing the percentage of hourly employees help improve productivity and reduce HPV while launching a new vehicle. Additionally, Japanese plants were appeared to be the benchmark with respect to HPV, followed by joint ventures and American plants.

Modeling of Karachaganak field development

Management of a geological deposit includes the study and analysis of oil recovery, identification of factors influencing production performance and oil-bearing rock flooding, reserve recovery and other indicators characterizing field development in general. Regulation of oil deposits exploitation is a mere control over the fluid flow within a reservoir, which is ensured through the designed system of development via continuous improvement of production and injection wells placement, optimum performance modes, service conditions of downhole and surface oil-field equipment taking into account various changes and physical-geological properties of a field when using modern equipment to obtain the best performance indicators.

TQM I KAIZEN U FUNKCIJI KONTINUIRANOG UPRAVLJANJA KVALITETOM

There is almost a generally accepted view that quality is one of the most important factors of company competitiveness. For this reason, quality needs to be managed. In response to the need for management and requirements for high quality, theory and practice have developed several concepts. Total Quality Management (TQM) and Kaizen are two basic concepts directly involved in continuous improvement of product and process quality in the company, aimed at achieving positive transformation in the minds and actions of employees and managers. The focus of this paper is the analysis of the mentioned concepts and their contribution to the program of continuous quality improvement. Hence, the goal set by this paper is to review the basic characteristics of TQM and Kaizen, and, on the basis of a comparative analysis, draw conclusion about the distinction between them in terms of essence and practical application in the field of quality management.

The impact of TQM practices on key performance indicators: empirical evidence from automotive dealerships

The After-Sales (AS) service is becoming a strategic business driver to maintain longterm customer retention, customer satisfaction and capital revenue in such a manner that it guarantees the continuous improvement of products and services offered to customers; AS market is up to five times larger than the new product market (Bundschuh & Dezvane, 2003), whilst it is widely agreed that the turnover of the original purchase can be tripled during the product lifespan by investing in AS services. Consequently, performance of the after-sales department should be well measured and monitored to achieve a balance between the business and the operational goals on the one hand, and their assessed values on the other (Cavalieri et al., 2007).

Evolution of obstacles restraining productivity improvement

One of the most important elements in the overall competitiveness of companies is continuous improvement in productivity. Improvements in productivity have been recognised as having a significant influence on many social and economic phenomena such as economic growth, increased well-being and inflation control. Although continuous improvement in productivity is a well-known issue for companies, there are some factors that restrain such development work. These factors can be called obstacles restraining productivity improvement. The main aim of this study is to explore the changes in the obstacles restraining productivity improvement of Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises from 1997 to 2014. The study also aims to discover the most important obstacles restraining productivity improvement. In addition to discovering the evolution of obstacles restraining productivity improvement, the study increases the understanding of the differences amongst obstacles between manufacturing and service SMEs. The study results indicate that over the last two decades, there have been three significant categorical changes relating to the obstacles restraining productivity improvement: 1) from internal to external obstacles; 2) from lack of resources to lack of knowledge; 3) from lack of employees' knowledge and education to lack of supervisors' knowledge and education about productivity.

Productivity and Unemployment in Nigeria

Productivity and employment are issues that are central to the social and economic life of every country. The extant literature refers to productivity and unemployment as constituting a vicious circle that explains the endemic nature of poverty in developing countries. And it has been argued that continuous improvement in productivity is the surest way to breaking this vicious circle. Growth in productivity provides a significant basis for adequate supply of goods and services thereby improving the welfare of the people and enhancing social progress. As pointed out by Dernburg (1985:63), Without it there would be no growth in per capita income, and inflation control would be all the more difficult. In fact, the observation has been made that continuous enhancement of productivity has been very central to the brilliant performance of the Asian Tigers and Japan in recent years (Simbeye, 1992; World Bank 1993). Recent developments in the world economy have also shown that countries with high productivity are not only central to the determination of global balance of powers (e.g Japan and Germany), but also serve as centres of stimulus, where world resources (including labour) are redirected to, as opposed to countries with low or declining productivity. Recent studies, for example, Rensburg and Nande (1999) and Roberts and Tybout (1997) have also shown that high productivity increases competitiveness in terms of penetrating the world market. Thus, a country with high productivity is often characterized by a very high capacity utilization (optimal use of resources), high standard of living, low rate of unemployment and social progress. Unemployment, on the other hand, has been categorized as one of the serious impediments to social progress. Apart from representing a colossal waste of a country's manpower resources, it generates welfare loss in terms of lower output thereby leading to lower income and well-being (Akinboyo, 1987; and Raheem, 1993). Unemployment is a very serious issue in Africa (Vandemoortele, 1991 and Rama, 1998) and particularly in Nigeria (Oladeji, 1994 and Umo, 1996). The need to avert the negative effects of unemployment has made the tackling of unemployment problems to feature very prominently in the development objectives of many developing countries. Incidentally, most of these countries' economies are also characterized by low productivity. Thus, it seems obvious to many policy makers that there must be a straight forward connection between productivity and employment/unemployment. However, the theoretical linkage between productivity and unemployment is yet to be settled in the literature. While some researchers posit that higher productivity may increase unemployment (e.g. Diachavbre, 1991; Krugman, 1994), some others argue that it could increase employment (e.g Yesufu, 1984; Akerele, 1994; CEC, 1993).