Heavy Equipment Industry Research Articles

AN EMPIRICAL EXPLORATION OF THE NEW PRODUCT PROCESS PROFICIENCY–NEW PRODUCT SUCCESS RELATIONSHIP

This study explores the relationship between new product market success and the proficiency with which various stages, as opposed to individual activities, of the new product development (NPD) process are performed. Therefore, this research addresses three major research questions: (1) During which stage(s) of the NPD process does R&D/manufacturing have the greatest impact on new product market success? (2) During which stage(s) of the NPD process does marketing have the greatest impact on new product market success? (3) How do the contributions of R&D/manufacturing and marketing align in the development of new products? The study sample consists of 131 new product projects from the medical devices, electrical equipment, and heavy construction equipment industries. This study was based on a random sample of the firms operating in these three industries. Study data suggest that R&D/manufacturing and marketing impact new product success at different times during the NPD process. This data supports the need for cross-functional integration between R&D/manufacturing and marketing. Recommendations are provided for NPD managers based on study findings.

APLIKASI ANALITYCHAL HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP) DALAM PENENTUAN ALTERNATIF PENGELOLAAN LINGKUNGAN INDUSTRI KOMPONEN ALAT BERAT BERBASIS PARTISIPASI DAN KEMITRAAN MASYARAKAT

As a company engaged in the industrial sector by producing certain components and localized in an industrial area, there will be an impact on the environment. These impacts can be positive in the form of employment, reducing dependence on imported heavy equipment, increase in foreign exchange due to reduced imports and increased exports, increased government revenue from taxes, public facilities improvement and supporting infrastructure, and opening up opportunities for other related industries. These impacts can also be negative in the form of environmental degradation such as noise disturbance, dust, and micro climate change, and changes in social and cultural conditions surrounding the industry. This research was conducted to support increasing effectiveness and efficiency of corporate management, by determining alternative forms of managing the heavy industrial equipment components environment (PLIKAB)-based on participation and society partnerships. The determination of alternative uses analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with the help of the Criterium Decision Plus v3.04 software. These results indicate that according of experts, the environmental management of industrial waste heavy equipment components must consider the technological aspects of its management. This can be seen from the weighting of each element that indicates the technology element has the greatest weight, which is 0.456. Besides that, elements of human resources is also quite important (weight 0.289) as the manager and the supporting policies (0.140) as a boost to management regulations. Aspect Capital (0.075) and marketing (0.042) is currently not perceived as barriers. While the most influential actor in the management is the company (0.451), other stakeholders have enough role is the community (0.234). Jababeka (0.211) and cooperative business (0.104) has a smaller role in the management. The purpose element in relative management has a weight that is relatively balanced with elements of revenue (0.336) is the primary consideration in determining management strategies, although it should not ignore the aim of maintaining environmental quality (0.299), the purpose of minimizing conflict (0.194), and the purpose of increasing competitiveness (0.170). The best alternative for the management of industrial waste components of the heavy equipment is to form managers based on partnerships by different stock ownership (0.791). It is considered much better than by forming managers based on partnerships by the same stock (0.209). Key words : heavy equipment industry, management, environment, analitycal hierarchy process (AHP)

A game theoretic approach for two echelon supply chains with continuous depletion

In a recent paper by Esmaeili et al. (2009) [5] a seller-buyer supply chain management problem was considered from both non-cooperative and cooperative game perspectives. The buyer and seller models were based on a discrete depletion inventory strategy. In this paper, we modify these models based on a continuous depletion for the seller and continuous purchasing for the buyer. The continuous depletion strategy is not only more common in large industries such as the heavy equipment industry, but can lead to considerable savings for both the buyer and seller in the supply chain. Furthermore, previous approaches for solving the cooperative game do not result in valid solutions. In this paper an improved approach is proposed, which not only obtains valid Pareto efficient solutions but also ensures cooperative stability. Finally, proof of pseudo concavity for the buyer’s objective in all possible cases is elaborated.

THE IMPACT OF CHANGING MARKETS AND COMPETITION ON THE NPD SPEED/MARKET SUCCESS RELATIONSHIP

Our research examines the relationships among four factors thought to be important to new product developing organizations. Those factors include the speed with which product developers produce new products and bring them to market; the degree of integration among the various groups participating in the New Product Development (NPD) process; the proficiency with which the product developers perform their tasks; and the degree of success attained upon the completion of the NPD process. Market dynamism, or the degree of customer changeability, and market hostility, or the degree of market competitiveness, are thought to moderate the relationships among the four previously noted factors. The research questions driving our investigation include: (1) Does NPD project success vary with NPD process speed?; (2) Does NPD speed vary across innovation types (new-to-the-world products, line extensions, etc.)?; (3) Does the strength of the relationships among NPD speed, organizational integration, NPD proficiency (overall and Fuzzy Front End [FFE]), and success vary with the degree of environmental dynamism (changing customer needs)?; and (4) Does the strength of the relationships among NPD speed, organizational integration, NPD proficiency (overall and FFE), and success vary with the degree of market hostility (competition)? We probed the electrical equipment, medical device, and heavy construction equipment industries to provide the data to address our research questions. Our research suggests that the speed with which projects were completed in our sample did not vary between projects that were more or less successful. We also found that the speed with which projects were completed did not vary across various product categories (new-to-the-world, line extensions, etc.) of newly developed products for the industries studied. Primarily, we found that market dynamism moderates the relationship between NPD speed and NPD proficiency whereas environmental hostility mediates NPD speed and NPD proficiency, NPD speed and organizational integration, and NPD speed and new product market success. Our data indicate that speed is not associated with NPD proficiency, degree of organizational integration, and new product success in less dynamic markets whereas speed has an inverse relationship with successfully entering new markets, the proficiency with which development and launch activities are performed, and the proficiency with which new product marketing strategies were implemented in more dynamic markets. Finally, we found that speed is inversely related to successfully entering new markets, overall NPD proficiency and organizational integration, predevelopment stage proficiency and organizational integration, and development and launch proficiency and organizational integration in non-hostile (competitive) environments whereas we found no significant relationships between these factors and speed in hostile environments. We provide several implications for both scholars and NPD managers.

Robust control design for a wheel loader using [formula omitted] and feedback linearization based methods

The heavy equipment industry is building more and more equipment with electro-hydraulic control systems. The existing industry practices for the design of control systems in construction machines primarily rely on classical designs coupled with ad-hoc synthesis procedures. Such practices produce desirable results, but lack a systematic procedure to account for invariably present plant uncertainties in the design process as well as coupled dynamics of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) configuration. In this paper, two H ∞ based robust control designs are presented for an automatic bucket leveling mechanism of a wheel loader. In one case, the controller is designed for the base plant model. In another case, the controller is designed for the plant with a feedback linearization control law applied yielding improved stability robustness. A MIMO nonlinear model for an electro-hydraulically actuated wheel loader linkage is considered. The robustness of the controller designs are validated by using analysis and by simulation using a complete nonlinear model of the wheel loader linkage and hydraulic system.

INNOVATION IN HEAVY CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This research investigates three major hypotheses important to new product market success in the heavy construction equipment industry which are as follows: the greater the degree of organisational integration during the development of new products, the greater will be the market success of new products; the greater the degree of organisational integration during the development of new products, the greater will be the proficiency with which new product development activities are performed; and the greater the proficiency with which new product development activities are performed, the greater will be the new product's success in the marketplace. Information was obtained concerning the most and least successful new products of U.S. firms in the heavy construction equipment industry. "Organisational integration" is defined as the degree of cooperation and communication between internal and external new product development (NPD) "support" groups and NPD teams. "NPD process proficiency" is defined as how well new product development stages and the NPD process as a whole are performed. "New product market success" is represented by four measures that encompass profit expectations, sales expectations, success entering new markets and entering existing markets with new products successfully. The survey approach was utilised to obtain data. Questionnaires were mailed to recipients such as New Product Development Managers who had already been designated by executives of the sample firms. A number of important findings were uncovered during this research. The integration between an organisation's customers and an NPD team is important to the success of newly developed heavy construction equipment products. However, the integration between organisations that supply material, components, assemblies and fabrications to new heavy construction equipment developers was found to hinder the market success of newly developed heavy construction equipment. These and other findings suggest several important implications for product development managers and scholars.

Engineering service products: the case of mass-customising service agreements for heavy equipment industry

Service agreements are one of a kind, and commit the service providers to certain configuration, execution and delivery of their processes and resources over a long time. To improve productivity, the providers need a way to mass-customise the service they produce while the customers need to be able to evaluate and benchmark the service they obtain. The field lacks sufficient results to allow either party to construct the agreements with the efficiency and effectiveness they need. The mass customisation model of manufacturing can help solve the problem; however, to achieve this goal, new and comprehensive understanding of service production is required. Therefore, a reference model of service agreement engineering to help mass-customise and evaluate service agreements is developed for, first, manufacturing-based and, then, nonmanufacturing- based products. The reference model provides the static knowledge on the structuring of service processes and resources and the dynamic assessment of their costs and risks, useful for both providers and customers. The observer–participant method is used to develop and test the model with the Power Systems Division, Aircraft Engines Division and Transportation Systems Division of General Electric Corporation. Ongoing work generalises it for IT outsourcing and other non-manufacturing-based service agreements. The results hold promise for generalisation into other service products, such as facilitating the application service providers of ebusiness to host many different, custom processes provided to its clientele on a common base of resources.

Expert System Source Identification of Excessive Vibration

The importance of vibration data in determining the condition of rotating machinery is well established in both the aircraft and the heavy equipment industries. Installation of noncontact displacement probes for shaft motion and either velocity or acceleration sensors for bearing cap or foundation motion is standard practice for equipment manufacturers. Automation of the diagnostic evaluation of certain simple faults can be easily implemented. The advances in computer languages in recent years have made it diffiucult to keep pace with the graphical capabilities available to the programmers. One major concern is the content of the knowledge base and the method of modifying the knowledge base or the procedure of evaluating the confidence of a given identified possible cause of a problem. This article addresses the application of one such expert system to a recent vibration problem on a 7‐megawatt steam turbine–driven generator located at the power plant of Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

The Impact of Organizational Integration and Product Development Proficiency on Market Success

This research investigates three major hypotheses important to new product market success: the greater organizational integration during the development of new products, the greater the market success; the greater organizational integration during the development of new products, the greater new product development proficiency; and the greater new product development proficiency, the greater the market success. “Organizational integration” is defined as the degree of cooperation and communication between internal and external NPD “support” groups and NPD teams. “NPD process proficiency” is defined as how well new product development stages and the new product development process as a whole is performed. “New product market success” is represented by four measures: the degree to which profits and sales exceeded or fell short of what was expected, and the degree to which the new product was perceived to exceed or fall short of expectations related to entering existing and new markets. Information was obtained concerning the most and least successful new products of U.S. firms in the medical instruments, the electrical equipment, and the heavy construction equipment industries. The field survey approach was utilized in which surveys were mailed to recipients such as new product development managers who already had been designated by executives of the sample firms. Several important findings were uncovered during this research. Overall organizational integration was found to be significantly associated with new product market success. Internal integration, the coordination between new product development teams and functional departments, was found to be significantly related to product market success. A significant relationship between new product development proficiency during the NPD “post-launch stage” and the degree of integration between an NPD team and external NPD organizations, such as customers and suppliers, was detected. During the post-launch stage, new product development proficiency also was found to be significantly related to new product market success. These findings suggest several important implications for new product development managers and scholars.

Response to the Comments on “Industrial Pricing: Theory and Managerial Practice”

The authors thank We would like to thank George E. Cressman, Jr. for his comments on their paper, “Industrial Pricing: Theory and Managerial Practice.” This study had its origins in the thesis of the first author, who entered a doctoral program in marketing after spending 18 years in the heavy equipment industry. In that period he spent a lot of time setting prices and trying to predict future price changes by competitors. His industry experience suggested that the market-oriented pricing strategies discussed in the marketing literature are not used as extensively in practice as we might like to believe. The results of the study do confirm this suspicion, although not to the extent suggested in the commentary. It is important to understand how many firms are operating with a purely internal focus for their pricing strategy.

The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry

We analyze the social organization of three well-known price-fixing conspiracies in the heavy electrical equipment industry. Although aspects of collusion have been studied by industrial organization economists and organizational criminologists, the organization of conspiracies has remained virtually unexplored. Using archival data, we reconstruct the actual communication networks involved in conspiracies in switchgear transformers, and turbines. We find that the structure of illegal networks is driven primarily by the need to maximize concealment, rather than the need to maximize efficiency. However, network structure is also contingent on information-processing requirements imposed by product and market characteristics. Our individual-level model predicts verdict (guilt or innocence), sentence, and fine as functions of personal centrality in the illegal network, network structure, management level, and company size. People of the same trade seldom meet together but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some diversion to raise prices.

Earthmoving and Heavy Equipment

A specialty conference on earthmoving and heavy equipment was held on February 5–7, 1986, at Tempe, Arizona, under the sponsorship of the Committee on Construction Equipment and Techniques, Construction Division of ASCE. The objective of the conference was to foster an exchange of ideas concerning the economical field utilization of earthmoving and heavy construction equipment. The presentations by a number of knowledgeable speakers, and the resulting discussions among these individuals and the audience, provided an effective forum for summarizing the status of the industry and examining new developments which may be expected in the near future. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the primary topics of discussion and to conceptualize the future development of the earthmoving and heavy equipment industry.

The shrinking U.S. electric equipment market: What is eating away at U.S. manufacturers' share of the world market? An alleged European-Japanese cartel may be compounding the slowdown in U.S. growth

An analysis is presented of the shrinking US heavy electric-power equipment industry's share of world markets. The sectors most affected are those that make power generating equipment and power transformers with ratings higher than 10000 kilovolt-amperes. In the last several years, the combined markets were still more than $1 billion a year in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau. Also dramatically affected are manufacturers of circuit breakers, especially breakers rated above 242 kV-so called extra-high voltage (EHV) units. The reasons for the decline are thought to be slack demand in the United States, competition from subsidiaries of foreign firms, the strong US dollar, and lagging US technology. The author reports that many US companies have stopped manufacturing their own products in favor of assembling and marketing those of foreign competitors. Closed markets outside the US and the effects of foreign government-owned utility policy are reviewed. Impressive foreign products, and reduced long-term US product support and equipment development, are cited along with the effects of the dollar on international sales.

IEE Science, Education & Technology Division: Chairman's address. On getting the right answer

The rapid growth of new technology in areas such as systems engineering, information engineering and software engineering dictates a shift of emphasis in the IEE and in the overall pattern of electrical engineering education. Nevertheless we still need to recruit, educate and train engineers for the longer-established sectors of the electrical industry. The pace of development in products such as rotating electrical machines may not be apparent to the casual observer but it is none the less real, and significant in the context of our national economic survival. We therefore need a continuing supply of electromechanical engineers with the requisite imagination and breadth of vision to advance the state of the art in the heavy electrical equipment industry. Somewhat in contrast to the compartmented and preordained format of typical university engineering courses and examinations, our design engineers can only get the right answers if they have the ability to devise and put to themselves the right questions. Some suggestions are offered as to how the formative educational attitudes and experiences might be modified so as to be more relevant to the ensuing engineering career.

Manufacture of Heavy Electrical Equipment in Developing Countries

Factors in the growth and competitiveness of the heavy electrical equipment industry in developing countries are examined. Heavy electrical equipment includes equipment for power generation, transmission and large motors, and electric furnaces for industry. Prices and costs in developing countries are compared with those of the international market. Heavy electrical equipment is generally custom designed and expensive, requiring design capability and substantial skill in manufacturing. The industry is very dependent upon outside financing. Because of intensive competition in conventional items of equipment, the bulk of the profits are earned on items where a particular firm has pioneered new developments. The key to success in the manufacture of heavy electrical equipment would seem to involve an efficient buildup of capacity, government policies aimed at an even flow of orders for the local industry, efficient management, and research and development permitting good profits on advanced types of equipment where world market prices are relatively high. Sixteen tables and nine figures are provided.

Notes on the Heavy Equipment Industry in Chile, 1800-1910

Notes on the Heavy Equipment Industry in Chile, 1800-1910

Notes on the Heavy Equipment Industry in Chile, 1800-1910

Notes on the Heavy Equipment Industry in Chile, 1800-1910