Productivity Improvement Research Articles

Lean Six Sigma and Productivity Improvement in a Metalworking Company’s Mining Equipment Repair Service

El artículo aborda el estudio de una propuesta de mejora de la productividad de una empresa metalmecánica mediante la implementación de la metodología Lean Six Sigma (LSS). El objetivo es reducir los defectos de reparación de los componentes de maquinaria pesada para la actividad minera. El estudio describe el proceso de simulación a partir de los datos originales con la finalidad de plantear un límite de nivel de defectos, metas de eficacia y eficiencia para lograr un mejor nivel de productividad. Se aplicaron las etapas del sistema DMAIC para definir el problema de productividad en la reparación de los componentes pertenecientes a la categoría V. A partir de los datos originales, se obtuvo un Cp de 0.91 y un Cpk de −0.64. En la simulación se utilizaron las herramientas Kanban y Heinjunka, lo que dio como resultado un Cp de 1.09 y un Cpk de 0.95. El estudio concluye que la metodología LSS es viable y beneficiosa para las empresas metalmecánicas.

Implementation of Productivity Improvement Techniques in Wood Industry

Abstract: In Industries, it is very important to save time and money in manufacturing products, because there is lots of competition in the industrial world. The main objective of this study is to improve productivity of the wood industry by implementing different types of productivity improvement techniques such as 5S, Lean Manufacturing, JIT, TQM, 6 Sigma, Kanban, Jidoka and PDCA, etc. Improvement can be done by above techniques and by observing the working process cycle and study of the machineries, time study, identifying the problems during process, process analysis, study of inventory management process, and make the solution on the based problems. The purpose of this study is to eliminate the wastes and reduce the idle times in industry.

Economic Growth Determinants in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis Using ARDL Model

The objective of this study is to examine the determinants that affect Pakistan’s economic growth. The study examines the causal relationship between economic determinants and growth from 1972 to 2021. Key determinants in the model include physical capital stock, employed labour force, bank credit, human capital, exports, and imports. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used to fulfil the research objectives. The study found long-term co-integration between the variables. Both physical capital and human capital were found to be statistically significant, positively affecting economic growth. Thus, both are complimentary to economic growth rather than substitutes. The study noted that employed labour force, bank credit, exports, and imports did not affect economic expansion. It suggests that neither import substitution nor export promotion is effective in achieving sustainable growth in the period of study. Furthermore, an increase in the employed labour force is not sufficient for economic growth after controlling for the effect of human capital. Results suggest that improvement in infrastructure and human capital productivity are essential to achieve sustainable growth.

Improving an agroforestry system with livestock in southern Brazil

Agroforestry systems hold significant environmental and cultural value but are yet to receive economic valorisation. In southern Brazil there is a centuries old agroforestry system called Caíva which is classified as a silvopastoral system, combining native trees, cattle herds and pastures. Caívas occupy significant land area and contribute to priceless forest conservation, maintaining rare and threatened trees, but challenges of legal insecurity, low economic yield and ineffective management are threatening the preservation of caívas. To address these challenges, the Agricultural Research and Rural Extension Company of Santa Catarina State (Epagri) began conducting research in 2006 to develop technologies that would increase productivity while maintaining forest cover. Their technology has shown promising results, increasing animal production by up to 400% while still maintaining the tree stratum and active forest regeneration. Epagri’s technologies are based on five activities: the selection of adapted perennial pastures, planting improved pastures without soil disturbance, soil liming and annual fertilisation, rotational grazing, and overseeding with ryegrass and clover during the autumn/winter period. By adopting Epagri's technologies, caíva owners can increase their income, maintain active forest regeneration, and ensure legal certainty over their properties. These strategies are primarily applicable to open and very open caívas, and it is recommended that other types of caívas be used for the preservation and provision of ecosystem services. Research on caivas improvement has shown multiple benefits, emphasising the importance of continued investment in research and development, to further valorise agroforestry systems. It is essential, however, to balance these productive improvements with the maintenance of permanent preservation areas and mixed ombrophilous forest landscapes.

Metal‐Oxo Electronic Tuning via In Situ CO Decoration for Promoting Methane Conversion to Oxygenates over Single‐Atom Catalysts

AbstractDirect methane conversion (DMC) to oxygenates at low temperature is of great value but remains challenging due to the high energy barrier for C−H bond activation. Here, we report that in situ decoration of Pd1‐ZSM‐5 single atom catalyst (SAC) by CO molecules significantly promoted the DMC reaction, giving the highest turnover frequency of 207 h−1 ever reported at room temperature and ~100 % oxygenates selectivity with H2O2 as oxidant. Combined characterizations and DFT calculations illustrate that the C‐atom of CO prefers to coordinate with Pd1, which donates electrons to the Pd1−O active center (L−Pd1−O, L=CO) generated by H2O2 oxidation. The correspondingly improved electron density over Pd−O pair renders a favorable heterolytic dissociation of C−H bond with low energy barrier of 0.48 eV. Applying CO decoration strategy to M1‐ZSM‐5 (M=Pd, Rh, Ru, Fe) enables improvement of oxygenates productivity by 3.2–11.3 times, highlighting the generalizability of this method in tuning metal‐oxo electronic structure of SACs for efficient DMC process.

Agronomical performance of wheat crops (Triticum spp) subjected to Bacillus treatments in field environmental conditions

The prolonged use of pesticides in wheat cultivation has raised environmental and human health concerns. In this context, biological products have emerged as a viable alternative, with Bacillus sp. microorganisms standing out for their capacity for biological control and plant growth promotion. This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance of wheat subjected to treatments with different Bacillus strains under field conditions. The experiment conducted demonstrated that the association of certain Bacillus strains led to a significant increase in wheat root dry biomass, indicating potential for improvements in vegetative development and crop productivity. These results underscore the importance of microorganisms in agriculture as a sustainable alternative to pesticide use and highlight the need for further research to explore the full potential of these organisms in wheat production. This study contributes to advancing knowledge on the use of biological products in agriculture and suggests new directions for future research.

The Impact of Industrial Robots on the Sustainable Development of Zombie Firms in China

Utilizing panel data from listed Chinese manufacturing companies spanning the period from 2011 to 2018, this paper investigates the impact of industrial-robot applications on the resurgence of zombie firms. The fixed-effects-estimation results reveal that a 1% increase in industrial-robot utilization corresponds to a 0.49% rise in the revival rate of financially distressed entities. The paper underscores the instrumental role of industrial robots in fostering the sustainable development of zombie firms, emphasizing improvements in capital returns, labor productivity, and overall factor productivity. Heterogeneity analysis further highlights the varied influences of geographical location, capital intensity, and pollution emissions on this relationship. This paper contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the crucial role played by industrial automation in revitalizing struggling enterprises within the Chinese manufacturing landscape.

Appraising the role of energy conservation and emission reduction policy for eco-friendly productivity improvements: An entropy-balancing DID approach

In pursuit of low-carbon and high-quality economic development, the Chinese government has implemented an energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) policy. It has piloted this policy for three groups of prefecture-level cities since 2011. So far, there is no systematic evidence to demonstrate whether such a strategy can help China achieve a “win-win” situation between energy conservation and environmental protection. To identify the causal effect of the ECER policy on eco-friendly productivity (EFP), we explore variations in the timing of this policy across cities combined with the entropy-balancing method and assemble a balanced panel dataset encompassing China's 283 cities from 2006 to 2017. Empirical findings demonstrate that EFP in the ECER pilot cities had increased by 15.3% on average compared with EFP in non-ECER pilot regions based on the difference-in-differences framework. Notably, the ECER policy generates significant positive spatial spillover effects on surrounding ECER pilot regions. Our channel analysis confirms that the positive effect of the ECER policy is also realized through energy savings, structural effects, and green technological effects. Moreover, the observed effect is significantly heterogeneous regarding geographical locations, resource endowment, whether a city has an old industrial base, and environmental regulation. Finally, several policy implications concerning China's ECER policy and EFP improvement are put forward.

Exploring productivity improvement consulting operation cases and development directions to foster the composite mold industry

Exploring productivity improvement consulting operation cases and development directions to foster the composite mold industry

Analysis of the performance of the General Secretariat with the Ballance Scorecard approach at the Ministry of Home Affairs

Efficient and effective governance is critical to ensuring good public services and achieving development goals. The Secretariat General is a very crucial part of every ministry that is responsible for supporting the management and administration of the ministry. The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of the Secretariat General of the Ministry of Home Affairs using the Balance Scorecard approach. This research uses qualitative research methods. Research data were obtained through interviews, observations, and documentation. The data obtained was then analyzed with the Balance Scorecard. The results showed significant improvements in the performance of the General Secretariat. The financial aspect shows positive growth in financial and asset management. From a customer perspective, service to stakeholders has improved. The internal process aspect recorded improvements in operational efficiency and productivity. Finally, from a growth and learning perspective, employee training and development initiatives and the application of information technology have strengthened organizational capacity.

A Model generation method and iteration algorithm for optimising fire protection thickness

With temperatures rising above 1000 °C within 5 min, hydrocarbon fire causes rapid strength degradation of structural steel members. It is among the most dangerous hazards, such as boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE) in the oil and gas industry. Intumescent coating as passive protection is widely adopted to prevent the steel structure from material property reduction. However, when optimising fire protection with heat transfer simulation, repetitive modelling work and lacking recalculation principle hinder productivity improvement. This method is developed to generate steel beam models and provides an effective algorithm to optimise coating thickness considering the temperature of a specific region. The main functions of the method include:•Providing section dimensions, initial insulation thickness, target temperature and heating time, temperature allowance and mesh size as variables.•Automatically generating the Abaqus steel beam model under 3-side heating conditions.•Effective iteration algorithm to modify fire protection thickness: test containing 38 Universal beam sections with a 5 °C allowance below target shows that 55.2% were completed within five iterations and 76.3% were completed within eight iterations.

Description of the Life Cycle Stages of the Parasitic Cymothoid, Cymothoa indica Schioedte and Meinert, 1884, and Its Prevalence in Commercial Fishes from Chilika Lagoon, India.

To study the morphology of all the life stages and the life cycle of the parasitic isopod Cymothoa indicaSchioedte and Meinert, 1884, and its prevalence in different commercial fishes in the Chilika Lagoon, India. From April 2021 to December 2022, different life stages of the said parasites were collected from five different fish species from four localities of the Chilika Lagoon. The parasites were carefully removed from the host with a pair of forceps and then identified following standard literature and description. The morphology of all life stages, life cycle, and prevalence of the isopod C. indica were carried out as per the standard protocol. A total of 1252 host fishes were analysed. The total prevalence was 44.5%. The host with the highest prevalence of C. indica was Glossogobius giuris, with 58.79% of the hosts parasitized by at least one parasite individual. Followed by the host Datnoides polota (50.98%), Johnius dussumieri (46.25%), Etroplus suratensis (28.45%) and the least prevalence was in Lates calcarifer (14.70%). The description of the life stages is based on the observation of 523 females, 116 males, 46 Juveniles, and 50 embryonic stages of the said parasites. The description of all the life stages and life cycles certainly helps to identify this species with clarity and ease in understanding the species' biology. In future, this study may be helpful in the effective management towards the improvement of aquaculture productivity.

Work Productivity and General Health Through 2 Years of Guselkumab Treatment in a Phase 3 Randomized Trial of Patients With Active Psoriatic Arthritis.

To evaluate the effect of guselkumab on work productivity and nonwork daily activity impairment and general health status through 2years in patients who were biologic-naïve with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the phase 3 DISCOVER-2 clinical trial. Adult patients with PsA were randomized to subcutaneous injections of guselkumab 100mg every 4weeks (Q4W); at weeks 0, 4, then every 8 weeks (Q8W); or placebo (throughweek 24 with crossoverto guselkumab Q4W). Work productivity and nonwork daily activity impairment were assessed using the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire for PsA (WPAI-PsA) and patient-reported general health status using the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) Index and EQ-Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS). Least-squares (LS) mean changes from baseline in WPAI-PsA domains and EQ-5D-5L/EQ-VAS were assessed through week 100. Changes in employment status were utilized to estimate potential indirect savings from improved work productivity. Of 739 randomized patients, 738 had available baseline data for the analyses (Q4W 245; Q8W 248; placebo 245). At week 24, greater improvements in work productivity, nonwork daily activity, and EQ-5D-5L/EQ-VAS were observed in the Q4W and Q8W groups versus the placebo group. At week 100, LS mean reductions in work productivity impairment (- 23.8% to - 28.0%) and nonwork daily activity impairment (- 26.6% to - 29.2%) and improvements in EQ-5D-5L/EQ-VAS (0.14 to 0.15/21.2 to 25.0) were maintained in patients receiving guselkumab. Among patients employed at baseline, 12.1-16.4% were not employed at week 100, and 20.0-25.3% shifted from not employed at baseline to employed at week 100. Potential yearly indirect cost savings (USD) from improved work productivity at week 100 ranged from $16,529 to $19,409. Patients with active PsA treated with guselkumab demonstrated reduced impairment in work productivity and nonwork daily activity, together with improvement in general health status and substantial potential cost savings, over a 2-year period. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03158285.

Typology of sheep farmers benefited by the Program for the Improvement of indigenous Production and Productivity

Objective: To identify the typology and describe the sheep farmers benefited by the Programa para el Mejoramiento de la Producción y Productividad Indígena (PROIN: Program for the Improvement of Indigenous Production and Productivity) of the Instituto Nacional de Pueblos Indígenas (INPI: National Institute for Indigenous Peoples), in Campeche. Design/Methodology/Approach: One-hundred ninety-nine sheep farmers registered as beneficiaries in the Program were interviewed. They belonged to 27 sheep farms (SF), located in seven municipalities. A questionnaire including socioeconomic and technical questions and 15 quantitative and qualitative variables was conducted. Variables were correlated and a principal components analysis was carried out to define types of farms. The variables that explained the highest variability in the data set were number of sheep, number of sheep sold per year, annual income from sheep sales, productive purpose of the sheep farming, and feeding system. These variables were then used to perform a cluster analysis in order to identify and cluster the sheep farms. Results: Three groups of farmers were identified: Conventional (C, 74%) with 70 sheep and annual sales for $10,109.00; Transitional (T, 15%) with 169 sheep and annual sales for $36,680.00; and those in business (B, 11%) with 142 sheep and annual sales for $48,443.00. All the producers (100%) carry out extensive grazing. The breeds used by C and T are Pelibuey × Black Belly (78%), while B uses Pelibuey × Kathadin (21.7%). Study Limitations/Implications: Implemented support strategies must differentiate according to the type of farm. Findings/Conclusions: Three types of sheep farmers were identified: Conventional, Transitional, and Enterprise. Farmer types were differentiated by the number of sheep, sales, income, sheep production system, and feeding system they use.

Application of lean for early identification and avoidance of disputes in construction projects

Purpose The dispute resolution process in the construction industry is known for delays in settlement, with some cases even escalating to complex arbitration and litigation. To avoid conflicts turning into disputes, the parties need to be proactive in identifying and resolving conflicts in their nascent stages. It is here that innovative lean construction practices can potentially act as a game-changer to avoid disputes, and this study aims to attempt to understand this phenomenon empirically. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire-based empirical study, followed by semi-structured interviews, is conducted to understand the relevance of key tenets of lean principles in dispute avoidance. Findings Although stakeholders agree on the usefulness and practicality of lean principles in dispute avoidance, the extent of agreement is lesser when it comes to its implementation practicality. Moreover, there is a demographic influence observed on lean tenets such as “open communication”, “stakeholder collaboration” and “constraint identification”. Practical implications The results point towards an approach that combines contractual mandate, training and awareness creation to iron out the differences in the usefulness and practicality of lean approaches to avoid disputes. Originality/value Lean implementation is widely discussed in many construction contexts, such as sustainability, productivity improvement and planning. However, a discussion on lean philosophy’s role in dispute avoidance is muted. Therefore, this study assumes significance.

Artificial Intelligence and Productivity Improvement in the Digital Economy

The digital economy and AI development have significantly revolutionized diverse sectors, profoundly influencing productivity. Focusing on agriculture and the artificial fiber manufacturing industry, this paper scrutinizes the impact of AI on productivity in these domains. By methodically analyzing prevalent literature, research studies, industry reports, and case studies, this investigation aims to elucidate how AI has heightened productivity within these sectors. The results exhibit substantial enhancements in resource optimization, yield enhancement, quality control, and efficiency resulting from the implementation of AI. Furthermore, the subsequent sections of discussion and conclusion elucidate these findings, emphasizing the potential advantages and enduring challenges concerning AI’s assimilation to ameliorate productivity within the digital economy.

Research on the Impact of Sci-Tech Finance on Industrial TFP

The improvement of industrial Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is the basis for the high-quality development of China’s economy. Sci-tech finance affects industrial TFP through screening and allocation mechanism, governance mechanism, and integration mechanism. Based on provincial panel data from 2009 to 2016, this paper constructs a comprehensive index of regional Sci-tech finance and explores the impact of Sci-tech finance on industrial TFP from two perspectives: differences in financial development levels and transmission paths. The results show that Sci-tech finance has a significant role in promoting the industrial TFP, but this promotion needs to meet certain financial development conditions. In high-level financial development areas, the promotion effect is significant. It is not linear. The effect is a threshold effect with the diminishing marginal efficiency. Sci-tech finance mainly promotes industrial TFP through boosting the industry’s scientific and technological innovation capacity. Policies and channels of Sci-tech finance to support science and technology innovation are put forward.

GREEN TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY MISMEASUREMENT WITHOUT CONSIDERING INTANGIBLES: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

This paper aims to re-estimate green total factor productivity (GTFP) with the consideration of intangible capital in Chinese provinces between 2003 and 2017. Intangible capital is broadly defined and categorized into computerized information, innovative property and economic competency property. The finding suggests that the conventional GTFP is underestimated especially during the post-financial crisis period in China. It is also found that technical efficiency, which shows the trend of deterioration without capitalizing intangibles, improves steadily and jointly with technological progress contributing to the improvement of productivity. The mismeasurement of GTFP is more severe in developed regions in China where intangible investment is more emphasized. Furthermore, regional GTFP shows the trend of convergence after intangible capital is incorporated and the rate of convergence turns to be faster in coastal regions than that in the interior.

Industrial Process Management Model to Improve Productivity and Reduce Waste

One of the challenges facing operations management is the design, choice, and implementation of action plans adapted to the magnitude of the deviations from the variables of an industrial process. Making conscious and quick decisions is crucial to achieving improvements in productivity. This will be achieved if the organization’s internal and external communication model is strategically designed, considering specific cultural factors and the symmetry or asymmetry required in the communication model. However, how do we organize ourselves and through what channels do we communicate within a production process to generate Big Data that combines data from technologies and the perception, comprehension, and projection of experienced humans? Our hypothesis suggests that the implementation of our model generates a continuous improvement system that could provide significant benefits to the company by connecting management with the place where the work happens (Gemba), streamlining multiple processes, thereby fostering sustainability. The developed model, “Group Situational Awareness Model”, was implemented in an operations management team, following the guidelines of an action researcher methodology. This resulted in the design of an operations management model and a detailed methodology for its implementation, achieving significant improvements in the metrics of the current process, making it a success story.

Genome streamlining to improve performance of a fast-growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that have garnered significant recognition as potential hosts for sustainable bioproduction. However, their complex regulatory networks pose significant challenges to major metabolic engineering efforts, thereby limiting their feasibility as production hosts. Genome streamlining has been demonstrated to be a successful approach for improving productivity and fitness in heterotrophs but is yet to be explored to its full potential in phototrophs. Here, we present the systematic reduction of the genome of the cyanobacterium exhibiting the fastest exponential growth, Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973. This work, the first of its kind in a photoautotroph, involved an iterative process using state-of-the-art genome-editing technology guided by experimental analysis and computational tools. CRISPR-Cas3 enabled large, progressive deletions of predicted dispensable regions and aided in the identification of essential genes. The large deletions were combined to obtain a strain with 55-kb genome reduction. The strains with streamlined genome showed improvement in growth (up to 23%) and productivity (by 22.7%) as compared to the wild type (WT). This streamlining strategy not only has the potential to develop cyanobacterial strains with improved growth and productivity traits but can also facilitate a better understanding of their genome-to-phenome relationships.IMPORTANCEGenome streamlining is an evolutionary strategy used by natural living systems to dispense unnecessary genes from their genome as a mechanism to adapt and evolve. While this strategy has been successfully borrowed to develop synthetic heterotrophic microbial systems with desired phenotype, it has not been extensively explored in photoautotrophs. Genome streamlining strategy incorporates both computational predictions to identify the dispensable regions and experimental validation using genome-editing tool, and in this study, we have employed a modified strategy with the goal to minimize the genome size to an extent that allows optimal cellular fitness under specified conditions. Our strategy has explored a novel genome-editing tool in photoautotrophs, which, unlike other existing tools, enables large, spontaneous optimal deletions from the genome. Our findings demonstrate the effectiveness of this modified strategy in obtaining strains with streamlined genome, exhibiting improved fitness and productivity.