Machine Building Companies Research Articles

Information openness in the sphere of environment protection as a factor of sustainability of machine-building companies

The research is devoted to the issues of information openness of machine-building companies in the sphere of environment protection. The contemporary state of environmental legal awareness calls for the need to consciously opt for environmentally-effective enterprises, which refers equally to consumers, investors, partners, and governmental bodies. The research objective is to reveal the contemporary state of disclosing environment information in enterprises’ open sources. To achieve the set goal, 14 leading machine-building companies were selected and their annual reports were studied as public sources of the company information. The comparative analysis of empirical documents allowed identifying the best practices in the sphere of disclosing environmental information by the Russian machine-building sector.

Formation the management methodology for developing an export potential of the EAEU machine-building enterprises

This paper considers the necessity to form a method of the develop of an export potential of machine building companies in the EAEU conditions. A new production processes model, the so-called digital manufacturing, offers enterprises a wide range of modified tools for stimulation of an export potential. The research focused on formation of the method of the developing of an export potential among machine builders, and the studding tasks and main stages of the management of an export potential. New method should take into account not only the trends and socio-economic level of development of states with different living and economic conditions, but also the specifics of machine-building enterprises and the features of their products.

SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO MANAGING OF QUALITY COSTS OF MACHINE-BUILDING COMPANIES

In order to achieve the goals of minimizing costs and efficiency of management decisions it is important to recognize the significance of quality cost management at the machine-building enterprises in the context of the economic transformation efforts in Ukraine as well as the crisis phenomena in politics and the economy of the country. The transition of machine-building enterprises to the new technical requirements for products in the form of technical regulations, international standards and the standards of the country of the customer to maintain the competitiveness of products has led to the need for significant investment in production. The growth of specific requirements for quality management systems in the world automotive industry also has created the need for the introduction of new rules in the quality management system of national machine-building enterprises in this sector.National machine-building enterprises of the automobile industry are the object of the analysis in the field of the approaches to the management of quality costs. The analysis of scientific and practical aspects of monitoring and quality cost management is the basis for improving methodological approaches to the management of quality costs. The scientific approaches to the classification of quality costs at machine-building enterprises were considered. The analysis of the use of the classical cost-benefit model for the quality calles Prevention-Appraisal-Failure (PAF) and the cost-division of costs for machine-building enterprises according to four groups (costs for preventive actions, costs for evaluation and control, internal costs due to defects and failures, external costs due to defects and failures) was carried out. Elements of cost groups for quality were also identified. The conclusions on the difficulties of machine-building enterprises in determining the number of elements of cost for quality for the purposes of monitoring and management as well as obtaining benefits were made.The results of monitoring and managing of quality costs of machine-building companies were analyzed. A comparison of the distribution of costs for quality at the enterprises with a relative specific weight of quality costs of the average enterprise was done. The basic tendencies of the distribution of quality costs according to the classification of groups of costs elements in the quality management system of automotive companies were determined. A tendency for a significant advantage of the cost of preventive actions and the assessment and control of losses from internal and external defects was found. Conclusions on the positive impact of the received cost allocation by groups on the reduction of losses from external and internal nonconformities during the period of changes in technical requirements and requirements for quality management system in the automotive industry were made. The possible influence of distribution of quality costs on the competitive advantages of products was also established.

The Share of Russian Energy Machine Building Companies in the Structure of Global Installed Capacity

The Share of Russian Energy Machine Building Companies in the Structure of Global Installed Capacity

ACCUMULATION AND FULFILMENT OF THE HUMAN CAPITAL POTENTIAL IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN THE ECONOMIC SECURITY

The research work considers the essence and features of human capital accumulation at the company level in order to provide its economic security. The main components of intellectual capital in the format of human, organizational and customer capital have been studied. The managerial rationality of using the method of direct evaluation of intellectual capital and the method based on market capitalization has been proved. Both methods give the greatest organizational effect in providing economic security. The empirical study of using the quantitative assessment of human capital of a machine-building company has been carried out in order to strengthen its economic security

Decomposition based extended project scheduling for make-to-order production

Project scheduling has a critical function for many companies. Although there is a vast literature dedicated to the development of solution methodologies, the real-life applications of those techniques are few and often require over-simplification of the real-life problem. This study deals with the implementation of a project scheduling routine for a “make-to-order” machinery manufacturer. Although the problem is very similar to a resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP), which is a well-known and well-studied problem in the literature, it has multi-project and multi-mode components which make the project planning more challenging. Because of the multi-dimensional complexity of the problem, it is called a “Rich Project Scheduling Problem”. Our approach employs two techniques to deal with the issue of complexity. The first one is regarding calculation of the latest start time for each activity in the project. The second one is the decomposition method that includes breaking down the big problem into small manageable pieces. The approach was tested on real-life problems of a machine-building company. We also built more complex test cases from the real projects for testing purposes. Our approach produced high-quality solutions to the complex project scheduling problems within reasonable time limits. This work contributes to current research in several ways. An extension to the RCPSP formulation to include multi-project and multi-mode problems is introduced and successfully used for solving real-life problems. Additionally, activities of an RCPSP can be split into multiple sub-activities. Doing so is called preemption. The proposed formulation permits mode-switching during the execution of an activity, and it uses an alternative methodology to calculate latest activity start times.

Principal issues of innovation activity development at machine building companies

The article is dedicated to the principal issues of innovation activity development at machine building companies. It considers a method to create a portfolio of innovative solutions, whose implementation would allow the company to solve the issues and increase competitiveness of the company’s products.

Management of Business Development for Machine-Building Companies in the Frame of integrated Corporate Structures

The article considers the stage process of a machine-building enterprise modernization management, the enterprise being a part of an integrated corporate structure, in response to the demand for an economic and technological breakthrough. The topicality of the study is determined by the problems of technical and process design renewal of the Russian industry, the lack of investment support of modernization programs in the production sector, and the development of new forms of public demand typical for the innovative economy. The authors have substantiated the role of economic integration processes in the development and modernization of machine-building enterprises based on the synergetic paradigm. The paper identifies and characterizes the stages of modernization management processes taking into account the mission and strategic goals of the enterprise development. The research has covered theoretical and methodological works of domestic and foreign scientists on the problems of economic integration and best practices of creating big integrated corporate structures. Modernization is considered as a set of measures aimed at improving the production and economic activities of enterprises participating in integrated corporate structures in order to ensure sustainable economic efficiency. Moreover, the paper identifies the factors preventing the sustainable development of domestic machine-building industry. A number of problems facing machine-building enterprises during the crisis period can be successfully overcome by them within the frame of integrated corporate structures which are entrusted with a leading role in the development and modernization of the machine-building complex. Among other things, the formation of such structures is aimed at the innovative development and creation of various types of knowledge-intensive industries with greater value added. The paper presents the mechanism for managing the modernization of enterprises within the frame of integrated corporate structures. Priority areas of investments in the implementation of modernization projects are proposed to be determined not only on the basis of the expected economic effect, but also taking into account the potential of the entities under modernization. The approach proposed by the author for managing the modernization of the enterprise within the frame of integrated corporate structures can be used both at the enterprises of the machine-building industry and the industrial complex as a whole in the context of improving the efficiency of the management system. The practical implementation of modernization measures will enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, increase their investment attractiveness and switch them to a higher level of economic sustainability with a focus on achieving the maximum impact in all spheres of activity.

The relevance and efficiency analysis of functioning the scientific technical library at industrial enterprises

The article is devoted to consideration of the scientific technical library activity relevance and efficiency on the base of a large nuclear machine building company (JSC «Afrikantov OKBM»). The article objective is to determine the current level of the scientific technical library functioning, to assess compliance with stated mission, aims, objectives and best practices, as well as to identify problems, employees’ wishes and expectations for claimed issue and to define areas for further library development. The study was carried on by empirical methods through direct and indirect interviews and questionnaries of parties concerned. The results analysis was done using well-known scientific methods (grouping, classification, analysis, synthesis, etc.) based on process, complex functional and system approaches. The research showed that the library of the industrial company was in demand, and its quality, in general, met the consumers’ expectations, but there were certain problem areas that should be improved. The article examines general trends of libraries development in Russia and abroad, existing gaps, as well as scientific technical libraries features specific for industrial companies. The conclusions are based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of relevance and quality of the library activity on key characteristics (efficiency criteria) formulated in ISO 11620:1998 «Library performance indicators». The list of problem areas in terms of library work organizational and services provision is defined as a result. At the same time, the problem areas are considered as «development areas», which solution will increase the library activity demand and efficiency. The customers and stakeholders satisfaction will be grown by implementing scientific, technical and organizational measures.

The Determination of Noxes Emissions in Case of Manual Arc Welding Process with Coated Electrode

The occupational risk assessment of a machine building company must cover each activity and workstation, taking into account each component of the production system (work system), each workload, work equipment and the work environment. This assessment is an extremely complicated and complex issue since the production system of such an enterprise is particularly complex and complicated. Welding assembly is a highly polluting technology process, especially of the atmosphere and soil. The formation of gases in the welding process is the result of burning of the electrodes, powders, forming the molten metal bath and making the weld seam. Welding operators are exposed to smoke and toxic gases resulting from the welding process, which can in many cases be hazardous to health. Many acute intoxications that may be caused by excessive exposure to or short exposure to smoke and gas resulting from the welding process have been studied over time. In the paper are presented the elements of risk related to the welding process and the most widespread occupational diseases that can occur in the ranges of the welding operators. The following are presented the noxious emissions from welding and are determined by a practical method the emission of noxious at welding deposition of a welding sample, using the manual arc welding process with coated electrode.

Economic efficiency of environmental management system operation in industrial companies

The article examines the issue of the efficiency of the environmental management system (EMS) implementation in the Russian machine-building companies. The analysis showed that Russia clearly lags behind other developed and developing countries in terms of the number of ISO 14001 certified companies. According to the authors, the main cause of weak system implementation activity is attributed to the lack of interest in ISO 14001 certification on the Russian market. Five-year primary (field) research aimed at the analysis of the environmental priorities of the civilians suggests that the image component of the economic benefits ensures the increase in economic and financial performance of the company due to the increase in customers’ loyalty to the products of the EMS adopter. To quantify economic benefits obtained from EMS implementation, a methodological approach with regard to the image component and the decrease in semi-fixed costs due to the increase in the production scale has been developed. This approach has been tested in a machine-building electrical equipment manufacturer in Ekaterinburg. This approach applied to data processing yields the conclusion that EMS gives a good additional competitive advantage to its adopters.

Improving Performance Of Industrial Enterprises With CGT

At the present day, a falling in the overall level of efficiency production activities, especially in the machine-building companies makes it necessary to development various actions in the State support, including through the creation consolidated taxation system. Such support will help improve efficiency of activity not only the industrial companies, but also will allow improve economic and social situation in regions where often large engineering factories is city-forming.

Trends of development of agricultural tractors’ designs

On materials of the Agrosalon 2014 exhibition, which has assembled leading domestic and foreign machine building companies, trends of development of agricultural tractors’ designs are considered.

The Government Support Provided to the Ukrainian Machine Building Companies for their Innovative Development

The Government Support Provided to the Ukrainian Machine Building Companies for their Innovative Development

A web-based platform for mass customisation and personalisation

The currently widespread mass customisation paradigm greatly affects the planning and operation of manufacturing networks. The increasing need towards customised products in combination with the volatile product demand calls for efficient ways to design and plan manufacturing network configurations. The work discussed in this paper aims at enabling a mass customisation and personalisation implementation, by engaging the customer in the design of unique products and by enabling the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to efficiently plan manufacturing and transportation activities of highly customised products by exploiting an innovative decentralised manufacturing approach. The suggested method, which is implemented into a web-based platform consists of (a) the “User Adaptive Design System” (UADS), focused on providing user-friendly design tools that allow unique product design changes, in a constrained way, (b) the “Decentralised Manufacturing Platform” (DEMAP) that allows the generation, evaluation and selection of manufacturing/transportation network alternatives, and (c) the “Environmental Assessment Module” (EAM) that assesses through simulation the environmental footprint of the alternative network configurations. The applicability of the suggested architecture is validated through its pilot installation to a European automotive manufacturer and a CNC machine building company.

Strip casting experiences at MEFOS

Continuous casting of flat products today is a mature technique for production of steel semis with an as-cast thickness of 200 mm. At present, the thin slab casting is developed to the extent of casting and in-line rolling of strips with a thickness of 1–2 mm. Up to now, it is reported that 27 thin slab production lines are under construction or in operation. The strip-casting technique is the next generation of production lines for steel to be developed for production of flat products. There are 2 main directions in the development of strip casting. The 1st is the twin roll casting technique, which so far has concentrated its efforts on production of stainless steel strips. The 2nd is the single-belt casting technique (DSC – Direct Strip Casting) which is aiming for high production volumes of flat products with the necessary hot reduction possibility to receive good material properties.The development of strip casting at MEFOS started in the late 80s with the joint efforts of a Nordic group of steel companies. The aim of the project was to built up know-how in the field of strip casting by the erection and operation of a strip caster at MEFOS. After a 1-year prestudy, the single-belt casting technique was chosen. The German machine-building company, Mannesmann Demag Metallurgy, and the Nordic consortium had complementary interests, and in 1991, a co-operation agreement was signed in the field of strip casting. At MEFOS, the emphasis is focused on the industrial application of casting 870 mm wide strips, while the focus of the development at Technical University of Clausthal (TUC) is devoted to casting and in-line rolling. Based on the potential of the process and the promising results obtained in the research facilities, the industrial partners are now in the position to decide on building a demonstration caster in a steel plant.

Implementation processes of new technologies—Management objectives and interests

This paper deals with the significance which the implementation processes of new technologies hold for the design of work and work organization. The article investigates the process of implementing a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) in a West German machine building company. It is shown that the implementation process is determined primarily by technical and economic criteria, while work organization and manpower policy play a subordinate role. This has the effect of stabilizing and deepening the existing division of labour within the plant. This situation is to a large extent conditioned by the different interests within the given company's management. In the long run the situation might severely restrict the previous task scope on the shop floor and lead to an erosion of skilled work. In conclusion, the article clarifies what criteria should determine implementation processes in order for skilled work to be secured on the shop floor.