Manufacturing Activities Research Articles

Towards a novel application of wastewater-based epidemiology in population-wide assessment of exposure to volatile organic compounds

In this study, we investigated the feasibility of detecting 35 urinary biomarkers of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposure in community wastewater. 24-h composited municipal wastewater samples were collected from two communities (n = 8) in the southeastern US. Using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, results showed 16 metabolites were detected in wastewater samples, including indicators of exposure to acrolein, acrylonitrile, 1,3-butadiene, crotonaldehyde, n,n-dimethylformamide (DMF), ethylbenzene, nicotine, propylene oxide, styrene, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, and xylene. Additional metabolites qualitatively identified exposure to acrylamide and trichloroethylene. Community 1 (closer proximity to manufacturing facilities) had a greater number of detects (n = 36) and higher VOC loadings, 22,000 mg day−1 per 1000 people, as compared to Community 2 (n = 28), 7100 mg day−1 per 1000 people. Normalizing to nicotine consumption biomarkers to account for differences in smoking behaviors, Community 1 continued to have higher levels of propylene oxide, crotonaldehyde, DMF, and acrylonitrile exposures, VOCs generally sourced from manufacturing activities and vehicle emissions. This is the first study to utilize wastewater to detect urinary biomarkers of VOCs exposure. These preliminary results suggest the WBE approach as a potentially powerful tool to assess community health exposures to indoor and outdoor air pollutants.

The Impact of External Stakeholders’ Pressures on the Intention to Adopt Environmental Management Practices and the Moderating Effects of Firm Size

SMEs in the food manufacturing sector represent a considerable proportion of mainstream businesses in Malaysia. The changes in the lifestyles of Malaysians have led to increased demand for convenience and processed foods, which has led to a growing number of food manufacturing establishments in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the expansion in the food manufacturing sector is followed by a rise in environmental issues. Therefore, to mitigate the impact of food manufacturing activities on the environment, one of the best possible solutions is to implement environmental management practices (EMPs). SMEs may encounter varying levels of pressure from customers, regulatory bodies, and the social community regarding environmental behavior and compliance. This study used the Stakeholder theory to develop the research model. The first objective of this study is to determine the effect of SMEs’ external stakeholders, including customer pressure, regulatory pressure, and social community pressure, on food manufacturing SMEs’ intention to adopt EMPs. The second objective is to test the effect of firm size as a moderating variable. A structured questionnaire was administered to 367 food manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. The findings reveal that the SMEs’ intention to adopt EMPs was significantly related to customer, regulatory, and social community pressures. The study also discovered that firm size only moderated the relationship between customer pressure and the intention to adopt EMPs. The results provided a more robust understanding of the effect of external factors on SMEs’ intentions toward EMPs. Policymakers are recommended to carefully consider those factors to encourage more SMEs to adopt EMPs. SMEs should cultivate a learning and innovative culture to successfully embrace EMPs in a changing business environment.

Does Manufacturing Sector Output Significantly Predict Economic Growth in Nigeria?

The predictive power of the manufacturing output on growth is a topical issue, especially with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on global manufacturing and economic activities. As such, this study examines how Nigeria’s manufacturing output can be observed in estimating economic growth. The ARDL model and OLS technique were employed in our assessments, and quarterly data was sourced from the CBN statistical bulletin for 2019 and the NBS annual report from 2010Q1 to 2020Q4. The study finds that manufacturing output positively and significantly affects growth in Nigeria and therefore can significantly predict further economic growth and, by extension, recession in Nigeria. It also recommends the need to improve the ease of doing business and security, adjusting interest rates for manufacturers, stabilize the exchange rate, develop infrastructure, and increase interventions in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

Economic vulnerability in US metropolitan areas.

This paper examines various aspects of recent employment vulnerability in US metropolitan areas. Based on the three decades preceding COVID-19, an estimate is made of the volatility (sensitivity) in each area’s unemployment rate, relative to the national rate, and this reflects the area’s overall employment vulnerability to external events. Using the Brechling–Thirlwall time-series approach, the monthly change in each area’s unemployment rate is first compared to the monthly change in the nation’s unemployment rate. Regression analysis is then used to tie the volatility seen in those metropolitan unemployment rates to various initial conditions: degree of specialization in primary (+), manufacturing (+), and government (−) activities; initial unemployment (+); human-created (−) and natural amenities (+); real wages (−); self-employment (−); and the presence of major colleges or universities (−). An alternative specification reassesses these estimates after including the volatility of unemployment rates across the nation’s various states. A short discussion then addresses the issue of vulnerability in specific activities. Selecting four industries that were identified “at risk” during early COVID events, ranked employment specialization indices (LQs) are correlated with ranked volatility estimates of unemployment rates. In the more advanced economies, metropolitan areas typically specialize in, and trade across, different industries, but this specialization can create overall employment vulnerability.

Wire Harness Assembly Process Supported by Collaborative Robots: Literature Review and Call for R&D

The wire harness assembly process is a complicated manufacturing activity, which is becoming more complex because of the evolving nature of mechatronic and electronic products that require more connectors, sensors, controllers, communication networking, etc. Furthermore, the demand for wire harnesses continues to grow in all industries worldwide as the majority of equipment, appliances, machinery, vehicles, etc., are becoming “smart” (i.e., more mechatronic or electronic). Moreover, most of the wire harness assembly process tasks are done manually, and most of these are considered non-ergonomic for human assembly workers. Hence, the wire harness manufacturing industry is faced with the challenge of increasing productivity while improving the occupational health of its human assembly workers. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a literature review exploring the state of the use of collaborative robots in the wire harness assembly process due to their potential to reduce current occupational health problems for human assembly workers and increase the throughput of wire harness assembly lines, and to provide main findings, discussion, and further research directions for collaborative robotics in this application domain. Eleven papers were found in the scientific literature. All papers demonstrated the potential of collaborative robots to improve the productivity of wire harness assembly lines, and two of these in particular on the ergonomics of the wire harness assembly process. None of the papers reviewed presented a cost–benefit or a cycle time analysis to qualitatively and/or quantitatively measure the impact of the incorporation of collaborative robots in the wire harness assembly process. This represents an important area of opportunity for research with relevance to industry. Three papers remark on the importance of the integration of computer vision systems into a collaborative wire harness assembly process to make this more versatile as many types of wire harnesses exist. The literature review findings call for further research and technological developments in support of the wire harness manufacturing industry and its workers in four main categories: (i) Collaborative Robotics and Grippers, (ii) Ergonomics, (iii) Computer Vision Systems, and (iv) Implementation Methodologies.

Export Policy – Import And Related Parties In Letter Of Credit

International trade policy is carried out to stabilize the economy that occurs between several countries. International Trade with this Letter of Credit is a sale and purchase price agreement carried out before international trade activities. This study aims to find out how policies in export and import activities use a Letter of Credit and parties participating in import export activities. The use of the method in this study is to use the type of analysis method in a qualitative way based on data from several sites such as Emerald, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. We find that international trading has a positive impact, namely encouraging manufacturing activities, making economic growth increase, employment rates increasing, financial institutions gaining trust and domestic needs will be met. Based on the concept of national economic strategy, policies in conducting international trade are divided into two types. First, the policy of free trade. This policy explains if the government gives permission to carry out exports and imports without interference from various rules. This import-export activity has an influence on the competition between each country. Second, trade defense policy. This policy explains if there is government interference in export and import activities. This government intervention is to protect various sectors that carry out export and import activities in order to survive in international competition.

Managing virtual factory artifacts in the extended PLM context

Virtual engineering increases the rate of and diversity of models being created; hence requires maintenance in a product lifecycle management (PLM) system. This also induces the need to understand their creation contexts, known as historical or provenance information, to reuse the models in other engineering projects. PLM systems are specifically designed to manage product- and production-related data. However, they are less capable of handling the knowledge about the contexts of the models without an appropriate extension. Therefore, this research proposes an extension to PLM systems by designing a new information model to contain virtual models, their related data and knowledge generated from them through various engineering activities so that they can be effectively used to manage historical information related to all these virtual factory artifacts. Such an information model is designed to support a new Virtual Engineering ontology for capturing and representing virtual models and engineering activities, tightly integrated with an extended provenance model based on the W7 model. In addition, this paper presents how an application prototype, called Manage-Links, has been implemented with these extended PLM concepts and then used in several virtual manufacturing activities in an automotive company.

Biopharma Is Going Digital … Bit by Bit

Biopharma Is Going Digital … Bit by Bit

Hybrid metaheuristics for the integrated and detailed scheduling of production and delivery operations in no-wait flow shop systems

In today's complex business environment, the optimisation of operational processes is an essential factor for the survival of organisations. Many companies struggling to maintain competitiveness search for better operational methods and models to minimise costs and improve market service levels. In these companies, the coordination between manufacturing and logistics activities is critical. The integration and synchronisation of these activities are alternatives that companies require to improve their operational performance and, consequently, increase customer service levels. This article contributes to this approach by proposing and evaluating new heuristic methods to solve the problem of scheduling production and distribution operations in no-wait flow shop systems integrated with transportation systems which operate with different distribution strategies. Based on the assumption that the improvement in synchronisation and coordination of production and transportation operations minimises delivery times and increases service levels, we propose and evaluate heuristic methods for the problem. These heuristic methods implement scheduling algorithmic structures based on the iterated greedy (IG), iterated local search, simulated annealing (SA), and variable neighbourhood search metaheuristics, which jointly schedule manufacturing and transportation operations. In this context, the decision level is operational. The minimum total flow time is the main optimisation criterion. The problem studied herein is inspired on the real-life case of an electronic goods company. The analysis of the experimental results demonstrates the potential of these methods to solve the problem of different models of transportation. Specifically, the IGSA2 method obtained the best results, improving the quality of the initial solutions by up to 17% in small, medium, and large instances depending on the adopted initialisation heuristic. The best proposed algorithm IGSA2 was compared with the two state-of-the-art algorithms to obtain superior results. The study also verified a proposed hypothesis to improve the quality of the solutions generated using heuristic methods, which was proved to be true for most of the experiments.

A Review on Solar Energy Utilization and Projects: Development in and around the UAE

Demand on the energy sector has increased significantly due to the incredible evolution of the industry and urbanization. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is rapidly evolving to meet the demands of people in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by generating more electricity. The UAE has demonstrated that it has the world’s highest rates of sun exposure, indicating a significant efficiency in solar energy development. This might be a way to cut down on fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions even further. In this review, we discuss five major aspects of solar energy utilization and projects within the framework of the UAE starting with (i) recent advances in solar scenario and development trends, (ii) electricity production, consumption, and tariffs, (iii) focus on various key aspects of photovoltaic solar installation projects inside the Dubai, Abu Dhabi emirates and other smaller projects in the UAE, (iv) different solar projects outside the UAE, and (v) the solar energy industry, including trading, assembly, manufacturing, installation, and other activities in the UAE. The review finishes with a summary of problems, current developments, and future outlooks.

Identification of specific halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface soils of petrochemical, flame retardant, and electronic waste dismantling industrial parks

Halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Cl/Br-PAHs) have received tremendous attention due to their high toxicity. To identify the emission pattern of Cl/Br-PAHs from various industrial productions, understand the formation mechanisms and the influence on the surroundings, this study investigated the surface soils of three typical industrial parks. Generally, traces of Cl-PAHs were much lower than Br-PAHs. The mean Cl-PAH concentrations followed the trend of petrochemical industrial park (3.12 ng/g), brominated flame retardant (BFR) manufacturing park (1.48 ng/g), and electronic waste dismantling park (0.26 ng/g). However, the BFR manufacturing park had the highest mean Br-PAH concentration (21.6 ng/g), significantly higher than the other two parks. Generally, higher levels of the chemicals were found in the parks than in their surroundings, except for the electronic waste dismantling park. The massive addition of chlorine additives in crude oil and its by-products, plus the enormous quantity of brominated brines used in BFR productions, favor Cl/Br-PAH formation. Analyzing the homolog compositions of Cl/Br-PAHs suggested that 3- or 4-ring Cl/Br-PAHs were typically come from the petrochemical industrial park and electronic waste dismantling park. Contrarily, 4- or 5-ring Cl/Br-PAHs were predominantly come from the BFR manufacturing activity. This study provides fingerprints to trace the Cl/Br-PAH emissions during industrial production and analyzes the formation mechanism.

Analisis Manajemen Risiko Rantai Pasok Pada Produk Alat Berat Penunjang Industri Pertambangan

Manufacturing activities such as trailer products potentially generate various risks. This research aims to analyze risk management in the supply chain of trailer production using the House of Risk (HOR) model. The business activities mapping is using the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) method which consists of 6 parts of the management process, plan, source, make, deliver return and enable. Research is conducted through two phases of HOR. The HOR 1 activities are the identification of risk events and risk agents based on SCOR mapping, measurement of severity, and occurrence levels to produce an Aggregate Risk Priority (ARP), then determine a priority risk agent in the mitigation process. The HOR 2 is used to determine which actions are to be done first, considering their differing effectiveness as well as resources involved and the degree of difficulties in performing. The company should ideally select a set of actions that are not so difficult to perform but could effectively reduce the probability of risk agents occurring. 7 experience respondents were involved in the study consisting of engineering, procurement, production, warehouse, production planning, after-sales dan quality control. The results of the analysis successfully identified 46 risk events and 41 risk agents in the manufacturing of mining trailers. FGD and Pareto analysis used in the study produced 16 recommendations for mitigation actions that are expected to be able to mitigate risk.

Reshoring by small firms: dual sourcing strategies and local subcontracting in value chains

Abstract This article assesses how the reshoring of manufacturing activities by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) affects the performances of co-located subcontracting networks and the reconfiguration of global value chains (GVCs). We utilize quantitative microdata of Italian MSEs operating in the clothing and footwear industries during the 2008–2015 period. Empirically MSE reshoring does not have a significant impact on domestic subcontractors’ birth rates and survival chances, whereas it is positively associated with their productivity growth. Most MSEs in our sample adopt a dual sourcing strategy, expanding their global production networks while preserving their local supply base. Local and global production networks are not two alternative paradigms of industrial organization; they can be complementary and mutually reinforce each other.

A contingency perspective on manufacturing configurations for the circular economy: Insights from successful start-ups

While the circular economy offers a hopeful prospect for the future in terms of environmental sustainability, the main barrier regarding the industrial adoption is its financial viability. Supply characteristics such as heterogeneous quality, insufficient quantities and uncertain timing of used products often constrain manufacturing activities, consequently leading to mediocre financial viability. Building on contingency theory, this paper sets out to explore how to configure circular manufacturing activities in alignment with supply characteristics. Building on a sample of 96 successful circular start-ups, we collected data on the manufacturing activities in terms of grading and sorting activities, the production type and the product transformation as well as the supply characteristics in terms of heterogeneous quality, insufficient quantities, uncertain timing and the residual value of the used products. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) reveals three manufacturing configurations used by successful circular start-ups to extend product value, extend resource value and process used products. Each configuration is applied under different supply characteristics. As such, the research highlights the contingency factors for when, when not and how to adopt a given manufacturing configuration in the context of the circular economy. Moreover, by analyzing the manufacturing configurations, this study redirects the focus towards the until now under-researched circular economy in the process industry instead of the more heavily researched discrete remanufacturing activities. The three manufacturing configurations and the supply characteristics in which to apply them serve as a starting point for further research.

Copper ore material footprints and transfers embodied in domestic and international trade of provinces in China

AbstractCopper is a critical material for development and plays a profound role in transitioning to a low‐carbon future. China is the main copper consumer in recent decades that has a fast‐growing domestic market accompanied by active international trade. Given the large regional differences within China, it is relevant to understand the domestic driving forces of copper demands and the cascading effects on international regions. Here we combine the newly developed copper ore extraction datasets and the Chinese interprovincial nested global multi‐regional input–output models to explore the copper ore material footprints (CuMF), the interprovincial CuMF transfers, and the international CuMF transfers of provinces. Results show that at the initial stage of clean energy development (2007–2012), most provinces in China are, to a great degree (∼50%), relatively reliant on international copper inputs. The manufacturing sector is the main driving force of international CuMF transfers while the construction sector drives most interprovincial CuMF transfers, with the total volume of international CuMF transfers recently tripling. The central provinces in the industrial transition period and the northwestern provinces in the initial development stage saw the fastest growth in international and interprovincial CuMF transfers, respectively. The economic growth and low‐carbon transition will further advance copper‐related manufacturing and construction activities while other evidences indicate that the degree of foreign inputs to meet copper demand may peak and the interprovincial supply may rise continuously. Targeted governance of these sectors may effectively reduce high dependence on the international copper supply and ensure an efficient interprovincial CuMF transfer pattern.

Revitalization of Chinese's manufacturing industry under the carbon neutral goal.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the manufacturing industry has been crucial for economic growth. China’s manufacturing activity began after China approved and opened legal reform to the rest of the world in 1978. There are usually three stages of development, including the catch-up period. At the same time, they reflect the private economic sector, manufacturing, and foreign exchange industries, and the opening up to the international markets. This advancement comes along with high energy consumption, leading to a high rate of pollution. Therefore, this study provides a detailed overview of the “Made in China 2025” pilot target and implementations of policies to achieve a carbon-neutral goal. We assessed the efficiency of implementing policies in the Chinese manufacturing sector and recommended decision-making policies to achieve the “Made in China 2025” plan and the 2030 carbon-neutral goal. The Quantitative Strategic Programming Matrix (QSPM) and SWOT analysis matrix were used to put forward some development strategies to transform and upgrade China’s manufacturing industry by combining relevant strategic theories. This study is significant in terms of energy-saving and carbon emission-reducing policy implementations for the Chinese manufacturing industry. In addition, we suggested some measures to achieve a sustainable environment in line with carbon-neutral policies.

Review on Smart Factory Operations: A Bibliometric Analysis

Over the last few years, existing and emerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and artificial intelligence have been changing the way that factories conduct their manufacturing activities. Operation system of smart factories has been of great interest to researchers in recent years. However, the research concerning operations for the smart factory is still at the nascent stage. To address this need, we conduct a citation and co-citation analysis on smart factory operation system research published in the 11-year period from 2010-2020. A total of 351 papers were selected from Web of Science database. In the citation analysis, we depend on the degree centrality and betweenness centrality to identify 36 important papers. In addition, our main path analysis reveals the role of ICT in facilitating fast development of operation in smart factory. In the co-citation analysis, we identify four major research themes: resource reconfiguration, predictive production planning model, collaborative scheduling mechanism and technology basis of logistics. This is among the first studies to examine the knowledge structure of smart factory operations research by using evidence-based analysis methods. Recommendations for the future research directions have suggested based on our analysis.

Design alternative assessment and selection: A novel Z-cloud rough number-based BWM-MABAC model

Design alternative assessment is vital in product development since it directly influences the directions of subsequent design and manufacturing activities. The alternative assessment information chiefly depends on experts’ subjective perceptions and preferences, which include several types of uncertainty, such as intrapersonal perception ambiguousness, personal judgment reliability, and interpersonal preference inconsistency. However, previous studies usually just consider one of the various uncertainties, which may affect their effectiveness. To fill this gap, we develop an integrated design alternative assessment model integrating Z-cloud rough numbers (ZCRNs), best-worst method (BWM), and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC). First, to fully handle various uncertainties, a new concept of ZCRN is developed by combining the benefits of cloud model in addressing intrapersonal uncertainty, the merits of Z-numbers in reflecting judgmental reliability, and the strengths of rough numbers in handling interpersonal uncertainty. Some arithmetic operating rules, Minkowski-type distance, comparison measure, correlation measure, and aggregation operators for ZCRNs are also introduced. Furthermore, a ZCRN-BWM method and a ZCRN-MABAC method are developed to calculate criteria weights and rank design alternatives. Finally, a case study, sensitivity analysis on two parameters and a normalization method, and several comparisons are performed to elaborate and validate the developed model.

Rule-based Design Analysis and Structural Rationalization Study of Ralph Symonds Laminated Timber Arches

ABSTRACT As the demand for steel increased to supply military construction during World War II, Australian engineers began to push timber capacity for long-span structures, one of which led to the emerging use of glue-laminated timber-bending in the post-war period. This article analyses the laminated timber arches of three Ralph Symonds factories in Sydney, the ground-breaking laminated timber projects in Australia between the 1940s and 1960s. The study interprets the design reasoning behind timber-arch application and the structural reasoning behind timber bending using daylight simulation, structural simulation, and rule-based design analysis. The method used to formulate the rules is outlined and demonstrated. The study clarifies that Symonds’s timber-arch designs evolved not only to accommodate space for medium to large-scale manufacturing activities but also to optimize economic, climatic, and structural constraints. The rule-based analysis reveals a consistent design logic applied across different factories, foregrounding Ralph Symonds’s signature design language in laminated-timber arches.

A STUDY OF COVID-19 ON INDIAN ECONOMY

Objective: The COVID-19 outbreak has wreaked havoc on India's economy. This article examines how India has dealt with all of the country's severe economic problems and how it has dealt with them through various government programmes. Methods: This research article based on secondary data. Different secondary sources, such as websites, government publications, journals, magazines, and newspaper articles, are preferred for acquiring information. As a result, the utilisation of a comprehensive Literature Review approach was used to make the current research signicant. Results:All economic activity was halted as a result of the shutdown, and individuals lost their employment. Manufacturing and service industries have completely shut down. In India, during COVID-19 pandemic worker migration had begun. The covid-19 epidemic had a signicant impact on every economic sector (tourist, retail, manufacturing, aviation, infrastructure, stock markets, and etc.). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in the rst quarter of 2020-21, India's GDP growth rate fell to -24.38 percent. However, the government's scal policies and the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policies aid India's economic recovery. India attracts foreign direct investment because major corporations have lost faith in China, and all manufacturing activity has moved to another country. India has made a concerted effort to attract these countries. Conclusions: In this COVID-19 pandemic, India implemented a strict lockdown, which resulted in higher unemployment, lower GDP growth, and starving people migrating. India faced a critical scenario during COVID-19 due to a lack of health facilities. However, new concepts were explored during Covid -19 pandemic such as work from home, digital education, and a growth in social media marketing.