Material Flow Systems Research Articles

Simultaneously tracing the fate of seven metals at a global level with MaTrace‐multi

Keeping materials in use for a long time is key to reducing primary material demand and environmental impacts of resource use. Recycling yields of metals should only be limited by thermodynamically unavoidable losses of the remelting processes for well-defined scraps. In practice, however, additional dissipative losses for metals occur due to incomplete collection of end-of-life products, insufficient waste sorting, remelting of contaminated or diluted scrap, and the downcycling of secondary materials. Here we simultaneously trace the fate of Al, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb in MaTrace-multi, a planetary dynamic material flow system. Metals pass the processes mining, fabrication, use-phase, collection, sorting, scrap allocation, remelting, and secondary material allocation. We calculate the circularity and longevity of the cohort of metal requirements for the final demand of 1 year. Nickel is found to have the best longevity at 116 (78 to 205) years, whereas zinc only has a longevity of 47 (37 to 61) years. While nickel, on average, is used in 5.13 (3.45 to 8.78) applications before dissipation, zinc is used only in 1.94 (1.52 to 2.47) applications. Our study results can be used to model the impacts of circular economy policies and technological developments on global metal cycles beyond the scope of studies modeling one metal at a time. This article met the requirements for a Gold–Gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges

A Puzzle-Based Sequencing System for Logistics Items

Background: The new demands of the current market including for space should be satisfied by designing modern material flow systems. Designing warehouses using effective material handling equipment significantly supports cost reduction and efficient space utilization. Sequencing of items is an important process that leads to enhanced logistics operations. Current approaches are not capable of fully fulfilling dynamic changes. Methods: In this paper, a puzzle-based sequencing system with a high density and highly efficient floor space utilization was successfully developed. Accordingly, two solving methods were investigated: game tree and pathfinding algorithms. A-star was chosen based on pathfinding algorithms in order to find the shortest solution of the puzzle in which the sequencing time was decreased. The pre-sorting strategy was proposed to overcome the unsolvable configuration issue that cannot be solved by the aforementioned methods. Moreover, the shape of the puzzle was considered. Results: Based on numerical calculations, we found that a square shape was better than a rectangle in terms of solution steps, and we confirmed the direct relationship between the aspect ratio and rectilinear distance, which directly affects the pre-sorting steps. Conclusion: Our results prove that the puzzle-based sequencing system should be highly preferred for effective floor space utilization compared to the current systems.

Regional circular economy of building materials: Environmental and economic assessment combining Material Flow Analysis, Input‐Output Analyses, and Life Cycle Assessment

AbstractThe construction industry is responsible for large quantities of construction and demolition waste and almost 50% of the worldwide annual resource consumption, putting the environment, its natural resources, and ecosystems under high pressure. Therefore, governments are implementing regional policies that support a circular economy (CE). But how do we know whether these developments will lead to a shift toward a CE on a regional scale? How can we identify hotspots in a value chain and regional economy to support decision‐makers and to develop regional policies? We propose an integrated assessment method that considers indicators for environmental impacts and economic benefits by combining Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with Input‐Output Analysis (IOA) as the connecting element. It provides the necessary data and indicators for a holistic and comprehensive evaluation of a region or industry. We demonstrate its benefits and limitations taking the Swiss canton of Aargovia as an example. We analyze which processes in the material flow system of construction minerals are decisive for formulating mass‐related or financial policies encouraging a CE. We show that a shift toward a CE can only be captured by combining material and money flows in a joined model, because a significant increase of services—mainly waste management—is a core element in this development. It can only be covered sufficiently by combining environmental and economic assessment. Our model captures the degree to which a regional economy is advanced in the transition toward a CE to compare different regions or analyze scenarios of future developments.

Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the coupling of the material flow and capital flow in a closed-loop supply chain

The complex and changeable external social and economic environment has a significant impact on the sustainable development of the closed-loop supply chain. In particular, the occurrence of uncertain emergencies increases the risk of interruption of the closed-loop supply chain, making it insufficient to analyze its complex changes from the perspective of material flow alone. Based on this analysis, the paper constructs a closed-loop supply chain material flow and capital flow coupling system composed of manufacturers, sellers and recyclers to explore the impact of material flow sudden interruption on the closed-loop supply chain system when an uncertain emergency occurs. In this paper, based on the closed-loop supply chain system coupled with logistics and capital flow, a system dynamics simulation model was established by using Vensim simulation software to analyze the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on manufacturers, sellers and recyclers under five scenarios. The results show that when COVID-19 outbreaks occur, the material flow of each main enterprise in the closed-loop supply chain is more easily influenced than the capital flow. At the same time, it can be found that the recyclers in the main enterprises of the closed-loop supply chain are more easily influenced by the material flow. The model constructed in this paper has applicability and can be used for related studies of closed-loop supply chain under other emergencies, but the scene design should be carried out according to the characteristics of emergencies themselves.

Аналіз доцільності впровадження «розумних» систем на складах

Introduction.This article discusses the essence of compositions. The concept of automated management system of material and information flows is described. The main components of «smart» composition are identified. Its technological and technical aspects are analyzed. The advantages of the introduction of «smart» warehouse systems in the field of warehousing logistics are investigated.Problem Statement. Every year in Ukraine more than 30 million tons of goods are sold, and if we take into account that on the way the goods undergo up to 15–20 transshipments ― this figure exceeds 300 million tons. The range of goods sold in the service sector reaches 400 thousand items, and taking into account the types and varieties ― more than 1 million. This huge mass of goods before entering the trading floor is accepted, unloaded, assembled, prepared for sale, and so on. Execution of these logistic operations, improvement of all logistic process is impossible without existence of the corresponding warehouse network. To date, warehousing can not remain in this state, it has exhausted the reserves of improving the efficiency of its work. It is necessary to solve the problem of further development of warehousing at a qualitatively new level of organization and technical equipment.Purpose.Analyze the feasibility of implementing systems of smart warehouses to improve the efficiency of the logistics system.Materials and Methods.Much attention is paid to the question of the effective functioning of warehouses by domestic and foreign scientists such as Stoke J. R., Lambert D. M., Oklander M. A., Krykavsky E. V., Nikolaychuk P. V. and others. The lack of research in the field of implementation of smart warehouses and the need to determine the impact of new factors on the logistics process in the warehouse determines the relevance of the article.Results.After analyzing the technological and technical aspects used in «smart» warehouses, their characteristics were given, the advantages and disadvantages were indicated. Active development of information systems, new communications allow to change conditions of interaction of the enterprise with consumers. The modern warehouse complex, which has advanced technologies, allows to solve many problems related to the circulation of inventory.Conclusions. Properly organized warehouse allows you to optimize the costs of the logistics system, and the processes associated with the operation of warehouses, ultimately a significant component of total costs. Therefore, the introduction of a system of «reasonable» composition is appropriate.Keywords:warehouse, smart warehouse, logistics, warehouse management system, internet of things, information service, pick-to-light system, stock.

Integrating scheduling and energy efficiency aspects in production logistic using AGV systems

Abstract Today’s smart production facilities’ increasing modularity and continuous reconfiguration require appropriate logistic support processes. The main challenges here are complexity and the frequent alteration of factory output. To cope with them the resulting logistic system is over dimensioned compared to the average, in order to match the change of needs in the production schedule, which frequently leads to inefficiency in energy consumption, as a relatively large logistic system supplies the production. The current paper describes a method where the material flow system is controlled in a way considering both aspects of schedule adherence and energy management. A simulation model has been developed to prove the concept’s applicability. Results have indicated that the proposed control method reacts effectively for the urgent tasks and change of workload.

Analysis of the Behaviour of Flexibility Parameters in Intralogistics Systems

Today's logistics systems are characterized by uncertainty and constantly changing requirements. Rising demand for customized products, short product life cycles and a large number of variants increases the complexity of these systems enormously. In particular, intralogistics material flow systems must be able to adapt to changing conditions at short notice, with little effort and at low cost. To fulfil these requirements, the material flow system needs to be flexible in three important parameters, namely layout, throughput and product. While the scope of the flexibility parameters is described in literature, the respective effects on an intralogistics material flow system and the influencing factors are mostly unknown. This paper describes how flexibility parameters of an intralogistics system can be determined using a multi-method simulation. The study was conducted in the learning factory “Werk150” on the campus of Reutlingen University with its different means of transport and processes and validated in terms of practical experiments.

Potentiality of Waste-to-Energy Sector Coupling in the MENA Region: Jordan as a Case Study

Population growth, urbanization, and changes in lifestyle have led to an increase in waste generation quantities. The waste management system in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is still considered an adolescent system, while developed countries have made great progress in this field, including regulation, financing, administration, separation at source, recycling, and converting waste to energy. At the same time, in the MENA region, the best performance of the recycling process is around 7–10% of total waste. Nowadays, many developed countries like Germany are shifting from waste management to material flow systems, which represent the core of a circular economy. Also, it should be stated here that all countries that have a robust and integrated waste management system include waste-to-energy (W-to-E) incineration plants in their solutions for dealing with residual waste, which is still generated after passing through the entire treatment cycle (hierarchy). Therefore, this paper illustrates the potentiality of embedding waste incineration plants in the MENA region, especially in large cities, and addressing the economic and financial issues for the municipalities. Cities in these countries would like to build and operate waste treatment plants; however, municipalities do not have the sustainable investment and operating costs. The solution is to maximize the income from the output, such as energy, recycling materials, etc. In addition, the MENA region is facing another dilemma, which is water scarcity due to climate change, increasing evaporation, and reduction of precipitation. This research illustrates a simulated model for a waste incineration plant in the MENA region. The EBSILON 13.2 software package was used to achieve this process. Furthermore, the simulated plant applies the concept of waste-to-energy-to-water, so that not only is waste converted to energy but, by efficient usage of multi-stage flash (MSF) technology, this system is able to generate 23 MWe of electric power and 8500 m3/day of potable water. A cost analysis was also implemented to calculate the cost of thermal treatment of each ton of municipal solid waste (MSW) during the life span of the plant. It was found that the average cost of treatment over 30 years would be around US$39/ton.

Mathematical Model of Optimal Development Enterprise Economics

Purpose of the study. The production sphere of the enterprise is a dynamic system of cash, material and information flows, in the framework of which the final product is formed, distributed between investments in production capital and own consumption. The task of choosing the optimal proportions of the distribution of the final product is relevant and practically significant for corporations in developing economies. The purpose of this work is, using mathematical modeling, to identify strategy for the optimal development of commercial enterprise, based on the volume of investment in factors of production and consumption norms and the accumulation profit of the enterprise.Materials and methods. To obtain scientific results, general scientific and specific research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, system analysis, parametric analysis, economic, mathematical and statistical research methods. The theoretical basis of the study is the fundamental work and publications of Russian and foreign scientists in the field of research of optimal management of the economic system of the enterprise. The authors proposed a methodological approach that distinguishes their research from others – a mathematical model of the balanced development of the economy of an economic entity is presented, where production capital, labor resources and intellectual capital are considered as factors of socio-economic development. The information base of the study is the data of the financial and accounting statements of the Public Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company for the period 2006-2018.Results. The factors of development of the enterprise economy are highlighted, among which, in addition to the traditional approach, which includes capital and labor, intellectual capital is introduced into the main production factor. As a valuation of the intellectual capital of the enterprise, the costly method is used. Based on the cycle of reproduction of the enterprise’s activity, a balance equation of the enterprise’s activity model has been formed taking into account capital investments in production factors and consumption and profit accumulation rates. The criterion functional in the optimal management problem is the discounted profit of the enterprise. As a control, a function was selected that characterizes the share of investment in fixed assets, and as a state of the system, the ratio of the value of fixed assets to intellectual capital. The mathematical model of optimal development is applied to the economic system of the enterprise of PJSC NK “Rosneft”.Conclusion. Modeling the dynamics of production capital, labor resources and intellectual capital of PJSC NK “Rosneft” and the results of solving their optimal management problem show that to keep a production enterprise on a balanced growth path, 55% of net profit will be spent on developing the intellectual capital of the enterprise, 35% of net profit – to improve the state of production capital of Rosneft. Given the optimal management in the future for 2019-2022. projected annual revenue growth rate of 19.9%, fixed assets – 16.2% and annual net profit of the company –9.7%.

COTTON GINNERS HANDBOOK: Gin Process Control

Automation provides key benefits to production plants: increased speed of production, improved quality control, enhanced worker safety, and reduced production costs. Numerous types of systems use automated control throughout the world; in cotton gins, there are a few main systems that rely on some form of control: material flow, fire suppression, dryer temperature, press operation, and moisture restoration systems. This chapter provides an overview of control systems in general along with key examples of control systems in use in U.S. cotton gins.

Design, Application, and Evaluation of a Multiagent System in the Logistics Domain

The increasing demand for flexibility of automated production systems also affects the automated material flow systems (aMFS) they contain and demands reconfigurable systems. However, the centralized control concept usually applied in aMFS hinders an easy adaptation, as the entire control software has to be re-tested, when manually changing sub-parts of the control. As adaption and subsequent testing are a time-consuming task, concepts for splitting the control from one centralized to multiple, decentralized control nodes are required. Therefore, this paper presents a holistic agent-based control concept for aMFS, whereby the system is divided into so-called automated material flow modules (aMFM), each being controlled by a dedicated module agent. The concept allows the reconfiguration of aMFS, consisting of heterogeneous, stationary aMFM, during runtime. Furthermore, it includes aspects such as uniform agent knowledge bases through metamodel-based development, a communication ontology considering different information types and properties, strategic route optimization in decentralized control architecture and a visualization concept to make decisions of the module agents comprehensible to operators and maintenance staff. The evaluation of the concept is performed by means of material flow simulations as well as a prototypical implementation on a lab-sized demonstrator.

Pathways towards regional circular economy evaluated using material flow analysis and system dynamics

Circular Economy (CE) offers insights to sustainable production and consumption by integrating environmental analysis to the socioeconomic system. To promote sustainable development in Guangdong Province, this study integrates System Dynamics (SD) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) into CE theories to establish a framework to comprehensively evaluate regional economies. Nine development scenarios are further developed to provide strategic recommendations for the development of CE in Guangdong. The results of these scenarios show that the CE of Guangdong is most effective among the nine scenarios when the birth rate is reduced by about 2‰, the growth rates of the primary and secondary industries are reduced by 2%, and the growth rate of the tertiary industry increased by 2%. The biological substance consumption, fossil fuel consumption, building mineral consumption, industrial exhaust emissions and solid waste emissions are 88.39 Mt, 86.63 Mt, 108.16 Mt, 280.90 Mt, and 69.02 Mt respectively. The total material input (TMI) of 10,000 RMB of GDP and the total material output (TMO) of 10,000 RMB of GDP are 49.64 kt/10,000 RMB and 42.70 kt/10,000 RMB in 2022 respectively. Based on the status quo and simulated results, this study acknowledges the importance of population control and highlights the vigorous development of tertiary industry in economic construction. Policy interventions such as building pilot demonstrative smart cities and industrial parks would facilitate long-term sustainability of urban systems.

Particle near-neighbour separation index for quantification of segregation of granular material

In this study, an alternative approach named near-neighbour separation index (NNSI) is proposed which defines mixing and segregation in terms of the nearest-neighbour particle scale methodology to characterise the evolution of particle-particle relationships in granular material flow systems so as to inform the extent of mixing and segregation (homogeneity) in space and time. Use is made of the geometrical particle information (position) as a function of time from the DEM simulations data to provide an instantaneous description and evaluation of the mixing and segregation process without due regard of particle history and initial configuration. The NNSI was found to give useful inferences on segregation and dispersion as it provides an unprecedented quantification of the particle-particle scale distributions of particles and fully provides a quantitative description of the particle mixture homogeneity. Furthermore, the NNSI is quite promising with added advantage and capability of handling discrete multi-size particle systems.

A discrete event simulation model for analysis of farm scale grain transportation systems

Grain transportation from the field to an on-farm storage facility is a critical component of the harvest system. A discrete event simulation model of grain transportation was developed to evaluate how truck and driver resource constraints impact material flow efficiency, resource utilization, and system throughput. Harvest rate and in-field transportation were represented as a stochastic entity generation process, and service times associated with various material handling steps were represented by a combination of deterministic times and statistical distributions. The model was applied to data collected for three distinct harvest scenarios (18 total days). Wheat and corn harvest from a large Kentucky operation was selected to evaluate the effect of different harvest rates (in wheat and corn), and corn harvest from a smaller Michigan operation was used to assess how the model handled situations where a single operator shuttled multiple trucks. The observed number of daily deliveries was within ±2 standard deviations of the simulation for 15 of the 18 input conditions examined, and on a daily basis, the median error between the simulated and observed deliveries was −4.1%. This model can be used to simulate how changes in vehicle and labor constraints impact the overall system performance. An important extension of this concept is that, given an existing equipment set and labor force, a producer can estimate how often grain transportation is the system bottleneck and simulate the impact of additional vehicles or labor on grain transportation efficiency.

Minimal critical specification and collective organisational redesign

The purpose of this article is to apply concepts of socio-technical systems thinking (STS), enriched with concepts from more recent organisation theory, to analyse a case of participatory design of core manufacturing processes in a company. The redesign process considered transformation of operational logistics of the installation phase, which is a complex and costly phase. The focus is a test of the concept of minimal critical specification, applied as a principle for work process redesign. In the process under study, managers, supervisors and worker representatives at all levels and functions directly affected took part in the process of redesigning the material flow system and the corresponding control system at the operational level, and the design was put into operation by the company. After a year of operation, the new design was modestly favourably assessed by the organisation. The case shows the possibility and importance of the affected work system’s influence in the development, operationalisation and implementation of a new organisation, and the findings demonstrate how manifold relevant participant knowledge may be incorporated into a workable redesign process. The findings cannot be generalised on the basis of this one case, but we will argue that the case serves as a demonstrator project for the model tested.

Influence of the system of material flows on the environment of industrial areas

The object of research is the transport component, as the basic element of the environment of industrial zones. The paper considers an analytical approach to determining the patterns of dependence of the environmental friendliness of the material flow system on the characteristics of the transport component. A model of an intelligent system for managing efficiency and environmental friendliness based on the decomposition of industrial transport complexes into two components, differing in the methods and conditions for the formation of pollution emissions, is proposed: a subsystem of stationary sources and a subsystem of mobile sources.The obtained results make it possible to highlight a number of features of the nature of the influence of material flows on the environment of industrial zones, grouped into basic analytical groups of threats and development opportunities of the studied object with an average expert rating (e. r.), namely:– threat group: poor strategic planning of activity and its development (12.8 e. r.); a significant dependence of the financial condition on the volume of orders of several major consumers (9.6 e. r.); weak legal framework governing the environmental safety of the facility (6.6 e. r.); implementation of foreign innovative solutions in the operation of the facility (11.8 e. r.); intensive updating of existing mechanisms of environmental protection (2.8 e. r.);– opportunity group: staffing opportunities to create a powerful engineering base and professional management team (14.6 e. r.); effective use of information technology (5.6 e. r.); implementation of the functions of city logistics (5.6 e. r.); improving the quality of transport services (10 e. r.); creation of a specialized center for managing the process of ensuring the environmental sustainability of the facility (10 e. r.)The results of a study of the influence degree of material flows on the environment of an industrial zone confirm the authors' working hypothesis. This hypothesis is based on the consideration of transport systems and the environmental safety of their work, as a whole and the degree of their interaction throughout the entire life cycle of their development.

System efficient integration of standby control and heat pump storage systems in manufacturing processes

Prerequisite for system efficiency towards an industrial energy transition is the reducing of energy demand on the process level. In typical manufacturing systems with machine tools and washing machines, the proper design of intelligent standby control and heat pump storage system (HPS) represent high efficiency. The integration of HPS is complicated due to high non-continuity, especially when implementing a standby control system. Our approach aims at designing one single HPS for multiple heat sources and sinks. Robust design should consider the various influencing material flow system factors. For the generation of stochastic heating and cooling demand sum curves, 512 Design of Experiments-based material flow simulations for each of three standby scenarios have been conducted. These curves serve as input data for HPS sizing and dynamic thermal system simulation. The combined integration of an HPS and a practical standby control system offers the best compromise in terms of system efficiency with significantly lower investment costs and only slightly lower energy savings than ideal standby operation. Compared to the initial state, the electrical energy demand of the machines can be reduced by 27% and both the heating (83%) and cooling (48%) demand can be efficiently covered by HPs.

MECHANICAL VIBRATION AND SHOCK MEASUREMENT OF MATERIAL FLOW DEVICES AND SYSTEMS

The article deals with the measurement and analysis of the vibration of material flow devices and systems. This work has been done to find out if and in what form kinetic energy arises in comprehensive material flow processes. In the first chapter the theory of vibration measurement from periodic vibration to transient effects will be described using their physical and mathematical foundations. In the second chapter will present the results of the large-scale measurements. A special focus is on the natural frequency of the individual material flow devices. It has to be examined whether it is a certain useful frequency of technical units such as trucks, conveyor belt, etc. egsist over the entire supply chain. At the beginning of the article, the theoretical basics of metrology will be described, then the results will be presented and then the results will be summarized and evaluated. At the very end, an outlook is given about the further steps of the work.

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Reinforcement Learning for an Adaptive Order Dispatching in Job Shop Manufacturing Systems

Modern production systems tend to have smaller batch sizes, a larger product variety and more complex material flow systems. Since a human oftentimes can no longer act in a sufficient manner as a decision maker under these circumstances, the demand for efficient and adaptive control systems is rising. This paper introduces a methodical approach as well as guideline for the design, implementation and evaluation of Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms for an adaptive order dispatching. Thereby, it addresses production engineers willing to apply RL. Moreover, a real-world use case shows the successful application of the method and remarkable results supporting real-time decision-making. These findings comprehensively illustrate and extend the knowledge on RL.

Implementation, Self-Configuration and Coordination of Logistical Functions for Autonomous Logistics Modules in Flexible Automated Material Flow Systems

The modularization of hard- and software is one approach to handle the demand for increasing flexibility and changeability of automated material flow systems that are, for example, utilized in flexible production systems. Depending on the current system configuration, the position and number of entrances and exits of a module may vary. Subsequently, the feasible tasks and the internal execution order of operations within a module are affected. During design time, the later system configuration is unknown, therefore, a concept is proposed to generally describe a module's internal logistical operations. After a system reconfiguration, the module's internal function control automatically determines the execution order for active entrances, exits and tasks. Additionally, the function control is able to efficiently coordinate the execution of parallel transports on the same module to increase the throughput.