Production Performance Measures Research Articles

Eggshell and Bone Quality in Two Different Genetic Groups of Aged Layer Breeders

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted on pair aged commercial laying breeder strains (Hy-Line Brown and Hy-Line W-36) to evaluate genetic differences of eggshell and bone quality. In addition, egg production performance, mortality rate, internal organs and reproductive measurements were determined. Correlation coefficients among some eggshell and bone traits were calculated. White layer breeder hens had significantly higher percentages of hen-day and hen-housed egg production compared to the brown one. Brown Hy-Line layer breeder strain had better eggshell quality compared to W-36 Hy-Line layer breeder strain. The white layer breeder strain had a significantly higher relative oviduct weight compared to the brown one. Brown layer breeder strain recorded the higher humerus width in comparison with the white one. Tibia bone weight of brown layer breeder strain was significantly heavier by 22.87% as compared to the white strain. Moreover, the brown breeder strain recorded the higher figure of tibia width, thickness, and strength. In conclusion, at the end of the laying cycle, brown Hy-Line layer breeder strain exhibited better eggshell quality, body weight and tibia bone quality than those of W-36 breeder strain. Positive correlation coefficients were detected between humerus bone strength and both eggshell thickness and strength in brown and white strains.

A Method for Creating Product Social Impact Models of Engineered Products

AbstractAll products impact the lives of their users, this is called social impact. Some social impacts are commonly recognized by the engineering community, such as impacts to a user’s health and safety, while other social impacts can be more difficult to recognize, such as impacts on families and gender roles. When engineers make design decisions, without considering social impacts, they can unknowingly cause negative social impacts. Even harming the user and/or society. Despite its challenges, measuring a program’s or policy’s social impact is a common practice in the field of social sciences. These measurements are made using social impact indicators, which are simply the things observed to verify that true progress is being made. While there are clear benefits to predicting the social impact of an engineered product, it is unclear how engineers should select indicators and build predictive social impact models that are functions of engineering parameters and decisions. This paper introduces a method for selecting social impact indicators and creating predictive social impact models that can help engineers predict and improve the social impact of their products. As a first step in the method, an engineer identifies the product’s users, objectives, and requirements. Then, the social impact categories that are related to the product are determined. From each of these categories, the engineer selects several social impact indicators. Finally, models are created for each indicator to predict how a product’s parameters will change these indicators. The impact categories and indicators can be translated into product requirements and performance measures that can be used in product development processes. This method is used to predict the social impact of the proposed, expanded U.S. Mexico border wall.

Influence of rate of inclusion of microalgae on the sensory characteristics and fatty acid composition of cheese and performance of dairy cows

Modification of milk and cheese fat to contain long-chain n-3 fatty acids (FA) by feeding microalgae (ALG) to dairy cows has the potential to improve human health, but the subsequent effect on the sensory attributes of dairy products is unclear. The objective was to determine the effect of feeding dairy cows different amounts of ALG that was rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on milk and cheese FA profile, cheese sensory attributes, and cow performance. Twenty Holstein dairy cows were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a 4 × 4 row and column design, with 4 periods of 28 d, with cheddar cheese production and animal performance measurements undertaken during the final 7 d of each period. Cows were fed a basal diet that was supplemented with ALG (Schizochytrium limancinum) at 4 rates: 0 (control, C), 50 (LA), 100 (MA), or 150 g (HA) of ALG per cow per day. We found that both milk and cheese fat content of DHA increased linearly with ALG feed rate and was 0.29 g/100 g FA higher in milk and cheese from cows fed HA compared with C. Supplementation with ALG linearly reduced the content of saturated FA and the ratio of n-6:n-3 FA in milk and cheese. Supplementation with ALG altered 20 out of the 32 sensory attributes, with a linear increase in cheese air holes, nutty flavor, and dry mouth aftertaste with ALG inclusion. Creaminess of cheese decreased with ALG inclusion rate and was positively correlated with saturated FA content. We also observed a quadratic effect on fruity odor, which was highest in cheese from cows fed HA and lowest in LA, and firmness and crumbliness texture, being highest in MA and lowest in HA. Supplementation with ALG had no effect on the dry matter intake, milk yield, or live weight change of the cows, with mean values of 23.1, 38.5, and 0.34 kg/d respectively, but milk fat content decreased linearly, and energy-corrected milk yield tended to decrease linearly with rate of ALG inclusion (mean values of 39.6, 38.4, 37.1, and 35.9 g/kg, and 41.3, 41.3, 40.5, and 39.4 kg/d for C, LA, MA, and HA, respectively). We conclude that feeding ALG to high-yielding dairy cows improved milk and cheese content of DHA and altered cheese taste but not cow performance, although milk fat content reduced as inclusion rate increased.

Consumer ratings of situational (‘item-by-use’) appropriateness predict food choice responses obtained in central location tests

Measures of product performance that effectively predict food choices are highly sought after. A simple method to add value to simple hedonic data is that of item-by-use (IBU) “appropriateness” or “situational fitness”, where consumers are presented with a list of possible consumption situations and asked to indicate how well a product fits each of them. In a recent paper [Giacalone & Jaeger, 2019], we presented evidence that IBU ratings obtained in response to verbal and pictorial stimuli consistently predicted consumer choice across a diverse range of food and beverage categories. Here, we extend these results to tasted products obtained in four Central Location Tests (CLTs). In all studies, the target products were evaluated by two separate consumer panels, one rating the samples for hedonic and appropriateness (IBU), and the second rating for hedonic and choice likelihood (CL) in response to a target situation. In line with expectations, regression analyses consistently revealed a significant and positive link between IBU ratings and CL, with appropriateness accounting for over 70% of variation in consumer choice. These results confirm that appropriateness predicts food choice even when evaluation depends on sensory modalities such as smell, taste and texture. Taken collectively, these four studies indicate that appropriateness should be considered as an important product performance criterion in CLT evaluations of foods and beverages.

Correlating Stochastically Distributed Reservoir Heterogeneities with Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage Production

Application of big data analytics in reservoir engineering has gained wide attention in recent years. However, designing practical data-driven models for correlating petrophysical measurements and Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) production profiles using actual field data remains difficult. Parameterization of the complex reservoir heterogeneities in these reservoirs is not trivial. In this study, a set of attributes pertinent to characterizing stochastic distributions of shales and lean zones is formulated and used for correlating against a number of production performance measures. A comprehensive investigation of the heterogeneous distribution (continuity, size, proportions, permeability, location, orientation and saturation) of shale barriers and lean zones is presented. First, a series of two-dimensional SAGD models based on typical Athabasca oil reservoir properties and operating conditions are constructed. Geostatistical techniques are applied to stochastically model shale barriers, which are imbedded in a region of degraded rock properties referred to as Low-Quality Sand or LQS, among a background of clean sand. Parameters including correlation lengths, orientation, proportions and permeability anisotropy of the different rock facies are varied. Within each facies, spatial variations in water saturation are modeled probabilistically. In contrast to many previous simulation studies, representative multiphase flow functions and capillarity models are assigned in accordance to individual facies. A set of input attributes based on facies proportions and dimensionless correlation lengths are formulated. Next, to facilitate the assessment of different scenarios, production performance is quantified by numerous dimensionless output attributes defined from recovery factor and steam-to-oil ratio profiles. An additional dimensionless indicator is implemented to capture the production time during which the instantaneous steam-to-oil ratio has exceeded a particular economic threshold. Finally, results of the sensitivity analysis are employed as training and testing datasets in a series of neural network models to correlate the pertinent system attributes and the production performance measures. These models are also used to assess the consequences of ignoring lateral variation of heterogeneities when extracting petrophysical (log) data from vertical delineation wells alone. An important contribution of this work is that it proposes a set of input attributes for correlating reservoir heterogeneity introduced by shale barriers and lean zones to SAGD production performance. It demonstrates that these input attributes, which can be extracted from petrophysical logs, are highly correlated with the ensuing recovery response and heat loss. This work also exemplifies the feasibility and utility of data-driven models in correlating SAGD performance. Furthermore, the proposed set of system variables and modeling approach can be applied directly in field-data analysis and scale-up study of experimental models to assist field-operation design and evaluation.

A Negotiation-based control approach for disturbed industrial context

It is now accepted that using the multi-agents system (MAS) augments the reactivity to treat disturbances within flexible manufacturing system. Each agent could have different capability (evolution, learning, etc.) and the whole physical and control system, based on the agent interaction, could lead emerging behaviors to dynamically adapt a production schedule. Intelligent control algorithms shall be used to define these variables and all smart entities within their environment have to continuously negotiate for their final common goal. This paper proposes a negotiation-based reactive control approach to deal with the variability on manufacturing processes. A simulation experiment on the basis of full sized academic experimental platform was used to test how the negotiation-based reactive control approach could optimize priority based product sequencing. The product and resource agents have been built to negotiate considering different production performance measures. This has been done with expectations that the applicability of the negotiation-based reactive decision making process will be more adaptable to a production change than myopic decisions.

Behavioural assessment of the habituation of feral rangeland goats to an intensive farming system

There is increasing interest in methods for the habituation of feral rangeland goats to intensive farming conditions. We tested whether there were production performance and behavioural differences between groups of rangeland goats in an intensive farming system that were either exposed to a high degree of human interaction (HI, n=60) or low degree of human interaction (LI, n=60) over 3 weeks. In the HI group, a stockperson entered the pens twice daily and calmly walked amongst the goats for 20 mins. In the LI group, a stockperson only briefly entered the pens to check water/feed (daily/weekly). At the end of each week the goats were weighed and drafted into 12 subgroups of 10 animals (i.e. 6 sub-groups per treatment). Each sub-group was then tested for agonistic behaviour, avoidance of humans, and flight response. During the flight response test video footage was collected and later used for analysis using Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA). For QBA analysis, the videos of each group, taken each week, were shown in random order to 16 observers who used their own descriptive terms to score the groups’ behavioural expression. There was a significant interaction between treatment and time on body mass (F3,174=5.0; P<0.01), agonistic behaviour (F3,12=4.3; P<0.05) and flight speed (F3,12=3.9; P<0.05), with the HI group having significantly higher average body mass (P<0.05), fewer agonistic events (P<0.05), and a slower flight speed (P<0.05) than the LI group after the three weeks. Two main QBA dimensions of behavioural expression were identified by Generalised Procrustes Analysis. QBA dimension 1 scores differed between treatments (P<0.05); HI goats scored higher on QBA dimension 1 (more ‘calm/content’) compared to LI goats (more ‘agitated/scared’). QBA dimension 1 scores were significantly negatively correlated with the number of agonistic contacts (Rs=−0.62, P<0.01), and flight speed (Rs=−0.79, P<0.001), and significantly positively correlated with body mass (Rs=0.68, P<0.001) of the goats over the 3 weeks of the experiment. QBA dimension 2 scores were not significantly different between treatments or over time.Findings from this study support the hypothesis that production performance and behavioural measures can distinguish behavioural changes in rangeland goats that were likely a result of habituation to human interaction in an intensive feedlot.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not work synergistically with exogenous enzymes to enhance feed utilization, ruminal fermentation and lactational performance of Nubian goats

Abstract The present study assessed the effect of in-feed doses of an exogenous enzymes preparation and/or Saccharomyces cerevisiae on production performance, nutrient utilization, ruminal and blood serum measurements in goats. Sixteen lactating Nubian does (35.1 ± 0.8 kg) were utilized in a quadruplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design over a period of 88 days. Enzymes and/or yeast were included in a basal diet (control treatment) at doses of 4 g exogenous enzymes (EZ treatment), 4 g yeast (SC treatment), or 8 g of their mixture at 1:1 w/w (EZSC treatment). The EZ, SC, and EZSC treatments had greater (P

Design of indicators for measuring product performance in the circular economy

This paper explores measurement of product performance with respect to circular economy (CE) principles. Potential indicators are assessed with special attention given to questions such as: the variables that should be measured; how these variables should be assessed; and in which format they should be presented. The resulting considerations are used to develop a prototype whose design is informed through feedback from CE experts. The prototype uses a points-based questionnaire which converges into a simple final result with minimum and maximum limits. The selected approach is critically appraised, and its utility for decision-making discussed. The prototype is tested against a product in the chemical processing industry. The strengths include: ease of use; simplicity; speed; and an effective metaphor for the diffusion of CE principles. The limitations include: the opaque and potentially misleading nature of a single metric; superficial engagement with decision-making; and the reliance on context-specific assumptions. Future developments could include refining the approach to encourage deeper reflection, and generalisation of the approach to different industry sectors or sustainability frameworks.

When do the stock market returns to new product preannouncements predict product performance? Empirical evidence from the U.S. automotive industry

Substantial research has examined how stock market reactions to marketing actions affect subsequent marketing decisions. However, prior research provides limited insights into whether abnormal stock returns to a marketing action actually predict the future performance resulting from that action. This study focuses on new product preannouncements (NPPAs) and investigates the relationship between short-term stock market returns to an NPPA and the post-launch new product performance under various industry and firm conditions. Findings based on a dynamic panel data analysis of 208 NPPAs in the U.S. automotive industry between 2001 and 2014 reveal that stock returns associated with an NPPA are not an appropriate forward-looking measure of future product performance. However, under specific conditions (i.e., when the preannouncement is specific, the preannounced new product has low innovativeness, the preannouncing firm has a high reputation and invests heavily in advertising, and the preannouncement environment is less competitive), abnormal stock returns to NPPAs actually predict the future performance of new products. Thus, this study extends the marketing–finance and innovation literature with its focus on the conditions that affect the predictive power of immediate stock returns for the future performance of new products.

Manufacturing Execution Systems: Examples of Performance Indicator and Operational Robustness Tools.

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are computerized systems used to measure production performance in terms of productivity, yield, and quality. In the first part, performance indicator and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), process robustness tools and statistical process control are described. The second part details some tools to help process robustness and control by operators by preventing deviations from target control charts. MES was developed by Syngenta together with CIMO for automation.

Price-cap regulation in the English and Welsh water industry: A proposal for measuring productivity performance

Privately owned water utilities typically operate under a regulated monopoly regime. Price-cap regulation has been introduced as a means to enhance efficiency and innovation. The main objective of this paper is to propose a methodology for measuring productivity change across companies and over time when the sample size is limited. An empirical application is developed for the UK water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) for the period 1991-2008. A panel index approach is applied to decompose and derive unit-specific productivity growth as a function of the productivity growth achieved by benchmark firms, and the catch-up to the benchmark firm achieved by less productive firms. The results indicated that significant gains in productivity occurred after 2000, when the regulator set tighter reviews. However, the average WaSC still must improve towards the benchmarking firm by 2.69% over a period of five years to achieve comparable performance. This study is relevant to regulators who are interested in developing comparative performance measurement when the number of water companies that can be evaluated is limited. Moreover, setting an appropriate X factor is essential to improve the efficiency of water companies and this study helps to achieve this challenge.

Seminal plasma protein concentrations vary with feed efficiency and fertility-related measures in young beef bulls

Fertility-associated proteins (FAP) found in seminal plasma indicate sexual maturity, which appears to be influenced by feed efficiency in cattle. This study characterized FAP via proteomics and verified associations of these proteins with feed efficiency, body composition and fertility-related measures in yearling beef bulls. Assessments including testicular ultrasonography, infrared thermography, seminal quality, seminal plasma proteomics, carcass composition, and reproductive organ biometry were obtained. From a population of 31 bulls, the seven most and least feed efficient (efficient, inefficient) bulls were used for categorical comparisons. Correlations between FAP, productive performance and fertility-related measures were determined. These traits were also correlated with orthogonal factors summarized from the FAP. Efficient bulls had increased epididymal sperm-binding protein-1 and decreased concentration of protein-C inhibitor compared to inefficient bulls. Correlations between FAP with age, body size, body composition, reproductive organ biometry, scrotal temperature, and seminiferous tubule maturity are reported. Acrosin and cathepsin D increased with development of the testes and osteopontin increased with greater numbers of mature seminiferous tubules. Phosphoglycerate kinase-2 was higher in animals with a higher scrotum temperature and a higher prevalence of sperm morphology defects. The principal factor indicated that FAP variability concentrations were positively correlated with age, reproductive organ biometry, body size and composition. Our results indicate that FAP changes with body size and sexual development, and demonstrates differences in the proteomics of bulls with diverging feed efficiency. This is related to the delay in the sexual maturity of efficient young bulls.

Production-inventory analysis of single-station parallel machine make-to-stock/make-to-order system with random demands and lead times

Hybrid Make-To-Stock (MTS)/ Make-To-Order (MTO) production systems have captivated the attention of academic and practical societies due to their high levels of flexibility and profits of stock-based systems. This paper addresses a single-station production system including two parallel machines with two production modes; one of machines is allowed to process MTO (specific) products, whilst both machines might process these products in the other mode. In the considered system, it is assumed that demands and lead times follow Poisson and exponential density functions, respectively. In this regard, a queueing model is developed upon which extensive numerical analyses are conducted with respect to the exclusive performance measures for MTS and MTO products. The defined measures comprise fill rate, average number of finished products, and average number of orders for MTS products, and average number of specific orders in the system, expected response time, and on-time delivery rate for MTO products. Additionally, sensitivity analyses are performed.

Associations between feed efficiency, sexual maturity and fertility-related measures in young beef bulls

The beef industry has emphasized the improvement of feed utilization, as measured by modeling feed intake through performance traits to calculate residual feed intake (RFI). Evidence supports an inverse relationship between feed efficiency and reproductive function. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship of reproductive assessments and RFI unadjusted (RFIKoch) or adjusted for body composition (RFIus) and the relationship among fertility-related parameters. In total, 34 crossbred bulls were housed together for 112 days of performance evaluation, followed by assessment of scrotum IR imaging, scrotal circumference, testes ultrasonography and semen quality parameters at 377±33.4 days of age. Bulls were slaughtered at 389±34.0 days of age, and analyses of carcass composition, biometrics and histomorphometry of the testis and epididymis were conducted. Bulls were grouped into two subpopulations based on divergence of RFI, and within each RFI model either by including 50% of the population (Halves, high and low RFI, n=17) or 20.6% extremes of the population (Tails, high and low RFI, n=7). The means of productive performance and fertility-related measures were compared through these categories. Pearson’s correlation was calculated among fertility-related measures. In the Halves subpopulation of the RFIus, sperm of low-RFI bulls had decreased progressive motility (47.30% v. 59.90%) and higher abundance of tail abnormalities (4.30% v. 1.80%) than that of high-RFI bulls. In the Tails subpopulation of the RFIKoch, low RFI displayed less variation in the scrotum surface temperature (0.62°C v. 1.16°C), decreased testis echogenicity (175.50 v 198.00 pixels) and larger (60.90 v. 56.80 mm2) but less-developed seminiferous tubules than high-RFI bulls. The evaluation of fertility-related parameters indicated that a higher percentage of immature seminiferous tubules was correlated with occurrence of sperm with distal droplets (r=0.59), a larger temperature variation at the top of the scrotum was correlated with improved sperm progressive motility (r=0.38), a lower occurrence of sperm loose head abnormalities was correlated with larger temperature variation at the lower part of the scrotum (r=−0.43), and a lower minimum testis echogenicity (r=−0.59) and smaller scrotal circumference (r=0.72) were correlated with age. The adjustment for body composition (RFI determination) enabled distinct biological inferences about reproduction and feed efficiency when compared with the non-adjusted model. However, both RFI models and the correlation analysis supported the hypothesis that feed-efficient bulls have features of delayed sexual maturity. Overall, the assessment of fertility-related measurements is important to avoid the improvement of feed efficiency at the expense of reproductive function in young bulls.

Production performance evaluation based on rough set theory and wavelet neural network

Aimed at overcoming subjectivity and improving the accuracy of traditional production performance evaluation methods for manufacturing enterprises, a new model of performance evaluation was proposed based on rough sets and a wavelet neural network (RS - WNN). Firstly, an evaluation index system considering innovation performance was constructed. Secondly, a theory of rough sets and fuzzy mathematics was utilized to preprocess and simplify the index system, and then, the input dimensionality of wavelet neural network was reduced. Finally, algorithms of stepwise checkout and iterative descending grads were employed to decide the parameters of WNN and to obtain the synthetic evaluation value of production performance. A case study showed that the proposed model was effective and feasible in measuring production performance.

Value Added Productivity Performance of the Peninsular Malaysian Wood Sawmilling Industry

Value added manufacturing activity in the wood sawmilling industry of Peninsular Malaysia is important for employment opportunities, particularly for low income citizens living in this rural area, to provide returns to the local economy while being environmentally sustainable. This paper is a review on the value added wood sawmill industry in Peninsular Malaysia, using the value of major import and exports of major timbers products and forested area in Peninsular Malaysia over the period 2003 to 2012. The productivity performance measures that are based on the concept of value added are emphasized in this paper. The value added in wood sawmill industry was found to increase from year 2003 to 2012. Consequently, Malaysia is moving on the right path to achieve the goal of National Timber Policy 2020, transforming the timber industry into high value addition industry. However, further analysis using the value added productivity measure found that the value addition rely on international timber price rather than skilled workers.

The individual and joint effects of process control and process-based rewards on new product performance and job satisfaction

An important issue facing innovation managers is how to exercise adequate managerial control over new product development (NPD) teams in order to ensure that project goals are met. The current study advances research on this subject matter by analyzing the individual and joint effects of process control and process-based rewards on job satisfaction and four measures of new product performance. Findings from our study reveal that process control and process-based rewards can have either positive or negative effects depending on the type of performance outcome considered. Thus, process control is beneficial to new product quality but detrimental to adherence to budget, adherence to schedule, and team's job satisfaction. Interestingly, our results suggest opposite effects for process-based rewards. In terms of their joint effects, results suggest that firms should only combine process control and process-based rewards when their goal is to develop new products with high quality.

Statistical Testing Procedure for Assessing The Quality Performance of Exponentiated Weibull Products with The Lower Record Values

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating of the probability P[X > Y] (or measure of product (or system) performance) for the quality characteristics of two products X and Y from the exponentiated Weibull distribution, independent of each other and based on the lower record values. Moreover, by using the two stage method including the least squares method and maximum likelihood method to construct hypothesis testing procedures for P[X > Y] in order to assess the quality performance of product and compare the superiority-inferiority of two products. Finally, two examples are utilized to illustrate the use of the testing procedure.

Assessing comparative production efficiencies for product line management

Product line management involves product expansion or elimination depending on various factors, for example, production processes and demands in the market. This study focuses on measuring product performance for a firm’s product line management, using parametric and non-parametric approaches. First, we choose variables related to the production and demand of products and assess the comparative performance of product groups and individual products using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Second, we attempt to detect possible performance differences among the product groups using one-way analysis of variance. Third, we identify the sources of inefficiency using appropriate DEA scores and offer some managerial insights. Last, we try to confirm the determinants of product performance using Tobit regression analysis. The major contribution of this study is the use of a novel approach for product line management by measuring the performance of product groups and individual products using pertinent variables. The approach used in this study is applicable to various manufacturing and service industries. The limitations of this study are the number of product groups selected and examination of performance using cross-sectional data.