Cutting tools management is one of the major issues in metal cutting operations. Most of the prob... more Cutting tools management is one of the major issues in metal cutting operations. Most of the problems in cutting tools management were mostly addressed using optimization, heuristic, and simulation techniques. This important problem was not studied using decision-based approaches. This study proposed a decision support system (DSS) that can perform part-cutting tools assignment and control decisions by integrating a neutrosophic case-based reasoning and the best-worst method (BWM) in metal cutting processes. Specifically, this study utilized the integration of case-based reasoning (CBR) and single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) theories in artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, the proposed DSS applies the BWM to determine optimal weights for case attributes from multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). The system retrieves the most similar historical cases using a neutrosophic CBR and the BWM to adapt their cutting tool requirements to the current product orders. In addition, it r...
Measurement systems incorporating financial and non-financial measures have been a topic of consi... more Measurement systems incorporating financial and non-financial measures have been a topic of considerable interest to both business practitioners and academics for most of the 1990s. The main focus of this thesis work is to indicate the negative impact of traditional performance measures and operation strategies on improvement of business results and to formulate a multi-criteria performance measurement model that comprises critical both tangible & intangible measures. This research thesis reviews worldwide researches that address the correlation between designing & implementing appropriate performance measures, and business performance outcomes. The research is conducted in a sample of 28 Ethiopian manufacturing enterprises. The vital financial results of these surveyed companies are compared to the international industry benchmarks. The extent of utilization of financial & non-financial measures in strategic planning and organizational performance evaluation is studied. The results...
Purpose This paper aims to propose an intelligent system that serves as a cost estimator when new... more Purpose This paper aims to propose an intelligent system that serves as a cost estimator when new part orders are received from customers. Design/methodology/approach The methodologies applied in this study were case-based reasoning (CBR), analytic hierarchy process, rule-based reasoning and fuzzy set theory for case retrieval. The retrieved cases were revised using parametric and feature-based cost estimation techniques. Cases were represented using an object-oriented (OO) approach to characterize them in n-dimensional Euclidean vector space. Findings The proposed cost estimator retrieves historical cases that have the most similar cost estimates to the current new orders. Further, it revises the retrieved cost estimates based on attribute differences between new and retrieved cases using parametric and feature-based cost estimation techniques. Research limitations/implications The proposed system was illustrated using a numerical example by considering different lathe machine oper...
Stabilizing the flow of fixtures is one of the complex problems for the current manufacturing sys... more Stabilizing the flow of fixtures is one of the complex problems for the current manufacturing systems. A novel Decision Support System (DSS) is proposed to systematically plan fixture using Fuzzy Case-Based Reasoning (FCBR), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Discrete-Event Simulation (DES). Cases are represented using an Object-Oriented (OO) method. FCBR and FAHP are combined for case retrieval. A DES model is used to evaluate the performance of the solution proposed by the FCBR system. A numerical example is illustrated to show the soundness of the proposed system.
Purpose This paper aims to propose a theoretical decision support framework, which integrates art... more Purpose This paper aims to propose a theoretical decision support framework, which integrates artificial intelligence (AI), discrete-event simulation (DES) and database management technologies so as to determine the steady state flow of items (e.g. fixtures, jigs, tools, etc.) in manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach The existing literature was carefully reviewed to address the state of the arts in decision support systems (DSS), the shortcomings of pure simulation-based and pure AI-based DSS. A conceptual example is illustrated to show the integrated application of AI, simulation and database components of the proposed DSS framework. Findings Recent DSS studies have revealed the limitations of pure simulation-based and pure AI-based DSS. A new DSS framework is required in manufacturing to address these limitations, taking into account the problems of flowing items. Research limitations/implications The theoretical DSS framework is proposed using simple rules and equations. Thi...
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 2017
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a decision support system (DSS) that stabilizes t... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a decision support system (DSS) that stabilizes the flow of fixtures in manufacturing systems. The proposed DSS assists decision-makers to reuse or adapt the available fixtures or to manufacture new fixtures depending upon the similarity between the past and new cases. It considers the cost effectiveness of the proposed decision when an adaptation decision is passed. Design/methodology/approach The research problem is addressed by integrating case-based reasoning, rule-based reasoning and fuzzy set theory. Cases are represented using an object-oriented (OO) approach to characterize them by their feature vectors. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the inverse of weighted Euclidean distance measure are applied for case retrieval. A machining operation is illustrated as a computational example to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed DSS. Findings The problems of fixture assignment and control have not been well-addre...
Fixtures are one of the major problematic components in a manufacturing system because of their c... more Fixtures are one of the major problematic components in a manufacturing system because of their complicated design and management requirements. Fixture planning and management problems were not well addressed in the past publications as compared with the attention paid to the design issues. This paper is designed to address this problem using a decision-based fixture assignment and control method. A decision support framework is proposed to determine a steady state flow of fixtures for part orders planned in a specific production period. This framework integrates artificial intelligence technologies, simulations models and database management techniques in order to accommodate flexibility in a dynamic manufacturing situation. The artificial intelligence reveals how case-based and rule-based reasoning techniques work in synergy. The simulation models include discrete event and visual interactive approaches. A decision logic diagram is presented so as to depict the conditions and corresponding decision alternatives.
The purpose of this article is to design specific type of multi-criteria performance measurement ... more The purpose of this article is to design specific type of multi-criteria performance measurement (MCPM) framework using the virtues of both simple multiple attribute rating technique (SMART) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) notions. The article largely focuses on selection of key performance indicators (KPIs) using combined merits of these two methods. Identifying KPIs is one of the major challenges in designing of MCPM frameworks/models and it is one of causes of failure while firms are implementing performance measurement systems. The MCPM framework has been designed by considering the needs of all critical stakeholders as crucial input, namely customers, shareholders, environment & local community, employees and suppliers. Then the strategic objectives of the case studied company were outlined with help of strategy map; all potential performance measures were listed for each strategic objective. Six evaluation criteria were applied to identify 19 KPIs among 46 potential ind...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between quality management... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between quality management practice and labor productivity in labor-intensive manufacturing companies in a developing nation and benchmark with the world average. Design/methodology/approach – Primary and secondary data were collected from 34 selected companies. The primary data were obtained using a questionnaire survey to determine the quality management adoption level of each company using the European Business Excellence Model. Secondary data also collected in order to compute labor productivity of each organization and benchmark with international norms. Findings – In this research, labor productivity is measured by revenues per employee and total assets per employee and found that adopting quality management has strong relationships with revenue per employee unlike total asset per employee that is weakly related. Originality/value – Several authors suggest a positive relationship between adoption quality ma...
The purpose of this paper is to give an in-depth insight for the development and improvement of c... more The purpose of this paper is to give an in-depth insight for the development and improvement of concurrent engineering in several applications. In addition to that the conceptual model that includes the new application areas is developed and presented in simplified way so that the new practitioner in the field of concurrent engineering can understand easily. The methodology that is followed in this paper is review of concurrent engineering since the philosophy has started (80's). The paper will start with historical ...
Purpose This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) that performs a decision-based... more Purpose This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) that performs a decision-based part-fixture assignment and fixture flow control in planned production periods. Design/methodology/approach The principal approaches were fuzzy case-based reasoning (FCBR) and discrete-event simulation (DES). Besides, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), an object-oriented (OO) method and a fuzzy weighted Euclidean distance were used to support the decision-making process. Findings It shows that integrating FCBR and DES systems is a promising approach to address part-fixture planning problems. The FCBR subsystem proposed various stable numbers of fixtures as scenarios. The DES model analyzed the future performances of these scenarios and identified the best alternative. Research limitations/implications The DSS was tested in laboratory environments using a numerical analysis; however, it was not validated in industrial situations. Originality/value The synergy of integrating FCB...
A th es is s u bmit ted to th e Sch ool of Gra du a te Stu dies of Addis Aba ba Un iver s ity in ... more A th es is s u bmit ted to th e Sch ool of Gra du a te Stu dies of Addis Aba ba Un iver s ity in pa r t ia l fu lfillmen t of th e Degree of Ma s ter s of Scien ce in Mech a n ica l En gin eer in g (In du s t r ia l En gin eer in g St ream).
Cutting tools management is one of the major issues in metal cutting operations. Most of the prob... more Cutting tools management is one of the major issues in metal cutting operations. Most of the problems in cutting tools management were mostly addressed using optimization, heuristic, and simulation techniques. This important problem was not studied using decision-based approaches. This study proposed a decision support system (DSS) that can perform part-cutting tools assignment and control decisions by integrating a neutrosophic case-based reasoning and the best-worst method (BWM) in metal cutting processes. Specifically, this study utilized the integration of case-based reasoning (CBR) and single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) theories in artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, the proposed DSS applies the BWM to determine optimal weights for case attributes from multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). The system retrieves the most similar historical cases using a neutrosophic CBR and the BWM to adapt their cutting tool requirements to the current product orders. In addition, it r...
Measurement systems incorporating financial and non-financial measures have been a topic of consi... more Measurement systems incorporating financial and non-financial measures have been a topic of considerable interest to both business practitioners and academics for most of the 1990s. The main focus of this thesis work is to indicate the negative impact of traditional performance measures and operation strategies on improvement of business results and to formulate a multi-criteria performance measurement model that comprises critical both tangible & intangible measures. This research thesis reviews worldwide researches that address the correlation between designing & implementing appropriate performance measures, and business performance outcomes. The research is conducted in a sample of 28 Ethiopian manufacturing enterprises. The vital financial results of these surveyed companies are compared to the international industry benchmarks. The extent of utilization of financial & non-financial measures in strategic planning and organizational performance evaluation is studied. The results...
Purpose This paper aims to propose an intelligent system that serves as a cost estimator when new... more Purpose This paper aims to propose an intelligent system that serves as a cost estimator when new part orders are received from customers. Design/methodology/approach The methodologies applied in this study were case-based reasoning (CBR), analytic hierarchy process, rule-based reasoning and fuzzy set theory for case retrieval. The retrieved cases were revised using parametric and feature-based cost estimation techniques. Cases were represented using an object-oriented (OO) approach to characterize them in n-dimensional Euclidean vector space. Findings The proposed cost estimator retrieves historical cases that have the most similar cost estimates to the current new orders. Further, it revises the retrieved cost estimates based on attribute differences between new and retrieved cases using parametric and feature-based cost estimation techniques. Research limitations/implications The proposed system was illustrated using a numerical example by considering different lathe machine oper...
Stabilizing the flow of fixtures is one of the complex problems for the current manufacturing sys... more Stabilizing the flow of fixtures is one of the complex problems for the current manufacturing systems. A novel Decision Support System (DSS) is proposed to systematically plan fixture using Fuzzy Case-Based Reasoning (FCBR), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Discrete-Event Simulation (DES). Cases are represented using an Object-Oriented (OO) method. FCBR and FAHP are combined for case retrieval. A DES model is used to evaluate the performance of the solution proposed by the FCBR system. A numerical example is illustrated to show the soundness of the proposed system.
Purpose This paper aims to propose a theoretical decision support framework, which integrates art... more Purpose This paper aims to propose a theoretical decision support framework, which integrates artificial intelligence (AI), discrete-event simulation (DES) and database management technologies so as to determine the steady state flow of items (e.g. fixtures, jigs, tools, etc.) in manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach The existing literature was carefully reviewed to address the state of the arts in decision support systems (DSS), the shortcomings of pure simulation-based and pure AI-based DSS. A conceptual example is illustrated to show the integrated application of AI, simulation and database components of the proposed DSS framework. Findings Recent DSS studies have revealed the limitations of pure simulation-based and pure AI-based DSS. A new DSS framework is required in manufacturing to address these limitations, taking into account the problems of flowing items. Research limitations/implications The theoretical DSS framework is proposed using simple rules and equations. Thi...
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 2017
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a decision support system (DSS) that stabilizes t... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a decision support system (DSS) that stabilizes the flow of fixtures in manufacturing systems. The proposed DSS assists decision-makers to reuse or adapt the available fixtures or to manufacture new fixtures depending upon the similarity between the past and new cases. It considers the cost effectiveness of the proposed decision when an adaptation decision is passed. Design/methodology/approach The research problem is addressed by integrating case-based reasoning, rule-based reasoning and fuzzy set theory. Cases are represented using an object-oriented (OO) approach to characterize them by their feature vectors. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the inverse of weighted Euclidean distance measure are applied for case retrieval. A machining operation is illustrated as a computational example to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed DSS. Findings The problems of fixture assignment and control have not been well-addre...
Fixtures are one of the major problematic components in a manufacturing system because of their c... more Fixtures are one of the major problematic components in a manufacturing system because of their complicated design and management requirements. Fixture planning and management problems were not well addressed in the past publications as compared with the attention paid to the design issues. This paper is designed to address this problem using a decision-based fixture assignment and control method. A decision support framework is proposed to determine a steady state flow of fixtures for part orders planned in a specific production period. This framework integrates artificial intelligence technologies, simulations models and database management techniques in order to accommodate flexibility in a dynamic manufacturing situation. The artificial intelligence reveals how case-based and rule-based reasoning techniques work in synergy. The simulation models include discrete event and visual interactive approaches. A decision logic diagram is presented so as to depict the conditions and corresponding decision alternatives.
The purpose of this article is to design specific type of multi-criteria performance measurement ... more The purpose of this article is to design specific type of multi-criteria performance measurement (MCPM) framework using the virtues of both simple multiple attribute rating technique (SMART) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) notions. The article largely focuses on selection of key performance indicators (KPIs) using combined merits of these two methods. Identifying KPIs is one of the major challenges in designing of MCPM frameworks/models and it is one of causes of failure while firms are implementing performance measurement systems. The MCPM framework has been designed by considering the needs of all critical stakeholders as crucial input, namely customers, shareholders, environment & local community, employees and suppliers. Then the strategic objectives of the case studied company were outlined with help of strategy map; all potential performance measures were listed for each strategic objective. Six evaluation criteria were applied to identify 19 KPIs among 46 potential ind...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between quality management... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between quality management practice and labor productivity in labor-intensive manufacturing companies in a developing nation and benchmark with the world average. Design/methodology/approach – Primary and secondary data were collected from 34 selected companies. The primary data were obtained using a questionnaire survey to determine the quality management adoption level of each company using the European Business Excellence Model. Secondary data also collected in order to compute labor productivity of each organization and benchmark with international norms. Findings – In this research, labor productivity is measured by revenues per employee and total assets per employee and found that adopting quality management has strong relationships with revenue per employee unlike total asset per employee that is weakly related. Originality/value – Several authors suggest a positive relationship between adoption quality ma...
The purpose of this paper is to give an in-depth insight for the development and improvement of c... more The purpose of this paper is to give an in-depth insight for the development and improvement of concurrent engineering in several applications. In addition to that the conceptual model that includes the new application areas is developed and presented in simplified way so that the new practitioner in the field of concurrent engineering can understand easily. The methodology that is followed in this paper is review of concurrent engineering since the philosophy has started (80's). The paper will start with historical ...
Purpose This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) that performs a decision-based... more Purpose This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) that performs a decision-based part-fixture assignment and fixture flow control in planned production periods. Design/methodology/approach The principal approaches were fuzzy case-based reasoning (FCBR) and discrete-event simulation (DES). Besides, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), an object-oriented (OO) method and a fuzzy weighted Euclidean distance were used to support the decision-making process. Findings It shows that integrating FCBR and DES systems is a promising approach to address part-fixture planning problems. The FCBR subsystem proposed various stable numbers of fixtures as scenarios. The DES model analyzed the future performances of these scenarios and identified the best alternative. Research limitations/implications The DSS was tested in laboratory environments using a numerical analysis; however, it was not validated in industrial situations. Originality/value The synergy of integrating FCB...
A th es is s u bmit ted to th e Sch ool of Gra du a te Stu dies of Addis Aba ba Un iver s ity in ... more A th es is s u bmit ted to th e Sch ool of Gra du a te Stu dies of Addis Aba ba Un iver s ity in pa r t ia l fu lfillmen t of th e Degree of Ma s ter s of Scien ce in Mech a n ica l En gin eer in g (In du s t r ia l En gin eer in g St ream).
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