Giancarlo Giacchetta

Development of a sustainable product lifecycle in manufacturing firms: a case study

This study discusses a methodology for integrating Design for Environment (DfE) and life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques both into new product development and into the process of redesigning a set of existing products. The article explains the reasons for developing DfE in general, and pays particular attention to a specific, chosen product, a class of electrical distribution boards, to illustrate the concept. The main process steps in the development of the DfE are outlined, and the development of a LCA that satisfies the requirements of the ISO 14040 standard is illustrated. A major benefit of the DfE methodology proposed in this work is the possibility to use LCA data both during new product development and when modifying old products, with the aim of continuously reducing the overall environmental impact of products during their life cycle. This improvement cycle begins with the attempt to find new design solutions (for assembly and set-up in the case of electrical distribution boards), continues with the calculation of the enviromental break even point (BEP) and with the assessment of the BEP for the expenses incurred by the client. On the basis of these calculations and bearing in mind the technical specifications required by the clients and the work environment in which the product will be used, the designers will be able to make the most efficient choices from both the environmental and the economic point of view.

Business process re‐engineering in healthcare management: a case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to carry out the business process re‐engineering (BPR) of a surgical ward in a hospital in order to improve the efficiency of the ward.Design/methodology/approach – This work was developed using a case study on a surgical ward. In this type of ward, in which scheduled and unscheduled operations often have to coexist and be managed, ways to minimise patient inconvenience need to be studied. A framework based on event‐driven process chains (EPCs) methodology, the entity‐relationship model and discrete event simulation is presented to define and analyse the current state of a surgical ward and design a future system. The modelling of the processes, activities and sub‐activities, which took up a great amount of ward resources, allowed a what‐if analysis to be developed which simulates various scenarios and assesses their performance.Findings – Using Delphi methodology, it was possible to identify a number of areas for improvement: number of operating sessions, preparatio...

A carbon footprint analysis in the textile supply chain

This research work focuses on the application of life-cycle assessment methodology to determine the carbon footprint of different players involved in a supply chain of the textile sector. A case study of a product by a textile leader company was carried out. This study demonstrates that, in the textile chain, the main contribution to the greenhouse effect is provided by the electrical and thermal energy used and by the transportation (since different production phases are delocalised in a wide range that goes from South Africa, Italy, Romania and all around the world, from the distribution centre to the stores). The Monte Carlo analysis has been used in order to obtain, for each calculated impact, not only the average value but also the distribution curve of the results characterised by uncertainty parameters. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the impact of management choices such as: • a change in the transportation modality, from aeroplane to boat; • a combination of road and rail transportation; and • a selection among suppliers that allows the firm to cut environmental impacts.

Design for environment as a tool for the development of a sustainable supply chain

In this work, design for environment (DfE) methodologies have been used as a tool for the development of a more sustainable supply chain. In particular by combining life‐cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and by using the quality function deployment (QFD) multi‐criteria matrices, an ‘environmental compromise’ can be reached. In this work, the QFD matrices have been developed in a new way using an iterative process that involves the whole supply chain starting from the product life‐cycle, taking into consideration the machines that make the product and their components. This methodology is compatible with the requirements of the various stakeholders, suppliers, manufacturers and clients, involved in the supply chain. To assess the validity of the proposed approach a specific supply chain was studied concerning packaging systems for liquid food substances (beverage cartons). Firstly all the stages which are most critical from the environmental point of view in the supply chain of packaging systems were identified and assessed. The starting point for the analysis of environmental aspects and impacts which characterise the supply chain was LCA, which proved to be useful for the identification and the environmental assessment of the various stages in a packaging system. Through the use of ‘iterative QFD’ it is possible to arrive at a definition of the engineering characteristics of all the machinery which is involved in the supply chain. In particular in this work the authors have tried to identify the critical points in the design of those machines which either make the beverage cartons or are involved in the filling process.

Facility management in the healthcare sector: analysis of the Italian situation

The aim of this paper is to analyse the current situation in the Italian public healthcare sector, with special attention to aspects of facility management, in the light of the reorganisation necessary for the application of decentralisation and ‘de-nationalisation’ policies that have involved hospitals in recent years. We have traced a profile of the situation, for 2004, with regard to facility management procedures and to the maintenance of installations, focusing especially on contractual typologies, the efficiency of the adopted solutions and their economic character. The sample used for this work consisted of 50 medium to large size hospital facilities with fairly homogeneous distribution over the Italian territory. Hospitals, having been transformed into health authorities from public corporations, are faced with a gradual change that should allow them to have modern enterprise features, in which efficiency and effectiveness become a ‘must’ for survival in the health business. To this end it should be normal, particularly in the administrative and maintenance area, to have a change in direction with new management models and the creation of a facility department exclusively dedicated to the supply, management and control of services. The results obtained through this study indicate that these expectations are still a long way from being reached in a satisfactory manner. The territorial structures responsible for supplying the health service are still bound to the past, at least concerning the bureaucratic procedures to follow in relations with the ‘outside world’, at any level.

Industrial and occupational ergonomics in the petrochemical process industry: A regression trees approach

This work is an attempt to apply classification tree methods to data regarding accidents in a medium-sized refinery, so as to identify the important relationships between the variables, which can be considered as decision-making rules when adopting any measures for improvement. The results obtained using the CART (Classification And Regression Trees) method proved to be the most precise and, in general, they are encouraging concerning the use of tree diagrams as preliminary explorative techniques for the assessment of the ergonomic, management and operational parameters which influence high accident risk situations. The Occupational Injury analysis carried out in this paper was planned as a dynamic process and can be repeated systematically. The CART technique, which considers a very wide set of objective and predictive variables, shows new cause-effect correlations in occupational safety which had never been previously described, highlighting possible injury risk groups and supporting decision-making in these areas. The use of classification trees must not, however, be seen as an attempt to supplant other techniques, but as a complementary method which can be integrated into traditional types of analysis.

Overview on the application of ISO/TS 16949:2009, in a worldwide leader company in the production of stainless steel tubes for automotive exhaust systems

This paper presents an overview on the quality approach of a company that is at the leading edge in the sector of stainless steel-based products and represents an example of best practice in pursuing a continual improvement and the customer satisfaction. In this study, the attention has been focused on the application of the technical specification ISO 16949:2009 in accordance with the ISO 9000:2008, for the quality control of stainless steel tubes produced for automotive applications in one of the company plant devoted to the realisation of welded tubes for mufflers and exhaust pipes. The case study examined demonstrates how the effective adoption of the standards can help in reaching the highest level of performances in the production process, giving high-quality products and consolidating the company position on the market.

Implementation of a quality procedure based on Delphi method and the ISO/TS 16949:2009 in the production of stainless steel tubes for automotive exhaust systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the application of a procedure for the quality control of stainless steel tubes produced for automotive exhaust systems from a leading company in the steel sector, based on the Delphi method in accordance with the ISO/TS 16949:2009 and the ISO 9000:2008. Using Delphi methodology, it was possible to identify the main problems in the production lines object of the study, the main defects and their causes. Statistical methods were used to monitor process compliance and capacity. The panel of experts involved in Delphi method was able to identify causes of non‐compliance and suggest corrective actions.Design/methodology/approach – The quality procedure implemented involves the application of the Delphi method and the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard in conjunction with ISO 9000:2008 to the production line of welded tubes for exhaust systems. The statistical methods used to monitor the process were mainly control charts. Capability index, Cp and Cpk, were used to mea...

DATA MINING FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURY RISK: A CASE STUDY

The management of occupational injury is of strategic importance in a company from the organizational, engineering and economic point of view. This work is an attempt to apply data mining techniques to data regarding accidents in a medium-sized refinery. Several techniques were adopted in order to identify the important relationships between risk level and immediate/root causes and corrective actions. As a Data Mining technique were tested: Negative Binomial Regression (NBR), Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID); Exhaustive CHAID; Classification And Regression Trees (CART); Quick, Unbiased, Efficient Statistical Tree (QUEST), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Neuro-Fuzzy Systems (FIS). The comparison carried out in this study shows through a real application the flexibility and advantages of using the neuro-fuzzy network, a typical soft computing tool. Using these innovative techniques to analyse injury data this study aims to: • obtain a classification of input data according to their importance and/or influence on the risk level in injuries; • assess how a variation in one or more pieces of input data can effect occupational injury and subsequently carry out a sensitivity analysis concerning the probability, the consequences and risks of the injurie events; The analyses carried out indicated important relationships between the variables, providing useful decision-making rules which can be followed when adopting measures for improvement.

An application of BPR and RCM methods to an oil refinery turnaround process

This works reports on the application of business process re-engineering (BPR) methods to a specific stage in the maintenance activities of the API refinery in Falconara Marittima (AN), i.e. the scheduled annual turnaround. The aim of the study was to analyse the process as it was always implemented up until the year 2001, identifying any related problems and inconsistencies, and then describe the re-engineering of this process, assessing and emphasising the changes involved and pinpointing further opportunities for improvement. Using the synergies provided by the simultaneous adoption of management policies and maintenance management methods enables considerable changes to be made with a view to the production of servicing plans that ensure a greater reliability at the lowest possible cost. The annual turnaround process was modelled using the AIØ WIN software, which supports the IDEFØ method.