Harwinder Singh

Continuous improvement approach: state‐of‐art review and future implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and provide an overview of the history, evolution and existing research on continuous improvement (CI). It reviews a large number of research papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally.Design/methodology/approach – The paper systematically categorizes the published literature, analyzes and reviews it methodically.Findings – The paper reveals the important concepts, case studies and surveys in concerned with CI methodology. The contributions of CI programmes towards improving manufacturing performance of the organizations and CI values that underlies continuous improvement have also been highlighted.Practical implications – The literature on classification of CI has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally....

Development of rapid tooling using fused deposition modeling: a review

Purpose The purpose of this study is to highlight the direct fabrication of rapid tooling (RT) with desired mechanical, tribological and thermal properties using fused deposition modelling (FDM) process. Further, the review paper demonstrated development procedure of alternative feedstock filament of low-cost composite material for FDM to extend the range of RT applications. Design/methodology/approach The alternative materials for FDM and their processing requirements for fabrication in filament form as reported by various researchers have been summarized. The literature demonstrates the role of various post-processing techniques on surface finish of FDM prints. Further, low-cost materials for feedstock filament have been investigated experimentally to check their adaptability/suitability for commercial FDM setup. The approach was to realize the requirements of FDM (melt flow rate, flexibility, stiffness, glass transition temperature and mechanical strength), necessary for the successful run of an alternative filament. The effect of constituents (additives, plasticizers, surfactants and fillers) in polymeric matrix on mechanical, tribological and thermal properties has been investigated. Findings It is possible to develop composite material feedstock as filament for commercial FDM setup without changing its hardware and software. Surface finish of the parts can further be improved by applying various post-processing techniques. Most of the composite parts have high mechanical strength, hardness, thermal stability, wear resistant and better bond formation than standard material parts. Research limitations/implications Future research may be focused on improving the surface quality of parts fabricated with composite feedstock, solving issues related to the uniform distribution of filled materials during the fabrication of feedstock filament which in turns further increases mechanical strength, high dimensional stability of composite filament and transferring the technology from laboratory scale to various industrial applications. Practical implications Potential applications of direct fabrication with RT includes rapid manufacturing (RM) of metal-filled parts and ceramic-filled parts (which have complex shape and cannot be rapidly made by any other manufacturing techniques) in the field of biomedical and dentistry. Originality/value This new manufacturing methodology is based on the proper selection and processing of various materials and additives to form high-performance, low-cost composite material feedstock filament (which fulfil the necessary requirements of FDM process). Finally, newly developed feedstock filament material has both quantitative and qualitative advantage in RT and RM applications as compared to standard material filament.

Continuous improvement philosophy – literature review and directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the history and existing research on continuous improvement (CI). Design/methodology/approach – Extensive review of the literature. Findings – This paper provides an overview of CI, its inception, how it evolved into sophisticated methodologies used in organizations today, and existing research in this field in the literature. Research limitations/implications – The literature on classification of CI has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. It also highlights the sophisticated CI methodologies suggested by various researchers and practitioners in the field of CI. Practical implications – The literature on classification of CI has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI implementation practices demo...

Total productive maintenance (TPM) implementation practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on total productive maintenance (TPM) implementation practice to present an overview of TPM implementation practices adopted by various manufacturing organizations and suggest possible gaps from researchers and practitioner’s point of view. This study tries to identify the best strategy for improving competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in globalized market and evaluates TPM implementation practice in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – The objective of this paper is to study the role of TPM program in context of Indian industries either from SMEs to large-scale industries. The approach has been directed toward justification of TPM implementation practice for its support to competitive manufacturing in the context of Indian manufacturing industries. Findings – TPM implementation improves productivity and working efficiency of employees and also improves equipment effectiveness and a positive inclination toward company is reg...

An approach to analyze logistic outsourcing problem in medium‐scale organization by CFPR and VIKOR

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to make out a complete solution to logistic outsourcing problem in a medium‐scale organization by using consistent fuzzy preference relation (CFPR) and vlsekriterijumska optimizacija i kompromisno resenje (VIKOR) method.Design/methodology/approach – The initial approach to this research was to develop a comprehensive framework for logistic outsourcing problem and selection of most appropriate third party logistic (3PL) provider.Findings – It has been found that the organization should outsource logistic activities. The alternatives (3PL providers) have also been ranked and the fifth 3PL provider has been termed as best third party logistic provider.Research limitations/implications – The parameters selected for this study and developed framework are applicable only to a medium‐scale organization manufacturing automobile parts in northern India.Originality/value – This is probably the first time that an attempt has been made to apply the two‐phase methodology approach...

Hybrid methodology for measuring the utilization of advanced manufacturing technologies using AHP and TOPSIS

Purpose – Globalisation and liberalization of todays markets economy has posed new challenges to all manufacturing organizations, irrespective of their size and sector, for effective utilization of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) for sustaining their competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new insight into the use of hybrid methodology using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach, which is a multi‐criteria decision‐making methodology for measuring the effective utilization of advanced manufacturing technologies.Design/methodology/approach – A hybrid methodology using analytical hierarchy process and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution approach has been applied in this study. In this research work, seven factors such as top management support, resistance of employees, pay scale, training to employees, industry‐institute‐interaction, proper planning and team structure ha...

Benchmarking the performance indicators of Indian Railway container business using data envelopment analysis

Purpose – Indian Railways being sole government organization for infrastructure, operations and regulatory functions entered for competition in the container segment in January 2006 through private-public participation for customer-centric competitiveness to break monopolistic control of Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) introducing limited licensing policy. The purpose of this research work is to carry out benchmarking the performance indicators in Indian Railway container business and select private players. Design/methodology/approach – A case study has been conducted employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology on secondary data of container terminals of CONCOR, Adani and Gateway logistics. Data from the year 1995-1996 till 2010-2011 have been used for performance evaluation within CONCOR itself and comparative analysis for all three organizations from 2005-2006 till 2010-2011. Findings – The exercise identified efficiency trends fluctuating between 87.5 and 100 percent within CONCOR ow...

An evaluation of AMTs utilisation in Indian industry for enhanced manufacturing performance: evidence from large- and medium-scale organisations

In todays highly dynamic and rapidly changing environment, manufacturing scenario has undergone a rapid change in the last two decades, more so in the last few years. The manufacturing units are continuously trying to update themselves by acquiring or developing new technologies. The objective of this paper is to understand and explicate the nature of interaction between Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMTs) utilisation initiatives on different manufacturing performance parameters for achieving manufacturing success. This research aims to report the findings of an exploratory study administered in Northern Indian medium and large manufacturing organisations, who are utilising the AMTs at all levels of manufacturing industry. The statistical result suggests significant relationships between AMTs utilisation initiatives and manufacturing performance parameters at different levels of manufacturing industry. The results also suggest that an organisation should deploy multidimensional concept of AMTs utilisation initiatives to enhance manufacturing performance parameters in pursuit of agility-based competitive advantages.

Experimental investigations for development of Nylon6-Al-Al2O3 alternative FDM filament

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to fabricate Nylon6-Al-Al2O3-based alternative fused deposition modeling process (FDM) feedstock filament in place of commercial acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament (having required rheological and mechanical properties) for rapid manufacturing (RM) and rapid tooling (RT) applications. The detailed steps for fabrication of alternative FDM feedstock filament (as per field application) with relatively low manufacturing cost and tailor-made properties have been highlighted. Design/methodology/approach The rheological and mechanical suitability of nylon6-Al-Al2O3 feedstock filament has been investigated experimentally. The approach is to predict and incorporate essential properties such as flow rate, flexibility, stiffness and mechanical strength at processing conditions and compared with commercial ABS material. The proportions of various constituents have been varied to modify and improve rheological behavior and mechanical properties of alternative FDM feedstock filament. Findings The alternative material of feed stock filament was successfully developed and loaded in commercial FDM setup without changing any hardware and software. The result of study suggests that the newly developed composite material filament has relatively poor mechanical properties but have highly thermal stability and wear resistant as compared to ABS filament and hence can be used for tailor-made applications. Research limitations/implications In this work, no additive was added for improving the bond formation of metal and polymeric materials. The newly developed filament was prepared on single screw extruder. For more uniform mixing of metal and polymeric materials, further studies may be conducted on twin screw extruder. Also, for the present research work, the testing of newly developed filament has been limited up to mechanical testing, which may be extended to chemical and thermal analysis to understand thermal stability and degradation mechanism of newly developed composite material. Practical implications The proportion of filler material (Al-Al2O3) in Nylon6 matrix was set as a constraint, which was adjusted based upon melt flow index of original equipment manufacturer developed material (ABS), and temperature conditions were available at FDM nozzle (so that hardware and software system of commercial FDM setup need not to be altered). Originality/value The present approach outlined selection, processing, fabrication and testing procedure for alternate feedstock filament, which fulfills the necessary requirements of FDM process and has been customized for RT and RM applications. This work highlights mechanical strength evaluation of feedstock filament (which is necessary before the loading of material in FDM system). The potential applications of this investigation include RM of functional parts, tailor-made grinding tools for dentists and RT of metal matrix composite having complex geometry.

Comparison of tribological behaviour for Nylon6-Al-Al2O3 and ABS parts fabricated by fused deposition modelling

In the present work, a comparison of the tribological properties of Nylon6-Al-Al2O3 and ABS parts fabricated using the fused deposition modelling (FDM) method is made. Under dry sliding conditions at room temperature, the sliding wear behaviour of FDM-built parts with three different proportions of Al and Al2O3 was investigated. Loads of 5, 10, 15 and 20 were applied at a sliding velocity of 1.36 m/s for durations of 5 and 10 minutes. The results show that all FDM-built Nylon6-Al-Al2O3 components have better wear resistance as compared to their FDM-built ABS counterparts. Further, the influences of filler materials on various wear mechanisms such as adhesion, abrasion, etc. are identified. It was also observed that the composite materials prepared with different proportions are more wear resistant, having less friction coefficients and friction force than the commercially used ABS material for FDM components.