Ibrahim Rawabdeh

A model for the assessment of waste in job shop environments

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the waste in a job shop environment and proposes an assessment method aimed at helping companies to identify root causes of waste.Design/methodology/approach – The seven wastes (overproducing; processing; inventory; transporting; producing defects; time waiting; and motion waste) and their relationships were explored. A waste matrix was developed to quantify in a percentage form the relationships among wastes and represents a probability that a certain type of waste will affect others or be affected by others. An assessment questionnaire was employed to allocate the source of waste and differentiate between the levels of waste. The waste matrix and the assessment questionnaire were incorporated in the assessment method to rank the existing waste in a job shop.Findings – The developed model serves as guidelines for simplifying the search of waste problems and identifies opportunities for waste elimination. A case study was conducted to validate the model; and the res...

Assessment of development of the learning organization concept in Jordanian industrial companies

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine the impact on organizational performance of the application of management and human resource practices, and to attempt to outline key elements and assess development of the learning organization (LO) concept in Jordan.Design/methodology/approach – The tool described in this article assesses relationships between LO practices and financial and operational performance measures. The empirical research aims at deconstructing the LO formation through the development and validation of a conceptual model. A total of 41 companies belonging to large industrial sectors in Jordan participated in a survey by responding to a research questionnaire.Findings – The outcomes of the study indicate that the LO concept can be explored in Jordanian industry using eight constructs. These constructs were found to be strongly correlated. In general, this study identifies basic steps in the process of transformation into a learning organization in Jordan.Originality/value – The...

Jordan Quality Award (King Abdullah II Award for Excellence (KAIIAE))

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the essence of the Jordan Quality Award (JoQA) that has been developed and implemented in Jordan. The award characteristics, framework, examination criteria, objectives, benefits and comparative assessment are described. The JoQA is benchmarked with two international quality awards: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and European Quality Award.Design/methodology/approach – In order to investigate the experiences of companies and gain feedback on the awards benefits, achievements, problems, and criteria weights, a questionnaire was developed. A sample of 49 companies which had applied for the award was selected to test a set of hypotheses regarding the awards objectives, benefits, problems, and criteria weights, and to determine areas of weaknesses and potential improvements.Findings – The testing of the hypotheses shows that the objectives of the award, externally, and internally viewed benefit were achieved. However, various implementation problems...

A new heuristic approach for a computer‐aided facility layout

Purpose – This paper seeks to apply a heuristic approach to solve the facility layout problem and the description of a new computer‐aided layout design system.Design/methodology/approach – The system utilizes a new approach for computing the adjacency scores, stacking of departments, and reserving or changing the departments shapes and dimensions. The system algorithms are based on calculating the minimal distance between departments and modified departmental closeness rating.Findings – The research addressed in this paper has resulted in developing FLASP (Facility LAyout Support Program) software. FLASP could reduce the number of iterations needed to reach the optimal solution of the layout problems by restricting the location for each department depending on the relationships between them.Practical implications – The system is built on a set of algorithms that are concerned with stacking, calculating the shortest rectilinear distances between departments, adjacency matrix system, modifications capabili...

A Fuzzy Multiple Regression Approach for Optimizing Multiple Responses in the Taguchi Method

The fuzzy regression has been found effective in modeling the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables when a high degree of fuzziness is involved and only a few data sets are available for model building. This research, therefore, proposes an approach for optimizing multiple responses in the Taguchi method using fuzzy regression and desirability function. The statistical regression is formulated for the signal to noise S/N ratios of each response replicate. Then, the optimal factor levels for each replicate are utilized in building fuzzy regression model. The desirability function, pay-off matrix, and the deviation function are finally used for formulating the optimization models for the lower, mean, and upper limits. Two case studies investigated in previous literature are employed for illustration; where in both case studies the proposed approach efficiently optimized processes performance.

A design of experiments approach for optimizing an extrusion blow molding process

This paper presents a study on implementing design of experiments for optimizing the extrusion blow molding process. The effect of screw speed, melting temperature, cooling time, pressure, mold temperature, and ambient temperatures on the outcome of the process is investigated. The significant factors affecting the volume and mass of the blow molded bottles are identified. The results show that melting temperature, pressure, and ambient temperature have a significant impact on the variation of produced bottle quality. An optimization technique is implemented to identify the best operating conditions to meet the required product output.

Stochastic analysis and design of CONWIP controlled production systems

Purpose – This paper aims to present a model of a multi‐phase multi‐product manufacturing system considering a CONstant work‐in‐process (CONWIP) control mechanism and using continuous‐time Markov chain modelling approach.Design/methodology/approach – The model includes defining a state space then constructing the rate matrix, which contains the transition rates, followed by formulating the transition matrix. The time‐dependent probabilities that a product is in a particular state at a certain time are characterized. Performance measures related to the statistics on the waiting time and average number of work‐in‐process in the production system have been determined. Consequently, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the computations of different model aspects.Findings – The analyses explain a foundation needed for analyzing the steady state behavior of manufacturing systems. Results have shown how production data can be easily modified for what‐if analyses by the use of Excel add‐in tool.Practica...

Modeling Blanking Process Using Multiple Regression Analysis and Artificial Neural Networks

The design of blanking processes requires the availability of a procedure able to deal with both tooling and mechanical properties of the workpiece material (blank thickness, hardness, ductility, etc.). This research presents the development and comparison of two models to predict the quality of the blanked edge represented by burrs height, the first model is an artificial neural network (ANN) based, while the second model is a multiple regression analysis (MRA) based. Finite Element modeling of the blanking process was used to generate the data for both models. Both ANN and MRA are able to give good prediction results, however, ANN still more accurate because it deals efficiently with hidden nonlinear relations when compared to MRA. The comparison between experimental and model results shows that average absolute relative error in the case of ANN was <2.20% for carbon steel and 4.85% for corrosion-resistant steel (CRES) compared to 15.18% for carbon steel and 14.22% for CRES obtained from the second order MRA. Therefore, by using ANN outputs, satisfactory results can be estimated rather than measured and hence reduce testing time and cost.

Assessment of products’ standards in Jordanian manufacturing companies

The increasing impact of international competition and changing business environment has raised the important role of standardization, which was reflected in national standards. This paper presents the results of a study that provides insight into the role of Jordanian product standards in the local industry. The effect of companies’ characteristics on both the importance and satisfaction level with Jordanian Standards (JS), identifying reasons for using foreign standards and the need for new JS in manufacturing sectors were investigated. The findings revealed that there are no statistically significant differences in the way that Jordanian companies perceive the importance of having JS and the level of satisfaction or interest. Regardless of the company characteristics, it is concluded that targeted companies consider JS important to their business and JS are satisfying the companies’ interests. The surveyed Jordanian companies show a serious interest in foreign standards. However, the lack of familiarity with the existing JS in some small and medium enterprises and its benefit to their industry was observed.

Economic analysis for agility in manufacturing environment

This article is intended to model unpredictable change in an agile manufacturing environment. A model for unpredictable changes expressed by an agility index was developed and explained through numerical simulation. The model took into consideration the need for investing in agility depends upon the business circumstances and environmental turbulence. It shows that investing in agility increases the expected savings from changes and decreases the expected time a company needs to spend in dealing with change intelligently. The mathematical model is developed to evaluate the expected total cost through the four dimensions of change: cost, time, scope and robustness. This model supports the decision making process for justifying agility investment using change sensors analysis, and it aids in finding the optimal value of an agility index that minimises the expected total cost. It is found that there is an optimal value for an agility index that minimises the expected total cost for a certain production system.