Mohd Fahrul Hassan

Integration of morphological analysis theory and artificial neural network approach for sustainable product design: a case study of portable vacuum cleaner

A need for incorporating sustainability requirements during product development phase so as to ensure green initiatives is the vital focus of todays industries. However, proposed approaches are lacking in terms of sustainability aspects and difficulty in selecting the most sustainable product assembly model at the end of the methodologies. Besides, useful tools such as life-cycle assessment (LCA), streamlined LCA and environmental matrix for assessing the environmental impacts associated with a product have been incorporated in order to fulfil those limitations but the variation in price and complexity makes it difficult to match the goal, scope and budget of the product design. Therefore, this study presents an integrated morphological analysis theory and artificial neural network approach for producing products in sustainable manner that caters to environment, economic and social aspects. As a result from the case study, the most sustainable of new portable vacuum cleaner models can be systematically selected.

Sustainability evaluation of alternative part configurations in product design: weighted decision matrix and artificial neural network approach

Recently, sustainable products have been demanded by world legislation not only to generate profits, meet consumers’ needs, or reduce adverse impacts on the environment, but also considering all aspects of economic, societal, and environmental. Numerous sustainable product designs have been introduced by considering sustainability in developing product concept; however, the sustainability issues considered during the evaluation of different product configurations are rather limited. In response, this study proposes a systematic approach to evaluate sustainability of configuration design alternatives based on weighted decision matrix and artificial neural network. Weighted decision matrix is used as a platform to deal with inconsistency data based on a point scale and generate ratings based on the score given. In this phase, configuration designs are measured at an interval scale and the score is derived using a nine-point Likert scale, which is used to determine the score of the configuration design with regard to the sustainability criteria compared with other alternatives. Then, artificial neural network is utilized to estimate the sustainability performance in a single value, named Weighted Sustainability Score by aggregating the generated ratings using a trained network. A case study of an armed chair is conducted to illustrate the proposed approach in detail. The accuracy of the proposed approach on the result for environmental evaluation is validated by environmental-based commercial software. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach provides similar decision with the commercial software in ranking the alternative part configurations with regard to environmental consideration. Consequently, the study shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach in a part of evaluating environmental aspect, and would do the same for systematically evaluating sustainability elements.

Selection of Product Design Configuration for Improved Sustainability Using the Product Sustainability Index (ProdSI) Scoring Method

Generating new variants for design elements of products, structuring them into a complete configuration and evaluating the alternate configurations are essential for product design. Evaluating the likely product configurations in terms of sustainability aspects continues to become a useful aspect of interest to product designers. This paper proposes a new approach for applying the Product Sustainability Index (ProdSI) in selecting the best possible configurations for product design. In this paper, the recently developed ProdSI methodology is used to evaluate sustainability performance of a product. The approach is useful for product designers to generate numerous likely product design configurations and subsequently select the most sustainable product design configuration. An example of an armed-chair is used to illustrate the proposed new approach.

The Effect of Cutting Speed and Feed Rate on Surface Roughness and Tool Wear when Machining Machining D2 Steel

Machining parameters is a main aspect in performing turning operations using lathe machines. Cutting parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut gives big influence on the dynamic behavior of the machining system. In machining parts, surface quality and tool wear are the most crucial customer requirements. This is because the major indication of surface quality on machined part is the surface roughness and the value of tool wear. Hence, to improve the surface roughness and minimize the forming of tool wear, the optimum feed rate and cutting speed will be determined. The input parameter such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut always influence the tool wear, surface roughness, cutting force, cutting temperature, tool life and dimensional accuracy. The D2 steel was being investigated from the perspective of the effect of cutting speed and feed rate on its surface roughness and tool wear. The results show that cutting speed is the main parameter which affects the surface roughness where the most optimum parameter would be at cutting speed of 173, 231 and 288 m/min with feed rate of 0.15 mm/rev. The tool wear strongly affected by feed rate where at 0.15 mm/rev the tool wear value is the lowest. The combination of high cutting speed and low feed rate was the best parameter to achieve smooth surface roughness.

Carbon Sequestration and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is a standout amongst the most presented districts to unnatural weather change dangers even they are not principle worldwide carbon dioxide (CO2) maker, its discharge will get to be significant if there is no move made. CO2 wellsprings of Southeast Asia are mainly by fossil fuel through era of power and warmth generation, and also transportation part. The endeavors taken by these nations can be ordered into administrative and local level. This paper review the potential for carbon catch and capacity (CCS) as a part of the environmental change moderation system for the Malaysian power area utilizing an innovation appraisal structure. The countrys recorded pattern of high dependence on fossil fuel for its power segment makes it a prime possibility for CCS reception. This issue leads to gradual increment of CO2 emission. It is evident from this evaluation that CCS can possibly assume a vital part in Malaysias environmental change moderation methodology gave that key criteria are fulfilled. With the reason to pick up considerations from all gatherings into the earnestness of an Earth-wide temperature boost issue in Southeast Asia, assume that more efficient measures can be taken to effectively accomplish CO2 diminishment target.

A Decision Tool for Product Configuration Designs Based on Sustainability Performance Evaluation

In recent years, evaluating sustainability performance of designed products has been demanded by legislations before manufacturing the products. These legislations are aimed to force manufacturers to implement sustainable end-of-life strategies in the product development phase. Although a number of studies have been conducted on integrating sustainability elements during product design and development, a tool to assist product designers in making final decision of the designed products with the most sustainability content among the alternative configuration designs has not been comprehensively investigated. In this paper, a decision tool is proposed in order to fulfill those needs. The sustainability performance is measured using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) by providing a weightage of sustainability metrics throughout the total products life-cycle. An example of an armed chair is used to demonstrate this tool. This decision tool provides a new and comprehensive basis for developing sustainable products in the future.

Evaluation of sustainability performance of product design element concepts using analytic hierarchy process

ntegrating sustainable product design into the design process has been acknowledged nowadays by many companies for producing sustainable products. The integration should be implemented during the early stage of product development process so that the sustainability of the product can be evaluated before manufacturing the product. Although a number of studies have been conducted on the integration in many aspects along with many approaches, evaluation of the sustainability of the product during its total life-cycle while it is being designed has not been comprehensively investigated. In this paper, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to evaluate product design element concept during conceptual design stage by providing a weightage of sustainability metrics throughout the total life-cycle of product and finalize the preferred product design configuration by selecting the highest sustainability index of the design element concept. The approach is useful for product designers to design many concepts of product design elements and then to select the most likely sustainable design element to configure in one complete product. An example of an armed chair is used to demonstrate this approach.

The relationship between TQM tools and organisation performance in small and medium enterprise (SMEs)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a vital driver for continuous improvement in an organization for improving their performance. TQM tools are very important in supporting improvement activities. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have limited resources and awareness for implementing TQM tools in their organisation. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the extent level of TQM tools and to examine the relationship between TQM tools and organisational performance. Research hypotheses were examined while considering twenty TQM tools which considered important in TQM implementation. Random sampling and survey have been used by distributing questionnaire to 200 respondents for final study. The study result shows that the extent level in TQM tools is in high and moderate level. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between TQM tools and organisational performance in SMEs. However, the relationships are in moderate and low level. The study is important for SMEs to gain insight on the effect of TQM practices towards TQM tools in organizational performance and identify the most important tools and techniques for their companies in future implementation.Total Quality Management (TQM) is a vital driver for continuous improvement in an organization for improving their performance. TQM tools are very important in supporting improvement activities. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have limited resources and awareness for implementing TQM tools in their organisation. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the extent level of TQM tools and to examine the relationship between TQM tools and organisational performance. Research hypotheses were examined while considering twenty TQM tools which considered important in TQM implementation. Random sampling and survey have been used by distributing questionnaire to 200 respondents for final study. The study result shows that the extent level in TQM tools is in high and moderate level. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between TQM tools and organisational performance in SMEs. However, the relationships are in moderate and low level. The study is important for SMEs to gain insight o...

The impact of product design and process design on new product performance in manufacturing industry

New product design and new product process design are important attributes in order a company to survive and sustain in competitive market. However, many new products which have been developed from research and development cannot compete in world market due to product performance issue. In addition, design of new product is unable to cope with the process design and machine capability in manufacturing process. The aims of this study is to identify the relationship between new product design and new product process design on new product performance in manufacturing industry. Random sampling and survey have been used by distributing questionnaire to 400 respondents for final study. Finally 80 respondents had replied with the respond rate of 20%. The study result shows that the extent level in new product design and new product process design are moderate and high level respectively. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between new product process design and organisational performance (r(80) = 0....

Subcritical Water-Carbon Dioxide Pretreatment of Oil Palm Mesocarp Fiber for Xylooligosaccharide and Glucose Production

The present work aimed to investigate the pretreatment of oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF) in subcritical H2O-CO2 at a temperature range from 150–200 °C and 20–180 min with CO2 pressure from 3–5 MPa. The pretreated solids and liquids from this process were separated by filtration and characterized. Xylooligosaccharides (XOs), sugar monomers, acids, furans and phenols in the pretreated liquids were analyzed by using HPLC. XOs with a degree of polymerization X2–X4 comprising xylobiose, xylotriose, xylotetraose were analyzed by using HPAEC-PAD. Enzymatic hydrolysis was performed on cellulose-rich pretreated solids to observe xylose and glucose production. An optimal condition for XOs production was achieved at 180 °C, 60 min, 3 MPa and the highest XOs obtained was 81.60 mg/g which corresponded to 36.59% of XOs yield from total xylan of OPMF. The highest xylose and glucose yields obtained from pretreated solids were 29.96% and 84.65%, respectively at cellulase loading of 10 FPU/g-substrate.