Mosè Gallo

A Perspective on Remanufacturing Business: Issues and Opportunities

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A methodological approach to manage WEEE recovery systems in a push/pull logic

This work aims at establishing a new management paradigm for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collection and treatment networks, based on Lean Thinking methodological approaches. The objective is to maximize the WEEE recovery rate to effectively support the production of new products, creating on one side the conceptual basis of the Closed Loop Supply Chain, and on the other side minimizing the environmental impact of production processes in exploiting natural resources. The achievement of such results is supported by the application of a System Dynamics simulation approach.

Enhancing SMED: Changeover Out of Machine Evaluation Technique to implement the duplication strategy

Abstract The present paper introduces an integrated approach to support the process engineers during the implementation of the conventional Single Minute Exchange of Dies. In particular, the proposed approach grounds on the new concept of ‘duplication strategy’, and takes advantage of an implementation tool here presented. It follows a top-down functional decomposition of machines, which helps practitioners identifying all those items impacting on the changeover process, and to propose appropriate intervention strategies. It aims at verifying the possibility of replicating entire parts of machines, fixtures and/or equipment, in order to externalise as many tasks as possible, yet carefully evaluating the cost-benefit ratio and any operational issue of the intervention. To show this novel approach, an actual implementation is hereby fully described. Finally, the results of the study are commented and proposals for future possible developments are suggested.

An extension of the stochastic Joint-Replenishment Problem under the class of cyclic policies

This paper presents an extension of the Joint-Replenishment Problem under the class of cyclic policies. The developed model includes stochastic demands, backorders-lost sales mixtures, and controllable lead times. With the objective of minimizing total system cost, we propose two heuristics. Numerical experiments investigate the algorithms performance and the model sensitivity.

A periodic review policy with quality improvement, setup cost reduction, backorder price discount, and controllable lead time

Abstract This paper explores a periodic review inventory model under stochastic demand. The setup (or ordering) cost and the lead time are controllable. The model considers an imperfect production process, whose quality can be improved by means of an investment. A backorder price discount to motivate customers to wait for backorders is included. The demand in the protection interval is first assumed Gaussian; then, the distribution-free approach is adopted. The objective is to determine the review period, the setup cost, the quality level, the backorder price discount, and the length of lead time that minimize the long-run expected total cost per time unit. A solution method for each case is presented. Numerical experiments show that substantial savings can be achieved if the quality level, the setup cost and the lead time are controlled, and if a backorder price discount is applied. A sensitivity analysis is finally carried out.

Multi-Echelon Inventory Performance Evaluation: The Case of a Communications Company

The optimal deployment of inventory is a vital business function for a firm. The well-documented benefits of running manufacturing operation, or offering services, with leaner inventory range from a permanent reduction in working capital to increased sales and higher customer satisfaction. In this paper some models to assess multi-echelon inventory performance are presented. Particularly, the case of a communication company is described in which inventory levels and replenishment strategies are applied to the different echelons taking into consideration their mutual interactions. Some performance indexes, like inventory cost and service level, are considered and a simulation model is built to delve deeper into system issues.

Lean manufacturing tool in engineer-to-order environment: Project cost deployment

The present paper proposes a modified version of the Manufacturing cost deployment (MCD) method to analyse engineer-to-order (ETO) production systems. The novel approach, named Project cost deployment (PCD), introduces two substantial and innovative modifications. To begin with, the concept of manual assembly macro-activity replaces the traditional concept of station. Then, a brand-new structure for classifying and analysing losses is introduced, that is specifically defined to deal with the inefficiencies of the manual assembly tasks. The validity of the approach is proved by a real-world industrial application. The obtained results demonstrate that the PCD method allows the analyst to identify the hidden losses and to quantify the wastes from an economical point of view. In addition, PCD permits to estimate the impacts of potential (lean) improvement activities and projects in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness.

A strategic - Operative lean integrated model for small companies

The paper is focused on the development of lean methodology in small companies with no previous lean knowledge. The lean integrated model proposed has the aim to link the pillars of lean thinking to an operative view.

Overall material usage effectiveness (OME): a structured indicator to measure the effective material usage within manufacturing processes

Abstract A rational use of production resources has been catalysing the attention of researchers and practitioners for several years. A number of indicators have been proposed to assess the effective and efficient use of the various production factors. A widely known example of these metrics is the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), which applies to machines and equipment. This paper proposes a novel methodology that seizes upon OEE’s straight forward and easy-to-use structure to address the problem of measuring the effective use of materials within a factory. An inclusive structure of material loss and a methodology to calculate a novel performance indicator called overall material usage effectiveness (OME) is given. The proposed set of KPIs not only permits the comprehension of material-related issues but also the identification of viable countermeasures. A real-life application to demonstrate the practical usefulness of the methodology and illustrate the capability of its KPIs is described.

A Conceptual Model of Human Behaviour in Socio-technical Systems

The growing percentage of incidents connected with human error in several industries has led to investigate the factors influencing failures, so that many methods, the so-called Human Reliability Analysis methods, have been developed in order to quantify the human error probabilities. According to the needs of the last generation of the above mentioned methods (i.e. dynamic HRA methods), in order to overcome the lack into modelling the dynamic nature of human performance, this paper focuses on System Dynamics approach to highlight the relationships among the factors that influence human performance. Starting from a literature review on human error taxonomy, a Causal Loop Diagram is proposed to represent in a graphical fashion the interrelations between the variables which most influence and are influenced by human behaviour within a socio-technical system.