Search

Purpose: Addressing sustainability challenges in additive manufacturing (AM) is critical due to high energy consumption and waste. Optimising AM operations is vital for sustainability. However, the existing literature lacks practical examples for AM companies on how to enhance sustainability. To address this gap, a case study within an AM firm was conducted. Design approach: Using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) were identified, aligned with the firm’s strategic objectives. Sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM) analysed the production process for sustainability performance. A sustainability strategy map (SSM) was created based on the five perspectives of the 4th generation balanced scorecard (BSC) approach and the results from the case study. Findings: The research identified optimisation areas in the multi-jet-fusion (MJF) process, crafted tailored sustainability KPIs, and developed a SSM to seamlessly integrate sustainability initiatives into the company’s vision. Value: This contribution provides a structured methodology for selecting KPIs and offers a holistic approach to implementing Sus-VSM within the AM industry. The manuscript emphasises the need to incorporate a fifth perspective into the BSC and proposes a framework for developing a SSM. This study aims to guide AM companies toward a more environmentally responsible and socially conscious approach to manufacturing.

The concept of risk assessment is an important tool in the asset integrity management of power distribution systems. This manuscript presents a risk-based asset integrity management (RBAIM) methodology for the optimization of power distribution assets using a time series analysis approach. This approach deals with time series forecasting on risk assessment for low-voltage-level (400/230 V) failures using the Python programming language and considering historical low-voltage (LV) fuse failure data from a case study over 44 months, starting from 2019. The proposed approach is deployed in a power distribution utility located in a densely populated area of Colombo district, Sri Lanka. The authors proposed a methodical approach for the identification of priority components for asset maintenance and repair ranking based on the risk index percentage value to enhance the predictiveness of potential defects and estimate the risk of potential failures. The results show that the proposed time series forecasting methodology for RBAIM is useful for power distribution utility asset owner organizations for continuous monitoring, the evaluation of asset conditions, and the implementation of proper maintenance and repair strategies to enable assets to perform at their optimal level. The proposed RBAIM methodology enables practicing engineers to assure the asset integrity of power distribution utilities.

Recent advances in additive manufacturing (AM) technology provide the potential for on-demand and rapid production of spare parts during urgent repair times. Recently, big oil and gas companies have shown early progress in using additive technology in manufacturing specific heat exchangers, downhole cleanout tool nozzles, offshore risers, gas turbine nozzles, and subsea chemical stick injection tools. Despite the mentioned progress, the current adoption level of additive technology for the offshore oil and gas industry is very limited. Non-destructive and destructive evaluation methods of additively manufactured metallic components have been studied extensively. However, the technique selection procedure and scope of the required test methods have not been studied sufficiently. This paper discusses various elements related to the qualification of additively manufactured components for application in the oil and gas industry. A risk-based qualification method for identifying the scopes of required non-destructive and destructive tests and the resulting qualification procedure for additively manufactured spare components in offshore oil and gas applications is suggested.

Even though remarkable progress has been made over recent years in the design of performance measurement frameworks and systems, many companies are still primarily relying on traditional financial performance measures. This paper presents an overview of modern descendents and historical antecedents of performance measurement and attempts to give philosophical definition, in fact addressed the evolution of traditional ways of measuring performance. The paper suggests that modern frameworks have indeed addressed the organizations external to them while satisfying the conditions internal to them and providing an analogy of the notion of kuhn’s scientific paradigm. This analogy is consistent with the fundamental proposition of Kuhnian philosophy of science, that progress only happens thorough successive and abrupt shifts of paradigm.

Redistributed manufacturing (RDM), together with additive layer manufacturing (ALM), enables a consumer-centric supply to be created and some of the challenges pertaining to traditional supply chains based on centralized manufacturing to be overcome. ALM technologies allow the cost-effective and fast fabrication of parts with an intricate/complex external and internal structure, via the addition of material layer-by-layer in a controlled environment. ALM technologies, together with RDM, have a significant potential to mitigate the spare parts related challenges that are central to offshore petroleum asset operations [i.e. in relation to maintenance, repair, overhaul and modifications (MRO&Ms)]. This manuscript provides a comprehensive investigation of how ALM enables the benefits of RDM to be taken up in offshore petroleum asset operations. It also provides an overview of the need for technology qualification and a methodology for designing parameter combinations to enhance RDM performance. The designing of a parameter combination is explained in relation to situations involving several ALM systems and those involving a single ALM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing firms continuously strive to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in the maintenance management processes. Focus is placed on eliminating the unexpected failures which cause unnecessary costs and the production losses. Risk-based maintenance (RBM) strategies enable to address the above through the identification of probability and consequences of potential failures whilst providing a way for prioritisation of maintenance actions based on the risk of possible failures. Such prioritisations enable to identify the optimal maintenance strategy, intervals of maintenance tasks, and optimal level of spare parts inventory. However, the risk assessment activities are performed with the support of a risk matrix. Suboptimal classifications and/or prioritisations arise due to the inherent nature of the risk matrix. This is caused by the fact that there are no means to incorporate actual circumstances at the boundary of the input ranges or at the levels of linguistic data and risk categories. In this paper, a risk matrix is first developed in collaboration with one of the manufacturing firms in Poland. Then, it illustrates the use of fuzzy logic for minimisation of suboptimal prioritisation and/or classifications using a fuzzy inference system (FIS) together with illustrative membership functions and a rule base. Finally, an illustrative risk assessment is also demonstrated to illustrate the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job shops typically run in small manufacturing businesses handling job production. In general, they move on to different jobs when each job is completed. The nature of the job shop type of manufacturing operation means that it usually requires different skills, expert knowledge, machine settings, materials and processes. In this context, when the die-sinking electro discharge machining (EDM) process has been used for job shops, as it involves several parameters, their settings have to be pre-determined to achieve optimized manufacturing and quality performance. It is possible to accomplish this via a 'parameter design' approach suggested in the robust design technique (RDT). The 'parameter design' focuses on designing a process to make the performance minimally sensitive to the various causes of variation. This manuscript illustrates the use of RDT in optimizing the performance of die-sinking EDM. It also verifies the reliability of the approach using a verification experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript suggests a methodology to recognize the most vulnerable welding procedure specifications (WPSs) that contribute to the majority of defective welds annually. Based on the identified WPSs, it also suggests a methodology to recognize the most critical imperfection groups and the related imperfection sub-groups as specified in NS-EN ISO 6520-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of the integrity of engineering assets such as production plants, facilities and equipment can be a challenging task due to their interrelationships with financial, information, human and intangible assets. In order to ensure effective utilisation and to improve the management of such assets, one has to make balanced and effective decisions based on performance assessments. The main challenge for asset integrity management (AIM) is related to various aspects of its human dimension as apparent on organisational settings and associated cognitive dispensations. In this article, AIM is cascaded down to design, operational and technical integrity management. Furthermore, the performance of physical assets (PA) is discussed in terms of financial, societal and environmental dimensions that deliver sustainability value to the assets' owner. The management of such a sustainable value is vital in managing the overall asset integrity in order to minimise rising stakeholder pressure and achieve balanced performance. The paper provides a review of AIM and a foundation for engineers and managers to analyse the general problem of managing PA' integrity to increase the sustainable value of an asset intensive business in a more holistic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global rice production is confronting issues such as climate change and the scarcity of resource availability whilst the world's population continues to increase. The issues and opportunities for sustainable increase of rice production differ from one rice ecosystem to another due to degrees of intensification, crop management operations, and differences in environmental and socio-economic conditions. The existing, improved and promising technologies can employee to boost farmers' production and to increase their incomes, while ensuring sustainable rice production. By employing improved production methods can restore homeostatic mechanisms conductive to community stability, optimize the rate of turnover, ensure an efficient energy flow, and encourage local production of food items adapted to the natural and socioeconomic settings. This can reduce costs whilst increasing the efficiency and economic viability of small and medium-sized farms by promoting a diverse, potentially resilient agricultural system. This manuscript illustrates a case study of technological improvement introduced for manual rice seeder used for line hill seeding. Also, it provides a comparison between performance of manual broadcasting and improved manual conical rice hill seeder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]