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Lean manufacturing (LM) is established as a best practice to improve the performance of manufacturing industries. Not all the manufacturing industries realize the benefits of LM practices specifically continuous process industries. The present research work is intended to study the advantages of implementing LM practices in an ethical paper industry which is a continuous production industry. Presently, the industry suffers with the problems such as lack of productivity, raw material wastes, underutilized resources, and lack of standard practices in the production. Gemba technique is adapted to record the information related to the present manufacturing environment. Based on the current state analysis, the feasible lean tools are selected and implemented such as 5S, Kaizen, and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). The improvements have been noted as reduced tool change over time, reduced material wastes, effective utilization of resources and provide safety guidelines to workers and operations. The implications of these improvements increased the productivity also.

Research Question: The objective of this article is to present the model for simulating the financial viability of a Just-in-Time Maintenance Program in an agribusiness company. Motivation: Maintenance management in agro-industrial environments lacks effective systems to optimize the production process. The existing maintenance program have proven to be ineffective, from the point of view that unscheduled production downtime continues to occur. It is important to highlight that the types of maintenance used today, considering that their characteristics are not able to reduce or minimize the errors caused by human limited capacity, which has contributed to the increase of unscheduled production stoppages, causing equipment unavailability, low quality of final products and, mainly, failing to deliver products as agreed with customers. Idea: The maintenance program called Just-In-Time Maintenance Program - Maintenance Just in Time - consists of an integrated system for monitoring physical phenomena, with sensors installed in the equipment, connected to a central diagnosis able to predict failures in real time. With this program, it is possible to know in advance what may happen, taking the necessary measures regarding the acquisition of parts, repairs, and personnel allocation, among others, making these stops compatible or readjusting them with the production plan to minimize the undesirable stops. Data: The choice of the company participating in the research is made due to its continuous production process. The present study used a non-probabilistic sample for convenience with that provided by the observed company. The information collected in the agribusiness regarding the selling price, cost of raw material, cost of electricity, and total expenditure on maintenance, refer to the year 2020. Tools: A mathematical model was developed that estimates variations in the company's productivity and the consequent financial impacts. The results, operational and financial, of the model allow assessing the feasibility of implementing each of these programs. Findings: The results obtained indicate losses with the current maintenance program and show the potential for implementing the Just-In-Time Maintenance Program. This research concludes that it is possible to reduce unscheduled stoppages that cause production interruptions, increasing profit, with the implementation of the Just-In-Time Maintenance Program. Contribution: This article contributes to the literature as it presents an equipment maintenance model based on operational conditions, in contrast to other existing maintenance programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Advancements in industrial technologies and the application of quality by design (QbD) guidelines are shifting the attention of manufacturers towards innovative production techniques. In the pharmaceutical field, there is a significant focus on the implementation of continuous processes, in which the production stages are carried out continuously, without the need to interrupt the process and store the production intermediates, as in traditional batch production. Such innovative production techniques also require the development of proper analytical methods able to analyze the products in-line, while still being processed. The present study aims to compare a traditional batch manufacturing process with an alternative continuous one. To this end, a real pharmaceutical formulation was used, substituting the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) with riboflavin, at the concentration of 2 %w/w. Moreover, a direct and non-destructive analytical method based on UV–Vis reflectance spectroscopy was applied for the quantification of riboflavin in the final tablets, and compared with a traditional absorbance analysis. Good results were obtained in the comparison of both the two manufacturing processes and the two analytical methods, with R2 higher than 0.9 for all the calculated calibration models and predicted riboflavin concentrations that never significantly overcame the 15 % limits recommended by the pharmacopeia. The continuous production method demonstrated to be as reliable as the batch one, allowing to save time and money in the production step. Moreover, UV–Vis reflectance was proved to be an interesting alternative to absorption spectroscopy, which, with the proper technology, could be implemented for in-line process control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process capability indices (PCIs) can be used as an effective tool for measuring product quality and process performance. In classic quality control there are some limitations which prevent a deep and flexible analysis because of the crisp definition of PCA‟s parameters. Fuzzy set theory can be used to add more flexibility to process capability analyses. In this study, the fuzzy X ba and MRx ba control charts are introduced to monitor continuous production process in triangular fuzzy state. Also, fuzzy PCIs are produced when SLs and measurements are triangular fuzzy numbers (TFN). For this aim, a computer program is coded in Matlab software. The fuzzy control charts is applied in Yazd fiber production plant. The results show that in continuous production processes, the better analysis will be performed by using fuzzy measurements. Also, based on the fuzzy capability indices, we can have a flexible analysis of the process performance.

The effect of reduction of maize as starch source on flow rate of pellet in continuous production process ABSTRACT. This experience was conducted to determine effect of reduction of maize as starch source on flow rate of pellet in continuous production process. Design of the experiment used was a completely randomized design with 3 treatments and 3 replicates. The data is analyzed by using of ANOVA and if there is a significance among treatments would tested using by contrast orthogonal. The variables observed were angle of repose, loose bulk density, compacted bulk density, and flow rate. The results showed that the reduction of maize as starch source did not give the significant effect on the variable that observed. The analyzed angle of repose showed variation 24.200 to 25.690, loose bulk density showed variation 621.6kg/m3 to 658kg/m3, compacted bulk density showed variation 668.3kg/m3 to 676.8kg/m3, and flow rate showed variation 449.69kg/minute to 491.41kg/minute. Based on the result that the reduction of maize as starch source (corn, sorghum, menir) did not give the significant effect on flow rate of pellet and the pellet treatment with menir has the fastest pellet production time so flowability pellet from pelleter to material hadling (bucket elevator) machine is faster. As higher the values of flow rate, so the time of material movement from bin to the package is shorter.

In this study, a novel intelligent factory-wide operation system for a continuous production process is designed to optimise the entire production process, which consists of multiple units; furthermore, this system is developed using process operational data to avoid the complexity of mathematical modelling of the continuous production process. The data-driven approach aims to specify the structure of the optimal operation system; in particular, the operational data of the process are used to formulate each part of the system. In this context, the domain knowledge of process engineers is utilised, and a closed-loop dynamic optimisation strategy, which combines feedback, performance prediction, feed-forward, and dynamic tuning schemes into a framework, is employed. The effectiveness of the proposed system has been verified using industrial experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) constitute biodegradable polyesters and are considered among the most promising candidates to replace common petrochemical plastics in various applications. To date, all commercial processes for PHA production employ microbial discontinuous fed-batch fermentations. These processes feature drawbacks such as varying product quality and the inevitable periods of downtime for preparation and post-treatment of the bioreactor equipment. An unprecedented approach to PHA production was chosen in the presented work using a multistage system consisting of five continuous stirred tank reactors in series (5-SCR), which can be considered as a process engineering substitute of a continuous tubular plug flow reactor. The first stage of the reactor cascade is the site of balanced bacterial growth; thereafter, the fermentation broth is continuously fed from the first into the subsequent reactors, where PHA accumulation takes place under nitrogen-limiting conditions. Cupriavidus necator was used as production strain. The focus of the experimental work was devoted to the development of a PHA production process characterized by high productivity and high intracellular polymer content. The results of the experimental work with the reactor cascade demonstrated its potential in terms of volumetric and specific productivity (1.85 g L h and 0.100 g g h, respectively), polymer content (77%, w/ w) and polymer properties ( M = 665 kg/mol, PDI = 2.6). Thus, implementing the technology for 5-SCR production of PHB results in an economically viable process. The study compares the outcome of the work with literature data from continuous two-stage PHA production and industrial PHA production in fed-batch mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an overview of the research and development of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) within the Swedish research program ‘Ångström Solar Center’. A path towards low production cost is the development of a continuous process, which allows the production of solar cells in large volumes and with a high productivity. We have developed a deposition method for the production of the mesoporous TiO2 electrode layer that is based on compression of a powder film at room temperature. This technique allows us to use flexible substrates—a prerequisite for a continuous process. A novel interconnect technology, compatible with a continuous production process, is described. Stability data of plastic DSC, exposed to indoor light for more than 10,000 h, demonstrates the possibility for the technology to be explored for various types of indoor applications.Optimization of the DSC is a challenging task as it is a complex highly interacting molecular system. A system approach is proposed, where the complete DSC is investigated with a series of measurement techniques (‘toolbox’) that allows the study of the internal processes under relevant conditions. Two examples of such techniques are given. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]