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[Resumen] En un mundo cada vez más conectado a la “Red” en el que el trato y la forma del proceso de compra-venta ha sufrido un gran cambio en la última década con la irrupción del comercio online, se hace indispensable que el pequeño comercio se reinvente para dar mejor trato y satisfacción a los clientes que pretende fidelizar. En este contexto se enmarca el presente trabajo, que propone el diseño e implementación de un prototipo funcional de escaparate virtual a través de la tecnología de Kinect fusionando informática y técnicas de control. El trabajo y prototipo desarrollado ha sido todo un éxito comercial, obteniendo distintos reconocimientos y premios, siendo además protegido por una patente de invención denominada “Procedimiento para escaparate virtual in situ”, con número de solicitud P201531546 y fecha de prioridad 29 de octubre de 2015. Además, este artículo muestra los resultados comerciales obtenidos de la implantación del prototipo durante 3 meses en la tienda Mikonos de Logroño (La Rioja), haciendo una comparativa de datos con el mismo periodo del año anterior. Como conclusión de este estudio de resultados se puede obtener que la implantación del prototipo de escaparate interactivo virtual ha sido todo un éxito, consiguiendo su objetivo de aumentar el número de personas que han entrado en la tienda en casi un 20% y siendo responsable en parte del aumento de facturación en más de un 10%. [Abstract] In a world increasingly connected to the "Network" in which the treatment and form of the buying and selling process has undergone a great change in the last decade with the irruption of e-commerce, it is essential that small businesses reinvent themselves to give better treatment and satisfaction to the customers they intend to retain. In this context, the present work is framed, which proposes the design and implementation of a functional prototype of a virtual showcase through Kinect technology, merging computer and control techniques. The work and prototype developed has been a commercial success, obtaining different recognitions and awards, being also protected by an invention patent called "On-site virtual showcase procedure", with application number P201531546 and priority date October 29, 2015. In addition, this article shows the commercial results obtained from the implementation of the prototype for 3 months in the Mikonos store in Logroño, making a comparison of data with the same period of the previous year. As a conclusion of this study of results it can be obtained that the implementation of the prototype of virtual interactive showcase has been a success, achieving its objective of increasing the number of people who have entered the store by almost 20% and being responsible in part for the increase in turnover by more than 10%.

Sotol is a Mexican distilled spirit of Mexican produced in Northern Mexico. The estimated annual production of sotol is at around 5200 hL per year. This industry grows at an average rate of five percent per year. The Mexican Sotol Council (MSC) and the Sotol Certificate Council (SCC) are regulatory bodies entities dedicated to monitoring that sotol producers must comply with the Official Mexican Standard NOM-159-SCFI-2004. Currently, those regulatory bodies entities try to improve the sotol production process and good practice guidelines to contribute generate a cleaner production. This paper reports a case study of artisanal sotol production in Chihuahua state in Mexico. Life Cycle Analysis Assessment (LCA) technique was used to compute the sotol is distilled spirit environmental impact performance to identify systems' hotspots and propose improvement interventions. SimaPro software v.9.1® is used for LCA, applying CML-IA baseline V3.05 / EU25 method to evaluate and select environmental impact categories. The system boundary included the stages of harvest, cooking, milling, fermentation, distillation, bottling, and packaging. Findings indicate that each of the stages required for sotol beverage processing significantly affects the marine ecosystem. The milling and bottling stages are the highest environmental impact. A 750 mL bottle of artisan sotol causes 5.92 kg CO2 eq, based on the empirical data. Sotol production houses makers should focus on reducing energy consumption caused by input transportation and equipment for milling.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure the relationships between advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) categories (stand-alone, intermediated and integrated systems) implementation and design, process and commercial benefits obtained. Design/methodology/approach A survey is designed with benefits gained from AMT implementation as well as its categories, which is applied to the maquiladora industry. A structural equation model with data from 383 responses is used to measure the relationship between AMT categories and benefits gained using nine hypotheses that are tested statistically significant using partial least squares. Also, using conditional probabilities, a sensitivity analysis reports how low and high levels from AMT implementation influence on the obtained benefits. Findings Integrated systems are the most important AMT for maquiladoras and have the strongest impact on design, processes and commercial benefits. Research limitations/implications Data obtained support the model, but results may be different in another industrial sector and countries with different labor culture and technological level. Practical implications Managers in maquiladora industry must focus their attention on integrated manufacturing systems, because high implementation levels guarantee the biggest probability to gain benefits in design, production process and commercial. Originality/value The relationship between AMT and their benefits has not been measured in depth, and this paper contributes to understand that problem. In addition, this paper is the first to report a sensitivity analysis that enables managers to acknowledge the probability of obtaining certain benefits.

Natural stoppers are a magnificent closure for the production of aging wines and unique wines, whose application is limited by the availability of raw materials and more specifically of cork sheets of different thickness and quality. The growing demand for quality wine bottle closures leads to the search for alternative stopper production. The two-piece stopper is an alternative since it uses non-usable plates in a conventional way for the production of quality caps. The present study has analyzed the impact of the manufacture of these two-piece stoppers using different methodologies and for different dimensions by developing an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), concluding that the process phases of the plate, its boiling, and its stabilization, are the phases with the greatest impact. Likewise, it is detected that the impacts in all phases are relatively similar (for one kg of net cork produced), although the volumetric difference between these stoppers represents a significant difference in impacts for each unit produced.

Quality allows manufacturing companies to remain competitive, yet some manufacturers still struggle with a high percentage of defective products. In this chapter, we introduce the case study of a Mexican manufacturing company experiencing problems in the manufacture of radio frequency (RF) and optical fiber amplifiers as a result of defective T3 transformers and optical fibers. Consequently, the company’s First Time Yield (FTY) index is lower than 97.5%, the minimum acceptable value. The main goal of this chapter is to implement a method for reducing the defect rates and increasing FYT using the define–measure–analyze–improve–control (DMAIC) methodology, Pareto charts, and the Ishikawa diagram. Our findings revealed that by using these three tools, the number of defective T3s and optical fibers decreased from 90 to 14 (83.3%) and 56 to 12 (21.4%), respectively, during the January–May 2019 period. Similarly, FYT increased from 87.7% to 97.5% in that same period.

Solar home systems (SHS) represent one of the most promising technologies for a rapid and independent electrification in those areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) without access to electricity. This study addressed the environmental impact of SHS in SSA through updated life cycle inventories and five impact categories: greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, fossil fuels, metal and water depletion and human toxicity. Sixteen scenarios were considered, including manufacturing, transportation, recycling and user-related variables, such as the installation site, adequacy of SHS user operation and battery lifespan. The results showed that lead-acid batteries were the largest contributor to environmental impact among the SHS components, accounting for up to 36–76% of the environmental impact indicators. Apart from the components, user training for SHS operation, with the goal of maximizing usable energy and battery lifetime, proved to be critical to achieve improvements in the energy payback time and GHG emissions, which (under scenarios of high solar resources) can reach the range of 5.3–7.1 years and 0.14–0.18 kgCO2 eq/kWh, respectively. In addition, SHS GHG emission factors were benchmarked with those of other electrification approaches, such as national grids, 100% PV and hybrid PV-diesel off-grid mini grids and off-grid diesel generators. SHS achieved GHG emission factor values equivalent to PV-based mini grids in most scenarios and was strikingly lower compared to SSA national grids and diesel generators.

This paper reports a structural equation model (SEM) to quantify the relationship between Lean Manufacturing (LM) tools associated with machinery and sustainability. The LM tools are inde-pendent variables and include Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Jidoka, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), whereas dependent sustainability variables comprise environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The SEM proposes ten hypotheses, tested statistically using information from 239 responses to a questionnaire applied to the Mexican maquiladora industry and the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique for quantifying relationships among variables. Additionally, we discuss conditional probabilities to explain how low and high levels of TPM, Jidoka, and OEE impact sustainability. Findings reveal that TPM, Jidoka, and OEE directly impact social, environmental, and economic sustainability, thus indicating that safe workplaces improve employee commitment, safety, delivery time, and morale. This research was funded by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) from Mexico, grant number 858463.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have different effects depending on the companies that rely on them. On manufacturing systems, the effective use of ICTs requires a compatible design with the human, technology, and environment. This article analyses the effect of macroergonomic compatibility of ICTs as independent variable on dependent variables of production processes, clients, and organisational performance of manufacturing systems in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. In addition, this paper examines the relationships between these dependent variables. Methodology includes the construction of a questionnaire, administered to middle and senior managers of manufacturing companies to collect information on the macroergonomic practices of ICTs. Also, a factor analysis is carried out to data gathered, and hypotheses are proposed to suggest the effects of ICTs on dependent variables. Afterwards, a structural equations model is constructed and evaluated to test such hypotheses. Results obtained indicate that ICTs are an ideal element to measure macroergonomic compatibility of manufacturing systems, and that this compatibility has positive direct effects on production processes and clients, while significant indirect and total effects on the organisational performance of manufacturing systems. Results also showed that dependent variables clients and production processes had a significant impact on the performance of manufacturing systems.

A friction stir spot welding (FSSW) process for dissimilar aluminum alloy AA1050 and pure copper sheets of 3-mm thickness at different tool rotation speeds between 710 and 1800 rpm and dwell time levels of 0, 5, and 10 s were performed in this study. Empirical relationships were developed to predict the shear failure load (joint strength) and the energy of the vibration signals incorporating two of the most important process parameters, tool rotation speed and dwell time. Process parameters were optimized by using the response surface method (RSM); the optimal values of tool rotation speed and dwell time were 1255 rpm and 4 s, respectively. The parameters optimization results were used in a confirmation test; the dissimilar Al/Cu FSSW joints made with optimal parameters exhibit a good shear failure load. The close relationship between the shear failure load (SFL) of the welded joint and the energy of the vibration signals (EVS) generated during FSSW process was demonstrated. This model can be used to develop and optimize the parameters for automatic control of the FSSW process, based on the vibration signal generated.

The e-cooking feasibility was evaluated for two of the main staple foods across rural Sub-Saharan Africa (rice and maize porridge) considering basic solar home systems (SHS) of 100–150 W and using inexpensive market available low-power DC cooking devices (rice cooker and slow cooker). The coverage of e-cooking necessities was spatially evaluated for the African continent considering households of two, five, and eight people. While households of two people were able to be covered &gt, 95% of the days, the increase in e-cooking necessities implied that only larger PV generators (150 W) located in high irradiation sites (&gt, 2400 kWh/m2/year) were able to fulfill e-cooking, even in scenarios of households of five and eight people. Furthermore, the economic cost and the greenhouse gases emission factor (GHG) of e-cooking via small SHS were evaluated and benchmarked against traditional technologies with wood and charcoal considering three-stone and improved stoves and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookers. The GHG for e-cooking was 0.027–0.052 kgCO2eq/kg.meal, which was strikingly lower than the other technologies (0.502–2.42 kgCO2eq/kg.meal). The e-cooking cost was in the range of EUR 0.022–0.078 person/day, which was clearly lower than LPG and within the range of the cost of cooking with wood and charcoal (EUR 0.02–0.48 person/day). The results provided a novel insight regarding market available technologies with a potential of changing cooking conditions in this region.

Mini grids for off-grid electrification have attracted high interest in West Africa and a massive deployment is expected in the region in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030). Due to the lack of literature analyzing the environmental impact of mini grid electrification in West Africa, life cycle assessments considering current mini grid technologies in the region (100% PV, hybrid PV-diesel and 100% diesel), battery choice (lead-acid and Li-ion) and village size (small village and large village) were calculated in each of the 15 countries belonging to ECOWAS based on current technology life cycle inventories and economic and solar resource indicators. Results analyzed 18 different life cycle environmental indicators, with 100% PV mini grids outperforming PV-diesel and 100% diesel mini grids in most of these indicators. Indeed, greenhouse gas emissions of 100% PV mini grids were 0.10–0.16 kgCO2eq/kWh and energy paybacks were of 4.3–7.1 years, strikingly lower than the equivalent values for hybrid PV-diesel mini grids (0.14–0.71 kgCO2eq/kWh and 5.9–35.5 years), 100% diesel mini grids (1.14 kgCO2eq/kWh) and the national grid electricity in this region (0.37–0.73 kgCO2eq/kWh).

Short changeover times have always been critical in manufacturing and are a necessity nowadays in all types of industries, due every wasted minute means inefficiency. Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is a methodology developed by Shigeo Shingo in 1985, which seeks to reduce the setup time of a machine to less than ten minutes (Shingo, 1985). It provides a rapid and efficient way of converting a manufacturing process from a current product that is been running in the production process, to the next product (Tharisheneprem, 2008), aimed always to decrease the setup time in industrial machinery, given flexibility in product and their characteristics. Through this research, we found that we can achieve some benefits through the implementation of the SMED methodology such as: the reduction of changeover time up to 90% with moderate investments (Cakmakci, 2009), reduce waste and increase quality, it makes low cost flexible operations possible.

This paper reports a second-order structural equation model composed of four variables: the green attributes before and after an industrial production process, the operating benefits, the commercial benefits, and the economic benefits. The variables are related by means of five hypotheses and are validated statistically with information obtained from 559 responses to a questionnaire applied to the Mexican maquila industry. The model is evaluated using the technique of partial least squares and the results obtained indicate that the green attributes before and after the production process have a direct and positive effect on the obtained benefits, mostly on the operational ones. It is concluded that companies that are focused on increasing their greenness level must monitor and evaluate the existence of green attributes in their production process to guarantee benefits and make fast decisions if required due to deviations.

Wine industries commonly use concrete and stainless-steel tanks in fermentation, but the selection of a container depends on factors such as price, installation costs, requirements, maintenance costs, and monitorability. However, nowadays environmental protection trends seek to care for the environment along the entire value chain, consequently, making industries more responsible for managing aspects, such as pollutant emissions, resource consumption, and energy consumption. This paper reports a comparative cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of the two most common types of containers for wine fermentation, i.e. stainless-steel tanks and concrete tanks. The present study estimates the environmental impact from building, installation, and dismantling of tanks to analyse the environmental impact from alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation. Results indicate that building the tank – either out of concrete or stainless steel – has a high impact on the environment, for instance, in terms of global warming impact per liter of wine 6.03E-02 kg CO2 equivalent from steel tank or 1.31E-02 kg CO2 equivalent from concrete tank (ratio is 4.6). In addition, the building stage in a concrete tank has the highest environmental impact due to the concrete consumption and low recycling rate, while in stainless-steel tank, the fermentation stage is the highest environmental impact mainly due to direct CO2 emissions and because it has a high recycling rate.

[EN] The purpose of universities, apart from produce qualified professionals with problem-solving capabilities and soft-skills, should be to develop the social responsibility sense on their students. In this context, our proposal combines project based learning (PBL) and service based learning (SBL) along with gamming and the use of open-source machines, with the aim to increase student’s motivation and their social commitment with an affordable budget. The strategy, from now on named OS-PBL-SR (Open-Source-based PBL projects with Social Responsibility), mainly includes three important aspects: (i) assignment with projects orientated towards a social benefit; (ii) development of the projects using open-source Do It Yourself desktop machines (DIY-DkM); and (iii) include gamming in the evaluation method. The strategy was applied in the subject Manufacturing Technology but it might be easily exportable to other technical subjects. The results from the last academic year are presented. Also, a new OS-PBL-SR proposal aimed to the design and fabrication of autonomy-oriented products for people in a dependency situation is presented. The results showed the beneficial impact on undergraduate students by keeping high levels of motivation reflected on excellent success rates and scores. In addition, essential advantages in the use of DIY-DkM were found regarding the implementation of this kind of PBL strategy., The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support received from the University of La Rioja through the programs ‘Proyectos de Innovación Docente 2018/2019’. The authors also want to express their gratitude to the Instituto de Estudios Riojanos (IER). One of the authors, A.S.G., would also like to acknowledge the financial support from the Academy of Finland No. 273689.

The current Supply Chain (SC) is under change. The traditional way to generate a product contained the following stages: product design, raw material selection, material transportation, manufacturability, distribution and disposition at end of life. Product design for instance, is considered an extremely important stage of a product, being that, it directs the way the product can potentially be managed along the SC. It defines the raw material to be used, the possible supplier to select, the industrial processes involved in its fabrication, the packaging for its transportation and the newest stage where the product reaches its end of life and needs to be disposed. The Product design then becomes Green Product Design (GPD), where energy, time, resources become critical for a company. GPD takes into account the whole product life cycle. This chapter presents the importance of having a GPD process into the SC, the way to incorporate it, and the benefits of implementing it into the SC.

We compare four techniques that are commonly used for cleaning and disinfection of oak wine barrels with 225 l of capacity used in the red wine aging process through a life cycle analysis (LCA). The analysed techniques were pressurised water (at 90 °C) plus sulphur dioxide (SO2) wick (7.5 g per barrel), water vapour (at 105 °C) plus sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) (4 ppm), and carbon dioxide (CO2) (50 kg/h for 180 s). The results showed that the barrel cleaning technique with the lowest impact on all water scarcity indexes and is the carbon dioxide, due mainly to low water usage. However, in the global warming category, carbon dioxide technology is the technique that has the greatest environmental impact with a value of 4.080 kg CO2 per cleaned barrel, due mainly to CO2 and air consumption.

The present research proposes a structural equation model to integrate four latent variables: managerial commitment, preventive maintenance, total productive maintenance, and productivity benefits. In addition, these variables are related through six research hypotheses that are validated using collected data from 368 surveys administered in the Mexican manufacturing industry. Consequently, the model is evaluated using partial least squares. The results show that managerial commitment is critical to achieve productivity benefits, while preventive maintenance is indispensable to total preventive maintenance. These results may encourage company managers to focus on managerial commitment and implement preventive maintenance programs to guarantee the success of total productive maintenance.