Reliability: How much is it worth? Beyond its estimation or prediction, the (net) present value of reliability

In this article, we link an engineering concept, reliability, to a financial and managerial concept, net present value, by exploring the impact of a system's reliability on its revenue generation capability. The framework here developed for non-repairable systems quantitatively captures the value of reliability from a financial standpoint. We show that traditional present value calculations of engineering systems do not account for system reliability, thus over-estimate a system's worth and can therefore lead to flawed investment decisions. It is therefore important to involve reliability engineers upfront before investment decisions are made in technical systems. In addition, the analyses here developed help designers identify the optimal level of reliability that maximizes a system's net present value—the financial value reliability provides to the system minus the cost to achieve this level of reliability. Although we recognize that there are numerous considerations driving the specification of an engineering system's reliability, we contend that the financial analysis of reliability here developed should be made available to decision-makers to support in part, or at least be factored into, the system reliability specification.     

An analytical framework for evaluating the value of enhanced customisation: an integrated operations-marketing perspective

In this paper we present a formal approach to evaluate the value of enhanced customisation. The suggested approach is based on a new perspective addressing the important alignment between the operations and marketing functions, under which we are able to obtain a more holistic understanding of the extent to which enhanced customisation may influence profitability. The model we develop captures the interaction between several factors including the inventory level, number of product variety, price, and delivery lead time. The numerical findings provide insights regarding some important aspects that may inhibit as well as facilitate the progress towards the manufacturing concept with a greater degree of personalised offerings.     

A scatter search heuristic for maximising the net present value of a resource-constrained project with fixed activity cash flows

In this paper, we present a meta-heuristic algorithm for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows. We assume fixed payments associated with the execution of project activities and develop a heuristic optimisation procedure to maximise the net present value of a project subject to the precedence and renewable resource constraints. We investigate the use of a bi-directional generation scheme and a recursive forward/backward improvement method from literature and embed them in a meta-heuristic scatter search framework. We generate a large dataset of project instances under a controlled design and report detailed computational results. The solutions and project instances can be downloaded from a website in order to facilitate comparison with future research attempts.     

An Ir/Ni(OH)2 Heterostructured Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Breaking the Scaling Relation,Stabilizing Iridium(V), and Beyond

Developing efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is highly challenging for hydrogen production from water splitting, due to the high energy barrier for O O bond formation and the restriction of the scaling relation between the multiple reaction intermediates. In order to simultaneously address these concerns, an Ir/Ni(OH)₂ heterostructure with abundant heterointerfaces is deliberately designed as an efficient electrocatalyst system, with Ir nanoparticles (NPs) homogeneously confined on the Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets. The strong electronic interaction and chemical bonding across the interface between the Ir and Ni(OH)₂ can effectively stabilize the metastable electrophilic Ir(V) species, which is vital to boost the formation of O O bonds. Meanwhile, the adsorption of the multiple intermediates is synergistically optimized at the heterointerface, which breaks the restrictive scaling relation and substantially accelerates the OER kinetics. In addition, the severe agglomeration of Ir species is greatly mitigated by the confinement effect, ensuring the structural integrity of the catalyst and the constant exposure of active sites. Owing to its well-defined multifunctional interfaces, the Ir/Ni(OH)₂ heterostructure exhibits exceptional OER activity and durability in alkaline media. The present results highlight the significance of heterostructure interface engineering toward the rational design and development of advanced electrocatalysts for the OER and beyond.