Organizational Dashboards: Steering an Organization Towards its Mission

This paper describes and demonstrates an organizational dashboard. An organizational dashboard is a tool used by management to clarify and assign accountability for the “critical few” key objectives, key indicators, and projects/tasks needed to steer an organization toward its mission statement. Dashboards are both strategic and tactical in nature. An organizational dashboard is just like an automotive dashboard; it keeps management's eyes on what is important to steering the organization. The intention of a dashboard is to promote management by process, not management by objective.     

Numerical interpretation of cone crack initiation trends in a brittle coating on a compliant substrate

Finite element analysis is used to interpret trends in experimentally observed critical loads for contact damage in a brittle (porcelain) coating on a compliant (polymeric) substrate. Different forms of cracking in the brittle layer—both “cone” cracking initiating at the surface, and “radial” cracking at the layer/substrate interface—are considered, with varying coating thicknesses.

The resulting predicted critical loads agree qualitatively with the experimentally observed figures. It is postulated that a previously unexplained peak in critical loads for the onset of cone cracking is caused by a transition between differing modes of cone cracking.     

Obliging Institutions and Industry Evolution: A Comparative Study of the German and UK Wind Energy Industries

This paper firstly examines the relationship between state coordination and wind energy growth by comparing the differences between UK and German institutional configurations and state involvements in the 1990s. While the EU was calling for a unified regulatory framework for its member states, the UK and Germany adopted very different renewable energy policies. The evidence of the early 1990s shows that the British government employed “deregulation” with so limited state involvement that wind energy project developers faced thorny development problems, while the German government tried to require the electricity supply industry to purchase expensive wind power by “regulation” but encountered formidable resistance. Nevertheless, both the British and German administrations later could resolve these problems through new forms of state power. This suggests that, firstly, neither “deregulation” nor “regulation” is an effective means to develop wind power with increasing electricity liberalization and regionalization. Secondly, “obliging” regulations and state powers are vital to the policy outcome by harnessing the state's institutional capacity to smooth out technology innovation and diffusion.     

THE OPTIMALITY OF THE “CUT ACROSS THE BOARD” RULE APPLIED TO AN INVENTORY MODEL

A common procedure in budget allocation is to let the different entities of an organization determine their optimal budgets. Once the individual requests are received, they are then cut by a common factor, as necessary, so that a global constraint is satisfied. We refer to this procedure as the “cut across the board” rule. In general, this method will not result in a globally optimal solution. In this paper we identify conditions that assure the global optimality of die “cut (or expand) across the board” rule. We specifically focus on a constrained multi-item inventory model and generalize results of Rosenblatt [10] and Plossl and Wight [8]. In addition, we briefly discuss applicability of the results to other areas.     

The Single Period Stochastic Plant Layout Problem

In this paper we present an optimal solution procedure for the single period stochastic plant layout problem. The procedure only requires solving a “deterministic” from-to flow matrix. This “deterministic” matrix is a weighted-average of all from-to flow matrices. Since it may be difficult to estimate the probabilities of occurrence of the various states of nature, we developed a simulation model to test the robustness of our approach. For over 26,000 problems examined, the average error of using our approach was very small, only about one-sixth of one percent.     

A mechanistic model for the influence of stress ratio on the LEFM fatigue crack growth behavior of metals and alloys—I. Crack-ductile materials

Concentrating on local behavior of a highly stressed zone ahead of the crack tip, a recent mechanistic approach to analyse LEFM fatigue crack growth behavior in three stages at stress ratio R = 0 is extended here to include the effect of a positive stress ratio. This paper is limited to analysing primarily the stages I and II of “crack-ductile” materials, characterised by a purely “reversed shear” (or ductile “striation”) growth mechanism in stage II. It is shown that in these materials stage I is R-sensitive and stage II is insensitive, and these can, without invoking crack closure arguments, be rationalised alternatively by considering the dominance of a K_max-controlled “Submicroscopic Cleavage” and a ΔK-controlled “ reversed shear ” fracture mechanism, respectively. Assuming Paris type power relations to hold, a predictive model is developed that contains separate growth equations with R-effect for stages I and II and shows the existence of a characteristic “master shear-curve” and a “moving pivot-point” on this curve for a class of materials. Good agreement was found between quantitatively predicted growth curves at selected R-values and a relatively large volume of available experimental data for low strength steels, aluminum alloys and titanium alloys. Besides providing more physical explanations for the observed growth behavior, the model may also be useful as a convenient alternative to crack closure for obtaining fairly accurate and conservative estimates of fatigue life for design applications.     

A fast procedure for computing the total system cost of an appointment schedule for medical and kindred facilities

Scheduling outpatients and medical operation rooms has the following structure: Nusers are given appointment times to use a facility, the duration required by the facility to service each user is stochastic. The system incurs a “user idle cost” if a user arriving at the appointed time finds the facility still engaged by preceding users, while a “facility idle cost” is incurred if the facility becomes free before the next user arrives. We develop an accurate procedure to compute the expected total system costs for any given appointment schedule. Compared to earlier related procedures, ours is much faster and can handle larger problems as well as very general service-time distributions. We then show that this fast computation procedure enables one to determine easily the “lowest-cost appointment schedule” for any given “job” (i.e., “user”) sequence. This in turn will enable one to search for the optimal job sequence that has the best “lowest-cost appointment schedule”.     

Influence of the Parameters Molecular Structure and Granularity on the Compactibility of a Powder

The aim of this study was to determine whether it is possible to obtain better characterization of materials in order to find out if these one are suitable in Quality Assurance for direct tableting. We tried to show that a methodological approach combining chemical, physical and technological aspects could control the direct compression process. We chose orthoboric acid as a study model for the direct compression. From a chemical point of view, our findings show only one crystalline molecular structure (RX, DSC and Pycnometry) which means an homogeneous chemical system. Concerning the particular state (Sieving and Microscopic approach), granularity is very different between the two forms, “crystalline” ABC and “powder” ABP.

Technological studies show a rheological and mechanical difference, as it is demonstrated, on the one hand by the behaviour of the bulk powder (Volumenometer), on the other hand by the feasibility on the machine (Alternative EKO). We explain this difference of behaviour by only the granularity aspect. Consequently, we think that in this case, controling the granularity means controling this direct tableting process.     

Mechanical behaviour of a two-phase material from the behaviour of its components: Interface modelling by finite element method

In this paper, the principle of a solution for “thermal” connection between two solids is analyzed. We shows results given by the solution applied to the mechanical behaviour of a γ/γ′ two-phase material and to “artificial” structures obtained from modern techniques for epitaxial deposit. It appears that the use of a true or fictitious thermal loading constitutes a simple “connection” procedure, but is particularly coherent with the mechanics of two-phase crystalline materials with different lattice parameters. It would be interesting to apply the model to real structures, with misfit and interfacial dislocations.     

Analysis of Excess Stock in Multiproduct Inventory Systems

A primary function of production management is the control of inventories. The typical manner of economic inventory control calls for a “pre-stocking” approach in which the focus is on the reorder quantities which should be put into inventory. A second manner of controlling inventories is what can be called a “post-stocking” analysis. Here the focus is on how much of the present inventory already in stock should be declared as surplus and disposed of. This paper describes the development and implementation of an analytical procedure for this second, excess inventory issue. The procedure is described in the context of an application to a General Motors carburetor assembly process in which product structure interactions play a significant role.     

A typology for drinking driving offenders: Methods for classification and policy implications

Comprehensive arrest histories were obtained for 353 DUI offenders who were referred to a probation and rehabilitation demonstration program. The average number of total offenses was 7.9, with 89% of all tracked offenders having more than one offense. Approximately 63% of all recorded offenses were other types of offenses besides DUI. The overall arrest history profile of the group suggested that many DUI offenders are habitual violators of other laws as well. To identify distinctive arrest profiles within the referral sample, a Q mode factor analysis followed by a discriminant function analysis was used to classify offenders into profile subgroups. Five distinctive subgroups emerged. A “low offense” group was characterized by the lowest average number of overall arrests and also contained all offenders with no arrest besides the index DUI arrest. A “mixed” group had a higher average number of total arrests than the “low offense” group and diverse types of offenses. A young “traffic” group was distinguished by many hazardous moving violations other than DUI. Two smaller and older groups—a “public drunkenness” group and a “license” group—had the highest average number of arrests including DUI, public drunkenness, license violations, equipment violations, disturbance arrests and assault arrests. These subgroups were found to differ on demographic variables and drinker status variables. The “public drunkenness” group was found to have the highest accident rate. Groups were compared to groups found in other cluster analyses. Also, treatment implications were discussed. It was suggested that treatment programs focusing exclusively on changing alcohol consumption behavior are not likely to reduce accident risk for some of the offender groups. For example, it was suggested that effective intervention for the “traffic” group should target driving behavior, whether drunk or sober, rather than focus exclusively on consumption behavior. Other alternatives are also discussed.     

Applications of Replacement Theory

This paper describes a practical procedure for applying existing theory to obtain “approximate optimum” replacement policies for homogeneous pieces of equipment. In addition, the problem of detecting changes in time-to-failure distributions, the relation of these distributions to the life cycles of equipment, and common mistakes that can result in improper policies are discussed. Application of the procedure is illustrated by two examples encountered by Union Carbide Corporation—Nuclear Division personnel.     

HPGe detectors for low-temperature nuclear orientation

Using the Low-Temperature Nuclear Orientation (LTNO) technique one can study various interesting properties of atomic nuclei and nuclear decay which can be deduced from the measurements of the angular distributions of charged particles emitted during the decay. However, the use of particle detectors working in conditions of LTNO devices (which are generally not available commercially) is a necessary precondition for the realization of these experiments.

Planar HPGe detectors for detection of charged particles at “liquid helium” temperatures were developed and produced at NPI e . Relatively simple technology using vacuum evaporation and diffusion was employed. The performance of detectors at low temperatures was tested and their characteristics measured in a testing cryostat before using them in real experiments.

The HPGe detectors were extensively used in a whole range of LTNO experiments with various physical objectives — in offline (IKS Leuven) as well as online (CERN-ISOLDE, Louvain-la-Neuve — LISOL) experiments. In frame of the project “Meson-Exchange Enhancement of First-Forbidden Beta Transitions in the Lead Region”, the measurements of angular distribution of emitted β-particles allowed to determine experimentally the “meson-exchange currents” contribution to the β-decay. In the project “Isospin Mixing in NZ nuclei”, the isospin-forbidden β-transitions of the nuclei in region (A=50–100) were studied in order to obtain information on the isospin structure of the nuclear states. A new project looking for the possible presence of the tensor currents contribution to the β-decay is being prepared for the CERN-ISOLDE facility.     

On the combined influences of Young''s modulus and stress ratio on the LEFM fatigue crack growth process: A new mechanistic approach

A new mechanistic approach (NMA) was used recently to examine the physical aspects of LEFM (long) fatigue crack growth (FCG) process in crack-ductile materials in stages I and II. In this paper, NMA is extended to examine both the physical and analytical aspects of the combined effects of Young's modulus, E and stress ratio, R, in the same stages of the same materials. It is shown that, (i) with submicroscopic cleavage or reversed shear mechanism operating in the pure form, E is the most influential intrinsic “material” property controlling FCG, (ii) E-dependence of da/dN is a natural consequence of near-crack-tip displacement control proposed previously, and (iii) the demonstrated similarity of FCG curves and the existence of characteristic “pivot points” on these curves for a “class of materials” results from E-influence which continues even at a higher R. A simple analytical model based on “strain intensity factor,” K₀, which contains E-influence implicitly and controls da/dN in all materials irrespective of class, is proposed. Model-predicted K₀-based theoretical values of threshold, “Idealised Master Growth Curves (IMGCs)” and mechanism transition point, all agreed excellently with experimental data for at least three classes of materials, i.e. steels, Al-alloys and Ti-alloys at extreme R-values of 0 and ≥ 0.6. The K₀-parameter concept is used here to raise the status of the analysis of the E-effect from a simple “normalisation” to that of direct data “representation”. Using NMA existing empirical relations are given some sound theoretical base. In addition to aiding in a clearer physical understanding of the FCG process, the unique IMGCs developed for different R-values are considered useful in quick, accurate and conservative life estimations, and performing failure analyses usually required in selection and design of materials.     

Dual-Response Surface Optimization: A Weighted MSE Approach

Dual-response surface methodology is a powerful tool for simultaneously optimizing the mean and the variance of responses in quality engineering. In this article, we suggest a weighted mean squared error (MSE) approach to improve the optimization procedure. In addition, we propose a data-driven approach to determine the weights when the prior information is vague. This is based on the idea of an “efficient curve.” Examples are given to illustrate the superiority of the proposed method, as compared with other existing procedures.     

Keep it Simple: A Companion for Simple Wikipedia?

In this paper, we inquire about some of the ways in which the community around Simple Wikipedia—an offspring of Wikipedia, the notorious free online encyclopedia—manages the online collaborative production of reliable knowledge. We focus on how it keeps its collection of articles “simple” and easy to read. We find that the labeling of pages as “unsimple” by core members of the community plays a significant but seemingly insufficient role. We suggest that the nature of this mode of decentralized knowledge production and the structure of Wiki-technology might call for the implementation of an editorial companion to the community.     

A Minimum Cost Sequential Test to Monitor Injury Incidence on an Operation

This paper develops a new statistical approach to monitoring industrial injuries on an operation. It details a sequential procedure which can be used by practitioners to determine if the incidence rate on an operation is “out of control” with respect to an acceptable rate as a function of injury severity and redesign costs. The procedure is based upon the CUSUM test for the exponential distribution. Test implementation, sensitivity, and robustness are also discussed.     

A mechanistic model for the effect of stress ratio on the LEFM fatigue crack growth behavior of metals and alloys—II. Crack-brittle materials

A recently proposed mechanistic model for the effect of stress ratio, R, on the LEFM (long) fatigue crack growth behavior of “crack-ductile” materials is extended here to explain and predict similar behavior under similar conditions of “crack-brittle” materials characterised by the presence of “static” modes of fatigue fracture in stages II and III. It is shown that in these materials the stage I behavior is similar, but the stages II and III behave differently from crack-ductile materials. Mechanism-based existence of two types of stage II curves characterised respectively by “ pure shear mode ” (SM-II) and “mixed-mode” (MM-II), both plotting linear but having different slopes, is introduced. It is shown that while stage SM-II is insensitive, stage MM-II is significantly sensitive to R, in the same material. Similar to stage I, another “ moving pivot-point ” exists at the transition from SM-II to MM-II, which slides down the “ master shear-curve ” with increasing R. Assuming a critical K_max for the initiation of static modes, a critical R for saturation of these modes, and Paris-type growth relations, a quantitative predictive model containing growth equations for stages SM-II and MM-II, has been developed. Stage III is discussed only qualitatively. Reasonably good agreement was found between predicted curves at selected R-values and a relatively large volume of experimental data for steels, Al-alloys and Ti-alloys. This simple, alternative model may be used for obtaining quick, fairly accurate and conservative estimates of R-influenced crack growth rates for design applications in preference to crack-closure which frequently requires elaborate and tedious experimental procedures.