Strategic framework for industrial product-service co-design: findings from the microsystems industry

Co-design represents an approach to the concurrent and collaborative design of systems. In an industrial context, firms adopt this approach to minimise risks/costs of new product development and to improve interactions along supply chains. For an industrial firm that delivers integrated product and service offerings i.e. an industrial product-service system (IPS²), co-design needs to be strategised in line with: (i) the IPS² logic that challenges firms to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations and (ii) customer needs during life cycles. This article presents a multi-methodology-based study of the management of co-design within the context of an IPS². It adopts a multi-case logic supplemented with key informant semi-structured interviews to capture implementations of co-design and how an IPS² can be strategised to leverage the benefits of co-design. The article also highlights and discusses the resulting implications of the findings of the study for researchers and practitioners and potential future research directions.     

Incentives and yield management in improving productivity of manufacturing facilities

Financial incentives are used to improve productivity and quality in manufacturing and service facilities. This improvement in productivity would normally release part of the facility's productive capacity. Without stimulating additional demand to consume this released capacity, the facility would Be unable to tap the full benefits of the improvements in productivity. Hence, yield management is introduced in an attempt to entice more demand and increase revenues. In this paper, we develop a Non Linear Programming (NLP) model to jointly determine the optimum financial incentives and price discount levels for each rate class. The model aims at maximizing net revenues. It includes nonlinear relationships representing the impact of incentives on productivity and quality improvements as well as the effect of price discounts on customer demand in each market segment. The generic nature of our NLP model makes it applicable to all multi-product manufacturing facilities covering sales, production and delivery. The model is applied to determine the optimum incentive and price discount levels for perishable products in a multi-product ready-mix concrete plant. It is demonstrated that the model is useful in maximizing net revenues through productivity improvements and an increase in customer demand.     

企业虚拟形态下的质量保证体系

对比分析了虚拟企业与传统企业的不同,基于虚拟企业独有的特点,建立了虚拟企业质量保证体系模型——铁三角模型．阐述了信息质量管理体系、客户服务质量管理体系、供应链质量管理体系以及各成员企业传统ISO9000质量管理体系在虚拟企业这一环境下的含义、特点和作用．     

协同设计沟通方法的多元式视角研究

目的 基于对协同设计中设计师与非设计师之间沟通的二元式分析,进一步构建多元式的沟通方法模型,以期有助于解决协同设计中的沟通难题,推动协同设计实践与研究的发展,并为协同创新在方法上提供一定的参考。方法 首先,对协同设计沟通研究中存在的问题进行归纳;其次,基于之前对协同设计中二元式沟通方法研究的结论,构建协同设计中多元式沟通方法模型;最后,对所提出的模型进行实践和对比分析。结论 经研究发现,所构建的“单次单方案式”和“单次多方案式”两种沟通模型,都有助于解决在协同设计中的沟通问题,并且模型化媒介可以作为一种信息收集工具,为后续的回顾和分析提供支持。     

存在盗版下信息产品的用户协同设计选择性研究

针对信息产品市场中是否存在盗版的情况，研究一个垄断正版厂商是否选择用户协同设计策略的问题。基于用户的个人理性和激励相容，依据厂商是否选择用户协同策略，分别建立信息产品市场中不存在盗版时的NS、NC模型与信息产品市场中存在盗版时的YS、YC模型。通过对模型结果进行比较分析发现：当厂商选择用户协同设计策略时，NC模型中厂商的利润始终高于YC模型中厂商的利润，且厂商的利润均随着用户协同设计努力水平的降低而降低；NC模型和YC模型中用户努力水平高低均与用户对正版产品的价值估值有关；最后，无论信息产品市场中是否存在盗版，厂商选择用户协同设计策略的市场占有率均低于厂商不选择用户协同设计策略的市场占有率。     

Innovation capability: The impact of e-CRM and COVID-19 risk perception

The e-CRM application has currently offered benefits for companies in different business sectors, especially in hospitality industry. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of e-CRM components (i.e. technology-based CRM, knowledge management and customer orientation) on firms’ innovation capabilities. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire survey conducted in Vietnam. The dataset consists of 213 valid responses by managers. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to examine the causal relationships among technology-based CRM, knowledge management, customer orientation, long-term relationships and innovation capability. The results show that knowledge management, customer orientation and technology-based CRM have positively influence on long-term relationships and innovation capability. Covid-19 risk perception has the role in enhancing the link between long-term relationships and innovation capability. From these findings, this study provides an improved understanding of how knowledge management, customer orientation and technology affect on innovating activities. This study also provides several implications for practice.     

An empirical assessment of the influence of quality dimensions on organizational performance

While there are several conceptual models to suggest that there exists an association between quality dimensions (customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, employee service quality) and organizational performance, no empirical study to date has verified such claims. This paper extends the literature by collecting hard data from 165 practising managers and testing their perceptions of the association among various quality dimensions and several organizational performance measures. The relationships between these quality dimensions and the nine component items that make up organizational performance were also investigated for both manufacturing and service firms. The data were grouped into four typologies to include type of firm, size, age, and presence of formal quality department. Multiple discriminant analysis was conducted to differentiate the typology of firms in a multivariate setting. Our results indicate that practising managers in manufacturing firms tend to perceive more widely a positive correlation between quality dimensions and the component items of organizational performance than managers in service firms. Also, managers from older manufacturing firms tend not to perceive a relationship between employee service quality and five component items of organizational performance such as competitiveness and market share.

The measures used for the three quality dimensions and organizational performance are shown to be valid and reliable. However, information derived from the study shows that practising managers in the service sector do not perceive some of the claims and expected benefits of quality management activities.     

Acquisition of customer’s tailor measurements for 3D clothing design using virtual reality devices

Over recent years, various virtual prototyping technologies have been developed to innovate apparel industry. For each step of the garment design process one can find dedicated tools (from body acquisition to garment modelling and simulation) with the aim of making the process easier and faster. However, most of them are based on expensive solutions both for hardware and software systems. In this paper, we focus the attention on the first step of the made-to-measure garment design, i.e. customer’s measures acquisition. We present a plug-in, named Tailor Tracking, which permits to get the measurements by interacting with the customer’s avatar using hands as in the traditional way. Tailor Tracking has been developed using low cost devices, such as Microsoft Kinect sensor, Leap motion device and Oculus Rift, and open source libraries, such as Visualisation Toolkit (VTK) and Qt. The proposed approach is based on the use of multiple Kinect v2 to simultaneously acquire both customer’s body and motion. This permits to emulate the customer’s postures required to take the correct measurements. In addition, a virtual measuring tape is made available to replicate the one commonly used by the tailor. A men shirt has been considered as case study and a tailor and 14 people with no skills in garment design and different levels of experience in virtual reality technology have been involved to preliminary test Tailor tracking. Finally, tests as well as results reached so far are presented and discussed. Results have been considered quite good; however, some critical measures have been identified as well as future developments. Anyway, Tailor Tracking can represent an alternative solution to the existing approaches that automatically extract anthropometric measures from the customer’s avatar.     

Antecedents and Outcomes of Supplier Innovativeness in International Customer–Supplier Relationships: The Role of Knowledge Distance

The increasing competitive pressures and speed of R&D and product innovation is prompting many multinational enterprise customers to outsource their core activities to suppliers. Despite organizational challenges due to cultural and physical separation from their partners, these are now charged with supplier-driven innovation. This study looks at key drivers of supplier innovativeness, examines the role of cross-national differences in shaping supplier innovativeness and examines the impact of this dimension on relationship performance in international customer–supplier relationships. Our findings from a large-scale survey of Taiwanese electronics suppliers provide evidence of the contribution of antecedents such as customer orientation, customer control and technological uncertainty to the enhancement of supplier innovativeness. Innovativeness contributes to increased customer dependence and improves relationship performance. Differences in knowledge bases stemming from different institutions are also tested in this study; we find that knowledge distance may be detrimental to the innovativeness-performance link in international exchange relationships.     

基于QFD-TRIZ的电热水器设计

目的 为明确电热水器产品功能要素与需求要素的对应关系,提高电热水器用户的使用满意度。方法 通过构建QFD与TRIZ的集成设计模型,使用亲和图筛选分析顾客需求,利用QFD整理顾客需求权重并构建质量屋,从而明确关键设计要素;通过TRIZ分析方法判断了质量屋中的矛盾类型后,将设计要求转换为与工程要素间的矛盾,并利用阿奇舒勒矩阵中相应的发明原理,提出了解决矛盾的方法。结果 通过模糊综合评价法筛选最优设计方案,最终的评估结果表明新的设计方案满足了实际市场用户需求的目标问题优化。结论 从用户被动发现产品零部件寿命耗尽转换为产品信息主动提示,并具备辅助用户操作的结构,提升了用户需求与产品功能的匹配度,可见质量功能展开理论与发明问题解决理论的集成设计方法对产品概念设计阶段的重要性,为之后的室内智能家电设计研究提供了参考。     

The Virtual Integrated Design Method

Quality function deployment proposes to take into account the “voice of the customer,” through a list of customer needs, which are (qualitatively) mapped to technical requirements in House One. But customers do not perceive products in this space and do not make purchase decisions in this space. Marketing specialists use statistical models to map between a simpler space of customer perceptions and the long and detailed list of needs. For automobiles, for example, the main axes in perceptual space might be categories such as luxury, performance, sport, and utility. A product's position on these few axes determines the detailed customer requirements consistent with the automobile's position such as interior volume, gauges and accessories, seating type, fuel economy, door height, horsepower, interior noise level, seating capacity, paint colors, trim, and so forth. Statistical models such as factor analysis and principal components analysis are used to describe the mapping between these spaces, which we call House Zero. Furthermore, utility functions used to determine market share are auxiliary functions that are often based in perceptual space. Conjoint analysis is often used to capture the product preference and potential market share. This research draws from the formal mapping concepts developed by Nam Suh and the qualitative maps of quality function deployment, to present unified information and mapping paradigm for concurrent product/process design. We call this approach the virtual integrated design method that is tested upon data from a business design problem.     

Understanding risk and uncertainty in supplier networks--a transaction cost approach

This study deals with managing risks in relationships between a larger final assembler and smaller suppliers. These relationships are often based on asymmetric cooperation where the smaller companies are highly dependent on the larger companies. This dependency can cause significant uncertainty for small and medium-sized enterprises that often operate with a narrow customer structure and minor negotiation power compared with their larger partners. The transaction cost approach (TCA) has been used as a framework for the analysis of uncertainties and risks related with these relationships. Despite the very comprehensive nature of empirical applications and theories of the transaction cost approach, these theories have not been very widely tested in the environment of small and medium-sized enterprises. Our study indicates that dependency and asymmetry are two major uncertainty and transaction cost causing drivers. Closer, long-term relationships are needed in order to minimize the transaction costs and risks. A smaller customer structure increases dependency and reduces partnership-specific transaction costs. The optimal strategy is to balance these opposite drivers. Options and linkages to the company's goals and strategies should therefore be the leading principles in balancing transaction cost uncertainty and risk. Empirical evidence from the electronics industry is presented. Alternative management approaches and further research areas are discussed.     

质量与顾客满意模型研究

本文给出了一种质量与顾客满意之间的模型,从质量与顾客满意的关系研究出发,提出了质量贬值区、质量增值区和质量溢出区的划分原则,并为企业规划永续经营的质量战略提供了决策指南。     

An Objective-Oriented Rating System of Vendor Quality Performance

This article establishes a rating system for vendor's performance from the orientation of customer satisfaction by objective-orientation driving. Its purpose is to provide a methodology of “how to integrate the capability between vendor and manufacturer and to apply different strategies under the needs of quality improvement.”

The study is undertaken to specify the interaction and the mutual movement among the three groups in the supply chain “Vendor-Manufacturer-Customer” and to integrate the results of four factors: incoming inspection, performance of line reject, service quality of vendor, and product reliability. It tries to transform these factors into measurable, quantitative, just-in-time (JIT) parameters that are utilized in the planning and establishment of this rating system of vendor's performance. The concept of objective orientation is adopted in the “performance” calculations.

We obtain a very satisfactory completeness, flexibility, effectiveness, and sensitivity of parameters-to-model from the results of simulation and demonstration. The multi-parameters rating system of this study can be very beneficial to manufacturers in selecting the best vendor and in driving quality improvements.     

A partially observable simulation model for quality assurance policies

This paper presents a simulation model of a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) for quality assurance policies. The model may be used as a decision aid for evaluation and comparison of different quality policies. The decision maker must decide what quality policy to adopt: a 'do-nothing' policy, an appraisal policy that prevents the nonconforming products from reaching the customer, or a prevention policy that affects process performance and leads to long term improvements. The process performance is not observed directly but its effect on the quality of products is observed. The three policies are compared based on the incurred quality costs and the average outgoing quality. A case study in a fish processing plant is presented. It is shown that if costs are the only criteria for decision making then a prevention policy that leads to process improvement may not be the best policy to adopt. Money spent in this policy may never be regained. It is also shown that the merits of each quality policy depends on the actual quality level in each organization.     

Empirical relationships between some manufacturing practices and performance

Intense global competition, rapid technological changes, advances in manufacturing and information technology and discerning customers are forcing manufacturers to adopt manufacturing practices and competitive priorities that enable them to deliver high quality products in a short period of time. Identifying manufacturers’ competitive priorities and effective manufacturing practices has long been considered one of the key elements in manufacturing strategy research. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to identify some of the effective manufacturing practices that have a significant influence on manufacturing performance. This study also identifies the main competitive objectives of manufacturing industries that participated in the study. The results reported in this paper are based on data collected from a survey using a standard questionnaire administered to 1000 manufacturers in Australia. Evidence indicates that product quality and reliability are the main competitive factors for manufacturers and price has become surprisingly a relatively less important factor. Results show that simultaneous pursuit of advanced quality practices can neutralize the potential negative impacts of manufacturing difficulties and significantly improve product quality and manufacturing performance. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is shown to be an important tool for improving product quality and on time delivery performance. FMEA practice driven by the intention to improve customer satisfaction is more effective than that practised to fulfil customer requirements. Effective supplier relationships are shown to contribute positively to the manufacturing performance. The results also suggest that maintaining a supplier rating system and product data management and regularly updating them with field failure and warranty data are important manufacturing practices.     

An approach to rule extraction for product service system configuration that considers customer perception

At present, manufacturers tend to bundle a product with its related services as a product service system, to meet customer needs and achieve competitive advantage. Configuring a product service system involves selecting and combining appropriate product and service components, to satisfy individual customer needs. One crucial step to rapidly configure a product service system is to develop formalised configuration rules, which show the relationships between product service components and customer needs, including those expressed as perception needs. In this study, a rough set-based approach is proposed to acquire configuration rules. First, an information table is built by combining the results of factor analysis and questionnaire survey. Then, customer segmentation is accomplished by clustering. Based on the information table and customer segmentation, a dominance-based rough set approach is used to extract the configuration rules. Finally, a weighbridge is selected for the case study to validate the proposed approach.     

Fuzzy expected value modelling approach for determining target values of engineering characteristics in QFD

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning and problem-solving tool that is renowned for translating customer requirements into the technical attributes of a product. To deal with the imprecise elements in the development process, fuzzy set theory is incorporated into QFD methodology. A novel fuzzy expected value operator approach is proposed in this paper to model the QFD process in a fuzzy environment, and two fuzzy expected value models are established to determine the target values of engineering characteristics in handling different practical design scenarios. Analogous to stochastic programming, the underlying philosophy in the proposed approach is based on selecting the decision with maximum expected returns. Furthermore, the proposed approach considers not only the inherent fuzziness in the relationships between customer requirements and engineering characteristics, but also the correlation among engineering characteristics. These two kinds of fuzzy relationships are aggregated to give the fuzzy importance of individual engineering characteristics. Finally, an example of a quality improvement problem of a motor car design is given to demonstrate the application and performance of the proposed modelling approach.     

社区化新零售背景下无人商店顾客体验框架研究

目的 在以顾客体验为核心的新零售逐渐下沉至社区的背景下,研究社区无人商店顾客体验概念框架与构成要素,为社区无人商店顾客体验的提升提供系统、清晰的方向指引,以更好地推动无人商店在城市社区中的发展。方法 基于扎根理论,通过对社区无人商店顾客的深度访谈获取初步研究资料并对其逐步进行开放性编码、主轴性编码与选择性编码,然后对提炼出的社区无人商店顾客体验框架进行理论饱和度检验。结论 提出社区无人商店顾客体验框架,包括“便利性体验、实惠性体验、安全性体验、舒适性体验与亲切性体验”五个宏观维度,具体展开表现为“服务及时、导购清晰、过程流畅、价格优惠、品质优良、环境安全、支付安全、信息安全、空间舒适、交互舒适、技术友好、环境亲和”等十二个微观层面。社区无人商店顾客体验框架的提出为社区无人商店顾客体验的解释、分析与设计提供了完整的理论框架指导。