Rolling Kanban: a new visual tool to schedule family batch manufacturing processes with kanban

Rolling Kanban is the name of a kanban management methodology for batch processes manufacturing environment. Proposed in the early 2000s by FESTO Consulting, for two decades we have lost knowledge both from operative and scientific point of view. Basically, Rolling Kanban means a visual planning methodology based on the production of product-families and variants where: (i) set-up times are reduced between the products of the same family, and (ii) relevant times (dozens of minutes if not even hours) must be considered for changeover between products of different families. In addition, the cyclic production sequence between different product families cannot be maintained. Considering that very few technical information and documents are available about this approach, the main objective of this paper is to retrieve and present, for the first time to the scientific community, the Rolling Kanban methodology. Besides, a real industrial implementation concerning a manufacturer of domestic fittings is discussed as a case study. More specifically, two novel versions of the original Rolling Kanban technique are fully presented to effectively overcome certain limits and criticalities found during its operative use, such as the difficulty to realise a pull production, considering increased set-up time for changeover between products of different families.     

Effect of pulp rheology on flotation of nickel sulphide ore with fibrous gangue particles

Abstract

Tests are carried out with suspensions of fibrous chrysotile particles and nickel sulphide ore containing chrysotile as a gangue. They corroborate published results, and indicate a very strong effect of particle shape on slurry rheology. Such suspensions exhibit time dependent properties. The flotation tests revealed that the viscosity of this system strongly affects flotation performance. At a solids concentration of 15–20% (w/w), the concentrate yield increases and the concentrate grade dramatically declines. This deterioration is observed when the Casson yield stress exceeds 1·5–2 Pa. The tests imply that the rheological properties of the investigated system are mainly determined by fibrous components. However, because of the presence of anisotropic mineral particles, the effect of particle–particle interactions cannot be separated from the effect of particle shape in this system.

On effectue des essais avec des suspensions de particules fibreuses de serpentine et de minerai de sulfure de nickel contenant de la serpentine comme gangue. Ces essais confirment les résultats publiés et indiquent un effet très prononcé de la forme des particules sur la rhéologie de la boue. De telles suspensions exhibent des propriétés dépendantes du temps. Les essais de flottation ont révélé que la viscosité de ce système affecte grandement le rendement de la flottation. À une concentration en solides de 15 à 20% (poids/poids), la production de concentré augmente et la qualité du concentré décline dramatiquement. Cette détérioration est observée lorsque la contrainte de Casson excède 1·5 à 2 Pa. Les essais impliquent que les propriétés rhéologiques du système étudié sont déterminées principalement par les composantes fibreuses. Cependant, à cause de la présence de particules minérales anisotropes, on ne peut pas séparer l’effet des interactions particule-particule de l’effet de la forme des particules dans ce système.     

Dimensional Description of On-line Wear Debris Images for Wear Characterization

As one of the most wear monitoring indicator, dimensional feature of individual particles has been studied mostly focusing on off-line analytical ferrograph. Recent development in on-line wear monitoring with wear debris images shows that merely wear debris concentration has been extracted from on-line ferrograph images. It remains a bottleneck of obtaining the dimension of on-line particles due to the low resolution, high contamination and particle’s chain pattern of an on-line image sample. In this work, statistical dimension of wear debris in on-line ferrograph images is investigated. A two-step procedure is proposed as follows. First, an on-line ferrograph image is decomposed into four component images with different frequencies. By doing this, the size of each component image is reduced by one fourth, which will increase the efficiency of subsequent processing. The low-frequency image is used for extracting the area of wear debris, and the high-frequency image is adopted for extracting contour. Second, a statistical equivalent circle dimension is constructed by equaling the overall wear debris in the image into equivalent circles referring to the extracted total area and premeter of overall wear debris. The equivalent circle dimension, reflecting the statistical dimension of larger wear debris in an on-line image, is verified by manual measurement. Consequently, two preliminary applications are carried out in gasoline engine bench tests of durability and running-in. Evidently, the equivalent circle dimension, together with the previously developed concentration index, index of particle coverage area （IPCA）, show good performances in characterizing engine wear conditions. The proposed dimensional indicator provides a new statistical feature of on-line wear particles for on-line wear monitoring. The new dimensional feature conveys profound information about wear severity.     

Cobalt nanoparticles prepared by three different methods

This work aimed to study cobalt nanoparticles (Co-NPs) preparation using three different methods in order to evaluate the effect of synthesis variables that can influence the nanoparticle size distribution and particle shape. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised by Transmission Electron Microscopy. The first synthesis employed decomposition of Co₂(CO)₈, at high temperatures. This procedure resulted in spherical nanoparticles with low size distribution. The size of Co-NPs could be tuned by modification of precursor/surfactant, nevertheless the stirring and injection time influenced the size distribution. Using polyol process, at high temperatures, it was produced undefined-shape nanoparticles. This result suggests that the solution composition, i.e. the amount of trioctylphosphine and oleic acid was not suitable to control both size and shape of nanoparticles. Finally, the method based on reduction with NaBH₄ resulted spherical nanoparticles with tiny sizes, indicating that in this case a variation on amount of reductant would be more efficient on the particle size control than a variation in concentration of oleic acid. These results indicated that, for each method, a different variable exists for the control of the distribution size and the shape of the formed particles.     

外墙岩棉保温板钢丝网软配筋薄抹灰施工技术

以岩棉保温板、钢丝网软配筋薄抹灰施工技术在某民用建筑工程外墙保温系统施工过程中的应用为例,阐述了此种方法的工艺原理与工艺特点,重点对其工艺流程和操作要点进行了论述,并提出了该工艺的质量与安全控制措施,以促进该方法在行业内的推广应用。     

A Nifedipine Coground Mixture with Sodium Deoxycholate. II. Dissolution Characteristics and Stability

Nifedipine is a poorly water soluble drug that demonstrates low bioavailability. In a previous study, a coground mixture of nifedipine with sodium deoxycholate (DCNa), a bile salt, immediately produced colloidal particles when dispersed in water. In this study, the effect of the weight fraction of DCNa, grinding time, dissolution media, and storage conditions on colloidal particle formation in solution was investigated. The coground mixture was prepared with a vibration rod mill, and its solid state was characterized using powder X-ray diffraction. A laser diffraction particle size analyzer was used to determine the particle size distribution curve in water. The size of particles formed in solution decreased with an increase in the weight fraction of DCNa and grinding time. A nifedipine-DCNa (1 : 2 w/w) mixture coground for 30 min was used in the experiments. Colloidal particle formation from the coground mixture was also observed in dissolution media of water and a pH 6.8 buffer solution at 37°C. Most precipitates passed through a filter with a pore size of 0.8 μm, but the particle size distribution in water was different from that in the pH 6.8 buffer solution. DCNa exhibited not only micellar solubilization for drug crystals, but also a retarding effect on drug crystal growth in a supersaturated solution. The latter effect could serve to form colloidal particles in solution. When stored under 75% relative humidity at 40°C for 1 month, the amorphous coground mixture crystallized, and the particle size in water markedly increased. Therefore, the weight fraction of DCNa, grinding time, dissolution media, and humidity during storage influence the dissolution characteristics of nifedipine from a coground mixture.     

The effect of ethanol on the formation and physico-chemical properties of particles generated from budesonide solution-based pressurized metered-dose inhalers

The aerosol performance of budesonide solution-based pressurized metered-dose inhalers (HFA 134a), with various amounts of ethanol (5–30%, w/w) as co-solvents, was evaluated using impaction and laser diffraction techniques. With the increase of ethanol concentration in a formulation, the mass median aerodynamic diameter was increased and the fine particle fraction showed a significant decline. Although data obtained from laser diffraction oversized that of the impaction measurements, good correlations were established between the two sets of data. Particles emitted from all the five formulations in this study were amorphous, with two different types of morphology – the majority had a smooth surface with a solid core and the others were internally porous with coral-like surface morphology. The addition of ethanol in the formulation decreased the percentage of such irregular-shape particles from 52% to 2.5% approximately, when the ethanol concentration was increased from 5% to 30%, respectively. A hypothesis regarding the possible particle formation mechanisms was also established. Due to the difference of droplet composition from the designed formulation during the atomization process, the two types of particle may have gone through distinct drying processes: both droplets will have a very short period of co-evaporation, droplets with less ethanol may be dried during such period; while the droplets containing more ethanol will undergo an extra condensation stage before the final particle formation.     

Measurement of some properties of binderless particleboards made from young and old oil palm trunks

The objective of this study was to evaluate variation of mechanical and physical properties of binderless particleboard panels manufactured from raw material of young and old oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) trunks. Results revealed that such experimental panels made from particles of young oil palm trunks had higher mechanical characteristics than those of made from old trunks. Addition of sugar compounds in the samples produced having particles from young trunks with and without extracted material enhanced their bending and internal bond strength values. Overall dimensional stability in the form of thickness swelling and water absorption those panels made from young trunks was adversely influenced. However adding sugars in the samples improved their thickness swelling and water absorption in both cases of with and without applying of extraction process.     

Theory of electrostatics and electrokinetics of soft particles

We investigate theoretically the electrostatics and electrokinetics of a soft particle, i.e. a hard particle covered with an ion-penetrable surface layer of polyelectrolytes. The electric properties of soft particles in an electrolyte solution, which differ from those of hard particles, are essentially determined by the Donnan potential in the surface layer. In particular, the Donnan potential plays an essential role in the electrostatics and electrokinetics of soft particles. Furthermore, the concept of zeta potential, which is important in the electrokinetics of hard particles, loses its physical meaning in the electrokinetics of soft particles. In this review, we discuss the potential distribution around a soft particle, the electrostatic interaction between two soft particles, and the motion of a soft particle in an electric field.