As projects become more complex and the project teams are more geographically and culturally dispersed, so strong, trusting relationships come to the fore. Trust provides the security that enables project teams to work together effectively, even when they face project-threatening problems and challenges. Because today's team members work virtually as much by choice as by geographic necessity, business leaders must understand how team relationships such as trust, cross-divisional projects, and how offshore team participation are all positively motivated by a solid quality assurance program. Offering real world solutions, Trust in Virtual Teams provides a clear view of how virtual projects can succeed, and how quality assurance compliments and promotes effective organizational design and project management to build solid trust relationships. Dr Wise combines the latest research in virtual team trust with simple and proven quality methods. He builds upon more than 20 years of experience in quality and project work to guide team managers in creating high performing project teams. Our understanding of the role human factors play in project performance and project resilience continues to grow. As it does, so does our need to address the behaviors and culture that enable good performance. Tom Wise's book is a thoughtful and pragmatic guide to help project teams and managers do just that.

This text provides the practising engineer with a review of the current techniques and applications of machine control. The control of machines is essential in the manufacturing process in order to produce products with more speed, efficiency and accuracy. The range of machinery dependent upon control by a dedicated computer is very broad, encompassing sheet metal feeding machines, operating at a few cycles per minute to textile machines, some parts of which rotate at a hundred thousand revolutions per minute.

As a society, we tend to reward problem solvers, rather than those who prevent problems at their source. In other words, we focus on after-the-fact occurrences (appraisal activities) instead of trying to eliminate these occurrences (preventing activities). Discussing and evaluating the core requirements of quality efficiency and improvement, 10 Essentials for High Performance Quality in the 21st Century proposes an approach to help shift the paradigm of quality from appraisal mode to preventing mode. Identifying 10 steps readers can follow to optimize the quality of products and improve customer satisfaction, the book explains the rationale behind each of the steps in separate chapters. It addresses specific quality issues in six different sectors of the economy and provides statistics, tables, and figures from various organizations that support the need for a paradigm shift. Outlining a systematic process to guide your organization along the path toward improvement, the book covers risk and quality, multicultural management, empowerment, error analysis, team building, advanced quality planning, and quality operating systems. The accompanying downloadable resources provide tips and tools to help you implement all the necessary improvement initiatives under the umbrella of quality.

In an era of intense competition where plant operating efficiencies must be maximized, downtime due to machinery failure has become more costly. To cut operating costs and increase revenues, industries have an urgent need to predict fault progression and remaining lifespan of industrial machines, processes, and systems. An engineer who mounts an acoustic sensor onto a spindle motor wants to know when the ball bearings will wear out without having to halt the ongoing milling processes. A scientist working on sensor networks wants to know which sensors are redundant and can be pruned off to save operational and computational overheads. These scenarios illustrate a need for new and unified perspectives in system analysis and design for engineering applications.

Intelligent Diagnosis and Prognosis of Industrial Networked Systems proposes linear mathematical tool sets that can be applied to realistic engineering systems. The book offers an overview of the fundamentals of vectors, matrices, and linear systems theory required for intelligent diagnosis and prognosis of industrial networked systems. Building on this theory, it then develops automated mathematical machineries and formal decision software tools for real-world applications.

The book includes portable tool sets for many industrial applications, including:

• Forecasting machine tool wear in industrial cutting machines
• Reduction of sensors and features for industrial fault detection and isolation (FDI)
• Identification of critical resonant modes in mechatronic systems for system design of R&D
• Probabilistic small-signal stability in large-scale interconnected power systems
• Discrete event command and control for military applications

The book also proposes future directions for intelligent diagnosis and prognosis in energy-efficient manufacturing, life cycle assessment, and systems of systems architecture. Written in a concise and accessible style, it presents tools that are mathematically rigorous but not involved. Bridging academia, research, and industry, this reference supplies the know-how for engineers and managers making decisions about equipment maintenance, as well as researchers and students in the field.

Considering that the biggest machines that do the most work are made up of smaller machines and components, it becomes obvious that when a large machine breaks, it is normally due to small components acting antagonistically. Detailing a time-tested method for increasing productivity and lowering operational costs, Spend Analysis and Specification Development Using Failure Interpretation explains how to establish performance-based procurement specifications for the components, devices, and items that contribute the most to operational downtime and repair/replacement costs. The book emphasizes the critical need to perform both spend and failure analysis in order to develop a procurement document, which will ultimately reduce overall costs. Accompanied by downloadable resources with helpful material such as, specification checklists, case study worksheets, form letters, and return on investment (ROI) worksheets that you can customize to your needs, the text discusses how to: Identify the products that will cost the most if they fail Develop performance-based procurement specifications to reduce direct and indirect costs Examine cost analysis as it relates to operations, maintenance, and production Determine effective criteria based on properties, test results, and standards for each operation Written by an industry expert with decades of experience giving seminars, training customers and associates, and authoring numerous papers and articles, the text provides the real-world understanding of the influential components and materials' physical properties needed to engage in effective failure and spend analysis. It addresses product submission and monitoring and includes helpful tools so you can immediately get started on conducting your own cost-saving analysis.

Today, multi-functional materials such as piezoelectric/ferroelectric ceramics, magneto-strictive and shape memory alloys are gaining increasing applications as sensors, actuators or smart composite materials systems for emerging high tech areas. The stable performance and reliability of these smart components under complex service loads is of paramount practical importance. However, most multi-functional materials suffer from various mechanical and/or electro-magnetical degra-dation mechanisms as fatigue, damage and fracture. Therefore, this exciting topic has become a challenge to intensive international research, provoking the interdisciplinary approach between solid mechanics, materials science and physics. This book summarizes the outcome of the above mentioned IUTAM-symposium, assembling contributions by leading scientists in this area. Particularly, the following topics have been addressed: (1) Development of computational methods for coupled electromechanical field analysis, especially extended, adaptive and multi-level finite elements. (2) Constitutive modeling of non-linear smart material behavior with coupled electric, magnetic, thermal and mechanical fields, primarily based on micro-mechanical models. (3) Investigations of fracture and fatigue in piezoelectric and ferroelectric ceramics by means of process zone modeling, phase field simulation and configurational mechanics. (4) Reliability and durability of sensors and actuators under in service loading by alternating mechanical, electrical and thermal fields. (5) Experimental methods to measure fracture strength and to investigate fatigue crack growth in ferroelectric materials under electromechanical loading. (6) New ferroelectric materials, compounds and composites with enhanced strain capabilities.

This book presents a collection of real cases from industrial practices that production system and quality managers implement to ensure a high quality as well as a low cost in products. This book is divided in sections that are focused on: * The quality and philosophies implemented to production systems; starting from the product design as well as from the supply system. * The principal statistical techniques applied to the quality assurance (statistical quality control, analysis of tests and failure, quality function deployment, accelerated life tests, among others), the process of gathering information, its validation, its reliability process, and techniques for data analysis. * The techniques applied to the integration of human resources in the process of quality assurance, such as managers and operators' participation, training, and training processes. * Use of information and communications technologies, software, and programs implemented to guarantee the quality of the products in the production systems. ISO standards and policies that are used for quality management and monitoring.

This text provides the reader with a general and widely-applicable problem solving strategy for use in quality improvement. It covers a variety of statistical and "non-statistical" problem-solving tools, and discusses techniques that are useful when problems are solved by groups or teams of people. It also shows how the success of problem solving is influenced by the style of management and the type of management-employee interaction.

Richard Bellmann developed a theory of dynamic programming which is for many reasons still in the center of great interest. The authors present a new approach in the ?eld of the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems which is closely related to the work of Richard Bellmann. They develop their own concept and their extension to the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems as well as to dynamic networks and multilayered structures are very stimulating for further research. Di?erent perspectives of discrete control and optimal dynamic ?ow problems on networks are treated and characterized. Together with the algorithmic solutions a framework of multi-objective control problems is - rived. The conclusion with a real world example underlines the necessity and - portance of their theoretic framework. As they come back to the classical Bellmann concept of dynamic programming they stress and honor his basic concept without debase their own work. Multilayereddecisionprocessesaspartofthedesignandanalysisofcomplexsystems and networks will be essential in many ways and ?elds in the future.

Complexity in automation- and safety systems in railway as well as automotive applications are dominated more and more by formal description means, methods and tools. Formal techniques provide next to correctness and integrity checkups - especially for safety relevant systems - the possibility to model, prove, simulate and check the specification of the system as well as to generate the system implementations. Requirements of the CENELEC- and IEC-Standards on formal techniques, particularly with regard to the handling of safety analysis, are to be treated in FORMS/FORMAT 2010. The main focus lies on topics facing formal techniques for railway applications and intelligent transportation systems as well as for automotive applications. Gained findings, experiences and also difficulties associated with the handling of the subject matter as well as description means and tools are to be shown.

The book provides background information about technical solutions, processes and methodology to develop future automated mobility solutions. Beginning from the legal requirements as the minimum tolerable risk level of the society, the book provides state-of-the-art risk-management methodologies. The system engineering approach based on todays engineering best practices enhanced by principles derived from cybernetics. The approach derived from the typical behaviour of a human driver in public road traffic to a cybernetical based system engineering approach. Beyond the system engineering approach, a common behaviour model for the operational domain will show aspects how to extend the system engineering model with principles of cybernetics. The role and the human factors of road traffic participants and drivers of motor vehicles are identified and several viewpoints for different observers show how such mixed traffic scenarios could be assessed and optimised. The influence of the changing mobility demands of the society and the resulting changes to the origination of producer, owner, driver and supplier show aspects for future liability and risk share option for new supply chains. Examples from various industries provide some well-proven engineering principles how to adapt those for the future mobility for the benefit of the users. The aim of the book is to raise awareness that the safety provided by a product, a means of transport or a system up to an entire traffic system depends on the capabilities of the various actors. In addition to the driver and passengers, there are also other road users, maintenance personnel and service providers, who must have certain abilities to act safely in traffic. These are also the capabilities of the organisation, not only the organisation that develops or brings the product to market, but also the organisation that is responsible for the operation and the whole lifecycle of the products. The book is for people who want to get involved in the mobility of the future. People, that have ideas to become a player who want to help shape the future mobility of society and who want to bring responsible solutions for users into the market.

Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice is a comprehensive overview of human factors within this sector, focusing on the practical application. It has been written by acknowledged industry experts from the Keil Centre, which is a leading practice of chartered ergonomics and human factors specialists, chartered safety specialists, registered occupational psychologists, and registered clinical psychologists The book was inspired by the international human factors training course run by the Keil Centre with the IChemE(http://www.icheme.org/human-factors), which has reached four continents across the world. The book is written for those who want a comprehensive overview of the subject, focusing on the practical application of human factors. It has been written for safety professionals, engineers and operational disciplines within industry, and those aspiring to these disciplines, who either deal with human factors issues or any aspect of the 'human element' in their core role. The book explains what 'human factors' is about and how human factors issues are best managed from a practical perspective. It will help readers develop a greater understanding of the area and how to establish more effective solutions for human factors related issues.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" examines the attainability of efficiency, economy, and ease of use, which make up the quality of service of technologically advanced products.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" reviews the state of the art in quality of service evaluation for real-time systems. It gives a classification of the relevant parameters for quality of service evaluation and also determines the critical points in the design and development process of real-time systems where performance criteria should be applied or checked. Then, software development and certification standards are assessed, and finally the authors elaborate on how the suggested criteria should be applied to the design, development, and certification process of real-time systems.

"Real-time Systems Quality of Service" will guide researchers and postgraduates in embedded and real-time systems through the process of introducing quality of service parameters into real-time systems.

A combination of source inspection and mistake-proofing devices is the only method to get you to zero defects. Shigeo Shingo shows you how this proven system for reducing errors turns out the highest quality products in the shortest period of time. Shingo provides 112 specific examples of poka-yoke development devices on the shop floor, most of them costing less than $100 to implement. He also discusses inspection systems, quality control circles, and the function of management with regard to inspection.

Historically, the term quality was used to measure performance in the context of products, processes and systems. With rapid growth in data and its usage, data quality is becoming quite important. It is important to connect these two aspects of quality to ensure better performance. This book provides a strong connection between the concepts in data science and process engineering that is necessary to ensure better quality levels and takes you through a systematic approach to measure holistic quality with several case studies. Features: Integrates data science, analytics and process engineering concepts Discusses how to create value by considering data, analytics and processes Examines metrics management technique that will help evaluate performance levels of processes, systems and models, including AI and machine learning approaches Reviews a structured approach for analytics execution

Demonstrates How To Perform FMEAs Step-by-Step Originally designed to address safety concerns, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is now used throughout the industry to prevent a wide range of process and product problems. Useful in both product design and manufacturing, FMEA can identify improvements early when product and process changes are relatively easy and inexpensive to make. Updated to include changes reflected in ISO/TX-16949:2002 standards and 2008 AIAG guidelines, The Basics of FMEA, Second Edition continues to provide the expert advice needed to help shorten the learning curve for FMEA teams to conduct effective and efficient FMEAs, even if it is their very first one. Includes Ready-to-Use Worksheet Templates Using a manufacturing case study, readers learn step-by-step how to use FMEAs to assess, evaluate, and prioritize areas of risk, and then to implement the actions needed to reduce risks to an acceptable level. It shows the steps needed to ferret out potential problems and prevent making inferior products that could endanger public and worker safety and compromise profits as well as the future of all stakeholders. Although engineers have typically analyzed processes and products for potential failures, the FMEA process standardizes the approach and establishes a common language that nontechnical as well as technical employees can use at all levels. Unlike other improvement tools, FMEA does not require complicated statistics. However, they require a full commitment to quality and a willingness to take a team approach that involves all stakeholders.

This book is a compilation of perspectives provided by several winners of the ASQ Feigenbaum Medal, which is awarded each year to an individual under the age of 35 who has made a significant contribution to the field of Quality. As such, it serves as a valuable reference book in this area. It is primarily based on the medalists' vision to "refresh" and "re-think" the quality concepts that have been used over the past century and the future development of the topic. Maximizing readers' understanding of the ways in which Quality is created, it provides insights from pioneers in this field from around the globe and anticipates how and what Quality will be in the future, as well as how people and organizations can benefit from it today.

This book covers a variety of topics in mechanics, with a special emphasis on material mechanics. It reports on fracture mechanics, fatigue of materials, stress-strain behaviours, as well as transferability problems and constraint effects in fracture mechanics. It covers different kind of materials, from metallic materials such as ferritic and austenitic steels, to composites, concrete, polymers and nanomaterials. Additional topics include heat transfer, quality control and reliability of structures and components. Furthermore, the book gives particular attention to new welding technologies such as STIR welding and spray metal coating, and to novel methods for quality control, such as Taguchi design, fault diagnosis and wavelet analysis. Based on the 2015 edition of the Algerian Congress of Mechanics (Congres Algerien de Mecanique, CAM), the book also covers energetics, in terms of simulation of turbulent reactive flow, behaviour of supersonic jet, turbulent combustion, fire induced smoke layer, and heat and mass transfer, as well as important concepts related to human reliability and safety of components and structures. All in all, the book represents a complete, practice-oriented reference guide for both academic and professionals in the field of mechanics.

Modern Industrial Statistics The new edition of the prime reference on the tools of statistics used in industry and services, integrating theoretical, practical, and computer-based approaches Modern Industrial Statistics is a leading reference and guide to the statistics tools widely used in industry and services. Designed to help professionals and students easily access relevant theoretical and practical information in a single volume, this standard resource employs a computer-intensive approach to industrial statistics and provides numerous examples and procedures in the popular R language and for MINITAB and JMP statistical analysis software. Divided into two parts, the text covers the principles of statistical thinking and analysis, bootstrapping, predictive analytics, Bayesian inference, time series analysis, acceptance sampling, statistical process control, design and analysis of experiments, simulation and computer experiments, and reliability and survival analysis. Part A, on computer age statistical analysis, can be used in general courses on analytics and statistics. Part B is focused on industrial statistics applications. The fully revised third edition covers the latest techniques in R, MINITAB and JMP, and features brand-new coverage of time series analysis, predictive analytics and Bayesian inference. New and expanded simulation activities, examples, and case studies--drawn from the electronics, metal work, pharmaceutical, and financial industries--are complemented by additional computer and modeling methods. Helping readers develop skills for modeling data and designing experiments, this comprehensive volume: Explains the use of computer-based methods such as bootstrapping and data visualization Covers nonstandard techniques and applications of industrial statistical process control (SPC) charts Contains numerous problems, exercises, and data sets representing real-life case studies of statistical work in various business and industry settings Includes access to a companion website that contains an introduction to R, sample R code, csv files of all data sets, JMP add-ins, and downloadable appendices Provides an author-created R package, mistat, that includes all data sets and statistical analysis applications used in the book Part of the acclaimed Statistics in Practice series, Modern Industrial Statistics with Applications in R, MINITAB, and JMP, Third Edition, is the perfect textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of industrial statistics, quality and reliability engineering, and an important reference for industrial statisticians, researchers, and practitioners in related fields. The mistat R-package is available from the R CRAN repository.

This book introduces condition-based maintenance (CBM)/data-driven prognostics and health management (PHM) in detail, first explaining the PHM design approach from a systems engineering perspective, then summarizing and elaborating on the data-driven methodology for feature construction, as well as feature-based fault diagnosis and prognosis. The book includes a wealth of illustrations and tables to help explain the algorithms, as well as practical examples showing how to use this tool to solve situations for which analytic solutions are poorly suited. It equips readers to apply the concepts discussed in order to analyze and solve a variety of problems in PHM system design, feature construction, fault diagnosis and prognosis.

Structural Health Monitoring, Damage Detection & Mechatronics, Volume 7. Proceedings of the 34th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Dynamics of Multiphysical Systems: From Active Materials to Vibroacoustics, 2016, the seventh volume of ten from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early fi ndings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Structural Dynamics, including papers on: * Structural Health Monitoring* Damage Detection * Numerical Modeling * Mechatronics * System Identifi cation * Active Controls

This is the first English language book that systematically introduces the spatial and temporal patterns of major natural disasters in China from 1949 to 2014. It also reveals natural disaster formation mechanisms and processes, quantifies vulnerability to these disasters, evaluates disaster risks, summarizes the key strategies of integrated disaster risk governance, and analyzes large-scale disaster response cases in recent years in China. The book can be a good reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in the field of natural disaster risk management and risk governance for improving the understanding of natural disasters in China.

This book aims to address how nanotechnology risks are being addressed by scientists, particularly in the areas of human health and the environment and how these risks can be measured in financial terms for insurers and regulators. It provides a comprehensive overview of nanotechnology risk measurement and risk transfer methods, including a chapter outlining how Bayesian methods can be used. It also examines nanotechnology from a legal perspective, both current and potential future outcomes. The global market for nanotechnology products was valued at $22.9 billion in 2013 and increased to about $26 billion in 2014. This market is expected to reach about $64.2 billion by 2019, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% from 2014 to 2019. Despite the increasing value of nanotechnologies and their widespread use, there is a significant gap between the enthusiasm of scientists and nanotechnology entrepreneurs working in the nanotechnology space and the insurance/regulatory sector. Scientists are scarcely aware that insurers/regulators have concerns about the potential for human and environmental risk and insurers/regulators are not in a position to access the potential risk. This book aims to bridge this gap by defining the current challenges in nanotechnology across disciplines and providing a number of risk management and assessment methodologies. Featuring contributions from authors in areas such as regulation, law, ethics, management, insurance and manufacturing, this volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective that is of value to students, academics, researchers, policy makers, practitioners and society in general.

"...a comprehensive and well written book, which...will be useful reading for both researchers entering the field and experienced specialists looking for new ideas....a valuable and long-lasting contribution to experimental mechanics." - Stepan Lomov, KU Leuven This expert volume, an enhanced Habilitation thesis by the head of the Materials Testing Research Group at the University of Augsburg, provides detailed coverage of a range of inspection methods for insitu characterization of fiber-reinforced composites. The failure behavior of fiber reinforced composites is a complex evolution of microscopic damage phenomena. Beyond the use of classical testing methods, the ability to monitor the progression of damage insitu offers new ways to interpret the materials failure modes. Methods covered include digital image correlation, acoustic emission, electromagnetic emission, computed tomography, thermography, shearography, and promising method combinations. For each method, the discussion includes operational principles and practical applications for quality control as well as thoughtful assessment of the method's strengths and weakness so that the reader is equipped to decide which method or methods are most appropriate in a given situation. The book includes extensive appendices covering common experimental parameters influencing comparability of acoustic emission measurements; materials properties for modeling; and an overview of terms and abbreviations.