Simulation-based Six Sigma: The Next Generation of Six Sigma Evolution

This book offers a complete roadmap to conducting and executing Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects in service and transaction environments that are conducive to simulation modeling, including mapped tools, deliverables, and methods. Readers discover how Simulation-based Six Sigma methodology reduces project cycle time, cost, and effort from conception to validation. Most importantly, the Simulation-based Six Sigma design identifies customer and business requirements, conceptualizes several solutions, selects a vulnerability-free solution, optimizes that solution, and then validates and verifies the optimum solution, leading to breakthrough performance.

All the guidance needed to take advantage of the many tools in Simulation-based Six Sigma and Simulation-based DFSS is clearly set forth. The implementation, theoretical, and practical aspects of Six Sigma and DFSS and their associated toolboxes and methods are all set forth in detail, including: Integrating Voice of Customer and the Voice of the Business Axiomatic Design Design of Experiment Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Process Mapping Discrete Event Simulation (DES) Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Lean Techniques, including JIT, kanban, SMED, Kaizen, TPM, and more

This book is ideal as a reference for corporate executives, quality control managers, and service industry practitioners including manufacturing, Six Sigma belts and champions who want to streamline processes, minimize risk, and maximize benefits. It serves as a complete training manual for Six Sigma and DFSS in a simulation environment. With its many case examples, it is alsoa superior textbook for graduate students in management, operations, industrial engineering, and quality assurance.

Business Process Management (BPM) has been in existence for decades. It uses, complements, integrates and extends theories, methods and tools from other scientific disciplines like: strategic management, information technology, managerial accounting, operations management etc. During this period the main focus themes of researchers and professionals in BPM were: business process modeling, business process analysis, activity based costing, business process simulation, performance measurement, workflow management, the link between information technology and BPM for process automation etc. More recently the focus moved to subjects like Knowledge Management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems, Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs), Process Intelligence (PI) and even Social Networks. In this collection of papers we present a review of the work and the outcomes achieved in the classic BPM fields as well as a deeper insight on recent advances in BPM. We present a review of business process modeling and analysis and we elaborate on issues like business process quality and process performance measurement as weel as their link to all other organizational aspects like human resources management, strategy, information technology (being SOA, PI or ERP), other managerial systems, job descriptions etc. We also present recent advances to BPR tools with special focus on information technology, workflow, business process modeling and human resources management tools. Other chapters elaborate on the aspect of business process and organizational costing and their relationship to business process analysis, organizational change and reorganization. In the final chapters we present some new approaches that use fuzzy cognitive maps and a recently developed software tool for scenario creation and simulation in strategic management, business process management, performance measurement and social networking.

The audience of this book is quite wide. The first chapters can be read by professionals, academics and students who want to get some basic insight into the BPM field whereas the remaining present more elaborate and state of the art concepts methodologies and tools for an audience of a more advanced level."

From Robin Sickles: As I indicated to you some months ago Professor William Horrace and I would like Springer to publish a Festschrift in Honor of Peter Schmidt, our professor. Peter s accomplishments are legendary among his students and the profession. I have a bit of that student perspective in my introductory and closing remarks on the website for the conference we had in his honor this last July. I have attached the conference program from which selected papers will come (as well as from students who were unable to attend). You will also find the names of his students (40) on the website. A top twenty economics department could be started up from those 40 students. Papers from some festschrifts have a thematic link among the papers based on subject material. What I think is unique to this festschrift is that the theme running through the papers will be Peter s remarkable legacy left to his students to frame a problem and then analyze and examine it in depth using rigorous techniques but rarely just for the purpose of showcasing technical refinements per se. I think this would be a book that graduate students would find invaluable in their early research careers and seasoned scholars would find invaluable in both their and their students research."

Up to date with the fourth edition of PMI's Program Management Standard, PgMP (R) Practice Test Questions: 1000+ Practice Exam Questions for the PgMP (R) Examination contains more than 1,000 practice questions to help readers hone their knowledge and test their skills. It covers all five of the program management domains: Strategic Program Management, Program Management Life Cycle, Benefits Management, Stakeholder Management, and Governance. It also examines all of the sub domains of the lifecycle domain. With an easy-to-use format, this is an ideal resource for those preparing to take the PgMP (R) exam.

Forever Chemicals: Environmental, Economic, and Social Equity Concerns with PFAS in the Environment provides the reader with an understanding of the complex and interwoven issues associated with per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) in our environment. The chapters provide in-depth perspective into various issues, including health, regulation, detection, clean-up strategies and technologies, and more. Taken together or as the reader's interests lead them, the variety of topics covered in the book present a balanced perspective on this complex topic. It will address the current state of PFAS and where indicators are pointing for future developments. The book is also a deeper investigation of the regulatory challenges, analytical hurdles, and toxicological progress to date for the suite of PFAS chemicals. Features Explains the trends that will affect future policy and regulatory decisions Looks holistically at 4000+ PFAS chemicals Includes PFAS risk assessments at contaminated sites and biomonitoring insights Provides in-depth discussions on remediation technologies Illustrates quality and diversified content Provides a balanced perspective on this complex topic

The fundamental motivation of this book is to contribute to the future advancement of Asset Management in the context of industrial plants and infrastructures. The book aims to foster a future perspective that takes advantage of value-based and intelligent asset management in order to make a step forward with respect to the evolution observed nowadays. Indeed, the current understanding of asset management is primarily supported by well-known standards. Nonetheless, asset management is still a young discipline and the knowledge developed by industry and academia is not set in stone yet. Furthermore, current trends in new organizational concepts and technologies lead to an evolutionary path in the field. Therefore, this book aims to discuss this evolutionary path, starting first of all from the consolidated theory, then moving forward to discuss: * The strategic understanding of value-based asset management in a company; * An operational definition of value, as a concept on the background of value-based asset management; * The identification of intelligent asset management, with the aim to frame a set of "tools" recommended to support the asset-related decision-making process over the asset lifecycle; * The emergence of new technologies such as cyber physical systems and digital twins, and the implications of this on asset management.

This book presents scheduling with a medium- and short-term focus, which makes it possible to capitalize on fleeting market opportunities while simultaneously working to reconcile economic and environmental priorities. It introduces a new mixed-integer approach to hierarchical discrete-time and continuous-time scheduling, combining aspects of production and recycling, forward and reverse logistics as well as emissions trading for multi-stage supply chain networks. Problem-specific variants of relax-and-fix heuristics and genetic algorithms are also proposed. Given its scope, the book provides a range of practical tools and new perspectives for researchers and professionals in the field of supply chain management.

This book shows engineers with little or no previous exposure to experimental design how to use statistically designed experiments to improve products and processes. A prerequisite is an appreciation for the concept of random variation, gained through a typical statistics course or by using statistical process control in a manufacturing environment. Dr Taguchi has added greatly to our understanding of the importance of properly designed experiments in quality improvement and has provided a structured approach to designing quality into products and processes. His use of experimental designs to reduce variability and make designs more robust has had a major influence on perceptions of the role of experimental design in quality improvement. This book also covers other methods, such as the important work of Dr George Box and his associates on orthogonal designs.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of potential opportunities and the business value position related to implementing physics-based real-time simulation to production. The objective of real-time simulation is to provide value for all three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. By reviewing actual industrial cases and presenting relevant academic research, the book examines the topic from four interrelated viewpoints: the industrial need for sustainable production, the development of game-like virtual environments, capturing customer value and enhancing the user experience, and finally, establishing business value. It offers a framework that will enable a rethink and shift in mindset to appreciate how real-time simulation can change the way products are manufactured and services are produced. This book will appeal to researchers and scholars in areas as diverse as strategic management, manufacturing and operations management, marketing, industrial economics, and product lifecycle management.

Cybernetics is about having a goal and taking action to achieve that goal. Knowing whether you have reached your goal (or at least are getting closer to it) requires "feedback", a concept that was made rigorous by cybernetics. The subject of Cybernetic Synergy, although emanating from a socio-economic experiment of economic control by cybernetic means in Chile in the early 1970s, has never been approached as an applied subject in its own right. Indeed, the subject of applied cybernetics has never been addressed as a separate issue, although it has been shown that the overall subject of cybernetics applies to a wide range of disciplines, from biology to business via mathematics and engineering. Cybernetic synergy is the study of relationships and controls of and between corporate entities, on an external basis, and departments within corporate entities, on an internal basis. It concerns the decision-making process, and how decisions can be made based on feedback from any part of the organization being managed. It therefore concerns the issue of input of raw material or information, the output of the transformed information and materials, and the rectification of any issue based on negative feedback related to the productive process. It investigates not only the basic theory of the subject but also its applications in the commercial and business environment, as well as touching on government and administrative issues where shortcomings have emerged owing to a lack of synergy and communication. There are already several books available on the subject to cybernetics, but they are all concerned with mathematical approaches along with very heavy technical texts, most of which are completely alien to the layman or the simple practitioner. Furthermore, other than references to business or economic practice in some books, there has never been a book published purely about the subject of applied cybernetics relating to business practices. The book covers the subjects of management and economic cybernetics, and how the theory of cybernetic control can be used to manage business and government functions, whether small, medium or large. It looks at the history of cybernetics, and how some pioneering cybernetic concepts were used in Chile in the early 1970s to manage the Chilean economy. It uses these same principles, along with later cybernetic models, to show how such concepts can be applied to the present-day economy and business practices. It examines present-day business practices and shows how weaknesses in these systems can be addressed and eliminated by the application of cybernetic practices. The aims of the book are to provide an insight into the subject of management and business cybernetics, using the principle of cybernetic synergy, to resolve intra-corporate issues and create more efficient business practices based on simple command-and-control processes. Essentially, this book provides an in-depth insight into the use of cybernetics in business and administration environments, and would explain how cybernetics is a valuable tool in resolving corporate issues concerning efficiency and overall control. It would give a detailed explanation of the various practices and functions involved in business operations and practices.

Access and Control in Digital Humanities explores a range of important questions about who controls data, who is permitted to reproduce or manipulate data, and what sorts of challenges digital humanists face in making their work accessible and useful. Contributors to this volume present case studies and theoretical approaches from their experience with applications for digital technology in classrooms, museums, archives, in the field and with the general public. Offering potential answers to the issues of access and control from a variety of perspectives, the volume acknowledges that access is subject to competing interests of a variety of stakeholders. Museums, universities, archives, and some communities all place claims on how data can or cannot be shared through digital initiatives and, given the collaborative nature of most digital humanities projects, those in the field need to be cognizant of the various and often competing interests and rights that shape the nature of access and how it is controlled. Access and Control in Digital Humanities will be of interest to researchers, academics and graduate students working in a variety of fields, including digital humanities, library and information science, history, museum and heritage studies, conservation, English literature, geography and legal studies.

This book addresses critical issues in today's logistics operations and supply chain management, with a special focus on sustainability. In dedicated chapters the authors address aspects concerning multimode logistics operations, reverse network configuration, forward and reverse supply chain integration, improvement of the production operations and management of the recovery activities, as well as carbon footprint reduction in transportation. Selected best practices from different countries and industries are presented to aid in the implementation of sustainable policies in private enterprises and at public-sector institutions. The book offers a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners who wish to deepen their expertise in the field of logistics operations and management with regard to sustainability issues. The book examines both qualitative and qualitative aspects of sustainable supply chain and logistics operations.

New efficiency theory refers to the various parametric and semi-parametric methods of estimating production and cost frontiers, which include data envelopment analysis (DEA) with its diverse applications in management science and operations research. This monograph develops and generalizes the new efficiency theory by highlighting the interface between economic theory and operations research. Some of the outstanding features of this monograph are: (1) integrating the theory of firm efficiency and industry equilibrium, (2) emphasizing growth efficiency in a dynamic setting, (3) incorporating uncertainty of market demand and prices, and (4) the implications of group efficiency by sharing investments. Applications discuss in some detail the growth and decline of the US computer industry, and the relative performance of mutual fund portfolios.

This book comprehensively outlines what a holistic and effective Root Cause Analysis (RCA) system looks like. From the designing of the support infrastructure to the measuring of effectiveness on the bottom-line, this book provides the blueprint for making it happen. While traditionally RCA is viewed as a reactive tool, the authors will show how it can be applied proactively to prevent failures from occurring in the first place. RCA is a key element of any successful Reliability Engineering initiative. Such initiatives are comprised of equipment, process and human reliability foundations. Human reliability is critical to the success of a true RCA approach. This book explores the anatomy of a failure (undesirable outcome) as well as a potential failure (high risks). Virtually all failures are triggered by errors of omission or commission by human beings. The methodologies described in this book are applicable to any industry because the focus is on the human being's ability to think through why things go wrong, not on the industry or the nature of the failure. This book correlates reliability to safety as well as human performance improvement efforts. The author has provided a healthy balance between theory and practical application, wrapping up with case studies demonstrating bottom-line results. Features Outlines in detail every aspect of an effective RCA 'system' Displays appreciation for the role of understanding the physics of a failure as well as the human and system's contribution Demonstrates the role of RCA in a comprehensive Asset Performance Management (APM) system Explores the correlation between Reliability Engineering and Safety Integrates the concepts of Human Performance Improvement, Learning Teams, and Human Error Reduction approaches into RCA

The book presents a new type of leadership focused on sustainable human development and organizational sustainability, which is based on the self-realization of the person of the leader, which means the satisfaction of their needs, according to the scale of Abraham Maslow, through integral human development in all aspects of life. Because speaking of a leader would seem to cite any person with the authority that confers a position that has subordinates, but the reality within organizations has shown that a leader goes further, requires commitment, awareness and concern for the good. common. What person has these haracteristics? People who have had more opportunity to develop in different areas of their being, which conceives them as more educated. The person is the basis of leadership. Education and exercise are much more important than all heredity and the genetic code. This volume explores the various ways of making explicit the dimensions of social, economic, and environmental sustainability through knowledge management that addresses the identification, collection, processing, circulation, use, exchange, and preservation of knowledge within operating systems and the context of organizations. considering issues that contribute to sustainability: human and organizational, where the leader is the main actor and the means is knowledge management.

Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technology: Principles and Applications consists of the construction and working details of all modern additive manufacturing and 3D-printing technology processes and machines, while also including the fundamentals, for a well-rounded educational experience. The book is written to help the reader understand the fundamentals of the systems. This book provides a selection of additive manufacturing techniques suitable for near-term application with enough technical background to understand the domain, its applicability, and to consider variations to suit technical and organizational constraints. It highlights new innovative 3D-printing systems, presents a view of 4D printing, and promotes a vision of additive manufacturing and applications toward modern manufacturing engineering practices. With the block diagrams, self-explanatory figures, chapter exercises, and photographs of lab-developed prototypes, along with case studies, this new textbook will be useful to students studying courses in Mechanical, Production, Design, Mechatronics, and Electrical Engineering.

Management of new technologies is a critical factor in achieving global competitiveness. A recent survey of managers in the United States revealed that the implementation of new and advanced technologies is the most popular strategy in achieving global competitiveness. This book explores the role of technology in that context. The book identifies the role of new technologies in improving quality and shows that adopting a strategic total quality management will, in fact, lead to improved productivity and survivability of the firm. A thorough comparison of the Japanese and American production management practices is presented. This in-depth analysis helps to identify the problems of managing new technologies and shows that human resources management is a critical factor that should not be overlooked. Other strategies for improving global competitiveness are presented. Each of the five sections of the book deals with a major thrust that confronts management of new technologies. The book also discusses information system management and product design. The book uses real-life cases, models, and conceptual frameworks to support the views presented.

Productivity, quality, and competitiveness are all related to technology. The success of Japanese corporations in achieving quality management has impelled the U.S. executives to listen and re-evaluate their management practices. Increasingly, many managers believe that new, advanced technologies can contribute to improving the productivity, quality, and competitiveness of a firm. However, simply adopting a new technology will not put an end to productivity and/or quality problems. This fact is most apparent in the case of computer-integrated manufacturing. The islands of automation that have resulted convinced many that effective management of new technologies is necessary in order to exploit any potential benefits. This book focuses on efficient management techniques and looks at the critical areas that can enhance the performance of a firm as a result of the adoption of new technologies.

The book is divided into five sections: The total quality management section contains four chapters that present a comparison between the Japanese and American production practices. This section also presents a new way to measure the performance of a firm---not just by the direct quality of the product or service produced, but also by the sensitivity and responsibility of the firm to environmental and greening issues. The selection and implementation of new technologies section discusses the problems associated with the cost-accounting techniques in justifying new technologies and uses a multicriteria decision framework to show how this decision could be made. The strategic management section presents issues on production innovation and performance; The knowledge-based techniques section investigates the role of artificial intelligence and expert systems in the management of new technologies. Finally, the product design and inventory management section discusses the role of product design and reduced lot sizes in achieving a competitive advantage.

This book describes how manufacturing enterprises, by reinforcing their existing monitoring and control of manufacturing processes, can successfully face the ever-increasing pressure from internal and external environments to maintain their competitive advantage. Numerous performance measurement systems have been elaborated to satisfy these requirements, stressing the importance of financial and operational metrics. It also highlights the fact that research on generating and linking financial and operational metrics, especially in real-time, has not garnered sufficient attention to date. The book follows an approach that integrates enterprises across different levels and departments. By computing and linking the financial and operational metrics in real-time, the book demonstrates how to provide a comprehensive view of an entire enterprise.

Management of supply chains has been evolving rapidly over the last few years due to the inception of Industry 4.0, where businesses adopt automation technologies and data exchanges leading to dynamic and interconnected supply chain systems. Emphasizing on analytical approaches such as predictive and prescriptive modeling, this book presents state-of-the-art original research work dealing with advanced analytical models for the design, planning, and operation of the supply chain to provide faster and smarter decisions in the era of digitization. In particular, the book integrates machine learning and operations research models for faster and smarter decisions, presents prescriptive analytics models for strategic, tactical, and operational decision making in the supply chain, and addresses recent challenges such as sustainability in the supply chain, supply chain visibility, and supply chain digitalization. Key concepts are illustrated using real-life case studies, making the book a valuable reference for researchers, technical professionals, and students.

This book examines key issues, challenges, opportunities and trends in innovation processes and supply chain management. It proposes ways for organizations to improve their performance by developing business strategies, establishing business innovation activities, and aligning business and innovation activities among firms. Further, it showcases and analyzes the implementation of inter- and intra-organizational process improvement activities and the implementation of organizational innovation solutions to address new product and process-related collaborative relationships across the supply chain. The book is useful for researchers, academics and professionals, presenting some of the most advanced research, concepts, and case studies on the relationship between innovation and supply chain.

Creating a Culture of Predictable Outcomes demonstrates the importance of creating cultures in the design and construction industries grounded in sophisticated-caring leadership, high-performing collaborative teams, and master-level decision-making discipline, informed by values, to finally address massive inefficiencies, waste, and unpredictability. Barbara White Bryson offers specific guidance to industry stakeholders to succeed in achieving project-related predictable outcomes by focusing on culture rather than process. This includes selecting the right team members by hiring and firing bravely, valuing psychological safety, leading with values, practicing respect and transparency, fostering empowerment to make decisions at the right level at the right time, and more. This book is a must-read for design and construction professionals who want to finally understand how to set goals and meet those goals for their clients as well as for their teams.

Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award recipient This workbook explains in simple, step-by-step terms how to introduce and sustain lean flows of material and information in pacemaker cells and lines, a prerequisite for achieving a lean value stream. A sight we frequently encounter when touring plants is the relocation of processing steps from departments (process villages) to product-family work cells, but too often these "cells" produce only intermittent and erratic flow. Output gyrates from hour to hour and small piles of inventory accumulate between each operation so that few of the benefits of cellularization are actually being realized; and, if the cell is located upstream from the pacemaker process, none of the benefits may ever reach the customer. This sequel to Learning to See (which focused on plant level operations) provides simple step-by-step instructions for eliminating waste and creating continuous flow at the process level. This isn't a workbook you will read once then relegate to the bookshelf. It's an action guide for managers, engineers, and production associates that you will use to improve flow each and every day. Creating Continuous Flow takes you to the next level in work cell design where you'll achieve even greater cost and lead time savings. You'll learn: * where to focus your continuous flow efforts * how to create much more efficient work cells and lines * how to operate a pacemaker process so that a lean value stream is possible * how to sustain the gains, and keep improving Creating Continuous Flow is the next logical step after Learning to See. The value-stream mapping process defined the pacemaker process and the overall flow of products and information in the plant. The next step is to shift your focus from the plant to the process level by zeroing in on the pacemaker process, which sets the production rhythm for the plant or value stream, and apply the principles of continuous flow. Every p

Scheduling is a resource allocation problem which exists in virtually every type of organization. Scheduling problems have produced roughly 40 years of research primarily within the OR community. This community has traditionally emphasized mathematical modeling techniques which seek exact solutions to well formulated optimization problems. While this approach produced important results, many contemporary scheduling problems are particularly difficult. Hence, over the last ten years operations researchers interested in scheduling have turned increasingly to more computer intensive and heuristic approaches. At roughly the same time, researchers in AI began to focus their methods on industrial and management science applications. The result of this confluence of fields has been a period of remarkable growth and excitement in scheduling research. Intelligent Scheduling Systems captures the results of a new wave of research at the forefront of scheduling research, of interest to researchers and practitioners alike. Presented are an array of the latest contemporary tools -- math modeling to tabu search to genetic algorithms -- that can assist in operational scheduling and solve difficult scheduling problems. The book presents the most recent research results from both operations research (OR) and artificial intelligence (AI) focusing their efforts on real scheduling problems.

Predictive analytics refers to making predictions about the future based on different parameters which are historical data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. This book provides the most recent advances in the field along with case studies and real-world examples. It discusses predictive modeling and analytics in reliability engineering and introduces current achievements and applications of artificial intelligence, data mining, and other techniques in supply chain management. It covers applications to reliability engineering practice, presents numerous examples to illustrate the theoretical results, and considers and analyses case studies and real-word examples. The book is written for researchers and practitioners in the field of system reliability, quality, supply chain management, and logistics management. Students taking courses in these areas will also find this book of interest.