Search results for: payment industry

Authors: Amir Ikram, Qin Su, Muhammad Fiaz, Muhammad Waqas Shabbir

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Women entrepreneurship witnessed a healthy rise in the last decade or so, and the scenario in Pakistan is not different. However female leaders are facing various, cultural, career oriented, and professional challenges. The study investigates the impact of social and industry-specific challenges on female entrepreneurship; social challenges was evaluated in terms of culture, and industry-specific challenges was measured in terms of team management and career growth. Purposive sampling was employed to collect data from 75 multicultural organizations operating in the culturally diverse and historic city of Lahore, Pakistan. Cronbach’s alpha was conducted to endorse the reliability of survey questionnaire, while correlation and regression analysis were used to test hypotheses. Industry-specific challenges were found to be more significant as compared to cultural factors. The paper also highlights the importance of female entrepreneurship for emerging economies, and suggests that bringing women to mainstream professions can lead to economic success.

Keywords: cultural challenges, emerging economy, female entrepreneurship, leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

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Rapid aging and depopulation could lead to serious problems, including workforce shortages and health expenditure costs. The current and predicted future LTC workforce shortages could be a real threat to Taiwan’s society. By means of comparison of data from 144 nursing aide trainees and 727 general public, the main purpose of the present study was to determine whether there were any notable differences between the two groups toward engaging in LTC services. Moreover, this study focused on recognizing the attributes of the general public who had the willingness to take LTC jobs but continue to ride the fence. A self-developed questionnaire was designed based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior model. After conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis, the questionnaire was a reliable and valid instrument for both nursing aide trainees and the general public. The main results were as follows: Firstly, nearly 70% of nursing aide trainees showed interest in LTC jobs. Most of them were middle-aged female (M = 46.85, SD = 9.31), had a high school diploma or lower, had unrelated work experience in healthcare, and were mostly unemployed. The most common reason for attending the LTC training program was to gain skills in a particular field. The second most common reason was to obtain the license. The third and fourth reasons were to be interested in caring for people and to increase income. The three major reasons that might push them to leave LTC jobs were physical exhaustion, payment is bad, and being looked down on. Secondly, the variables that best-predicted nursing aide trainees’ intention to engage in LTC services were having personal willingness, perceived behavior control, with high school diploma or lower, and supported from family and friends. Finally, only 11.80% of the general public reported having interest in LTC jobs (the disapproval rating was 50% for the general public). In comparison to nursing aide trainees who showed interest in LTC settings, 64.8% of the new workforce for LTC among the general public was male and had an associate degree, 54.8% had relevant healthcare experience, 67.1% was currently employed, and they were younger (M = 32.19, SD = 13.19) and unmarried (66.3%). Furthermore, the most commonly reason for the new workforce to engage in LTC jobs were to gain skills in a particular field. The second priority was to be interested in caring for people. The third and fourth most reasons were to give back to society and to increase income, respectively. The top five most commonly reasons for the new workforce to quitting LTC jobs were listed as follows: physical exhaustion, being looked down on, excessive working hours, payment is bad, and excessive job stress.

Keywords: long-term care services, nursing aide trainees, Taiwanese people, theory of planned behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Anqi Wang, Linye Zhang

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With the proliferation and development of mobile devices, various mobile apps have appeared to satisfy people’s needs. Metro, with the feature of convenient, punctuality and economic, is one of the most popular modes of transportation in cities. Yet, there are still some inconveniences brought by various factors, impacting tourists’ riding experience. The aim of this study is to help tourists to shorten the time of purchasing tickets, to provide them clear metro information and direct navigation, detailed schedule as well as a way to collect metro cards as souvenir. The study collects data through three phases, including observation, survey and test. Data collected from 106 tourists totally in Wuhan metro stations are discussed in the study. The result reflects tourists’ demand when they take the metro. It also indicates the feasibility of using mobile technology to improve passenger’s experience.

Keywords: mobile app, metro, public transportation, ticket, mobile payment, indoors positioning, tourists

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Mayank Sharma, Anubhaw Kumar, Siddharth Desai, Ankit Tomar

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With the advent of cost-effective hardware and communication technologies, the scope of digitalising operations within a supply chain has tremendously increased. This has provided the opportunity to create digital twins of entire supply chains through the use of Internet-of-Things (IoT) and communication technologies. Adverse events like the COVID-19 pandemic and unpredictable geo-political situations have further warranted the importance of digitalization and remote operability of day-to-day operations at critical nodes. Globalisation, rising consumerism & e-commerce has exponentially increased the complexities of existing supply chains. We discuss here a scalable, future-ready and inclusive framework for creating digital twins developed along with the industry leaders from Cisco, Bosch, Accenture, Intel, Deloitte & IBM. We have proposed field-tested key technologies and frameworks required for creating digital twins. We also present case studies of real-life stable deployments done by us in the supply chains of a few marquee industry leaders.

Keywords: internet-of-things, digital twins, smart factory, industry 4.0, smart manufacturing

Procedia PDF Downloads 96

Authors: Dishant Kothari, Pankaj Gaur, Priyanshu Sharma, Ratnesh Litoriya, Sachin Solanki, Shimpy Goyal

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Web based Conference Management System comprises of all the processes needed for round table conference, research paper publication includes the phases-call for paper, paper submission, paper review, acknowledgement to the author, paper acceptance and payment for publication. It will also help colleges and universities to conduct conferences for research, thus spreading awareness and will contribute to the overall development of students. Web based Conference Management System will streamline the procedure for paper publication by reducing the time and efforts needed in physical (offline mode) submission. A conference can be organized from anywhere and anytime. Authors can easily trace the status of the paper, and the program committee can review them anywhere and provide necessary comments to it.

Keywords: peer review, paper publication, author, chair, reviewer, virtualization, new normal

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: C. A. Barros, Ana P. Barroso

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Any industrial company needs to determine the amount of variation that exists within its measurement process and guarantee the reliability of their data, studying the performance of their measurement system, in terms of linearity, bias, repeatability and reproducibility and stability. This issue is critical for automotive industry suppliers, who are required to be certified by the 16949:2016 standard (replaces the ISO/TS 16949) of International Automotive Task Force, defining the requirements of a quality management system for companies in the automotive industry. Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is one of the mandatory tools. Frequently, the measurement system in companies is not connected to the equipment and do not incorporate the methods proposed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). To address these constraints, an R&D project is in progress, whose objective is to develop a web and cloud-based MSA tool. This MSA tool incorporates Industry 4.0 concepts, such as, Internet of Things (IoT) protocols to assure the connection with the measuring equipment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, statistical tools, and advanced mathematical algorithms. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the project. The web and cloud-based MSA tool is innovative because it implements all statistical tests proposed in the MSA-4 reference manual from AIAG as well as other emerging methods and techniques. As it is integrated with the measuring devices, it reduces the manual input of data and therefore the errors. The tool ensures traceability of all performed tests and can be used in quality laboratories and in the production lines. Besides, it monitors MSAs over time, allowing both the analysis of deviations from the variation of the measurements performed and the management of measurement equipment and calibrations. To develop the MSA tool a ten-step approach was implemented. Firstly, it was performed a benchmarking analysis of the current competitors and commercial solutions linked to MSA, concerning Industry 4.0 paradigm. Next, an analysis of the size of the target market for the MSA tool was done. Afterwards, data flow and traceability requirements were analysed in order to implement an IoT data network that interconnects with the equipment, preferably via wireless. The MSA web solution was designed under UI/UX principles and an API in python language was developed to perform the algorithms and the statistical analysis. Continuous validation of the tool by companies is being performed to assure real time management of the ‘big data’. The main results of this R&D project are: MSA Tool, web and cloud-based; Python API; New Algorithms to the market; and Style Guide of UI/UX of the tool. The MSA tool proposed adds value to the state of the art as it ensures an effective response to the new challenges of measurement systems, which are increasingly critical in production processes. Although the automotive industry has triggered the development of this innovative MSA tool, other industries would also benefit from it. Currently, companies from molds and plastics, chemical and food industry are already validating it.

Keywords: automotive Industry, industry 4.0, Internet of Things, IATF 16949:2016, measurement system analysis

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Authors: Chhaya Sharma, Dushyant Kumar

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The present work deals with the treatment of wastewater generated by paper industry by using aluminium as anode material. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of chloropenolics have been carried out by using primary clarifier effluent with the help of gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Sixteen chlorophenolics compounds have been identified and estimated. Results indicated that among 16 identified compounds, 7 are 100% removed and overall 66% reduction in chorophenolics compounds have been detected. Moreover, during the treatment, the biodegradability index of wastewater significantly increases, along with 70 % reduction in chemical oxygen demand and 99 % in color.

Keywords: aluminium anode, chlorophenolics, electrocoagulation, pollution load, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Guilherme Gorgulho, Carlos Roberto Camello Lima

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Over the past five years between 2011 and 2015, the license plate of cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses have suffered retraction. This sector's decline can be explained by economic and national policy in the Brazilian industry operates. In parallel to the reduction of sales and license plate of vehicles, their suppliers are also affected influencing its results, among these vendors, there is the auto parts sector. The existence of international companies, and featured strongly in Asia and Mexico due to low production costs, encourage companies to constantly seek continuous improvement and operational efficiency. Under this argument, the decision making based on lean manufacturing tools it is essential for the management of operations. The purpose of this article is to analyze between lean practices in Brazilian auto parts industries, through the application of a questionnaire with employees who practice lean thinking in organizations. The purpose is to confront the extracted data in the questionnaires, and debate on which of lean tools help organizations as a competitive advantage.

Keywords: autoparts, brazilian industry, lean practices, survey

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: M. de Miguel Molina, V. Santamarina Campos, M. V. Segarra Oña, B. de Miguel Molina

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Safety and security concerns play a key role during the design of civil UAs (aircraft controlled by a pilot who is not onboard it) by the producers and the offer of different services by the operators. At present, European countries have fragmented regulations about the manufacture and use of civil drones, therefore the European institutions are trying to approach all these regulations into a common one. In this sense, not only law but also ethics can give guidelines to the industry in order to obtain better reports from their clients. With our results, we would like to give advice to the European industry, as well as give new insights to the academia and policymakers.

Keywords: ethics, regulation, safety, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 670

Authors: Siti Anis Nadia Abu Bakar, Vani Tanggamani

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Over recent years, the quality and environmental management practices are the necessary tasks in hospitality industry in order to provide high quality services, a comfortable and safe environment for occupants as well as innovative nature and shareholders' satisfaction, its environmental and social added value sustainable. Numerous studies have observed and measured quality management program (QMProg) and environmental management practices (EMPrac) independently. This paper analyzed the level of QMProg, and EMPrac in hospitality industry, particularly on hotel performance, specifically in the context of Malaysia as hotel industry in Malaysia has contributed tremendously to the development in the Malaysia tourism industry.The research objectives are; (1) to analyze how the level of QMProg influences on firm performance; (2) to investigate the level of EMPrac and its influence on firm performance. This paper contributes to the literature by providing added-value to the service industry strategic decision-making processes by helping to predict the varying impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on financial performance in their respective industries. Further, this paper also contributes to develop more applicable CSR strategies. As a matter of fact, the findings of this paper has contributed towards an integrated management system that will assist a firm in implementation of their environmental strategy by creating a higher level of accountability for environmental performance. The best results in environmental systems have instigated managers to explore more options when dealing with problems, especially problems involving the reputation of their hotel. In conclusion, the results of the study infer that the best CSR strategies of the quality and environmental management practices influences hotel performance.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental management practices (EMPrac), performance (PERF), quality management program (QMProg)

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Salem B. Abdalla

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This study investigated the current Building Information Modelling (BIM) trends and practices in the UAE, particularly to shed light on a recently circulated Dubai BIM mandate. Two sets of surveys were mailed to the AEC industry and the corresponding academic sector within the UAE to collect up-to-date data on BIM awareness and utilization. The surveys showed startling results concerning the academic sector in the UAE where almost 70% of respondents were not aware of the BIM mandate. Among the rest, even when aware, the majority of mechanical and electrical engineering schools felt that BIM is not pertinent to their discipline. Therefore, the response to offering BIM in their curriculum was substantially low (35%). On the other hand, the industrial survey identified a large majority (76.5%) of the AEC industry in the UAE are using BIM. The results clearly indicate that the academia should include BIM in their curriculum to produce qualified graduates to support the market. However, the academia is also faced with several obstacles to implement BIM in their curriculum, where the main pretext is that there is “no room for new courses in existing curriculum”.

Keywords: building information modeling, BIM adoption, UAE BIM industry survey, UAE BIM academia survey, Dubai BIM mandate, UK BIM mandate, BIM education, architecture education, engineering schools, BIM implementation, BIM curriculum

Procedia PDF Downloads 415

Authors: Rudi Kurniawan Arief

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Manufacturing cost and setup time are the hot topics to improve in Metal Stamping industry because material and components price are always rising up while costumer requires to cut down the component price year by year. The Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is one of many methods to reduce waste in stamping industry. The Japanese Quick Die Change (QDC) dies system is one of SMED systems that could reduce both of setup time and manufacturing cost. However, this system is rarely used in stamping industries. This paper will analyze how deep the QDC dies system could reduce setup time and the manufacturing cost. The research is conducted by direct observation, simulating and comparing of QDC dies system with conventional dies system. In this research, we found that the QDC dies system could save up to 35% of manufacturing cost and reduce 70% of setup times. This simulation proved that the QDC die system is effective for cost reduction but must be applied in several parallel production processes.

Keywords: press die, metal stamping, QDC system, single minute exchange die, manufacturing cost saving, SMED

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Jianlin Wang, Jiajia Zhao

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This paper applies the theory and empirical method to examine the relationship between electricity price and coal price, as well as electricity and industry output, for China during Jan 1999-Dec 2012. Our results indicate that there is no any causality between coal price and electricity price under other factors are controlled. However, we found a bi-directional causality between electricity consumption and industry output. Overall, the electricity price set by China’s NDRC is inefficient, which lead to the electricity supply shortage after 2004. It is time to reform electricity price system for China’s reformers.

Keywords: electricity price, coal price, power supply, China

Procedia PDF Downloads 470

Authors: Gaurav Kumar Sinha

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The oil and gas industry, characterized by its complex and global supply chains, faces significant challenges in ensuring security, transparency, and efficiency. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized and immutable ledger, offers a transformative solution to these issues. This paper explores the application of blockchain technology in the oil and gas supply chain, highlighting its potential to enhance data security, improve transparency, and streamline operations. By leveraging smart contracts, blockchain can automate and secure transactions, reducing the risk of fraud and errors. Additionally, the integration of blockchain with IoT devices enables real-time tracking and monitoring of assets, ensuring data accuracy and integrity throughout the supply chain. Case studies and pilot projects within the industry demonstrate the practical benefits and challenges of implementing blockchain solutions. The findings suggest that blockchain technology can significantly improve trust and collaboration among supply chain participants, ultimately leading to more efficient and resilient operations. This study provides valuable insights for industry stakeholders considering the adoption of blockchain technology to address their supply chain management challenges.

Keywords: blockchain technology, oil and gas supply chain, data security, transparency, smart contracts, IoT integration, real-time tracking, asset monitoring, fraud reduction, supply chain efficiency, data integrity, case studies, industry implementation, trust, collaboration.

Procedia PDF Downloads 37

Authors: Abdinasir Mohamed, Ashraf El-Hamalawi, Steven Yeomans, Matthew Frost, Andy Connell

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The evaluation and selection of appropriate software solutions to meet with an organisation’s inherent business requirements can be a problematic software engineering process that if done incorrectly can have a significant, costly and adverse effect on the business and its processes. The aim of this paper is to show the process and evaluation criteria followed to select the right engineering solution for the identified business requirement. The research adopted an action research method within an organisation in the oil and gas industry, which required a solution suitable for conducting stress analysis for soil-pipeline interaction analysis (SPIA). Through the use of the presented software selection and evaluation approach, to capture and measure key requirements, it was possible to determine a suitable software for the organisation. This paper investigates methodologies for selecting software packages, software evaluation techniques, and software evaluation criteria in evaluating software packages before providing an explanation of the developed methodology adopted. The key findings of the study are: (1) that there is a need to create a framework for software selection methodologies, (2) there are no universal selection criteria in the engineering industry, and (3) there is a need to validate the findings by creating an application based on the evaluation technique and evaluation criteria for selecting software packages for the engineering industry. The findings of the study are offered to support organisations in the oil and gas sector improve software selection methodologies for SPIA.

Keywords: software evaluation, end user programs, soil pipeline analysis, software selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Leen Sulaimani, Maryam Hafiz, Naba Ali, Roba Alsharif

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One of Amazon’s most crucial online systems is artificial intelligence. Amazon would not have a worldwide successful online store, an easy and secure way of payment, and other services if it weren’t for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Amazon uses AI to expand its operations and enhance them by upgrading the website daily; having a strong base of artificial intelligence in a worldwide successful business can improve marketing, decision-making, feedback, and more qualities. Aiming to have a rational AI system in one’s business should be the start of any process; that is why Amazon is fortunate that they keep taking care of the base of their business by using modern artificial intelligence, making sure that it is stable, reaching their organizational goals, and will continue to thrive more each and every day. Artificial intelligence is used daily in our current world and is still being amplified more each day to reach consumer satisfaction and company short and long-term goals.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, Amazon, business, customer, decision making

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Olatokunbo Shoyemi, Mario Brito, Ian Dawson

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In recent times, the Nigerian motor insurers have experienced high volume of motor insurance claim pay-outs and insignificant contribution to the net premium income of the Nigerian insurance market, which has been a major concern for the shareholders/stakeholders. It has been argued that there are many factors that have brought about these concerns. However, anecdotal evidence (ongoing debates among industry practitioners) suggests prevalence of fraud due to poor practices in motor insurance business in Nigeria. This study is therefore aimed to carry out an assessment of fraud in motor insurance claims as perceived by experts in the Nigerian insurance market. This study adopted a descriptive research design, and the analysis was built on a survey among insurance experts in Nigeria using a designed questionnaire. A purposive and snowball sampling were used to select our sample (N = 120) - representing a selection of all professionally qualified insurance experts in Nigeria insurance industry. The study found that Nigerian insurance experts (i) largely agree that there is a problematic level of fraud in the Nigerian motor insurance industry; (ii) perceive soft fraud to be about 3 times more common than hard fraud in the Nigerian motor insurance industry, and (iii) strongly agree there are problematic impacts from fraud on the solvency of the Nigerian motor insurers. This paper has provided an empirical understanding of the existence, extent, and impact of fraud risks within the Nigerian insurance market based on expert knowledge and insights rather than, as has often been the case, a reliance on individual anecdotes.

Keywords: claims, net premium income, motor insurance, soft fraud, hard fraud

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Kudakwashe Diana Nyamugure

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Engine design has evolved to suit new industry standards of smaller compact designs that operate at high temperatures and even higher stress loads. Research has proven that the interaction of the bearing surface and the lubrication film is affected by the bearing's surface texture, geometry, and dimensional tolerances. The challenge now for the automotive manufacturing industry is to understand which processes can be applied on bearing surfaces to reduce the 65% energy loss in engines, 15% of which is caused by friction. This paper will discuss a post grinding process known as microfinishing which optimises the characteristics of a manufactured surface such as roughness, profile, and waviness. Microfinishing is becoming an increasing trend within the automotive industry and has so far been applied on high performance and mass production crank or cam bearing surfaces in bid of friction reduction and extended engine service life. In the near future, microfinishing will be applied to more engine components because of the stringent environmental regulations demands on fuel consumption, reliability, power, and service life of engine components.

Keywords: bearings, tribology, friction reduction, energy efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 479

Authors: V. Reyes, P. Ferreira

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In response to high levels of competitiveness, industrial systems have evolved to improve productivity. As a consequence, a rapid increase in volume production and simultaneously, a customization process require lower costs, more variety, and accurate quality of products. Reducing time-cycle production, enabling customizability, and ensure continuous quality improvement are key features in advance intelligent industry. In this scenario, customers and producers will be able to participate in the ongoing production life cycle through real-time interaction. To achieve this vision, transparency, predictability, and adaptability are key features that provide the industrial systems the capability to adapt to customer demands modifying the manufacturing process through an autonomous response and acting preventively to avoid errors. The industrial system incorporates a diversified number of components that in advanced industry are expected to be decentralized, end to end communicating, and with the capability to make own decisions through feedback. The evolving process towards advanced intelligent industry defines a set of stages to empower components of intelligence and enhancing efficiency to achieve the decision-making stage. The integrated system follows an industrial cyber-physical system (CPS) architecture whose real-time integration, based on a set of enabler technologies, links the physical and virtual world generating the digital twin (DT). This instance allows incorporating sensor data from real to virtual world and the required transparency for real-time monitoring and control, contributing to address important features of the advanced intelligent industry and simultaneously improve sustainability. Assuming the industrial CPS as the core technology toward the latest advanced intelligent industry stage, this paper reviews and highlights the correlation and contributions of the enabler technologies for the operationalization of each stage in the path toward advanced intelligent industry. From this research, a real-time integration architecture for a cyber-physical system with applications to collaborative robotics is proposed. The required functionalities and issues to endow the industrial system of adaptability are identified.

Keywords: cyber-physical systems, digital twin, sensor data, system integration, virtual model

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Authors: Ahmad Afif, Teuku Yuri M. Zagloel

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Sustainable supply chain management is a new pattern that has emerged recently in industry and companies. The procurement process is one of the key factors for efficiency in supply chain management practices. Partnership is one of the procurement strategies for strategic items. The success factors of the partnership must be determined to avoid things that endanger the financial and operational status of the company. The current supplier partnership research focuses on the selection of general criteria and sustainable supplier selection. Currently, there is still limited research on the success factors of supplier partnerships that focus on strategic items in the coal mining industry. Meanwhile, the procurement of coal mining has its own characteristics, and there are regulations related to the procurement of goods. Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the categories of goods that are included in the strategic items and to design the success factors of supplier partnerships. The main factors studied are general, financial, production, reputation, synergies, and sustainable. The research was conducted using the Kraljic method to determine the categories of goods that are included in the strategic items. To design a supplier partnership success factor using the Hybrid Multi Criteria Decision Making method. Integrated Fuzzy AHP-Fuzzy TOPSIS is used to determine the weight of the success factors of supplier partnerships and to rank suppliers on the factors used.

Keywords: supplier, partnership, strategic item, success factors, and coal mining industry

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Authors: Qiong Huang, Satish Chand

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This paper uses a primary data from 670 Chinese manufacturing firms, together with the newly introduced regressionbased inequality decomposition method, to study the effect of openness on wage inequality. We find that openness leads to a positive industry wage premium, but its contribution to firm-level wage inequality is relatively small, only 4.69%. The major contributor to wage inequality is human capital, which could explain 14.3% of wage inequality across sample firms.  

Keywords: openness, human capital, wage inequality, decomposition, China

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Raed Abendeh, Mousa Bani Baker, Zaydoun Abu Salem, Hesham Ahmad

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The using of waste materials in the construction industry can reduce the dependence on the natural aggregates which are going at the end to deplete. The glass waste is generated in a huge amount which can make one of its disposal in concrete industry effective not only as a green solution but also as an advantage to enhance the performance of mechanical properties and durability of concrete. This article reports the performance of concrete specimens containing different percentages of milled glass waste as a partial replacement of cement (Powder), when they are subject to cycles of freezing and thawing. The tests were conducted on 75-mm cubes and 75 x 75 x 300-mm prisms. Compressive strength based on laboratory testing and non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity test were performed during the action of freezing-thawing cycles (F/T). The results revealed that the incorporation of glass waste in concrete mixtures is not only feasible but also showed generally better strength and durability performance than control concrete mixture. It may be said that the recycling of waste glass in concrete mixes is not only a disposal way, but also it can be an exploitation in concrete industry.

Keywords: durability, glass waste, freeze-thaw cycles, non-destructive test

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Authors: Lizbeth Puerta, Enselmina Marín

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The purpose of this research is to present a survey to be applied to professors of public universities, to identify the factors that benefit or hinder the university-industry relation. Hence, this research studies some elements that integrate the variables: Knowledge management, technology management, and technology transfer; to define the existence of a relation between these variables and the industry necessities of innovation. This study is exploratory, descriptive and non-experimental. The research question is: What is the impact of the knowledge management, the technology management, and the technology transfer, made by administrative support areas of the public universities, in the industries innovation? Thus, literature review was made to identify some elements that should be considered to design a survey that allows to obtain valid information to the study variables. After this, the survey was developed, and the Content Validity Analysis was made through the Lawshe Model. The analysis indicated that the Content Validity Index (CVI) was 0.80. Hence, it was determined that this survey presents acceptable psychometric properties to be used as an evaluation tool.

Keywords: innovation, knowledge management, technology management, technology transfer

Procedia PDF Downloads 407

Authors: Lindie Grebe

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This paper reports on a study that explored the strategizing practices of professional accountants in the mining industry, based on Jarratt and Stiles’ dominant strategizing practice models framework. Drawing on a strategy-as-practice perspective, the paper recognises qualified professional accountants in strategic management such as Chief Executive Officers, as strategy practitioners that perform their strategizing practices and praxis within a specific context. The main findings of this paper were produced through semi-structured individual interviews with accountants that perform strategy on a business level in the South African mining industry. Qualitative data were analysed through conversation analysis over two coding-cycles. Findings describe accountant strategists as practitioners who challenge the dominant business model when a disconnect seems to exist between international corporate level strategy and business level strategy in the South African mining industry. Accountant strategy practitioners described their dominant strategizing practice model as incremental change during strategic planning and as a lived experience during strategy implementation. Findings portrayed these strategists as taking initiative as strategy leaders in a dynamic and volatile environment to combine their accounting background with strategic management and challenge the dominant business model. Understanding how accountant strategists perform strategizing offers insight into the social practice of strategic management. This understanding contributes to the body of knowledge on strategizing in the South African mining industry. In addition, knowledge on the transformation of accountants as strategists could provide valuable practice relevant insights for accounting educators and the accounting profession alike.

Keywords: accountant strategists, dominant strategizing practice models framework, mining industry, strategy-as-practice

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Authors: S. W. Liu, J. H. Lv, W. Z. Wang

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In recent years, the failure accidents in petrochemical industry have been frequent, and have posed great security problems in personnel and property. The improvement of petrochemical safety is highly requested in order to prevent re-occurrence of severe accident. This study focuses on surveying the failure cases occurred in petrochemical field, which were extracted from journals of engineering failure, including engineering failure analysis and case studies in engineering failure analysis. The relation of failure mode, failure mechanism, type of components, and type of materials was analyzed in this study. And the analytical results showed that failures occurred more frequently in vessels and piping among the petrochemical equipment. Moreover, equipment made of carbon steel and stainless steel accounts for the majority of failures compared to other materials. This may be related to the application of the equipment and the performance of the material. In addition, corrosion failures were the largest in number of occurrence in the failure of petrochemical equipment, in which stress corrosion cracking accounts for a large proportion. This may have a lot to do with the service environment of the petrochemical equipment. Therefore, it can be concluded that the corrosion prevention of petrochemical equipment is particularly important.

Keywords: cases analysis, corrosion, failure, petrochemical industry

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Authors: Emmanuel Ogundimu, Esther Akinlabi, Mutiu Erinosho

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Welding is described as the process of joining metals so that bonding can be created as a result of inter-atomic penetration. This study investigated the influence of heat input on the efficiency of the welded joints of 304 stainless steel. Three welds joint were made from two similar 304 stainless steel plates of thickness 6 mm. The tensile results obtained showed that the maximum average tensile strength of 672 MPa is possessed by the sample A1 with low heat input. It was discovered that the tensile strength, % elongation and weld joint efficiency decreased with the increase in heat input into the weld. The average % elongation for the entire samples ranged from 28.4% to 36.5%. Sample A1 had the highest joint efficiency of 94.5%. However, the optimum welding current of 190 for TIG- MIG hybrid welding of type-304 austenite stainless steel can be recommended for advanced technological applications such as aircraft manufacturing, nuclear industry, automobile industry, and processing industry.

Keywords: microhardness, microstructure, tensile, MIG welding, process, tensile, shear stress TIG welding, TIG-MIG welding

Procedia PDF Downloads 199

Authors: Tam Viet Hoang

Abstract:

With a plethora of new mobility services and payment systems found in our cities and across modern public transportation systems, several cities globally have turned to common ticketing systems to help navigate this complexity. Helping to create time and space-differentiated fare structures and tariff schemes, common ticketing systems can optimize transport utilization rates, achieve cost efficiencies, and provide key incentives to specific target groups. However, not all cities and transportation systems have enjoyed a smooth journey towards the adoption, roll-out, and servicing of common ticketing systems, with both the experiences of success and failure being attributed to a wide variety of critical factors. Using case study research as a methodology and cities as the main unit of analysis, this research will seek to address the fundamental question of “what are the critical factors for the success and failure of common ticketing systems?” Using rail/train systems as the entry point for this study will start by providing a background to the evolution of transport ticketing and justify the improvements in operational efficiency that can be achieved through common ticketing systems. Examining the socio-economic benefits of common ticketing, the research will also help to articulate the value derived for different key identified stakeholder groups. By reviewing case studies of the implementation of common ticketing systems in different cities, the research will explore lessons learned from cities with the aim to elicit factors to ensure seamless connectivity integrated e-ticketing platforms. In an increasingly digital age and where cities are now coming online, this paper seeks to unpack these critical factors, undertaking case study research drawing from literature and lived experiences. Offering us a better understanding of the enabling environment and ideal mixture of ingredients to facilitate the successful roll-out of a common ticketing system, interviews will be conducted with transport operators from several selected cities to better appreciate the challenges and strategies employed to overcome those challenges in relation to common ticketing systems. Meanwhile, as we begin to see the introduction of new mobile applications and user interfaces to facilitate ticketing and payment as part of the transport journey, we take stock of numerous policy challenges ahead and implications on city-wide and system-wide urban planning. It is hoped that this study will help to identify the critical factors for the success and failure of common ticketing systems for cities set to embark on their implementation while serving to fine-tune processes in those cities where common ticketing systems are already in place. Outcomes from the study will help to facilitate an improved understanding of common pitfalls and essential milestones towards the roll-out of a common ticketing system for railway systems, especially for emerging countries where mass rapid transit transport systems are being considered or in the process of construction.

Keywords: common ticketing, public transport, urban strategies, Bangkok, Fukuoka, Sydney

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Authors: Ju Shan Lin

Abstract:

The challenges for traditional industries in Taiwan the past few years are the changes of overall domestic and foreign industry structure, the entrepreneurs not only need to keep on improving their profession skills but also continuously research and develop new products. It is also necessary for the all traditional industries to keep updating the business strategy, let the enterprises continue to progress, and won't be easily replaced by the other industries. The traditional industry in Taiwan attach great importance to the field of enterprises upgrading and innovation in recent years, by the enterprise innovation and transformation can enhance the overall business situation also enable them to obtain more additional profits than in the past. Except the original industry structure's need to transform and upgrade, the brand's business and marketing strategy are also essential. This study will take a certain plastic company as case analysis, for the brand promotion of traditional industries, brand values and business innovation model for further exploration. It will also be mentioned that the other traditional industries cases which were already achieved success on the enterprise's upgrading and innovation, at the same time, the difficulties which they faced with and the way they overcome will be explored as well. This study will use the case study method combined with expert interviews to discuss and analyze this certain plastic company's current business situation, the existing products and the possible trends in the future. Looking forward to providing an innovative business model that will enable this plastic company to upgrade its corporate image and the brand could transform successfully.

Keywords: brand marketing strategy, enterprise upgrade, industrial transformation, traditional industry

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Authors: Renuka Mahadevan, Maneka Jayasinghe, Dianne Dredge

Abstract:

Over the last two years, tourism has been subject to unprecedented changes, and experts predict further change, especially with respect to travel and tourism choices. As concerns regarding the environment and climate change grow, many tourism industry stakeholders are particularly keen on taking steps to mitigate the adverse impacts of the travel industry to the broader society and environment. This approach and process is commonly referred to as 'Sustainable Tourism'. An emerging concept that extends beyond 'sustainable tourism' is 'Regenerative Tourism', which aims to impact the local systems, society and environment positively. In particular, it aims to provide transformational experiences to tourists and thereby inspire the travellers while the local cultural heritage and traditions are preserved from generation to generation. This study analyses how tourism stakeholders are shifting their attitude towards travel and tourism, particularly regarding its impact on people, places, businesses and the environment. The analysis will be based on a global survey of 1200 businesses, tourism organisations, employees, and travel consumers. The preliminary analysis of responses reveals a high interest towards transformational experiences during travel.

Keywords: regenerative tourism, transformational, experience, local systems

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Authors: Walailak Atthirawong

Abstract:

By the end of 2015, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries proclaim to transform into the next stage of an economic era by having a single market and production base called ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). One objective of the AEC is to establish ASEAN as a single market and one production base making ASEAN highly competitive economic region and competitive with new mechanisms. As a result, it will open more opportunities to enterprises in both trade and investment, which offering a competitive market of US$ 2.6 trillion and over 622 million people. Location decision plays a key role in achieving corporate competitiveness. Hence, it may be necessary for enterprises to redesign their supply chains via enlarging a new production base which has low labor cost, high labor skill and numerous of labor available. This strategy will help companies especially for apparel industry in order to maintain a competitive position in the global market. Therefore, in this paper a generic model for location selection decision for Thai apparel industry using Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP) is proposed. Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia are referred for alternative location decision from interviewing expert persons in this industry who have planned to enlarge their businesses in AEC countries. The contribution of this paper lies in proposing an approach model that is more practical and trustworthy to top management in making a decision on location selection.

Keywords: apparel industry, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP), location decision

Procedia PDF Downloads 236