The industrial engineer- caught between two revolutions?

The industrial engineer is caught between the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution. He is confronted with choosing between pragmatic improvements in productivity and efficiency of a single operation and the opportunistic modelling and reshaping of the networked 'virtual enterprise' and 'extended enterprise' to become more competitive in a global marketplace. The different extreme of the industrial engineering timeline is depicted in Diagram 1. It implies that the two societies industrial and information might have conflicting characteristics which require careful repositioning of the industrial engineer to ensure that the benefits that can be obtained from the two societies are maximized. The development of industrial engineering is presented. An evaluation of the nature of the much publicized information revolution and its impact on society is made. The trend of industrial engineering research based on publications in four journals and the Internet is reported. From these results the similarities and differences of the two revolutions and the characteristics of the two societies are compared. The authors identify some opportunities and some threats for the industrial engineer and conclude that a combined approach is applicable and necessary. The industrial engineer cannot afford to ignore the key concepts of either of the two societies.     

Probabilistic Analysis of Domino Effects by Using a Matrix-Based Simulation Approach

Major industrial accidents occurring at so-called major hazard installations may cause domino accidents which are among the most destructive industrial accidents existing at present. As there may be many hazard installations in an area, a primary accident scenario may potentially propagate from one installation to another, and correlations exist in probability calculations of domino effects. In addition, during the propagation of a domino effect, accidents of diverse types may occur, some of them having a synergistic effect, while others do not. These characteristics make the analytical formulation of domino accidents very complex. In this work, a simple matrix-based modeling approach for domino effect analysis is proposed. Matrices can be used to represent the mutual influences of different escalation vectors between installations. On this basis, an analysis approach for accident propagation as well as a simulation-based algorithm for probability calculation of accidents and accident levels is provided. The applicability and flexibility of this approach is discussed while applying it to estimate domino probabilities in a case study.     

Industrial Relations Agenda for Change: The Case of the United States

ABSTRACT: Over the past several decades, all of the advanced industrial societies have experienced growing pressures on the institutions governing their industrial relations systems. In this paper, the authors analyze the changes in collective bargaining, and more generally, in the entire industrial relations system in the United States. This analysis also takes into consideration the environmental pressures that have produced these changes, and the measures taken by labour and management organizations to cope with them. Underlying this analysis is the central premise that sustaining and diffusing changes in industrial relations will be necessary to achieve a     

Employment Adjustment: an International Perspective

ABSTRACT: Structural change has been a necessary feature of the historical growth in real output and improved living standards and re-allocation of labour is essential if economic growth and new job creation are to result in a significant reduction in unemployment. Our societies have evolved to a point at which the State is expected to facilitate industrial activity and at which it is simply unacceptable that people should be left to struggle unaided against adversities resulting from the play of markets. Effective and equitable adjustment raises a whole range of issues for the employing enterprise, the State, and for trade unions. The policies and procedures followed are, and should be, complementary but the mix varies appreciably between countries. Here, the author deals first with what happens in the enterprise and then with the range of possible policies.     

Study of the behaviour of flexible production systems using neural nets

Owing to high development and acquisition costs, production systems require very detailed analysis for pre-design specifications, and an adjustment in operating philosophies. Detailed simulation models are one of the most important instruments to achieve this goal; normally the simulator must be custom-built, based on an accurate study of the specific industrial problem. The proposed management and economical analysis uses mathematical meta-models obtained from experimental designs produced by the simulator; today the detail level and precision required is very high, so these kinds of meta-model operate very close to their limit. Here we present a new methodology based on artificial neural networks that produces new types of meta-models which can correctly represent complex industrial systems. In this work we propose an application of this methodology together with a detailed analysis of the model development phase to highlight the potential of this instrument.     

Target Levels—Tools for Prevention

Although occupational exposure limits are sought to establish health-based standards, they do not always give a sufficient basis for planning an indoor air climate that is good and comfortable for the occupants in industrial work rooms. This paper considers methodologies by which the desired level, i.e., target level, of air quality in industrial settings can be defined, taking into account feasibility issues. Risk assessment based on health criteria is compared with risk-assessment based on "Best Available Technology" (BAT). Because health-based risk estimates at low concentration regions are rather inaccurate, the technology-based approach is emphasized. The technological approach is based on information on the prevailing concentrations in industrial work environments and the benchmark air quality attained with the best achievable technology. The prevailing contaminant concentrations are obtained from a contaminant exposure databank, and the benchmark air quality by field measurements in industrial work rooms equipped with advanced ventilation and production technology. As an example, the target level assessment has been applied to formaldehyde, total inorganic dust and hexavalent chromium, which are common contaminants in work room air.     

Biospheric values as predictor of climate change risk perception: A multinational investigation

Climate change is one of the big challenges of our time. A better understanding of how individuals form their evaluation of the risk related to climate change seems to be key to win broad support for climate change mitigation efforts. Extant research indicates that biospheric values (BV) are an important antecedent of individuals’ perception of the risk and consequences related to climate change. However, risk perception scholars have only recently started to study how BV relate to individuals’ climate change risk perception (CCRP) and much is still to be learned about this relationship. The present study contributes to this growing literature by studying the BV–CCRP relationship in a multinational context. The results suggest that the BV – CCRP relationship varies in strength between different countries. These differences can be explained in part by societies’ cultural leanings (i.e., individualism vs. collectivism) and societies’ wealth. The present research adds to our understanding of why individuals in different countries perceive climate change related risk differently and how this perception is shaped differently by biospheric values in different countries. In this way, the findings help to build a more nuanced theory of how CCRP are formed. The presented results also have implications for policymakers and NGOs who wish to increase individuals’ engagement with climate change and its consequences in different populations. In particular, the findings suggests that it might be necessary to use different strategies in different societies to achieve a greater awareness of climate change related risks.     

The state and the macro-industrial economy—The use and abuse of offset

State intervention to establish, develop and retain particular industrial sectors in the world economy is widespread, often stimulated by the perceived threat to sovereignty posed by foreign based macro-industrial enterprises. The paper examines a particular form of such intervention, known as offset, which is widely used in major purchases of aerospace products. In this the State, in consideration of such a purchase from a foreign based company, requires that a proportion of the contract value be placed as work in its own related manufacturing sector. Current examples of how widespread and complex these have become are given and analysed by reference to a matrix of possible types of offset and levels of industrial development of the purchasing State. On the assumption that the efficient diffusion of appropriate industrial capabilities to all nations of the world is a desirable goal, the use and abuse of offset to this end is discussed and conclusions drawn.     

Community‐Driven Hypothesis Testing: A Solution for the Tragedy of the Anticommons

Shared ownership of property and resources is a longstanding challenge throughout history that has been amplifying with the increasing development of industrial and postindustrial societies. Where governments, project planners, and commercial developers seek to develop new infrastructure, industrial projects, and various other land‐and resource‐intensive tasks, veto power shared by various local stakeholders can complicate or halt progress. Risk communication has been used as an attempt to address stakeholder concerns in these contexts, but has demonstrated shortcomings. These coordination failures between project planners and stakeholders can be described as a specific kind of social dilemma that we describe as the “tragedy of the anticommons.” To overcome such dilemmas, we demonstrate how a two‐step process can directly address public mistrust of project planners and public perceptions of limited decision‐making authority. This approach is examined via two separate empirical field experiments in Portugal and Tunisia, where public resistance and anticommons problems threatened to derail emerging industrial projects. In both applications, an intervention is undertaken to address initial public resistance to such projects, where specific public stakeholders and project sponsors collectively engaged in a hypothesis‐testing process to identify and assess human and environmental health risks associated with proposed industrial facilities. These field experiments indicate that a rigorous attempt to address public mistrust and perceptions of power imbalances and change the pay‐off structure of the given dilemma may help overcome such anticommons problems in specific cases, and may potentially generate enthusiasm and support for such projects by local publics moving forward.     

A dynamic Bayesian network-based emergency decision-making framework highlighting emergency propagations: Illustrated using the Fukushima nuclear accidents and the Covid-19 pandemic

When facing public emergencies, human societies need to make decisions rapidly in order to mitigate the problems. However, this process can be difficult due to complexity of the emergency scenarios and lack of systematic methods for analyzing them. In the work reported here, we develop a framework based upon dynamic Bayesian networks in order to simulate emergency scenarios and support corresponding decisions. In this framework, we highlight the importance of emergency propagation, which is a critical factor often ignored by decisionmakers. We illustrate that failure of considering emergency propagation can lead to suboptimal mitigation strategies. By incorporating this critical factor, our framework enables decisionmakers to identify optimal response strategies minimizing emergency impacts. Scenarios developed from two public emergencies: the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents and the Covid-19 pandemic, are utilized to illustrate the framework in this paper. Capabilities of the framework in supporting decision making in both events illustrate its generality and adaptability when dealing with complex real-world situations. Our analysis results reveal many similarities between these two seemingly distinct events. This indicates that seemingly unrelated emergencies can share many common features beyond their idiosyncratic characteristics. Valuable mitigation insights can be obtained by analyzing a broad range of past emergencies systematically.     

Rethinking the Concept of Sustainability

The role of business ethics in developing more sustainable societies is crucial, but we first have to review the concept of sustainability itself and its ethical roots. The objective of this work is to rethink the current concept of sustainability by providing it with a sound universalistic ethical rationale. We propose that ethics is the key by which disputes and conflicts among the economic, social, and environmental domains can and ought to be resolved. This work argues that if we fail to recognize the essential ethical grounding of sustainability, or if we take it for granted, then sustainability can easily lose its way and can end up unjustified.     

一体化下游企业的零部件自制与外包决策的供应链短期均衡研究

企业常常面临选择:零部件生产是自己制造还是外包给零部件供应商,在产业组织理论中是一个企业纵向一体化的选择问题。在分析指出下游企业零部件生产的外包和自制的市场行为改变了该产业组织的结构的基础上,本文分别以上游供应商利润、下游企业利润和消费者剩余为优化目标,研究上游供应商的产品定价、下游企业零部件生产的外包和自制决策,将cournot博弈嵌套到Stackelberg博弈中,建立该产业组织的复合博弈模型,得到了该产业组织在不同结构下的不同均衡,即相关企业的最优生产经营决策。对于上游供应商,下游企业零部件生产的外包比自制总是可以获得较高的利润,并且两者的差距随着市场容量的增加而增大,对于下游企业,其零部件自制获得的利润总是高于外包获得的利润,其竞争的下游企业的利润则也是与之同方向变化。这些结果可供供应链的企业在竞争环境下制定最优市场策略时参考,尤其是可供企业在零部件外包或自制决策时参考。     

Environmental pollution and economic growth: Implications for corporate planning with an Indian case study

This article attempts to analyze the implications for Corporate planning, in developing societies, of the ecological debate. The emerging nations desperately need growth to raise the base living standards of the vast majority of their populace. Yet, the ‘backlash’ of the western movement for environmental preservation has spread to the third world. How is the dilemma resolved? Can growth and environmental balance coexist? A distinction must be made between the degradation caused by squalor or lack of growth and that emanating from growth. The spread of the basic amenities of life will reduce the former. The latter can be controlled by planned location and regulation of industrial growth. The corporate planner, therefore, needs to scrutinize the ecological implications of any project carefully before arriving at any value judgement. ‘Pollution scanning’ is now part of environmental scanning. An Indian case study highlights some of the issues involved.     

基于技术融合的企业研发勾结研究

随着技术融合的日益盛行,产业融合的趋势越来越显著,企业跨产业的合作屡见不鲜。这种技术融合推动下的新竞合动态,迫使企业重新思考创新战略:即,企业如何突破原有产业边界,通过跨技术领域的合作创新,来降低成本、增加产量、提高企业利润、增进社会福利。因此,本文针对目前企业采用最频繁的合作创新模式--研发勾结(R&D Cartelization),在D'Aspremont二阶段模型的基础上,通过构建相应的博弈模型,研究了不同的产品替代系数、技术溢出系数以及创新系数对合作企业均衡成本、均衡研发投资、均衡产量和均衡利润的影响,并进行了相关案例分析。     

基于企业学习策略的集群持续创新机制及实证研究

由于集群网络的复杂性,集群创新机制的研究目前较为缺乏,有限的研究也往往假设集群企业具有同质性.本文提出,集群企业依据其在集群网络中的位置采用不同的学习策略,领导型企业更加侧重于探索式学习,跟随型企业更加侧重于利用式学习,两者的分工和异质性互动构成了集群持续创新的内在机理.本文在个体和企业层次双重学习研究的基础上,结合集群特有的组织条件,提出集群双重学习的机制,据此将集群企业进行分类,并建立集群中企业学习的理论模型,接着选取国内某地化工产业集群的236家企业作为样本,运用结构方程模型对集群中企业进行分类检验和比较研究.研究结果表明,集群中不同类型企业的学习策略存在差异,集群网络的作用是产生这一差异的可能原因;集群中不同类型企业的学习策略具有互补性,有利于企业间互动和集群的持续创新.     

Leadership and team cohesiveness across cultures

This study examines the relation between leadership and team cohesiveness in different societal cultures. We expect direct effects of societal culture on leadership and team cohesiveness, as well as a moderating effect of culture on the relationship between leadership and cohesiveness. Data were collected from 29,868 managers and 138,270 corresponding team members in 80 countries. Multilevel analysis was used to test the hypotheses, relating societal individualism–collectivism (IC), with directive and supportive leadership, and with team cohesiveness. In individualistic societies managers use less directive and less supportive behavior, compared with collectivistic societies. Team cohesiveness is not directly related with IC. Directive leadership and supportive leadership are negatively and positively related with team cohesiveness respectively and these relations are stronger in individualistic societies. Implications for managerial education and practices are discussed.     

Risk Perception Among Nuclear Power Plant Personnel: A Survey

This study investigated risk perception, well-being, and organizational commitment among nuclear power plant personnel. The study group, 428 employees from a nuclear power plant, completed a questionnaire which included the same questions as those in previous surveys on risk perception of lay persons and industrial workers. Hazards at work were not seen as a sizable problem by nuclear power plant personnel. The study group estimated the safety of nuclear power plants better and the possibility of a serious nuclear accident as more unlikely than the general public. Compared to employees in other industrial companies, the overall perceived risks at work among plant personnel did not exceed the respective perceptions of the reference groups. Risk-related attitudes did not explain well-being among plant personnel, but the relationship between the perceived probability of a serious nuclear accident at work and organizational commitment yielded to a significant correlation: Those plant workers who estimated the likelihood of an accident higher were less committed to the organization.     

Adverse psychosocial working conditions and subjective health in freelance media workers

In recent years there has been a steady growth of non-standard work contracts in advanced societies. These contracts are characterized by increased flexibility of work arrangements and increased job instability, which holds particularly true for the media industry. This pilot study analyses associations of work stress with subjective health in a group of German freelancers (N = 290) working in the media industry. The measurement of work stress is based on the effort-reward imbalance model. Results of logistic regression analyses indicate significant effects of high effort in combination with low reward (money, esteem, promotion prospects, job security) on subjective health in men and women, with the effects being higher in men. Moreover, among men a critical pattern of coping with work stress enhanced the reported effect. In conclusion, the preliminary evidence from this study indicates an elevated risk of poor subjective health among freelance workers who are exposed to adverse psychosocial work conditions.     

新常态下货币供给对工业经济的非对称冲击——兼论冲击路径的情景设计与分析

货币政策冲击对工业产出和价格的非对称影响，是新常态下把握好货币供给政策的方向、力度和节奏的重要参考依据，有助于提升货币供给政策的针对性、灵活性和前瞻性。局部投影方法在不同区制下，计算工业产出和价格对货币供给冲击的脉冲响应结果表明：货币供给冲击对工业产出的影响具有不确定性，且总体上表现为中性特征；而货币供给冲击对工业价格的影响不仅在不同区制下，而且在新常态前后均表现出显著的差异性和非对称性，总体来说是短期有效，长期中性的。情景设计的分析结果显示新常态下采用增加货币供给的政策来刺激工业经济是不可取的，其作用效果可能出现工业产出停滞不前，工业价格急剧飙升的工业滞胀。因此，需要从工业产业升级，工业技术创新等工业供给侧寻求工业经济新的增长点和动力机制。     

Strukturelle Kränkungen als Thema im Coaching

In this article hurts in the workplace are discussed, which are not aggressions of one person against another person. Rather they are effects of structural conditions in organizations or effects of legal processes in societies. The author presents three case studies with examples of such hurts and she postulates, that the Coach has to reflect political conditions in his work.