A SYSTEMATIC STRATEGY FOR OPTIMIZING MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

A manufacturing optimization strategy is developed and demonstrated, which combines an asset utilization model and a process optimization framework with multivariate statistical analysis in a systematic manner to focus and drive process improvement activities. Although this manufacturing strategy is broadly applicable, the approach is discussed with respect to a polymer sheet manufacturing operation. The asset utilization (AU) model demonstrates that efficient equipment utilization can be monitored quantitatively and improvement opportunities identified so that the greatest benefit to the operation can be obtained. The process optimization framework, comprised of three parallel activities and a designed experiment, establishes the process-product relationship. The overall strategy of predictive model development provided from the parallel activities comprising the optimization framework is to synthesize a model based on existing data, both qualitative and quantitative, using canonical discriminant analysis, to identify main effect variables affecting the principal efficiency constraints identified using AU, operator knowledge and order-of-magni-tude calculations are then employed to refine this model using designed experiments, where appropriate, to facilitate the development of a quantitative, proactive optimization strategy for eliminating the constraints. Most importantly, this overall strategy plays a significant role in demonstrating, and facilitating employee acceptance, that the manufacturing operation has evolved from an experienced-based process to one based on quantifiable science.     

Toward a Phenomenological Framework for the Study of Work and Organizational Stress

In this article, elements from different stress models are embedded in a phenomenological framework for work and organization stress based on practical insights on the one hand and ideas and methods from ethology, microsociology, and cultural anthropology on the other. The framework is compatible with most of the existing research and theoretical views, and pays attention to some lacunas in these views. The central concept is integrity, i.e., the ways in which the process of situated individual functioning is organized in a niche, consisting of a limited set of situations. Integrity refers to the internal integration of individual functioning and the integration of the individual in his or her niche (and thereby in an organization and society at large). Integrity is a multileveled process with considerable individual variation, characterized by signification, morality, and individual experiences, which, with the help of four auxiliary verbs, can be analyzed in terms of individual options for action. Inadequate integrity may result from underdevelopment, decay, change, and intrusions by external events or an ongoing stress process. These can be described as (overlapping, and often coinciding) stress sources. In this respect, the framework makes a distinction between stressors that primarily affect the task itself and stressors that disturb the immediate environment of the task. All these stressors can be described as a matter of too much or too little on a great number of variables, of which usually only the medium range is conducive to adequate integrity. Lastly, attention is paid to stress reactions, which can act as stressors in their own right.     

The Determinants of Parenthood: Power and Responsibility

The conception of parental adaptation in termsof the complexity of the balance between the parent'sresponsibility and the infant's power is presented. Amethod based on this conception is proposed as a way to describe and assess parentaladaptation. The adaptational view is compared with theclinical approach to parenthood, and its advantages forthe detection of parental vulnerability and earlyintervention in the parent infant relationship isillustrated. In addition, the conception of parentalresponsibility, in terms of the parent's evaluation ofthe balance between his/her responsibility and theinfant's power, is compared with the conception of thelegal approach which views parental responsibility interms of accountability and the parent's duties andrights. The evolving change in the societal view of parental responsibility, brought about bythe Children Act, requires a shift in theconceptualization of parenthood such as the one proposedby the adaptational conception. This could constitute abridge between the helping professions and the legalapproaches.