Development of sustainable platform for modular product family: a case study

Abstract

Defining product platform architecture is a critical issue to design and develop product variants. Different factors are highly dependent on the architecture type, such as number of variants, to measure modularity level, component commonality, market demand, etc. It is directly related to manage product portfolios and setting up business plan of a company. Before defining a product platform, whether it is modular or integral product designers need to follow specific design guidelines and checklists. This research mainly focuses on to define the platform architecture as well as provides necessary design guidelines and checklists for the product designers. It also highlights an example product of a case company with the objective to clarify/validate the proposed product design approach. In conclusion, this paper outlines the findings from this research and proposed some critical questions need to be answered within the scope of future research potentials.     

Design and implementation methodology based on Petri net formalism of flexible manufacturing systems control

This paper presents an aided design methodology of flexible manufacturing system control with a view to industrial implementation. The approach considered through a modelling phase, the a validation phase by simulation and finally a distributed implementation phase. In the modelling phase, based on the Petri net formalism, we demonstrate the hierarchical aspect which separates the part flow control and the product resource control. In addition, we emphasize generic aspects which allow us to use an object-oriented approach. These aspects and the set of modelled objects are directly used in the simulation and production phases after an automatic translation in an implementation language (ADA in our case). In consequence, the distributed location for those two phases is well facilitated from the viewpoint of the approach used.     

论英语语言习得中的"认知-知识语言双元结构"

文章通过对人脑语言学习功能的模块化特点的分析,并运用神经语言学、心理语言学、教育心理学和认知论等相关理论,同时基于乔姆斯基的语言习得机制,提出了成人在英语语言习得中所形成的大脑语言双元结构理论的假设,并对其进行了理论上的分析,指出在成人的英语学习中,英汉两种语言的交叉对比是不可避免的,而且母语对英语的习得起着非常重要的作用.     

Death and the Penguin: modularity,alienation and organising

ABSTRACT

The originality of this paper lies in the ways in which it explores how the depiction of organised crime within Andrey Kurkov’s novel Death and the Penguin can inform our understanding of organisational modularity. This non-orthodox approach might open up new avenues of thought in the study of organisational modularity while further illustrating how novelistic worlds can inform accounts of organisational realities. Two main research questions underlie the paper. How can Andrey Kurkov’s novel further our understanding of the complexity of organisational worlds and realities by focusing our attention on different landscapes of organising? How does Kurkov’s novel help us grasp the concept of modularity by drawing attention to new forms of modular organisation? Drawing from our reading of Kurkov’s novel, we primarily explore organisational modularity through Kurkov’s depiction of organised crime and consider the themes of alienation and isolation in the context of modular organising.     

Matching Product Architecture and Supply Chain Configuration

In this paper, we examine the suggested link between product architecture (i.e., the extent to which a product is modular vs. integral) and supply chain configuration (i.e., whether the product development is done internally by the manufacturer in an integrated supply chain or in collaboration with a supplier in a decentralized supply chain). Our model suggests that the choice of product architecture depends on firm, market, and product characteristics in addition to supply chain structure. In contrast to other studies, we find that the optimal mapping from architecture to supply chain structure is not always one‐to‐one. A decentralized supply chain may be associated with a more integral product when the technical collaboration penalty is not excessive and suppliers have significantly superior product development capabilities. Furthermore, in a decentralized supply chain, the nature of the relationship between the original equipment manufacturer and its supplier (adversarial or collaborative) plays a role in the choice of product architecture: modular architectures are more likely when the parties have adversarial relationships, while long‐term trust‐based relationships facilitate more integral product architectures.     

复杂网络中的社团结构算法综述

社团结构是复杂网络的一个极其重要的特性,网络社团结构挖掘在生物学、计算机科学和社会学等多个领域都具有很重要的意义。近年来,针对不同类型的大规模复杂网络,人们提出了很多寻找社团结构的算法。该文综述了该领域最新的比较有代表性的一些算法,重点分析了基于模块度指标的改进算法,能够体现社团层次性和重叠性的新算法,衡量社团划分算法好坏的基准图。最后展望了该领域的未来研究方向。     

基于合作竞争的模块化组织技术创新机制博弈分析

20世纪90年代以来,模块化作为一种新的组织模式以及"新产业结构的本质"正日益受到人们的青睐.由不同创新主体通过合作而形成的技术创新网络已成为模块化组织创新活动的重要组织形式.模块化组织内部不同创新主体之间的合作是一种局部目的、暂时性的合作,本质上具有不完全信息博弈的性质.为了保持合作关系的持久性和稳定性,必须创造条件保证合作创新的稳定、持续进行,可通过对等投资、提高预期收益、加强合作企业的信息交流以及加大对背叛行为的处罚力度等手段保证合作的开展,从而不断提升模块化组织创新效率.     

Linking product modularity to supply chain integration and flexibility

Abstract

This study builds a moderated mediation model to empirically investigate the impacts of product modularity and supply chain integration (i.e. supplier, customer, and internal integration) on the flexibility and moderating effects of the product life cycle (i.e. growth and maturity stages) on the relationships using data collected from 204 Chinese manufacturers. The findings reveal that both supplier integration and internal integration mediate the relationship between product modularity and flexibility. Moreover, the indirect effect of product modularity on flexibility through supplier integration is stronger during the growth stage than during the maturity stage. There is no difference in the indirect effect of product modularity on flexibility through internal integration, which is significant in both the growth and maturity stages. In addition, the impact of product modularity on customer integration is significantly stronger, whereas that of customer integration on flexibility is significantly weaker during the growth stage than during the maturity stage.     

任务模块化和流程整合对离岸信息技术外包项目绩效的影响

基于离岸信息技术外包情景,分析了任务模块化、内部流程整合和外部流程整合对项目绩效的单独影响,同时探讨了任务模块化同两种流程整合的交互对项目绩效的影响.研究数据源于对西安、苏州、大连三地163个离岸信息技术外包项目的问卷调研.分层回归结果表明,任务模块化、内外部流程整合单独正向影响项目绩效.同时任务模块化削弱外部流程整合对项目绩效的影响,但不能削弱内部流程整合对项目绩效的影响.     

The modularity of the ‘revolutionary’ repertoire of action in Egypt: origins and appropriation by different players

The Egyptian ‘revolutionary’ repertoire of action, that is to say the repertoire used by the protesters of January 2011, was characterized by a combination of several features: occupation of a symbolic place; ‘horizontal’ forms of organization; recourse to new electronic information and communication technologies (especially social networks); and rhetoric centered around universal values such as dignity, social justice, human rights, and democracy. This repertoire was born as a result of the merging of two parallel cycles of mobilization, which had actually started during the previous decade, one animated by activists from the educated middle class, and the other by workers struggling for economic and social reforms. After the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, it demonstrated its extreme modularity, being appropriated by different players from all sections of the political spectrum, from the Salafist hāzimūn to proponents of the military power.