The uncertainty in the supply chains (SCs) for manufacturing and services firms is going to be, over the coming decades, more important for the companies that are called to compete in a new globalized economy. Risky situations for manufacturing are considered in trying to individuate the optimal positioning of the order penetration point (OPP). It aims at defining the best level of information of the client’s order going back through the several supply chain (SC) phases, i.e. engineering, procurement, production and distribution. This work aims at defining a system dynamics model to assess competitiveness coming from the positioning of the order in different SC locations. A Taguchi analysis has been implemented to create a decision map for identifying possible strategic decisions under different scenarios and with alternatives for order location in the SC levels. Centralized and decentralized strategies for SC integration are discussed. In the model proposed, the location of OPP is influenced by the demand variation, production time, stock-outs and stock amount. Results of this research are as follows: (i) customer-oriented strategies are preferable under high volatility of demand, (ii) production-focused strategies are suggested when the probability of stock-outs is high, (iii) no specific location is preferable if a centralized control architecture is implemented, (iv) centralization requires cooperation among partners to achieve the SC optimum point, (v) the producer must not prefer the OPP location at the Retailer level when the general strategy is focused on a decentralized approach.

A dynamic system differs from a static system in that it contains signal factor and the target value depends on the level of the signal factor set by the system operator. The aim of optimizing a multi-response dynamic system is to find a setting combination of input controllable factors that would result in optimum values of all response variables at all signal levels. The most commonly used performance metric for optimizing a multi-response dynamic system is the composite desirability function (CDF). The advantage of using CDF is that it is a simple unit less measure and it has a good foundation in statistical practice. However, the problem with the CDF is that it does not consider the variability of the individual response variables. Moreover, if the specification limits for the response variables are not provided the CDF cannot be computed. In this paper, a new performance metric for multi-response dynamic system, called multiple regression-based weighted signal-to-noise ratio (MRWSN) is proposed, which overcome the limitations of CDF. Two sets of experimental data on multi-response dynamic systems, taken from literature, are analysed using both CDF-based and the proposed MRWSN-based approaches for optimization. The results show that the MRWSN-based approach also results in substantially better optimization performance than the CDF-based approach.

The cooperation in the supply chain assumes an adequate job for enhancing an organisation's performance and increasing competitive advantage. Supply Chain Integration (SCI) affects organisational performance. This paper studies the impact of the integration of supply chain procedures and practices on organisational performance and explores the effect of SCI on organisational performance at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Madurai District, Tamilnadu, India. A questionnaire is developed with validated measurement scales from previous studies and empirical data are collected through a survey questionnaire from 250 randomly selected MSMEs. This research provides sound recommendations to MSMEs in Madurai District, Tamilnadu, India, and maybe used for different industries and decision making policies. Finally, the study will contribute to the scientific field by providing some future studies.

The main objective of facility location problem is the utilization of the facility by maximum number of possible customers so that the profit is maximized. For instance, in some services like wireless sensor networks, Wi-Fi, repeaters, etc., where the service area is limited, some specific equipment is installed in such a way that it could be used by maximum number of users. Here, the number of users for a particular facility is optimized with the help of clustering technique. The study develops a model for facility allocation problem. For the solution algorithm, a hybrid approach which is based on clustering and mixed integer linear programming (MILP) is proposed. The proposed method consists of two parts where in the first part, the K-means clustering technique is used and in the second part, for each cluster an MILP technique is implemented so that the facility which yields the maximum profit is obtained. Numerical examples for clustering and without clustering are presented. Analysis shows that due to clustering the average distance between facility and customer is significantly reduced.

The aim of this study is to recognize and scrutinize the barriers affecting the utilization of quality tools and techniques (QT&T) in manufacturing organizations. For this purpose, twelve barriers af-fecting the execution of QT&T in manufacturing organizations have been identified from literature analysis and experts’ opinion (academicians and industrial). Questionnaire-based survey has been utilized for the validation of identified barriers. Afterwards, an integrated model of QT&T has been developed by using interpretive structural Modelling (ISM) and Matriced Impacts Croisés Multi-plication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) approach. This research gives an apparent depic-tion to identify and handle the barriers by computing the effectiveness of each barrier. Barriers like accessibility of time and space, inability to change organizational culture and inadequate coordina-tion and teamwork are found to be the key barriers for utilization of QT&T in manufacturing organ-ization. The developed model will help the manufacturing organizations effectively utilize QT&T.

This study aims to investigate the awareness level of Biomedical waste managements in healthcare facilities, and their perception among hospital waste management team, doctors, nurses, lab technicians and waste handlers in Northwest Delhi region in India. The study has been conducted through a questionnaire survey followed by the descriptive statistical analysis method. Questionnaire contains of 38 questions, where the first section deals with the hospital waste management team, the second section is for doctors, nurses and lab technicians, and the third section is for the waste handlers. Out of 311 respondents, there were 16 hospital waste management teams, 81 doc-tors, 92 nurses, 49 lab technicians and 73 waste handlers. It was surprising that only 40% (n=10) hospitals had any kind of waste treatment & disposal facility onsite, only 10% hospitals were using the latest technology and 60% hospitals shred the Biomedical waste before disposal. It was good to see that none of the hospital waste managements disposed the waste with general waste, and 40% of them were exhausting through government agencies and the remaining 60% were using private agencies to dispose the waste. Finally, all the hospitals maintained the record of waste generated. It is concluded that there was a lack of awareness about the biomedical waste generation, legislation and management among healthcare personnel, and they all needed regular audits and training pro-grams at all levels, and a proper management starting from waste generation to its disposal at sites.

Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. This on-going research considers the affections generated by consumers towards the chocolate brand which is endorsed by a celebrity. The Dual Mediation Hypothesis Model (DMH) is used to ascertain the ad effectiveness of the product/ brand, in this research advertisement featuring the celebrity. The affections generated by the ad leads to generation of affection towards the brand leading to purchase a product/ brand. The chocolate brand selected for the research has high market share and manufactures chocolate based products catering to all classes of consumers. The research primarily focuses on the significance of affections generated by the advertisement for the product. The purchase decision for such products is usually based on consumer impulses and attitudes towards the product/ brand. A convenience sample of 116 individuals was considered for the research and the survey was done using questionnaire method. The findings from the analysis revealed that the consumers purchased the products due to the impulses and affections generated by the ad and brand. There was no clear linkage between the celebrity and brand which lead to purchase intentions of the product/ brand. The Dual Mediation Model was found to be applicable as the affections towards the brand and the ad resulted in purchase intention.

Today energy is directly related with progress or growth of any country and every event requires a huge amount of energy. In today’s global competitiveness, demand for energy is very high and India is facing a problem of very poor energy supply. So, researchers and planners are worried about very poor productivity of thermal power plant and the most critical cause for this problem is high capacity waste at these plants. This paper focuses on causes of capacity waste and for this, DMAIC approach is adopted. The study also clears some myths of Six Sigma compatibility at process industries (thermal power plant) for performance improvement. After implementation of the first phase i.e. “Define”, the study confirms the competence of Six Sigma in defining the issue of capacity waste.

Six-Sigma is a statistical attitude – not judgment or sentiment. It is about statistical facts that as-sist the authorities to spotlight their concentration on the progression arrangement rather than on individuals and get assessments based on reality and unbiased information but not on impracti-cable prospects. Six-Sigma is an integrated approach to involve everything within the organiza-tion for reducing defects and variation. It is a combination of all efforts in an association for quality enhancement, quality progress and quality protection to reach the optimum clients satis-faction. The primary objective of Six-Sigma methodology is always directed towards the perfec-tion at any level whether financial or non-financial. Putting efforts rightly and maintaining con-sistency are the basic concepts behind successful implementation of Six-Sigma. The present work provides a way to examine the Six-Sigma practice in a manufacturing firm with the use of statistical thinking in getting high quality products by reducing the variation and ultimately in-creasing profit.

The theory of lean manufacturing provides the quality of the products in minimum cost and pro-vides customer satisfaction. Today, the competition level is very high and every industry tries to supply high quality products in nominal cost, so lean is the latest tool to achieve. The objective of this paper is to study different lean concepts under various lean strategies. This study helps to find out the status of lean manufacturing and its ways of implementation. Also in this paper, there is a discussion about lean manufacturing concept, lean waste, lean strategies, lean barriers and cycle of lean implementation. This paper presents a literature review to clear the status of lean manufacturing and their strategies with help of collection of relevant papers.