In this paper, a comparison is presented between two prime methods of producing prosthetic sockets by using the fuzzy linguistic hedges approach on the qualitative feedback of Indian prosthetic users. Recent trends indicate that the Indian manufacturers have tried to adopt the newer technologies like reverse engineering (RE) approach to achieve the desired goals. However, the satisfaction of the user is of utmost importance for the unique and customized products for rehabilitation. In order to analyze the effectiveness of the manufacturing approaches, user case studies are taken, based on the linguistic feedbacks, and a comparative study is conducted. Thirteen users from four different manufacturing units are taken for study and sockets made by conventional as well as RE are experimented. Fuzzy membership functions are constructed using the linguistic hedges based on the user feedbacks. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to arrive at a decision to select the manufacturing process for user satisfaction and manufacturing excellence.

Nature inspired population based algorithms is a research field which simulates different natural phenomena to solve a wide range of problems. Researchers have proposed several algorithms considering different natural phenomena. Teaching-Learning-based optimization (TLBO) is one of the recently proposed population based algorithm which simulates the teaching-learning process of the class room. This algorithm does not require any algorithm-specific control parameters. In this paper, elitism concept is introduced in the TLBO algorithm and its effect on the performance of the algorithm is investigated. The effects of common controlling parameters such as the population size and the number of generations on the performance of the algorithm are also investigated. The proposed algorithm is tested on 35 constrained benchmark functions with different characteristics and the performance of the algorithm is compared with that of other well known optimization algorithms. The proposed algorithm can be applied to various optimization problems of the industrial environment.

Due to increasing penetration of internet connectivity, on-line retail is growing from the pioneer phase to increasing integration within people & apos; s lives and companies & apos; normal business practices. In the increasingly competitive environment, on-line retail service providers require systematic and structured approach to have cutting edge over the rival. Thus, the use of benchmarking has become indispensable to accomplish superior performance to support the on-line retail service providers. This paper uses the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach to support a generic on-line retail benchmarking process. Critical success factors for on-line retail service have been identified from a structured questionnaire and literature and prioritized using fuzzy AHP. Using these critical success factors, performance levels of the ORENET an on-line retail service provider is benchmarked along with four other on-line service providers using TOPSIS method. Based on the benchmark, their relative ranking has also been illustrated.

In this work, Taguchi method is applied to determine the optimum process parameters for turning of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel on CNC lathe. A Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coated cemented carbide cutting insert is used which is produced by DuratomicTM technology of 0.4 and 0.8 mm nose radii. The tests are conducted at four levels of Cutting speed, feed and depth of cut. The influence of these parameters are investigated on the surface roughness and material removal rate (MRR). The Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) is also used to analyze the influence of cutting parameters during machining. The results revealed that cutting speed significantly (46.05%) affected the machined surface roughness values followed by nose radius (23.7%). The influence of the depth of cut (61.31%) in affecting material removal rate (MRR) is significantly large. The cutting speed (20.40%) is the next significant factor. Optimal range and optimal level of parameters are also predicted for responses.

Globalization has put fierce competition for manufacturing managers in terms of flexibility, smaller lead times, competitive costs, etc. To attain these capabilities, manufacturing managers are taking heedless decisions for investing in advanced manufacturing technologies, without measuring their actual effectiveness for their organisations. There is a need to measure the effectiveness of manufacturing systems to make better future policies and investment planning. This paper provides a comprehensive bibliography on the techniques and their rationale in the effectiveness measurement of advanced manufacturing systems. The paper cites 265 articles from a variety of published sources. The list contains published research mainly from 1990 to 2012 and a selected published work prior to 1990.

In general, production system often gets disrupted due to uncertainty and un-planned events, which also affect demands resulting in less abet-margin of a company. With disrupted production system, management would need to study the variation of demand pattern and disruption of system; we have attempted an effort to establish an exponential demand with the production system and solved analytically the problem to determine production time before and after disruptions. Exponentially demand pattern studied, and also we simulate for sensitivity analysis in order to find which parameter is getting significant change for the proposed model.

This paper addresses the scheduling of machines, an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) and two robots in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) formed in three loop layouts, with objectives to minimize the makespan, mean flow time and mean tardiness. The scheduling optimization is carried out using Sheep Flock Heredity Algorithm (SFHA) and Artificial Immune System (AIS) algorithm. AGV is used for carrying jobs between the Load/Unload station and the machines. The robots are used for loading and unloading the jobs in the machines, and also used for transferring jobs between the machines. The algorithms are applied for test problems taken from the literature and the results obtained using the two algorithms are compared. The results indicate that SFHA performs better than AIS for this problem.

To acquire the competitive advantages in order to survive in the global business scenario, modern companies are now facing the problems of selecting key supply chain strategies. Strategy selection becomes difficult as the number of alternatives and conflicting criteria increases. Multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methodologies help the supply chain managers take a lead in a complex industrial set-up. The present investigation applies fuzzy MCDM technique entailing multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) in selection of alternatives in a supply chain. The MOORA method is utilized to three suitable numerical examples for the selection of supply chain strategies (warehouse location selection and vendor/supplier selection). The results obtained by using current approach almost match with those of previous research works published in various open journals. The empirical study has demonstrated the simplicity and applicability of this method as a strategic decision making tool in a supply chain.

Indian retail industry held the second rank in A.T. Kearney's Global retail development index in 2021 and ranked 16th FDI confidence index. The retail industry provides ample job opportunities and contributes to the economic progress of the nation. After the advent of new innovation there are new technologies which have emerged in business and it also substantially changed consumer behavior. Digital communication allows the user to transfer data from one end to another using digital technologies like e-mail, phone calls, video conferencing, and several instant message applications. Digital communication allows retailers to send personalized business information to their loyal customers and the customers respond to those messages, which in turn generate business for unorganized retailers. Digital communication not only improves the business of unorganized retailers but also the business image, Geographical spread, profitability, new customer acquisition, customer retention, and the like. Digital communication will transform the traditional unorganized retailer into an offline-to-online commerce model. Based on theoretical review this study identified constructs and proposed major determinants which influence technology adoption and its continuance among the unorganized retailers. This study assesses the digital communication technology usage in supply chain management among unorganized retailers with the constructs like experience, effortlessness, efficiency, enrichment, trust, security, digital infrastructure, satisfaction, and continuous intention to use. The results show that digital communication technology's effort, experience, and efficiency influence satisfaction. However, enrichment failed to influence satisfaction. Further, the results show that satisfaction and security influence continuous intention to use. However, trust and digital infrastructure failed to influence. Therefore, digital communication technology usage in supply chain management among unorganized retailers is substantially influenced by constructs like effort, experience, efficiency, satisfaction, and security.

Generation of solid waste is the integral consequence of civilization and its management is stand-ing as a big challenge in front of state government at present time. Municipal solid waste in Durg-Bhilai is littered with improper places due to lack of understanding about the scientific im-portance of garbage and its consequences. Our foremost concern is the selection of appropriate dumping area nearby Durg-Bhilai (C.G.) and for the selection of appropriate dumping area, a multi criteria decision making technique is used. This paper attempts to evaluate 4 dumping areas based on 5 criteria. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to determine the weighs for each criterion and quality function deployment (QFD) is also implemented. The results indicate that Potiyakala was the best dumping site nearby Durg-Bhilai area.