1,720,972 research outputs found
Manned assembly systems design considering layout, workforce strategy, and workers’ heterogeneity: state of the art and future research agenda
Get PDFThe transition from mass production to mass customisation is accelerating, requiring assembly systems to rapidly adapt their production methods while minimising costs. This shift demands continuous adjustment to a dynamic environment and is further complicated by high workforce turnover and increasing diversity in worker characteristics and capabilities. In this context, the design or re-design of assembly systems becomes critical to align resources effectively and achieve maximum flexibility. Potential solutions include reconfiguring the layout or modifying workforce strategies. This literature review investigates existing decision support systems that assist managers in making informed choices, particularly when dealing with heterogeneous workforces. The analysis highlights a gap in the literature: few studies provide comparative models with practical implications, and most focus on limited alternatives concerning either layout or workforce strategy. Finally, the paper outlines future research directions to address these limitations
Comparing fixed and walking worker strategies: design implications of individual worker efficiency on assembly line performance
No full textHuman workers are essential in modern assembly systems, enabling flexibility, reconfigurability, and efficient resource utilisation while minimising costs. However, high workforce turnover and heterogeneity in individual skills and efficiency make it challenging to meet production targets effectively. Fixed Worker Assembly Line (FWAL) and Walking Worker Assembly Line (WWAL) represent two alternative workforce strategies to handle variations in production volume and mix. Current literature mainly proposes comparison analyses focusing on productivity assets, whereas workforce different efficiency levels have been rarely integrated in comparative models. This study investigates the suitability of these strategies based both on production characteristics and worker efficiency through the simulation of multiple scenarios, considering factors such as productivity rate, workstation layout, assembly time unbalancing, moving times, buffer capacity, and worker efficiency. Results show that mixed-model assembly lines with parallel stations and walking workers (MMAL-PSWW) perform best in environments with high worker heterogeneity, low ideal productivity rates, and significant system unbalancing. The key outcome of this research is a decision tree model that serves as a practical decision-support tool, offering clear guidelines to help managers select the most effective assembly line design under varying operational conditions. Highlights Exploring the comparison between fixed worker and walking worker strategies in assembly system, considering real-world constraints. Introducing a simulation approach that incorporates multiple factors influencing system performance, with particular emphasis on variables related to individual worker efficiency. Providing decision-makers with a graphical decision support tool to evaluate the impact of worker efficiency on assembly line strategy optimisation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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