2,938 research outputs found
Weight management: a comparison of existing dietary approaches in a work-site setting
No full text<b>OBJECTIVES:</b> (1) To compare the effectiveness a 2512 kJ (600 kcal) daily energy deficit diet (ED) with a 6279 kJ (1500 kcal) generalized low-calorie diet (GLC) over a 24 week period (12 weeks weight loss plus 12 weeks weight maintenance). (2) To determine if the inclusion of lean red meat at least five times per week as part of a slimming diet is compatible with weight loss in comparison with a diet that excludes lean red meat.
DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial.
<b>SETTING:</b> Large petrochemical work-site.
<b>PARTICIPANTS:</b> One-hundred and twenty-two men aged between 18 and 55 y.
<b>MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:</b> Weight loss and maintenance of weight loss.
<b>INTERVENTION:</b> Eligible volunteers were randomized to one of the four diet=meat combinations (ED meat, ED no meat, GLC meat, GLC no meat). One-third of subjects in each diet/meat combination were randomized to an initial control period prior to receiving dietary advice. All subjects attended for review every 2 weeks during the weight loss period. For the 12 week structured weight maintenance phase, individualized energy prescriptions were re-calculated for the ED group as 1.4 (activity factor)x basal metabolic rate. Healthy eating advice was reviewed with subjects in the GLC group. All subjects were contacted by electronic mail at 2 week intervals and anthropometric and dietary information requested.
<b>RESULTS:</b> No difference was evident between diet groups in mean weight loss at 12 weeks (4.3 (s.d. 3.4) kg ED group vs 5.0 (s.d. 3.5) kg GLC group, P=0.34). Mean weight loss was closer to the intended weight loss in the 2512 kJ (600 kcal) ED group. The dropout rate was also lower than the GLC group. The inclusion of lean red meat in the diet on at least five occasions per week did not impair weight loss. Mean weight gain following 12 weeks weight maintenance was þ1.1 (s.d. 1.8) kg, P<0.0001.
No differences were found between groups.
<b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> This study has shown that the individualized 2512 kJ (600 kcal) ED approach was no more effective in terms of weight loss than the 6279 kJ (1500 kcal) GLC approach. However the ED approach might be considered preferable as compliance was better with this less demanding prescription. In terms of weight loss the elimination of red meat from the diet is unnecessary. The weight maintenance intervention was designed as a low-input approach, however weight regain was significant and weight maintenance strategies require further development
Lean six sigma in a call centre : a case study
No full textThis paper, a case study, aims to illustrate the application of lean six sigma in a call centre of a service industry corporation. The study draws on process information and primary data from a real project. The study describes improvements in the operation of the call centre attributable to lean six sigma: increase in first-call resolution ratio, reduction in operator turnover and streamlining of processes. The introduction of lean six sigma into the call centre daily operations' management may have organizational benefits. Although lean six sigma has been extremely successful in the last two decades in the manufacturing sector, its applicability to the service sector has been a controversial topic. This study illustrates its application to a fast-growing area of the service sector, assisting companies in identifying areas of development for their call centres
Polyphenols and health: what compounds are involved?
No full textOn the basis of prospective, cross-sectional and intervention studies linking polyphenols to human health, several experimental papers in the literature have tried to evaluate the molecular mechanisms involved in their bioactivity. Polyphenols are reported to <i>in vitro</i> inhibit cancer cell proliferation, reduce vascularisation, protect neurons, stimulate vasodilation and improve insulin secretion, but are often studied as aglycones or as sugar conjugates and at non-physiological concentration. However, it is now well established that polyphenols undergo substantial metabolism after being ingested by humans in dietary relevant amount and that concentrations of plasma metabolites after a normal dietary intake rarely exceed nmol/L. This viewpoint intends to highlight that uncritical judgements made on the basis of the published literature, particularly about toxicity and bioactivity, may sometimes have been misled and misleading and to conclude that i) bioavailability values reported in the literature for phenolic compounds should be strongly reconsidered in the light of the large number of newly identified circulating and excreted metabolites, with particular attention to colonic ring-fission products which are obviously contributing much more than expected to the percentage of their absorption; ii) it is phenolic metabolites, formed in the small intestine and hepatic cells, and low molecular weight catabolic products of the colonic microflora to travel around the human body in the circulatory system or reach body tissues to elicit bioactive effects. Understanding these compounds certainly carries interest for drug-discovery but also for dietary prevention of disease
A customised lean model for a Chinese aerospace OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
No full textThe aim of this research is to introduce Lean Thinking in a systematic and cost
effective way; moreover, it is to bring Lean Principles and apply Lean Tools to
the new aerospace companies. In particular the research will develop a
customised Lean manufacturing model. The following objectives will be
achieved during the research. 1); Investigate the principal features of Lean
Thinking, and identify state of the art in Lean manufacturing implementation. 2);
Identify the current situation of a specific Chinese aerospace company and the
requirements needed in becoming Lean. 3); Develop a customised Lean model
for applying Lean into a new Chinese aerospace company. 4); Validate the
Lean manufacturing model by experts in the company and university.
The Chinese traditional thinking is different from lean think. Therefore, to
implement Lean in China will face some distinct barriers. The author attempts to
resolve these problems through a customised lean model. According to the
literature review and researcher‘s knowledge, there is no paper developing a
model linking to the barriers of lean implementation in Chinese manufacturing.
Therefore, the author will attempt to fill in this gap during the research.
The questionnaire and assessment tool will be used to collect information from
the company. Best practices will help to establish the structure of the model.
However, in China, most companies implement lean through copying examples
from the United States, UK and other Western countries without combining their
current situation and culture. The contribution of this research is to develop a
model to link Chinese barriers and a company‘s situation for lean
implementation.
Finally, this model will be validated by company and academic experts. The first
validation is based on the sponsoring company. Other validations are achieved
by academic experts and industrial expert
Principles of the lean construction on the planning process of a huge builder in Natal (RN)
No full textThe civil construction represents one of the most important sectors for the economic growth of a country. To make this industry grow it is necessary to implement an effective planning in activities. This is one of the most important concepts brought by the Lean Construction philosophy. The main goal of this article consists in investigating how the 11 principles of the lean construction influenced the schedule of a construction field. As a methodology, it was used the case study of a big enterprise located in Natal (RN). During the execution of the method, documents were analysed , it was also described the factors that caused the delays at the enterprises’ field , the actions were listed by the company, which had the purpose to solve the main causes of delays, verifying if they were linked to the lean construction principles. This research it is relevant because the principles of the lean construction uphold the reduction of processes that are useless, diminishing wastes as well as costs in construction. Among the main results, the high frequency of planning errors stands out, mainly the programming deviations and not the task programming, as well as the execution errors, low productivity and activities executed by the workers. Amongst the 11 principles of lean construction, only five were related with the 12 actions analysed by the author. From the 12 actions, four were completely cohesive to one or more from these five principles. Some improvement proposals were also highlighted and established by the research
Lean TPM : a blueprint for change /
No full textLean TPM is an accessible, step-by-step guide designed to help you increase manufacturing efficiency through continuous improvement. Based on their experience of working with organizations that have successfully achieved outstanding performance, McCarthy and Rich provide the tools and techniques required to convert strategic vision into practical reality. Packed with real-life case studies and examples to highlight common pitfalls and proven approaches, the book focuses on the continuous improvement that can be achieved within any manufacturing environment by challenging wasteful working practices, releasing the potential of the workforce, and making processes work as planned. Lean TPM contains an integrated route map along with comprehensive benchmark data to enable engineers, technicians and managers to fully explore this potent technique.Vendor-supplied metadata.Lean TPM is an accessible, step-by-step guide designed to help you increase manufacturing efficiency through continuous improvement. Based on their experience of working with organizations that have successfully achieved outstanding performance, McCarthy and Rich provide the tools and techniques required to convert strategic vision into practical reality. Packed with real-life case studies and examples to highlight common pitfalls and proven approaches, the book focuses on the continuous improvement that can be achieved within any manufacturing environment by challenging wasteful working practices, releasing the potential of the workforce, and making processes work as planned. Lean TPM contains an integrated route map along with comprehensive benchmark data to enable engineers, technicians and managers to fully explore this potent technique.Front Cover; Lean TPM; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Chapter One -- The Business of Survival and Growth; 1.1 THE NEW COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS; 1.2 SILVER BULLETS, INITIATIVE FATIGUE AND FASHIONABLE MANAGEMENT; 1.3 WHY PROGRAMMES FAIL?; 1.4 THE VALUE OF A COMPELLING VISION; 1.5 LEADING THE IMPROVEMENT PROCESS; 1.6 LEAN TPM; A BETTER IMPROVEMENT MODEL; REFERENCES; Chapter Two -- The Lean TPM Master Plan; 2.1 ACHIEVING THE RIGHT BALANCE; 2.2 THE ORIGINS OF LEAN THINKING; 2.3 THE ORIGINS OF TPM; 2.4 LEAN TPM; (INTEGRATING THE INTERNAL VALUE STREAM).(MAKE PRODUCT FLOW)MILESTONE 3: BUILD CAPABILITY (EXTEND FLOW SYSTEMS); MILESTONE 4: STRIVE FOR ZERO (PERFECTION); 2.5 WHAT DOES LEAN TPM OFFER?; 2.6 TACKLING THE HIDDEN WASTE TREASURE MAP; 2.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCES; Chapter Three -- Policy Deployment: Aligning People, Processes and Products Profitably; 3.1 TRANSLATING DIRECTION INTO FORWARD TRACTION; 3.2 A FOUNDATION OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT; 3.3 THE POLICY DEPLOYMENT PROCESS; 3.4 THE CONTENT OF POLICY DEPLOYMENT; 3.5 THE BOWLING CHART; 3.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCES.Chapter Four -- The Change Mandate: A Top-Down/Bottom-Up Partnership4.1 DELIVERING LASTING IMPROVEMENT; 4.2 SUSTAINING THE CHANGE MANDATE; 4.3 WHAT DO WE WANT FROM SENIOR MANAGEMENT?; 4.4 WHAT DO WE WANT FROM MIDDLE-FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT; 4.5 CALCULATING DOOR TO DOOR OEE; (SELF-MANAGED) TEAMS; 4.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCES; Chapter Five -- Transforming the Business Model; 5.1 TRANSFORMATION AND THE BUSINESS MODEL; 5.2 LEAN TPM IMPLEMENTATION; 5.3 LEAN TPM IMPLEMENTATION ROLES; 5.4 PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT; 5.5 CHANGE TEAM; 5.6 OPERATIONS TEAM; 5.7 SPECIALISTS; 5.8 FACILITATION.5.9 CHAPTER SUMMARYREFERENCES; Chapter Six -- Process Stabilisation; 6.1 STABILISING PROCESSES; 6.2 ASSESSING THE GAP; 6.3 UNDERSTANDING THE VOC; 6.4 VISUALISING THE VALUE STREAM; 6.5 A3 LEARNING PROCESS; ZERO BREAKDOWNS; 6.7 IMPROVING ASSET PERFORMANCE; 6.8 LEADING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS; 6.9 ESTABLISHING OPERATOR ASSET CARE; 6.10 THE PROCESS OF STABILISATION: THE FREE-FLOWING MATERIALS MAP; 6.11 LOCKING IN THE RECIPE FOR LOW-INVENTORY, HIGH-FLOW OPERATION DELIVERING ZERO BREAKDOWNS AND SELF-MANAGED TEAMWORK; 6.12 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCES; Chapter Seven -- Process Optimisation.7.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE CHALLENGE7.2 CHANGING MIND-SETS; 7.3 CHANGING SKILL SETS; 7.4 THE OPTIMISATION PROCESS; 7.5 EM APPROACH TO CAPITAL PROJECTS; 7.6 LEAN TPM CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT; 7.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCE; Chapter Eight -- Moving beyond the Factory; 8.1 INTRODUCTION; 8.2 WHY ENGAGE THE SUPPLY CHAIN?; 8.3 ALIGN, VISUALISE AND IMPROVE; 8.4 SUPPLY CHAIN IMPROVEMENT SUSTAINABILITY; 8.5 SUPPLY CHAIN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY; 8.6 SPLITTING AND SHARING THE GAINS; 8.7 TYPES OF IMPROVEMENT; 8.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY; REFERENCES; Chapter Nine -- Sustaining the Improvement Drive.Includes bibliographical references and index.Elsevie
Critical Flow – Towards a Construction Flow Theory
No full textThis paper introduces the concept of Construction Physics as a more comprehensive way of understanding the construction process from a flow perspective. It establishes a preliminary definition of the term and investigates briefly the present knowledge, flow models and methods for their management. From this it argues that the state of the art does not fully cover the whole process and proposes a holistic view of the flow of all prerequisites feeding the process. It introduces the key term Critical Flow and concludes by recommending areas that should be investigated as a joint IGLC research, development and testing programme
Development of an impact assessment framework for lean manufacturing within SMEs
No full textThe main aim of the research work presented in this thesis, is the development of a
novel framework with the capability of assessing the impact of implementing lean
manufacturing within small-to-medium sized manufacturing firms (SMEs). By assessing
the impact of lean implementation, SMEs can make informed decisions on the viability
of lean adoption at the conceptual implementation stage. Companies are also able
determine their status in terms of lean manufacturing affordability.
Thus, in order to achieve the above-stated aim, the following were the main set research
objectives; (1) identifying the key drivers for implementing lean manufacturing within
SMEs, (2) investigating the operational activities of SMEs in order to understand their
manufacturing issues, (3) exploring the current level of lean manufacturing usage within
SMEs so as to categorise users based on their levels of involvement, (4) identifying
factors that determine the assessment of lean manufacturing, (5) developing an impact
assessment framework for justifying lean manufacturing within SMEs, (6) developing a
knowledge based advisory system and (7) validating the impact assessment framework
and the developed knowledge based advisory system through real-life case studies,
workshops, and expert opinions.
A combination of research methodology approaches have been employed in this
research study. This comprises literature review, observation of companies' practices
and personal interview. The data collection process involved ten SMEs that provided
consistent information throughout the research project life. Additionally, visitations to
three large size manufacturing firms were also conducted. Hence, the framework and
system development process passed through several stages. Firstly, the data were
collected from companies who had successfully implemented lean manufacturing within
their premise. The second development stage included the analysis and validation of the
dataset through company practitioners. An impact assessment framework was thus developed with the aid of regression analysis as a predictive model. However, it was
realised that there were few correlations between the dataset generated and analysis. The
reasons for this were unclear.
,a
knowledge based advisory system was adopted to
conceptualise, enhance the robustness of the impact assessment framework and address
the problem of the imprecise data in the impact assessment process.
Three major factors of impact assessment were considered in the framework and the
system development process, namely relative cost of lean implementation, a company
lean readiness status and the level of value-added to be achieved (impact/benefits).
Three knowledge based advisory sub-systems that consisted of the abovementioned
factors were built. Results obtained from them were then fed into the final system. The
three sub-systems were validated with the original set of data from companies. This
enabled the assignment of a number of input variables whose membership functions
aided the definition of the fuzzy expert system language (linguistic variables) used. The
final system yielded heuristic rules that enable the postulation of scenarios of lean
implementation. Results were sought and tested on a number of firms based within the
UK, for the purposes validation. These also included expert opinions both in academic
and industrial settings.
A major contribution of the developed system is its ability to aid decision-making
processes for lean implementation at the early implementation stage. The visualisation
facility of the developed system is also useful in enabling potential lean users to make
forecasts on the relative cost of lean projects upfront, anticipate lean benefits, and realise
one' degree of lean readiness
Six Sigma vs Lean : some perspectives from leading academics and practitioners
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to present the fundamental and critical differences between two of the most powerful methodologies in a process excellence initiative in any organisation. The approach taken was to collate opinions from a number of leading academics and practitioners from five different countries. It was also important to ensure that all participants have a good knowledge and expertise in the field of both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. Although both methodologies are focused on process and quality improvement, Lean is formalisation and codification of experience and judgement which is not a feature of Six Sigma. Lean emphasises speed and waste, however Six Sigma emphasises variation, defects and process evaluation. The viewpoints expressed in the article are those of a few academics and practitioners. It is important to capture the viewpoints of more academics and practitioners to arrive at sound and valid conclusions. The paper provides an excellent resource for many researchers and for practitioners who are engaged in research and applications of the most two powerful methodologies for achieving and sustaining operational excellence. It is also critical to understand the fundamental differences between these two methodologies
Changes in body weight and food choice in those attempting smoking cessation: a cluster randomised controlled trial
No full text<p><b>Background:</b> Fear of weight gain is a barrier to smoking cessation and significant cause of relapse for many people. The provision of nutritional advice as part of a smoking cessation programme may assist some in smoking cessation and perhaps limit weight gain. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a structured programme of dietary advice on weight change and food choice, in adults attempting smoking cessation.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> Cluster randomised controlled design. Classes randomised to intervention commenced a 24-week intervention, focussed on improving food choice and minimising weight gain. Classes randomised to control received "usual care".</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> Twenty-seven classes in Greater Glasgow were randomised between January and August 2008. Analysis, including those who continued to smoke, showed that actual weight gain and percentage weight gain was similar in both groups. Examination of data for those successful at giving up smoking showed greater mean weight gain in intervention subjects (3.9 (SD 3.1) vs. 2.7 (SD 3.7) kg). Between group differences were not significant (p=0.23, 95% CI -0.9 to 3.5). In comparison to baseline improved consumption of fruit and vegetables and breakfast cereal were reported in the intervention group. A higher percentage of control participants continued smoking (74% vs. 66%).</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> The intervention was not successful at minimising weight gain in comparison to control but was successful in facilitating some sustained improvements in the dietary habits of intervention participants. Improved quit rates in the intervention group suggest that continued contact with advisors may have reduced anxieties regarding weight gain and encouraged cessation despite weight gain. Research should continue in this area as evidence suggests that the negative effects of obesity could outweigh the health benefits achieved through reductions in smoking prevalence.</p>
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