1,721,004 research outputs found
Servitization of teaching and research laboratories: Guidelines for a new business model driven by practical use cases
No full textthis paper, we present a pattern for assessing the feasibility of laboratories and lab networks to operate in a service-oriented form of business. Our focus is on the field of engineering, and on a network of academic labs, and we aim to provide a practical tool for disclosing the opportunity of servitization, or to use Laboratories-as-a-Service (LaaS), for interested companies. By using a traditional pitch deck approach, we define the available digital online offer of the specific labs, and we structure a questionnaire to investigate the market demand. Afterwards, we sketch the main servitization characteristics required to digital online labs from a business perspective. The pattern we propose has been used as a guideline for interviews to selected stakeholders of two specific labs, namely a remotely available RFID lab for internal logistics in the retail sector, and a serious game for operations and supply chain management. The answers we collected suggested the feasibility of the labs servitization, by defining both strengths and weaknesses
Project Succesful Deployment: A Method for Evaluating the Success of Digitalization Projects
No full textIn this paper, we present a method for evaluating the success of digitalization projects, namely the Project Successful Deployment (PSD). With the term digitalization, we mean the use of digital technologies and digitized information to create value in new ways and to benefit from them. The existing methods for project evaluation emphasize the capability of a project to deliver its results by respecting times and costs. The method we propose, instead, suggests evaluating projects by means of its external dimensions, namely the functionalities and quality of the deliverables. These external project dimensions are reflected on the project scope, and thus evaluate the requirements of the deliverables, and the degree to which the deliverable meet their quality objectives The method is com-posed of a set of matrixes, and it uses a structured procedure to define and refine its items and their weights, by means of a panel of experts. It has been applied to a practical case study, a digitalization project of a network of research and teaching laboratories. The method allowed a structured project evaluation, and the practi-cal case study showed strengths and weaknesses of the PSD model, which proved to be robust and effective, in providing a timely evaluation of the project
Experiencing the Role of Cooperation and Competition in Operations and Supply Chain Management with a Multiplayer Serious Game
No full textWe present an innovative, cooperative, and competitive multiplayer serious game, suited for the educational needs of supply chain and operation management post-graduate students. Hence, the objective is to satisfy the ever-increasing requirement of students to have the ability to experience and practice the theory learned in traditional ways, for active knowledge acquisition. To cope with such needs, we designed and implemented a multiplayer online serious game, that provides players with a realistic industrial experience, and teaches them how to take a whole range of day-to day and medium-term challenging decisions. Learners are divided into teams, each one representing an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), in every team the students will collaborate and will compete in the same market, and sharing a limited set of suppliers. To this aim they have to define a strategy to target the best market segmentation. Teachers have the possibility to investigate the decision patters of the learners, analyze KPIs and learning analytics, to better understand the learning process and guide the learners in their educational journey. By means of a preliminary questionnaire, the interest in using the serious game to study operation management was confirmed. In addition, the game was tested by a small group of students, who acknowledged the effectiveness of the game's dynamics as a tool to complement traditional teaching methods
On the use of Serious Games in Operations Management: an investigation on connections between students' game performance and final evaluation
No full textIn last twenty years, interest in Serious Games has continuously raised, especially thanks to the technological improvement in computer science and virtual laboratories. A common objective of these games is to enhance practical skills of users by simulating realistic universes in which players could operate and learn. We present a study on the application of a Serious Game in an Operations Management course at the University of Parma. The game is designed as a web-based application replicating a realistic universe in which different e-bike producing companies compete, having a limited number of suppliers and customers. Each company is composed by different students, playing different roles within the company, and collaborating in order to take company strategical decisions. A KPI system has been implemented in order to best evaluate students' work during the game sessions. Also, a post-test has been submitted to students to better understand the perceptions they had towards the game. At the end of the courses, students received their final evaluation in Operations Management. The present paper has the objective to analyse (i) KPIs, (ii) game session duration, and (iii) post-test results, and look for a connection between the data analysed and the final evaluation gave to each student
RFID technology in Retail 4.0: state-of-the-art in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods field
No full textThe well-known Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is now evolving its applications: indeed, at the industrial level, it was firstly conceived at the pallet/case level for enhancing productivity and accuracy of logistics processes, while at present the focus is shifting towards item-level tagging applications for also managing in-store processes, including the selling experience. Due to a more technological customer, to the spread of e-commerce and the need of omnichannel sales availability, also Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) are subject to an evolution of the way of selling, enabled by an item-level RFID tagging. Since these technologies are connected to the fourth industrial revolution, this novelty is referred to as Retail 4.0, which is still an uncommon term among the scientific community. For this reason, this paper makes an attempt to define the state-of-the-art of research and industrial projects on this topic, and it represents the first study investigating the Retail 4.0 from a practical side, closing the scientific gap regarding this issue. Eleven documents and fourteen projects focusing on item-level RFID tagging of FMCGs are examined and categorized according to a pre-existing use cases framework, and the enabled scenarios under a Retail 4.0 perspective are identified and defined. Inventory and Life-Cycle Management related use cases turned out to be the most investigated (7 scientific documents and 12 projects), while the User Experience was only considered at the industrial level (12 projects). From both sides, the Product Integrity was not perceived as relevant (2 articles and 6 projects); similarly, scarce attention was paid to the sustainability functionality of packaging with a total of 1 scientific paper and 5 projects
The recruitment of two consecutive and different waves of host stem/progenitor cells during the development of tissue-engineered bone in a murine model
No full textAngiogenesis plays a central role in bone regeneration, not only for the transport of nutrients, but also for locally directing skeletal stem/progenitor cells. Following ectopic implantation of porous ceramic cubes seeded with mouse GFP-labeled mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into syngenic mice, we investigated the cascade of events leading to bone formation. Implants harvested at different times were enzymatically digested to generate single-cell suspensions. Recovered cells were sorted to separate GFP+implanted MSC and host recruited GFP- cells. We isolated and characterized two different waves of cells, migrating from the host to the MSC-seeded ceramic. The first migrated cell population, recovered 7 days after implantation, was enriched in CD31+endothelial progenitors, while the second one, recruited at day 11, was enriched in CD146+pericyte-like cells. Both populations were not recruited into the scaffold following implantation of a non-MSC seeded ceramic. Pericyte-like cell mobilization was dependent on the first migrated endothelial cell population. Pericyte-like cells retained properties distinctive of stem cells, such as capacity of performing a high number of in vitro cell divisions and showed an osteogenic potential. Studies on the cross talk between implanted exogenous MSC and resident stem/progenitor cells could open new perspectives for future clinical applications
Batch Experiment: A Fruitful Way of Combining Hands-On Laboratory and E-Learning
Full text linkIn this study, the authors present the utilization of laboratory-based Learning at the University of Parma and its integration with DigiLab4U (Open Digital Laboratory for You). At the University of Parma, the course of AUTO-ID in production and logistics from the very beginning has exploited the lab-based learning to convey practical skills gained in RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) Laboratory to the students through a hands-on laboratory. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent measures taken by the Italian government, the very same method could not be used anymore during the spring semester of the year 2020. To solve the issue a batch experiment method has been adopted, where the parameters were set by students and the experiment was carried out by a researcher. During the experiments, the researchers gather raw data and send it back to the students. Having these data, the students were able to perform the data analysis. To give the students the possibility to better understand the environment of the laboratory, pictures, and videos of the experiment performance have been supplied too. To complete the batch experiment, a tutorial has also been provided with the details of the software set up and the components used. The total remotization of RFID Laboratory is scheduled for late 2021
A Cooperative and Competitive Serious Game for Operations and Supply Chain Management – Didactical Concept and Final Evaluation
Full text linkAbstract—In the last decades, Serious Games (SGs) have been implemented more and more in the engineering field, for both educational and professional purposes. The interest in digital SGs has increased even more in the last years of covid-19 pandemic, due to their location-independent availability and to the possibility to use SGs to apply theoretical knowledge and involve the users in a challenging way. Since the beginning of project Open Digital Laboratory For You (DigiLab4U) in October 2018, the University of Parma started to develop a brand-new SG with a strong focus on Operation and Supply Chain Management. The game has been studied as a multiplayer cooperative and competitive game which projects learners in a fictitious universe where multiple companies compete against each other in the same market. The realization of the game started from the definition of the didactical concept, underwent the user acceptance testing phases (alpha and beta tests) up until reach the release and the corresponding final evaluation feedback
Integration of New Technologies and Alternative Methods in Laboratory-Based Scenarios
Full text linkIn this study, we report a preliminary requirements analysis to recognize needs and possibilities for integrating new technologies and methods for lab-based learning in the field of Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things. To this aim, different scenarios, such as real, remote and virtual labs, are considered to be addressable within an integrated learning environment that focuses on alternative methods (i.e. Serious Games, Self-Regulated and Collaborative Learning) and new technologies (i.e. Open Badges, Mixed Reality and Learning Analytics). To support the design of the laboratory-based learning environment, qualitative interviews were conducted with both expert lecturers and relevant students in the field of engineering, to provide complementary perspectives. These interviews were carried out to analyze the requirements, and to identify possible benefits that relevant stakeholders expect by using these teaching and learning methods and technologies. A qualitative content analysis has been started on the interviews to define which is the perception of the new technologies and teaching methods. The different points of view about technologies and methods coming from expert lecturers’ and relevant students’ interviews are provided
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