Performance evaluation and benchmarking
Tri Ngudi Wiyatno; Atty Tri Juniarti; Iman Sudirman
Abstract
The floor tiles industry in accordance with state regulations is one of the manufacturing industries that can participate in Indonesia into a developed industrial country, supported by the availability of various technologies and product innovations so that domestic floor tiles can be accepted. In the ...
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The floor tiles industry in accordance with state regulations is one of the manufacturing industries that can participate in Indonesia into a developed industrial country, supported by the availability of various technologies and product innovations so that domestic floor tiles can be accepted. In the face of increasing competition, domestic floor tiles industry trying to improve the quality of the products by implementing a strict standardization system for production processes and products produced by implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). Based on the components that influence of TQM, variables of leadership, technical competence and organizational culture are closely related to certain factors. A leadership pattern that focuses on goals or targets determined and taken based on scientific thinking by taking into account the various parties involved will improve the quality. Education and training as well as employee involvement by providing controlled independence as well as improving the technical quality.
Data mining
Tobias Wagner; Alexander Gepperth; Elmar Engels
Abstract
This study proposes a framework for the automated hyperparameter optimization of a bearing fault detection pipeline for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) without the need for external sensors. An Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) pipeline search is performed through genetic optimization to ...
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This study proposes a framework for the automated hyperparameter optimization of a bearing fault detection pipeline for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) without the need for external sensors. An Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) pipeline search is performed through genetic optimization to reduce human-induced bias due to inappropriate parameterizations. A search space is defined, which includes general methods of signal processing and manipulation as well as methods tailored to the respective task and domain. The proposed framework is evaluated on the bearing fault detection use case under real-world conditions. Considerations on the generalization of the deployed fault detection pipelines are also considered. Likewise, attention was paid to experimental studies for evaluations of the robustness of the fault detection pipeline to variations of the motors working condition parameters between the training and test domain.
Khojasteh Rahimpour; Hadi Shirouyehzad; Mehdi Karbasian
Volume 3, 1(4) , December 2016, , Pages 1-14
Abstract
In today’s knowledge-based economy, intellectual capital has been used for organizations. Knowledge has been replaced with other capitals as the most important capital. The role of man power is notable as an effective factor and the most important capital. Also, organizational commitment has a ...
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In today’s knowledge-based economy, intellectual capital has been used for organizations. Knowledge has been replaced with other capitals as the most important capital. The role of man power is notable as an effective factor and the most important capital. Also, organizational commitment has a considerable effect on the improvement of organization effectiveness and many variables. On the other hand, the function of organizations should be investigated for the purpose of maintaining their survival. Data enveloping analysis is one of the techniques which is used in this field. The aim of this study is to evaluate the function of organizational units based on the intellectual capital and organizational commitment with the use of DEA. In this study, units of operation, warehouse, design and manufacturing, production planning, quality assurance and education, laboratory and law enforcement became efficient and their efficiency ranks were identified with the use of AP method. Units of design and manufacturing, production and planning, quality assurance and education, operation, and laboratory were respectively ranked from first to fifth place and the rank of warehouse and law enforcement units were not identified. Also, the intensity of input effects on the organizational commitment was included customer capital, structural capital, and human capital.
Heuristics and Metaheuristics Algorithms
Ali Sanagooy Aghdam; Mohammad Ali Afshar Kazemi; Abbas Toloie Eshlaghy
Abstract
Optimized asset tracking with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as a complicated innovation that requires much money to be implemented has become more popular in the healthcare industry. Considering the use of more antennas in each reader, we present a modern heuristic methods, hybrid of Genetic ...
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Optimized asset tracking with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as a complicated innovation that requires much money to be implemented has become more popular in the healthcare industry. Considering the use of more antennas in each reader, we present a modern heuristic methods, hybrid of Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) for the purpose of placing readers in an emergency department of a hospital with an RFID network. In this study, a multi-objective function is developed for the network coverage maximization and the minimization of total cost, tag reader collision, interference, energy consumption, and path loss in a simultaneous way. The proposed algorithm provides savings (on average) in the total cost of the RFID network through the efficient use of three types of readers with one, two and four antenna ports. Additionally, by testing three scenarios, the effect of algorithms in achieving the optimal solution is indicated by the simulated results. Besides, the results of GA-SA is compared to the results of GA and other existing models in the relevant literature. It is shown that its main advantage is the use of multi-antenna RFID readers, which reduces the total cost of the RFID network and also increase network coverage with fewer readers and antennas. In other words, contributions for the research are proposing a hybrid GA-SA algorithm, developing a multi-objective function, testing the algorithm in a hospital setting, and comparing the results of GA-SA with GA.
Decision analysis and methods
Ayda Esmaili Dooki; Parisa Bolhasani; Mohammad Fallah
Abstract
Nowadays selecting the best inspectors has triggered a substantially significant issue among today’s competitive environment, in particular some prominent banks. It’s because the efficient supervision of banking activities is necessary for both achieving a powerful economic environment and ...
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Nowadays selecting the best inspectors has triggered a substantially significant issue among today’s competitive environment, in particular some prominent banks. It’s because the efficient supervision of banking activities is necessary for both achieving a powerful economic environment and financial stability of the country, Chief inspectors as highest position of the banks play an important role. Additionally, the bank inspectors are in charge of supervising bank activities to ensure that there is sufficient capital and reserves to deal with risks when they encounter to critical situations. On the other hand, although the banking supervision costs is really high, but the poor monitoring can bring about higher costs. So, this paper presents a hybrid method of fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS to select the best chief inspector of banks based on some various qualitative and quantitative criteria with different priorities. The Fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methods are used to determine the weight importance of criteria and ranking the selected inspectors, respectively. The proposed method was applied to a real case study on one of the most prominent Banks of Iran country and the obtained results show that our proposed method is so practical to make the best decision of selecting the bank chief inspectors.
Case studies in industry and services
Boby John; Abdulrahiman Areshankar
Abstract
Six Sigma is a structured and systematic approach to performance and quality improvement. Six Sigma is a rigorous methodology consists of five major phases, namely definition, measure, analysis, improvement, and control for problem solving. A lot of case studies have been published and many large organizations ...
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Six Sigma is a structured and systematic approach to performance and quality improvement. Six Sigma is a rigorous methodology consists of five major phases, namely definition, measure, analysis, improvement, and control for problem solving. A lot of case studies have been published and many large organizations have reported financial benefits by the application of Six Sigma methodology. This paper is a case study on reducing the bearing end plate reworks in a machining process through the application of Six Sigma methodology. The study focuses on reducing the rework due to thickness and diameter variation. From the list of identified potential causes, two causes, namely tool type and coolant pH are shortlisted as root causes. The optimum values of tool type and coolant pH, which would simultaneously optimize the diameter and thickness, are identified using the design of experiments and Taguchi's loss function approach. The implementation of optimum settings shows that the capability of the machining process to meet the customer requirements on thickness and diameter has substantially improved and rework has reduced.
Sahar Khoshfetrat; Farhad Hosseinzadeh Lotfi
Volume 1, Issue 1 , March 2014, , Pages 12-18
Abstract
As ranking is one of the most important issues in data envelopment analysis (DEA), many researchers have comprehensive studies on the subject and presented different approaches. In some papers, DEA and Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are integrated to rank the alternatives. AHP utilizes pairwise comparisons ...
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As ranking is one of the most important issues in data envelopment analysis (DEA), many researchers have comprehensive studies on the subject and presented different approaches. In some papers, DEA and Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are integrated to rank the alternatives. AHP utilizes pairwise comparisons between criteria and units, assessed subjectively by the decision maker, to rank the units. In this paper, a nonlinear programming (NLP) model is introduced to derive the true weights for pairwise comparison matrices in AHP. Genetic algorithm (GA) is used in order to solve this model. We use MATLAB software to solve proposed model for ranking the alternatives in AHP. A numerical example is applied to illustrate the proposed model.
Performance evaluation and benchmarking
Ariyo Adanikin; Falade Funsho; Olutaiwo Adewale
Abstract
Road infrastructure in Nigeria is in a state of decay arising from various factors such as construction with low quality materials and poor maintenance. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that the materials used for construction are of the required standards and the alternative construction ...
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Road infrastructure in Nigeria is in a state of decay arising from various factors such as construction with low quality materials and poor maintenance. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that the materials used for construction are of the required standards and the alternative construction materials are available to reduce construction cost. In this research work, Cow Bone Ash (CBA) was used as filler in producing the asphaltic concrete samples. Then, Marshall Stability and flow test were carried out on the asphaltic concrete samples. The materials used in this study include 60/70 penetration grade bitumen, river sand, and crushed granites obtained from three selected quarries with various tests carried out to determine their suitability for use. The lower quality aggregates, based on the tests carried out on the aggregate samples, have shown to negatively affect the asphaltic concrete. The aggregate samples had average elongation index of 33.9% and abrasion index of 29.6%, while the asphaltic concrete samples had Marshall Stability values (with and without) CBA of 36.99 KN and 46.84 KN, respectively. The results of the flow test on the asphaltic concrete samples gave 8.29 mm with CBA and 14.71 mm without CBA. The study also reveals that asphaltic concrete samples produced without CBA as fillers are better as they have an average stability value of 15.61 KN and average flow value of 4.90 mm than those produced with CBA which have average stability value of 12.36 KN and an average flow value of 4.90 mm. Statistical analysis shows that the source of aggregate, significantly affects the properties of asphaltic concrete.
Farzad Movahedi Sobhani; Tahereh Madadi
Volume 2, Issue 1 , March 2015, , Pages 15-33
Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the suitability of diverse data mining techniques for construction delay analysis. Data of this research obtained from 120 Iranian construction projects. The analysis consists of developing and evaluating various data mining models for factor selection, ...
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The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the suitability of diverse data mining techniques for construction delay analysis. Data of this research obtained from 120 Iranian construction projects. The analysis consists of developing and evaluating various data mining models for factor selection, delay classification, and delay prediction. The results of this research indicate that with respect to accuracy and correlation indexes, genetic algorithm with K-NN learning model is the most suitable model for factor selection. By conducting the genetic algorithm, eight significant variables causing construction delay are identified as: Changes in project manager, Difficulties in financing project by owner, Number of employees, Project duration, Unforeseen events, Project Location, Number of equipment, How to get the project. This research also revealed that in the case of delay classification and prediction, respectively, bagging decision tree and bagging neural network has the least amount of error in comparison with other techniques. In addition, to compare the diversity of data mining methods, the optimized parameter vectors of the selected models were also identified.
Quality Control
Hernadewita Hernadewita; Diky Herdiawan; Afriyuddin Afriyuddin; Hermiyetti Hermiyetti
Abstract
As one manufacturing industry which has engaged in the textile industry and produced zippers, the painting process at zipped production has a number of problems, as on zipper sticks to each other, uneven paint, etc. In this discussion, the improvements that will be made are related to the painting process. ...
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As one manufacturing industry which has engaged in the textile industry and produced zippers, the painting process at zipped production has a number of problems, as on zipper sticks to each other, uneven paint, etc. In this discussion, the improvements that will be made are related to the painting process. Quality Control Circle (QCC) method is applied to reflect the support of the continuous improvement program in the company. The painting process is the finishing process of a zipper that serves as a coating to be resistant to corrosion and enhance the zipper appearance. The results of the study, it is found the main problem in the zipper painting process, which are Abbeku or sticking. This is due to the factors, such as machinery, methods, and materials. Of the three factors, there is one of the biggest problem factors, namely the position of non-standard spray gun. The focus of the improvement that will be made is the modification of the spraygun holder so that the fix position does not change. The results after an improvement in the modification of the spray gun holder are Abbeku (sticking) loss on the painting production which is originally 23 lots. As a conclusion, it eliminates the biggest loss factor in the painting process, replaced the position of the spraygun that is not fixed.
Human factors, ergonomics, and safety
Dipon Roy; Sohyung Cho; Goksu Avdan
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to develop a framework utilizing the Constant Returns to Scale (CCR) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance of workers and ergonomic risk and identify their postural models from efficient frontiers. Surface Electromyography (EMG) data and upper ...
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The purpose of the study was to develop a framework utilizing the Constant Returns to Scale (CCR) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance of workers and ergonomic risk and identify their postural models from efficient frontiers. Surface Electromyography (EMG) data and upper limb joint angle data were collected from volunteers (Decision-Making Units (DMUs) to carry out the DEA analysis. The data was collected for both maximum voluntary isometric contractions (MVC) and simple dynamic exercises. The DEA analysis was performed in several phases, including problem formulation and Single-Input-Multiple-Output (SIMO) model analysis. The study used muscle activation levels and upper limb joint angles to evaluate the ergonomic risks and performance of workers and identify role models for typical workers to follow. The study found that incorporating kinematics and EMG data into the DEA model's CCR framework identified efficient frontiers for workers who exhibit less muscle activation and use optimal arm angles while performing their work. The study also showed that workers can learn from their role models who exhibit efficient techniques, including the appropriate arm angle for performing a particular task, to improve their own efficiency. By following these superior work procedures, workers can increase their efficiency, reduce the risk of musculoskeletal problems, and enhance their output. The study concluded that the DEA framework utilizing the CCR model, combined with kinematics and EMG data, can assist in determining the performance of workers and best practices for workers to improve their performance and reduce ergonomic risk.
Esmat Baktash; Behjat Amoushahi; Mohammad Mehdi Behdad
Volume 1, Issue 2 , June 2014, , Pages 59-73
Abstract
DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) is a linear programming method whose main purpose is comparing and evaluating a number of similar decision making units with different amounts of input and output. Using this method, one can rank efficient and inefficient companies and then among the efficient companies, ...
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DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) is a linear programming method whose main purpose is comparing and evaluating a number of similar decision making units with different amounts of input and output. Using this method, one can rank efficient and inefficient companies and then among the efficient companies, identify the efficiency frontier. In ranking stock companies, one of the factors which have been overlooked in previous research is “Intellectual Capital” index. In this paper, based on this index, along with financial indices, the petrochemical companies listed on the stock exchange have been ranked by means of Data Envelopment Analysis method and then efficient and inefficient companies have been identified. Subsequently, employing Benchmark Approach, efficient units have been ranked. Also, to determine the importance of inputs, by applying Sensitivity Analysis, the model has been solved three times, each time removing one of the inputs and the difference between the obtained values and the values gotten from the primal model has been calculated. The results of the study show that among the 16 companies under study, 9 units have been known to be efficient and the “Intellectual Capital” index, as an input in DEA model, has a significant role in evaluating these units.
Supply chain management
Alireza Goli; Mani Bakhshi; Erfan Babaee Tirkolaee
Abstract
Iran is among the ten disaster-prone countries and, in terms of the earthquake, it has been ranked the sixth in the world. Although the damages caused by the disasters are not irreversible from different aspects, they could be minimized by performing appropriate preventions as well as preparing plans ...
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Iran is among the ten disaster-prone countries and, in terms of the earthquake, it has been ranked the sixth in the world. Although the damages caused by the disasters are not irreversible from different aspects, they could be minimized by performing appropriate preventions as well as preparing plans to counteract the impacts of such incidents. According to the increasing trend of disasters and crises, which hardly damage businesses and communities, providing relief supply chain for crisis situations (HDRSC) is necessary and vital in the wide field of supply chain management (SCM). Even though considerable attempts have been performed in the field of supply chain focusing on the disaster relief, few studies have addressed its complex features and properties. This paper concentrates on the activities such as demand determination and supply chain coordination by field study and best review of best-related research. This research provides a framework for supply chain managers in crisis, who face similar problems in other environments, with valuable insights.
Somayeh Maleki; Farzad Movahedi Sobhani
Volume 2, Issue 2 , June 2015, , Pages 86-96
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the ability to apply quality cost information and planning and implementing quality improvement activities. The factors leading to increase in application capacity of quality cost information in organizations are also explored in ...
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The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the ability to apply quality cost information and planning and implementing quality improvement activities. The factors leading to increase in application capacity of quality cost information in organizations are also explored in this study. The research model explains how the application capacity of quality cost information affects the planning and implementation of quality improvement activities. The research model and assumptions are examined through “structural equation model” testing approach. The findings of this research show that there is a positive and direct relationship between the application capacity of quality cost information and planning and implementation of quality improvements activities. The data used in the present study were gathered from 102 Iranian companies manufacturing automotive spare parts. Due to the volume of samples, there are limitations in generalizing the study results. This study, through identifying the factors influencing the increase in ability of an organization to apply quality cost information, offers a framework for investment and improvement of these factors with the aim of using quality cost information.
Manufacturing and Logistics
Aurpon Tahsin Shams; Kamrul Hasan
Abstract
A bottleneck machine in a production line will reduce the productivity of the whole. The results of having a bottleneck are stalls in production, supply overstock, pressure from customers, and low employee morale. This paper focuses on the identification of the bottleneck in the production process of ...
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A bottleneck machine in a production line will reduce the productivity of the whole. The results of having a bottleneck are stalls in production, supply overstock, pressure from customers, and low employee morale. This paper focuses on the identification of the bottleneck in the production process of “Bangladesh cable silpa limited” and after the identification, tries to mitigate the bottleneck. A bottleneck machine or process causes starving or blocking of parts in the system, thus, therefore, increases the non-value added time and reduces the system performance. In this work, the bottleneck process is identified by using ARENA simulation based on the highest utilization rate and longest queue length matrices. Then, the bottleneck is reduced by increasing the capacity or the number of the machine in the bottleneck process. We can see the effect of changing the capacity of the process without changing the actual production line. Calculating it in a conventional way is very time consuming too. The last step of the thesis is to do an economic analysis. Because when the capacity of the process is increased, the production rate increases but the additional capacity increases the cost of the production.
Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA
Hadi Shirouyehzad; Javid Jouzdani; Mazdak Khodadadi Karimvand
Abstract
There have been several major global outbreaks during the past decades, with the latest being the worst. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected hundreds of thousands and killed thousands in the world affecting most countries in around the globe. Outbreak response management efficiency can have a major impact ...
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There have been several major global outbreaks during the past decades, with the latest being the worst. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected hundreds of thousands and killed thousands in the world affecting most countries in around the globe. Outbreak response management efficiency can have a major impact on the outcome of the pandemic. Therefore, in this paper, the performance of most seriously affected countries regarding contagion control and medical treatment of COVID-19 is evaluated using data envelopment analysis. The efficiency values are calculated based on the conditions of the countries and the number of confirmed cases in the first step in order to create a basis for analysis according to the contagion control. In the second step the performance evaluation is done considering the total number of confirmed cases, the death cases, and the recovered cases to evaluate the efficiency of medical treatment in the countries. The countries are also classified into four groups using area chart, and for each group, some suggestions and analyses are presented. The results show the performance of the countries regarding the contagion control and medical treatment.
Fuzzy optimization
Hamiden Abdelwahed Khalifa
Abstract
In this paper, a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming (FMOLP) problem having both objective functions and constraints fuzzy parameters is introduced. Theses fuzzy parameters are characterized by trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The FMOLP problem is converted into the corresponding deterministic MOLP problem ...
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In this paper, a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming (FMOLP) problem having both objective functions and constraints fuzzy parameters is introduced. Theses fuzzy parameters are characterized by trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The FMOLP problem is converted into the corresponding deterministic MOLP problem through the use of intervals arithmetic operations. Then, a two-phase approach having equal weighted coefficients is proposed to generate an efficient solution for the MOLP problem. The major advantage of the new model is that the proposed approach as long as the weighted coefficients not necessarily equal and generates an efficient solution. A numerical example is given to clarify the obtained results.
Supply chain management
Maryam Dehghanbaghi; Azadeh Dabbaghi
Abstract
After the second-hand products return to the second-hand markets, either goods, parts, or materials are reused or disposed. For optimum sales, these products are under the process of determining the optimal warranty period and warranty policy, so that both the seller's profit and the consumer's profit ...
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After the second-hand products return to the second-hand markets, either goods, parts, or materials are reused or disposed. For optimum sales, these products are under the process of determining the optimal warranty period and warranty policy, so that both the seller's profit and the consumer's profit are met. Therefore, estimating the warranty costs for future claims on second-hand products is very necessary. In this paper, a hybrid stochastic model is presented to improve the reliability of second-hand products under the free repair replacement warranty policy to determine the level of upgrade, with the aim of reducing warranty costs. Using the upgrade actions, the model, based on three approaches, minimal-perfect repair, virtual age, and improvement factor, is developed for estimating the warranty costs of second-hand products. The contribution of this research is the application of three upgrade approaches in the warranty cost model simultaneously to estimate the warranty costs and optimum upgrade level more realistic. Finally, under different product lifetime, a numerical example and sensitivity analysis are provided. Evaluation is presented in four lifetimes for second-hand products ranging from one to four years for which the optimum upgrade level and the warranty period are determined. The results show that the higher the level of second-hand product upgrades to a certain extent, the higher the savings, but the more upgrades are not cost-effective for second-hand products.
Somayeh Hosseini Nogourani; Iraj Soltani; Mehdi Karbasian
Volume 1, Issue 3 , September 2014, , Pages 136-147
Abstract
Recognition and select appropriate strategies to improve the condition of organizations in the eve of the crisis is important. Due to proper planning horizons in strategy-focused organizations, risk and decision making under uncertainty is greatly reduced. Therefore, it's necessary to specification and ...
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Recognition and select appropriate strategies to improve the condition of organizations in the eve of the crisis is important. Due to proper planning horizons in strategy-focused organizations, risk and decision making under uncertainty is greatly reduced. Therefore, it's necessary to specification and characterization the relationship between strategic management and risk management and select the best strategy of it. Accordingly, in this paper to demonstrate a direct correlation between the results of managerial strategic decision making and environmental analysis of organizations to find its strategic condition is used compilation model that both of them in order to inappropriate condition of organization are for selection the best option. The strategic areas identified by analyzing the internal and external environment of the organization, which includes the recognition of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with the help of SWOT Matrix. Finally, based on the criteria and methods of Wald classical approaches, Hurwicz, Maximax, Savage, Laplace, mean-variance decisions are based on expectations, the most likely conditions, Expected Opportunity Loss (EOL), the cost of uncertainty, the coefficient of variation and limits of responsibility, two strategies are determined by the choice of strategies. Also research has been conducted in Epic Arya Carton and the results are presented.
Seyed Mohammad Fatemi; Mehdi Karbasian
Volume 2, Issue 3 , September 2015, , Pages 154-167
Abstract
Due to the progress of organizations and the increased competition among them, they are paying more attention to supporting factors of their operations. One of the factors that has highly been considered by organizations is enhancement of knowledge level of the organization. In recent years, organizations ...
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Due to the progress of organizations and the increased competition among them, they are paying more attention to supporting factors of their operations. One of the factors that has highly been considered by organizations is enhancement of knowledge level of the organization. In recent years, organizations have found out that they can achieve competitive advantage through enhancement of their knowledge level and thus use its advantages and realize their agility at all dimensions of the organization, because increased level of knowledge management increases agility of employees and clients besides making the organization agile. Given the importance of knowledge management and organizational agility, performance of the Municipality in Isfahan province is evaluated using the above two approaches. To this end, data envelopment analysis is employed. Then, the most important dimensions of organizational agility are determined by means of sensitivity analysis.
Supply chain management
Mona Beiranvand; Sayyed Mohammad Reza Davoodi
Abstract
Today, one of the topics in supply chain management is "multiple sales channels" and "pricing". In this research, a food producer (west Sahar Dasht Company) has been selected, and several retailers and wholesalers have been considered as the company's customers. This research dynamically solves the model ...
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Today, one of the topics in supply chain management is "multiple sales channels" and "pricing". In this research, a food producer (west Sahar Dasht Company) has been selected, and several retailers and wholesalers have been considered as the company's customers. This research dynamically solves the model through the game theory method. To obtain the equilibrium point and Stockelberg, the lower level optimal values (retailers and suppliers) are calculated based on the higher-level values (manufacturer), which turns the multi-level model into a single-level model to calculate the higher level optimal values. By presenting a case study and analyzing the sensitivity of the parameters, it was shown that some changes in the parameters have a significant effect on the problem variables, and its equilibrium model is better. Because game theory is proposed to solve problems on a small scale, and because the present problem is so complex, genetic algorithm meta-heuristic and particle aggregation optimization have been used to solve medium and large problems. To validate their results, they are compared with the results obtained from the mathematical model. Finally, comparing the performance of the two meta-heuristic algorithms through statistical analysis has shown that the particle aggregation optimization algorithm performs better than the genetic algorithm.
Case studies in industry and services
Nabil Beithou; Zaid Abu Al-Ganam
Abstract
Energy is a main factor in developing nations. Energy is almost a must for surviving with dignity. Palestine situation is different from other countries which can import their energy needs from outside. Palestinians are facing a critical shortage in energy due to Israeli Occupation. They must depend ...
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Energy is a main factor in developing nations. Energy is almost a must for surviving with dignity. Palestine situation is different from other countries which can import their energy needs from outside. Palestinians are facing a critical shortage in energy due to Israeli Occupation. They must depend on the naturally available energy to survive in dignity and develop their lives. In this paper, the scope of using geothermal energy in Palestine is taken into consideration, its availability and practical applications, as a source of renewable energy, which is identified by the reliability and sustainability. It has been found that the Palestinians should depend on their own free energy; geothermal energy has a notable role in reducing the residential energy consumption especially for the heating and cooling purposes. Geothermal energy could also be used to reduce the electrical bill that overloading the Palestinians shoulders by using low temperature geothermal water in generating electricity.
Hamiden Khalifa
Abstract
Investment problem is one of the most important and interesting optimization problems. This problem becomes more difficult when we deal with it in an uncertain and vague environment with chaos data. This paper attempts to study the investment problem with uncertain return data. These data are represented ...
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Investment problem is one of the most important and interesting optimization problems. This problem becomes more difficult when we deal with it in an uncertain and vague environment with chaos data. This paper attempts to study the investment problem with uncertain return data. These data are represented as chaos numbers. Dynamic programming is applied to obtain the optimal policy and the corresponding best return. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the utility, effectiveness, and applicability of the approach to the problem.
Engineering Optimization
Burak Omer Saracoglu; Miguel De Simón Martín
Abstract
The design of Renewable Energy Power Plants (REPPs) is crucial not only for the investments' performance and attractiveness measures, but also for the maximization of resource (source) usage (e.g. sun, water, and wind) and the minimization of raw materials (e.g. aluminum: Al, cadmium: Cd, iron: Fe, silicon: ...
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The design of Renewable Energy Power Plants (REPPs) is crucial not only for the investments' performance and attractiveness measures, but also for the maximization of resource (source) usage (e.g. sun, water, and wind) and the minimization of raw materials (e.g. aluminum: Al, cadmium: Cd, iron: Fe, silicon: Si, and tellurium: Te) consumption. Hence, several appropriate and satisfactory Multi-Objective Problems (MOPs) are mandatory during the REPPs' design phases. MOPs related tasks can only be managed by very well organized knowledge acquisition on all REPPs' design equations and models. The proposed MOPs need to be solved with one or more multi-objective algorithm, such as Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs). In this respect, the first aim of this research study is to start gathering knowledge on the REPPs' MOPs. The second aim of this study is to gather detailed information about all MOEAs and available free software tools for their development. The main contribution of this research is the initialization of a proposed multi-objective evolutionary algorithm knowledge acquisition system for renewable energy power plants (MOEAs-KAS-F-REPPs) (research and development loopwise process: develop, train, validate, improve, test, improve, operate, and improve). As a simple representative example of this knowledge acquisition system research with two selective and elective proposed standard objectives (as test objectives) and eight selective and elective proposed standard constraints (as test constraints) are generated and applied as a standardized MOP for a virtual small hydropower plant design and investment. The maximization of energy generation (MWh) and the minimization of initial investment cost (million €) are achieved by the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA), the Niched Sharing Genetic Algorithm/Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-I), and the NSGA-II algorithms in the Scilab 6.0.0 as only three standardized MOEAs amongst all proposed standardized MOEAs on two desktop computer configurations (Windows 10 Home 1709 64 bits, Intel i5-7200 CPU @ 2.7 GHz, 8.00 GB RAM with internet connection and Windows 10 Pro, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20 GHz, 6,00 GB RAM with internet connection). The algorithm run-times (computation time) of the current applications vary between 20.64 and 59.98 seconds.
Ehsan Hashemi; Reza Tavakkoli Moghadam; Mehdi Bashiri
Volume 1, Issue 4 , October 2014, , Pages 208-229
Abstract
The attestation towards environmental, statutory obligations and economic interests arising from rehabilitation operations in recent years has led to more focus on reverse logistics operations. To this end, integration of the design of reverse and forward logistics networks which results in prevention ...
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The attestation towards environmental, statutory obligations and economic interests arising from rehabilitation operations in recent years has led to more focus on reverse logistics operations. To this end, integration of the design of reverse and forward logistics networks which results in prevention of sub optimality due to separated design of these networks is of high significance. This model discusses a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model for the integrated design of multi-level and multi-commodity forward-reverse supply chain network. In the end, the calculation results of the proposed model solution have been presented via GAMS software in order to locate facilities, determine the relationship between facilities and raw material procurement rate and production rate. The result of the solved multi-purpose models has corroborated the single-purpose models and it shows the efficiency of the used methods.
