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"Production control Case studies."
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Grasslands—more important for ecosystem services than you might think
Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity and their social and cultural values. However, their capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services (ES) as parts of agricultural systems is surprisingly understudied compared to other production systems. We undertook a comprehensive overview of ES provided by natural and semi‐natural grasslands, using southern Africa (SA) and northwest Europe as case studies, respectively. We show that these grasslands can supply additional non‐agricultural services, such as water supply and flow regulation, carbon storage, erosion control, climate mitigation, pollination, and cultural ES. While demand for ecosystems services seems to balance supply in natural grasslands of SA, the smaller areas of semi‐natural grasslands in Europe appear to not meet the demand for many services. We identified three bundles of related ES from grasslands: water ES including fodder production, cultural ES connected to livestock production, and population‐based regulating services (e.g., pollination and biological control), which also linked to biodiversity. Greenhouse gas emission mitigation seemed unrelated to the three bundles. The similarities among the bundles in SA and northwestern Europe suggest that there are generalities in ES relations among natural and semi‐natural grassland areas. We assessed trade‐offs and synergies among services in relation to management practices and found that although some trade‐offs are inevitable, appropriate management may create synergies and avoid trade‐offs among many services. We argue that ecosystem service and food security research and policy should give higher priority to how grasslands can be managed for fodder and meat production alongside other ES. By integrating grasslands into agricultural production systems and land‐use decisions locally and regionally, their potential to contribute to functional landscapes and to food security and sustainable livelihoods can be greatly enhanced.
Journal Article
Designing and developing smart production planning and control systems in the industry 4.0 era: a methodology and case study
In furtherance of emerging research within smart production planning and control (PPC), this paper prescribes a methodology for the design and development of a smart PPC system. A smart PPC system uses emerging technologies such as the internet of things, big-data analytics tools and machine learning running on the cloud or on edge devices to enhance performance of PPC processes. It achieves this by using a wider range of data sources from the production system, capturing and utilizing the experience of production planners, using analytics and machine learning to harness insights from the data and allowing dynamic and near real-time action to the continuously changing production system. The proposed methodology is illustrated with a case study in a sweets and snacks manufacturing company, to highlight the key considerations and challenges production managers might face during its application. The case further demonstrates considerations for scalability and flexibility via a loosely coupled, service-oriented architecture and the selection of fitting algorithms respectively to address a business requirement for a short-term, multi-criteria and event-driven production planning and control solution. Finally, the paper further discusses the challenges of PPC in smart manufacturing and the importance of fitting smart technologies to planning environment characteristics.
Journal Article
Human-centred design in industry 4.0: case study review and opportunities for future research
The transition to industry 4.0 has impacted factories, but it also affects the entire value chain. In this sense, human-centred factors play a core role in transitioning to sustainable manufacturing processes and consumption. The awareness of human roles in Industry 4.0 is increasing, as evidenced by active work in developing methods, exploring influencing factors, and proving the effectiveness of design oriented to humans. However, numerous studies have been brought into existence but then disconnected from other studies. As a consequence, these studies in industry and research alike are not regularly adopted, and the network of studies is seemingly broad and expands without forming a coherent structure. This study is a unique attempt to bridge the gap through the literature characteristics and lessons learnt derived from a collection of case studies regarding human-centred design (HCD) in the context of Industry 4.0. This objective is achieved by a well-rounded systematic literature review whose special unit of analysis is given to the case studies, delivering contributions in three ways: (1) providing an insight into how the literature has evolved through the cross-disciplinary lens; (2) identifying what research themes associated with design methods are emerging in the field; (3) and setting the research agenda in the context of HCD in Industry 4.0, taking into account the lessons learnt, as uncovered by the in-depth review of case studies.
Journal Article
The Contribution of Management Control Systems to Environmental Capabilities
A growing number of companies are implementing proactive environmental strategies with the objective of gaining competitive advantage through an enhanced reputation, the reduction in production costs, and a first-mover advantage in the green product market. Yet according to the natural-resource-based view, the development and maintenance of unique and valuable environmental capabilities are the central elements allowing companies to gain financial benefit from their proactive environmental strategy. In this context, management control systems can contribute to the development of environmental capabilities by focusing attention on strategic priorities and stimulating dialogue. Through a single case study, and building on Simons' (Levers of control: how Managers use innovative control systems to drive strategic renewal, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1995) four levers of control, we propose a conceptual framework of management control levers that show how companies can enhance (1) stakeholder integration capability through the joint use of belief, boundary, and diagnostic control systems; (2) shared vision capability through the joint use of the belief and boundary systems; (3) organizational learning capability through the use of interactive control systems and to a lesser extent diagnostic control systems; and (4) continuous innovation capability through the use of interactive control systems, belief systems and to a lesser extent diagnostic control systems.
Journal Article
The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations
Purpose
– The adoption of lean operational practices and independently the uptake of business practices related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility continues to grow. Past research has hinted at relationships between these two areas – suggesting that “lean is green” (e.g. Florida, 1996). The lean mantra of waste reduction and “doing more with less” is immediately apparent as delivering environmental benefits and has formed the basis of past research (e.g. Hughes, 2012). Almost all research linking lean operations or lean supply chains to sustainability issues have focused exclusively on environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to explore the broader sustainability benefits of lean operations.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper uses a longitudinal multi-year (up to four years observation), multi-case analysis (n=5).
Findings
– The paper reports that lean operations meet a wide range of sustainability outcomes beyond environmental benefits (including supply monitoring, transparency, workforce treatment, and community engagement). The paper specifies the internal and external policies, procedures, tools, and strategies for implementation of lean and sustainable operations management (OM). This is encapsulated in the development of a stage-based theoretical model of lean-sustainability. Further, it is proposed that lean implementation and sustainability performance are in fact interlinked.
Originality/value
– Past research on the role of lean operations in improving sustainably has focused almost exclusively on environmental benefits accruing from toolkit/workplace level waste reduction. This paper demonstrates that lean provides more than a toolkit (a philosophy and strategic direction) and that this meets a wide range of sustainable outcomes. This finding makes major contributions to conceptualising how lean operations influence sustainability outcomes. The paper develops the first integrative stage-based model of lean and sustainable OM.
Journal Article
Parkinson’s disease-associated alterations of the gut microbiome predict disease-relevant changes in metabolic functions
Background
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a systemic disease clinically defined by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. While alterations in the gut microbiome composition have been reported in PD, their functional consequences remain unclear. Herein, we addressed this question by an analysis of stool samples from the Luxembourg Parkinson’s Study (
n
= 147 typical PD cases,
n
= 162 controls).
Results
All individuals underwent detailed clinical assessment, including neurological examinations and neuropsychological tests followed by self-reporting questionnaires. Stool samples from these individuals were first analysed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Second, we predicted the potential secretion for 129 microbial metabolites through personalised metabolic modelling using the microbiome data and genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of human gut microbes. Our key results include the following. Eight genera and seven species changed significantly in their relative abundances between PD patients and healthy controls. PD-associated microbial patterns statistically depended on sex, age, BMI, and constipation. Particularly, the relative abundances of
Bilophila
and
Paraprevotella
were significantly associated with the Hoehn and Yahr staging after controlling for the disease duration. Furthermore, personalised metabolic modelling of the gut microbiomes revealed PD-associated metabolic patterns in the predicted secretion potential of nine microbial metabolites in PD, including increased methionine and cysteinylglycine. The predicted microbial pantothenic acid production potential was linked to the presence of specific non-motor symptoms.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that PD-associated alterations of the gut microbiome can translate into substantial functional differences affecting host metabolism and disease phenotype.
Journal Article
The fit of Industry 4.0 applications in manufacturing logistics: a multiple case study
The fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, is expected to cause disruptive changes in industrial production. It is driven by rapid technological developments and the need for manufacturing companies to make themselves independent of high labor costs. Industry 4.0 concerns several aspects of industrial production, including manufacturing logistics, business models and products and services. The applications of Industry 4.0 have been vastly outlined. However, the fit of Industry 4.0 applications in different production environments is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the Industry 4.0 technologies that are applicable to manufacturing logistics, and how the production environment influences the applicability of these technologies. This is done through a multiple case study of four Norwegian manufacturing companies. The findings from the study indicate that the applicability of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing logistics is dependent on the production environment. Companies with a low degree of production repetitiveness see less potential in applying Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing logistics, while companies with a highly repetitive production see a higher potential.
Journal Article
Production efficiency and GHG emissions reduction potential evaluation in the crop production system based on emergy synthesis and nonseparable undesirable output DEA: A case study in Zhejiang Province, China
Maintaining crop outputs to feed its large population with limited resources while simultaneously mitigating carbon emissions are great challenges for China. Improving the efficiency of resource use in crop production is important in reducing carbon emissions. This paper constructs a methodological framework combining emergy-based indicator accounting and a nonseparable undesirable output slack-based measurement (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. This framework is used to explore the efficiency of inputs and outputs and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction potential for crop production systems, using Zhejiang province, China, as a case study. It is found that an emergy synthesis and a nonseparable undesirable output SBM-DEA framework is compatible with the case study. Crop production in Zhejiang province has relied heavily on an increase in agrochemical inputs to maintain agricultural output. Energy and chemical fertilizer use are determined as the province's major carbon emissions sources. Although carbon emissions per unit of monetary output has decreased sharply, the carbon emissions per unit emergy output has increased, demonstrating a high carbon intensity reality. The DEA highlighted the differences in crop production efficiency, resource factor redundancy and carbon mitigation potential in the different prefectures of the province. To conclude this research, policies to support low carbon agriculture development, including subsidizing low carbon agriculture technology development and expansion and the cancellation of subsidies to high carbon production factors, such as chemical fertilizer production and sales, are discussed to conclude the research.
Journal Article