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The article proves and substantiates the necessity of introducing the concept of educational engineering into the educational process. Various definitions of the terms 'engineering' and 'educational engineering' are analyzed and considered. The main task of engineering in the educational process is determined in the article along with the reasons that stimulate the introduction of educational engineering into pedagogy. The definition of educational engineering is formulated determining the considered term as a model with certain characteristics. The article proposes the concept of educational engineering, which is based on the categories 'Educational product' and 'Educational product life cycle' and includes a system of principles for implementing an engineering approach to creating such products. The definitions of basic terms are proposed and the structure of the educational product life cycle is characterized. The phases of the educational product life cycle and its phasic states are described. The principles for educational product developing are formulated. The article contains a conclusion about the possibilities for implementing the presented concept of educational engineering.

Nowadays, along with the application of new-generation information technologies in industry and manufacturing, the big data-driven manufacturing era is coming. However, although various big data in the entire product lifecycle, including product design, manufacturing, and service, can be obtained, it can be found that the current research on product lifecycle data mainly focuses on physical products rather than virtual models. Besides, due to the lack of convergence between product physical and virtual space, the data in product lifecycle is isolated, fragmented, and stagnant, which is useless for manufacturing enterprises. These problems lead to low level of efficiency, intelligence, sustainability in product design, manufacturing, and service phases. However, physical product data, virtual product data, and connected data that tie physical and virtual product are needed to support product design, manufacturing, and service. Therefore, how to generate and use converged cyber-physical data to better serve product lifecycle, so as to drive product design, manufacturing, and service to be more efficient, smart, and sustainable, is emphasized and investigated based on our previous study on big data in product lifecycle management. In this paper, a new method for product design, manufacturing, and service driven by digital twin is proposed. The detailed application methods and frameworks of digital twin-driven product design, manufacturing, and service are investigated. Furthermore, three cases are given to illustrate the future applications of digital twin in the three phases of a product respectively.

The paper presents an approach to describing technological inheritance as a pattern of changing loading programs under the influence of the loading history of the metal of the surface layer at the previous stages of processing. The loading program represents the regularity of the accumulation of deformation under conditions of a change in the stress state in the process of deformation and determines the regularities of the accumulation of metal damage during the processing and operation of the product. The proposed approach makes it possible to assess the accumulation of deformation and damage to the metal of the surface layer at all stages of the product life cycle.

Purpose Supply chains evolve and change in size, shape and configuration, and in how they are coordinated, controlled and managed. Some supply chains are mature and relatively unchanging. Some are subject to significant change. New supply chains may emerge and evolve for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of supply chain evolution and address the question “What makes a supply chain like it is?” Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses and develops key aspects, concepts and principal themes concerning the emergence and evolution of supply chains over their lifecycle. Findings The paper defines the supply chain lifecycle and identifies six factors that interact and may affect a supply chain over its lifecycle – technology and innovation, economics, markets and competition, policy and regulation, procurement and sourcing, supply chain strategies and re-engineering. A number of emergent themes and propositions on factors affecting a supply chain’s characteristics over its lifecycle are presented. The paper argues that a new science is needed to investigate and understand the supply chain lifecycle. Practical implications Supply chains are critical for the world economy and essential for modern life. Understanding the supply chain lifecycle and how supply chains evolve provides new perspectives for contemporary supply chain design and management. Originality/value The paper presents detailed analysis, critique and reflections from leading researchers on emerging, evolving and mature supply chains.

We analyze product design implications of extended producer responsibility (EPR)-based take-back legislation on durable goods. In particular, we observe that durable product design incentives under EPR may involve an inherent trade-off that has not been explored to date: Durable goods producers can respond to EPR by making their products more recyclable or more durable, where the former decreases the unit recycling cost and the latter reduces the volume the producer has to recycle. When these two design attributes do not go hand in hand, as is the case for many product categories, product design implications of EPR can be counterintuitive. We find that more stringent collection targets (defined as the portion of total product volume to be collected) or recycling targets (defined as the portion of each collected product unit to be recycled) may imply reduced recyclability or durability. Moreover, although collection and recycling targets appear to be similar EPR implementation levers for increasing the total amount of materials recycled, they, in fact, have opposing effects in driving producers’ design choices. As a result, EPR may have unintended consequences for the environment. A calibrated numerical study on the photovoltaic panel (PVP) industry allows us to show that more stringent EPR requirements (such as those proposed by the recent recast of the WEEE directive) can lead to a PVP technology choice with lower recyclability and higher durability and, consequently, result in higher greenhouse gas emissions. These results call for a careful analysis of the benefits of EPR legislation in the context of durable goods. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3072 . This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

PurposeOver the past years, collaborative robots have been introduced as a new generation of industrial robotics working alongside humans to share the workload. These robots have the potential to enable human–robot collaboration (HRC) for flexible automation. However, the deployment of these robots in industrial environments, particularly in assembly, still comprises several challenges, of which one is skills-based tasks distribution between humans and robots. With ever-decreasing product life cycles and high-mix low volume production, the skills-based task distribution is to become a frequent activity. This paper aims to present a methodology for tasks distribution between human and robot in assembly work by complexity-based tasks classification.Design/methodology/approachThe assessment method of assembly tasks is based on the physical features of the components and associated task description. The attributes that can influence assembly complexity for automation are presented. Physical experimentation with a collaborative robot and work with several industrial cases helped to formulate the presented method.FindingsThe method will differentiate the tasks with higher complexity of handling, mounting, human safety and part feeding from low-complexity tasks, thereby simplifying collaborative automation in HRC scenario. Such structured method for tasks distribution in HRC can significantly reduce deployment and changeover times.Originality/valueAssembly attributes affecting HRC automation are identified. The methodology is presented for evaluating tasks for assigning to the robot and creating a work–load balance forming a human–robot work team. Finally, an assessment tool for simplified industrial deployment.

This study examines the effect of online reviews on new product sales for consumer electronics and video games. Analyses of panel data of 332 new products from Amazon.com over nine months reveal that the valence of reviews and the volume of page views have a stronger effect on search products, whereas the volume of reviews is more important for experience products. The results also show that the volume of reviews has a significant effect on new product sales in the early period and such effect decreases over time. Moreover, the percentage of negative reviews has a greater effect than that of positive reviews, confirming the negativity bias. Thus, marketers need to consider the distinctive influences of various aspects of online reviews when launching new products and devising e-marketing strategies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Physical instabilities of proteins in the form of protein aggregation continue to be a major challenge in the development of protein drug candidates. Aggregation can occur during different stages of product lifecycle such as freeze–thaw, manufacturing, shipping, and storage, and can potentially delay commercialization of candidates. A lack of clear understanding of the underlying mechanism(s) behind protein aggregation and the potential immunogenic reactions renders the presence of aggregates in biotherapeutic products undesirable. Understanding and minimizing aggregation can potentially reduce immunogenic responses and make protein therapeutics safer. Therefore, it is imperative to identify, understand, and control aggregation during early formulation development and develop reliable and orthogonal analytical methodologies to detect and monitor levels of aggregation. Freezing and thawing are typical steps involved in the manufacturing of drug product and could result in complex physical and chemical changes, which in turn could potentially cause protein aggregation. This study provides a systematic approach in understanding and selecting the ideal freeze–thaw conditions for manufacturing of protein-based therapeutics. It identifies the importance of balancing different excipients with an overall goal of sufficiently reducing or eliminating aggregation and developing a stable and scalable formulation. The results demonstrated that the freeze–thaw damage of mAb-1 in aqueous solutions was significantly reduced by identification of optimal freeze–thaw conditions using first a small-scale model with subsequent at-scale verifications. The work provides a framework for successful transfer of drug product manufacturing process from small-scale to the manufacturing scale production environment especially for molecules that are susceptible to freeze–thaw induced degradations.

This paper consists in a review of environmental issues of additive manufacturing technologies, mainly in those related to fused deposition modelling. The versatility, reduction of equipment costs due to patents expiring and the great flexibility offered by 3D printers have driven the amazing increase of these technologies in the last years. On the other hand, the democratization of additive manufacturing also poses some issues regarding environment; it is important to also have into account the potential effects of these technologies in the environment, coming from energy consumption, materials, and wastes produced. A review of different research works dealing with environmental impact of additive manufacturing, such as products’ life cycle assessment, energy and materials consumption, and particles and gases releases (mainly due to health issues), has been performed. The assessment performed has helped highlighting the importance of environmental issues in additive manufacturing, according to the number of published papers. The main findings are the importance of establishing a method for applying eco-design principles taking into account the specific features of additive manufacturing.