INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT SHARIF (SHARIF: ENGINEERING)
Year:2006 | Volume:NEW SERIES (22) | Issue:34 (ISSUE FOCUS: MANAGEMENT AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING)|Papers Count:15

QFD is a systematic process that aims to fulfill customer needs and wants. It begins with understanding of customer requirements, that is called the Voice Of the Customer (VOC) and translates these requirements to product specifications through a series of calculations within a matrix that is called the House Of Quality. (HOQ).As customer requirements are not usually explicitly available, in this research, HOQ, as a multicriteria decision making tool, is used in a fuzzy environment. Finally, to prioritize product specifications, the TOPSIS approach is used for this purpose.

Asset allocation optimization under nonsymmetrically distributed and dependent returns is required for real world applications. So far, Monte Carlo based scenario optimization methods have been most successful for such problems, but may be computationally expensive. Many methods that do not use simulated data exist when the random returns are normally distributed. A new computationally efficient method has been proposed namely, the separable probabilistic robust method that is not scenario based and directly maximizes the overall return for a given probability of non-exceedance (risk), namely the value-at-risk (VaR). A byproduct of this method is the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). In addition, a new asset allocation method that uses Monte Carlo simulations is also proposed, which retains the original size of the problem, unlike many current scenario based methods. Copula is used to model joint distributions of dependent and nonsymmetrical returns. The two new methods are tested with real world stock prices and the results are comparable to the best solutions available, in terms of the objective function value, namely, the VaR.

Diffusion of the internet has facilitated access to information in many different areas and has many advantages. However, it has also been used as a tool against privacy, as a result of which, different countries have adopted different courses of action to cope with this problem. The legal infrastructure required to protect privacy in a virtual environment, with focus on the commercial laws of Iran, is the main subject of this papers.

This article has attempted to provide a critical analysis of the received theory of Business Process Reengineering and to suggest a strategic framework, together with a number of hypotheses, for a better understanding of the theory and for improving the practice.

This paper addresses several algorithms based on the self-organizing neural network approach for distribution problems. The algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problem is elaborated and the extension of the proposed algorithm to more complex problems namely, Multiple Traveling Salesmen and Vehicle Routing is discussed. In order to investigate the performance of the algorithms an empirical study has been provided. The simulations, which are conducted on standard data, evaluate the overall performance of this approach by comparing the results with the best known or optimal solutions of the problem.

In the redesign phase of Business Process Reengineering (BPR), the scope and activity flow of business processes are recreated, independently and differently from existing situations. This is the most difficult and vague phase in BPR, without many existing guidelines. The benchmarking approach is proposed here as a framework for redesigning the new and ideal processes. The ideas may come from similar or even dissimilar businesses.

In this article, after first discussing the concept of risk, types of risk and the most important bank risks, operational risks and their measurement approaches in financial institutions will be discussed. Then, the implementation of the Basic Indicator Approach (BIA) and Standardized Approach (STA) will be demonstrated in the Bank of Industry and Mine. The outcome of this research is the determination of the capital charge to confront different types of operational risks at the Bank of Industry and Mine, using the two operational risk measurement approaches approved by the Basel Committee.The importance of implementing measurement models for operational risk stems from the fact that operational risks are curcial in financial institutions. As will be shown in the subsequent sections of this article, operational risks relate to a wide spectrum of operational losses and a determination of their magnitude will be helpful and necessary to senior management for improved managerial decision making and for a better management of the institutional operational risks.

Two very important strategies for customer satisfaction are quality improvement for the existing goods and innovation in the design of the new products by investing a reasonable amount of time and money. The necessity of optimum use of time and monetary funds requires appropriate techniques. One such technique is the Design of Experiments, which can bring about an improved design strategy with low costs within a reasonable time frame. The present work attempts to establish the merits of techniques like the Design of Experiments, as well as the Response Surface Methodology, in defining the conditions that lead to optimization of the performance of a product. More specifically, it will be established how the technical features of these methods can help to improve the weighted mean 'volumetric efficiency' of an internal combustion engine.

In this paper, a road transportation system in an Iranian province was studied to select the best combination of proposed projects, within budgetary constraints, by discrete event system simulation. To do this, first, a list of candidate projects was obtained along with their characteristics. After data collection and analysis, GPSS/H model development and validation, initial transient study, and design of the experimental phases, the developed model was applied to determine the performances of different combinations of candidate projects under different random conditions. Then, the one with the highest average utilization of the roads was chosen. The results of this paper show that if a suitable set of input data is available for similar transportation systems, then, one can benefit from this simulation study for short and long term planning.

Revenue management is an order acceptance and refusal process that employs different pricing strategies and sales tactics in hope of generating more revenue. While previously considered primarily as a tool of service operations, revenue management has considerable potential for make to stock/make to order manufacturing environments. In this paper the application of revenue management has been developed for manufacturing systems. Most notably, the model represents simultaneously the pricing and capacity planning of a product which has two different selling policies which are cash and credit. In addition, the paper conducts a case study which deals with one of the leading automobile manufactures in Iran. Finally, we consider the assessment of several scenarios by simulation in order to select the best possible option.

During the last three decades, much study has been conducted on the impact of information technology (IT) on productivity at various levels. Many of the studies consider IT implementation but emphasize the role of complementary investments that enhance and complement the IT implementation. Therefore, complementary investments, such as human capital, quality assurance, total quality management program, business process reengineering and organizational infrastructures, are proposed as the key to realizing information technology values. In this article, an effort has been made to provide satisfactory evidence from 200 Iranian car part suppliers to show that IT implementation, when rationally backed up by Organizational Infrastructures, will lead to a considerable improvement in firm performance. Results show that emphasis on organizational infrastructures, including; empowerment, decentralization, training, team work, process management and a change in interaction with suppliers, moderates the relationship between IT and firm performance.

In a petrochemical complex, transfer of the fluids essential for the production process, between different production units, with regard to the variety of raw material, semi-produced material, the final product and auxiliary material, is of great importance. This paper investigates methods for optimization of the piping layout in the main carrier channel connecting the production units. A mathematical model is first developed and optimal, heuristic and meta-heuristic methods for solving the model are described.

Response Surface Methodology is used to optimize the parameters of a process when the function that describes it is not known and the experimenter wants to find the optimal solution of process input variables by RSM.In some cases, there is more than one response and it is necessary to optimize them simultaneously. But the experimenter always knows about producer requirements (such as standards, objectives, etc.) and customer need can be another response in multiresponse surface problems. High technology industry, with more competitiveness, must continuously improve multiple correlated product quality characteristics and the consumer must assess them. This paper extends the ideas of a multiresponse surface to the tracking of dynamic optimization, with respect to customer response. Indeed, this study presents a new approach to formulate multiple response customer voice (by using Conjoint Analysis) and other responses and, also, by solving the correlated responses using a metaheuristic optimization method. The proposed procedure is illustrated with an experiment from the literature.