PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Year:2014 | Volume:4 | Issue:2 (7)|Papers Count:8

Selection of qualified human resources is a key success factor for a manufacturing and industrial organization. The aim of this study is to propose a Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (FMCDM) approach for evaluating the alternative options with respect to the decision-makers preferences. Two fuzzy FMCDM approaches have been proposed for solving the personnel selection MCDM problem in Ghadir Iranian Steel Company. They include Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS); the former is applied to determine the relative weights of the evaluation criteria in personnel selection (main and secondary components); and the latter is applied to rank the alternatives (personnel). Findings show that the proposed approaches are viable in solving the problem. When the ratings in some aspects are vague and imprecise، Fuzzy MCDM approach is a preferred solution.

Time-cost trade-off (TCT) problem is a well-known subject in the project scheduling contexts. None of previous studies in this area of research emphasize on the incorporation of the TCT problem into the started project’s performance in order to present a comprehensive model for scheduling and controlling the project in its whole life. The aim of this paper is to provide a novel control mechanism which includes scheduling the project prior to start date، monitoring the project’s performance through the execution، predicting future performance of the project، determining the necessity for re-scheduling، and providing an approach for re-scheduling of the project. In the proposed model، several options with specific time and cost have been considered for the initiation of each activity. These options make different paths for the construction of the project. Due to vagueness and imprecision presented in real case projects، the time and cost behavior for each option has been presumed as fuzzy numbers. Earned Value Management (EVM) has been then utilized for measuring project performance and ultimately، statistical modeling has been also employed in predicting the future trend of EVM’s indices. The model has resulted in selection of the best path for implementation purpose among all available paths. Moreover، the proposed model provides the advantage of assessing the possibility of rescheduling process. An illustrative case has been studied to analyze the application of the proposed model.

Inventory control is an important subject in supply chain management. In this paper, a three echelon production, distribution, inventory system composed of one producer, two wholesalers and a set of retailers has been considered. Costumers' demands follow a compound Poisson process and the inventory policy is a kind of continuous review (R, Q). In this paper, regarding the standard cost structure in an inventory model, the cost function of system has been approximated using Response Surface Methodology as a combination of designed experiments, simulation, regression analysis and optimization. The proposed methodology in this paper can be applied as a novel method in optimization of inventory policy of supply chains. Also, the joint optimization of inventory parameters, including reorder point and batch order size, is another advantage of the proposed methodology.

In Iran Khodro Khorasan, inventory replenishment policy of some items is based on certain simple model (Wilson model). Sometimes because of some reasons, goods reception may not be achieved at the planned time. This state is called as critical situation because the production line is on the eve of stop. The purpose of this paper is to present different inventory replenishment policies in critical situation. For each policy, the cost function that includes cost of line stop, ordering cost, holding cost and transportation cost has been modeled and through its minimization, vehicle type and optimal order quantity have been determined. This model has been used numerically for two items of Iran Khodro Khorasan. Findings show that applying the proposed policy leads to saved cost compared to the current policy of Iran Khodro Khorasan.

At global level, each customer expects efficiency, quality and reliability with least competitive cost and product performance will be improved by using different reliability strategies and techniques. In this study, a conceptual and practical model has been proposed for planning and reliability strategic management in High-Tech new products development to determine and optimize reliability strategies at managerial and engineering levels, using two-level planning. At managerial level, the originality TORC matrix as well as optimizes strategies have been utilized and connected to the objectives of the organization via an originality model to assimilate zero and an linear programming model with quantitative strategic planning matrix and Yager fuzzy multi criteria model. At the engineering level, the reliability allocation strategies in High-Tech products has been proposed and then optimized. The study has been investigated in the space camera product and eight strategies of the 15 strategies at management level and one allocation strategy of 12 strategies for the reliability allocation at engineering level, have been selected as the best strategies for the space camera development based on reliability. By utilizing the designed model in this paper, managers are able to make best decisions and reliability strategies for High-Tech new products development, thereby, determining special purposes to reach huge goals.

In this paper a novel, bi-objective mixed-integer mathematical programming has been proposed for a distribution network problem. One objective function minimizes the total purchasing, transportation and holding costs and the another objective minimizes the total amount of delayed or before time deliveries multiplied by respective durations, named "JIT distribution". Supplying the customer demand, holding and delivering products at warehouse are the most important constraints considered in this model. This model has been designed for a three-echelon distribution network consisting multiple suppliers, wholesalers and retailers to distribute multiple products with a deterministic amount of demand through either direct or indirect channels in a planning horizon. Since real-sized problems of the resulting bi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) cannot be solved with exact methods, a multi objective particle swarm algorithm (MOPSO) is designed of which, quality in small-sized problems is compared with the solutions obtained by the LINGO software. The computational results show that the proposed MOPSO algorithm finds good solutions in shorter times than LINGO and has acceptable running times in large-scale problems.

Suppliers are one of the most vital parts of supply chain whose operation has significant indirect effect on customer satisfaction. Since customer's expectations from organization are different, organizations should consider different standards, respectively. There are many researches in this field using different standards and methods in recent years. The purpose of this study is to propose an approach for choosing a supplier in a food manufacturing company considering cost, quality, service, type of relationship and structure standards of the supplier organization. To evaluate supplier according to the above standards, the fuzzy inference system has been used. Input data of this system includes supplier's score in any standard that is achieved by AHP approach and the output is final score of each supplier. Finally, a supplier has been selected that although is not the best in price and quality, has achieved good score in all of the standards.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between informal learning, job satisfaction, burn out and mental health among workers of Esfahan Steel Company. The research approach is typically descriptive and causal - solidarity and for data analysis and syntheses, descriptive statistics solution have been used including mean value, standard deviation and frequency percentages and the inferential statistics solutions included multiple correlation coefficient, Pearson correlation, multivariate analysis of variance and path analysis. In this study, the correlation between informal learning and job satisfaction and the correlation between burn out and job satisfaction level have been found significant at P 0.01. The correlation coefficient between burn out and mental health as well as mental health and job satisfaction have not been found as significant. Findings imply that burnout and informal learning can predict job satisfaction. Norelation ship has been observed between informal learning and burn out and between informal learning and mental health, while the relationships between informal learning and job satisfaction and between burn out and job satisfaction have been confirmed. The conceptual model of research has been evaluated using path analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Findings denote the direct effect of informal learning on job satisfaction and indirect effect of burn out on job satisfaction. Referring to the Structural Equation Modeling, among three main paths, the effect of informal learning and burn out on job satisfaction has been observed and it has been found that mental health has no effect on job satisfaction. Major limitation of this research is related to generalization of findings to other steel manufacturing companies, industries and public organizations.