Volume 2 Issue 2
Authors: Jim Lee; Anthony J. Gaspard; Jalel Ben Hmida
Abstract: Equipment maintenance programs in oilfield service companies today are not designed to handle complex oilfield equipment. In many instances, equipment that returns from a job is washed, painted, and reinstated for service without any type of special maintenance, inspection, or performance evaluation for its mechanized components. By short cutting the maintenance requirements, equipment availability increases but equipment reliability decreases. According to internal records, a local oil service company experienced a loss in revenue of $300,000 over a seven-month period directly attributable to issues of non-performance of its equipment. This research suggests that a Total Quality Management (TQM) based equipment maintenance program that focuses on employee empowerment and structured communication channel can reduce equipment failure and downtime. Various TQM tools are suggested to deal with the maintenance issues identified in the management level. Maintenance procedures and work instructions are then evaluated with new procedures proposed in the operational level to implement the TQM concepts.
Keywords: TQM; Oilfield Service Industry; Equipment Maintenance; Organizational Structure; Work Instructions
Authors: Mustafa Man; Mohammad Zaidi Zakaria; Mohd Shafry Mohd Rahim; Wan Aezwani Wan Abu Bakar
Abstract: Majority of the marine species relies or depends on artificial reefs as source of food. Evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency of artificial reefs (AR) is quite difficult, troublesome and costly. Evaluation of AR involves special diving task force in order to observe how AR has developed. The issue is whether the monitoring process is useful and effective? What method will be used and which agency is responsible for the monitoring? What information best measures the effectiveness of AR? In this study a prototype software application called SIDIF is used. The aim is to integrate location coordinate data of AR with the fish catches data at all identified jetties. The profile of the fishermen involved was also established. The data of fish catches will be mapped with data on location coordinate of AR as a whole via mapping and integration of three different databases combining with the fishermen boat profile database. Using this methodology, the effectiveness and efficiency of AR will be achieved. The evaluation will be measured without any diving or scuba activities.
Keywords: Artificial Reefs; SIDIF; SIDIM; Database Integration; Formal Specification; CLARANS
Authors: Komninos Angelakoglou; George Gaidajis; Vassilios Kazakidis
Abstract: The aim of the specific study is to present/evaluate the environmental and social parameters of a gold mining project in its pre-feasibility and permitting stages. The parameters are analysed and evaluated for a pioneered gold-mining project in North-Eastern Greece. Results benchmark the key environmental and social parameters for the next phase of a feasibility study. Although the economic and environmental challenges of the project can be mitigated with the existing framework, the triple bottom line of sustainable mineral resource development requires the amendment of the country’s mining act. Such an amendment will take into account the needs of the people in the region to have an effective engagement in the exploitation of mineral resources in the region, based on a negotiated tri-partite mutual agreement of impacts and benefits to company, country and region. The analysis provided in this work is expected to be useful for decision makers, managers and environmentalists related to gold-mining.
Keywords: Gold-mining; Environmental Performance; Social Assessment; Sustainable Mining; Permitting
Authors: Jassim Yousif Al-Manaa; Riyadh Mohammed Ali Hamza
Abstract: A study imitating a procedure of a Two Stages Gear Box (2SGB) assembly line layout is presented. Three balancing methods are studied in which 2SGB is assembled. These methods are Rank position weight, larger candidate rate, and Column method. The selection criterion was based on minimum assembly time for all method. Three assembly line processing layouts were developed based on output of assembly methods which are the single straight line, circle and mixed (circle + straight) processing. The best layout was found to be the line stations layout by Ranked Positional Weight Method with 4 stations and total assembly time of 4.25 minutes per gearbox. Each station has one worker, the service time of 1.1 minutes, line balancing efficiency was 0.964, and labor efficiency was 0.8884.
Keywords: Manual Assembly Line; Assembly Balancing Methods; Gearbox Assembly Line
Authors: Kazuhiro ESAKI
Abstract: ISO/IEC25000 (SQuaRE) series set of standards, which can be used for quality requirement and evaluation of system development and acquisition project. ISO/IEC25030 was published in 2007, which support to specifying a quality requirement for system and software products. ISO/IEC25040 was published in 2011, which support to quality evaluation for systems. Currently ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 have published ISO/IEC250241:2012. Quality requirement and evaluation of system can be performed from the view point of system and software product quality model defined in ISO/IEC25010, 25012, 25020 and quality measurement of system can be executed by using the measurement method defined in ISO/IEC2502n. This paper proposes the importance of quality requirement and evaluation approach by using ISO/IEC25000 series of international standards.
Keywords: Systems and software quality; Quality requirement; Quality evaluation; Quality model; Quality in use; Quality characteristic; Quality attribute; Quality measure; Internal measure; External measure; Evaluation process
Authors: Georgiana Toader; Gabriel Radu; Gabriel Jinga; Mihaela Dumitrana
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that a knowledge manager is able to lead an organization from a low position on the market to a high position with an important benefit generated by operating activity. This objective will be applied to the architectural organizations, namely those entities that undertake architect and design services for their customers. The main characteristics of the architect services entities consist of the high level of specialization required by each project developed (i.e. the design plan of a house is different of those for an office building) and the necessity to assess the profitability rate of each project in order to attain the overall targeted profit. Why for architectural organizations? Because our team has analyzed the activity of 20 architectural small and medium size companies from Bucharest and the conclusions were unfavorable for those companies. Some of our conclusions are as follows: the activity of all companies was generating loss; managers are not economists and they did not know to ask for appropriate accounting information to sustain good decisions; strategies were inexistent; the market was unknown, etc. Thus, the general conclusion was: without knowledge it is impossible for managers to ensure the success of a company. Knowledge managers should possess varied backgrounds such as: information sciences, organizational behavior, culture, processes, business management, economic information, etc. So, in our opinion, to create knowledge managers, three steps are to be followed: 1) the creation of a culture by learning, 2) the practical application of learning effects, 3) share the best practices. All these steps are important, but the first step will ensure a strong background for managers, because they need to understand that without information it is impossible to decide how and where the organization will go. Based on these arguments, our team has decided to help those organizations by demonstrating the importance of all kind of information in the decision making process, especially economic information and how and when that information must be provided. Consequently, we have conceived a model for a particular Balance Scorecard for architectural organizations, in order to summarize only the most important information that must be known by managers. We think that information about costs, costs component, cost calculation for different types of products, target prices, target profits, number of products that must be sold for a target profit, the level of the price that may be negotiated, are very important for a manager. Another model that was conceived by our team concerns cost management in order to realize the profitability objective.
Keywords: Knowledge Managers; Knowledge Management; Performance; Cost; Balance Scorecard