Industrial Engineering & Management

This paper takes a preliminary step towards realizing the internationalization of Japanese convenience stores and investigates the localization process of Taiwan FamilyMart. The development process of Taiwan FamilyMart can be divided into three broad stages: market entry (1988 to 1993), growth (1994 to 2005), and maturity (2006 to 2014). This paper discusses how Japanese FamilyMart transferred its expertise and know-how to the Taiwanese market through these three stages with a focus on five-point critical success factors. This study’s research method uses survey analysis conducted via interviews with company executives and historical information collected from newspapers, magazines, and other secondary data. A combination of prior research and author own preliminary studies on the Japanese founded company suggests that a five-point summary explains FamilyMart’s critical success factors in the evolution of Japanese convenience stores: (1) The number of franchise stores exceeds corporate stores. (2) Sales for the ready-to-eat food category, such as the rice ball, are greater in Japan than in other countries. (3) The joint product distribution system with the manufacturer is crucial to operations. (4) The efficiency of chain management is enhanced by information systems. (5) Service, quality, and cleanliness (S&QC) are considered the fundamental responsibility of retailers. The results of this study show that Taiwan FamilyMart successfully managed the five-point critical success factors for effective Japanese convenience store operations despite initial barriers to knowledge transfer. Significantly, FamilyMart achieved market entry by establishing joint venture arrangements whereby local partners were granted majority management and encouraged to pursue innovation. This represents a core success factor. However, in addition to capital investment the company supported the technical expertise of local companies by maximizing resources. FamilyMart combined the contributions of the parent company Itochu Corporation and its related companies and suppliers in the domestic market to aid overseas development in the Taiwan local market. In conclusion, this study finds that barriers to knowledge transfer were overcome by establishing joint ventures with local partners, encouraging innovation, and applying effective strategies that aligned with the market context.

This paper examines the unique motivations and strategies for outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) undertaken by Chinese multinationals, and addresses the challenges associated with these unique motivations and strategies. The findings show that Chinese OFDI is significantly driven by strategic asset seeking, and state ownership serves as a unique type of ownership advantages. Chinese multinationals typically use aggressive modes such as wholly-owned subsidiaries and acquisitions to enter foreign markets, but the associated challenges of those aggressive modes in post-entry integration are not negligible. This paper provides a comprehensive view on theory of Chinese OFDI and offers practical guidance for Chinese multinationals in their global expansion by outlining the strategies and challenges of Chinese OFDI.

Planning for the delivery of a product to customers becomes more efficient and demand from customers becomes more stable. Lean manufacturing is a set of tools and techniques and has been widely adopted by many production companies. A more continuous flow results in items being moved immediately from one workstation to the next as soon as they are ready. Lean manufacturing is a performance based process used in manufacturing organizations to increase competitive advantage. The basics of lean manufacturing employ continuous improvement processes to focus on the elimination of waste or non-value added steps within an organization. We had shown the problems what can be appear in a M.S Industrial Components Pvt. Ltd company because of the overproduction. To affect inventory reductions, it is important to understand that inventory is created largely due to the variation that exists in the manufacturing system and that this variation. The Kanban lean manufacturing tool lets a company not only to save money but also allows reducing the lead time. All that finally, will make flexible and responsive as a business.

This research work addressed the security problem arising from the day-to-day activities of the Nigerian Port Authority and analyzed the impact this have on the overall efficiency. The secondary source of data obtained from documented facts was used extensively for this study. The documented records was extracted and compiled from the annual financial reports of the Nigeria Port Authority, for a period of four years. And method of data analysis employed were moving averages, graphical representations, quantitative description (using operation efficiency model), and the statistical t-test of hypothesis. The operational efficiencies were estimated over a period of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 with corresponding calculated values of 20.04%, 37.39%, 37.29% and 12.20% respectively. This trend shows a dramatic increase which later plummeted in 2012. The relationship between the operational efficiency and security is therefore of inverse proportionality. This means that a surge in the security challenge will adversely affect the efficiency in operations, thereby reducing the IGR (Internally Generated Revenue). From the statistical test of hypothesis estimated, it is apparent that the null hypotheses are to be rejected. The study therefore concluded that the security measures improvement have significant impact on the overall operational efficiency of a container ports. This is noticeable in the trend line generated by the Microsoft excel 2013®.

Cork wastes and by-products were used as raw materials to access sustainable biopolyols in a fast and clean manner. Contributing for the mitigation of a residue recorded as industrial residues in the European waste catalogue and hazardous waste list reducing, therefore, its environmental impact. Cork powder resulting from the cork industry as a waste and/or by-products with no commercial value was subjected to liquefaction in 2-ethyl hexanol/DEG in the presence of p-toluene sulfuric acid. Microwave radiation was used as the heating source. Pulsed microwaves from 150-300 W power were applied for 5-20 min. This alternative energy source was successfully applied leading to a high conversion of cork powder into liquid biopolyols. The efficiency of liquefaction increased with higher microwave power and shorter reaction time. This study evidenced that cork powder can be liquidized via microwave. ATR experiments indicated that microwave led to a more intense oxidized cleavage of the lignocellulosic material and more extensive liquefaction reaction when compared to the conventional procedure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the measurement uncertainty of blade surface by coordinates measuring machines (CMMs). In the past, the measurement of blade surface by CMMs is usually measured in the vertical mode, of which the measuring probe is normal to the surface. In this paper, a rotation mode, of which the measuring probe of CMMS is not collinear with the normal of the blade surface, is presented and its feasibility is explored in measuring the blade surface. The measurement uncertainty of rotation mode by CMMs is also examined. It is found that the measurement uncertainty of the blade back is superior to that of the blade basin. Furthermore, the uncertainty at the blade bottom is inferior to that of the blade tip. The reason may be that the measurement accuracy is closely related with the surface curvature at different parts of the blade.

Fossil fuels have been used as the main energy source for the desalination technologies. The continued increase in the demand for desalinated water has resulted in rising greenhouse gas emissions and threat to available fuel reserves. Consequently, most commercial desalination processes powered by fossil fuels have significantly contributed to environmental pollution. Renewable energy comes into the picture as an environmental friendly option as well as a means of fossil energy minimization. In this paper, a review on the use of renewable energy in recent desalination processes has been carried, with a focus on wind and geothermal energy.