Repositório RCAAP

A empresa DigitalWind, com intuito de fazer face às necessidades de reconversão do seu sistema legado de software - UEBE.Q - promoveu a criação de um projeto de I&D em parceria com o ISEP. Deste projeto, designado dySMS, resultou, entre outras coisas, a criação de um conjunto de componentes de software que permitem agilizar o referido processo de reconversão. Associado aos referidos componentes de software existe um grande volume de dados de configuração que permitem a adaptação do funcionamento do software às problemáticas inerentes de um projeto desta natureza. Uma vez que é necessária a manipulação frequente dos referidos dados de configuração, por utilizadores que não necessitam de possuir grandes conhecimentos técnicos e que a linguagem utilizada para os codificar é de baixo nível, esta tarefa revelou-se muito morosa e propensa a erros. O presente trabalho, realizado no âmbito da Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - área de especialização de Engenharia de Software, do Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), documenta o processo de investigação e desenvolvimento, que suportou a criação do componente de configuração do referido sistema de software. Para suportar a realização do referido projeto foi adotada uma abordagem orientada a modelos. Foi dada grande enfase à criação de linguagens de domínio específico, que promovem uma elevação do nível de abstração dos conceitos necessários à manipulação dos dados, permitido aos operadores realizar as tarefas de configuração recorrendo a uma linguagem muito mais próxima da linguagem do domínio de negócio. No núcleo da aplicação encontra-se uma ontologia onde são capturados os vários conceitos de negócio e as suas relações, que permite definir uma estrutura conceptual base, numa linguagem amigável e de alto nível. Com base neste componente central, foi então desenvolvido um processo de mapeamento dos referidos conceitos e relações de alto nível com as estruturas de dados complexas do software legado. Uma vez conseguido este relacionamento bidirecional, foram adicionadas várias funcionalidades para automatizar a configuração da interface de utilizador e da sua tradução em vários idiomas e das regras de autentificação e autorização de acesso a dados.

In a changing economic climate, characterized by great pressure to improve productivity and reduce costs, industries use different management approaches, with lean manufacturing being the most popular in recent years. Lean manufacturing is based on value creation for the customer and the elimination of the waste which occurs during the production process, while improving working conditions. There are eight types of waste in lean manufacturing. The well-known seven wastes are production process-oriented, while the eighth waste is directly related to management’s ability to utilize personnel. This type of manufacturing waste occurs when management in a manufacturing environment fails to ensure that all the employees’ potential talent is being well utilized. This talent refers to management’s ability to use critical thinking and continuous improvement feedback from employees to improve a lean manufacturing process. When management does not engage with manufacturing employees on topics of continuous improvement and allow employees to produce change for the better, that is considered a manufacturing waste. Although performance management and the use of the employees’ talent are crucial to ensure a competitive advantage, there is a lack of research regarding this type of waste: non-utilized talent. On the other hand, there is a lot of literature addressing process-oriented wastes. The purpose of this work is to explore this “talent waste” and identify the contributing factors for this type of waste, such as: lack of reward, lack of recognition, lack of motivation, lack of training/knowledge, organizational injustice, undefined goals, etc. A tool is also introduced which takes the form of a questionnaire that will allow managers to evaluate their workers and help them to identify if there is “talent waste” in their companies, as well as the main causes related to this type of waste. To the authors’ knowledge this work is innovative and valuable because it will help companies increase employees’ performance, which is very important for organization sustainability.

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest the use of several lean tools that can be used, indicating the improvements that can be obtained with each of the recommended tools. The main objective is to be a contribution to the organizations, showing how they can detect the wastes in the productive flow through VSM, and at the same time to improve the quality of products through lean tools. The method presented was a case study. The various lean tools were also collected and described. This chapter intends to show several lean tools that can be applied in different situations, as well as, the wastes that each can eliminate and the benefits that are obtained from each one. Throughout the production process, with the support of Value Stream Mapping (VSM), it was possible to detect several wastes. A case study is presented as results from a work carried out in a company that is dedicated to the production of mechanical equipment. This work can be a guide to support organizations that wish to start their lean road. Smart value creation remains today dependent on the maturity of how lean management tools are applied. Lean, innovative technologies, critical knowledge, talent and big data need other dimensions to be sustainable. Quality and safety continuous improvement through lean tools, as well as, Industry 4.0 assumes a critical pillar for the new journey toward the future of our organizations.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de streaming de vídeo, o qual pode utilizar técnicas de adaptação de qualidade implementado com protocolo HTTP. Existem diversas técnicas para codificar o vídeo para que se possa criar um streaming, entre elas existem MPEGDASH, HLS e o MMT, que são estudadas neste trabalho. Com uma particularidade do MPEGDASH que foi utilizado no estudo de caso. Este trabalho apresenta também uma visão do ATSC 3.0, padrão já utilizado na Coreia do Sul e que faz uso de alguns segmentos do MPEGDASH, denominado ROUTE/DASH. O estudo de caso apresenta resultados de comutação de banda, que possibilita a visualização da mudança de imagem codificada em MPEGDASH.

O presente estudo foi realizado no âmbito do Relatório Final de Estágio do Mestrado de Ensino em Inglês no 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e visa identificar e compreender as potencialidades e limitações da utilização do jogo como recurso didático no ensino e aprendizagem do Inglês no 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (CEB). Este estudo apoia-se na convicção de vários estudiosos de que o jogo é essencial ao crescimento e desenvolvimento integral da criança, considerando que o jogo acompanha os humanos durante a sua vida inteira. Deste modo, são muitos os benefícios apontados aos jogos em contexto educativo. Considera-se que o jogo como recurso didático constitui uma estratégia útil e eficaz, sendo um aliado do professor (Silva, 2009) e uma forma deste se aproximar da linguagem e do mundo das crianças. O estudo empírico que se desenvolveu na Prática de Ensino Supervisionada (PES) insere-se numa metodologia qualitativa com contornos de estudo de caso, recorrendo-se à análise documental (planos de aula e reflexões) e ao inquérito por questionário aplicado a 83 alunos e duas professoras. Os resultados obtidos permitem afirmar que, no contexto estudado, o jogo enquanto recurso didático no ensino e na aprendizagem do Inglês como Língua Estrangeira (LE) tem mais potencialidades do que limitações, revelando-se promotor do desenvolvimento das competências preconizadas nas Aprendizagens Essenciais (AE), no Perfil do Aluno à Saída da Escolaridades Obrigatória (PA) e no Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para as Línguas (QECR).

The Hospital Pharmacy of a Local Health Unit (LHU) in greater Oporto plays a major role in the community. In addition to providing medicines to the entire Internal Unit, it has created a service called "Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy", which allows continued hospital treatments at home, in a more comfortable and familiar environment. This is mostly due uderfunding which has hindered recruitment of health professionals as well a growing concern for the comfort of patients as they convalesce. The Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy's main problems are both recurring stock-outs and over-stocks; the fact that medicines's delivery routes are not completed, and that medical staff lacks awareness of the techniques to overcome the logistic issues involved. As a methodology, a context analysis was carried out, KPI's were created to quantify the problems and raise health professionals' awareness of what was happening. Solutions for storage were analysed and visits were made to a central hospital to analyse the solutions adopted to solve the same problems. The most appropriate inventory management policies were considered for the organization of existing and further resources. We chose to create an Advanced Warehouse with Level Replenishment. The levels were defined considering the demand of each medicine and divided into three different classes to use the best strategy for each type of demand. Then, and with the help of the LHU IT team, the inventory management module of the information system was parameterized, so stock replenishment could be done electronically. All these changes resulted in a 30 % reduction in stock-out. At the beginning of the study, stock-outs would reach peaks of 6 %. These were reduced to 4.5 % at a point at which professionals were already more aware of the logistic problem, and finally to 1.5 %, in the final phase, at a time when the proposal had already been implemented. Over-stock was reduced by 66 %. Delivery routes were stipulated, and compliance was verified. A novel service developed to increase the well-being of patients monitored at home which it is intended to improve the service provided to the users and at the same time reduce operational costs. As a contribution to the knowledge, in addition to the case study presented to be a novelty in terms of scientific articles published because it is a service implemented in the distribution of medications to patients at home, mostly with oncologic diseases. Several methods from Lean Thinking were used, such as, Kanban System and Advanced Warehouse for inventory management levelling and optimization techniques, as well as, operational KPIs, with the purpose to reach out the improvement of program planning and evaluation. This approach resulted in some improvements, namely, the increase of the quality of the healthcare services for the population. And, in terms to reduce stock and excess stock-outs, to reduce inventory costs, setting the delivery routes, raising the entire medical team's awareness of the problem and committing to optimization a reality.

In a more and more competitive and industrialized market, it is essential that companies realize that the way forward must go through the optimization of their production processes, reducing the costs and increasing product quality. Nowadays it’s necessary to adopt innovative management models that can provide increased productivity at minimal costs, such as the Lean thinking. The metalworking industry is integrated into one of the most competitive existing markets in Portugal. Given this, it’s fundamental to reduce the waste in all sectors of the production process, using the good Lean principles and practices, such as the Single Minute Exchange of Die, also known as SMED methodology. This paper presents a project of implementing the SMED methodology in the cold profiling process, in a population of five different profiling machines. The results of the SMED implementation show an average OEE improvement of 10,8%.

Over the last few years, there has been a clear evolution in the suppliers of the automotive industry due to constant demands imposed by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), systematically requiring an increase in the level of quality and competitiveness of products. The continuous requirement to increase productivity in this sector makes it necessary to modernize technology and the need to monitor all production at a distance, also making the manufacturing process more autonomous. However, more traditional companies in developing countries cannot move abruptly to an integrated production and management system. Thus, it is necessary to establish an industrial implementation strategy for this type of companies. The evolution of the work method on the factory shop-floor must be gradual so that there is a greater effectiveness in the change of working paradigm. This paper aims to establish a model of gradual implementation of industry 4.0 in SMEs currently working in a traditional way, so that workers can have the opportunity to evolve in their cognitive capacities with technological evolution, promoting a symbiosis between technological change and the change of mentality, habits of work and technological knowledge of the workers. In order to test the validity of the model, it was developed a case study, through its implementation in a components’ cutting process for the automotive industry. The progress should follow the whole procedure of assembling and shipping of the intermediate product in order to increase their reliability and monitoring. A production control system based on automation and information was created, which allows the product state to be known in real time, triggering the whole process of logistics and subsequent processing in a completely automatic way. After the implementation of this pilot system, it is much simpler to proceed with the training and technological updating of the workers regarding the following processes.

Since the industrialization of the mid-19th century, the role of maintenance has become increasingly important as time moved on. Proactive maintenance has gained a crucial role, even though a lot of organizations still view it as an expense and not an investment. This paper highlights the role of KPIs and obsolescence management in maintenance operations. The first step was to create a new KPI to assess the work done in maintenance, relating it to the work done in production. Although the ISO 15341:2007 maps out certain KPIs, the creation of a new one was necessary. The result was a two phases KPI, in which its values are matched to a decision matrix that gives a qualitative evaluation of the performed work. The second step was to create a decision-making tool to evaluate the obsolescence of electronic components and choose the mitigation approach. The IEC 62402:2007 shows some terminology and some conditions to check for obsolescence, but does not point out whether a proactive or a reactive approach should be used. Like the KPI developed, it is also composed of a two-phase process. The first phase helps to see which components are at a higher risk to become obsolescent, while the second phase evaluates the repercussions to mitigate its obsolescence. The values obtained are also connected to a decision matrix to decide whether the approach for its mitigation should be proactive or reactive. The novel KPI and obsolescence approach were successfully tested in practice in a dairy processing factory, showing perfectly fulfil the goals initially set.

The automotive industry is constantly using continuous improvement to leverage its growth and sustainability. The improvement of the intralogistics of component companies for the automotive industry is based on the same principles. The Milk-Run System (MRS) allows the inbound transportation of the raw materials containers to the production lines, as well as the return of finished product containers. Thus, it is important to improve the performance of existing vehicle routing system, according to customer demand orders and the assignment of the production line. The present study identified and examined the existing constraints and proposes the improvements to increase the performance of the existing inbound milk-run system. The system capacity and the routing have been redefined as well as the information need to an efficient management system. Since the production is not standardized, the software was developed to assist the management of the milk-run system. Its implementation showed that with one vehicle and four wagons all the production lines are properly assisted. The contributions of this study were the reduction in 15% of the milk-run lap time, the decrease of the number of milk-run laps, allowing the increase of the number of lines assisted by this intralogistics system, permitting the assignment of new tasks to the MRS operator during the idle time. Moreover, unnecessary laps, unwanted stops and exchange of packaging were eliminated.

During the course of the 21st century, companies have constantly had to adapt to change. The solution resides in increasing operational efficiency, quality and productivity, while simultaneously reducing costs and establishing the waste-free organization. The objective of this work lies in the implementation of lean methodologies in the management of consumable materials in the maintenance workshops of an industrial company by adjusting/reducing the volume of materials and reorganizing their placement. It further explores the potential to eliminate waste and create value-added tasks in the maintenance activities involved. The development of this work allowed for an improvement in the organization of the consumable material cabinet through the implementation of 5S methodology, as well as a reduction in the time required to locate the consumable material by using visual management (in the order of 70%). Improved control of stock was also achieved through the reformulation of kanban (approximately 30%); a reduction in the time required to replenish material in the consumables cabinet was ensured by means of the mizusumashi (with an expected improvement of 50%).

Logistics has assumed a determining position in the supply chain of each organization. This paper concerns the work carried out in a bus manufacturing organization with the aim of improving efficiency in its hybrid warehouse. A hybrid warehouse could be considered as one that mixes several different activities (reception, storage area, picking, shipping, supply to production lines and production preparation tasks) and brings together many different materials or raw materials and components. This factor led to the appearance of innumerable management methods to improve employee performance. These are intended to meet the needs of their customers, from the motto "do more with less". The work developed in a hybrid warehouse allows to detect logistic complaints related to communication failures between employees, the reduced efficiency in the activities like the check of raw materials or components and respective picking, the lack of space for their reception and storage, and the non-compliance of the FIFO stock management system. It is imperative that organizations can redefine internal spaces and flows, generating a more efficient and intuitive work and admit an opportunity for improvements in terms of space and content management, and hence, cost savings for an organization. The combination of Lean tools was implemented, and the results have been checked, showing a significant impact in the hybrid warehouse, with annual gains through the optimization of several activities: employee turnover (decrease by 50%), check and picking times (decrease about 75 minutes/picking) and better working conditions for employees.

This paper presents the development of an Information System (IS) an automotive manufacturing.The system was developed to reduce waste and increase productivity, through better decision-making. The used methodology to implement it was the Business Process Management (BPM). A DMS (Document Management System) for decision making support was built, reducing the action time and providing faster maintenance of all needed data. As a result, the users time decision making and the administrator maintenance was reduced by a total of 26 minutes, corresponding to a 1.61 € reduction per unit built, which means an efficiency of 41%. The present work fits in the company’s strategy for Industry 4.0 and a more sustainable environment, being a positive driver of Industry 4.0 implementation and transformation.

The need for the products to be first manufactured according to the specifications is becoming a reality due to a situation that exists in the current markets. This is achieved by applying the six-sigma tool. This study is done in a multinational company that manufactures auto parts and aims to analyze the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Customer Satisfaction (CS) in the design and development stages of the product to always obtain the optimum result, 100%. From the KPI CS data the sigma was calculated using the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Design and Verify (DMADV) methodology. Using the range of values that CS can have to achieve the desired result, the six-sigma tool was applied. From the six-sigma tool, the value of the standard deviation for the results obtained is within the expected. Maximum limits were imposed to work comfortably within the six-sigma. If there is an alert for non-compliance with these limits, corrective and preventive measures can be taken so that there is no recurrence of the problem. When a control limit has been imposed and, even if corrective and preventive actions have been taken, the six sigma parameters are still working. Finally, using the CS calculation formula, the desired Quality Control and Time To Market results were obtained for the range of values within the six sigma with the appropriate control limits. With this study, the company was able to identify where the recurrence of the problems is happening. Knowing the cause of the problems it allows changes or improvements in the processes.

Hybridization of intelligent systems is a promising research field of computational intelligence focusing on combinations of multiple approaches to develop the next generation of intelligent systems. In this paper we will model a Manufacturing System by means of Multi-Agent Systems and Meta-Heuristics technologies, where each agent may represent a processing entity (machine). The objective of the system is to deal with the complex problem of Dynamic Scheduling in Manufacturing Systems.

Inbound logistics assumes increasing importance in retail operations, because there are usually hidden inefficiencies that contribute to higher labour costs and more time spent in the usual procedures in warehouses. The work developed was carried out in a manual warehouse of a retail company, with the main goal being the optimization of picking tasks and the improvement of the warehouse operations, as well as stock management. The solution is based on the development and implementation of a localization system, to reduce one of the most time-consuming components of picking, the search time for products in the warehouse. This application led to a reduction of this unproductive time by 93% to 100%, meaning the complete elimination of this component, which led to an optimization of the picking activity, by increasing the warehouse preparation capacity by 63%. Apart from the software upgrade, the operators now use Personal Digital Assistants to perform and validate the picking of items, increasing the accuracy of picking and the traceability of stock.

This article describes the 14 measures implemented at a company in the metalwork sector with a view to improving its order fulfilment process. Based on Lean thinking, each of the actions, as well as their potential impact on the process, is explained. Despite the constraints encountered during implementation, and the fact that manufacturing processes are invariably different, the overall results achieved were satisfactory. As a result of the interventions, internal functions were revised and processes simplified. There was also a reduction of 25% in budgeting time, as well as an improvement in communication systems and production management. One additionally was achieved the reorganization of storage spaces, a reduction in logistic operation times of about 20% and a decrease in the time spent accessing tools in near 61%. Far more important than the first results obtained is the company’s current commitment to the pursuance of these measures, allowing the different actions to generate synergies and produce improvements, which will undoubtedly set the company on the course of Lean culture.

Organizations focus must reside in their constant desire for improvement in order to satisfy their clients as a result of high-quality products, thus maximizing their profits through a waste reduction in the flow production. Lean thinking allows organizations to identify and eliminate wastes within the organization. The use of lean tools is considered a simple, efficient and cost-effective solution to achieve productivity and profit. DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is a problem-solving methodology that improves processes, allows defect reduction and reduction of process variability, allowing companies to continuously improve their efficiency and performance. In this work, a combined methodology iLeanDMAIC based on Lean Tools and DMAIC was developed, aiming to help organizations to easily and accurately solve their problems. It includes a case-study implementation on an organization of the sector of wood products. We were able to successfully validate this methodology and to show its efficacy in enhancing production. Results using iLeanDMAIC allowed a reduction time in changeover in the assembly machine (from 39 min to 17 min), presenting this a 44% gain on manufacture. iLeanDMAIC can help organizations thrive against their competitors, make their business more cost-effective and efficient.

The project here presented was developed in a metalworking company, where several areas requiring improvement were identified. The study addresses the elimination of waste and increase of productivity in the machining sector of the company. To this purpose key processes were identified and mapped using flowcharts and VSM (Value Stream Mapping). Achieved improvements involved decreasing setup times by resorting to the lean tool SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die). Setup times were reduced in 40% on the vertical milling machine of the company, and in 57% on the horizontal milling machine.

This work proposes a multi-criteria decision-making approach to select suppliers in the olive oil sector. Besides several performance criteria required to the supplier, olive oil characteristics such as colour, smell, and density, as well as organoleptic tests are used. Hence, the assessment and selection of suppliers assumes a major importance and needs to be done yearly. The process of finding a set of suppliers to choose from involves two sequential stages, namely identification and elimination. The identification stage consists of finding a set of potential suppliers. Then, in the elimination stage, suppliers that are not able to meet the thresholds associated with some technical indicators are disregarded. Thus, only a small set of very promising suppliers need to be assessed. The assessment was performed by resorting to the Macbeth approach, resulting in a ranking. The results obtained were validated through sensitivity and robustness analyses.