Repositório RCAAP

This paper analyses the perception of Polytechnic of Porto (P.PORTO) students about entrepreneurship education in the graduated and training courses. A survey was conducted, supported by a questionnaire followed by researchers’ guidance. The perception of entrepreneurship education and training in students’ curricula was studied. Statistical analysis was applied using SPSS tool. Due to de diversity of graduated courses in P.PORTO it was possible to analyse the perception of students from different educational areas: Engineering, Health and Social Sciences. The main conclusion was that students from all courses seem to see entrepreneurship education and training as an important issue for their future career. As future work this survey should be applied to other P.PORTO units to have an integrated perception. The results of this study will be presented to courses coordinators to promote future curricula improvements.

This work proposes a multi-criteria decision making model to assist in the choice of a strategic plan for a world-class company. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a support tool of Beyond Budgeting that translates a company’s vision and strategy into a coherent set of performance measures. However, it does not provide help in choosing a strategic plan. The selection of a strategic plan involves multiple goals and objectives that are often conflicting and incommensurable. This paper proposes an integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process-Goal Programming (AHP-GP) approach to select such a plan. This approach comprises two stages. In the first stage, the AHP is used to evaluate the relative importance of the initiatives with respect to financial indicators/KPIs; while in the second stage a GP model incorporating the AHP priority scores is developed. The GP model selects a set of initiatives that maximizes the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and minimizes the Capital Employed (CE). The proposed method was evaluated through a case study.

This article describes a new approach in the Intelligent Training of Operators in Power Systems Control Centres, considering the new reality of Renewable Sources, Distributed Generation, and Electricity Markets, under the emerging paradigms of Cyber-Physical Systems and Ambient Intelligence. We propose Intelligent Tutoring Systems as the approach to deal with the intelligent training of operators in these new circumstances.

Globalization is revolutionizing our way of living and the way business companies work. Technology is the reason for it, because it provides solutions that help the workers perform more effectively and efficiently and that allow for better execution. The development of relationships with the customer gives companies a better knowledge and understanding of their needs and leads to new strategies that aim at better results for the customer. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are taken as important tools for this, since they help analyzing the companies’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In this article we use the case of a shipping company in order to understand how such systems can contribute to such improvement. By analyzing the company’s CRM we suggest an adjustment to the business in order to get a better performance from it.

The topic Cutting & Packing (C & P) has been published in many papers, and its importance within many industrial sectors is undeniable. For these reasons, several studies have been carried out on the optimization of the cutting process in order to improve the utilization of the useful area or the useful length of the raw material. Thus, this work aims to develop a computational tool that resolves the problem of minimizing losses in one-dimensional cuts. This problem is often encountered in industrial processes, where the beginning of the transformation and production of the raw material corresponds to the cutting process. To do so, the cutting problem will be formulated, and the Open Solver supplement will be used to obtain the solution.

In 2015, the UN defined well-being and decent work/economic growth as two of 17 sustainable development objectives. Nevertheless, the extreme pressure for businesses to be competitive in their markets of choice seems to be having a negative effect on workers’ well-being. In the manufacturing sector, the effective inclusion of Ergonomics in processes and installations has been proven to decrease costs related to disability, extra or overtime hours, medical care and premiums or fines for occurrences. The aim of this work was to review the existing scientific knowledge about the impact of adopting LPS (Lean Production Systems—a model used to increase competitiveness by the creation of more value for customers with fewer resources) in manufacturing companies from the point of view of Ergonomics. It reports, based on the literature reviewed, how the integration of both LPS and Ergonomics principles, from the workstation design phase onwards, can bring benefits to the workers’ welfare and simultaneously potentiate improvements in productivity. This paper also intends to present trends and opportunities for future research in this area, including in the Industry 4.0 field. In the authors’ opinion, this paper is a valuable contribution for practitioners, in manufacturing environments, and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to present an attempt to develop an instrument containingoperational measures of lean combined with safety and ergonomic conditions in a workstation or productionline. This operational tool aims to help researchers and practitioners to prioritize and evaluate the lean implementations, as well as the ergonomic and safety conditions, in an integrated way.

Striving to improve productivity, industries have used different management approaches, being lean manufacturing the most used over recent years. Lean manufacturing is based on value creation for the customer and elimination of waste that occurs during the production process, while improving working conditions. The incorporation of ergonomic aspects in the workstation design also contributes for the referred objectives, since it will reduce awkward postures or excessive effort during work, leading to better working conditions and increased productivity. The present study highlights, through a case study in four production areas of a metallurgical industry, the benefits of using an integrated operations management approach to improve productivity and ergonomic aspects. Several ergonomic methods, such as Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), Strain Index (SI), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), were chosen to evaluate the ergonomic situation and lean manufacturing tools such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and 7 wastes were also used to analyze the systems and increase the productivity by eliminating several wastes. The results of this study show that it is possible, and desirable, to consider both aspects, ergonomic conditions and productivity, during continuous improvement’ implementations. In fact, the improvements reached through the advances in ergonomic conditions can contribute very positively for productivity increasing.

The Lean manufacturing philosophy has been adopted by many different companies with the goal of responding to the economic recession which took place at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Two major motivators for this trend were reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. Other than the known Lean methods, Human Factors and Ergonomics methods are also able to contribute to this emphasis. Thus, the creation of safe, effective workplaces emphasizing a human oriented approach, and the implementation of Ergonomics in business process management, represent two of the main conditions for the sustainable development of a company. Pinpointing the connections between Ergonomics and LPS enables us to address both at the same time. Besides, synergism between Lean and Ergonomics can be attained. The aim of this paper is to develop a tool in the form of a flowchart which will include the steps for integrating the single-minute exchange of die (SMED), a Lean tool, while considering Ergonomics. This flowchart (named “ErgoSMED”) has been validated by several case studies. We were able to demonstrate that synergism between Lean and Ergonomics can be reached. The ErgoSMED flowchart developed in this study is innovative because it combines Ergonomics with a SMED tool and is ready to be used in any production area by professionals or researchers

The study described in this work took place in the sanding and polishing area of a meta-lurgical company, where workers’ complaints due to the strength needed to perform manual tasks, as well as their repetitive pattern, led to cases of shoulder pain and tendinitis.The study aimed to evidence the benefits of using an integrated operations management approach, following lean/agile/ergonomic concepts, to improve the performance and ergonomic aspects of a production system. The results demonstrate that it is possible to reach an efficient production system, which meets safety and ergonomics requirements, by using lean and agile principles and companies should consider both ergonomic aspects and production performance during continuous improvement implementations to increase productivity and worker well-being.

In many companies in the automotive industry there are challenges in some key processes in their logistic departments, mainly in internal logistics. These challenges happen due to poorly defined rules for the transportation of goods, resulting in a great cost associated with the time lost in the process. Also, the optimization of these processes, incrementing the efficiency of internal logistics can bring competitive advantages to the companies. For that matter, this study was developed at a major tire manufacturing company and proposes a model for the optimization of in-bound logistics, viewed as an online vehicle routing problem with soft deadlines (OVRPSD), using multiple depots. The main goal of this study is the increase of efficiency in logistic, optimizing the number of vehicles to supply the machines in order to reduce the stopping time of machines due to the lack of tires to consume.

Undertaken at Preh Portugal, Ltd., the main objective of this study project resided in defining the system of supply to a new assembly line, the Ford B479. Supply to the assembly lines is a crucial activity in internal logistics since the entire production system relies on the supply of materials required for the line. It is, therefore, extremely important to study solutions which will facilitate these activities, thus enhancing productivity and guaranteeing the on-time availability of products, in suitable quantities and at the best cost. The initial phase consisted of studying the type of supply system used by the company for the remaining lines, as well as gaining a detailed understanding of the entire assembly line production process. One was then able to create a database to include all of this information. Once all the required information had been gathered, one proceeded to define the supermarket for the Ford B479 line, and calculated the number of positions required. With the purpose of building a more effective and efficient supermarket, one analyzed the possibility of building the supermarket next to line instead of resorting to the existing solution where the shelves for all lines are in the same location. When the site for the supermarket was defined, one proceeded with its construction and determined the supply system of both the supermarket as well as the line sides. Due to the proposed changes, one was able to reduce the distance covered by raw materials by 55% as well as to decrease handling.

This research was undertaken in the Painting section at the company Preh Portugal, which is currently increasing its capacity. The plastic components are painted and engraved, and then supplied to internal customers so that they can then be assembled on the final line. The main purpose of the study resides in analyzing the value flow. The methodology used consisted of the case study itself, in association with the use of lean tools. The objective was to reduce the changeovers generated by activities which, in the customer’s perspective, are of no added value. To this end, one studied the possibility of altering the configuration of the FIFO supermarket, as well as optimizing laser production in the section. The changes proposed resulted in gains of 74,02% and 74,4% regarding the distance of the routes covered by material and operators, respectively. Additional studies were carried out in the Painting section, more specifically in the new section of Painting. Here, one analyzed the layout projected by the company and subsequently carried out some changes which will enable gains of 48 and 43% in the distance of the routes covered by material and operators, respectively.

A supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system is an integrated platform that incorporates several components and it has been applied in the field of power systems and several engineering applications to monitor, operate and control a lot of processes. In the future electrical networks, SCADA systems are essential for an intelligent management of resources like distributed generation and demand response, implemented in the smart grid context. This paper presents a SCADA system for a typical residential house. The application is implemented on MOVICON™11 software. The main objective is to manage the residential consumption, reducing or curtailing loads to keep the power consumption in or below a specified setpoint, imposed by the costumer and the generation availability.

Nowadays there is an increasing concern for well- being. However, workers continue to suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, which are one of the most widely recognized types of occupational disease. Meat cutters face higher risks of injury and musculoskeletal problems than most other occupational groups due to repetition, force, static posture, work organization, and lack of recovery time. The aim of this paper is to use a continuous improvement audit tool to analyze the current situation of a piglet cutting workstation and then identify measures to improve it, considering productivity and workers’ well-being.

tIn the present study, we examine the bidirectional associations between child vocabulary and self-regulation and their interplay with two relational dimensions, teacher–child closeness and autonomysupport in preschool. Participants were 208 young children (50% boys; M = 4 years and 11 months,SD = 0.71) from socially disadvantaged areas in Portugal. Self-regulation and vocabulary were assessed atthe beginning and end of the year. Teachers reported on levels of teacher–child closeness and autonomysupport. A series of path analyses were conducted and tests of direct and indirect effects were includedin the models. Results showed bidirectional effects between self-regulation and vocabulary, such thatself-regulation at the beginning of preschool was a significant predictor of expressive vocabulary at theend of preschool year, and receptive vocabulary skills at the beginning of preschool year predicted self-regulation at the end of preschool year, controlling for earlier receptive vocabulary and self-regulationskills. In addition, teacher–child closeness uniquely predicted expressive vocabulary, whereas teacherautonomy support uniquely predicted self-regulation.

Given that an increasing number of infants spend part of the day in center-based childcare in many coun-tries, understanding infants’ education and care experiences in these settings is essential. The aims ofthis study are to examine change in teacher-infant interaction quality over time, and to determine theextent to which teacher and classroom structural characteristics are associated with change in teacher-infant interaction quality. Ninety infant childcare classrooms from the greater metropolitan area of Porto,Portugal, participated in this study. Each classroom was observed twice (6-month interval between Time1 and Time 2) by trained and reliable observers using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale –Revised (ITERS-R; Harms et al., 2006), the Classroom Assessment Scoring System – Infant (CLASS-Infant;Hamre et al., 2014), and the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS; Arnett, 1989). Additionally, teachers pro-vided demographic information about themselves and structural characteristics of the classroom. Overallresults indicated that the quality of teacher-infant interactions changed over time, with a general trendtoward lower quality at Time 2. The increase in infant:adult ratio from Time 1 to Time 2 was an impor-tant predictor of process quality levels at Time 2, after controlling for prior quality and other structuralcharacteristics. These findings can be informative for policymaking as group size and number of adultsper classroom are regulated features of childcare in many countries, including Portugal.

The aim of this study is to redesign two workstations in a PVD coating production area, consid- ering productivity and ergonomic aspects. Through the elimination of wastes such as unnecessary movements and transportations and by reducing the awkward postures as arm flexion larger than 45o, the productivity in the loading and unloading workstations increased 9% and 5%, respectively, and the ergonomic risk was im- proved from medium to acceptable. RULA was the chosen method to evaluate the ergonomic situation and anthropometric studies were performed to find the ideal ergonomic solution. This study shows the importance to consider ergonomic conditions when designing or redesigning a workstation in order to get effective productivity improvements.

The aim of this study is to prove that it is possible to reduce the setup time and improve ergonomic conditions at the same time. This research took place in a turning production area of a metallurgical factory where workers’ complains due to shoulder pains and tendinitis were high, due to the awkward postures and forceful hand exertions to perform the manual tasks. Moreover, the high setup time of 105 minutes caused productivity problems and delays for customers. Through the SMED tool and increasing ergonomic conditions, the setup time was reduced 46% and the MSD risk also decreased.

Due to demographic variation, fewer young workers are available and the overall number of workers will decrease. The length of absenteeism, especially due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), increases with higher age (Müglich et al., 2015). According to Neumann and Dul (2010), if effectively applied in the design of operation systems, Human Factors can improve system performance while reducing health hazards for employees. The aim of this work is to evaluate “How productivity is affected after the implementation of ergonomics improvements?” The case study takes place in a PVD coating production area, where workers’ complaints due to shoulder pains were rising considerably. These complaints come mainly from the processes of loading and unloading pieces from the suspension, before and after the product entering the PVD machine, respectively. This is a repetitive job and involves two awkward postures: flexion of the arms above 60o (from now on “arms up”) about 30% of the time and the difficulty to move manually a full suspension of 6kg, on average, from the machine carpet to a table every 3 minutes and vice-versa depending if it is an unloading or a loading process.