Traditional assembly lines are still attractive means of mass and large-scale series production. Previous research works mainly dealt with the minimization of balancing loss, subject to precedence constraints. Very recently the focus of attention shifted towards system loss. However, these losses are not the proper indicators of the stability of the system since the efficiency of the assembly line increases normally when the stability of the system increases. In this paper, we introduce a new type of assembly line, which is totally different form the existing types of assembly line studied in the literature. In this work, we define the stability of the system in terms of reliability of the assembly line. The objective is to design an assembly line with a desired level of working stability measured through this reliability measure. This special type of assembly line, where production rate can be increased by minimizing the cycle time subject to a given level of reliability and precedence constraints, extends the decision-making framework available in the literature on assembly line balancing problem and indirectly takes care of both balancing loss and system loss.

During the past two decades, there have been significant numbers of studies focusing on supply chain management for evaluating important factors on the success of a supply chain program. In this paper, we present a method to prioritize the locations of distribution centers in a supply chain. The proposed model of this paper uses balanced scorecard (BSC) to categorize the most important attributes affecting the location of distribution centers and the attributes are ranked based on decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The implementation of the proposed model of this paper is also applied for a real-world case study of oil company and the results are analyzed under different scenarios.

Concurrent engineering (CE) is one of the widest known techniques for simultaneous planning of product and process design. In concurrent engineering, design processes are often complicated with multiple conflicting criteria and discrete sets of feasible alternatives. Thus multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques are integrated into CE to perform concurrent design. This paper proposes a design framework governed by MCDM technique, which are in conflict in the sense of competing for common resources to achieve variously different performance objectives such as financial, functional, environmental, etc. The Pareto MCDM model is applied to polyethylene pipe concurrent design governed by four criteria to determine the best alternative design to Pareto-compromise design.

This research investigates the diversification-performance relationship in Nigerian banking industry. Empirical evidences emerging from previous studies from developed countries about the effect of diversification on performance in the banking industry have so far yielded mixed results. There is a major gap in the relevant literature on developing countries which this research filled by studying Nigerian banks and providing empirical evidence on diversification-performance relationship. Survey research design was adopted with the application of probability sampling technique in selecting our case study companies and respondents. Primary data were collected through questionnaire while secondary data were garnered from the annual report and accounts of the banks under study. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics while correlation and ANOVA were used to test our hypotheses. It was discovered that diversification impacts corporate performance of these banks positively and recommends that these banks should engage in geographical diversification in addition to other forms of diversification they are currently involved in for maximum performance.

In this paper, we propose a method to measure the relative efficiency of different units of a publicly traded bank using data envelopment analysis. The study also measures the productivity of different banks using Malmquist index and the results are compared with relative efficiency of banks. The proposed model uses nine financial factors reported by the bank officials for both studies where five items are used for efficiency measurement and the other four items are used for productivity measurement. The results indicate that different banks perform inefficient in terms of efficiency but they have attempted to increase their productivity. We also analyze the results and give guidelines on how inefficient units could increase their efficiency by reducing their inputs or increasing their outputs

There is a growing awareness of the pivotal role of technology in securing and maximizing competitive positions. This study based on primary data from two banks in Nigeria examines the relationship between technology policy and strategy dimensions. Differentiation and futurity strategy dimensions were found to be marginally dominant in the managerial practices of these firms. In addition, the study found new evidence of relationship between the strategy dimensions; and the pattern of relationship between technology policy and strategic orientations indicate the use technology to foster defensive behaviours rather than securing competitive edge. Futurity orientation was also found not to be significantly related with most of the technology policy dimensions investigated. These results are expected to provide management and management theorists with valuable practical insight into the relationship between pattern of strategic orientation and technology policy.

One of the primary managerial decisions for manufacturing units is to find out which activity must be outsourced. A good outsourcing decision is normally involved with different criteria such as core competencies, cost, technology and relative capability, risk, etc. In this paper, we present a multi criteria decision-making method to find a suitable solution for outsourcing activities called preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE). The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy numbers to determine the relative importance of different criteria and it is implemented for a real-world case study of aerospace industry.

Improper design of school furniture is one of the contributing factors to back pain among students as indicated in some studies. In the case of designing school furniture where sitting constitutes a considerable time in the school, seat becomes important for comfort. This study is carried out in three selected institutions in Nigeria to determine level of musculoskeletal disorder in students’ and the furniture that they use. 720 questionnaires with 240 students (120 boys and 120 girls) drawn from each participating institutions were administered and 675 responses were received. The results show that the number of students having MSD, accounted for 93.75%. However, the distributions of pain in the body parts in each school were different. The musculoskeletal pain, mostly concentrated on neck, right shoulders right elbow right wrist right hand, upper back and lower back. The result also reveals that most of the students are sitting on chairs with seat that are too high and too deep or too shallow and of tables that are too high. However, it is recommended that further study on effect of designed school furniture and sitting position in larger sample of students’ representative in Nigeria tertiary institutions should be carried out in order to reduce the effect of body pains.

Creativity is one of the most important factors to increase the productivity of any organization. There are literally different factors influencing creativity such as physical and non-physical components of a system. There are different studies to confirm that both physical and non-physical issues could impact the efficiency, significantly. The study of this paper considers eleven physical and ten non-physical activities in working environment of six organizations with various business activities of educational, manufacturing and service business. The study summarizes the most and the least important physical and non-physical factors based on some statistical tests

A good facility layout plays an important role on increasing the profitability of a production unit. A good location needs to meet different criteria such as the distance between the plants and the places to reach raw materials, customers, etc. In this paper, we proposed a multi criteria decision making problem to locate a suitable dairy plant. We assume that all factors influencing the plant involves uncertainty and proposed fuzzy numbers to handle the uncertainty associated with all input parameters. We apply the method for a real-world case study of dairy production unit and analyze the results of our proposed model.