Costing RAM design and test analysis model for production facility

The objective of this paper is to provide a model for effective implementation of costing RAM (reliability, availability and maintainability) management in the design and procurement of production facility. This research proposed a two-stem model of costing RAM design and test for production facility. In Step 1, a static model is proposed to find an initial system configuration to meet the required performance based on system RAM and life cycle cost (LCC) and analyze the trade-off relationships between various RAM factors (reliability and maintainability) and LCC. In Step 2, we developed time and failure truncated models for system reliability test and analysis. For computational purposes, we developed computer programs and have shown the sample results. By the sample test run, the proposed model has shown possibilities to provide a good method to analyze system performance evaluation for both design and operational phase. This model can be applied to a wide variety of systems, not only for costing RAM of the production facilities but also for the other kind of equipment.     

潜油电泵机组失效分析方法与软件

根据潜油电泵机组结构和工作状态,应用可靠性分析理论和方法,建立了无参数统计处理方法和有参数分布类型统计处理方法,并在PC机上开发了Epsras．exe软件,为潜油电泵机组失效分析提供了理论方法和计算软件。     

The process safety impact of distributed control systems

Experience has shown that a Distributed Control System (DCS) can provide enhanced process monitoring and control capabilities, as well as system self-diagnostics, that permit increased safety of process operations. However, this enhanced safety does not come about automatically with the installation of a DCS. The complexity and versatility of the DCS can introduce new failure scenarios leading to process upset and potential relization of process hazards. This paper reviews some novel considerations that should be taken into account when conducting process hazards reviews on facilities controlled by a DCS.     

Competitive behavior in the European mobile telecommunications industry: Pioneers vs. followers

This paper studies the relationship between competitive strategy and improvement in the competitive position of pioneers and followers in the mobile telecommunications industry. The analysis uses a panel of data comprising all the actions of European firms operating in the digital mobile telecommunications industry with GSM 900 and/or DCS 1800 networks. The results show that competitors gain market share when they follow competitive strategies that are different from those of other firms. The paper also finds that price reduction actions represent the best approach for followers, while differentiation actions are the most effective strategy for pioneers.     

推动和开展石油工业质量可靠性工作探讨

为避免由“可靠性为中心”的方法和故障数据缺乏所带给质量可靠性工作的困难,本文从预防和消除故障是实现产品性能指标和可靠性定量指标的共同基础出发,提出了石油工业现阶段应以“故障为中心”,围绕预防和减少或消除产品的故障来推动和开展石油工业质量可靠性工作.     

An autonomous multi-agent approach to supply chain event management

Organizations have made a significant effort to implement software for planning and scheduling, but disruptive event management is still a problem to be solved. Since a disruptive event can affect the overall performance of the supply chain, SCEM (Supply Chain Event Management) systems presenting different automation levels such as monitoring, alarm and decision support have been proposed. However, the management of disruptive events, taking into account the distributed nature of the supply chain, the members' autonomy and the ability to exert corrective control actions, has been identified as a problem that requires further research. This work presents an agent-based approach for the SCEM problem, which can perform autonomous corrective control actions to minimize the effect of deviations in the plan that is currently being executed. These control actions consist of a distribution of the variation between supply chain members, using the plan's slack in a collaborative way. An innovative feature of this approach is its focus on resources, which are affected by disruptive events in a direct way. Based on this approach, a SCEM system is designed as a net of control points defined on resources connected through supply process orders. Two novel aspects are the distributed collaborative inter-organizational architecture of the SCEM system and a Double Contract Net Protocol. This protocol allows a set of resource:representing agents to interact through an agent, representing a supply process order as a mediator. An application to a case study of the Multi-Agent SCEM system implemented with JADE is provided.     

From Experience: Linking Projects to Strategy

There is a dramatic rise in the use of project management as organizations shift to provide customer-driven results and systems solutions. Some implementations of project management have been successful, whereas others are spectacular failures. A common occurrence in many organizations is too many projects being attempted by too few people with no apparent link to strategy or organizational goals. Research and experience indicate that the support of upper management is critical to project success. This article reviews actions that upper managers can take to create an environment for more successful projects in their organizations. Specifically, the authors discuss practices for upper manager teamwork and offer a complete model for selecting projects that support a strategic emphasis. The article includes experiences from within Hewlett-Packard Company. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.     

Sensitivity of process risk to human error in an ammonia plant

Fault tree analysis evaluates the relationship between overall process risk and human failure probabilities. Based on this information, most critical areas of operator training and/or need for automatic systems are determined.     

Tolerance of executive failure in American and Japanese organisations

The attainment of organisational goals requires that organisations manage the kinds and frequency of executives' failures. Although a number of economic, sociological, and organisational theories offer guidance in explaining tolerance of executive failure and its impact on performance, little empirical work has been done exploring the dynamics of the phenomenon. This lack of research becomes especially bothersome because the careful management of failure may be a major difference between Japanese and American management styles. The present study was undertaken to begin the systematic examination of executive failure in Japan and the United States. In a study of American and Japanese executives, only economic theory and convergence theory were supported. Japanese and American executives enjoy equal tolerance of their failures, but tolerance varies in terms of economic conditions and the degree of the failure. Japanese organisations appear to manage low level failures well and serious failures poorly. Americans are better at managing serious executive failures, but are poor at handling low level failures.     

容错技术在控制系统软件中的应用

针对控制系统对软件的可靠性的要求,论述了在控制软件设计中几种常用的容错方法     

框架结构体系的可靠性分析

在经典概率假设和二态假设基础上，提出了中介状态的观点，认为结构及结构体系均具有安全、中介、失效三种工作状态可靠性分析的结果应是求出其安全概率PR、中介概率PM和失效概率PE,它们联合起来构成可靠性向量[PR,PM，PF]采用随机事件的条件概率的运算法则，引入失效模式间的条件关联系数来反映结构之间的失效相关性通过对大量地震震害调查，建立了同一工程项目的基本条件关联系数的近似处理方法借用传统的一次二阶矩法求解框架结构体系遭受地震作用时的可靠指标和失效概率，与考虑中介状态和失效相关时的框架结构的可靠性向号相比较．各自求出的失效概率均可满足工程精度要求，但考虑中介状态和失效相关时的可靠性分析方法更为简单。     

Simultaneous control of production, repair/replacement and preventive maintenance of deteriorating manufacturing systems

This paper presents a method to find the optimal production, repair/replacement and preventive maintenance policies for a degraded manufacturing system. The system is subject to random machine failures and repairs. The status of the system is deemed to degrade with repair activities. When a failure occurs, the machine is either repaired or replaced, and a replacement action renews the machine, while a repair action brings it to a degraded operational state, with the next repair time increasing as the number of repairs increases as well. A preventive maintenance action is considered in order to improve the reliability of the machine, thereby reducing the amount of disruptions caused by machine failures. The decision variables are the production rate, the preventive maintenance rate and the repair/replacement switching policy upon machine failure. The objective of the study is to find the decision variables that minimize the overall cost, including repair, replacement, preventive maintenance, inventory holding and backlog costs over an infinite planning horizon. The proposed model is based on a semi-Markov decision process, and the stochastic dynamic programming method is used to obtain the optimality conditions. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed model, and a sensitivity analysis is considered in order to confirm the structure of the control policy and to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach.     

状态监测软件的集成应用

利用动设备状态监测软件开放性的集成功能，进行二次开发，设计编制数据变换程序系统，将来自分散型控制系统（DCS）的温度、电流、压力等动设备的过程参数引人到状态监测软件中，使故障分析工程师能利用多种现场数据综合判定设备的故障来源，更有效地做到预测维修。     

Evaluating non-independent protection layers

The overall performance of a system that shares inputs and outputs between the BPCS and SIS can be better than the performance of a BPCS system and SIS system with dedicated inputs and outputs. Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) assumes that independent protection layers (IPLs) are independent of the initiating event (IE) components and any components of any other IPL in the LOPA scenario. This paper first focuses on those situations where protection layers all have separate components but are not independent solely because they:

• share common utilities such as plant air, electricity, or cooling water,
• share components in instrumented loops with other instrumented IPLs or the IE,
• be in the same location and share vulnerability to a common failure such as a fire, or extreme weather

Second, this paper demonstrates each of these situations using simple examples and a fault tree model of the LOPA scenarios to address the impact of sharing components or subsystems. Third, this paper, shows the difference between analyzing sharing at the order of magnitude LOPA level and using the best estimate component reliability data with fault tree models. Fourth, this paper provides examples showing the overall performance of a system that shares inputs and outputs between the IPLs or between the BPCS and SIS can be better than the performance of a BPCS system and SIS system with dedicated inputs and outputs. The maintenance and operational management issues involved with linking formerly “independent” systems can be managed to maintain the shared system performance advantage. Fifth, this paper suggests some general guidelines addressing sharing issues in LOPA. Finally, this paper discusses the potential benefits of selected sharing and the costs associated with assuring that the related complexities are controlled. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2009     

Fail fast,sell well: The contingent impact of failing fast on salesperson performance

Sales is a profession that faces an inordinate amount of failure. When salespeople fail and face rejection from customers, the consequences are widespread and lasting. Perhaps, rather than aiming to prevent inevitable failures, salespeople should instead anticipate and control the timing of when failure occurs in the sales cycle. Across three progressive studies, this research explicates the phenomenon of failing fast within a business-to-business sales context. The authors theoretically conceptualize and operationalize a failing fast process model: prospect intent collection, prospect intent interpretation, and salesperson failing fast. The authors then study the focal relationship between salesperson failing fast and sales performance, contingent on individual-level, organizational-level, and environmental-level moderators. While the direct effect is non-significant, the finding is novel in that it shows that certain forms of failure may not actually be a detriment to performance. The moderator analysis sheds further light on this relationship, revealing a mixture of accentuating and attenuating effects. This research collectively brings greater nuance to the study of sales failure and enables future scholars to understand the consequences, and even potential benefits, of failing early in the sales process.     

Assessing the risks of service failures based on ripple effects: A Bayesian network approach

This study responds to the need for assessing risks of service failures by focusing on ripple effects. We propose a Bayesian network approach to assessing risks of service failures based on the depdendence relationships among individual service failures. To avoid conceptual misunderstanding and imprecise use in practice, the suggested approach is designed to be executed in three consecutive stages: modeling a Bayesian network; assessing the risks in terms of probabilities of service failures (PSFs) and impacts of service failures (ISFs); and developing a service failure assessment map. A case study of the outpatient consultation service is presented to show the feasibility of our method.     

录井仪器故障率偏高原因分析及对策

综合录进仪作为目前地质录井施工的主要设备,其工作状态的好坏直接影响着录井成果质量的高低。针对录井仪器常见故障形式进行了总结,对产生的原因进行了分析,并提出了降低故障率的相应对策。     

Pirates and Samaritans: A decade of measurements on peer production and their implications for net neutrality and copyright

This study traces the evolution of commons-based peer production by a measurement-based analysis of case studies and discusses the impact of peer production on net neutrality and copyright law. The measurements include websites such as suprnova.org, youtube.com, and facebook.com, and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems Kazaa, Bittorrent, and Tribler. The measurements show the two sides of peer production, the pirate side with free availability of Hollywood movies on these P2P systems and the Samaritan side exhibited by the quick joining of 400,000+ people in a community to organize protests against events in Burma. The telecommunications and content industry are disrupted by this way of peer production. As a consequence, revenues of both industries are likely to suffer in the coming years. On the other hand, innovative P2P systems could win the battle on merit over classical distribution technologies. As a result, a continuation is expected of both legal actions against P2P and possible blocking actions of P2P traffic, violating net neutrality. It is argued that this hinders innovation and causes a large discrepancy between legal and user perspectives. A reform of copyright laws is clearly needed, otherwise they will be unenforceable around 2010.     

基于ANSYS软件的泵轴可靠性设计

有限元分析软件ANSYS9.0概率设计系统（PDS）提供了强大的概率分析功能,使机械零件结构的概率分析易于实现.利用该软件对泵轴进行可靠性分析设计,为生产厂家改进设计,降低成本、进行可靠性评定提供理论依据.     

Pharmaceutical new product development: why do clinical trials fail?

A high percentage of new drug candidates fail to reach the market during clinical trials, and these failures imply massive financial losses for the pharmaceutical companies. Clinical trials have distinctive characteristics and additional complexity compared with the late stages of product development in many other industrial sectors. Although the current literature on clinical trial has offered explanations for why a drug is abandoned during clinical trials (e.g., toxicity, lack of efficacy, and economics), studies investigating non‐drug‐related causes of failure are scarce. New product development (NPD) failures also differ from one another; however, no comprehensive conceptual framework in the NPD literature describes how to classify failures. This study suggests a conceptual framework for explaining NPD failures in the pharmaceutical industry by drawing on clinical trial literature combined with an exploratory empirical approach based on 17 interviews with industry experts. The initial interviews were used to identify managerial issues related to clinical trial failure, and the later interviews had a more iterative character to validate the issues identified in the previous round. We identified seven critical management issues causing failures in clinical trials. Our findings indicate that chaotic and slow patient recruitment, lack of experience in choosing and monitoring partners, lack of feasibility of the study protocol, low quality of the registered data, too high incidence of serious adverse events and severe incidents, unmanageable level of portfolio complexity, and incorrect assessment of the market potential or returns cause the failure of clinical trials. The conceptual framework for failures proposed in this paper combines project and product failures while acknowledging relevant specificities in clinical trials. Clinical trial managers are also supported in their decision making in clinical trials with an identified list of critical management issues that require attention to reducing the chance of failure. This study provides a basis for future empirical testing, including measuring interdependencies among the critical management issues and their adequacy for predicting failure.