A new three-dimensional manufacturing service composition method under various structures using improved Flower Pollination Algorithm

With the growing complexity of customer requirements and the increasing scale of manufacturing services, how to select and combine the single services to meet the complex demand of the customer has become a growing concern. This paper presents a new manufacturing service composition method to solve the multi-objective optimization problem based on quality of service (QoS). The proposed model not only presents different methods for calculating the transportation time and transportation cost under various structures but also solves the three-dimensional composition optimization problem, including service aggregation, service selection, and service scheduling simultaneously. Further, an improved Flower Pollination Algorithm (IFPA) is proposed to solve the three-dimensional composition optimization problem using a matrix-based representation scheme. The mutation operator and crossover operator of the Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm are also used to extend the basic Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) to improve its performance. Compared to Genetic Algorithm, DE, and basic FPA, the experimental results confirm that the proposed method demonstrates superior performance than other meta heuristic algorithms and can obtain better manufacturing service composition solutions.     

A PageRank-based reputation model for personalised manufacturing service recommendation

The number of manufacturing services for cross-enterprise business collaborations is increasing rapidly because of the explosive growth of Web service technologies. This trend demands intelligent and robust models to address information overload in order to enable efficient discovery of manufacturing services. In this paper, we present a personalised manufacturing service recommendation approach, which combines a PageRank-based reputation model and a collaborative filtering technique in a unified framework for recommending the right manufacturing services to an active service user for supply chain deployment. The novel aspect of this research is adapting the PageRank algorithm to a network of service-oriented multi-echelon supply chain in order to determine both user reputation and service reputation. In addition, it explores the use of these methods in alleviating data sparsity and cold start problems that hinder traditional collaborative filtering techniques. A case study is conducted to validate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed approach in recommending the right manufacturing services to active service users.     

Automated web service composition supporting conditional branch structures

The creation of value-added services by automatic composition of existing ones is gaining a significant momentum as the potential silver bullet in service-oriented architecture. However, service composition faces two aspects of difficulties. First, users' needs present such characteristics as diversity, uncertainty and personalisation; second, the existing services run in a real-world environment that is highly complex and dynamically changing. These difficulties may cause the emergence of nondeterministic choices in the process of service composition, which has gone beyond what the existing automated service composition techniques can handle. According to most of the existing methods, the process model of composite service includes sequence constructs only. This article presents a method to introduce conditional branch structures into the process model of composite service when needed, in order to satisfy users' diverse and personalised needs and adapt to the dynamic changes of real-world environment. UML activity diagrams are used to represent dependencies in composite service. Two types of user preferences are considered in this article, which have been ignored by the previous work and a simple programming language style expression is adopted to describe them. Two different algorithms are presented to deal with different situations. A real-life case is provided to illustrate the proposed concepts and methods.     

The complementarity of IT and HRM capabilities for competitive performance: a configurational analysis of manufacturing and industrial service SMEs

ABSTRACT

Building on the resource-based view (RBV) perspective, we analyse the combined effects of two highly-valued organizational resources, namely information technology (IT) capabilities and human resource management (HRM) capabilities, on the competitive performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Three resource configurations are derived from data on 227 SMEs (121 from the manufacturing sector and 106 from the industrial services sector) through a cluster analysis. These resource configurations are labelled IT Capabilities-dominant Configuration (ITC), e-Business Capabilities-dominant Configuration (e-BC), and HRM Capabilities-dominant Configuration (HRC). This last configuration is the best-performing, followed by the e-BC, with the ITC as the worst-performing. The results also show that manufacturing and service firms are very unevenly distributed within HRC and ITC configurations, suggesting notable differences between the two sectors regarding their respective IT and non-IT capability-building. The fact that service SMEs are overwhelmingly represented (93%) in the worst-performing configuration and completely absent (0%) in the most effective configuration while displaying the strongest IT infrastructure capabilities confirms that the IT productivity paradox is aggravated in service SMEs and calls for further research on this issue.     

Modelling of combinable relationship-based composition service network and the theoretical proof of its scale-free characteristics

Existing works on service composition are primarily based on the requirements of service composition, such as describing language supporting service composition, service composition framework, mechanism and method for service composition, and service composition validation. Few works have been carried out from the perspective of combinable relationship among composite services and composition service network. This article emphasises on combinable relationship-based composition service network, i.e. CoRCS-Net. The principles for establishing and modelling CoRCS-Net were studied, and nine combinable relationships among services in CoRCS-Net were investigated and 14 elementary evolving operators for CoRCS-Net dynamic evolution were designed. According to the definition of scale-free network (SFN) and the investigations on its related research achievements, it is supposed that ‘CoRCS-Net is a scale-free network’ in this study. In order to prove the theoretical hypothesis, the concepts of combinable strength and variation of combinable strength were introduced, and combinable strength is used to describe the invoking times of a service being invoked for service composition. First we calculate the real time variation of combinable strength of an arbitrary service in CoRCS-Net, and then obtain the corresponding real time combinable strength and investigate its distribution for all services in CoRCS-Net. It is discovered that ‘like many nature and social phenomenon, CoRCS-Net is “scale-free”, and it is constructed by few “active services” and a great deal of “silent services”. In the process of service composition, the invoking times for majority services are very small, while only few services are invoked frequently, and the probability (or invoking times) for the services in a CoRCS-Net to be invoked for service composition decays as a power-law’.     

Reusing process fragments for fast service composition: a clustering-based approach

With the proliferation of Web services over the Internet and due to the increasing complexity of users’ needs, Web service composition has emerged as a powerful method of software reuse, allowing to deliver complete business processes as a set of interacting services. To guarantee a rapid and secure service composition, fragments of available business processes at different granularities may be considered as a composition unit and recombined to deliver effective compositions. Despite the benefits of this method, most of the existing works do not take into consideration the reuse of service process fragments (SPF). Reusing SPFs allows, not only to minimize the composition time, but also to improve the reliability of the composition process. In this paper, we propose a Web service composition approach that aims to combine service process fragments rather that atomic services. We adopt a powerful mathematical model called Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) to define the relationships between services and fragments. Moreover, we exploit the regrouping capabilities of FCA by proposing algorithms for the extraction of candidate fragments’ combinations. A scoring function is also defined to determine the quality level of each SPF and its ability to participate in a composition. The experimental studies proved the effectiveness of our FCA-based approach compared to existing state-of-the-art solutions.     

基于制造业ERP构建企业多层数据仓库

文章针对目前制造业ERP在决策支持方面的不足,提出了基于制造业ERP构建由标准数据仓库、多维数据库和数据挖掘库等组成的企业多层数据仓库体系框架,阐述了该体系框架的构建方法和过程,并分析了一个应用实例。     

数字化设计和制造标准研究

计算机辅助设计和制造(CAD/CAM)技术能够体现先进制造的发展方向,为提高数字化设计和制造的系统应用水平,提高工程软件的使用能力,文章论述了基于三维设计和制造的标准体系,规范了数字化信息的标准化,经过企业实践证明了标准化的有效性,提高了设计的效率和信息的共享。     

制造业企业产出服务化战略的影响因素及其绩效：理论框架与实证研究

目前，制造业企业的产出服务化趋势日益明显，但相关的理论研究尚有欠缺。针对已有研究存在的不足，界定了产出服务化战略的维度，对产出服务化战略的影响因素及其绩效进行识别，形成概念模型，据此提出一系列研究假设，并利用来自中国企业的问卷调查数据和基于PLS的结构方程模型实证检验研究假设，得出一些管理启示。     

基于直接信任关系表的Web服务资源访问机制

文章针对网格环境Web服务资源访问过程中,用户查找Web服务资源的快速性与有效性问题,以D-S证据理论为基础,提出了一种基于直接信任关系表的网络Web服务资源组织演化模型,每个节点只存储直接交互节点的信任关系,并基于此模型提出了一种基于信任BP神经网络判别隶属函数的Web服务资源信任查找机制。通过将中间节点判别隶属函数最高的节点作为资源的查找出发点,而中间节点又从自己的信任链路中查找信任度最高的节点,从而在加速服务查找速度的同时,达到提高查找服务成功率的目的。最后,经过大量模拟仿真实验结果表明:该算法较传统的基于穷尽搜索机制而言,不仅提高了查找的速度,而且显著地提高了查找的成功率。     

智能电网中的云计算机应用及安全研究

文章首先讨论了智能电网中基于云计算的病毒防护和数据灾备两种云计算应用模式,然后介绍了智能电网面临的信息安全风险及其特征,最后阐述了智能电网中云计算的安全风险和相应的解决措施。     

A methodology toward manufacturing grid-based virtual enterprise operation platform

Virtual enterprises (VEs) have become one of main types of organisations in the manufacturing sector through which the consortium companies organise their manufacturing activities. To be competitive, a VE relies on the complementary core competences among members through resource sharing and agile manufacturing capacity. Manufacturing grid (M-Grid) is a platform in which the production resources can be shared. In this article, an M-Grid-based VE operation platform (MGVEOP) is presented as it enables the sharing of production resources among geographically distributed enterprises. The performance management system of the MGVEOP is based on the balanced scorecard and has the capacity of self-learning. The study shows that a MGVEOP can make a semi-automated process possible for a VE, and the proposed MGVEOP is efficient and agile.     

多Agent智能电网调度决策支持系统研究

文章介绍了Agent技术和决策支持系统,针对电网调度的局限性提出了基于多Agent的智能调度决策支持系统,并详细阐述了系统的体系结构和各个Agent的功能。系统能够将位于网络上任何位置的Agent与现有电力信息系统有机地结合起来,共同高效、快速、可靠地为调度员提供决策支持。     

Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance

As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive, global economy where products are easily commoditized, innovating by adding services to the core product offering has become a popular strategy. Contrary to the economic benefits expected, recent findings pinpoint implementation hurdles that lead to a potential performance decline, the so-called ‘servitization paradox’. In this paper, we analyze this paradox by disentangling the value creation and value appropriation processes of 44 national subsidiaries of a global manufacturing firm turned product-service provider, in the 2001–2007 period. Our findings show that the firm under study is able to successfully transcend the inherent substitution of products by services and to enact complementary sales dynamics between the two activities. Moreover, labor-intensive services such as maintenance, which imply higher levels of customer proximity, further enhance product sales. Empirical results also reveal a positive yet non-linear relationship between the scale of service activities and profitability: while initial levels of servicing result in a steep increase in profitability, a period of relative decline is observed before the positive relationship between the scale of services and profitability re-emerges. These findings suggest the presence of initial short-term gains but also indicate the existence of a ‘profitability’ hurdle; profitable growth seems feasible only to the extent that investments in service capability are translated into economies of scale. In helping to clarify the performance implications of service innovation, our findings suggest pathways to sustainable growth through servitization for manufacturing firms.     

Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework

This paper critically reviews the literature on managing diversity through human resource management (HRM). We discuss the major issues and objectives of managing diversity and examine the state of human resource diversity management practices in organizations. Our review shows that inequality and discrimination still widely exist and HRM has focused mainly on compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation. Less attention has been paid to valuing, developing and making use of diversity. Our review reveals limited literature examining how diversity is managed in organizations through effective human resource management. We develop a framework that presents strategies for HR diversity management at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Our review also discusses the implications for practice and further research.     

供应链网格资源服务和服务聚合模型研究

在研究供应链网格(SCGrid)的体系结构和模型的基础上,深入的分析了SCGrid中的资源的表示和聚合方法,论述了该层中应用到的两个重要模型:SOA资源服务模型和服务聚合模型。     

基于机械制造行业的ASP服务模式研究

本文根据ASP服务模式的特点,给出了ASP应用服务平台可以在网络上为机械制造企业提供的服务类型,最后研究了ASP商业模式的发展。     

信息熵在产业结构演变研究中的应用--兼论我国制造业结构演变的时空分异

文章以信息熵作为测度产业结构均衡程度的指标,将其运用于我国制造业结构时空演变特征的实证研究.研究表明我国制造业结构的熵值变化可以分为三个阶段,相应的产业结构演变呈现出"不平衡-平衡-不平衡"的过程;根据我国29个省区制造业结构的演变特征,将全国分为五个类型区;进一步研究发现东部地区制造业结构的均衡程度最高,中部地区最低;在一定范围内制造业结构的均衡程度和区域人口规模的对数呈明显的正相关关系,说明人口规模是影响区域产业结构的因素之一,而且一定范围内城市人口规模越大,各部门发展越均衡.     

城市化水平与城市资源压力关系研究——以西安市为例

以西安市为例,对城市化水平与城市资源压力之间的关系进行了研究,并对二者进行了相关分析和多元回归分析.结果表明,城市化水平与城市资源压力之间存在着极强的相关关系,随着城市化水平的推进,其对城市资源产生的压力也逐渐增大,并提出了协调加快城市化进程和缓解城市资源压力之间矛盾的几点建议.