Industry 4.0 and circular economy: An exploratory analysis of academic and practitioners' perspectives

The union between Industry 4.0 and the circular economy (CE) appears relatively recent. In this sense, new trading zones for sharing a common scenario among academics and practitioners are needed. The paper aims to investigate the link between Industry 4.0 and the CE by understanding how Industry 4.0 can foster the impact of the CE on companies. The study proposes a broader perspective that includes thematic and content analysis gathering data on professional documents based on business cases, newspaper articles, press releases and specialised blogs, as well as scientific papers. The joint academic-practitioners view highlights how Industry 4.0 has the potential to impact on the CE through countless actions: increasing waste disposal; promoting remanufacturing; enhancing the efficiency of critical resources such as water, energy, gas and CO₂; and improving business models and the mission of companies. However, barriers still exist in its adoption, stressing the need for holistic and integrated design and a proactive environment of collaboration among stakeholders. Results lead to practical as well as research implications.     

Big data analytics and enterprises: a bibliometric synthesis of the literature

ABSTRACT

Understanding the developmental trajectories of big data analytics in the corporate context is highly relevant for information systems research and practice. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of applications of big data analytics in enterprises. The sample for this study contained a total of 1727 articles from the Scopus database. The sample was analyzed with techniques such as bibliographic coupling, citation analysis, co-word analysis, and co-authorship analysis. Findings from the co-citation analysis identified four major thematic areas in the extant literature. The evolution of these thematic areas was documented with dynamic co-citation analysis.     

DPWeVote: differentially private weighted voting protocol for cloud-based decision-making

ABSTRACT

With the advent of Industry 4.0, cloud computing techniques have been increasingly adopted by industry practitioners to achieve better workflows. One important application is cloud-based decision-making, in which multiple enterprise partners need to arrive an agreed decision. Such cooperative decision-making problem is sometimes formed as a weighted voting game, in which enterprise partners express ‘YES/NO’ opinions. Nevertheless, existing cryptographic approaches to Cloud-Based Weighted Voting Game have restricted collusion tolerance and heavily rely on trusted servers, which are not always available. In this work, we consider the more realistic scenarios of having semi-honest cloud server/partners and assuming maximal collusion tolerance. To resolve the privacy issues in such scenarios, the DPWeVote protocol is proposed which incorporates Randomized Response technique and consists the following three phases: the Randomized Weights Collection phase, the Randomized Opinions Collection phase, and the Voting Results Release phase. Experiments on synthetic data have demonstrated that the proposed DPWeVote protocol managed to retain an acceptable utility for decision-making while preserving privacy in semi-honest environment.     

资源协奏视角下大数据赋能精益生产的机理研究

数字经济时代下,数据成为关键生产要素,驱动制造企业生产力和生产方式变革.然而,大数据对生产精益化的赋能机理有待深入探讨,特别是从关键生产要素到精益生产绩效之间的作用机理仍旧模糊.基于资源协奏理论和大数据相关理论,以格力电器为案例研究对象,探索大数据赋能制造企业精益生产的内在机理,构建揭开大数据"如何赋能精益生产"暗箱的...     

大数据时代统计工作思考

大数据为统计工作提供技术支持,能在数据挖掘、分析等方面,全面提高数据统计质量与效率,提高统计工作效能。为此,大数据时代提高统计工作效能,既要创建数据收集、共享数据平台,做好数据分析工作,又要关注非传统数据的运用,提高辅助决策水平,全面提升统计工作人员专业素养,推动大数据时代统计工作实现又好又快发展。     

Data configurations in railway signalling engineering - an application of enterprise systems techniques

Railway signalling system is a safety-critical system to ensure railway safety and its development cost is huge. It is of great economic value to apply the generic signalling systems in different environments through configuration of different application data. In this paper, a new method to configure the application data completely and accurately is illustrated; in particular, a technique called automatic generation technology is introduced to automatically configure the functional logic of safety-critical systems, i.e. computer-based interlocking (CBI) system and automatic train protection (ATP) system. All of the application data are collected from the workflow among various departments through the enterprise system (ES). Some application data are represented by models employing automatic generation technology, and the functional logic is then obtained through analysis using these models. A configuration platform based on the ES is developed in which both the efficiency and accuracy of the application data configuration are significantly improved. In addition, it is capable of reducing human errors to a maximal extent.     

Tensions in local government employment relationships

Abstract

A wide variety of initiatives characterized under the umbrella term of new public management have been introduced over the past two decades to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the public sector. The implications of these initiatives for public sector employment relationships have been the subject of on-going debate. This article contributes to this debate through examining how employees within local authorities are managed in a time of personal crisis with a particular focus on long-term sickness absence in the context of increased management drives for efficiency under the NPM agenda. The findings reveal that for managers in two local authorities that form the focus of this study there is a tension in struggling to achieve a workable balance between the needs of employees and wider operational requirements, resulting in role ambiguity for line managers and detrimental effects for vulnerable public service workers.     

LSPR detection of extracellular vesicles using a silver-PDMS nano-composite platform suitable for sensor networks

ABSTRACT

A novel method for the detection of exosomes in body fluids and cell cultures has been developed. The method is an optical method, based on LSPR of silver nanoparticles. The method was extended to a microfluidic environment, amenable to be integrated in a sensor network. However, for clinical applications, their isolation, detection and quantification methods in bio-fluids are challenging. Herein, we present a simple label-free technique to capture and detect EVs, by using a synthetic peptide, called Vn96. To quantify EVs, a LSPR detection technique was used. This work is an attempt to adapt a biosensing method to the future requirements of Industry 4.0.     

Development of smart nursing homes using systems engineering methodologies in industry 4.0

ABSTRACT

As aged population grows and health informatics advances dramatically, smart nursing homes equipped with electronic devices and intelligent systems turn into a hotspot. In this paper we propose an iterative and life-cycle development process based on the Vee model in Systems Engineering. Some tools like the house of quality matrix are introduced to continuously identify, allocate and refine requirements from elder residents, engineers, and other stakeholders. The development model proposed highlights the synchronization development of cyber phsical system with the smart nursing home. Furthermore, a agent-based simulation is implemented to illustrate feasibility and applicability of our work.     

浅谈大数据背景下企业财务管理面临的挑战及革新

随着近年来计算机技术和大数据技术的迅速发展,各行各业利用计算机技术及大数据提高信息管理工作水平,企业的财务管理工作也不例外。在新形势下,要转变财务管理理念,把大数据技术引入企业财务管理工作中去,从而提高工作质量和效率。论文阐述了企业财务管理在应用大数据过程中存在的困难,探讨了如何接受新的挑战。     

Sharing diseconomy: impact of the subsidy war of ride-sharing companies on urban congestion

ABSTRACT

As a typical example of the sharing economy, ride-sharing, in theory, can improve market efficiency and enhance the welfare of consumers and service suppliers. However, negative externalities resulted from ride-sharing, such as quasi-public goods, are often overlooked. In this paper, we used AutoNavi’s big data to measure traffic congestion in cities, and built DID, PSM-DID and DDD models to analyse the impact of the subsidy war among ride-sharing companies on the traffic congestion in Shanghai. The subsidy war led to an increase in the congestion index of Shanghai by 0.068–0.077, which was equivalent to an increase in transit time by 3.51%–5.53%. Excessive subsidies offered by ride-sharing companies to vie for market share will eventually distort the market. As a result, increased social costs will ultimately harm the well-being of the entire society, leading to diseconomy.     

Industry 4.0, innovation,and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

Despite the recent interest in the Industry 4.0 applications for sustainability, little is known on the processes through which digital transformation and Industry 4.0 technologies enable sustainable innovation in manufacturing. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by developing a strategic roadmap that explains how businesses can leverage Industry 4.0 technologies to introduce sustainability into innovative practices. For this purpose, the study conducts a systematic review of extant literature to identify Industry 4.0 functions for sustainable innovation and applies interpretive structural modeling to devise the promised roadmap. The results offer interesting insights into Industry 4.0 applications for sustainable innovation. The strategic roadmap developed reveals that Industry 4.0 enables sustainable innovation through 11 functions. Industry 4.0 and the underlying digital technologies and principles allow businesses to improve interfunctional collaboration and better integrate with internal and external stakeholders. Industry 4.0 further improves the knowledge base and advanced manufacturing competency and promotes organizational capabilities valuable to sustainable innovation such as green absorptive capacity, sustainable partnership, and sustainable innovation orientation. Through these functions, Industry 4.0 subsequently enhances green process innovation capacity and the ability to develop or reintroduce eco-friendly products economically and competitively. Overall, the roadmap explains the complex precedence relationships among the 11 sustainable innovation functions of Industry 4.0, offering important implications for businesses that seek to leverage Industry 4.0 sustainability implications and manage sustainable development.     

大数据时代下企业人力资源管理模式

随着信息技术日新月异的发展,当前我们已经步入大数据时代。大数据凭借资源共享性、数据存储量大、自身速度快等特征,被广泛运用到各个领域中。将大数据恰如其分地引入企业人力资源管理模式中,可以依托大数据整合行业内部、企业内部的资源,提高工作效率,夯实企业稳健长远发展的基础。论文从大数据及企业管理的概述入手,对大数据时代企业人力资源管理的必要性进行深入探讨,并提出了与之相应的人力资源管理模式。     

长安伟世通的商务流程重组与ERP系统改善

ERP是对企业运作的数字化模拟，不但要重视技术工具．也要重视流程分析。项目实践证明，在对商务流程进行过切实深入了解，并进行流程整理重组的ERP系统改善或导入．将为企业供应链效率与表现的提升提供巨大的助力。     

A comprehensive view of intelligent transport systems for urban smart mobility

ABSTRACT

Information accuracy and decision-making speed are of paramount importance in managing today’s mobility of goods and people inside the city. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can provide road users with updated information and forecasts on both traffic and weather conditions. The result is a higher efficiency in the use of resources and a better management of physical flows. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth review on the role of ITS supporting urban Smart Mobility, in order to identify the main gaps in the literature and propose future research streams. In total, 71 papers have been thoroughly analysed: they are mainly focused on technology, with limited attention to value creation. Even though some benefits have been examined, a general lack of quantitative models emerged. Eventually, there is a lack of contributions considering both people and freight transport, even if they are strongly related, especially in an urban environment.     

Security: The Virtual Quest

ABSTRACT

Security and related contingency recovery plans ensure a business' survival when it is faced with potential information systems breakdowns. Its primary objective is to prevent a calamity from occurring and to limit the impact of destructive events related to computer-based information systems. Most disaster recovery plans, when put into effect, fail to serve the intended purpose. The value of a properly implemented security is to prevent external intrusions before they start, and have an internal recovery plan to restore service so that assets are not adversely affected.

This paper provides some insight regarding security as well as identifying some of the pitfalls or weakness in this part of an organization's communication network. Emerging technologies such as the use of biometrics, authentications, steganography, and data encryption used for security will be the focus of the paper.     

The significance of digital data systems for smart city policy

Our planet is gradually moving towards an urbanized world. Modern urban agglomerations tend to turn nowadays into advanced information hubs supporting a smart management of dynamic urban systems. The currently popular notion of ‘smart cities’ aims to provide a new perspective for sustainable and high-performance strategies of city stakeholders in our ‘urban century’. In this context, digital information technology provides a new tool for efficient and effective management and planning of urban space, inter alia in the field of transportation, environment, public facilities or advanced service provision to citizens. This paper aims to offer, first, a concise overview of the emerging opportunities of information and communication technology (ICT) for smart urban policy; digital technology in particular, appears to provide novel pathways for modern planning strategies in smart cities. Against this background, the paper sketches out the complex force field of global urbanisation phenomena and highlights the data and information needs for strategic planning of cities (using inter alia as a framework the so-called ‘urban piazza’ strategy framework). Secondly, various new decision support tools that are currently emerging and that offer a new promising scope for handling complex urban management issues (for instance, on accessibility, congestion, safety or sustainability) are briefly presented. And finally, the potential of such digital data systems for urban management and policy is concisely illustrated by means of some recent applications in the area of smartphone data systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges ahead for urban policy, inter alia by paying attention to institutional and governance aspects of ‘big digital data’ management in urban systems.     

Towards factories of the future: migration of industrial legacy automation systems in the cloud computing and Internet-of-things context

ABSTRACT

The vision of factories-of-the-future is motivating many industrial companies to modernise their existing portfolio of systems and services to maintain market share and improve business agility. For long-lived industrial systems, it is challenging to adapt legacy assets to a service-oriented stream in cloud computing and Internet-of-things contexts. For this reason, many research studies have proposed techniques and methodologies to migrate legacy industrial functions and systems at different hierarchy levels of automation control. This paper presents an overview of these techniques and methodologies, as well as industry practices to achieve the vision of factories of the future. Better understanding the challenges encountered in legacy migration processes will help researchers and practitioners in their further efforts.     

Enabling the Circular Economy transition: a sustainable lean manufacturing recipe for Industry 4.0

Over the past 10 years, the concepts and objectives of circular economy have been increasingly detailed and become strategic issues of international, European, and national policies. However, the transition towards circular production models continues to be affected by several barriers and critical factors that make the transition difficult to achieve. The paper tries to design a relationship between sustainable production and lean production, highlighting the opportunity to invest in reverse-logistics and how Industry 4.0 system represents a breeding ground for circular economy targets application. The aim of the current study is to examine the relationships among sustainable production, lean production, and Industry 4.0 in order to evidence the need to adopt a lean methodology and Industry 4.0 technologies in a sustainable development perspective for companies. Following a holistic vision, the authors summarize the production principles and formulas, which, although in parallel, lead to similar results and therefore represent the pillars of a competitive and sustainable business. In conclusion, exploring the circular economy principles and production chain model, challenges, opportunities, and future outlooks are formulated.     

Enabling supply chain analytics for enterprise information systems: a topic modelling literature review and future research agenda

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a literature review of the research within the framework of 1) analytics,2) supply chain management, and 3) enterprise information systems, and relate the findings to competitive enablers. The findings are used to construct a future research agenda. The methodology is a systematic two-stage approach, based on a Smart Literature review framework using topic modelling. The research agenda proposes future research within the themes of 1) context, 2) cross-functional analytics, 3) cross-planning level analytics, 4) implementation and assimilation of analytics in EIS, 5) analytics and big data for SCM, 6) managerial aspects of analytics, and 7) data and system heterogeneity.