Introduction This study evaluates the impact of an Internet of Things (IoT) intervention in a hospital unit and provides empirical evidence on the effects of smart technologies on patient safety (patient falls and hand hygiene compliance rate) and staff experiences. Method We have conducted a post-intervention analysis of hand hygiene (HH) compliance rate, and a pre-and post-intervention interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis of the patient falls rates. Lastly, we investigated staff experiences by conducting semi-structured open-ended interviews based on Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Results The results showed that (i) there was no statistically significant change in the mean patient fall rates. ITS analysis revealed non-significant incremental changes in mean patient falls (− 0.14 falls/quarter/1000 patient-days). (ii) HH compliance rates were observed to increase in the first year then decrease in the second year for all staff types and room types. (iii) qualitative interviews with the nurses reported improvement in direct patient care time, and a reduced number of patient falls. Conclusion This study provides empirical evidence of some positive changes in the outcome variables of interest and the interviews with the staff of that unit reported similar results as well. Notably, our observations identified behavioral and environmental issues as being particularly important for ensuring success during an IoT innovation implementation within a hospital setting.

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Allocating optimal ordering quantity and mitigation of bullwhip effect is one of the challenging parts in a modern multi echelon supply chain system. Genetic algorithm is used in this research to reduce the bullwhip effect and to determine optimal ordering quantity in a multistage supply chain consisting of six members. Real demand data of a manufacturing company has been used here to conduct the analyses. This research also pinpointed that genetic algorithm can be applied to reduce the cost of total supply chain. To calculate the total cost, five different costs with varying unit holding cost, in inventory cost is used for each of the members of supply chain. This paper also examines the importance of the limit set of the chromosomes of genetic algorithm and concluded that the lower range chromosomes provide a better result by reducing the total supply chain cost more than the range set in higher limit.Keywords: multistage supply chain; genetic algorithm; bullwhip effect; optimal ordering quantity; total supply chain cost; TSCC.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Yesmin, T. and Hasin, M.A.A. (2012) 'Determination of optimal ordering quantity and reduction of bullwhip effect in a multistage supply chain using genetic algorithm', Int. J.

Safety is a relative quantity that is a function of the situation in which it is measured. This research has been conducted in a well established pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh practicing GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), which has a tablet manufacturing facility. Tablet manufacturing comprises a number of manufacturing activities and machineries. Each of these activities, requiring amalgamated interaction of man, machine, equipment and environment has the potential of producing unforeseen hazards. Therefore, analysis of risk to assure worker safety is not only necessary here, it is also important to use an appropriate tool that can incorporate all the risk-producing parameters. The research work conducted here using a very effective tool named Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), consisted of observing the works at different sections, breaking them down into sequential steps, noting the surrounding variables of each task, and using these data to perform risk analysis to find out the most hazardous works for the workers.

In the fiercely competitive market, productivity improvement always plays a key strategic role in determining bottom-line success for an industry. Being a plastic bag manufacturer, which is widely used as packaging material for apparel industry, the manufacturer belongs to a group of backward linkage industry, which is highly competitive. As such, the company has to focus heavily on three strategic issues: reduction in overall cost, improvement in quality with right assurance scheme, and improvement in productivity with right tools and techniques. This research has been conducted in a large FDI-based plastic bag manufacturing company, a techno-economic consortium of Dutch, China and Bangladesh, and located in the suburban area of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This research was aimed to focus on these issues along with future guidelines as to how to approach lean manufacturing as a pursuit to achieve the ultimate goal of “near perfection”. All of these improvement efforts are planned around the concepts of lean manufacturing. This involves application of Value-Stream Mapping (VSM) and 5S program.