Procedure for Evaluating Competitiveness of Production Processes

Abstract

At present time a lot of methods are used for the assessment of product quality level, as well as its manufacturing perspectives. Only quantitative data can be used in order to compare the competitiveness of products, facilities, companies, etc. But methods for quantitative assessment of technological processes competitiveness have not been still proposed. The present paper describes a developed procedure for evaluation the competitiveness of technological processes. It takes into consideration the main factors which are used for estimation of process effectiveness: quality of products, level of applied technologies and production costs. In order to range these parameters, it is proposed to use weighting factors for each of them. An integrated efficiency index may vary within a range of 0 to 1. This method allows not only evaluating competitiveness of production processes, but also choosing the most rational production process, based on required properties of the processed item. The application of the developed approach is shown on the example of reinforcing steel manufacturing, which can be produced in different ways. The obtained results of calculation present a comparison of selected manufacturing techniques by the following parameters: strength and ductility properties of reinforcing bars, an applied forming method, possibility of a layer winding and a range of diameters of bars in coils. It is shown that the developed model makes it possible to determine a trend in development or adjustment of operating parameters for existing options of processes applied at an operating plant.

Industry 4.0 Technology Re-Engineering Impacts on Strategy Agility and SME Competitiveness in Malaysia

“…In order to survive in a contemporary business setting, SMEs need to focus along the way to overcome the challenges and try to develop their competitiveness position [15]. Some other researchers also pointed out that improvement to competitiveness processes and rapid changes are primary elements of a company's success in the market [16]. However, one of the biggest challenges facing manufacturing SMEs are challenges require continuous innovation and learning, which is dependent on people and enterprise's capabilities for SMEs in Malaysia to be competitiveness.…”