With the advent of modern communication and control strategies, existing industrial enterprises are now being transformed as per Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 standards to maximize production rates ...and monetary gains. To cope with the pace of the modern technological revolution, the Government of Saudi Arabia has launched “Vision 2030”. This research article presents the full automation process of an existing production line at the College of Engineering, King Saud University, as per “Vision 2030” guidelines. Initially, a production line was designed to produce flavored yogurt bottles from a user-defined flavor and plain yogurt mixture. The research project was completed in two phases. During phase I, smart sensing, control, and automation equipment were used to minimize human intervention, the so-called semi-automated mode of operation. A bottle-feeding mechanism and robotic arms were later integrated to eliminate human intervention during the second phase. Moreover, during phase II, Node-RED, Telegram Bots, and a Raspberry Pi 4 controller were used to achieve IoT-based monitoring and control as per Industry 4.0 requirements. A comparative performance analysis was conducted between semi-automated and fully automated modes of operation to demonstrate the benefits of the fully automated operational mode. The performance of the fully automated system was found to be superior in comparison with the semi-automated system.
The emergence of Industry 4.0, also referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, has entirely transformed how the industry or business functions and evolves. It can be attributed to its ...broadening focus on automation, decentralization, system integration, cyber-physical systems, etc. Its implementation promises numerous benefits in terms of higher productivity, greater volatility, better control and streamlining of processes, accelerated enterprise growth, sustainable development, etc. Despite the worldwide recognition and realization of Industry 4.0, its holistic adoption is constrained by the requirements of specific skills among the workforce. The personnel are expected to acquire adaptive thinking, cognitive and computational skills, predominantly in the area of information technology, data analytics, etc. Thus, the universities that laid the foundation for future talents or trends in society have to adapt and modernize the existing programs, facilities, and infrastructure. This reshaping of higher education in consonance with the vision of Industry 4.0 possesses its opportunities and challenges. There are, of course, a multitude of factors involved and they need a reasonable assessment to strategically plan this metamorphosis. Therefore, this work aims to explore and analyze the different factors that influence the progression and enactment of Industry 4.0 in universities for sustainable education. For this purpose, a systematic approach based on a questionnaire as well as a SWOT (strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T)) integrated with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is adopted. The questionnaires are administered to university employees and students (or stakeholders) to assess their viewpoint, as well as to estimate the priority values for individual factors to be included in SWOT. The AHP is implemented to quantify the different factors in terms of weights using a pairwise comparison matrix. Finally, the SWOT matrix is established depending on the questionnaire assessment and the AHP weights to figure out stakeholders’ perspectives, in addition to the needed strategic scheme. The SWOT implementation of this research proposes an aggressive approach for universities, where they must make full use of their strengths to take advantage of the emerging opportunities in Industry 4.0. The results also indicate that there are fundamental requirements for universities in Industry 4.0, including effective financial planning, skilled staff, increased industrial partnerships, advanced infrastructure, revised curricula, and insightful workshops. This investigation undoubtedly underlines the importance of practical expertise and the implementation of digital technologies at the university level to empower novices with the requisite skills and a competitive advantage for Industry 4.0.
This study investigated if a combination of resveratrol (RES) and insulin could reverse type 1 diabetic mellitus-induced (T1DM) nephropathy and illustrates mechanism of action. Rats were divided into ...six groups (n = 10/group) as follows: control, control + RES (20 mg/kg), T1DM, T1DM + RES, T1DM + insulin (1 U/g), and T1DM + RES + insulin and treated for eight weeks. While individual administrations of both drugs significantly but partially restored renal function and cortex architectures, combination therapy of both RES and insulin produced the maximum improvements. Mechanism of actions revealed a synergist effect of both drugs due to hypoglycaemic effect of insulin and the ability of both drugs to increase renal cortex antioxidant enzymes activities, inhibit lipid peroxidation, and up-regulate Na
+
/K
+
-ATPase, independent of each others. In conclusion, these data suggest the combined therapy with insulin and RES could provide an excellent combined drug therapy against T1DM-induced nephropathy.
Lean manufacturing is one of the most popular improvement agents in the pursuit of perfection. However, in today’s complex and dynamic manufacturing environments, lean tools are facing an inevitable ...death. Industry 4.0 can be integrated with lean tools to avoid their end. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to introduce an Industry 4.0-based lean framework called dynamic value stream mapping (DVSM) to digitalize lean manufacturing through the integration of lean tools and Industry 4.0 technologies. DVSM with its powerful features is proposed to be the smart IT platform that can sustain lean tools and keep them alive and effective. This paper specifically tackles the scheduling and dispatching in today’s lean manufacturing environments, where the aim of this research is developing a smart lean-based production scheduling and dispatching model to achieve the lean target through optimizing the flow along the VSM and minimizing the manufacturing lead time. The developed model, called the real-time scheduling and dispatching module (RT-SDM), runs on DVSM. The RT-SDM is represented through a mathematical model using mixed integer programming. Part of the testing and verification process, a simplified IT-based software, has been developed and applied on a smart factory lab.
Due to climate change, some areas in the world witnessed higher levels of heavy rain than the capacity of the wastewater system of the streets. Therefore, water tankers are used for the dewatering ...process to take the extra rainwater from the streets to keep a smooth flow of vehicles and to use the water in agriculture and industry. Water is taken to a water treatment plant. Performing the dewatering process as fast as possible, especially in crowded streets, was ignored by researchers. In this study, at first, the problem was solved using two mixed integer programming (MIP) models. A new variant of identical parallel machine scheduling with job splitting is proposed for the first time, where one or at most two tankers can work at the same flood location at the same time. This is performed in the second model. However, the first model considers dividing the dewatering processes into two phases, where the first one, which is more urgent, is to reduce the amount of floodwater. The second one is for dewatering the rest of the water. Then two genetic algorithms (GAs) were used to solve faster the two MIP models, which are NP-hard problems. At first, the MIP and GA models were applied to small-sized problems. Then GA was used for large practical data sets. Results showed that for small problems, MIP and GA gave optimal solutions in a reasonable number of iterations, while for larger problems, good solutions were obtained in a reasonable number of iterations.
Many advanced product manufacturing approaches have been introduced in the market in recent years. Thus, it is critical to develop modern techniques which can effectively familiarize budding minds ...with the latest manufacturing procedures. In fact, the contemporary training methods and advanced education practices are crucial to uphold the interest of the new generation as well as to equip them with state-of the art systems. There is a need for innovative ideas and effective methodologies to inculcate the desired competency and prepare students for prospective manufacturing set ups. In the latest Industry 4.0 paradigm, visualization technologies, especially virtual reality, have been emphasized to sustainably train and educate young students. This work presents a technique for utilizing the leading visualization method based on virtual reality in product manufacturing. It aims to acquaint students with the prominent concept of Industry 4.0, the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS). The RMS has been a demanding topic for the novice and, most often, amateurs are not able to grasp and interpret it. Therefore, this paper outlines the various steps that can be useful for students in order to anticipate the RMS design, interact with it, understand its operation, and evaluate its performance.
Adopting and implementing the Industry 4.0 strategy to increase the overall performance of the organization became one of the main aims of organizations. However, ignoring the linkages between ...implementing strategic decisions and organizational internal factors/forces can endanger and shrink its performance, competitive advantages, and thus its strategic success. In this context, many companies failed to achieve the expected benefits of adopting the Industry 4.0 strategy. Therefore, the gained advantages of adopting the Industry 4.0 strategy should be sustained through perfect and comprehensive integration between Industry 4.0 concepts and the accompanying upgrades and changes in the organizational internal factors/forces. This will capitalize on organizations’ internal strengths and avoid weaknesses or turn them into strengths. In this paper, a conceptual model is proposed to investigate the relation between Industry 4.0 and internal organizational forces and examine their impacts on the sustainable competitive advantages of the organization. In the hypothesized model, three innovation capabilities (i.e., technological, economic, and commercial innovation) have been used to mediate the relation between the internal forces and the sustainable competitive advantages in parallel with Industry 4.0 adoption. The model and the proposed hypotheses have been simulated and tested using partial least squares structural equations modeling software called SmartPLS. The sample size used is 125 responses from different manufacturing fields. The results demonstrate the significant role that the internal organizational forces play in maintaining and sustaining the organization’s competitive advantages in combination with Industry 4.0.
Sustainable techniques in distribution centers, such as automation that reduces the land area needed, can be utilized. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) are used to efficiently manage ...the flow of pallets and carton cases in distribution centers. There are two types of AS/RS: one for pallets and another type for cases that are depalletized from pallets. Further enhancements on the system are obtained by investigating both warehouses together. This paper investigates an efficient approach that directly affects the conceptual design of automated distribution centers for the purpose of reducing the total costs. The tradeoff between the throughput (defined by the level of double handling) and warehouse capacity is investigated in this study by finding the best lot sizing rules for different classes of products (A, B, and C). These rules are to determine the method of moving carton cases from the first warehouse to the second one. The number of stacker cranes is determined based on the found throughput. The effect of double handling of pallets on the design is considered for the first time in this study. Analytical formulas and simulation were used to find the throughput and capacity based on the mentioned lot sizing rules. Then, an integer nonlinear model was developed to optimize the system. According to the results of the assumed data, the model can save up to 19.5%. The costs of stacker cranes were found to account for approximately 78.7% of the total costs in the best solution found. A decision support system has been developed to help decision makers find an efficient design of distribution center.
Automatic warehousing systems are a sort of green technology that is becoming increasingly popular in the logistics business. Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) are one of the most ...significant components of advanced automated logistics and manufacturing systems. The majority of AS/RS systems use input/output (I/O) points located in the lower left corner of the rack. These systems are reaching their maximum capacity because of their layout design limitations. Breakthrough solutions are needed to enhance the performance of existing systems. In this study, we examined how the location of I/O station can affect the total travel time. Another strategy for enhancement is a two-step preparation method. In this strategy, the allocation of the storage is changed, in the idle time, to be closer to the I/O point to reduce the service time for a class-based storage assignment. An analytical model was used to introduce for the first time optimal configurations of this strategy. We tested the suggested strategy using a simulation model created using R software, specifically designed for this purpose. Results showed that the two-step preparation strategy took between 1.2 and 1.9 h before the shift starts. The enhancement on throughput is almost the same for both possible locations of the I/O point. The results also showed that the two strategies (location of the I/O point and reallocation of storage) could increase throughput by about 21% to 28%, depending on parameters such as the number of orders and the height of the storage rack.
The need for air conditioners (ACs) is increasing every year, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The annual sales of ACs clearly indicated either buying new conditioning systems or ...replacing existing ACs. When air conditioners are replaced for any reason, a large number of used air conditioners are available, which leads to the necessity of remanufacturing these ACs for economic and environmental purposes. The current research focuses on investigating the collection system of used window ACs as a part of the reverse logistics of remanufacturing window ACs under the uncertainty of demand and production rate. To optimize the average inventory and fulfill the need of the ACs remanufacturing unit, this current research explained many operations in the collection system and their relationship to the remanufacturing unit. These objectives were investigated using a combination of simulation, mathematical, and optimization techniques. After developing the model using Arena software, the simulation model for the initial solution was run. The theoretical and mathematical concepts of inventory have been exploited to find an initial solution for the objectives under investigation. The Optquest tool was used for the simulation model of the initial solution to improve the iterative search technique. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine each input parameter’s magnitude and individual impact on the results. The findings suggest that simulation and optimization strategies are effective in improving average inventory and lost demand. As a result, the average inventory has been reduced significantly.
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