Current research on the circular economy (CE) reveals that, while the concept and its application have been extensively explored as shown in several case studies, the definition of tools and criteria measuring ¿circularity¿ of products, companies or regions are not well-defined. Therefore, indicators for measuring the different levels of a CE (micro, meso, and macro) should be a high priority for stakeholders (governments, companies, NGOs, civil society, etc.) in order to track progress on CE initiatives. However, the increasing interest on CE has caused a still open debate on the conceptualization of CE which hampers the creation of indicators based on a common conceptual framework. As a result, the absence of standard indicators to track progress on circularity is leading to contradiction and misunderstanding, which represents a challenge to the implementation of CE strategies. Thus, this study tries to address this gap by advancing a set of indicators adapted from existing indicators that guarantees simplicity and effectiveness, closely based on indicators proposed by government bodies. This research carried out an exploratory study to formulate the indicators requirements based on literature, refined through experts¿ opinion and then they were tested in Spanish companies located in the Basque Country region through an empirical work to assess this theory...

Purpose This study aims to reduce carbon emissions and costs in an automobile production plant by improving the operational management efficiency of a serial assembly line assisted by a feeding electric tow vehicle (ETV). Design/methodology/approach A multi-objective function is formulated to minimize the energy consumption of the ETV from which emissions and costs are measured. First, a mixed-integer linear programming model is used to solve the feeding problem for different sizes of the assembly line. Second, a bi-objective optimization (HBOO) model is used to simultaneously minimize the most eco-efficient objectives: the number of completed runs (tours) by the ETV along the assembly line, and the number of visits (stops) made by the ETV to deliver kits of components to workstations. Findings The most eco-efficient strategy is always the bi-objective optimal solution regardless of the size of the assembly line, whereas, for single objectives, the optimization strategy differs depending on the size of the assembly line. Research limitations/implications Instances of the problem are randomly generated to reproduce real conditions of a particular automotive factory according to a previous case study. The optimization procedure allows managers to assess real scenarios improving the assembly line eco-efficiency. These results promote the implementation of automated control of feeding processes in green manufacturing. Originality/value The HBOO-model assesses the assembly line performance with a view to reducing the environmental impact effectively and contributes to reducing the existent gap in the literature. The optimization results define key strategies for manufacturing industries eager to integrate battery-operated motors or to address inefficient traffic of automated transport to curb the carbon footprint.

We study the efficiency of operations management in a hospital from the dynamics of the flow of patients. Our principal aim is to characterize strategic departments and seasonal patterns in a hospital from a complex networks approach. Process mining techniques are developed to track out-patients¿ pathways along different departments for the purpose of building weekly networks. In these networks, departments act as nodes with multiple out/in-going arrows connecting other departments. Strategic departments are classified into target and critical departments. On the one hand, target departments, which in this study belong to the oncology area, correspond to those affected by new management policies whose impact is to be assessed. On the other hand, critical departments correspond to the most active departments, the hubs of the networks. Using suitable networks parameters, strategic departments are shown to be highly efficient regardless of the season, which naturally translates into a high level of service offered to patients. In addition, our results show conformance with the new objectives concerning target departments. The methodology presented is shown to be successful in evaluating the efficiency of hospital services in order to enhance process performances, and moreover, it is suitable to be implemented in healthcare management systems at a greater scale and the service industry whenever the flow of clients or customers are involved.

Defining the circular economy (CE) as a material and energy model coincides with the definition given by multiple authors in which Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has been deemed as a foundational strategy to support the implementation of the CE. The consumption of secondary materials is essential to achieve a successful transformation from a linear economy to a CE focused on IS practices. In this scenario, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role as stakeholders in developing CE systems as it is not possible to create this model with each company working in isolation. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the role played by relevant local stakeholders such as individual firms interacting in the development of a local CE system. This study aimed to study the challenges that SMEs face in developing a CE system. A case study is selected as a research strategy using a mixed-method approach: a sequential quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) data collection techniques were employed for this research. It was observed that an absence of inter-organisational collaboration and a misunderstanding of the roles played by SMEs may impede the implementation of a local CE system level.

This paper assesses the effectiveness in scheduling independent jobs with earliness/tardiness costs and variable setup times applying the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). The OEE is a common metric for measuring the manufacturing productivity. We defined a mixed-integer linear programming formulation of the parallel machine scheduling problem with four different objective functions in order to compare different scheduling configurations. Real data, from a plastic container manufacturing company located in the Basque Country (Spain), were used to validate this approach. A sensitivity analysis was performed with different production capacities and earliness/tardiness costs in order to evaluate the trade-offs between economic performance (i.e., costs) and the partial rates of OEE (i.e., quality, performance and availability). The objective of this study is to propose a guideline to help management make decisions regarding the measurement and improvement of scheduling effectiveness through contemplating earliness, tardiness and variable setup times. (C) 2019 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada

Global warming is negatively affecting the environment of the planet. This situation has led to the development of international standards, such as the International Organisation for Standardization's DIS 14064-1 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard, both of which measure corporate carbon footprints. These standards provide guidelines that can be applied to different organizational sectors. However, these are not sufficient for controlling the reduction of carbon emissions, because although they propose the use of indicators, they do not explicitly define them. In addition, in the case of emissions from wastewater treatment, they only suggest that the emissions associated with this process be considered. In the present study, an eight¿step, unified methodology based on these two international standards is proposed, focusing on direct emissions. Moreover, the step¿by¿step to data collection, calculations, and the required indicators to control the emissions are defined. The first scope considers direct emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the company. Methane generation measurement from wastewater treatment has been included in the methodology within Scope 1, as it is the second most polluting gas after carbon dioxide, both of which give rise to global warming. The proposed methodology was tested as a case study in one of the most important companies in the food sector in Colombia.

The Assembly Line Part Feeding Problem (ALPFP) is a complex combinatorial optimisation problem concerned with the delivery of the required parts to the assembly workstations in the right quantities at the right time. Solving the ALPFP includes simultaneously solving two sub-problems, namely tour scheduling and tow-train loading. In this article, we first define the problem and formulate it as a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model. Then, we carry out a complexity analysis, proving the ALPFP to be NP-complete. A modified particle swarm optimisation (MPSO) algorithm incorporating mutation as part of the position updating scheme is subsequently proposed. The MPSO is capable of finding very good solutions with small time requirements. Computational results are reported, demonstrating the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed MPSO.

The U-shaped assembly line has received a considerable attention and has been widely used in industry in recent years due to the pressures of the just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing philosophy. However, balancing the U-shaped line is more difficult than balancing the traditional straight line. This study aims at balancing the U-shaped assembly line by introducing a novel heuristic which is based on the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. The objectives to be optimised in this study are the number of workstations and balance efficiency. The performance of the proposed algorithm is examined by solving a set of standard test problems and a real case study. The results attained by the proposed algorithm were compared against the best known solution in the literature and it was found that the proposed algorithm is able to find good solutions in a reasonably short computational time.

This study focuses on how innovation capability can be developed within a company and how information capability is integrated into the innovation process. Innovation, helped by elements that generate and share knowledge, is generated through different practices. Thus, the present study develops an analysis of the role of information capability in innovation through the assessment of the direct experiences of managers from innovative companies located in Spain through grounded theory methodology. Our findings suggest that strategy promotes the appropriate culture and values that are aligned with innovation in the company. Strategy also establishes and acquires the resources, both internal and external, that an organization needs in order to achieve competiveness through innovation. Moreover, the organizational culture and resources support the information capability, and this information capability in turn supports the knowledge management which supports and develops innovation. The contribution of this research is the proposal of a framework that explains the elements that underlie innovation management in companies. The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of how to use information capability and knowledge management as potential sources of innovation.

Sustainability and the circular economy are the answer to today's challenge of resource depletion and waste generation. The transition to circular economy requires technological and process innovations: However, the capacity for innovation has often been a point of difficulty, and the problem is worse in small-sized companies because of the scarcity of resources. Our aim is to show how a company committed to sustainability overcomes the obstacles in the innovation process.

In the turbulent global environment in which organizations now compete, having reliable, accurate and readily available information is a key factor. Information is a strategic company resource. To the extent that TQM is an information-intensive management model, it is not unreasonable to assume that companies committed to TQM models should be efficient when managing information. This study has two main objectives. First, we aim to explore whether the information managed by companies committed to TQM models (in particular a quality management system based on the ISO 9000 international quality standards series) meets the dimensions required for information quality. Second, we aim to explore how information quality dimensions influence information consumers¿ overall feeling of being well informed in those companies. Using a quantitative approach, we used a questionnaire survey to capture the perceptions of managers in companies committed to a quality management system based on the ISO 9000 international quality standards series with respect to the information they managed. More specifically we applied a nonparametric test and performed a multiple regression analysis to address the objectives of the study. The analysis shows evidence that the information managed already meets many dimensions of information quality among the companies analysed.