Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 606

Abstract: Energy crisis and continuously fluctuating cost of petroleum have move attention of researchers toward renewable and sustainable energy sources and materials. Biomass or bioresources is one of the abundant and cheap renewable energy sources and materials that is environment friendly in Malaysia and other tropical countries in the world. It has been identified as one of the main sources of the sustainable energy in the fifth fuel strategy in Malaysia. This paper describes several possible routes to provide energy as well as potential value-added products from bioresources. The future trend in thermo-conversion processing of the biomass is the utilization of microwave energy into renewable bio-fuels, materials and chemicals. The potential of uses of bio-oils and bio-chars from oil palm solid wastes for biofuels, materials and chemicals are given. The applications of these renewable sources to produce biofuels, materials and chemicals have been applied in some countries around the world. The implementation of the biomass technology will be best utilized and feasible when the technology is developed locally, fabricated and commission with the utilization of locally produced biomass. With the research and development efforts developed locally towards local expertise will help to produce indigenous technologies, thus reducing the high cost of import technology.

Abstract: In the present paper, effects of pitting corrosion on the strength of members made of AISI 410 Martensitic stainless steel were investigated. Stainless steel compressor blades in power generation industries commonly suffer from pitting corrosion. Pits geometry analysis and strength tests have been conducted. Pits geometry analysis established the maximum pit depth of 0.26 mm along with the maximum diameter of 1 mm. In addition, strength and elongation of the pitted tensile specimen gradually decrease with the increase of the area lost due to pitting corrosion. A damage nucleation phenomenon at the initial load values is also postulated.

Abstract: Road accidents are a major problem in both developed and developing countries, although related to different historical reasons and circumstances. The clear, common feature is the impact caused by three major factors: use of the automobile, road infrastructure and the road users (human factor), this has generated interest from researchers and academia. Most research has been limited in scope, while some researchers used secondary data, some use official reports, experimental investigation through system approach. The inability to recognize the complexity of factors that affect this issue may explain why we have conflicting results obtained by different researchers. The purpose of this paper was to develop a sustainable road safety model that is based on concurrent research, including: Human factors, Vehicle factors and Road factors. A sustainable approach was taken in evaluating relationships among the various factors and indicators thereby proposing a model that can serve as a tool for benchmarking and policy decision. Keywords: Road Safety; performance; Indicators; Human Factors; Sustainability

Abstract: The purchase of raw materials is very influential for the quality of products produced in addition to the process of making the product itself. Therefore, how to choose the supplier from the available alternatives is something that must be done properly in the process of procurement of raw materials especially for companies with many product variations and associated with many suppliers. This paper discusses about how to make supplier selection procedure for garment company with a case on a medium scale garment company in Bandung that manufactures veil and Moslem fashion. Mapping of business processes using IDEF0 was the first step in designing of supplier selection procedure. Then performed an analysis of the process which is usually done to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the process. The next step is create a design of supplier selection procedure that is more structured and measurable. In addition, also designed a tool that can be used in the supplier selection process, which is a simple application to determine the ranking of suppliers who will be selected based on the criteria specified. The application is based on the decision-making process with The Analytical Hierarchy Process approach that has been commonly used as a tool for decision-making with many alternative choices. In general, the resulting procedure would be beneficial for the company as a guide for those involved in the procurement process at the purchasing department, primarily for decision making in supplier selection.

Abstract: Cibaduyut is the center of the shoe industry in the city of Bandung, West Java Indonesia. Shoes that are produced here are mostly produced by small-scale industries scattered in Cibaduyut area. The process of making shoes that are made by small industries, still uses simple facilities and techniques, with no attention to the aspect of comfort, safety and occupational health. The work facilities used today causes inconvenience to employees in their work. The results of the survey (by distributing Discomfort Questionnairre), we obtained information stating that the workers complained on several problems concerning the body dimension during the work progress. From this illustration we can say that it is necessary to evaluate the working posture to minimize the risks arising from the work by methods RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment). The results obtained from Rula shows some works that are done are at the level 4, which means that this work belongs to high risk and needs to be improved immediately. Therefore we should provide the design facilities such as desk to work in pattern, sole, and finishing work station which are needed to improve posture. The size of product design tailored to the size of the body dimensions of workers with anthropometric methods. The design of the facility will improve the posture of workers in their work.

Abstract: The success of practices with quality approaches are generally linked with certain key factors. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to identify and analyze the factors that to be important in sustaining quality practices. The key factors were primarily identified and adapted through an extensive literature review followed by quality expert assessment. A survey questionnaire was then launched in matching identified factors with industry practices. The senior quality managers representing the each organization in the UAE made the unit of analysis of the study. Based on survey, eight factors have been identified as critical to quality practices. The developed critical factors should serve as a guide to those organizations in the region to sustain quality practices in their ongoing quest towards higher quality levels.

Abstract: With advent of high technologies, simulation software becomes more applicable between organizations’ managers. Simulation can model the real situation on a visual program. It will make the understanding of system, properly. Nowadays in each organization, the main considered factor is how they can improve its services confidently. This study emphasize on customer satisfaction and reducing the waiting time for customers in a bank service system. The goal of this paper is applying ARENA simulation software for modeling the system and measuring the performances. In addition, three strategies are implemented that each strategy consists of several scenarios. 17 possible scenarios are compared to achieve all kind of results that can be imagined. It would be very helpful for manager to analyzes and compare the results then find the lowest and highest effective element for improvement.

Abstract: Today energy consumption is one of the controversial issues in the world. The rapid growing world energy consumption has already increased concern about the supply problems, heavy environmental effects such as global warming, climate change and etc. One of the most users of energy is residential buildings that consume the biggest share of energy. Growth in population, rising demand for buildings together causes to increase the upward trend in energy consumption. Therefore, energy efficiency in buildings plays a significant role to decrease the environmental effect. The goal of this paper is optimizing the main elements which are window, ceiling and wall by considering the effect of uncontrollable factors such as humidity , temperature and pressure in residential buildings using statistical method namely Taguchi method (JMP 11 software). A two-storey house in Malaysia was selected to simulate by means of BIM application. Based on the result, the optimum energy saving will be achieved when the type of material which are used for wall ,ceiling and window to be Brick Plaster , Acoustic Tile Suspended and Single Glazed Alum Frame respectively.

Abstract: In supply chain management, supplier selection has a special importance. In this paper, a multi-objective model is developed based on decisions on quality, service level and cost of purchased goods. The difference of this research is to consider discount parameter into the model. A numerical example for three proposed suppliers is interpreted. The model has been solved in two steps: 1-single-objective, 2-multi-objective approach. According to Lpmetric solution, results can predict optimum selection of suppliers as well as the purchased goods amount. The results show that the single objective problem has better result than multi-objective function. This paper is organized by six sections: in next section, some previous studies and researches on supplier selection problem considering discount and non-considering discount have been discussed. In section 3, mathematical formulation of the supplier selection model considering all-unit and incremental with multiple-item is presented. In section 4, aLP metrics solution is dedicated. In section 5, a numerical example is given and the results are presented. Finally in section 6, conclusions of this research are discussed.

Abstract: In this paper, a new approach of genetic algorithm called knowledge-based Genetic Algorithm (KBGA-Clustering) is proposed for multidimensional data clustering . Basically, this method adopts knowledge of what called as appropriate cluster centre for a fixed number of k-cluster. The chromosome which has inappropriate genes will be penalised with maximum value to prohibit it in the next generation. The experimental result is also provided for KBGA-Clustering and Genetic Algorithm-Clustering (GA-Clustering) to present the performance. Based on the observation, KBGA-Clustering presents better performance and more optimum solution compared to conventional GA-Clustering.