Achieving considerably better productivity

We know that there are many ideas on improving manufacturing processes and the structuring of operations within an enterprise. What we need to do is create a climate, a motivation, a culture that automatically causes this knowledge to rise to the surface. 

The method described in this book is ideal because  

Imagine you were to combine your process drivers in groups responsible for certain individual performances. This would produce a chain of groups, our Davids, on the performance Y which deliver to each other in customer/suppler relationships (Fig. 48). Because of the rules of the game provided by the SCM, every group knows that it will be able to complete its scheduled work on hand. Each group is also responsible for the quality of their performance. 

Imagine what would happen if a group delivered poor quality to the next -those colleagues who are actually competing with them. You can imagine the level of self-discipline that kicks in. 

The groups organize themselves. It is up to them, for example, who in each group does what work. 

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Cyclizations at moderate to low dilution. A series of A-tosylated (tosyl = p-toluenesulphonyl Ts) macrocycles may be readily prepared by direct means starting from pre-tosylated reactants (Richman Atkins, 1974). Equation [2.3] summarizes an example of this useful reaction type. Reasonable yields (often considerably better than 50%) of such cyclic tosylated products may be achieved in spite of the fact that such reactions are usually performed at moderate dilution. A number of procedures exist for detosylation of these products to yield the corresponding rings containing only secondary nitrogens a common method has been to treat the tosylated intermediate with hot concentrated sulfuric acid for several days. 

PNF achieved its first mass-production applications in the automobile industry. Although its heat resistance is less than that of FPM, this is offset by its considerably better low temperature flexibility. It has good resistance to fuels. 

It was observed from the previous results that the initial biomass and substrate concentrations had to be at their maximum allowable values in order to achieve the better performance. It could be envisaged, due to cost consideration, to incorporate the initial biomass concentration Xq as a fourth objective function even though it also appears as an input to optimization of the process. The ranked Pareto domain obtained for this four-objective optimization problem is presented in Fig. 7.8. The shape of the Pareto domain has drastically changed because of the addition of the initial inoculum biomass concentration. Since the inoculum is minimized, the Pareto domain contains solutions over the entire range of initial inoculum concentration Xo, and it has therefore been greatly expanded. The best 5% of the Pareto-optimal solutions moved inward with respect to the first two objectives, and are located around a concentration of 47 g/L and a productivity of 4.2 g/L.h (Fig. 7.8(a)). 

Monsanto patented in 1994 a method of processing of all the carpet components without a previous separation [47,48]. The product could be extruded in the twin-screw extruder it contained 35-67 wt% of PA, 8-21 wt% of PP, 5-29 wt% of SBR, and 10-40 wt% of inorganic filler. In the case when compat-ibilizers were not introduced into the blends, the mechanical properties were close to those of polystyrene, but they were much poorer than those of virgin PA66. Considerably better results were achieved after the introduction into the blends of compatilizers of the following types Polybond (maleic anhydride grafted onto PP (PP-g-MA)), Kraton (styrene-ethylene/butadiene-styrene... 

The conditions adopted in this procedure favor the production of a-monosulfonate in a state of high purity at the expense of a high conversion of anthraquinone. A better conversion can be achieved by conducting the sulfonation at a higher temperature, or by using more oleum, but in either case there is a considerable increase in the amount of disulfonic acids formed. The extent of /3-sulfonation is not influenced greatly by the temperature, but is dependent chiefly on the amount of mercuric salt present in the solution. The amount specified corresponds approximately to the limit of solubility of the salt in the acid employed, and very little of the /3-acid is formed. As the potassium /S-sulfonate is more soluble than the a-salt, traces of this isomer are easily eliminated by crystallization. 

Another important feature of the case study scenario and the resulting cost model is inventory control. High seasonality effects and long campaign durations necessitate considerable build-up of stocks. To avoid an unbalanced build-up of stock, soft constraints for safety stock and maximum stock levels are used. To achieve an even better inventory leveling across products and locations, piece-wise linear cost functions for falling below safety stock as well as for exceeding maximum stock levels are employed. 

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