The book focuses on manufacturing activities and their characteristics and trends in Slovenia and partly in some other European countries. The book is a result of a research work in the last ten years within the largest European research project on manufacturing activities European Manufacturing Survey (EMS). The first chapter outlines the importance of manufacturing in general. The second chapter presents selected research methodology and EMS. Third chapter deals with cooperation patterns of manufacturing companies. The aim is to examine characteristics of cooperation among manufacturing companies from several European countries. Fourth chapter focuses on innovation in manufacturing companies. This chapter deals with some specific technical and organisational innovation concepts in manufacturing companies. The main objective of the final (fifth) chapter is to map the adoption of technologies for energy reduction and resources consumption in production.
COBISS.SI-ID: 79878657
The number of work-related musculoskeletal disorders has been increasing in most industries and occupations. Since these injuries impose high costs on employers and society it is important to prevent it through ergonomic assessment and job redesign. The paper presents a research of the workplace ophthalmic nurse regarding strain and stress. In the workplace the Intravenous Fluorescein angiography or fluorescent angiography is made which is a technique for examining the circulation of the retina and choroids using a fluorescent dye and specialized camera. The working procedure is complex and since nurses must assist in several forced positions for longer time ergonomic analyses were made aimed to determine strain and stress at workplace. For assessment of body postures OWAS analysis was performed manually and using computer simulation. The results obtained using computer simulations are comparable to manually performed research for most body positions except for bent and twisted back. Body postures of upper limb, lower limb and neck were exposed as harmful for nurse during working procedure and according to OWAS changes are needed in near future.
COBISS.SI-ID: 18318358
This work presents the results of the microstructure observation of six different types of NiTi orthodontic wires by using Transmission Electron Microscopy. Members of our research group were taking part in design of experiments and needed measurements. Within the necessary analyses the chemical compositions of each wire were observed in different places by applying the EDS detector. Microstructure observations showed that orthodontic wires consist of nano-sized grains containing precipitates of Ti2Ni and/or TiC. The sizes of grains in orthodontic wires are in the range from approximately 50 to 160 nm.
COBISS.SI-ID: 17828374
Purpose - This conceptual paper aims to integrate and significantly extend past research cognitions from three different scientific fields: project management (PM), hospitality management (HM) and systems thinking (ST). As scarcely any scientific sources are available on these topics, this paper closes a gap in literature and invites to further research in this field. Special stress is given to the research of possible preventing or at least reducing of negative impacts/footprints of hospitality development to the social and physical environments. Design/methodology/approach - The authors present an overview of milestones in project- and HM development in Europe from the end of the Roman Empire till today. The main development stages are checked in view of SR and ST applications. Findings - This research is predominately theoretical, although it also presents several examples from practice that very clearly illustrate the need for merging the knowledge from these both (PM and HM) fields of expertise. The results of the evolution stages show that the development of both HM and PM has always been synchronic, and that PM has practically in all development stages been applied to HM, although this happened unconsciously and thus less effective than in other industries. Originality/value - The value of this research is an improved understanding of the need for merging the cognitions from HM and PM for more responsibility in further HM projects.
COBISS.SI-ID: 11689500
This paper describes the modern concept of promoting and using social capital in a decentralized production process oriented towards innovative, custom made products. Technological developments, the rise of individual customer requirements, lack of competitiveness in mass production, and the success of innovative, flexible and heterarchical environments dictate the creation of project and association types of organizations as well as the creation of intermediary structures. The prerequisite for the establishment and effective functioning of these structures are certainly intense communication and spontaneous sociability that at the operational level coincide with the development and implementation of ICT, and are affected at the base level by the level of trust, shared interests, values, and a connecting element, which is referred to in modern social sciences – in the context of the economic efficiency – as social capital. The model, presented in the paper, actively integrates the end-user (customer) into the supply chain. The functioning of the advanced concept is clearly illustrated by the use of ICT and the establishment of the so-called virtual factory, where an example from the textile industry has been used in the simulation model – an industry which is characterized in the EU area by a low level of competitiveness and a sharp decline in economic performance. The virtual factory simulation represents the possible development of mobile applications for supply chain management, while promoting and using social capital in the process of promoting development performance and increased competitiveness in the example of textile industry in Slovenia.
COBISS.SI-ID: 17857046