222 publications from this institution
Previous developments from the first author and other researchers were made on devising models for the total cost optimization of projects described by activity networks under stochastic conditions. Those models only covered the single resource case. The present paper will discuss the case of multiple resources. More precisely, we introduce a strategy of allocation of those resources in order to minimize the waste arising from their latent idleness on their consumption within the same activity. On this strategy we elect one resource as “pivot” and write equations that describe all the quantities for the other resources, on the same activity.
This paper presents an integrated methodology for managing industrialisation projects combining know-how, abilities, instruments, and project management tools and techniques to fulfil more efficiently and effectively industrialisation requirements. Different research methods were used during an in-depth case study involving seven researchers over three years at an automotive industry company. Firstly, internal documents related to the organisation's specific set of rules for project management were analysed. Secondly, the organisation project managers' activities were observed. Thirdly, unstructured interviews were conducted to assess the organisation's project management awareness and the actual usage of tools and techniques. Finally, workflows were designed to represent the AS-IS model and the proposed TO-BE model. The methodology integrates a social project management approach, with social media tools, to improve communication between the industrialisation project management teams. Social project management is used to smoothly increase the projects' awareness and management within the global social ecosystem of the organisation.
The expansion of textile and clothing production to Asian regions has both, increased competition and created a need for integration with the textile and clothing global supply chain. Strategies are being designed to improve competitiveness and responsiveness of the chains with increasing diversification of products. This study examines the potential of different strategies formulated by experts with focus on Pakistan s case, developed by brain storming sessions with external experts, composed from a chain s internal-view and based on existing strengths and weaknesses in the chain using a SWOT analysis. The aim of this previous study was to identify internal and external factors relevant to textile and clothing supply chain in Pakistan. These factors played an important role in the development of strategies which are useful for improving the competitiveness of the chain. In future it is our intention to formulate our decision structure based on external view of the chain and with more generalized criteria. This kind of structure produces the view which is usual in supply chain competitive scenarios. Here the criteria were viewed internally and the problem was formulated based on SWOT factors. Thus, using inputs from our previous work, “SWOT Analysis of Pakistan Textile Supply Chain”, we evaluated the strategies developed for achieving competitiveness in textile and clothing supply chain in Pakistan and their potential effects using a process of prioritization following Saaty s AHP. There can be innerdependencies and feedback within criteria, sub factors and alternatives which may have potential effects on the results. To study the effects of innerdependencies among factors we have used ANP and compared the results obtained by the two methods. We have suggested the implementation of developed strategies simultaneously through different entities involved with the chain, as government agencies, academic and research institutes, industrial associations and entrepreneurs themselves.
The Portuguese Project Management Observatory (PPMO), an initiative of the Portuguese Association of Project Management (APOGEP), is being developed by the University of Minho in partnership with other 17 Higher Education institutions. The main objectives of this research were to understand the tools and techniques most and least used by organizations, the use of agile methodologies, the maturity of each Project Management area, and success dimensions. The method selected for this study was a survey applied through an online questionnaire directed to Portuguese organizations. The results show that the most used Tools and Techniques are Kick-off Meeting, Progress Meetings, Project Work Description, Gantt Chart, and Activity List; and the least used are Monte Carlo Analysis, Decision Tree, Project Management Software for Simulation, Conferences for Bidding, and Parametric Estimation. Statistically significant differences were found between the use of various Tools and Techniques and factors such as gender, age, current position, education level, and activity sector. Agile methodologies are used in a large part of the respondents' organizations, however, no correlation was identified between the use of agile methodologies and the accomplishment of scope, time and cost of projects. The process identified as having the highest maturity is Definition of Activities in the Project Schedule Management area, followed by Project Execution in the Project Integration Management area, and the Schedule Development in the Project Schedule Management area. Customer Satisfaction is the KPI most used.
It is the duty of a State to stimulate nation's economy and social welfare, using their limited funds. This is the general purpose of the so-called public projects. The demand for these investments continues to increase, but not always they fulfil that purpose, quite the opposite. In the current economic context, it becomes urgent to revert this scenario. Often, this poor outcome can be traced to a wrong decision on the project to implement. This is possibly the decision with the greatest impact on the whole project lifecycle. Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is still the dominant tool for project selection, but the increasing interest in intangible and non-monetized parameters, opened the door for other better fitting tools like Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). This paper presents a critical analysis on the traditional approaches to the selection of these projects, pointing out directions for governments and other public entities to make better and more informed decisions about the projects to implement.
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University-industry collaborative programs provide special challenges in understanding and expressing the value of risk management (RM) in delivering program and project benefits. This paper presents a methodology for managing the risks in major university-industry R&D programs within a stakeholders' perspective. An ethnographic study was conducted on a multi-million euro university-industry collaboration initiative. The RM methodology identifies, for each of the key stakeholders, the RM activities in the program, which are largely derived from research literature. Empirical research then prioritizes and selects key RM activities. The research is informed using a case study involving one university and one large industrial partner. Empirical research was conducted by researchers who observed, for five years, at close quarters, the challenges of managing risk in major collaborative programs. The developed RM methodology takes a stakeholders' perspective, by identifying, for each of the key three stakeholders - Program Manager, Project Manager and Program and Project Management Officer, the respective RM activities.
The use of the walker in rehabilitation has increased in the past few years. Therapists evaluate patient's rehabilitation by observation and subjective tests. Thus, it is necessary the use of an assistive tool which can measure and quantify the patient's walker-assisted movement and stability, providing an objective clinical assessment. The aim of this study is to detect differences in assisted gait when using the assistive devices (ADs) - crutches, standard walker and rollator (4-wheeled walker) with forearm supports (RFS) - in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) that suffered the surgery - Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA). Additionally, it is to verify the link between gait parameters and acceleration signals. The evaluation is reached by the use of two 3 axis-accelerometers. The signals extracted from the sensors, at the ankle and trunk, are related to gait events and evaluation of fall risk, respectively. Results show that despite the differences between the signals obtained with the three ADs and with the subjects in this study, it is possible to identify effectively the gait parameters and prove the stability that the RFS provides.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Over the last decade many organizations began to recognize that the implementation of Project Management (PM) practices was a necessity rather than an option. In order to improve the success of projects, organizations have been adopting specialized structures (normally called PM Offices or PMOs) that carry out the management of projects in a coordinated and centralized way. In recent years, several PMO models and functions have been proposed by many authors. The major challenge for most organizations is to decide which specific functions in a particular context should be implemented. In fact, PMO's roles and functions, though standardized and clearly defined in literature, vary in practice. The main goal of this research was to propose a set of functions for a supportive PMO in an engineering and construction company. For example, develop and implement a PM methodology, provide a set of tools to support PM, and develop PM competences.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Engineering economics includes tools which permit to evaluate the economic feasibility of alternative solutions considered along with their major technical requirements. Realizing the changes that are being discussed about new approaches in engineering education, this work aims to analyze the practice and teaching of engineering economics in Brazilian universities, thereby contributing to the identification of opportunities for improvements in the teaching and learning process of such concepts and tools in Brazil. The methodology followed was essentially exploratory. Firstly, it was obtained relevant evidence from the general information offered by universities and production engineering departments. Secondly, a questionnaire was used to gather data from the responsible of each identified undergraduate and graduate program. The analysis of this evidence contributes to the understanding of the current practice and teaching of engineering economics in the Brazilian universities, namely which concepts and tools, teaching strategies, interdisciplinarity approaches, partnerships with firms and type of real problems are used.
To select the best alternative of solution for a problem considering the decision-maker knowledge, preferences and purposes, we developed a new multicriteria decision-making procedure, the PROV Exponential Decision Method, which uses the concepts of preference, indifference and nefarious thresholds. Its presentation is the main focus of this article. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed approaches to attain comprehensible results and to discover the most adequate solution or set of solutions for a problem or to select the best option to reach a defined goal.
In this paper we describe an extension of the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). A literature review is presented to place our research in its proper context. The problem presented here belongs to the class of the optimization scheduling problems with multi-level (or multi-mode) activities. This means that the activities can be scheduled at different modes, each mode using a different resource level, implying different costs and durations. Each activity must be allocated exactly one unit of each required resource and the resource unit may be used at any of its specified levels. The processing time of an activity is given by the maximum of the durations that would result from a specific allocation of resources. The objective is to find the optimal solution that minimizes the overall project cost, while respecting a delivery date. A penalty is included for tardiness beyond the specified delivery date. We present a formal description of the problem and a mathematical model for it. We also introduce the implementation algorithm for the problem. The implementation was designed using the JAVA language, and the algorithm proposed is based on a branch and bound procedure, using breadth-first search (BFS) project network traversing, among some heuristic rules to filter large subsets of fruitless candidates relative to resource levels combinations.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Current knowledge of risk management (RM) is mainly limited to single organizations. This paper investigates RM practices from a stakeholders’ perspective applicable to university–industry R&D collaboration (UIC) programs, a particular form of inter-organizational relationship. With a view to reducing the negative impact of risk associated with such UICs, and, as a result, increasing the success rate of the related programs and projects, an RM methodology has been developed from the perspective of the main stakeholders. The results reported here are based on a large-scale UIC between the Bosch Car Multimedia in Portugal and the University of Minho. Three research methods were applied in a complementary way: participant observation over seven years, analysis of various documents supporting the management of the programs and projects, and focus group involving seven key participants from different roles. The proposed RM methodology takes into account the three main stakeholders and their respective RM roles—Program Manager, Program and Project Management Officer, and Project Manager—and helps to manage the risks incurred by a UIC program while, at the same time, emphasizing the importance of taking the stakeholders’ perspective. In inter-organizational contexts, particularly in the case of university and industry, where there is a cultural gap between members, misunderstandings may occur about the role each key stakeholder should play. This paper provides a comprehensive guideline for the application of the methodology by means of a proposed set of specific RM practices. However, the research was conducted using a single case study, therefore limiting the results’ potential for generalization.
