Numerous laboratory tests are used to determine the appropriateness of new formulations in the development process in the paint and coatings industry. New formulations are most often functionally inadequate, unacceptable for environmental or health reasons, or too expensive. Formulators are obliged to repeat laboratory tests until one of the formulations fulfills the minimum requirements. This is cumbersome, slow, and expensive, and can cause ecological problems, wasting materials on tests that do not produce the desired results. The purpose of this research was to find out if there might be a better way forward to increase efficiency and free up formulators to focus on new products. In this experiment, a new paints and coatings development process was redesigned based on the potential benefits of formulation digitalization. Instead of laboratory testing, a digital platform was used that has been developed and stocked with relevant, up-to-date, and complete, usable data. This study found that, by going digital, developers could vastly reduce non-value-added activities in the development process (by as much as 70%) and significantly shorten the entire process throughput time (by up to 48%). Using digital tools to facilitate the development process appears to be a possible way forward for the paint and coatings industry, saving time, materials, and money and protecting the environment.
An essential characteristic of the new product development process is to develop a new marketable product in the shortest possible time with the lowest reasonable costs. Therefore, the key factor of the process is efficiency. The paints and coatings industry development process contain numerous laboratory tests to determine the appropriateness of new formulation. It is proven that digital transformation can reduce the number of laboratory tests and consequently shorten the throughput time of the development process. This raised the question of whether the faster development process also reduces the process’ cost, or they even increase due to information and communication technology implementation. Therefore, the research’s purpose was to determine whether reducing the number of laboratory tests, based on the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT), affects reducing costs in the paints and coatings development process. The conventional process and the redesigned process of paints and coatings development were used as the basis of the research. The comparative analysis of the costs incurred during the development process was made. The analysis compares the types and amount of incurred costs. The article proves that digital transformation has a significant impact on up to 48% on reducing costs of the paints and coatings development process.
In today's rapidly changing business environment, it is necessary to react promptly in response to the product changes that happen constantly in an Engineering-to-Order production environment. Very often, there is not sufficient time to educate employees regarding new and necessary knowledge. If we insist on the standardization of a process execution, the process always requires appropriate knowledge from among available employees. In this chapter, an option for adjusting processes to available knowledge is studied. Following calculations, it was concluded that a partial corruption of a perfect process leads to a better knowledge alignment of employees. At first, with the corruption of a perfect process, its efficiency is decreased, but with better knowledge alignment, process efficiency is consequently increased to a level better than the original one. The optimization model presented in this chapter is based on a modified classic assignment problem and it includes a numerical example based on the data of ETO company. We proved our findings from the aspects of balance, employee capacity load and process efficiency.
Projekti se redko izvajajo samostojno in izdvojeno od okolja. Projekti so enkratni, neponovljivi poslovni procesi, ki so med seboj prepleteni in povezani z ostalimi procesi v poslovnih sistemih. Vsakič zahtevajo pripravo in šele potem izvedbo. Ob pripravi se oblikujejo aktivnosti, dodelijo resursi, zagotovijo finančna sredstva in drugo. Ob tem projekti ne smejo ovirati rednega dela. Za vodenje in upravljanje je nujna razvita organizacijska kultura. Vse to lahko povzamemo z izrazom »multiprojektno okolje«. To okolje pa je izredno kompleksno. Posameznik ga ne (z)more v celoti in naenkrat razumeti in obvladovati. V praksi se zato pojavljajo novi pristopi, ki to omogočajo. Vsebujejo metode digitalne transformacije in uporabljajo podobne tehnološke omogočevalce. Seveda so pristopi več kot tehnološki. Večina pristopov je organizacijskih in tehnologijo le vključujejo. Digitalno transformacijo multiprojektnega okolja postavljamo v kontekst obvladovanja projektov v projektnem sistemu. V raziskavi podajamo sistematičen pregled in opis teh pristopov, njihove potenciale in tudi ovire za implementacijo.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.