The 21st century has witnessed precipitous changes spanning from the way of life to the technologies that emerged. We have entered a nascent paradigm shift (industry 4.0) where science fictions have become science facts, and technology fusion is the main driver. Thus, ensuring that any advancement in technology reach and benefit all is the ideal opportunity for everyone. In this study, disruptive technologies of industry 4.0 were explored and quantified in terms of the number of their appearances in published literature. The study aimed at identifying industry 4.0 key technologies which have been ill-defined by previous researchers and to enumerate the required skills of industry 4.0. Comprehensive literature survey covering the field of engineering, production, and management was done in multidisciplinary databases: Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Sage, Taylor & Francis, and Emerald Insight. From the electronic survey, 35 disruptive technologies were quantified and 13 key technologies: Internet of Things, Big Data, 3D printing, Cloud computing, Autonomous robots, Virtual and Augmented reality, Cyber-physical system, Artificial intelligence, Smart sensors, Simulation, Nanotechnology, Drones, and Biotechnology were identified. Both technical and personal skills to be imparted into the human workforce for industry 4.0 were reported. The review identified the need to investigate the capability and the readiness of developing countries in adapting industry 4.0 in terms of the changes in the education systems and industrial manufacturing settings. This study proposes the need to address the integration of industry 4.0 concepts into the current education system.

The current competitiveness of garment manufacturing industries is highly dependent on ability to improve efficiency and effectiveness of resource utilization through proper application of industrial engineering techniques such as line balancing and time study. However, very few apparel industries have comprehended industrial engineering function due to little knowledge on practical application of industrial engineering techniques. The present study aimed at balancing a trouser assembly line using the ranked positional weight technique to increase the line efficiency as well as minimize the number of workstations without violating the constraints: precedence relations, cycle time, and resource type. The empirical study was conducted at Southern Range Nyanza Limited (NYTIL) garment manufacturing facility to demonstrate the practical application of ranked positional weight line balancing technique. Results showed that ranked positional weight method is suitable only for assembly line balancing with no constraint on the resource. However, most complex garment assembly lines consist of a number of different machine types rendering ranked positional weight method practically ineffective for improving line efficiency of a complex garment assembly line. Therefore, profound line balancing using simulation-based optimization to improve the line efficiency of complex garment assembly line should be investigated. K E Y W O R D S assembly line, heuristic line balancing, line efficiency, performance indicators, ranked positional weight, resource constraints

The war to technology and economic powers has been the driver for industrialization in most developed countries. The first industrial revolution (industry 1.0) earned millions for textile mill owners, while the second industrial revolution (industry 2.0) opened the way for tycoons and captains of industry such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan. The third industrial revolution (industry 3.0) engendered technology giants such as Apple and Microsoft and made magnates of men such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Now, the race for the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0) is on and there is no option, and every country whether developed or developing must participate. Many countries have positively responded to industry 4.0 by developing strategic initiatives to strengthen industry 4.0 implementation. Unlocking the country’s potential to industry 4.0 has been of interest to researchers in the recent past. However, the extent to which industry 4.0 initiatives are being launched globally has never been divulged. Therefore, the present study aimed at exploring industry 4.0 initiatives through a comprehensive electronic survey of the literature to estimate the extent of their launching in different regions. Inferences were drawn from industry 4.0 initiatives in developed nations to be used as the recommendations for the East African Community. Results of the survey revealed that 117 industry 4.0 initiatives have been launched in 56 countries worldwide consisting of five regions: Europe (37%), North America (28%), Asia and Oceania (17%), Latin America and the Caribbean (10%), and Middle East and Africa (8%). The worldwide percentage was estimated as 25%. This revealed that there is a big gap existing between countries in the race for industry 4.0.

The nascent wave of disruptive competition in the current business environment brought about by the fourth industrial revolution (Fashion 4.0 or Apparel 4.0) is enormous. Therefore, it is paramount important to apparel industry to be flexible enough to respond quickly to the unstable customers' demand through continuous improvement of their process efficiency and productivity. This study aims at achieving an optimal trouser assembly line balancing using simulation-based optimization via design of experiment. The empirical study is conducted at Southern Range Nyanza Limited (NYTIL) garment facility and a complex trouser assembly line with 72 operations is considered. The discrete event simulation of the trouser assembly line is developed using Arena simulation software. The local optimal solution is obtained from simulation experimentation and is adopted for the optimization process. The OptQuest tool is utilized to solve a single objective function (throughput) optimization problem.The results show that average throughput increases from the existing design (490 pieces per day) to local optimal design (638) and global optimal design (762). Consequently, the line efficiency increases from 61.2% to 79.7% to 95.2% respectively. The high increase in line efficiency and average throughput confirms the suitability assembly line balancing using simulation-based optimization via design of experiment.

Aim: To investigate the feasibility of producing biogas from anaerobic co-digestion of cotton yarn wastes (CY) and human urine (HU) using fresh cow dung as the inoculum. Study Design: Anaerobic co-digestion of CY waste and HU and CY waste alone were done using batch reactors. Place and Duration of Study: CY were collected from Rivatex Eastern Africa Limited, Eldoret, Kenya while fresh cow manure used as inoculum was collected from a farm at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. Human urine sample was collected in a clean sterile container at Moi University hostel, Eldoret, Kenya. The experimental set up and analyses were performed at Chemical and Process Engineering Laboratory, Moi University, Kenya between January 2020 and May 2020. Methodology: CY, HU and fresh cow dung were subjected to physicochemical analysis. Batch anaerobic co-digestion of CY and HU, and CY alone were carried out under ambient temperature (25 ± 3 ) conditions for 95 days and 37 days, respectively. Results: The CY contained 90.46% total solids, 77.12% volatile solids and 9.54% moisture content while the corresponding values for HU were 2.9%, 58.5% and 97.1%, respectively. CY had a high carbon to nitrogen ratio. The biogas yield from anaerobic co-digestion was 35.6% more than digestion of CY alone. The highest daily biogas production for co-digestion and digestion of CY alone were 330 mL and 386 mL on day 12 and 21, respectively. The total biogas yield when CY co-digested for 95 days was 10,125 mL which decreased to 6,519 mL without co-digestion after 37 days. Conclusion: Our results showed that co-digestion produced more biogas than digestion of CY alone. Conclusively, the presence of HU during anaerobic digestion of CY enhanced the biogas production by more than 35.6% demonstrating that HU could be an effective waste for co-digestion of solid wastes such as CY. Further research should focus on monitoring parameters like temperature, buffering capacity and fatty acid levels to ensure optimal efficiency and maximum biogas yield.

The nascent wave of disruptive competition in the current business environment brought about by the fourth industrial revolution (Fashion 4.0 or Apparel 4.0) is enormous. Therefore, it is important for the apparel industry to be flexible enough to respond quickly to the unstable customers' demand through continuous improvement of their process efficiency and productivity. This study proposed assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) for complex garment assembly line using simulation-based optimization under stochastic task times. The proposed ALBP solution approach aimed at minimizing the cycle time for a given number of workstations with consideration of constraints on number of resources, precedence relations, and resource types. The empirical study was conducted at Southern Range Nyanza Limited (NYTIL) garment facility and a complex trouser assembly line with 69 workstations was considered. The discrete event simulation of the trouser assembly line was developed using Arena simulation software. The local optimal solution was obtained from simulation experiments which was adopted for the optimization process. The OptQuest tool was used to solve a single objective optimization with discrete control values. The results showed that the average throughput increased by 30% for local optimal line balancing and 55% for global optimal line balancing. Consequently, the cycle time reduced by 23% and 36%, respectively.

The war to technology and economic power have been the driver for industrialization in most developed countries. The first industrial revolution (industry 1.0) earned millions for textile mill owners while the second industrial revolution (industry 2.0) opened the way for tycoons and captains of industry like John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford. The third industrial revolution (industry 3.0) engendered technology giants like Apple and Microsoft, and made magnates of men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Now, the race for the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0) is on and there is no option, every country whether developed or developing must participate. Many countries have positively responded to industry 4.0 by developing strategic initiatives to strengthen industry 4.0 implementation. Unlocking the country’s potential to industry 4.0 has been of interest to researchers in the recent past. However, the extent to which industry 4.0 initiatives being launched globally has never been revealed. Therefore, the present study aimed at exploring industry 4.0 initiatives through comprehensive electronic survey of literature to estimate the extend of its launching in different regions. Inferences were drawn from industry 4.0 initiatives in developed nations to be used as the recommendations for East Africa Community. Results of the survey revealed that 117 industry 4.0 initiatives have been launched in 56 countries worldwide consisting of five regions. The country’s percent of industry 4.0 initiatives as per region were: Latin America and the Caribbean (15%), North America (40%), Europe (53%), Asia and Oceania (25%), Middle East and Africa (11%). While the worldwide percent was estimated as 25%. This revealed that the big gap is existing between countries towards the race for industry 4.0.

The 21st century has witnessed a number of incredible changes ranging from the way of life and the technologies that emerged. Currently, we have entered a new paradigm shift called industry 4.0 where science fictions have become science facts, and technology fusion is the main driver. Therefore, ensuring that any advancement in technology reach and benefit all is the ideal opportunity for everyone. In this paper, disruptive technologies of industry 4.0 have been explored and quantified in terms of the number of their appearances in literature. This research mainly aimed at identifying industry 4.0 key technologies which have been ill-defined by previous researchers and to enlighten the required skills of industry 4.0. Comprehensive literature survey covering the field of engineering, production, and management from both academia and business was done from publication databases: Google scholar, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Sage, Taylor & Francis and Emerald insight. The results of the study show that 35 disruptive technologies were quantified and 13 key technologies: Internet of things, Big data, 3D printing, Cloud computing, Autonomous robots, Virtual and augmented reality, Cyber physical system, Artificial intelligence, Smart sensors, Simulation, Nanotechnology, Drones and Biotechnology were identified. Moreover, both technical and personal skills to be imparted into the human workforce for industry 4.0 were identified. The study reveals the need to investigate the capabilities and the readiness of some developing countries in adapting industry 4.0 in terms of the changes in the education systems and industrial manufacturing settings. In addition, the study proposes the need to address the ways for integration of industry 4.0 concepts into the current education system.