Reframing the relationship between service design and operations: a service engineering approach

The significance of services as business and human activities has increased dramatically throughout the world in the last three decades. Becoming a more and more competitive and efficient service provider while still being able to provide unique value opportunities for customers requires new knowledge and ideas. Part of this knowledge is created and utilized in daily activities in every service organization, but not all of it, and therefore an emerging phenomenon in the service context is information awareness. Terms like big data and Internet of things are not only modern buzz-words but they are also describing urgent requirements for a new type of competences and solutions. When the amount of information increases and the systems processing information become more efficient and intelligent, it is the human understanding and objectives that may get separated from the automated processes and technological innovations. This is an important challenge and the core driver for this dissertation: What kind of information is created, possessed and utilized in the service context, and even more importantly, what information exists but is not acknowledged or used? In this dissertation the focus is on the relationship between service design and service operations. Reframing this relationship refers to viewing the service system from the architectural perspective. The selected perspective allows analysing the relationship between design activities and operational activities as an information system while maintaining the tight connection to existing service research contributions and approaches. This type of an innovative approach is supported by research methodology that relies on design science theory. The methodological process supports the construction of a new design artifact based on existing theoretical knowledge, creation of new innovations and testing the design artifact components in real service contexts. The relationship between design and operations is analysed in the health care and social care service systems. The existing contributions in service research tend to abstract services and service systems as value creation, working or interactive systems. This dissertation adds an important information processing system perspective to the research. The main contribution focuses on the following argument: Only part of the service information system is automated and computerized, whereas a significant part of information processing is embedded in human activities, communication and ad-hoc reactions. The results indicate that the relationship between service design and service operations is more complex and dynamic than the existing scientific and managerial models tend to view it. Both activities create, utilize, mix and share information, making service information management a necessary but relatively unknown managerial task. On the architectural level, service system -specific elements seem to disappear, but access to more general information elements and processes can be found. While this dissertation focuses on conceptual-level design artifact construction, the results provide also very practical implications for service providers. Personal, visual and hidden activities of service, and more importantly all changes that take place in any service system have also an information dimension. Making this information dimension visual and prioritizing the processed information based on service dimensions is likely to provide new opportunities to increase activities and provide a new type of service potential for customers.

A Little journey to the home of the Engineering Division, Army Air Service, McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio.

Cover title.

Knowledge dissemination in the global service marketing community

Purpose– The evolution of the service marketing field was marked by the emergence of a global, vigorous and tolerant community of service marketing researchers. This paper seeks to examine the history of the service marketing community and argues that it may be an archetype for building the emergent global service research community. Design/methodology/approach– The study combines qualitative and quantitative approaches. The authors interviewed four pioneering service scholars and also collected descriptive data (e.g. Authorship, Affiliation, Title, Keywords) of all service related articles published in 13 top peer‐reviewed marketing and service journals over the last 30 years (5,432 articles; 6,450 authors). In a dynamic analysis the authors mapped global collaboration between countries over time and detected clusters of international collaboration. Findings– Findings suggest a growing international collaboration for the USA and the UK, while for other countries like Israel the global collaboration started from a high level and decreases now. Further, the service marketing community never became polarized and there were always contributions from researchers all over the world. Research limitations/implications– As the global service research community is developing, service marketing becomes a research neighborhood within the broader service research community. Simultaneously, other research neighborhoods are emerging within this new community (e.g. service arts, service management, service engineering, service science). Originality/value– Anchored on the social evolution and biological evolution metaphors, this study explains the evolution of the service marketing field from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Furthermore, it explains the development of the service marketing community as an archetype for building the global service research community.

Engineering students and Federal employment.

Bibliography: leaves 71-78.

Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Training Conference, [held at] Soil Conservation Service Training Center, Fort Robinson, Nebraska, January 21-25, 1957.

Mode of access: Internet.

Extension Service

Harley & Ellington, architects. W.E. Wood Co., contractor. Built from July 1940 to January 1942. Built jointly for the Engineering Society of Detroit and the University as an Extension Service facility in Detroit. Funded by the Horace H. and Mary A. Rackham Fund. Sculptures on exterior by Marshall Fredericks. Stamp on verso: Photograph by Elmer L. Astleford.

Dweller perception using fuzzy logic for slum upgrading

A large number of initiatives in cities in Brazil - including slum clearance and upgrading - have been undertaken over the years in an effort to ameliorate the problems arising from informal occupation; unfortunately, however, little is known about the related performance outcomes. Careful appraisal of the results of such initiatives is thus called for, covering evaluations of dwellers` perceptions of the upgraded environments. Among the available evaluation methods, post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is commonly employed, although it fails adequately to reflect prevailing subjective concepts of quality. The present paper contains the partial findings of a research exercise aimed at developing an original method, using fuzzy logic, for urban environmental quality evaluation in informally occupied areas on the basis of combining quantitative indicators and dweller perception. It combines POE with fuzzy logic in order to develop tools that can better model the uncertain information that emerges from that kind of study. This paper aims to introduce an uncertainty measure used in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of slum upgrading projects. The results show that it is possible to quantify certainty degrees in the findings and to define if additional information is needed.

Cracking of 2.25Cr-1.0Mo steel tube/stationary tube-sheet weldment of a heat-exchanger

The premature failure of a horizontal heat-exchanger, which occurred after service exposure at 580 degrees C for 50,000 h, revealed the occurrence of extensive through-thickness cracking in approximately 40% of the tube/stationary tube-sheet welds. Additionally, the internal surface of the welded joint featured intensive secondary intergranular cracking (up to 250 mu m deep), preferential formation of a 150 mu m thick layer of (Fe, Cr)(3)O-4 and internal intergranular oxidation (40 mu m deep). The welded region also showed intense carbon pick-up and, as consequence, severe precipitation of intergranular M7C3 and M23C6 carbides. The fracture surface was composed of two distinct regions: a ""planar"" region of 250 mu m, formed due to the stable crack growth along by the intergranular oxidation; and a slant region with radial marks, formed by the fast crack growth along the network of intergranular carbides. The association of intergranular oxidation pre-cracks with microstructural embrittlement promoted the premature failure, which took place by an overload mechanism, probably due to the jamming of the floating tube-sheet during the maintenance halt (cooling operation). (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tietotekniikkapalveluiden tuotteistaminen metsäteollisuus-yrityksessä

Tietotekniikkapalvelut on palveluorganisaatio, jonka tavoitteena on tarjota asiakkaalleen toimivat tietoliikenneyhteydet ja toimivat tietojärjestelmät metsäteollisuuden vaatimiin tarpeisiin vastaten. Häiriöttömän ja jatkuvatoimisen tuotannon takaamiseksi tukiprosesseja kehitetään jatkuvasti. Suuren konsernin ongelmana ovat toisistaan poikkeavat käytännöt ja tästä aiheutuvat tehokkuuserot. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, mitä IT-palveluiden tuotteistaminen merkitsee ja kuvataan tietotekniikkasektorin palvelutuotteiden rakentuminen, hallinta ja käyttömahdollisuus metsäteollisuusyrityksessä. IT-palveluiden tuotteistamisella haetaan sisäistä tehokkuutta sekä laadukkaampaa tulosta. Tuotteistamalla palvelut saadaan tietopääoma paremmin hallintaan ja jakeluun. Suorituskyvyn hallinnan avulla saadaan palveluihin läpinäkyvyyttä ja kehitystoiminta tehostuu. Tuotteistusprojektin tavoitteena on rakentaa globaalit tuotekuvaukset metsäteollisuusyrityksen tietotekniikkapalveluista, joita yksiköt voivat tarkentaa ja syventää haluamalleen tasolle. Tuotekuvausten rakentaminen edellyttää toimintamallien perusteellista läpikäyntiä ja tarvittavien osaamisten selvittämistä sekä palveluiden suorituskykyodotusten määrittämistä. Tietotekniikkasektorin tuotteistusprojektin tuloksena palvelut jaetaan kolmeen palveluryhmään: tietojärjestelmäpalvelut, tietoliikennepalvelut sekä tietoturvapalvelut. Tietojärjestelmäpalvelut kuvataan vielä tarkemmin perustietotekniikka- ja järjestelmäpalvelutuotteiksi. Samoin tietoliikennepalvelut jaetaan datansiirto- ja puheensiirtopalvelutuotteiksi. Palvelutuotteita, siis tuotetietoa, hallitaan ja ylläpidetään tietojärjestelmällä, mistä on liityntä operatiiviseen järjestelmään.

Uuden palveluprosessin kehittämistyökalujen käyttö B-to-B PK-yrityksissä

Kandidaatintyö käsittelee yritysten välistä palveluliiketoimintaa, uuden palvelun kehittämisprosessia ja siihen liittyviä kehitystyökaluja sekä systemaattisen palvelukehityksen tärkeyttä. Työssä keskitytään pieniin ja keskisuuriin palveluyrityksiin näiden muodostaessa suurimman osan palvelualan yrityksistä ja joissa tutkimusten mukaan palvelujen kehitys on heikkolaatuista sekä kehitystyökalujen tuntemus vähäistä. Työ tehdään kirjallisuuskatsauksena ja tuloksena muodostetaan opas, jonka tarkoituksena on havainnollistaa case-yrityksen näkökulmasta johdonmukaisesti ja yksinkertaisia esimerkkejä käyttäen systemaattista uuden palvelun kehitysprosessia ja millaisia asioita prosessin eri vaiheissa täytyy ottaa huomioon, sekä miten kehitystyökaluja käytetään. Opas on suunnattu lähinnä B-to-B markkinoilla toimiville palvelualan pk-yrityksille, mutta työssä esitetty kehitysprosessi ja työkalut soveltuvat myös muille palveluyrityksille yleiskäyttöisyytensä vuoksi.

Methodologies for the generation of design summer years for building energy simulation using UKCP09 probabilitic climate projections

Design summer years representing near-extreme hot summers have been used in the United Kingdom for the evaluation of thermal comfort and overheating risk. The years have been selected from measured weather data basically representative of an assumed stationary climate. Recent developments have made available ‘morphed’ equivalents of these years by shifting and stretching the measured variables using change factors produced by the UKCIP02 climate projections. The release of the latest, probabilistic, climate projections of UKCP09 together with the availability of a weather generator that can produce plausible daily or hourly sequences of weather variables has opened up the opportunity for generating new design summer years which can be used in risk-based decision-making. There are many possible methods for the production of design summer years from UKCP09 output: in this article, the original concept of the design summer year is largely retained, but a number of alternative methodologies for generating the years are explored. An alternative, more robust measure of warmth (weighted cooling degree hours) is also employed. It is demonstrated that the UKCP09 weather generator is capable of producing years for the baseline period, which are comparable with those in current use. Four methodologies for the generation of future years are described, and their output related to the future (deterministic) years that are currently available. It is concluded that, in general, years produced from the UKCP09 projections are warmer than those generated previously. Practical applications: The methodologies described in this article will facilitate designers who have access to the output of the UKCP09 weather generator (WG) to generate Design Summer Year hourly files tailored to their needs. The files produced will differ according to the methodology selected, in addition to location, emissions scenario and timeslice.

Emergy-based sustainability assessment of different energy options for green buildings

It is necessary to minimize the environmental impact and utilize natural resources in a sustainable and efficient manner in the early design stage of developing an environmentally-conscious design for a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system. Energy supply options play a significant role in the total environmental load of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. To assess the environmental impact of different energy options, a new method based on Emergy Analysis is proposed. Emergy Accounting, was first developed and widely used in the area of ecological engineering, but this is the first time it has been used in building service engineering. The environmental impacts due to the energy options are divided into four categories under the Emergy Framework: the depletion of natural resources, the greenhouse effect (carbon dioxide equivalents), the chemical rain effect (sulphur dioxide equivalents), and anthropogenic heat release. The depletion of non-renewable natural resources is indicated by the Environmental Load Ratio, and the environmental carrying capacity is developed to represent the environmental service to dilute the pollutants and anthropogenic heat released. This Emergy evaluation method provides a new way to integrate different environmental impacts under the same framework and thus facilitates better system choices. A case study of six different kinds of energy options consisting of renewable and non-renewable energy was performed by using Emergy Theory, and thus their relative environmental impacts were compared. The results show that the method of electricity generation in energy sources, especially for electricity-powered systems, is the most important factor to determine their overall environmental performance. The direct-fired lithium-bromide absorption type consumes more non-renewable energy, and contributes more to the urban heat island effect compared with other options having the same electricity supply. Using Emergy Analysis, designers and clients can make better-informed, environmentally-conscious selections of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.

Elementary Petri net inside RFID distributed database (PNRD)

Usually, a Petri net is applied as an RFID model tool. This paper, otherwise, presents another approach to the Petri net concerning RFID systems. This approach, called elementary Petri net inside an RFID distributed database, or PNRD, is the first step to improve RFID and control systems integration, based on a formal data structure to identify and update the product state in real-time process execution, allowing automatic discovery of unexpected events during tag data capture. There are two main features in this approach: to use RFID tags as the object process expected database and last product state identification; and to apply Petri net analysis to automatically update the last product state registry during reader data capture. RFID reader data capture can be viewed, in Petri nets, as a direct analysis of locality for a specific transition that holds in a specific workflow. Following this direction, RFID readers storage Petri net control vector list related to each tag id is expected to be perceived. This paper presents PNRD cornerstones and a PNRD implementation example in software called DEMIS Distributed Environment in Manufacturing Information Systems.

Rackham Educational Memorial Building, Detroit, erected 1941

Harley & Ellington, architects. W.E. Wood Co., contractor. Built from July 1940 to January 1942. Built jointly for the Engineering Society of Detroit and the University as an Extension Service facility in Detroit. Funded by the Horace H. and Mary A. Rackham Fund. Sculptures on exterior by Marshall Fredericks.