...elsevier.com/locate/eswa A new multi-objective multi-mode model for solving preemptive time–cost–quality trade-off project scheduling problems Madjid Tavana a,b,⇑, Amir-Reza Abtahi c, Kaveh Khalili-Damghani d a Business Systems and Analytics Department, Lindback Distinguished Chair of Information Systems and Decision Sciences, La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA 19141, USA Business Information Systems Department, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, University of Paderborn, D-33098 Paderborn, Germany c Department of Knowledge Engineering and Decision Sciences, University of Economic Sciences, Tehran, Iran d Department of Industrial Engineering, South-Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran b a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Considering the trade-offs between conflicting objectives in project scheduling problems (PSPs) is a difficult task. We propose a new multi-objective multi-mode model for solving discrete time–cost–quality trade-off problems (DTCQTPs) with preemption and generalized precedence relations. The proposed model has three unique features: (1) preemption of activities (with some restrictions as a minimum time before the first interruption, a maximum number of interruptions for each activity, and a maximum time between interruption and restarting); (2) simultaneous optimization of conflicting objectives (i.e., time, cost, and quality); and (3) generalized precedence relations between activities. These assumptions are often...
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...variable costs. It is a safe and reliable mode of transport system. · It is an economical and dependable mode of transport system particularly to the sensitive and strategic areas. · It provides a long term infrastructural option. · The difficulties in handling large volume of products by rail from one loading point is reduced. · Minimum transit loss. initial cost of laying pipelines is high and very expensive. Disadvantages . High initial cost . Long transit time(about ten miles)per hour per liquid .Leakage in pipes might pollute soil and contaminate ground water. Initial cost of laying pipelines is high and very expensive. If pipelines are damaged, it can cause soil pollutionand damage to environment. Some solids,liquids & gases when transported cause damage to the pipeline.they may corrode material used for making pipeline. 2.What is tradeoff and examples of tradeoff. A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect. It often implies a decision to be made with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice; the term is also used in an evolutionary context, in which case the selection process acts as the "decision-maker". Examples of tradeoff is as follows Trade-off between wage inflation and unemployment. Hint categories include controls for rendering quality and overall time/quality trade-off...
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...this memo is to identify and evaluate of the types of costs when quality considerations are made. The three types of costs are; appraisal costs, prevention costs and failure costs, which include internal and external failures. Appraisal Costs: these costs are incurred in order for a company to inspect and test products, processes or services so that any defects or deficiencies can be uncovered or to make sure that none exist. These can include costs associated with paying inspectors, equipment, labs and audits. Prevention Costs: these costs are associated with preventing defects or deficiencies from occurring. The costs can include planning, training, setting up systems, quality control procedures and attention to detail in design and production in order to reduce possible defections in service or work. Failure Costs: costs that include both internal and external failures which consist of defective parts or faulty services. Internal failures are discovered internally by the company, usually during the production process. Internal failures can consist of bad materials from vendors, faulty machines or equipment, or just poor work by an employee. External failures are discovered after delivery of services or products. External failures can consist of defective products received by customer or poor service provided to the customer. The trade-offs for these costs are well worth it to the company. For appraisal costs, it will be important to inspect the manufacturing...
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...FASAC members will consider other issues relating to the conceptual framework, specifically issues related to the qualitative characteristics of relevance and reliability. Some FASAC members and other FASB constituents have questioned certain of the trade-offs between relevance and reliability that the Board has made in setting accounting standards. Specifically, they have questioned the appropriateness of the trade-offs that the Board has made in requiring financial statement measures that reflect fair values rather than historical costs. Their underlying presumption seems to be that historical costs, while perhaps not as relevant as fair values, are clearly more reliable. In those instances, they assert that the trade-off between relevance and reliability should favor historical costs rather than fair values. Some who question the Board’s trade-offs seemingly believe that reliability should be the dominant characteristic of financial statement measures. Others appear to interpret reliability as having a meaning that differs in at least certain respects from how that term is defined in the conceptual framework. To analyze those views, it is instructive to consider what the conceptual framework says with regard to making trade-offs between relevance and reliability and the meaning of reliability. Note: These materials are provided to facilitate understanding of the issues to be addressed at the September 23, 2004 FASAC meeting. These materials are presented for discussion...
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...For my first assignment, I have decided to talk about the topic of how people make decisions. The first idea is, “People face trade-offs”. What is trade-off? Well, trade-off is a situation in which it must lose some quality in exchange for other qualities. It involves a decision which fully understands the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. In the body of this assignment I will explain many examples of people facing trade-offs, the example that I have chosen is ‘trade-offs between profitability and the conservation of biodiversity’. There is a known trade-off between profitability and the conservation of biodiversity; the effort by farmers to increase crop yield usually diminishing biodiversity. Consequently, producers may not wish to tolerate agricultural plant diversity and remove trees and brush to increase profit margins. Such increases in profitability often occur in both agricultural monocultures and in mixed systems of land use. Monoculture is the practice of cultivating large tracts of land with trees or other plants of the same species. While it is an efficient and profitable theory from a commercial perspective, from the ecological point of view it is disastrous. The basis of all ecosystem diversity and monoculture practice is merely violating this principle. If there is less plant diversity there will also a decrease in animal diversity. On rubber plantations in Cuba and Indonesia, the number of rubber trees per unit area increased rubber production. Simultaneously...
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...| Re: | Costs Concerning Quality | | | Quality Considerations and Costs As discussed in the team meeting on Monday, we are looking at costs associated with Quality Management and Quality Control. To be effective three types of costs need to be considered: Appraisal, Prevention and Failure. 1. Appraisal: This will be our first step in Quality that should save the company money on the later half. Appraisal costs are deliberate steps to expose deficiencies and guarantee quality. Inspections will be key to this process, however not the end all. Materials received from suppliers should be carefully inspected before we begin our production. Examining beginning materials is not the end all for quality. The whole production process should be inspected from beginning to end. Investing more time and extra steps in the appraisal process, should have a trade-off of reducing costs further within the Internal Cost. 2. Prevention: This is the second step with our focus on (however not limited to) training. Prevention costs include steps measured to avert defects from occurring. By implementing a quality training program, standards are set to adhere by. Training will include how to inspect beginning materials, audits at the end of the production process and how to handle customer complaints/warranties. This way the whole company is on the same page to having quality assurance. If executed correctly, the trade-off reduces all other costs across the board. 3...
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...Business Management Tasks Task 1: 304.1.3-04 2015 interoffice memorandum to: | Supervisor of XYZ Inc. | from: | | subject: | Quality consideration costs | date: | September 1, 2015 | | | | | Looking over our products, there are three types of costs to utilize when quality considerations are made. These consist of appraisal, prevention, and failure costs. To ensure and achieve good quality and fix any defect before our product reaches the consumer, we must consider appraisal costs. Appraisal costs include the measuring and evaluating of our products to assess compliance with standards. The costs of measuring and evaluating will come from inspections (which will also include the inspectors to conduct the inspections), and testing, which will include the equipment to conduct tests, labs, quality audits, and field testing. Importantly, appraisal costs have the potential to significantly lower any future failure costs that may be incurred. The trade-off for the cost of taking the time and effort to inspect, audit, and conduct field testing will give viable information for not only the company but to the consumer as well that we produce and believe in quality products; resulting in a higher return of quality. To prevent the possibility of defects occurring we must invest in prevention costs. These costs will ultimately aid in consumer satisfaction and decrease products returned on account of defective workmanship by paying an exuberant amount...
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...Management Tasks Task 1 Cost Quality Relationship Product production comes with many types of costs. Four of the most common costs are prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs and external failure costs. These four costs are called quality costs and are costs that all businesses that produce products will pay. The amount of money that will go to each cost is dependent on the amount spent on the other costs. In other words, an increase in one type of cost can result in a decrease in another. Businesses need to understand the nature of each cost in order to understand for which cost to budget. The first type of cost is prevention costs. Prevention costs are the most vital costs in which to invest. Prevention costs are the costs that are acquired when the company prevents the occasions of defects in the first place. Basically, this is the cost of producing quality products. These costs include improvement in the manufacturing methods used to make the product, properly maintain the equipment that is used, maintaining a good relationship with vendors, employee training and more. Any cost that is associated with the lessening of creating faulty products is a prevention cost. For instance, a company that pays trainers to fully train each employee and offers paid training will see a decrease in the human error involved in manufacturing. A company that does not take the time to do this will produce more products that are poor quality because the company’s...
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...reputation on the quality and innovation of their products? II. OBJECTIVES * To increase the company’s sales and profit. * To eliminate the customers’ complaints about their company’s trade mark. * To ensure that the company’s product is in good quality and has no defects. * To minimize or eliminate the company’s loss. III. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION A. The company should engage into McNally’s proposal on having a trade-in. B. The company should inspect the finished models before they were shipped. C. Stick to Ed Murphy’s action by minimizing cost of production and lay-off in the design and product developments. D. To engage in a new line of products to diversify the products of the company. E. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION A. The company should engage into McNally’s proposal on having a trade-in. Advantages: * It will solve the problem of the customers’ complaints by replacing the malfunctioned models with new ones. * Less cost will be necessary because no new staff will be needed. Disadvantages: * Selling the trade-ins will take away the sales of new models. * By applying the trade-ins the company’s reputation on quality and innovation will blemish. * They will likely get less income or worse, a loss. B. The company should inspect the finished models before they were shipped. Advantages: * The company guarantees good quality of their products...
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...What is Strategy? – Michael E. Porter I. Operational effectiveness is not strategy So in the quest to beat competition managers focus on improving quality, speed and productivity all related to operational effectiveness. But in this way, they move further away from viable competitive positions which can only be achieved by an appropriate strategy. Positioning which was once the way to go about beating competition is now rejected, since its too static. Rivals can easily copy the market position and competitive advantage. However, that is not entirely true as hypercompetition is a self-inflicted wound. It is important to watch out for what your competitors are doing, but improving operational effectiveness alone is not enough, and that cannot be your only strategy. Operational effectiveness and strategy are both important for superior performance which is what a firm aims for. A company can beat rivals if it can stand out, establish a difference it can preserve. Basically a company can either provide greater value to customers or comparable value at low prices, or both. Delivering greater value means higher unit prices, greater efficiency means lower unit costs. Cost arises from performing activities and cost advantage comes from performing activities more efficiently than your competitors. This can be in the choice of the activity or how the activity is performed. So activities are what creates competitive advantage. Operational effectiveness means performing similar...
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...Economic Decisions Individuals and societies alike face many decisions. Individuals tend to make economic decisions when faced with trade-offs, and because of that, individuals are required to compare costs and benefits of their alternative actions referred to as the opportunity cost. Rational individuals tend to think of marginal change during the process of decision-making, and therefore, may respond differently to incentives whilst making economic decisions. This paper discusses the four principles of economics, a decision associated with marginal change, the incentive(s) that could lead to making different decision, and finally, how the principles of economics affect decision-making, interaction and the workings of the economy as whole. The Principles of Economics A trade-off is often referred to as the “technique of reducing or forgoing one or more desirable outcomes in exchange for increasing or obtaining other desirable outcomes to maximize the total return or effectiveness under given circumstances.” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2009) In brief, individuals choose something over something else, or give up something in order to get something else. Whatever “it” is that individuals sacrifice in order to get something, is generally “its” cost, and cost is often linked and associated with money, an opportunity cost however, could be the cost of anything i.e. time or health sacrificed in order to get something. Marginal changes are incremental adjustments individuals make while...
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...companies stemmed from their financing policies. The first of capital structure theory is trade-off theory. In contrast to dividends, interest paid on debt reduces the firm’s taxable income. Debt also increases the probability of bankruptcy. Trade-off theory suggests that capital structure reflects a trade-off between the tax benefits of debt and the expected costs of bankruptcy. Although trade-off theory predicts that the marginal tax benefit of debt should be equal to the marginal expected bankruptcy cost, the empirical evidence is mixed. Some researchers argue that the former is greater than the latter because direct bankruptcy costs are small and the level of debt is below optimal. Additionally, including personal taxation in the basic model can reduce the tax advantage of debt because tax rates on the return from equity such as dividends or capital gain are often reduced. The second capital structure theory is pecking order theory. The researcher found the key element of pecking order theory is asymmetric information between firm’s insiders and outsiders. The empirical evidence on pecking order theory is mixed. In the pecking order theory also have extension with different type of asymmetric information. The third is signaling. In the pecking order model, good quality firms have to use internal funds to avoid adverse selection problems and losing value. These firms cannot signal their quality by changing their capital structure. The following section discusses models in which...
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...effectiveness means performing similar activities better than the rival does, while strategy means perform different from the rival activities, or the similar activities in different way. Moreover, the article describes the ways of company activities imitations that could be used by the rivals. The author presents the number of tools and activities that should be regarded for strategy sustainability: unique activities, trade-offs and fit. The success of company strategy depends on entire system of activities. To my point of view, the best way to demonstrate understanding of red materials and my own vision on article presented concepts is to demonstrate good examples of perfect implementation of strategy. I tried to find some examples of strategies that become determined in companies success. The strategy highest priority is to be different from others, to have the set of unique activities to attract the customer. For example, consider a Metro Cash & Carry - a leading international player in self-service wholesale trade. A broad product range, quality, freshness and tailored services are the compelling benefits of the company. METRO Cash & Carry offers commercial customers in 29 countries around the world. The sales line offers...
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...MP A R Munich Personal RePEc Archive The Pecking Order, Trade-off, Signaling, and Market-Timing Theories of Capital Structure: a Review Anton Miglo University of Bridgeport 2010 Online at http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/46691/ MPRA Paper No. 46691, posted 6. May 2013 19:07 UTC The Pecking Order, Trade-off, Signaling, and Market-Timing Theories of Capital Structure: a Review Anton Miglo Associate professor, University of Bridgeport, School of Business, Bridgeport, CT 06604, phone (203) 576-4366, email: amiglo@bridgeport.edu. This version: 2013 Initial version: 2010 Abstract. This paper surveys 4 major capital structure theories: trade-off, pecking order, signaling and market timing. For each theory, a basic model and its major implications are presented. These implications are compared to the available evidence. This is followed by an overview of pros and cons for each theory. A discussion of major recent papers and suggestions for future research are provided. Introduction The modern theory of capital structure began with and the famous proposition of Modigliani Miller (1958) that described the conditions of capital structure irrelevance. Since then, been changing these conditions to explain factors driving capital many economists have structure decisions. Harris and Raviv (1991) synthesized major theoretical literature in the field, related these to the known empirical evidence, and suggested promising avenues for future research. They argued...
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...Chapter 12 Question 11: briefly describe MRP II and closed-loop MRP. MRP II did not replace or improve MRP. Rather, it expanded the scope of materials planning to include capacity requirements planning, and to involve other functional areas of the organization such as marketing and finance in the planning process. Production, marketing, and finance personnel work toward developing a master production schedule. Although manufacturing people will have a major input in determining that schedule and a major responsibility for making it work, marketing and finance will also have important inputs and responsibilities. The rationale for having these functional areas work together is the increased likelihood of developing a plan that works and with which everyone can live. Moreover, because each of these functional areas has been involved in formulating the plan, they will have reasonably good knowledge of the plan and more reason to work toward achieving it Closed loop MRP: When MRP was introduced, it did not have the capability to assess the feasibility of a proposed plan (i.e., if sufficient capacity existed at every level to achieve the plan). Thus, there was no way of knowing before executing a proposed plan if it could be achieved, or after executing the plan if it had been achieved. Consequently, a new plan had to be developed each week. When MRP II systems began to include feedback loops, they were referred to as closed-loop MRP. Closed-loop MRP systems evaluate a proposed...
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