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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

International Conference on Industry,

Engineering, and Management Systems
March 10 - 12, 2008

Dear Conference Participants:

It is with pleasure that we present to you the Proceedings of the 2008 International
Conference on Industry, Engineering and Management Systems (IEMS). The
papers presented this year were of consistently high quality in their respective
fields. The papers cover a wide range of topics in the business and engineering
disciplines, integrating concepts that further the mission of the IEMS Conference.

We present this Proceedings to you in the spirit of continuous improvement. Your

comments and suggestions regarding the continued improvement of the
Proceedings are always welcomed.

These proceedings would not have been made possible without the valuable
contributions of our Track Chairs for the time and effort they spent reviewing all
the papers; and for our Administrative Coordinator, Elki Issa, whose work behind
the scenes helps make our Conference a success.

We look forward to seeing you at IEMS 2009!

Warm Regards,

Nabeel Yousef, Ph.D.

IEMS Publications Editor

2008 IEMS Officers
Nael Aly, Conference Co-Chair
California State University, Stanislaus
Adel Ali, Program Coordinator
University of Southern Mississippi
Alfred Petrosky, Program Chair
California State University, Stanislaus
TRACK CHAIRS
Accounting/Finance
LuAnn Bean, Florida Institute of Technology
Abstract Concepts in Computer Science
Dia Ali , University of Southern Mississippi
Automation/Intelligent Computing
Andrzej Gapinski, Penn State University
Construction Management
Mostafa Khattab, Colorado State University
Decision Making in Mgmt & Engineering
E. Ertugrul Karsak, GalatasaryUniversity
Decision Support Systems
Dia Ali , University of Southern Mississippi
Education and Training
Ralph Janaro, Clarkson University
Entrepreneurship
Colin Benjamin, Florida A&M University
Global Applications
Djehane Hosni, University of Central Florida
Human Computer Interaction
Mohammad Khasawneh, SUNY, Binghamton
Human Engineering
Deborah Carstens, Florida Institute of Tech.
Industry and Academia Collaboration
Alexandra Schönning, Univ. of North Florida
Lean Enterprise
Isabelina Nahmens, Univ of Central Florida
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Ahmad Elshennawy, Conference Co-Chair
University of Central Florida
Nabeel Yousef, Publications Editor
University of Central Florida
Lean Six Sigma
Sandra Furterer, Univ. of Central Florida
Management Information Systems
John Wang, Montclair State University
Management & Organizational Behavior
Ed Hernandez, Cal State Univ., Stanislaus
Management of Technology
Gordon Arbogast, Jacksonville University
Marketing
Kaylene Williams, CSU, Stanislaus
Operations Management
J.S. Sutterfield, Florida A&M University
Project Management
Stephen Allen, Truman State University
Quality Management
Hesham Mahgoub, South Dakota State Univ
Simulation and Modeling
Kevin O’Neill, Plattsburgh State University
Stat. Quality Improvement & Control
Gamal Weheba, Wichita State University
Supply Chain Management
Ken Morrison, Kettering University
Technology Commercialization
Tiki Suarez, Florida A&M University
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Shalini Jajpuria and Suraj M. Alexander 1

EVALUATING THE SECURITY VULNERABILITIES IN MILK
COLLECTION AND TRANSPORT

Praveen Janjirala and Suraj M. Alexander 10

IMPROVING THE LOGISTICS OF MILK COLLECTION AND TRANSPORT

Stephen Allen 20
A LOOK AT CLOSING THE LOOP IN AN UNDERGRADUATE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT CLASS

Shahram Amiri 25
INFORMATION AND TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: BLUEPRINT FOR
SOCIAL-ECONOMIC GROWTH IN DEVELOPING NATIONS

Gordon Arbogast 31
DEDICATED ACCOUNT TEAMS: WORTH THE COST?

Michael Bell and Vincent Omachonu 37

PROCESS FOCUS AND COMMITMENT: THE KEY TO ISO 9001 IMPLEMENTATION

Donald Brandon, Brian Bourgeois, Ashley Morris 41

HYDROGRAPHIC MISSION PLANNING PROTOTYPE COMBINING
GIS AND AUTOSURVEY™

John J. Burbridge, Jr. and Coleman Rich 47

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Deborah S. Carstens and Stephanie M. Rockfield 54

CHANGING THE HUMAN DIMENSION IN INFORMATION SECURITY

Thien-My Dao, Barthelemy H.Ateme-Nguema, and Victor Songmene 59

THE NEW APPROACH BASED ON RSM AND ANTS COLONY SYSTEM FOR
MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM: A CASE STUDY

Y. Desai, E. Park, P. Demattos, J. Park 61

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AT MOSES CONE HOSPITAL

Daniel J. Fonseca, Terry Brumback, Christopher M. Greene, Matthew E. Elam 65

DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED MANUFACTURING EDUCATION TOOL
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Nabeel Yousef and Tarig Ali 70

MINIMIZING LINE OF DUTY DEATHS (LODD) FOR FIREFIGHTERS THROUGH
PROPOSING A TRACKING SYSTEM TO TRACK FIRE FIGHTERS AT FIRE SCENES

Wei Zhan, Jacob Schulz, John Crenshaw and Tim Hurst 75

ADDRESSING THE ENGINEERING NEEDS OF THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY

Andrzej Gapinski 80
PARTIAL DISCHARGE (PD): PSPICE SIMULATIONS

H. M. Hassan and Saleh M. Al-Saleem 85

ON LEARNING PERFORMANCE ANALOGY BETWEEN SOME PSYCHO-LEARNING
EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND ANT COLONY SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION

Xiaochun Jiang, BaaSheba Rice, Gerald Watson, and Eui Park 90

A MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL APPROACH TO ANALYZE NURSING ERRORS

Jerry W. Koehler and Thomas W. Philippe 95

IMPLEMENTING INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PRACTICES:
EFFECTS OF WORKPLACE DECEPTION

Cynthia Brown-LaVeist, S.K. Hargrove, J. Doswell, Deborah Ihezie 99

DEVELOPING AN INFORMATION STRATEGY FOR CIVIL AVIATION
COMPETITIVENESS: THE JOINT TECHNICAL DATA INTEGRATION (JTDI)
PROJECT AT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Ashraf H. Galal and Tamer A. Mohamed 104

DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY FOR TV SATELLITE CHANNEL
PROGRAMS-A FRAMEWORK FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

Robert L. Mullen 111

AN INTELLIGENT EXPERT SYSTEM FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO BECOME BILLIONAIRES

Robert L. Mullen 114

AN INTELLIGENT EXPERT SYSTEM FOR THOSE ENTERING THE INTERNET/WEB INDUSTRY

Ali Ahmad and Isabelina Nahmens 117

ASSESSING SIX SIGMA PROJECT IMPROVEMENTS- A STATISTICAL PERSPECTIVE

Imshaan Somani, Ha Van Vo and R. Radharamanan 125

A NOVEL METHOD TO INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBLE LOCATIONS OF
HUMAN BODY INJURIES DURING A VERTICAL FALL

Angela P. Ansuj and R. Radharamanan 131

PRODUCT AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRONIC MANUFACTURING
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Jonathan B. Ksor, Ha Van Vo and R. Radharamanan 137

DETERMINING THE MOST EFFECTIVE MIDSOLE MATERIAL
THICKNESS IN PREVENTING CALCANEAL FRACTURES

Federica Robinson, Mario Marin, Serge Sala-Diakanda,

Jose Sepulveda, Luis Rabelo, Kent Williams 142
DEVELOPING A DATABASE THAT EXECUTES COMPREHENSIVE,
COMPARATIVE ANALYSES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE INDUSTRIAL
ENGINEERING PROGRAMS NATIONWIDE

Alicia Combs, Mihaela Petrova-Bolli, Eric Tucker and Dana Johnston 147
APPLYING SIX SIGMA TO SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS: A CASE FOR THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Kendra Lee, LaShaveria Keeton, Carsolina Walton, Tiki L. Suarez-Brown 153

RESOURCE UTILIZATION: A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPLEMENT A
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Dominique Drake and J. S. Sutterfield 160

THE REVOLUTION OF SIX-SIGMA: AN ANALYSIS OF ITS THEORY AND APPLICATION

J. S. Sutterfield, Sade L. Chaney and Tiffani R. Davis 173

THE USE OF TAGUCHI METHODS TO OPTIMIZE SHAPE FACTORS FOR
MAXIMUM WATER JET STABILITY

Kaylene C. Williams, Al Petrosky, Edward H. Hernandez and Robert Page 182

IN'S AND OUT'S OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Banu Karsak and Elgiz Yılmaz 194

NEW MARKETING PUBLIC RELATIONS TREND: CUSTOMER AS A
BUSINESS PARTNER IN CORPORATE INNOVATION STRATEGIES

Joycelyn Finley-Hervey, Tiki L. Suarez-Brown and Forrest Thompson 204

EXPLORATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

Sandra Archer, Robert L. Armacost and Julia Pet-Armacost 209

RECENT LITERATURE IN STOCHASTIC RESOURCE CONSTRAINED PROJECT SCHEDULING

Michael Ferguson, Jesse Parkhurst, Alexandra Schonning, Simeon Ochi 215

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF AN ACOUSTIC PANELS TEST FRAME

LuAnn Bean and Jeff Manzi 220

A MODEL FOR AUDIT BRAINSTORMING: THE SEARCH FOR MATERIAL
MISSTATEMENTS AND FRAUD

Evaluating the Security Vulnerabilities in
Milk Collection and Transport
Shalini Jajpuria
University of Louisville
Abstract
The current approach to milk collection and
transport with manual monitoring and the
proposed approach of milk collection and
transport with wireless electronic monitoring are
assessed with hierarchical task analysis and a
software system referred to as “CARVER +
Shock”, developed by the Food and Drug
Administration / Center for Food Safety and
Applied Nutrition (FDA/CFSAN). The latter is a
target prioritization tool adapted from the
military version “CARVER” that assesses the
criticality, accessibility, vulnerability etc. of any
part of the system (target). The additional term
“shock” is used to cover the health, economic,
and psychological impact of an attack on the
food industry. We expect this effort to define
areas that still need attention in the context of
security and help us define standards for secure
transport of milk from farms to processors.
1. Introduction:
Current approaches to the collection of milk
from farms and transporting it to processing
stations is manual, paper intensive and prone to
errors. The process is also vulnerable to failures
in monitoring and safety features that could lead
to the rejection of the whole load of milk at the
processing station. With the support of a
homeland security grant, a wireless electronic
monitoring system has been developed that
reduces the chances of errors and failures in the
process of milk collection and transport. This
system also improves security against
unauthorized tampering with the milk and
enhances traceability if a problem does occur.
Figure 1 illustrates the current process of
collecting milk from farms.
1
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Suraj M. Alexander
University of Louisville
suraj.alexander@louisville.edu
When milk haulers arrive at a farm they
evaluate the contents of the milk storage tank on
characteristics such as odor, color and visible
contaminants. If the milk appears satisfactory
then they measure the load with a scale and
convert this to gallons. The milk is then agitated
for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the capacity of
the milk tank in the farm. During the agitation
process, various records are completed by hand
and the set up process to unload the milk to the
tanker or tanker trailer is completed. After the
agitation, the temperature of the milk is checked
to see if it is within standards (40 deg F). If it is,
then samples are collected and placed in an ice
cooled container in the milk truck for regulatory
testing. These tests have to be completed within
a certain time interval; hence the time of
collection is recorded on the sample container.
The milk is then transferred to the milk truck.
Finally, if the milk tank is emptied, it is cleaned
and the haulers move on to the next farm.
2. Micro Evaluation of Vulnerability
using Hierarchical Task Analysis
For a micro evaluation of current process
vulnerabilities, a hierarchical task analysis
(HTA) of the process was conducted [1]. This
analysis revealed a number of process steps that
were susceptible to potential errors, procedure
violations and outside interference. Examples
include data recording errors, such as, erroneous
stick-to-volume conversions, incorrect recording
or entry of milk temperature, incorrect recording
of the time of sample collection and process
violations, such as, inadequate duration of
agitation before samples are collected and
incorrect storage of milk samples.

Figure 2a and b illustrate the HTA for a portion
of the process, when the milk transfer is
complete and milk tank is empty.
3. Wireless Security Monitoring System
(SMS)
In order to improve efficiency, reduce
process errors and improve security, a wireless
monitoring systems (SMS) integrated with GPS
and electronic locks was developed for milk
trucks [2]. The system has the ability to ensure
that milk collected from the farm has only
authorized access and that the samples collected
for further testing are stored at the right
temperature and tested within the requisite time
interval. The system records the correct amount
of milk collected; the miles traveled in different
states by the hauling truck; the service hours of
the drivers, and the wash times of the truck. It
also enables optimal routing and cycle time of
the milk trucks from collection through
unloading at the processing plants [3], [4]. The
system also allows the printing of the required
documentation, such as barn tickets, milk
sample labels, wash tickets, etc.
Figure 3a illustrates the (SMS) and Figure 3b
defines the communication links in the SMS.
4. Assessment of the Improvement in
Security with SMS using CARVER +
Shock
“CARVER + Shock”, developed by the
Food and Drug Administration / Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA/CFSAN) is
used by the United States Department of
Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service
(USDA FSIS) to assess the vulnerabilities within
a system or infrastructure to an attack [5]. It
allows the user to think like an attacker to
identify the most attractive targets for an attack.
By contrasting a “CARVER + Shock”
assessment of the current milk collection process
and transport process with the proposed process,
one can assess the improvement in security with
SMS.
2
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
“CARVER+Shock” stands for the following six
attributes used to evaluate the attractiveness of a
target for attack:
• Criticality: This attribute helps to
assess the critical impact an attack can
have on public health and economy.
• Accessibility: This attribute helps to
assess the ability to physically access
and egress from a target.
• Recuperability: This attribute helps to
assess ability of a system to recover
from an attack.
• Vulnerability: This attribute helps to
assess ability to accomplish a successful
attack.
• Effect: This attribute helps to assess the
amount of direct loss from an attack as
measured by loss of production.
• Recognizability: This attribute helps to
assess ease of identifying a target.
• Shock- This attribute helps to assess the
combined health, economic and
psychological impacts of an attack
within the food industry.
The assessment process using CARVER+ Shock
is as follows:
1. A process flow chart is constructed
using the tool.
2. Carver + Shock scores are based on
answers to specific questions asked for
each process node in the flow chart.
3. The results are presented as a color-
coded process flow diagram colored in
different shades of blue, based on the
total CARVER + Shock score for each
process node. Process nodes with low
scores, that imply lower risk, will be
light blue, becoming darker as the
CARVER + Shock score increases.
Double-clicking on a process node
displays the node’s individual
assessment, which provides more
detailed information regarding the risk
assessment of the process node,
including individual scores for each
element that make up the CARVER +
Shock total score. Additional results are
displayed as a bar graph. Clicking on
each bar will bring up text with
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

suggestions for risk mitigation and Systems Conference, March 10- 12,
improving security at process nodes. 2008.

Security improvements in the process of milk 5. User manual of the CARVER+Shock

collection and transport with SMS are easily software tool from the Food and drug
seen in the difference in color in process nodes Administration FDA website.
in Figures 4 when contrasted with that in Figure
5. The nodes in Figure 5 have a much lighter
shade of blue than that in Figure 4 illustrating
the improvement.

Tables 1a and 1b show the individual criteria

scores that make up the total CARVER +
SHOCK score for each process node.

5. Conclusions

This paper has illustrated the use of process

flow analysis and HTA to identify areas of
vulnerability to errors and security in the current
milk collection process. It also illustrates the
application of the tool CARVER +Shock to
assess the improvement in security of the milk
collection process with the SMS.

References

1. Hierarchical Task analysis from website

http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Reso
urces/Resources2/hierarchical_analysis.
htm

2. “Invention Disclosure for Electronic

Monitoring System for Securing Milk
from Farm to Processor” by Dr. Fred
Payne, Professor, Biosystems and
Agriculture Engineering, University of
Kentucky

3. Janjirala, P., Alexander, S. M. and

Evans, G.W., “Improving the logistics
of milk collection via simulation”
Proceedings, Industry, Engineering and
Management Systems Conference,
March 12-14, 2007.

4. Janjirala, P. and Alexander, S.M.,

“Improving the logistics of milk
collection and transport”, Proceedings,
Industry, Engineering and Management

3
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Hauler Clean-up
Reject load on Yes
arrives at appearance?
and Depart
farm

No

Yes

Measure Agitate Collect

load samples
No
Record Reject load (and Collect
Temp. on temp?
sample Milk
info.)

Record farm
info. and set-
up

Figure 1 – Process of Collecting Milk at Farms

4
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Seal and clean

milkhouse tank

Recap milk Replace nozzle

Turn off motor Clean floor of
hose seal on milk Start washer
milkhouse with
tank
milkhouse hose

Disconnect milk Insert washer Replace hose on

hose hose, washer drain truck and close
Use milkhouse
Replace tank lid rear doors
hose to clean hose, and cleaning
inside of tank solution hose to
milk tank

Figure 2a – Illustration of HTA for the Process Steps after the Milk Tank is Emptied

Figure 2 b – Areas of Possible Process Errors from the HTA of Process Steps in Figure 2a

5
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 3a – Wireless Monitoring System for Milk Transport Security

6
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

SECURITY
LOCK POSITION, GPS MONITORING SYSTEM
DATA, TEMPERATURE (SMS)
INFORMATION, USER
INTERFACE
INFORMATION

Security data Milk data

HAND HELD DEVICE/

MILK BARCODE READER/
HAULER/ CELLULAR
SAMPLER COMMUNICATION
DEVICE/ WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION
DEVICE

Data Attribute
updates

DATA RELATED TO:

MILK MARKETING
AGENCY, DATA SERVER
TRANSPORTATION
COMPANY, MILK
PROCESSING PLANT
AND DATA
PROCESSOR

DATA USED BY:

MARKETING
AGENCY,
TRANSPORTATI
ON COMPANY,
MILK
PROCESSING
PLANT AND
DATA
PROCESSOR

Figure 3b – Communication links within the SMS

7
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 4 - CARVER + Shock Assessment of Current Process

Figure 5 – CARVER + Shock Assessment of Milk Collection Process with SMS

8
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

C A R V E R S Total Process Element

6 8 8 1 4 10 10 48 Milk Hauling Truck (Tanker Truck)

10 9 4 1 3 10 10 47 Milk
6 6 8 1 4 10 10 44 Milk * (Storage Tank Refrigerated)
6 6 8 1 4 10 10 45 Milk * (Tanker Truck Filler)
6 4 10 1 4 10 10 44 Empty tank at Processing Plant * (Pump)
5 5 10 1 4 10 9 44 * at the Processing Plant (Receiving)
10 4 5 1 3 10 10 44 * [2] (Clean/Sanitize Equipment)
5 4 10 1 4 10 9 43 Clean and seal milk house tank (Clean/Sanitize Equipment)
5 4 8 1 4 10 9 42 Go for next Pick up (Transport)
6 6 1 1 4 10 10 38 Seal top and rare lids (Sealer)
6 4 4 1 4 10 10 38 Processing Plant * [2] (Storage Tank Refrigerated)

Table 1a – CARVER + Shock Scoring Results for Current Process

C A R V E R S Total Process Element

1 4 2 1 3 10 1 23 Milk
1 1 2 3 3 10 1 22 Seal truck until next pick up. (Sealer)
1 1 5 1 3 10 1 22 Control Checks all the Locks (Other Control Checks)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Milk* (Tanker Truck Filler)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 * Milk (Receiving)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Milk hauling Truck (Tanker Truck)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Clean/Sanitize Milk storage tank (Clean/Sanitize Equipment)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Milk * (Storage Tank Refrigerated)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Seal top and rare lids (Sealer)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 * Milk (Pump)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 go for next pick up (Transport)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Control Checks all the locks before receiving (Other Control Checks)
1 1 4 1 3 10 1 21 Clean/Sanitize tank after unloading (Clean/Sanitize Equipment)
1 1 2 1 3 10 1 20 Scan processing plant ID (Scanner)
Processing Plant * [2] (Storage Tank Refrigerated)
1 1 2 1 3 10 1 20
Scan driver farm and truck ID (Scanner)
1 1 2 1 3 10 1 20

Table 1b – CARVER + Shock Scoring Results for Process with SMS

9

Improving the Logistics of Milk Collection and Transport
Praveen Janjirala
University of Louisville University of Louisville
suraj.alexander@louisville.edu
Abstract
As a part of a homeland security project an
electronic tracking system has been developed to
secure the collection and transport of milk from
farms to processors. In order to make this system
financially attractive to stakeholders we
demonstrate that the capabilities of the system
can also be used for optimized logistics control.
Optimized scheduling and logistics will result in
lower fuel expenses and less wait time at the
milk processing station. This paper illustrates
our attempt to define an optimal route schedule
using Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
This schedule is being developed using real data
provided by The Alan Wilson Hauling
Company, in Somerset, Kentucky, a milk
hauling company. The routing algorithm in GIS
is able to adjust the routes based on weather and
traffic conditions. Rerouting haulers is also
feasible in case the scheduled route has to be
changed owing to new information related to a
farm, such as, if a farm is disapproved by a milk
agency or if there is power failure at a farm.
The GIS system also enables the selection of an
optimum location for a depot for milk trucks
used to collect milk from a specified set of
farms.
1. Background
This paper relates to improving the logistics of
collecting milk from farms and delivering it to
milk processors. It addresses problems related
to scheduling, routing and delivery efficiency
and impacts profit levels and employee turnover.
Since current methods of securing milk are
manual, paper intensive and prone to errors, the
goal of an ongoing multi university homeland
security project (OGMB060636), is to design
and implement a technology based “tracking”
system on milk hauling trucks. This system
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Suraj M. Alexander
would have the ability to establish the integrity
of seals, locks, and routes, via sensors, electro
mechanical locks, wireless technologies and
global positioning systems (GPS). A provisional
patent application has been filed for this system.
The ultimate objective of this development
effort is to have dairy trucks throughout the U.S.
incorporate this technology, by retrofitting
current trucks and having new trucks built with
this system. Such a tracking system is promising
for securing not only the nation’s milk supply,
but also the liquid and dry bulk food
transportation across North America. Almost
everyone realizes the need for a secure food
transport system in this era. However, a major
barrier to implementing technology based
systems, as the one proposed, is the cost of these
systems. The problem is that the expenses of
retrofitting and of new designs have to be passed
on to the transporting/hauling companies.
However, transporters want to contain their
costs, to maintain their profit levels in the face
of higher costs resulting from increasing fuel
prices and stringent EPA requirements. For
example, emission control hardware, adds about
$7000 to $ 10,000 to the cost of a new truck,
increases its weight by 130 to 150 pounds and
requires low sulfur diesel for fuel [1]. This
paper demonstrates that the technologies
implemented for security purposes can be used
to improve routing and delivery efficiency and
thereby reduce costs for transporters/haulers.
Demonstrating the potential for cost reduction is
crucial for making the implementation of the
proposed technology based system acceptable.
The potential for cost reduction with improved
logistics is huge. For example, if milk collection
and delivery to a processing plant takes a long
time owing to inefficient routings and delays,
the milk is vulnerable to spoilage, resulting in
rejection at the processing plant; inefficient
10

routings also lead to increased fuel consumption
and cost. Another common problem that occurs
frequently is the extensive delay in unloading
the milk at processing plants, owing to the
limited capacity at the plants relative to the
number of trucks waiting to be unloaded. The
possibility of milk spoilage during this wait
time, costly truck idle time and extensions of a
milk hauler’s work day results in unhappy milk
haulers and impacts driver retention significantly
[2].
2. Objective
This paper demonstrates the use of
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with
the real time information available via the new
system to improve the logistics of milk
collection and delivery. For example, consider a
milk truck traveling interstate after collecting
milk from farms in Florida; it is transporting the
milk to a designated processing plant in
Kentucky. En route to Kentucky, real time
information on truck location, capacity,
temperature of its contents, etc. is available and
transmitted to a monitoring system in real time.
If, owing to weather and traffic conditions, as
the truck approaches say, Atlanta, the milk
temperature appears to be headed towards the
red zone (unacceptable region), adaptive
decisions can be made in real time, with the GIS
based system, such as redirecting the truck to a
nearby processing plant with sufficient capacity
in the Atlanta area. In a similar way, routing
and scheduling decisions can be adjusted based
on real time information to meet other
objectives, such as minimizing travel times, and
wait times. Examples of adaptive scheduling
decisions include defining staggered release
schedules of milk trucks for the collection of
milk, based on information of current truck
locations, routes and collection times to
minimize wait time at the unloading stations,
and redirecting a truck to a selected alternate
farm, if the power is off at a particular farm.
2.1 Preliminary analysis
To evaluate and demonstrate impacts, such as
the wait time at processing plants based on
dynamic scheduling decisions, a simulation
11
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
model was developed with three hypothetical
hauling companies of different sizes, servicing
clusters of farms and unloading at two
processing stations, with different capacities.
The preliminary simulation analysis and runs
with an optimization tool [OPTQUEST],
demonstrated that adaptive scheduling can
indeed have a positive impact on reducing the
wait time at the processing plant and other
delays [3].
3. Demonstration of Logistics Decisions using
GIS
In order to demonstrate, with some credibility,
the application of GIS for logistics related
decisions, real data is used from The Alan
Wilson Hauling Company, in Somerset,
Kentucky, which collects milk from 388 farms
in Kentucky and processes the milk at The
Southern Belle Dairy in Somerset, Kentucky.
3.1 Basic Process of Milk Hauling
Daily schedules are provided to milk haulers
which define the cluster of farms that each milk
hauler should visit to collect milk and take to the
processor. This cluster depends on the capacity
of the milk truck and the amount of milk
expected from each farm. A typical truck for the
above mentioned hauling company has a
capacity of 50,000 gallons. At each farm the
milk is examined for any visible contamination
and its temperature is checked to see if it within
standards (i.e. < 40 deg. F). If the milk meets
the required standards, samples are collected and
stored in refrigerated container on the truck and
the milk is loaded into the truck. The volume of
milk collected from the farm is also noted. This
whole process at a farm takes about 20 minutes.
If the milk truck is not full, it goes to the next
farm on its route, otherwise it goes to the
processing station. At the processing station, the
samples are evaluated and the milk truck is
checked for any signs of intrusion (currently this
is done by examining the seals, with the new
system it would be through computerized
records that determine when and for what reason
the locks providing access to the milk are
opened). If the milk samples from any farm fail
the evaluation standards or if the seals are
broken then all the milk carried by the truck is

rejected. The actual process time for unloading
the milk at the processing plant is around 40
minutes. However, as mentioned before, milk
haulers spend considerable queue time “waiting
their turn” at the processing station. Traffic
conditions, inclement weather, insufficient milk
at farms, all cause an increase in throughput time
for a milk hauler. This increases the probability
of milk spoilage and unhappy milk haulers.
3.2 GIS Application to Milk Hauling
Logistics: With the use of GIS a number of the
problems mentioned above can be mitigated.
GIS is capable of providing routes considering
traffic conditions, weather and road conditions.
Also, since all the farm data is in the GIS
database, it can provide information to reroute
the milk hauler to another farm in the vicinity
owing to several reasons, such as, additional
capacity available on the truck; the farm which
the hauler was scheduled to go to is taken of the
list of approved farms; the scheduled farm is out
of power, thus making milk collection
infeasible, etc.. Demonstrations of these
capabilities of GIS are provided in the following
sections.
3.3. GIS Setup
First ArcGIS Network Analyst is used to
create a route layer which is called the Network
Dataset layer to locate farms and interconnecting
roads on the map. Next the Network Analysis
Layer is used to create routes based on various
objectives, such as, quickest, shortest or most
scenic; time window based; cost based, etc.
3.4 GIS Demonstration
Figure 1 shows the road structure and the 388
farms located in Kentucky visited by the haulers
of the Alan Wilson hauling company.
Figure 2, offers a close up view of the road
structure, available from GIS.
3.5 Routing Demonstrations:
3.5.1 Shortest Path: To illustrate this
demonstration, first the “route analysis layer” in
the “ArcGIS Network Analyst” is programmed
to use the closest facility heuristic to define a
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
route from a starting location through the seven
potential milk farms, listed on Table 1, before
proceeding to the milk processor. Seven farms
are selected for demonstration purposes, since,
on average, seven farms are visited before the
hauler goes to the processor with a full tank.
1. Producer – Marty Clark
Address- 4311 Knob- Lick wisdom
Road, Knob Lick- 42154.
2. Producer – Daniel Adams
Address- 1304 Milltown church Road,
Milltown- 42761.
3. Producer- Amy Coomer
Address- 111 Long Meadow Drive,
Greensburg- 42743
4. Producer- Hubert G. Wright
Address- 840 Elmo Russell Road,
Summersville- 42782
5. Producer- Terry Tow bridge
Address- 5720 Hiseville park road,
Horse Cave- 42749
6. Producer- Robert Nissley
Address- 138 Wheeler Road, Clarkson-
42726
7. Producer- Wayne Eial
Address- 1010 D David court,
Elizabethtown-42701
The Milk Processing station is located at
Ben Hurt Drive, Morgantown-42261.
Table 1 – Addresses of the seven farms and
the milk processor selected for
demonstration purposes.
The route established by the Network Analyst is
illustrated on the map in Figure 3.

3.5.2Time Window based Routing: Routing
can also be based on “time windows”, where
trucks are scheduled to arrive at the different
farms within a specified time slot. Hence, with
the GIS tool a schedule and route is established
so that milk haulers arrive at the farms within
the allotted time window. This is quite a
common requirement, since haulers maintain
close relationships with farm owners and try to
satisfy their scheduling preferences. Table 2
illustrates a time window based routing from
Farm 1 to Farm 2, where Farm 1 is given a time
window of 8:00 a.m. to 8:20 and Farm 2 a time
window of 8:50 to 9:10 a.m.
3.4.1.3 Routing to the Nearest Facility: The
Closest Facility tool in Network Analyst can be
used to find the route to the nearest facility.
This is necessary if the truck needs to go to the
nearest allocated farm from another farm or
from any specified location. This need could
arise if the hauler needs to visit another farm to
fill his tank, or if en-route to a farm a hauler
receives word that a designated farm is black
listed or removed from the list of farms from
which milk is allowed to be collected. The
Closest Facility problem in Network Analyst,
involves finding the closest facility to a given
location. The given location is referred to as
“incident” and the milk farms are referred to as
“facilities”. The network analyst will define the
closest facility and also specify the best route.
Figure 4 illustrates such a route.
In a similar fashion network analyst can be used
to define the route to a facility or facilities that
can be reached in the shortest time from an
“incident”.
3.5.3 O.D. Cost Matrix Layer: The O.D.
Cost Matrix Layer, in Network Analyst, can be
used to find the closest location to a number of
facilities. This could be useful in setting up
depot for instance for the milk hauling trucks. It
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
also defines the order in which the farms should
be visited.
The components of this layer include the
following:
1. Origins feature layer: This layer stores
the network locations that are used as
potential origins or starting points.
2. Destinations feature layer: This layer
stores the network locations that are
used as destinations.
3. Barriers feature layer: This layer is used
to specify a point through which a route
is not possible.
4. Lines feature layer: This layer stores the
results and the attribute table of the OD
cost matrix.
Figure 5 illustrates an application of the O.D.
cost martix layer to establish a depot.
References
1. “Emission mandates” Bulk Transporter,
September 2006, pp.22
2. “Financial Plan-Market implications impact
transporters”, Bulk Transporter,
September, 2006 pp. 24-25
3. Janjirala, P., Sivaguranathan, S. Alexander,
S. M. and Evans, G.W., “Improving the
logistics of milk collection via simulation”
Proceedings, Industry, Engineering and
Management Systems Conference, March
12-14, 2007, pp. 602-605.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 2 : GIS routing based on Time Windows

1. Start at Farm 1: Time Window: 8:00 AM - 8:20 AM

2. Go South West on CRENSHAW CASSADY RD toward S GILBERT RD; Drive
< 0.1 mi
3. Turn right on BOBBY MCCANDLESS RD;Drive 1.3 mi
4. Turn right at MCCANDLESS RD to stay on BOBBY MCCANDLESS RD; Drive
0.3 mi
5. Make U-turn and go back on BOBBY MCCANDLESS RD; Drive 0.3 mi
6. Turn right on MCCANDLESS RD; Drive 0.6 mi
7. Turn right on CRAIG RD; Drive 0.6 mi
8. Make U-turn and go back on CRAIG RD; Drive < 0.1 mi
9. Make sharp right on STATE HWY 70; Drive 8.1 mi
10. Turn right on JACKSON HWY; Drive 2.4 mi
11. Turn right on UNNAMED STREET; Drive 0.3 mi
12. Continue on COVE CITY-BEAR WALLOW RD; Drive < 0.1 mi
13. Bear right on UNNAMED STREET; Drive < 0.1 mi
14. Bear right on OLD LEXINGTON RD; Drive 0.1 mi
15. Make U-turn and go back on OLD LEXINGTON RD; Drive < 0.1 mi
16. Turn right on STATE HWY 1141; Drive 1.1 mi
17. Bear right on OLD GLASGOW RD; Drive 1.4 mi
18. Make U-turn and go back on OLD GLASGOW RD; Drive < 0.1 mi
19. Turn right on JEWELL DR; Drive 0.2 mi
20. Turn right on HOWARD DR; Drive < 0.1 mi
21. Turn right on CHARLIE MORAN HWY; Drive < 0.1 mi
22. Make U-turn and go back on CHARLIE MORAN HWY; Drive 0.5 mi
23. Bear right on E MAIN ST; Drive 0.8 mi
24. Turn right on GUTHRIE ST; Drive 0.4 mi
25. Arrive at Farm 2, on the right; Time Window: 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM.

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Figure 1 - Kentucky Farms Covered and by the Alan Wilson Hauling Company

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Figure 2 – A Close up view of the Roads Layout

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Figure 3 – Shortest Route through Farms to Processing Station

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Figure 4 – Closest Facility to a given Location

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Figure 5 – The use of the O.D. cost matrix layer to establish a depot location

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

A Look at Closing the Loop in an

Undergraduate Project Management Class
Stephen Allen
Truman State University
sallen@truman.edu

Abstract Baldrige National Quality Award created quality

An undergraduate project management
curriculum has been designed and coordinated
around a typical project lifecycle phases—
conception; selection; planning, scheduling,
monitoring, reporting, and controlling; and
finally evaluation and termination. A project
design element is included as a curriculum
layover component. Students are given the
opportunity to self-select a project to be
designed in consultation with the faculty. The
projects are an opportunity for a student to
design an ongoing project, redesign a past
project, or use the design element to design a
project in a field of self-interest. Students
submit weekly progress updates regarding the
project design element to avoid poor design
performance. The projects are assessed at the
end of the semester by an external review team
of professional project management
practitioners. The assessment includes a
technical component and an oral presentation
component. The review team meets with the
entire class and concludes with a group
debriefing session. The review team then meets
with the faculty providing feedback and means
of curriculum improvement.
1. Introduction
Continuous improvement has been a long
standing element of a quality management
education. Gone are the days of a pure lecture
class format in management and higher
education in general [1]. In the late 80’s and
early 90’s, quality improvement efforts to
improve management and higher education in
general were being suggested by a variety of
authors from a variety of applications [2] [3] [4]
[5]. At the time, the recently devised Malcolm
criteria for institutions of higher education [6].
The criteria emphasized continuous
improvement in higher education practices.
1.1. Evolution of management education
As business education quality evolved, the
concept of the balanced scorecard was met with
approval of business school deans [7]. The
balanced scorecard approach had successfully
been adopted by the for-profit sectors of
manufacturing and service [8]. In brief, the
balanced scorecard requires an effort of deciding
what is to be included on the scorecard and what
development and processes are needed to
achieve results.
In 1991, the AACSB (American Association
of Collegiate Schools of Business) revised its
accreditation standards to espouse a mission-
linked standard for schools of business. The
change in accreditation was a continuous
improvement measure to ensure ever increasing
quality measures in business school education.
The AACSB organization has continued to
refine and improve its accreditation standards
and expectations. In 2003, the organization
again made improvements with an adoption of
revised standards to ensure quality management
education from worldwide educational
institutions [9].
1.2. Project management education trends
As businesses continue to improve
operations and do more with less, qualified
management leaders will need the technical
tools to achieve business goals. As a
consequence of the immediate need for more
technically capable and better trained managers,
trained managers with project management tools
are in high demand and short supply.

20

Consequently, the project management segment
of management education has undergone
significant growth over the past ten years [10] to
meet these demands.
Project management education in the
business curriculum is also changing.
Traditional text knowledge, software
applications and practices are available to an
instructor through the use of simulations, case
studies, applied readings, end of chapter
assignments, and essay questions. The typical
materials, however, fail to close the loop on a
significant project management learning
experience. Continuous improvement efforts
have been made to address the need of
significant project management experience.
One continuous improvement effort is the
use of Project-based Learning (PbL) techniques
in the nonprofit sector [11]. This approach is an
excellent example of continuous improvement in
project management education in that project
management practices are applied external to the
course. A shortcoming of the practice is the
likelihood of loss of control of curriculum basis
as the approach, while student learning centered,
is also student driven to a greater extent.
Another significant continuous
improvement effort is the formation of
competitive teams in the class with the objective
to design the robbery of a jewelry store [12].
Using a project management perspective, teams
design an action plan to accomplish the jewelry
store theft. While the application is innovative,
the effort is hardly practical and also fails to
close the loop on project management education
within the business curriculum.
1.3. Moving forward
How then does one close the loop on project
management education? Theories must still be
understood. Tools must still be acquired.
However, critical thinking must be applied,
critical assessment of work must occur, and
finally, feedback from performance and
improvement implementation must take place to
close the loop. What follows is a suggested
process to provide completeness in
undergraduate project management education.
The process itself follows the typical project
lifecycle.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
2. Project design components/lifecycle
Students begin to better grasp elements of
project management and the project lifecycle
through the project design experience. The
students will go through the process of project
conception, selection, planning and scheduling
including risk assessment. In some cases the
designed projects are executed providing an acid
test of the project design. For most students, the
course requirement takes them through the
scheduling and risk assessment stages. Students
must also rely on themselves to create a major,
original work utilizing their management skills
and tools. Further, students must also design
appropriate visual aids to convey their design
message to an external audience of professional
project management practitioners.
2.1. Learning by design
The project to be designed is chosen by the
student in consultation with the faculty.
Students are asked to identify potential design
projects worthy of project management
practices. Once several prospective projects
have been identified, the faculty member’s role
is to help guide the project selection with
parameters such that the chosen project is
sufficient in complexity to warrant project
management practices and yet not so complex as
to prevent a timely design within the scheduled
time constraints. Students must secure faculty
approval before the design may progress.
Once a project has been approved, the next
phase gate in the design process is the
identification and approval of major project
phases. Here again, the faculty acts as a
consultant and a quality check in the major
phase identification. Once approval is granted,
the student takes on full charge of the project
design. A Work Breakdown Structure is utilized
to identify all needed tasks and assignable work
packages to complete the project. Order
precedence, time estimates and needed resources
are a part of the design. See Figure 1.
A key element of the project design is the
risk analysis and mitigation plan. Risk
assessments are made for the project elements of
scope, schedule and budget. Students assess
these elements in their projects for risks and risk

severity. Risk elements of high impact/high
severity, medium impact/high severity, medium
impact/medium severity, and medium
impact/high severity require a risk mitigation
plan to be designed. Students also perform
Monte Carlo simulations to assess the
uncertainty of project completion based on their
task time estimates.
Use of professional project software, such as
Microsoft Project, is required as a part of the
design element. A total budget, time estimate
and critical path are required analysis items.
Student
Project Conception
Approval
Major
Phase
Faculty Selection
Approval
Project Design
Figure 1. Approval Process
2.2. Visual aid design
Students design a visual aid package to
present and document their project design work.
The design work covers three main areas:
project planning, project scheduling and project
analysis. Topics covered include the project
purpose and key deliverables, applied resources,
a top level schedule for major milestones, action
plan, responsibility chart, budget, critical path
and risk analysis. The visual aid package must
successfully integrate the design phase with the
analysis phase into a unit that is presentable
within the presentation time frame.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
2.3. Completing the package
Once the final project has been designed and
the visual aid package has been completed,
students are asked to orally walk through their
presentation. The walk-through serves many
purposes including a quality check, time check
and review of good presentation practices. For
many students this is the first major project
wholly completed by themselves without the
support of a team effort.
3. Project design assessment
The project presentation element is planned
as a formal presentation with an atmosphere
much as that found in the workplace. The
assessment outcomes of the presentation are
two-fold: technical project assessment and an
oral presentation assessment.
3.1. Assessment measures
One key purpose of closing the loop in the
in the project management class is to assess the
technical or scope component of the project
design. The projects are of a level assessable by
professional project management practitioners.
A clear logical thought process toward task
development fitting to the phase is sought. The
critical path analysis is vital toward the analysis
and assessment.
Additionally, the level and depth of risk
analysis and mitigation planning is assessed as
part of the technical evaluation. Critical
thinking skills are required to effectively assess
risk and plan for mitigation of risk elements.
The standard School of Business oral assessment
rubric is used by the reviewer. A brief training
session is conducted by the faculty prior to its
use by the reviewers.
3.2. Student presentation session
Students are assigned randomly to sessions
and reviewers. One to two students attend
sessions in the role of an audience in addition to
the reviewer. The session expectation is
professional. The student assessment begins at
the introduction. The sessions are typically held

in professional conference rooms with
multimedia tools available.
3.3. Group debriefing
Once the individual presentations are
completed, the students and the team of
professional project management practitioners
reconvene for a meal and debriefing. At this
point in the process, the students are far more
relaxed after having completed their
presentations. The team conducts a group
debriefing highlighting best practices observed
during the presentations. A short presentation of
project management at work is presented by the
team with a follow up question and answer
session. Individual project feedback is provided
to students during the next class period. It is a
long but very beneficial experience not only for
the students but for the team as well.
3.4. Faculty debriefing
At the conclusion of the group debriefing,
the team reviews the effective points of the
student efforts and then indicates areas of future
class improvement. The improvement feedback
is timely, to the point, and effective for
integration in the next semester’s course
offering.
4. Conclusions
An undergraduate project management
business course could be taught and assessed for
student achievement solely in knowledge areas.
That same course could benefit from an
additional design element which applies the
acquired knowledge areas. The additional
design element assessed by the instructor would
add incremental improvement to the student
achievement of project management knowledge
areas. Extending the design element by having
faculty serve the role of consultant to a student
project designer by which the knowledge areas
are applied further improves the understanding
of knowledge areas. By having student designed
projects assessed by external professional
project management practitioners, the students
get practitioner feedback for their design and
analysis thereby closing the loop of learning,
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
applying and improving their project
management skills.
One tool of teaching improvement in
business schools is the common use of student
evaluations. While these evaluations are
important and serve a purpose, the evaluations
can only provide a faculty member with each
student’s comparative view of the teaching
effort. By use of the faculty debriefing, the
faculty member receives an immediate, external
validation of the semester’s efforts and
achievements. Specific areas of future project
management topic improvement are also
provided by the external review team.
Frequently, teaching and course evaluations
become available after the start of the
subsequent semester or term. By conducting the
faculty debriefing with such timeliness,
immediate and continuous improvement may be
made to the project management curriculum
prior to the commencement of the next semester
or term.
In summary, the external validation of the
undergraduate student designed projects aids in
the application of project management
knowledge areas, provides a professional
learning and presentation environment, and
provides an extraordinarily quick and pointed
continuous improvement means for the
undergraduate project management course.
5. References
[1] F.D.S. Choi, “Accounting Education for the 21st
Century”, Issues in Accounting Education, 8, 1993,
pp. 423-430.
[2] R. Cornesky, Using Deming to Improve Quality
in Colleges and Universities, Madison, WI: Magna
Publications, 1992.
[3] R. Cornesky, Implementing Total Quality
Management in Higher Education, Madison, WI:
Magna Publications, 1991.
[4] D.L. Hubbard, “Can America Learn from
Factories?” Quality Progress, 25(5), 1994, pp. 93-
97.
[5] D.T. Seymour, “TQM on Campus: What the
Pioneers are finding”, AAHE Bulletin, Washington,
D.C., 1991.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

[6] D. Karathanos and P. Karathanos, The Baldrige

Education Pilot Criteria 1995: An Integrated
Approach to Continuous Improvement in Education”,
Journal of Education for Business, 71(5), 1996, pp.
272-276.

[7] A.R. Bailey, C.W. Chow and K.M. Hadad,

“Continuous Improvement in Business Education:
Insights from the For-Profit Sector and Business
School Deans”, Journal of Education for Business,
Jan/Feb, 1999, pp. 165-180.

[8] R. Kaplan and D. Norton, “Using the balanced

Scorecard as a Strategic Management System”,
Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb, 1996, pp76.

[9] AACSB International, Eligibility Procedures and

Standards for Experiential Reviews, April, 2003, St.
Louis, MO.

[10] J.B. Arbaugh, “Project Management Education:

Emerging Tools, Techniques and Topics”, Academy
of management Learning & Education, 6(4), 2007,
pp. 568-569.

[11] T.J. Kloppenborg and M.S. Baucus, “Project

Management in Local Nonprofit Organisations:
Engaging Students in Problem Based Learning’,
Journal of Management Education, 28, 2004, pp.
610-629.

[12] E.D. Walker, II, “Introducing Project

Management Concepts Using a Jewelery Store
Robbery”, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative
Education, 15(4), 2004, pp. 65-69.

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Information and Telecommunication Technology: Blueprint for

Social-Economic Growth in Developing Nations
Shahram Amiri
Stetson University
samiri@stetson.edu

Abstract to become richer, and therefore more able to

This paper explores the interplay of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT), and
social-economic growth in developed and
developing nations. Digital literacy, ICT
infrastructure and creation of local content are
crucial foundation that must be attained before
the dream of global availability of knowledge,
improved quality of life, commerce, education
and health can come to fruition.
Introduction
The Digital Divide
“Visions of a global knowledge-based economy
and universal electronic commerce,
characterized by the ‘death of distance’ must be
tempered by the reality that half the world’s
population has never made a telephone call,
much less accessed the Internet.” OECD (1999),
“The Economic and Social Impact of Electronic
Commerce: Preliminary Findings and Research
Agenda.”
As new technologies become a steadfast
element of our everyday affairs, they enhance
many peoples’ lives enabling them to be more
productive. Technology has always pushed
society forward to achieve goals and solve
problems, but it has also created challenges, as
not all people have access to these technologies.
Today, one of these challenges is represented by
the digital divide. This term “refers to the gap
between individuals, households, businesses and
geographic areas at different socio-economic
levels with regard to both their opportunities to
access ICT and to their use of the Internet for a
wide variety of activities (OECD, 2001).”
Today’s digital divide can be attributed in
part to geography, employment, age, and gender,
with primary dependence on income and
education. “Easy access to ICT enables people
afford still newer technology; it is, moreover, the
already well educated take up lifelong learning
opportunities and who, in general, get better
services. In short, the educated information rich
become richer and the less educated information
poor become poorer (OECD, 2001).”
This gap is further delineated among
developed, developing, and undeveloped
countries based on their ability to provide
Internet connectivity and promote digital
literacy. The gap is magnified in undeveloped
countries where learning and cultural limitations
are extremely challenging. However, lack of a
developed infrastructure does not represent the
sole reason for an unconnected population.
Many times the lack of connectivity can be
based on information literacy, which keeps some
groups underserved.
Accessing information in a global economy
leads to a better quality of life. To help reach
that goal, developed countries have a
responsibility to show developing and
undeveloped countries the advantages and
advancement opportunities the Internet provides.
In order to help these countries, there are several
questions that must be addressed to engage
everyone in Internet literacy. What is the
appropriate technology according to the local
conditions? Is it relevant? How would the people
put it to use?
A larger issue has become the ever widening
gap between developed, developing and
undeveloped countries. Statistics show that
Internet connectivity in North America is now
68.2% (Internet World Stats, 2007). In
developing countries, such as Europe, the gap
still exists with connectivity at 35.2%; in Africa,
the connectivity figure is an alarming 2.7%
(Internet World Stats, 2007).

25

Developing Nations – The Need for ICT
Infrastructure
How can catching up effect the
underdeveloped countries? For some of the
underdeveloped countries, the digital poverty is
not a result from “naturally lagging behind”, but
is rather a direct result from the success of the
strong industrial nations. We all should agree
that the discourse on digital divide has become a
debate of contrasting opinions, but the reality is
that governments and private sector in the
underdeveloped countries have to play a
decisive role to reduce the digital gap.
(http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/question/divide.ht
ml)
The World Employment Report 2001
emphasizes that literacy and education cannot be
by-passed, yet both are vital for reaping the
greatest advantages from the emerging digital
era. One of the greatest challenges facing
underdeveloped countries today is the promotion
and implementation of educational programs
that include literacy and particularly digital
literacy. It is obvious to conclude then that the
digital divide must then be fought on at least two
battlefields: economy and education. With
universal access and an Internet-literate
workforce, the digital revolution can serve as the
engine of economic growth and development.
ICT and Socio-Economic development
Any combination of the aforementioned ICT
would certainly benefit the peoples of the
developing nations. There is no magic bullet, no
easy answer. There exists only one certainty: if
the digital divide is not addressed and bridged
through Internet connectivity, and if digital
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
literacy is not encouraged-- and its importance
demonstrated-- then the future remains bleak for
the majority of the world’s population. Digital
inclusion and digital literacy hold such great
promise for the humankind. From medicine to
governance to commerce to life long learning to
democracy all hold exciting new opportunities,
assuming the divide is conquered.
E-Health
E-health is an emerging field in the
intersection of medical informatics, public
health, and business, referring to health services
and information delivered or enhanced through
the Internet and related technologies. In a
broader sense, the term characterizes not only a
technical development, but also a state of mind,
a way of thinking, an attitude, and a
commitment for networked, global thinking, to
improve health care locally, regionally, and
worldwide by using information and
communication technology (Eysenbach, 2001).
Telemedicine may be as simple as two health
professionals discussing a case over the
telephone, or as complex as using satellite
technology and video-conferencing equipment
to conduct a real-time consultation between
medical specialists in two different countries.
Telemedicine generally refers to the use of
communications and information technologies
for the delivery of clinical care.
Clinical uses of e-health technologies:
• Transmission of medical images for
diagnosis
• Groups or individuals exchanging health
services or education live via
videoconference
• Transmission of medical data for
diagnosis or disease management
• Advice on prevention of diseases and
promotion of good health by patient
monitoring and follow up
• Health advice by telephone in emergent
cases
By helping build the necessary infrastructure
such as satellites and procuring computers,
developing countries would gain access to all
types of information including heath and

education on health. According to the former
UN Secretary-General Kofi, “Too many of the
world’s people remain untouched by this
revolution (Mutume, 2007).”
Healthcare in under developed countries,
mostly in Africa, continues to be a big challenge
for the World Healthcare Organization(WHO).
In addition to so many diseases, a shortage of
doctors and medical resources has only
worsened the healthcare problems in under
developed countries. For example, Rwanda has a
population of 10 million people and only 500
doctors total to provide medical care for
everyone in that country. Cleary, with a ratio of
one doctor per 20,000 people, most of the
Rwanda citizen will not get the opportunity to
consult with a doctor in their lifetime. According
to the WHO report in 2006, the Americas, which
account for just 10% of global disease burden,
have 37% of the world’s healthcare workers and
spend more than 50% of the world’s health
budget (World Health Organization, 2007).
On the contrary, Africa has 24% of the
disease burden but just 3% of the health care
workforce and accounts for less than 1% of the
health spending (Kumar, 2007). Consequently,
many people living in under developed countries
are dying with diseases that could have been
easily prevented and cured if there were
adequate doctors available to treat them. To
make matters worse, most of the doctors in
under developed countries usually leave their
homeland to work in an industrialized country in
search of a higher salary and political stability.
Manuel Dayrit, director of the Department of
Human Resources for Health at the World
Health Organization, said, “Even if you have the
medicine, the vaccines, and the bed nets, you
need health workers to deliver the service
(Kumar, 2007).” Besides emigration of trained
workers, underproduction and internal
maldistribution in the medical field in Africa are
the other factors that contribute to the shortage
of health care workers in Africa. Most of the
health care workers that stay in their homeland
do so only because they have a passion for
saving lives and healing their fellow citizens.
Not only do these physicians have to deal with
political instability in their country and low pay,
they also have to work with extremely limited
resources. Workloads have soared as nursing
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
staffs have left for better-paid jobs in the private
sector or abroad because the work is exhausting
and the pay is low.
With regard to the benefits of e-medicine, the
ability to head off pandemics resides at one
extreme, while simple acts like allowing a child
to survive a treatable illness or improving life
for an asthmatic sit on the other extreme; no
matter how an individual from the developed
world feels about this matter, they stand to only
benefit from an improvement in global
medicine. Putting aside all humanity for a
moment, e-medicine could accomplish what all
the king’s horses and all the king’s men (i.e.
UN, Red Cross, etc.) could not: reach any
person, anywhere on the globe, and provide
medical diagnosis and treatment
recommendations, at the least. If cellular phones
become universal, as hoped, then the cameras
found on most models could greatly aid in
diagnosis, for example.
E-Governance
Medicine is not the only aspect of life that
will be improved as digital inclusion spreads.
Governance will rise to the top. As soon as
people actually have a voice, or a means of
communicating over distance, they will begin to
speak for themselves. E-governance, as it is
called, allows for individuals from rural, isolated
areas to have a say in government. “E-
governance has to be viewed as a political
process dealing with reform of governance
towards good governance. And governance
reform is a slow process requiring engaging with
institutions & bringing about attitudinal and
constitutional changes,” according to Vikas Nath
(Nath, 2007).
E-Democracy, the end goal of the WSIS and
a form of e-governance, refers to the use of these
mechanisms in the democratic process. This
usage varies greatly in form and content (van der
Graft and Svensson, 2006). E-democracy can be
as simple as access by citizens electronically to
government information and services, or can be
more complex and involve the interaction
between both the citizens and the government
(Norris, 2007).
Some components of e-governance are news,
events, and political participation. As more and
more people become aware of, and included in,

the world’s events, they will certainly express
their opinions and attempt to better things.
Imagine: if the people of Darfur were not
separated by the digital divide, they would most
likely generate more global outcry over their
predicament. Digital literacy, along with the
necessary ICT infrastructure, grants individuals
and groups the effectively participate in their
own governance.
E-Learning
Another improvement made possible by ICT
infrastructure is electronic learning. “E-learning
has been defined as the use of new multimedia
technologies and the Internet to improve the
quality of learning, to make it accessible to
people out of reach of good educational
facilities, and to make new and innovative forms
of education available to all,” according to
WSIS (World Summit on the Information
Society, 2007). Relevant content is perhaps the
most important aspect of e-learning, for the
foreseeable future. Surely, most people agree
that knowledge should be made available to all
of the world. However, information which
seems trivial to modern societies can make
massive impacts upon developing nations.
Agricultural and scientific knowledge is
capable of revolutionizing the Third World. If
knowledge such as meteorological data, farming
techniques, livestock and crop husbandry, and
common Western medical knowledge, for
example, were openly available to the world’s
poor, then their quality of life would greatly
improve. Starvation would be reduced, simple
illnesses could be avoided or mitigated, and less
conflict over food and other essentials would
arise as a result of the dissemination of
knowledge long considered common by
developed nations.
Content, is perhaps the most
underappreciated facet of e-learning. It is
absolutely correct that as much information
should be made available as is possible.
However, for peoples who are trying to catch up
to, and join, the modern world, smaller steps
may be required. Rather than teaching rural
African children about the American Civil War
or other distant subjects, these same children
should be taught African geography and farming
techniques tailored for their region. Local
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
content will need to be created for different
communities, regions, and peoples.
Distance learning is another example of how
e-education can elevate the world’s information
poor. Naturally, issues such as literacy and
language barriers, in additional to the actual
digital divide, will need to be addressed and
remedied before this dream becomes a reality.
Having said that, distance learning offers the
possibility of a structured, western-style
education to the globe’s poorest.
Conversing with other peoples and learning
about distant places and cultures is another part
of e-education. Education sows the seeds of
tolerance. Imagine a world where the poor
children of Pakistan are no longer limited to
madrasas run by religious teachers; if these
impressionable young minds could be taught
tolerance and science, rather then religious
dogma, the dividends would be incalculable.
This grand dream is within humanity’s reach.
Wars and genocides, among other scourges, will
become less common as different races and
peoples learn about and from, and converse
with, each other. Hunter-gatherers in South
America know nothing of the situation in
Darfur, but through connectivity these two
isolated peoples could communicate and relate
to one another. So much of the world’s strife is a
result of ignorance regarding others. Digital
inclusion tears down barriers and allows us to
see ourselves in others, rather than someone who
looks, speaks, worships, or lives differently.
E-Commerce
Finally, the last major facet of life which
digital literacy and inclusion stands to improve
for all is commerce. Some individuals view
commerce and profit with scolding eyes.
However, trade and desire for wealth have
driven humanity to its current pinnacle, and will
take it even higher. By connecting the remaining
90%+ of the worldwide population, business
gains a much larger market. One day in the
future, the entire world will constitute one
market: an actual “global village.”
The United Nations also addressed the topic
of e-business. According to their Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD), business-
to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is still only a
small percentage of all electronic commerce;

unsurprisingly, the report found that developed
Western countries (i.e. United States, United
Kingdom, Sweden) conducted the majority of
B2C electronic commerce (UN, 2004). Also, the
UN report found that most of the purchases were
digitized products or clothing (UN, 2004).
Obviously, emerging countries and populations
have less need for fashion and gadgets than they
do items that will improve the quality of life
(e.g. farming equipment, first aid supplies, pest
control, et cetera).
Conclusion
The private sector, or more accurately, the
search for profit, will ensure that more and more
of the world’s population are able to access
markets and purchase goods and services. It
seems that the most likely avenue for digital
inclusion can be found in mobile handset
technology. What remains to be seen is who will
capitalize on this tremendous opportunity.
It is important to remember the key to digital
inclusion lies in digital literacy and the ability to
relate pertinent information to ones life. If the
information gathered by the newly developed IT
infrastructure does little or nothing for the
intended users, then there is a need to teach
literacy to help the underprivileged relate and
use the gathered information to their benefit.
Imagine for one moment that the dream of
putting a mobile handset or a bare-bones laptop
in almost every person’s hands has come into
fruition. What are typically viewed as common
technologies in developed nations will serve as a
revolutionary catalyst for a majority of the
world. Farmers will be able to check prices in
different markets and obtain weather updates,
rural populations will have access to medical
expertise, people will be able to communicate
globally, markets will expand rapidly, and
democracy will spread: from the obscure farmer
in Zimbabwe to the futures trader in Chicago;
the entire world will benefit from connection to
each other.
Overall, those who utilize connectivity
experience an enhancement in their quality of
life. Digital literacy, ICT infrastructure and
creation of local content are crucial foundation
that must be attained before the dream of global
availability of knowledge can come to fruition.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
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Dedicated Account Teams: Worth the Cost?
Gordon Arbogast
Jacksonville University
garboga@ju.edu
ABSTRACT
This research paper provides valuable insight
on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction
should have the highest priority within any
organization. The research recognizes that
additional cost measures must be targeted to
some customer segments. The intent of the
research was to validate the additional cost
incurred by the company in its endeavor to
achieve a higher customer service relationship
for such segments.
Specifically, the company studied is
primarily engaged in insuring loans made by
banks, mortgage companies, and other financial
lending institutions. It allocated dedicated teams
to targeted groups of customers to enhance the
customer’s perspective on the company’s ability
to respond and nurture their needs. The results of
the targeted research were compared to current
methods, processes and procedures typically
being deployed and utilized within other
customer relationships.
For the research, null and alternate
hypothesis were established, customer
satisfaction surveys were pooled and the raw
data was statistically modeled using appropriate
analytical tools and m methods. The research
developed a methodology to study this problem
and concluded in a pilot study that the additional
cost incurred by the company to resource
dedicated teams did not achieve a higher
customer satisfaction report as opposed to
traditional methods being utilized.
1. Introduction
Customer relationships are critical to the
success of a business. Businesses need to ensure
that they know what their customers want and
expect. They must be flexible in meeting those
demands; treat the customer like a partner rather
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
than an adversary and work very hard to make it
easy for the customer to do business with them.
Customers represent 100% of a company’s
revenue and they have a profound impact on
market perceptions of a business. Customers
can provide more business or leave. They can
tell others about their positive or negative
experiences.
Companies may have many different
initiatives in place, but metrics must be used to
effectively measure their financial impact.
Businesses must develop effective means to
evaluate the equity that exits in the customer
base. Understanding how to serve the customer
best and which segment groups are more
profitable and strategic allows companies to
allocate their resources efficiently.
Technology has changed the way businesses
operate. In many cases, their customers can
view the same information as their employees in
real time. This new technology has created
better customer service in terms of hands on
information for their customers, and a challenge
as well. Employees must be well versed on
handling real time information and the inquiries
associated with it. “In a market in which
technology-enabled customers can now engage
themselves in an active dialogue with service
providers- a dialogue that customer’s can
control-companies, have to recognize that the
customer is becoming a partner in creating
value” (Harvard Business Review, p.1).
Service quality is a true differentiator in
business. “Organizations create superior service
through a combination of eight tactics and
practices:
• Finding and retaining quality people
• Knowing their customers intimately
• Focusing their units on
organizational purpose

• Creating easy-to-do business with
delivery systems
• Training and supporting employees
• Involving and empowering
employees
• Recognizing and rewarding good
performance and celebrating success
• Setting the tone and leading the way
through personal example”
(Connellan, Zemke, p. 6).
Delivering high quality customer service
must be a part of everyday performance.
Customer surveys are a critical part of
understanding customer needs. Successful
organizations have one common central
customer-focus. Once good performance is
delivered consistently, you must improve.
Ongoing improvement is equally important. The
Plus One Percent Rule is vital to a company’s
on-going concerns. “The Plus One Percent
Rule is to keep you moving ahead and focused
beyond your vision” (Blanchard and Bowles, p.
114). All you need to do is improve 1% each
week; if you can do that you are ahead 52% in a
years’ time. “You can make big changes in
almost anything or achieve great things in your
life by improving or changing 1%. Things can’t
help but improve if you keep it at 1% each time”
(Blanchard and Bowles, p. 117). Progressive
improvement is necessary at any level of
achievement. It guarantees positive change.
2. Background
“The process of reorienting a large
organization toward its market is analogous to
trying to teach an elephant to dance. Many of
the same challenges are involved” (Albrecht and
Zemke, p. 169). Organizations that have
achieved excellence in service share the
following characteristics:
• They possess a strong vision and
strategy for service
• They practice visible management
• They “talk” service routinely
• They have customer friendly service
systems.
• They balance high tech with high
touch i.e. they temper their systems
with the personal factor.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
• They recruit, hire, train and promote
for service.
• They market service to their
customers.
• They market service internally to their
employees.
• They measure service internally and
externally and make those results
available.
Driving customer loyalty is not about
coming up with new marketing messages or
jumping through hoops when things go
wrong; it is about creating positive
experiences for customers through an endless
string of needs understood and delivering on
those needs. Turning customers into loyal
advocates is essential for business survival.
Customer surveys are essential in helping
us target what our customers value most and
help us align our people and processes to
consistently deliver on those values.
“Customer surveys should always answer the
questions of who, what, where, why, when
and how. With these answers we can better
understand our customer’s needs”
(Willingham, p. 49). The following are some
key areas we focused on to providing good
customer service.
• Communication- Do you make it easy
for the customer to communicate? Is
the phone answered promptly and are
inquiries handled properly. Do people
know where to call? Is the customer
satisfaction survey used to confirm
that the staff is perceived by the
customers as being helpful, courteous
and knowledgeable?
• Making it Easy and Pleasant- Can the
customers find what they need when
they need it and is there sufficient
information and help on hand to
explain how the services/software
works. Are we listening to our
customer’s concerns? Are we
knowledgeable about their business?
• The right quality products for the
value of money – Not only should

the quality of the service that you
provide be measured, but you should
check that the products and services
that you market are what the customer
wants and closely match their
expectations. Do your customer’s
equate your business with securing
value for their money?
• Speed and Attention- Customers want
to be dealt with quickly, but
attentively. Are we doing everything
we can to avoid delays? Good
businesses try to deal with each
customer individually. A quick
resolution is necessary for every
inquiry.
The Customer Value Management (CVM)
approach is a starting point for any analysis,
which is an outside-in customer vision of the
firm as their ideal provider. “Becoming
customer centered with CVM starts by
identifying the customers and securing their
visions of ideal outcomes from doing business
with the company. This includes:
• How the customer perceives value or
benefit from interactions with company
products.
• What is the optimum level of value that
the customer can envision?
• What are the attributes of an ideal
vendor and of an ideal value delivery in
order to influence buyer behavior,
loyalty and growth” (Thompson, p.
115).
“The 7 principles of Bad Customer
Service” on the other hand state:
• They’re Grateful for the Chance To
Vent – Customers are always grateful
for the opportunity to tell how they
were mistreated.
• Tomorrow’s Joke – Many people joke
to vent their frustration about their last
bad customer service experience and
tell these “jokes” to anyone who will
listen!
• The Memory of an Elephant –
Customers often don’t forget. Lots of
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
people quote the time elapsed since the
unfortunate incident.
• You’re Not Going to Believe This –
Those abused by poor customer service
just can never seem to accept the fact
that it happened. They remain shocked
and continue to agonize.
• No Return, No Deposit – Rarely does a
complaining customer indicate that he
or she would return to an offending
store.
• Free Advertising – The Kind You
Don’t Want – Customer will tell their
family members, friends and coworkers
about a bad customer service incident.
• Hell Hath No Fury Like a Customer
Scorned – All of the Principles of Bad
Customer Service could be summed up
in this simple phrase” (Friedman, p.
148).
“The battle to attract and retain loyal
customers, given today’s technology, will be
fought and won based on the ability to
identify potentially profitable current and
future market segments and then meet their
specific needs” (Thompson, p. 52). “Most
firms categorize their customers into groups
based on the types and volume of products
they use, not on their margin of profit or on
the basis of common needs and wants”
(Thompson, p. 53. Businesses must ensure
they mine and analyze their data to better
understand customers at an individual level,
group them into profit and needs based micro-
segments, and access the information for
personalized service delivery.
The ideal customer service survey will
perform the following three functions:
• Market Research – provides valuable
feedback to help improve customer
satisfaction levels
• Marketing – promotes aspects of your
business
• Advertises a service that you provide
that your customers may not have been
aware of

Measuring customer satisfaction is a
critical part of a businesses mission.
Developing a good customer survey can help
organizations achieve greatness and avoid the
principles of bad customer service.
3. The problem
Specifically, the company studied is
primarily engaged in insuring loans made by
banks, mortgage companies, and other
financial lending institutions. It has allocated
dedicated teams to targeted groups of
customers to enhance the customer’s
perspective on the company’s ability to
respond and nurture their needs.
The Customer Service Survey used by the
company focused on servicing three customer
service segments, Mid-Tier, Major and Mega.
The Mid-Tier Segment represents companies
with a number of loans less than 75,000. The
Major Segment represents companies with a
total number of loans from 75,000 to 999,999.
The Mega Segment represents those
companies with a number of loans greater
than or equal to 1,000,000. Dedicated teams
were used only to service the Mega Segment.
For this reason the Mid-Tier and Major
Segments were combined into Group 1 data,
while Group 2 was the Mega Segment data.
The problem studied was to determine if the
customer satisfaction for the Mega Segment
justifies the extra costs for dedicated account
teams.
4. Objectives
There were three primary objectives of
the study:
• To design a methodology to measure the
impact of customer dedicated account
teams on customer service.
• To test the methodology with some real
world data (pilot study).
• To determine if the pilot study indicates
that dedicated account teams enhance
customer service.
5. Study Hypothesis
The hypotheses of the study were as
follows:
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
• Null Ho : µ2 < µ1 Dedicated
account teams do not increase
customer satisfaction.
• Alternate H1 : µ2 > µ1 Dedicated
account teams increase customer
satisfaction
(µ1 and µ2 refer to the mean overall
customer satisfaction survey result for
both Groups 1 and 2).
6. Methodology
Sample customer satisfaction survey scores
are used for three groups of clients. The three
groups are the Mid-Tier, Major, and Mega
clients. The customer satisfaction surveys are
the same for each size client but the level of
service and associated costs are very different.
The level of service along with its related cost
increases significantly as the size of the client
increases with the Mega being the highest.
The survey is intended to justify that the extra
cost for dedicated account teams afforded the
Mega clients is resulting in extra customer
satisfaction. Therefore the test is if there is a
greater than or equal mean score for the Mega
client than for the average mean score for the
Mid-Tier and Major clients combined. This uses
a Likert scale of 1 to 6 to measure overall
customer satisfaction for each group. One is the
lowest customer satisfaction rating progressing
up to six which is the highest customer
satisfaction rating.
To test our hypothesis we used the
Normal five step method as follows:
• Null and alternate hypothesis -The null
hypotheses were stated previously.
• Level of significance - A significance
level of alpha = 0.05 was used.
• The test statistics – Choose and
calculate the appropriate test statistic.
• Formulate the decision rule.
• Take a sample and arrive at a decision.
The Test is a 2 sample t-test (one tail)
with the rejection region in the upper tail)
7. Statistical analysis
The statistical model compares the case

where the population standard deviations are
unknown and the numbers of samples are small.
This test is often referred to as a small sample
test of means. These small sample tests of means
are more stringent and have three required
assumptions. “The three requirement
assumptions are as follows:
• The sampled populations follow the
normal distribution.
• The two samples are from independent
populations.
• The standard deviations of the two
populations are equal” (Lind, Marchal
and Wathen, p. 330)
In this test, the t distribution is used to
compare the two population means. An
additional calculation for pooled variance is
required for computing the statistic. The third
assumption assumes that the population standard
deviations are equal. Therefore “the two sample
variances are pooled to form a single estimate of
the unknown population variance” (Lind,
Marchal and Wathen, p. 331). In this model the
weighted mean is computed of the two sample
standard deviations and this is then used as an
estimate of the population standard deviation.
Additionally, the weights are degrees of freedom
that each sample provides. The standard
deviations are pooled when the sample sizes are
small and also when the population standard
deviations are not known.
In this method s was calculated, the sample
standard deviation, and substituted for the
population standard deviation. “Because we
assume that the two populations have equal
standard deviations which the best estimate of
that value is to combine or pool all the
information that we know about the value of the
population standard deviation” (Lind, Marchal
and Wathen, p. 331. Lastly, the degrees of
freedom are equal to the total number of items
sampled minus the number of samples. In the
pilot study case, N1 and N2 were both 14.
Therefore: N1 + N2 -2 = 26.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
8. Study Results
Table 1- Statistical Results
Variable 1 Variable 2
Mean 4.93214 5.05714
Variance 0.03254 0.10109
Observations 14 14
Pooled Variance 0.06682
t Stat 1.27939
P(T< t) one tail 0.106028
T Crit. one tail 1.705617
9. Discussion and Conclusions
The decision is not to reject the null
hypothesis, because the t-stat of is too
small. Specifically:
• The test statistic of 1.279 is smaller than
the critical value of 1.71.
• Also, the p-value of 0.106 is not smaller
than the chosen level of significance of
0.05.
• The mean customer satisfaction of the
dedicated account teams (Group 1) is
higher than the mean of the groups
without dedicated account teams (Group
2), but the magnitude of the difference is
not statistically significant.
• The evidence from the pilot study
indicates that the mega clients do not
have a greater customer satisfaction
score.
• The belief that dedicated account teams
increase customer satisfaction is not
supported, as the Mega clients do not
have a greater customer satisfaction
score.
• A methodology to measure the impact
of dedicated account teams has been
derived.
The case could be made that the surveys are
limited and only indicate that mega clients are
only receiving marginally better service than
the other groups (mid-tier and large).
However, it would be inappropriate to
conclude that the mega markets do not need
the dedicated teams. It may well be true that
this size of customer may have higher
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

customer service expectations and therefore

require the dedicated teams. Without the
dedicated account teams and the extra cost and
effort by the company studied, the customers
may well have rated mega clients much lower
on the survey.

10. Recommendation
Other tests and surveys need to be
performed in order to gain better insight into
the phenomena surrounding the value of
dedicated account teams. This study presents
an initial indication that dedicated account
teams may have value for mega sized clients,
but empirical testing and data is needed to be
able to achieve more confidence that this is in
fact the case.

References
[1] Albrecht, K., Zemke. R., Service America, Dow
Jones Erwin, New York, 1992.
[2] Blanchard, K., Bowles, W., Raving Fans,
William Morrow and Co., New York, 1993.
[3] Brackett, T., Peterson, T., Britt, B., Ignelzi, R.,
and Fitzgerald, K., Customer Service: Dedicated
Account Teams, student research paper at
Jacksonville University, Spring 2006.
[4] Connellan, T., Zemke, R., Sustaining Knocks
Your Socks Off Service, American Management
Association, New York, 1993.
[5] Friedman, Nancy, Customer Service Nightmares,
Crisp Publications, Menlo Park, California, 2003.
[6] Gronstedt, Anders. The Customer Century,
Routledge, New York, 2000.
[7] Harvard Business Review on Customer
Relationship Management, Harvard Business School
Press, Boston, 2002.
[8] Lind, D., Marchal, W., Wathen, S., Basic
Statistics for Business and Economics, McGraw Hill,
New York, 2003.
[9] National Press Publications, Exceptional
Customer Service, Shawnee Mission, Ks, 2000.
[10] Rosenbluth, H., McFerrin, D., (1992) The
Customer Comes Second, William Morrow and
Company, New York, 1992.
[11] Thompson, Harvey, (2000) The Customer
Centered Enterprise, McGraw Hill, NY, 2000.
[12] Willingham, R., Hey, I’m The Customer, R.
Willingham, Prentice Hall, Paramus, NJ, 1992.

36

Process Focus and Commitment: The Key to ISO 9001 Implementation
Michael Bell
University of Miami
M.bell4@umiami.edu
Abstract
The management of quality and quality control
is a consideration in all industries. In the 1980s,
the ISO 9000 Quality Management System
standard emerged as the de facto worldwide
framework for quality system certification. The
ISO 9000 family of standards defines a
management system framework which includes
the necessary and sufficient elements for the
systematic management of quality. Although
many consumers perceive firms with ISO 9000
certified management systems as providing
higher quality products, some organizations do
not experience positive results from
implementing an ISO 9000 based quality
management system.
Some studies of the financial
performance of certified firms have yielded
conflicting results. Researchers in the Total
Quality Management arena have identified some
key quality system elements that impact
organizational performance. Given ISO 9000’s
widespread use and the economic implications
of ineffective implementation, an effort was
made to better understand the determinants of
success in ISO 9000 implementation.
A survey was conducted to analyze the
implementation process steps in an attempt to
answer the question “how to best implement ISO
9000 to gain results”.
The results of this study characterize the
best pathway through the implementation
process.
Introduction
ISO 9001 is a standard developed by the
International Organizations for Standards meant
to serve as a framework for a quality
management system. This framework is
recognized around the world and has grown into
37
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Vincent Omachonu
University of Miami
vomachonu@miami.edu
the defacto standard for management systems
[1]. A significant cost is incurred by
organizations in obtaining certification to the
standard so that it is worthwhile to study the
process for implementation of the management
system.
Although many researchers have
concluded that ISO 90001 certification does
have a positive impact on an organization’s
financial performance, some researchers
disagree [6], [12]. The environmental factors
such as company size [3], industry [4],
implementation methodology [8], management
commitment [9], and motivation for seeking
certification [12] have been identified as
potential mitigating factors for the lack of
improved organizational performance after
attaining ISO 9000 certification. Company size
has been an area of particular interest to
researchers because the cost of certification is
perceived as a much greater burden to smaller
businesses. These companies account for more
than half of the total employment in the U.S.
economy according to the United States bureau
of labor statistics. In addition, 54% percent of
ISO 9001 registered companies in 1997 had 500
employees or less [2].
In a 1994 article titled “The Proven Path
to ISO 9000 Certification” the author describes
the steps that companies take in order to gain
ISO 9000 certification for their quality
management system [7]. Based on the work of
Murakami [7] along with Smith [11] and Jodoin
[5] the path to certification can be said to
involve the following nine activities;
• Gaining management commitment
• Employing external consultants
• Conducting an awareness campaign
• Creating an overall quality system manual
• Developing a documentation system
• Training employees on the system
• Creating work processes
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

• Conducting system wide reviews
• A pre-assessment audit
Organizations seeking certification may not use
all of these activities and employ these activities
to varying degrees.
Data Collection and Demographics
The data for this study was collected
over a twelve week period using a survey form
on the World Wide Web. Survey invitations
were e-mailed to members of the Benchmarking
Exchange and placed in two consecutive issues
of the Quality Digest electronic newsletter.
The number of responses totaled 153
which is relatively small compared to the
number of people who received the e-mailed
invitations and compared to the 150,000
organizations that are ISO 9001 registered.
Based on the number of respondents, this allows
large degree”. The adjective descriptors were
converted to numerical values and the average
ratings were evaluated.
Figure 1 shows the ratings of the
implementation activities sorted from highest
usage to lowest usage. Examination of the data
concerning the ISO 9000 implementation
activities indicated that two activities; the use of
external consultants and conducting a pre-
assessment audit were the implementation
activities excluded most often. The use of
external consultants had the largest variation in
rating from respondents.
A statistical test (paired t-test) was used
to determine if there was truly a difference in the
ranking of the implementation activities. Table
1 shows the differences between the average
ratings of the implementation activities. The last
Use of Implementation Activies
70%

for an 8.87 interval of error at the 95% 60%

50%

confidence level. 40%

However, the results seem to represent a 30%

good stratified sample of organizations based on

20%

10%

company size (small business – 63%, large 0%

System Manual Useful Preassessment Management System Aw areness Documentation Quality External

business – 37%) , years certified ( 9 yrs. or less –

Procedures Audit Commitment Review s Campaign System Management Consultants
System Training

53%, 10 yrs or more – 47%) and internal (52%) Very Large Degree Large Degree Medium Degree
Small Degree Very Small Degree Not Done
vs. external (48%) reasons for seeking
certification. The data should not be biased by
an overrepresentation of respondents in any of Figure 1: Use of ISO 9000
these categories. In addition, the data also implementation activities
represents a mix of working level (65%) and row of the table contains the differences between
senior managers (35%) respondents as well as the average rating for ‘use of external
quality system personnel (55%) vs. other consultants’ and all of the other implementation
respondents (45%). In the sample, 58% were
3yrs or less Mean
Comparisson of Newness of Certication 4 - 9yrs Mean
10yrs or more Mean
from manufacturing industries versus 42% for 4.50
4.00
all others. Finally, the survey represents 70% 3.50
Average Rating

3.00
respondents from the United States and 30% 2.50
2.00

from outside the United States. 1.50

1.00

Approximately 65% of the respondents 0.50

0.00
System Manual

Management
Commitment

Preassessment

Documentation

Management
Procedures

Consultants
Reviews
System

Campaign
Awareness

also implemented Continuous Improvement and

External
Training
System
Useful

Quality
System
Useful
Audit

nearly 40% also implemented TQM, SPC Lean Implementation Activities

and Six Sigma. However, most (82%) had not

applied for quality awards.
Data Analysis
The survey respondents rated their use
of the implementation activities on a scale with a
descriptor starting from “not done” up to “very
Figure 2: Certification Timeframe Factor
activities. This activity had the lowest average
usage and is significantly different (based on the
p-value) from the other activities. The rating for
development of an overall system manual was
significantly different from all other activities.
The system manual is required for certification

38
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 1: Differences in average Table 2: Correlation of implementation

rating of implementation activities activities
and their p-values

Management Commitment
System Useful Mgt. System Preassessm Awareness Mgt. System External
Manual Procedures Commitment Reviews ent audit Campaign Doc. System Training Consultants

Documentation System
Awareness Campaign

External Consultants
Preassessment Audit
Useful Procedures 0.521

Useful Procedures
0.000

System Training
System Reviews
System Manual
Mgt. Commitment 0.383 0.284
0.000 0.002

System Reviews 0.29 0.358 0.68

0.001 0.000 0.000
Preassessment
audit 0.176 0.084 0.276 0.133
System Manual 0.054 0.363 0.002 0.147
0.197 Awareness
Useful Procedures Campaign 0.284 0.196 0.583 0.554 0.189
0.035 0.002 0.031 0.000 0.000 0.039
0.303 0.106
Management Commitment Doc. System 0.398 0.515 0.353 0.469 0.119 0.291
0.013 0.386 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.196 0.001
0.328 0.131 0.025 Mgt. System
System Reviews Training 0.545 0.641 0.547 0.519 0.228 0.464 0.56
0.008 0.229 0.781 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.012 0.000 0.000
0.479 0.272 0.174 0.140 External
Preassessment Audit Consultants 0.079 -0.048 0.008 -0.041 0.099 -0.044 0.01 0.005
0.004 0.096 0.277 0.404 0.387 0.601 0.927 0.659 0.283 0.63 0.914 0.955
0.475 0.279 0.172 0.148 0.000
Awareness Campaign Correlation Descriptors
0.000 0.033 0.104 0.158 1.000 0 to .25 = Little to no relationship
0.549 0.352 0.246 0.221 0.074 0.074 .25 to .50 = Fair relationship
Documentation System .51 to .75 = Moderate to good relationship
0.000 0.001 0.063 0.053 0.674 0.592
.75 to 1 = Very good relationship
0.639 0.443 0.336 0.311 0.165 0.164 0.09
System Training
0.000
1.934
0.000
1.744
0.002
1.628
0.003
1.603
0.295
1.458
0.150
1.446
0.385
1.397 1.298
three years or less compared with companies
External Consultants
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 that have been certified for longer than three
and no survey respondents indicated that was not years. This suggests that companies undertaking
done. Table 2 shows the correlations between this effort now are truly getting buy in from their
implementation activity ratings. Again, the use employees and management and no longer see
of external consultant rating has little or no ISO 9000 as a marketing gimmick.
relationship to rating of other activities. The The survey also included a free text area
pre-assessment has a fairly weak correlation to so that respondents could provide comments
management commitment but no significant about their experience becoming certified. A
correlation to other activities. High rating of the significant percentage of these comments (both
management system training has a moderate to positive and negative) were about management
good relationship almost all other activities. commitment and involvement in the certification
A further examination of the data was process. Other areas that were commented on
undertaken to compare the responses in relation related to the amount of paperwork involved in
to three environmental factors; large business vs. certification and the benefits of the process
small business, internally motivated documentation. The final area worth mentioning
certifications vs. externally motivated is related to training the workforce. Comments
certification, and newer certifications vs. older suggest that many times this was done poorly or
certifications. Two of these factors did not have with little understanding of the desired end
a statistically significant impact on the responses result.
for any of the implementation activities. Newer
certifications vs. older certifications proved to be Conclusions
a factor for one activity. Management
commitment for the implementation was rated
Based on the data in the previous
different depending on how long ago the
sections, it can be said that the best pathway
organization was certified. The survey
through the implementation process requires
instrument described management commitment
focus on creating a workable, user friendly
as;
documentation system and training employees
“Management commitment for
on how to create and maintain system
the ISO 9001 certification was evident
documentation. This will provide the most
in that; executives, supervisors and
benefit to the organization. Top management
employees demonstrated support
from the early adopter organizations may not
through their words and behaviors.”
have understood this. Organizations should
Figure 2 shows that the ratings for this
focus on what they will gain from implementing
implementation activity were significantly
ISO 9000 and infusing this idea into their
higher for companies that have been certified for
training process and the right documentation

39
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Organizations that are now following in their small- and medium-sized enterprises in
footsteps are taking those lessons to heart. Even Singapore International Journal of Quality &
small businesses can benefit from this same Reliability Management, Vol. 15 No. 5, 1998,
advice. pp. 489-508

References
[1] Briscoe, J. A., Fawcett, S. E. and Todd, R. H.
(2005) The Implementation and Impact of ISO
9000 among Small Manufacturing Enterprises
Journal of Small Business Management 2005
43(3), pp. 309–330
[2] Callaghan, N., and Schnoll, L. (1997)
Quality Digest
http://www.qualitydigest.com/aug97/html/cover.
html
[3]Haversjo, T., (2000) The financial effects of
ISO 9000 registration for Danish companies
Managerial Auditing Journal 15/1/2 [2000] 47-
52
[10] Singels, J., Ruel, G., and van de Water, H.,
(2001) ISO 9000 series Certification and
performance International Journal of Quality &
Reliability Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, 2001,
pp. 62-75.
[11] Smith, B., (1994) A Proven Path to ISO
9000 Registration, Industrial Distribution; Jul
1994, 83,7, pg. 50
[12] Terlaak, A. (2002) Exploring the adoption
process and performance consequences of
industry management standards: The case of
ISO 9000, University of California, Santa
Barbara

[4] Heras, I., Casadesus, and M.,Dick, G. P.M.,

(2002) ISO9000 Certification and the bottom
line: A comparative study of the profitability of
Basque region companies Managerial auditing
Journal 17/1/2 (2002) pg 72-78

[5] Jodoin, C., (1998) Getting Started with ISO/

QS 9000 Requirements, Printed Circuit Design
Jun 1998; 15, 6, pg. 46

[6] Morris, P. (2003) Quality and competitive

advantage: An empirical study of ISO 9000
adoption in the electronics industry, Texas Tech
University

[7] Murakami, R., (1994) How To Implement

ISO 9000, CMA Magazine, March 1994; 68, 2
pg. 18

[8] Powers, L. (2003) The velocity of change in

business today: Analysis of a defined method of
implementing ISO 9000 standards in selected
Southern California companies, Pepperdine
University

[9] Quazi, H. A. and Padibjo, S. R. (1998) A

journey toward total quality management
through ISO 9000 certification – a study on

40

Hydrographic Mission Planning Prototype Combining
GIS and AutoSurvey™
Donald Brandon, Brian Bourgeois, Ashley Morris
Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center
dbrandon@nrlssc.navy.mil
Abstract
This paper discusses an approach to
hydrographic mission planning that utilizes a
commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) GIS product
and the AutoSurvey™ Planner (ASP). It
introduces the two systems and presents how
joining them to create the Hydrographic Mission
Planner (HMP) eases decision making for
mission planners. It also describes the benefits
that exist over older systems and approaches.
Finally, we explain how the GIS products will
be used to build custom tools that will further
aid in decision making by improving analysis
capabilities.
1. Introduction
The United States Navy is involved with
surveying bodies of water ranging from great
ocean depths to the shallows of harbors and
approaches. The cost of these surveys can run
upward of sixty thousand dollars daily, so
detailed planning of the missions in advance is
essential in order to properly allot manpower,
resources, and ship time. The planning must
follow a strict set of guidelines that changes
depending on many factors. These factors may
include: standards set forth by the International
Hydrographic Organization (IHO) in Special
Publication 44 [1], restrictions or limitations of
available vessels and sensors, or environmental
restrictions. Because of this dynamic set of
guidelines, mission planners face a variety of
complex decisions daily, and would benefit from
a system that could provide assistance towards
making more informed decisions for
hydrographic planning.
41
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
The next section gives an overview of
historical and current mission planning
approaches, and explains why a new system is
being developed. Section 3 introduces the
COTS GIS product selected as the basis for the
new system. Section 4 discusses the
AutoSurvey™ Planner, a set of tools used to
provide adaptive planning for hydrographic
surveys. Section 5 discusses how merging the
two systems provides advantages to
hydrographic mission planners, and section 6
introduces some additional tools to further
enhance the decision making process. Finally,
section 7 offers conclusions and ideas for future
work.
2. Current Techniques of Hydrographic
Mission Planning
Typically, our mission planning tasks are for
either hydrographic or bathymetric surveys.
Bathymetric surveys are categorized as surveys
with depths 200 meters or greater that are not
required to adhere to IHO standards. Because of
this, there are fewer restrictions, and planning
requires fewer parameters, thus fewer decisions
by the planner. Hydrographic surveys need to
follow various accuracy requirements, such as
those laid out in the IHO sp44. They may
include surveys with depths that are greater than
200 meters, which would be classified as order 3
surveys. Order 2, order 1, and special order
surveys add additional difficulties to the
decision making process. The IHO standards
require certain sensors and coverage be used
depending on depth and order of the mission.
Figure 1 explains the difference between
bathymetric and hydrographic surveys.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Special Order Hydrographic which allows it to pull in geospatially referenced

<= 100m Order 1
data to use for mission planning. It also uses a
wizard to go through the steps to generate the
< 200m Order 2 appropriate track lines, thereby reducing some of
the steps in decision making. Finally, it
generates a survey report that defines the survey
estimations. However, this software has reached
Order 3 the end of its lifespan. It was built on a
200m +
framework that has become obsolete and is no
Hydrographic longer supported, and the Naval Oceanographic
or Office (NAVO) has removed it from its list of
Bathymetric approved software. Therefore, an adequate
Figure 1 – This image describes the breakdown of replacement will be needed in the near future,
bathymetric and hydrographic surveys and shows and the combination of the Commercial Joint
that complexity of the plan changes as the Mapping Toolkit (CJMTK) and the
requirements change.
AutoSurvey™ Planner (ASP) is our suggested
approach.
Early approaches to mission planning used
navigational charts, pen, paper, and relied totally
on human calculations. Mission planners would
3. CJMTK
determine the area to be surveyed on the chart,
CJMTK is a collaborative effort between
construct a survey line through the area, and
Environmental Systems Research Institute
determine a depth along that line based on the
(ESRI) [2] and the National Geospatial-
depths on the chart. From that depth, as well as
Intelligence Agency (NGA) that provides
from the specifications of the sensor being used,
approved federal government programs a suite
they would determine the line spacing and lay
of ESRI software to use for mission planning
out the remaining lines. They would then use
applications.
the length of the survey lines and estimated
CJMTK includes the ArcGIS Desktop
vessel speed to make a prediction on the initial
software. This environment allows for the
survey time. To this value an additional
management and display of a variety of geo-
percentage, generally ten to twenty percent, was
referenced data, including vector and raster
added to determine the overall estimation for
datasets, scanned images, satellite imagery and
survey time.
more.
The disadvantages to this technique were
CJMTK also includes useful extensions, such
numerous. First, it could become very time
as Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst, and the Military
consuming depending upon the complexity of
Overlay Editor. These extensions provide
the survey. The detail involved in some
advanced data manipulation and analysis
hydrographic surveys could be immense,
capabilities to the ArcGIS Desktop.
depending upon the IHO order of the survey.
Every function of the ArcGIS Desktop was
Also, the accuracy of the surveys was often
built from the ArcEngine framework. CJMTK
inconsistent. It was common to see variations in
includes various Software Development Kits
the results of survey plans, even when similar
(SDK) that allow developers access to the
results should be expected. Finally, as the
functionality of ArcEngine. This allows
computations were done by humans, they were
developers to create custom tools and commands
prone to error.
that can be integrated into ESRI’s ArcGIS
Currently, there is a wide variety of software
Desktop environment. Furthermore, ArcEngine
that is used to assist mission planners, but only
provides the capability to develop stand-alone
one piece of software actually designed for
applications that operate independently from the
hydrographic survey planning is available. This
ArcGIS Desktop.
system does offer some advantages over the
manual methods. The software is GIS capable,

42
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

CJMTK serves as the basis for the decision can be proposed for that area. Furthermore, if
making capabilities being developed for the mission contains survey plans for several
hydrographic surveys. areas, the results of each line method for each
area can be compared, and a collection of
4. AutoSurvey™ appropriate methods can be obtained to provide
the most efficient approach for the entire
The ASP [3] is a mission planning system for mission. Table 1 shows an example report to aid
hydrographic surveys that provides the in the determination of this collection of
capability to estimate the most efficient set of methods.
track lines for a given area. It is built on top of a
library called AutoSurvey™, which provides a Area 1 Area 2 Area 3
set of environmentally adaptive line running Adaptive
methods that take information from a current Parallel
track line and then predict what the track of the Time Inside 218.61 208.88 561.66
next line should be. Time Outside 11.66 8.33 6.38
AutoSurvey™ provides three methods of line Total Time 230.27 217.22 568.05
manipulation: the Adaptive Parallel (AP)
method, the Linear Regression (LR) method, Linear
and the Piecewise Linear (PL) method. Fig. 2 Regression
shows an example of each method.
Time Inside 215.00 203.05 717.77
Time Outside 11.94 8.05 17.7
Total Time 226.94 211.11 735.55

Figure 2 – (From left to right) The AP method, the
LR method, and the PL method. These are
estimated track lines for each method covering the
same area.
The AP method is a simple method that
returns a series of straight, parallel lines whose
spacing is based on the minimum depth along
the previous track.
The LR method returns a series of straight
lines as well, but the constraint of being parallel
no longer exists. The spacing and azimuth of
the line are determined by the best fit to the
previous track’s swath width.
The PL method returns a set of lines that is
not necessarily parallel or straight. The track
line is segmented to get the absolute best fit to
the edge of the previous track’s swath edge. In
most cases, this method returns the most
efficient estimates.
The ASP alone is a useful decision aid. One
of the key advantages to the ASP is that it
provides these multiple approaches to running
lines. By comparing the results of each method
for a given area, the most efficient line method
Piecewise
Linear
Time Inside 197.29 195.93 351.18
Time Outside 19.77 19.84 31.06
Total Time 217.06 215.77 382.25
Most Efficient PL LR PL
Table 1 – This table shows survey estimations for
three areas, and for each line method in that area.
The time is measured in hours, the distance in
kilometers.
Typically, only bathymetry data, the areas to
be surveyed and predefined sensor parameters
data are used by the ASP. Additional data and
parameters could further enhance the capability
provided to mission planners. Furthermore, the
ASP itself does not contain a true GIS
component. The system is fed a series of files
that define the area and the bathymetry, with
coordinates in latitude and longitude. These
coordinates are converted into Universal
Transverse Mercator (UTM) and then converted
back after being run through the ASP. By
coupling this system with the CJMTK, it is
possible to build a system that not only provides
the adaptive line methods of the ASP, but also

43

allows geospatially coordinated environmental
data to be used in the hydrographic mission
planning effort.
5. The Hydrographic Mission Planner
The Hydrographic Mission Planner (HMP) is
being developed to combine the capabilities of
the ASP and the CJMTK to better support the
decision making efforts of hydrographic survey
planners. The HMP is designed to be an
extension to the Mission Planning Mission
Monitoring (MPMM) system, which is also
being developed by the Naval Research Lab [4,
5]; however, the initial prototype is utilizing the
ArcGIS Desktop as authorized by the CJMTK
license agreement. Figure 3 shows the current
state of the HMP prototype.
Figure 3 – The HMP components under the
ArcGIS Desktop environment. They consist of
several tools and commands housed on three
toolbars.
The HMP consists of a collection of tools
intended to automate a portion of the thought
process in order to alleviate some of the decision
making associated with survey planning. The
tools are categorized according to their functions
on three toolbars: the general toolbar, the
environment toolbar, and the AutoSurvey™
toolbar. The general toolbar and the
environment toolbar are comprised of tools and
commands that are an integral part of the
MPMM, but are widely used with the HMP.
The general toolbar supplies the user with
common GIS tools to interact with data currently
visible in the display. These functions include
panning, zooming, changing the extent of the
44
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
display, selecting and clearing features, and
measurement functions. All of these tools are
standard ESRI components.
The environment toolbar is a collection of
custom tools that deal with adding and
manipulating environmental data within a
project. It allows a user to initialize the
geospatial reference of the display, sets the area
of interest for the mission, and provides access
to a variety of data including bathymetry,
currents, and Digital Nautical Charts (DNC).
Also, the tools that allow the creation and
modification of survey areas and track lines
using the non-ASP approaches are located on
this toolbar.
The AutoSurvey™ toolbar provides a way to
interact with the ASP from within the GIS. It
includes the ability to start/kill the Cygwin
process, a Linux runtime application required by
any machine running AutoSurvey™. Also
available is a Bash interpretive shell for
interaction with the Cygwin environment.
The remainder of the commands on this
toolbar provides access to standard ASP dialogs.
These dialogs provide the ability to create, edit,
simulate, and generate results for the adaptive
line running methods.
6. Decision making tools of HMP
In addition to performing standard GIS
operations, the HMP makes use of several
custom tools that are designed to ease decision
making involved with mission planning. These
tools include: the DNC tool for operating with
DNC data, the Survey tools for creating and
working with survey boundaries and track lines,
and Traffic Light Analysis (TLA) tools for
determining valid areas of operation.
The DNC tool allows a user to incorporate
DNC data into their mission planning project. It
supports decision making by providing easier
DNC data interaction than previously available
with past systems, and it removes the need for
using ArcGIS extensions not included in the
CJMTK.
The DNC tool also allows a user to select the
path to the DNC data. Once the path is
identified, several functions are available that
aid the survey planner in selecting and
displaying the desired data. This includes

displaying the tile references in the map display,
and then applying labels to them. This makes
selecting the appropriate library much easier
than before, where the process included
manually writing the list of libraries. Once a
library is selected, its features are listed in a tree
view. The features can be pulled from this tree
view and inserted into a list whose items will be
added to the display. Figure 4 illustrates this
tool.
Figure 4 – This image is a screen capture of the
DNC tool. It shows features that have been
selected (right listbox) from the tree view on the
left to be added to the map display.
The survey planning tools are designed to
resemble the original software tools that the
hydrographic survey planners were using. This
was to provide familiarity to the planners
through well-known interfaces and
methodologies, which reduces the learning curve
associated with the new software.
The tools are arranged in two dialogs: one
dialog handles the methods that operate on
survey boundaries; the other handles the
methods for survey tracks. Figure 5 shows the
dialog that is used for creating survey tracks.
45
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Figure 5 – This figure shows the survey planning
tool associated with generating track lines. The
functions of this tool allow a user to input several
parameters to automate the generation of track
lines using non-ASP approaches.
The dialog for survey boundaries provides
methods that can create, edit, delete, and export
the boundaries. A survey planner can create as
many boundaries as desired, manipulate the
points of those boundaries to reshape them, add
additional points to them, or delete them
altogether. Once a boundary is created, it can be
exported to a format capable of being ingested
into the ASP.
The dialog for survey tracks provides the
functionality to generate track lines based on the
four original algorithms of NAVO’s previous
planning software. These methods require the
user to input parameters based on the method
selected, but only the necessary parameters for
that method are enabled. This eases confusion
as to which parameters are used for a specific
method. As with the survey boundary dialog,
the tracks can be exported for use in the ASP;
however, tracks can be created for only one
survey at a time. This is decided by which
boundary is active in the survey boundary
dialog.
The TLA tools are major decision aids for
mission planning because they provide spatial
analyses that can be used to determine the
validity or availability of a navigable volume
based upon a set of rules. Because of the
common functionality for all mission planning,
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

the TLA tools are part of the MPMM project;
however, they are very important to
hydrographic survey planning. Because of this,
the tools will be implemented as part of the
HMP prototype.
For example, if a survey is to be conducted
only in water deeper than 200 meters, then TLA
on the bathymetry would provide a new polygon
depicting the unacceptable areas for surveying.
Figure 6 illustrates such a scenario.
Figure 6 – This figure illustrates a TLA on an
area with a depth less than 200m. This is helpful
for defining valid operation areas.
public release, distribution is unlimited. NRL
contribution number NRL/PP/7440-08-1003.
9. References
[1] International Hydrographic Organization,
“IHO Standards for Hydrographic Surveys.
4th Ed.”, Special Publication 44, April 1998.
[2] http://www.cjmtk.com
[3] D. Brandon, B. Bourgeois, “AutoSurvey:
Efficiency and Autonomy in Surveying”,
Hydro International, vol. 7, No. 10,
December 2003.
[4] B. Bourgeois, “Mission Planning Software
Support for Underwater Vehicles”, Industry,
Engineering, & Management Systems 2008,
March 2008.
[5] M. Roe, B. Bourgeois, A. Morris,
“Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Mission
Planning and Mission Monitoring
Prototype”, Industry, Engineering, &
Management Systems 2008, March 2008.

Another scenario for TLA would be to break

larger areas into smaller ones based on
vessel/sensor capabilities, and provide visual
boundaries of these new sub-areas. This
automates the process of deriving these areas,
rather than relying on manual processes
presently used.

7. Conclusions

The HMP prototype is being developed to

consolidate the tools needed by the U.S. Navy
for hydrographic mission planning. It provides
GIS capability through the CJMTK program,
incorporates the adaptive line generation
methods of the ASP, and functions as a decision
aid to survey planners. Future work for the
HMP will include a framework to decouple it
from the ArcGIS Desktop, and the development
of new TLA tools to further automate the
decision process. We will also provide an ASP
environment that does not rely on Cygwin.

8. Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by ONR under

NRL’s base research program. Approved for

46

Supply Chain Management: Past, Present, and Future
John J. Burbridge, Jr.
Elon University
burbridg@elon.edu
Abstract
The concept of supply chain management is a
relatively new business term first being
mentioned in the 1980s. However, prior to the
use of the term, firms had to purchase raw
materials, process them into finished goods, and
then use the necessary logistics strategy to have
products delivered to the customer on time at the
lowest possible cost. What caused sudden
interest in this supposedly new approach to
materials management called supply chain?
The authors look at the reasons for the sudden
surge of interest in supply chain management.
The current state-of-the-art of supply chain
management is then discussed. Has this
integrated approach delivered on the early
promise of the concept? What has worked and
what still must be achieved?
1. Introduction
Within a manufacturing environment, supply
chain covers sourcing and purchasing of raw
materials, processing of those raw materials into
finished product and shipping the finished
product through the distribution system to the
customer.
If the above defines supply chain, why is it a
new term? Manufacturing and service
organizations have always had to perform the
above functions. However, factors emerged in
the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the
concept of an integrated approach that was
widely heralded as more effective and efficient.
These factors will be reviewed since it is
important to understand their influence.
Has supply chain management lived up to its
predicted promises? The answer is probably no
but considerable progress has occurred and
47
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Coleman Rich
Elon University
richcole@elon.edu
supply chain practices have made many firms
more competitive. A realistic perspective on the
current state-of-the-practice and its future will
be delivered including a discussion of
sustainability.
The Past
As already indicated, the functional entities
that make up today’s supply chain have always
existed within the industrial organization. For
example, purchasing managers were skilled in
buying the cheapest raw materials or parts so as
to minimize the cost of the product. If lead times
were long, inventory would be used as a buffer
to insure production schedules were met
Purchasing managers would be measured by
their ability to minimize the costs of raw
materials or purchased parts.
The manufacturing function would focus on
producing the lowest cost product. Production
lines and equipment were selected mainly
through cost considerations. The concept of an
economic order quantity and economic lot sizes
are examples of that philosophy. Often, this
mentality led to long production runs and very
little manufacturing flexibility.
The distribution function displayed further
specialization as traffic, inventory, and
warehousing were often considered separate
entities. With respect to the traffic function, the
traffic manager’s most important objective was
securing the cheapest rate to move product from
point A to point B. Since minimizing cost was
the ultimate goal, inventory and other
considerations were often ignored in making
shipping decisions.
Very little information was obtained from
customers or suppliers. In fact, prior to 1980
there was very little momentum at attempting to

determine the needs of customers or providing
demand expectations to suppliers. The
organization was expected to use forecasting
algorithms to predict sales while suppliers to the
organization were expected to anticipate needs.
Why did such an environment exist? Four
factors were the major contributors to this
situation.
1. Functional excellence dominated management
thinking.
Until the 1980s most organization theorists
thought that creating an organization where
functional excellence was dominant would result
in an excellent organization. Certainly higher
education, consulting organizations, and
management gurus fostered such a belief.
Certification also created the illusion that such
specialists must have specific knowledge not
necessarily shared by general management. This
last point is important since it led to the
perception that executives responsible for
overall performance were not equipped to make
decisions in some specialized areas of the firm.
2. Lack of an integrating enabler
The latter part of the 20th century saw the
emergence of information technology within the
organization. The first application of such
technology was the financial functions of the
firm. In the 1960s and 1970s, these functions
were computerized on large mainframe
computers. In the 1970s the emergence of mini-
computers allowed the creation of networks
amongst the various functional areas.
Therefore, it was not until the 1980s that the
coordinating mechanisms to allow the effective
and efficient transfer of information began to
exist. With the continuing advances of the
information technology in the 1980s and 1990s,
the integration of functions began to take place.
Also, software suppliers began to realize that a
market for such applications existed. The result
was the emergence of specialized software for
logistics applications.
3. Lack of competitive environment
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
After World War II, the United States was the
predominant player on the world stage in terms
of industrial might. Symbolic of this industrial
might was the United States automotive and
steel industries. The CEOs in these industries
were unable to conceive of a future that would
include strong global competitors. An interesting
contrast of Ford and Nissan [4] and studies on
certain industries [8] provide vivid insights to
such management thinking.
4. Importance of functional financial
accountability
The audit environment at this time
emphasized that each functional activity must be
prepared to defend its day-to-day decision-
making. Therefore, the distribution function
within an organization would have to show the
same ordering process for receiving product
from a manufacturing plant as an outside firm.
Audit trails were more important than
coordinated product flow.
The 1980s brought about a dramatic change to
such thinking. First, Japanese firms emerged
especially in the automotive and steel industries
using lean manufacturing as their mantra.
Inventory wasn’t something to be optimized; it
was to be eliminated under the concepts of lean
manufacturing. The Japanese did not have space
for warehouses for raw materials and finished
product. In-process inventory was considered an
eyesore and eliminated.
It became clear to both U.S. automotive
companies they would have to change or face
decreased market share or extinction in the
marketplace. Lean approaches to manufacturing
became commonplace within U.S. automakers.
Their financial performance improved. Today,
General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are still
facing significant challenges in the marketplace
but this is mainly due to long-term arrangements
with retirees and workers resulting in very
expensive pension and health care commitments.
Toyota [10] and an influential study on lean
production [16] became models for American
firms. Interestingly, the approaches the Japanese
used such as Kanban did not easily transfer to
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

the mentality of American manufacturing. As a result of these influences, the concept of

However, supply chain consulting firms and how to approach the supply chain evolved. The
others were quick to fill this void. With the Global Supply Chain Forum identifies the
emergence of mini and micro-computing, such following processes associated with the supply
firms promised superior supply chain chain [2]:
performance using information technology.
SAP, Manugistics, Accenture, and others were • Customer relationship management
hired to upgrade supply chain through the use of • Customer service management
information technology. • Demand management
• Order fulfillment
In addition, the late 1970s and early 1980s • Manufacturing flow management
saw the skyrocketing of United States interest • Supplier relationship management
rates. Chief executives became acutely aware of • Product development and commercialization
the pitfalls associated with having large
• Returns management
inventories. The potential of supply chain and
reducing overall inventory became highly
Therefore, supply chain management is not
attractive. Interestingly, even with future
just integrating the logistics functions and
decreases in interest rates, management thinking
adding suppliers and customers but also
never again embraced arguments for increasing
recognizing that the concepts of business
inventory levels.
process management must be applied to the
above which in totality compose the supply
Management thinking also changed
chain for an organization.
dramatically. One of the most popular business
books reengineering business processes [6]. An
The Present
earlier paper [5] already called for blowing apart
the current approaches to doing business and
Therefore, as we entered the 21st century,
starting with a clean slate. This thinking requires
supply chain management had become widely
more than just integrating functional silos.
accepted as an important concept for firms to
Another approach to reengineering used
embrace. However, the full promise of supply
information technology as an enabler [3].
chain had yet to be realized. An interesting
approach to the diffusion of supply chain within
While the traditional manufacturing and
organizations [14] introduces the following six
logistics functions lent themselves to process
stages to the achievement of supply chain
thinking, it was often argued that marketing was
excellence:
outside the realm of such analysis. However,
others [15] stressed that marketing would
1. Business as usual - company is working
significantly benefit from such thinking and that
hard to maximize functional entities
customer relationship processes must be part of
2. Link excellence-elimination of bound-aries
the supply chain.
among departments
3. Visibility-bringing to light all links in the
Coupled with the total quality management
supply chain
movement, the mindset of many U.S. executives
4. Collaboration-working as a whole along the
changed. The executive no longer could let
supply chain to maximize customer
decision-making reside in the functional silos of
satisfaction while minimizing cost
the organization. For example, General Electric
5. Synthesis-synchronization of all supply
is an organization where executives became
chain links to form a whole
major proponents of reengineering and quality
6. Velocity-synthesis while optimizing the
concepts such as six-sigma [13]. In addition, the
speed along the supply chain.
value chain concept [11] added to this growing
awareness.

49

It is felt that many of the more sophisticated
companies have yet to advance past stage two,
link excellence. While many firms have
embarked on the journey, they do not fully
comprehend what is necessary to achieve supply
chain excellence. To move beyond stage 2, the
firm must take deliberate steps organizationally
to make supply chain excellence a dominant
strategy of the firm.
Only a few firms have made such a
commitment. One example is Wal-Mart. Wal-
Mart has been very successful in creating an
environment where maximizing customer
satisfaction while minimizing the cost of
purchased product and inventory levels is also a
critical goal. To do so, Wal-Mart has used its
size to source globally and dictates to suppliers
Wal-Mart’s terms.
Dell is another firm that has clearly moved
beyond stage 2. Dell’s strategic thrust in the
marketplace has been to create a build to order
environment which results in high levels of
customer satisfaction while only having the
necessary inventory to meet the requirements of
orders on hand. This strategy has resulted in a
lean organization and has required high levels of
integration and visibility.
Why has there been this apparent lack of
progress during the past twenty five years? It
can be argued that this apparent lack of progress
is not that surprising. Industry and
organizational change are long and difficult
processes. The following are some of the
reasons contributing to this current environment:
1. The functional organization is entrenched
The supply chain concept was somewhat
radical when initially proposed. While many
organizations did attempt to create some form of
matrix allowing cross-functional management,
this was not an easy transition. Organizations
that are in stage two are still addressing these
issues.
2. Lack of mechanisms to promote real
visibility
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
While there has been progress concerning
information technology to support supply chain
excellence, much of the software that has been
installed supports link excellence. Interfaces
have been developed that have aided visibility
but the entire view of the supply chain does not
exist in most organizations. As a result, link
excellence is still the major objective. Firms like
Dell have made supply chain visibility a priority.
3. Lack of trust
If an organization is to move to supply chain
excellence, suppliers and customers must
become part of the chain. However, this is a very
difficult step since suppliers and customers are
more than likely different organizations. Since
all firms along the supply chain are expected to
maximize their own profit, the overall
profitability of the industry is often of secondary
interest. The three examples of organizations
that have progressed beyond stage 2 are firms
that tend to dominate the marketplace and can
force suppliers to meet their requirements rather
than a truly collaborative environment.
Therefore, it can be argued that certain
organizations have made considerable progress
but that the steps required to achieve the full
potential of supply chain excellence are going to
take longer than twenty five years. In the next
section, the future of supply chain excellence is
explored.
The Future
To achieve the promise of supply chain
excellence will require a significant commitment
from the firm. Three inhibitors of advancing
beyond stage 2 have already been discussed.
These inhibitors will continue to exist as we
move forward in the 21st century.
While these inhibitors will continue to be a
deterrent, there is no doubt that certain firms and
whole industries will move forward towards
supply chain excellence. What will be the
possible drivers of such excellence? The
following are four market forces that could force
firms and industries to aspire to supply chain
excellence.

1. Commodity industry
The principle goals associated with supply
chain excellence are the ability to provide
superior customer service at the lowest possible
cost. If you source your raw materials at the
lowest possible price and move those materials
through the chain optimally with respect to
speed, you should be able to achieve supply
chain excellence. Since those industries with
commodity products are perpetually attempting
to fulfill such a goal, one would expect that such
industries may be the first to achieve supply
chain excellence. Gasoline, oil, paper, and
agricultural products are examples of such
industries.
2. Firms desiring to become dominant player in
their industry
As Wal-Mart and Dell have done, certain
firms see the potential of achieving the bottom-
line benefits of supply chain excellence and
pursue such a strategy. As a result, firms become
industry leaders. Wal-Mart saw that leaders in
their industry such as K-Mart allowed
considerable slack in their supply chains
resulting in an inefficient operation. Wal-Mart
devised a strategies, processes, and systems
where they would grow their stores and then
through their size in the marketplace dictate to
suppliers their terms. Wal-Mart also realized that
it would have to continually find lower cost
sources of merchandise in their quest to provide
value for the consumer. As a result, Wal-Mart
has grown to dominate its segment of the retail
world.
Dell pursued a strategy of custom-building
personal computers and also providing superior
online ordering and service. To do such, it
needed to create assembly operations throughout
the world that could quickly respond to the
needs of a customer. As a result of pursuing that
strategy and supply chain excellence, Dell was
able to dominate the personal computer industry
for several years. Recently, the growth of the
laptop segment of the industry has caused
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
problems for Dell as consumers wish to feel
their purchases before buying.
3. Industry pressures
As the forces of globalization become
stronger in the 21st century, more and more firms
and industries will become challenged. Clearly,
the textile and apparel industries have had to
respond in the last thirty years to the pursuit of
supply chain excellence in meeting the needs of
the consumer. Velocity matters so you see firms
going to great lengths so as to understand market
trends, design apparel to meet such trends,
source the necessary materials, and have final
products ready for consumption during the
appropriate season.
One problem Asian suppliers have in
addressing the needs of markets such as the
United States and Europe is the need to get high
end apparel products into specialty retailers to
quickly take advantage of style and trend
changes. Benetton is an example of such a firm.
While Asian suppliers can distribute through
mass retailers such as Wal-Mart, boutique shops
must rely on a quick response and find sources
of supply within their geographical reach.
4. Sustainability
Currently driven by retailers such as Wal
Mart, McDonalds and Starbucks [12},
companies are developing strategies and
programs for their supply chains to be socially
responsible, manage resources efficiently and be
good environmental stewards. These sustainable
supply chains create a differentiated competitive
advantage over current supply chains.
Sustainable supply chains will enable companies
to develop new recyclable products, reduce
costs, and most important avoid any type of
disruptions of material supply throughout the
supply chain.
It is also important to continue to stress the
important organizational challenges facing the
firm in its quest for supply chain excellence.
These are:
1. Information technology
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

domestic traffic. These risks and critical success

There is no doubt that information technology factors to mitigate such risks are the subject of a
has played a big role in firms optimizing links recent study [1].
and will continue to do so in the future.
Electronic commerce will allow firms within the 3. Organizational change
same industry to communicate seamlessly and
be able to view transactions. Enterprise systems Finally, changing the organization to embrace
such as SAP have allowed individual firms to be supply chain is difficult. The theory and practice
successful in breaking down the barriers of associated with a model for transforming an
disparate systems in the various silos of the organization [7] can be used to address such
business. Today, the software required to issues [9]:
achieve supply excellence is still expensive and
often must be customized. • Establishing a sense of urgency
• Forming a powerful guiding coalition
2. Global sourcing • Creating a vision
• Communicating the vision
When the concept of supply chain • Empowering others to act on the vision
management first came on the scene, the • Planning for and creating short-term wins
suppliers or raw materials and parts were often
• Consolidating improvements and producing
well established and had earned the respect, if
still more change
not the trust, of the firm. However, the past
• Institutionalizing new approaches.
twenty five years has seen a radical shift as the
search for cheaper raw materials and parts has
Conclusion
escalated. Global sourcing creates significant
challenges to managing the supply chain. The
In the last twenty five years, supply chain
suppliers of raw material and products from
management has made considerable inroads as a
China and other parts of Asia are often not very
key management issue that should be addressed
sophisticated and respond to orders and
by all firms in their quest to be competitive in
promises of payment. Such firms have
their industry.
significant difficulties in creating the
information network required of an advance
This paper has addressed the key issues and
stage supply chain. In addition, the shipping
challenges that confront firms on their journey to
issues associated with sourcing materials and
achievement of supply chain excellence.
parts from around the globe can also prove very
difficult for a firm that has only handled

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References 12. Duda, Stacy, LaShawn James, Zeryn

1. Braithwaite, Alan, “The Supply Chain Risks of
Global Sourcing,” Working Paper, Stanford
University Center on Global Supply Chain, 2003.
2. Croxton, Keely L., Sebastian J. Garcia-
Dastugue, Douglas M. Lambert, and Dale S.
Rogers, “The Supply Chain Management
Processes,” The International Journal of Logistics
Management, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2001), pp. 1-19.
3. Davenport, Thomas H., Process Innovation:
Reengineering Work through Information
Technology, Boston, MA: Harvard Business
School Press, 1993.
4. Halberstam, David, The Reckoning, New York:
William Morrow & Co., 1986.
5. Hammer, Michael, “Reengineering Work:
Don’t Automate, Obliterate,” Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 68, No. 4 (1990) pp.104.
Mackwani, Raul Munoz, David Volk, Hau Lee,
“Starbucks Corporation: Building a Sustainable
Supply Chain,” Stanford Graduate School of
Business, Global Supply Chain Management
Forum, pp. 4-5, May 2007.
13. Tichy, Noel M. and Stratford Sherman,
Control Your Destiny or Someone Else, New
York: Doubleday, 1993.
14. Tompkins James A., No Boundaries: Break
Though to Supply Chain Excellence, Raleigh, NC:
Tompkins Press, 2003.
15. Webster, Frederick E. Jr., “The Changing
Role of Marketing in the Corporation,” Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 56, No. 4 (1992), pp. 1-7.
16. Womack, James P., Daniel T. Jones and
Daniel Roos, The Machine That Changed the
World: The Story of Lean Production, New York:
Harper’s Perennial, 1990.

6. Hammer, Michael and James Champi,

Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for
Business Revolution, New York: Harper Business,
1993.

7. Kotter, John P. “Leading Change: Why

Transformation Efforts Fail,” Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 74, No. 2 (1995), pp. 59-65.

8. Magaziner, I. and Mark Patinkin, The Silent

War: Inside the Global Business Battles Shaping
America’s Future, New York: Random House,
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9. Mento, Anthony J., Raymond M. Jones, and

Walter Dimdorfer, “A Change Management
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Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press, 1988.

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53

Changing the Human Dimension in Information Security
Deborah S. Carstens and Stephanie M. Rockfield
Florida Institute of Technology
carstens@fit.edu srockfie@fit.edu
Abstract
Research has indicated that human error makes
up as much as 65% of incidents that cause
economic loss for a company and that security
incidents caused by external threats such as
computer hackers occur only 3% or less of the
time [7, 8, 10]. However, there is only a
minimal effort to address the human error risks
in information security, which is among the
highest cause of information security incidents
[8, 18]. A common challenge faced by
individuals today is the need to simultaneously
maintain passwords for many different systems
in their work, school and personal lives. Since
computer security is largely dependent on the
use of passwords to authenticate users of
technology, the objectives of this manuscript is
to (a) provide a background on information
security and password authentication and (b)
provide a discussion on the results of the
password survey administered.
1. Introduction
Research has indicated that human error makes
up as much as 65% of incidents that cause
economic loss for a company and that security
incidents caused by external threats such as
computer hackers occur only 3% or less of the
time [7, 8, 10]. However, there is only a
minimal effort to address the human error risks
in information security, which is among the
highest cause of information security incidents
[8, 18]. A common challenge faced by
individuals today is the need to simultaneously
maintain passwords for many different systems
in their work, school and personal lives.
Research suggests that stringent rules for
passwords lead to poor password practices that
compromise overall security [17]. Human
limitations can compromise password security
because users are unable to remember passwords
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
and therefore keep insecure records of their
passwords such as writing a password down on
paper [19]. Since computer security is largely
dependent on the use of passwords to
authenticate users of technology, the objectives
of this paper is to (a) provide a background on
information security and password
authentication and (b) provide a discussion on
the results of the password survey administered.
2. Background
Information Security
Events such as 9/11 and the war on terrorism
have also underscored an increased need for
vigilance regarding information security.
Organizations, government, and private industry
are currently trying to adjust to the burden of
this heightened need for information security,
and, as an example of this, the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security [14] has focused
particular efforts on ensuring information
security. Ensuring effective information
security involves making information accessible
to those who need the information while
maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of
that material. There are three categories used to
classify information security risks: (a)
confidentiality, (b) integrity, and (c) accessibility
or availability of information. With the
increasing daily reliance on electronic
transactions, it is essential to have reliable
security practices for individuals, businesses,
and organizations to protect their information
[15, 16].
The development of security is similar to any
other design or development process in that the
involvement of users and other stakeholders are
crucial in the success of an organization’s
security policies. Research by Belsis, Spyros
and Kiountouzis [1] suggests that although

successful security management depends on the
involvement of users and stakeholders that
knowledge on information systems security
issues may be lacking resulting in reduced
participation. Organizations seek to retain
knowledge in their operations but the extent to
the knowledge captured on security related
topics is not necessarily handled with the same
consistency and rigor. Carnegie Mellon’s
Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
[2] has collected statistics showing that six
security incidents were reported in 1988
compared to 137, 529 in 2003. Furthermore,
CERT [2] reported that 171 vulnerabilities were
reported in 1995 in comparison to 7,236 in 2007.
In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) conducted a survey in which 40% of
organizations claimed that system penetrations
from outside their organization had increased
from the prior year by 25% [6].
Password Authentication
Research on passwords is necessitated in spite of
a movement towards alternative security
techniques, such as bioidentifiers, individual
certificates, tokens and smart cards. Smart cards
communicate directly with the target system and
run the authentication procedure themselves. A
survey of 4,254 companies in 29 countries was
conducted by Dinnie [5] to identify a global
perspective of information security. The survey
indicated that password authentication in the
USA is the preferred security method utilized
62% of the time as opposed to smart card
authentication only being used 8% of the time
and certificates 9% of the time. In Australia,
password authentication is used 67% as opposed
to smart card authentication only being used 9%
of the time and certificates 5% of the time. The
remaining countries surveyed showed password
authentication at 58% with smart card
authentication at 4%. A common challenge
faced by individuals today is the need to
simultaneously maintain passwords for many
different systems in their work, school and
personal lives. Research conducted by
Wiedenbeck, Waters, Birget, Brodskiy and
Memon [17] suggests that stringent rules for
passwords lead to poor password practices that
compromise overall security. Human limitations
55
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
can compromise password security because
users are unable to remember passwords and
therefore keep insecure records of their
passwords such as writing a password down on
paper [19].
Miller’s [9] Chunking Theory and Cowan’s [4]
research is useful to consider regarding human
and social factors in organizational security
specifically when developing a model for
password guidelines. This theory classifies data
in terms of chunks and indicates that the
capacity of working memory is 7±2 chunks of
information. More recent research suggests that
a mean memory capacity in adults is only three
to five chunks with a range of two to six chunks
as the real capacity limit. A chunk of data is
defined as being a letter, digit, word or different
unit, such as a date [9]. Similar to Miller’s
Chunking Theory, Newell, Shaw, and Simon
[11] suggest that highly meaningful words are
easier for a person to learn and remember than
less meaningful words, with meaningful being
defined by the person’s number of associations
with the word. Research suggests that passwords
could be more memorable if users comprised
their passwords with familiar characters such as
phone numbers [15]. Memorizing a string of
words that represent complete concepts is easier
to remember than an unrelated list of words
suggests Straub [13]. A study was performed to
test passwords between five characters and eight
characters in length [12]. The research suggests
that increasing password character length to a
minimum of six to eight characters reduces
crackability and therefore password strength in
terms of security. Another study conducted
suggests that crack-resistant passwords were
achieved through the use of a sentence
generation password method including the user
to embed a digit and special character into the
password [16]. Carstens, Malone and
McCauley-Bell [3] performed a study at a large
federal agency to determine whether a difference
exists in people’s ability to remember complex
passwords with different difficulty levels. The
results suggests that as long as a password is
composed of meaningful information unique to
an individual, that human memory capabilities
enable an individual to recall up to four-chunks
of data consisting of up to 22-characters.

3. Password authentication survey
methodology
The purpose of the survey was to determine how
the number of passwords an individual has to
recall impacts the security of an information
system. The following outlines the steps taken
in conducting the password authentication
survey research:
• Survey Design
• Internal Review Board Approval
• Survey Respondent Identification
• Dissemination of the Survey
• Data Collection
• Interpretation of the Survey Results
The survey design consisted of three sections
which were demographics of survey
respondents, work and school passwords, and
personal passwords. The survey was submitted
to a college internal review board (IRB) to seek
and obtain approval to conduct the survey.
Survey respondents were identified through
recruitment faculty, staff and students on a
college campus. Once the respondents were
identified, the survey was administered. The
data collected was interpreted utilizing
descriptive statistics.
4. Password authentication results
Demographics
The password authentication survey was
administered to forty-nine participants. Of the
participants surveyed, 53.1% were females and
46.9% were males. When survey respondents
were asked to report their occupation, 2% listed
themselves as working in administration, 4.1%
as staff, 91.8% as a student and 2% as a field
outside of those designated above. The survey
respondents also listed themselves as 55.1% as
working part-time, 8.2% as working full-time
and 36.7% as being unemployed. The survey
respondents age categories consisted of 49% as
being 20 or younger, 42.9% being 21-30, 0%
being 31-40, 2% as being 41-50, 4.1% being 51-
60 and 2% being 61 or older.
Work and School Passwords
The survey participants were asked to answer
questions regarding their work and/or school
passwords. Collectively, the survey respondents
56
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
indicated having a range between 0 to 15 work
or school passwords each were responsible for
remembering. The average number of
passwords participants had were 4.12 passwords.
The difficulty level of the passwords that survey
participants had to remember consisted of 19.6%
of passwords comprised of only words, 20%
comprised of two or more word passwords,
9.3% comprised of unfamiliar (not meaningful)
numbers, 12.1% comprised of familiar numbers
(street address, SSN, birth date, etc.) and 39.3%
comprised of a combination of numbers,
symbols and letters. The data collected indicated
that 30.5% of respondents had passwords
containing 4-6 characters in length, 51.4% had
passwords containing 7-9 characters in length
and 18.1% had passwords containing 10 or more
characters.
Participants were asked in the survey if their
passwords are saved on their computer to enable
participants to not have to retype in their
passwords when logging in to websites. The
participants responded that 42.9% of their
passwords are saved on their computer.
However, 53.1% of the participants do not save
their password on a computer and 4.1% did not
respond to this survey question. Survey
participants when asked if their passwords are
written down on paper for easy recall of
passwords answered that 18.4% of participants
do write their passwords down on paper for
recall purposes, 79.6% of participants do not
write passwords on paper and 2% did not
respond. When responding to the question
regarding how often their passwords are
changed, 6.3% answered monthly, 22.9%
answered annually, 62.5% answered never, 8.3%
answered “other” and 2% did not respond.
Participants were asked a question regarding if
their password has ever been changed to a
previous password used in the past. There was
no response by 2% of the survey respondents.
However, those participants that did respond
answered that 50% of the time when their
password was changed, the respondents changed
it to a password used in the past. When
participants were asked how many times in the
past month has a password been forgotten, the
range was between one and four times a month a
password is forgotten. Furthermore, survey

participants responded that of the passwords
forgotten, 54.2% created the forgotten password
themselves, 37.5% were assigned the password
and 8.3% were both created by themselves and
assigned.
Personal Passwords
The survey participants were asked to answer
questions regarding their personal passwords.
Collectively, the survey respondents indicated
having a range between 1 to 10 personal
passwords each were responsible for
remembering. The average number of
passwords participants had were 4.2 passwords.
The difficulty level of the passwords that survey
participants had to remember consisted of 23%
of passwords comprised of only words, 19.9%
comprised of two or more word passwords,
5.7% comprised of unfamiliar (not meaningful)
numbers, 13.5% comprised of familiar numbers
(street address, SSN, birth date, etc.) and 39.9%
comprised of a combination of numbers,
symbols and letters. The data collected indicated
that .44% of respondents had passwords
containing 1-3 characters in length, 42.58% had
passwords containing 4-6 characters in length,
44.25% had passwords containing 7-9 characters
in length and 12.83% had passwords containing
10 or more characters.
Participants were asked in the survey if their
passwords are saved on their computer to enable
participants to not have to retype in their
passwords when logging in to websites. The
participants responded that 51.1% of their
password is saved on their computer and 44.9%
of the participants do not save their password on
a computer. Survey participants when asked if
their passwords are written down on paper for
easy recall of passwords answered that 18.4% of
participants do write their passwords down on
paper for recall purposes and 81.6% of
participants do not write passwords on paper.
When responding to the question regarding how
often their passwords are changed, survey
respondents answered the same as reported for
the work and school passwords which were
6.3% answered monthly, 22.9% answered
annually, 62.5% answered never, 8.3% answered
“other” and 2% did not respond. Participants
57
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
were asked a question regarding if their
password has ever been changed to a previous
password used in the past. There was no
response by 2% of the survey respondents.
However, those participants that did respond
answered that 51% of the time when their
password was changed, the respondents changed
it to a password used in the past. When
participants were asked how many times in the
past month has a password been forgotten, the
range was between one and four times a month a
password is forgotten. Furthermore, survey
participants responded that of the passwords
forgotten, 60% created the forgotten password
themselves, 33.3% were assigned the password
and 6.67% were both created by themselves and
assigned.
5. Conclusion
The world has been revolutionized by the
amount of information that makes its way into
the daily lives of individuals and ultimately
organizations. It is therefore necessary that
research continues to identify specific ways that
assist individuals in handling the abundance of
information. Although there are many
alternatives to password authentication,
individuals have multiple passwords that are
used daily as password authentication is still
considered to be the most common form of
authentication. Therefore, an issue for
information security personnel is to reduce the
information load faced by individuals trying to
maintain numerous passwords for recall. Future
research in password authentication practices
should continue to explore the human and social
factors in organizational security.
Organizational and individual password usage as
new technology emerges will likely increase the
memory demands placed on individuals daily.
Research will need to be continuously conducted
to keep a pulse on the password demands being
placed on individuals to identify techniques that
assist humans with the management of their
passwords. Determining the links between
password issues and other newly identified
issues on human memory limitations and
strategies to reduce the potential for
vulnerabilities produced will be crucial for
organizational success. Until passwords are no
longer in use, it is important that practitioners

and researchers continue their efforts as a
building block for future research that focuses
on the human side of information security and
specifically the human and social aspects of
password authentication.
6. References
[1} Belsis, P., Kokolakis, S., & Kiountouzis, E.
(2005). “Information systems security from a
knowledge management perspective”, Information
Management & Computer Security, 13(3), 189-202.
[2] Carnegie Mellon Computer Emergency Response
Team (CERT). (2007). Computer emergency
response team statistics. Retrieved March 25, 2008
from
http://www.cert.org/stats/cert_stats.html#incidents
[3] Carstens, D. S., Malone, L., and Bell, P. (2006).
“Applying Chunking Theory in Organizational
Human Factors Password Guidelines”, Journal of
Information, Information Technology, and
Organizations, 1, 97-113.
[4] Cowan, N. (2001). “The magical number 4 in
short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental
storage capacity”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
24(1), 87-185.
[5] Dinnie, G. (1999). “The second annual global
information security survey”. Information
Management & Computer Security, 7(3), 112-120.
[6] Ives, B., Walsh, K., & Schneider, H. (2004).
“The domino effect of password reuse”,
Communications of the ACM, 47(4), 75-78.
[7] Lewis, J. (2003). “Cyber terror: Missing in
action”, Knowledge, Technology & Policy,
16(2), 34-41.
[8] McCauley-Bell, P.R., & Crumpton, L.L. (1998).
“The human factors issues in information security:
What are they and do they matter?”, Proceedings of
the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
42ndAnnual Meeting, USA (pp. 439-442).
[9] Miller, G.A. (1956). “The magical number seven
plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for
processing information”, Psychological Review, 63,
81-97.
58
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
[10] National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). (1992). Computer System Security
andPrivacy Advisory Board (Annual Report), 18.
[11] Newell, A., Shaw, J. C., & Simon, H. (1961)
Information Processing Language V Manual.
Edgewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[12] Proctor, R.W., Lien, M.C., Vu, K.P.L., Schultz,
E.E., & Salvendy, G. (2002). “Improving computer
security for authentication of users: Influence of
proactive password restrictions”, Behavior Research
Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 34, 163-169.
[13] Straub, K. (2004). “Cracking password usability
exploiting human memory to create secure and
memorable passwords”, UI Design Newsletter,
Retrieved March 2, 2008, from
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/jun04.asp
[14] U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
(2002). Federal information security management act,
Retrieved March 2, 2008, from
http://www.fedcirc.gov/library/legislation/FISMA.ht
ml
[15] Vu, K.P.L., Bhargav, A., & Proctor, R.W.
(2003). “Imposing password restrictions for multiple
accounts: Impact on generation and recall of
passwords”, Proceedings of the 47th Annual Meeting
of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, USA
(pp. 1331-1335).
[16] Vu, K.P.L., Tai, B.L., Bhargav, A., Schultz,
E.E., & Proctor, R.W. (2004). “Promoting
memorability and security of passwords through
sentence generation”, Proceedings of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society 48th Annual
Meeting, USA (pp.1478-1482).
[17] Wiedenbeck, S., Waters, J., Birget, J.C.,
Brodskiy, A., & Memon, N. (2005). “PassPoints:
Design and longitudinal evaluation of a graphical
password system”, International Journal of Human
ComputerStudies, 63, 102-127.
[18] Wood, C.W., & Banks, W.W. (1993). “Human
error: an overlooked but significant information
security problem”, Computers & Security, 12, 51-60.
[19] Yan, J., Blackwell, A., Anderson, R., & Grant,
A. (2004). “Password memorability and security:
Empirical results”, IEEE Security and Privacy, 2(5),
25-31.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

The New Approach Based on RSM and Ants Colony System for
Multiobjective Optimization Problem: A Case Study

Thien-My Dao, Barthelemy H.Ateme-Nguema, and Victor Songmene

École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Canada
thien-my.dao@etsmtl.ca

Abstract The ACS had been also used in the pass for the
optimization problem and proved that it is a
1. Problems and questions addressed powerful technique for optimization problem.

Today's industrial environment is very
competitive, and requires shorter manufacturing
lead times, lower costs, and higher quality
products. These requirements produce complex
problems characterized by multiple objectives as
well as complex design objective and constraint
relations. From high number of variables,
multiobjective optimization (MOO) becomes
complex and very expansive to obtain the
solution, particularly when the computational
time is taken into account.
Generally, the MOO problems are however
difficult to solveNumerical optimization is one
of the searching methods often used to
determine the best solution of the MOO
problems. Several algorithms applications have
been developed for single-objective. However,
given the complexity and the multiple objectives
of the MOO problems, currently found today in
the manufacturing field, the researchers are now
more on the optimization algorithms for multiple
objectives and multiple constraints, an
optimization problems with high degree of
complexity.
2. Work performed
The response surface methodology (RSM) had
been used in the pass into the optimization
process to reduce the computation time.
However, RSM needs a lot of independent
variables to construct a proper response surface.
The Ants Colony System (ACS), a metaheuristic
inspired from the studies of Ants behaviour is
considered as a multi-agent approach for
resolving combinative optimization problem.
In this paper, a hybrid approach combined the
RSM and an extension of the ACS in continuous
fields is proposed for solution of the continuous
MOO problem. The RSM modelling is used to
determine the objective functions and the ACS is
then applied to search the (optimum) solution..
The applications of the proposed approach
proved that the hybrid approach requires less
time to obtain the optimum solution and, also,
the quality of the solutions is better
comparatively to others techniques developed in
this domain.The proposed hybrid algorithm
consists of seven steps and shown in the figure
1.
3. Results and conclusions reached
To demonstrate the high potential of the
proposed approach, a case of multistage flash
(MSF) desalination process has been
investigated. That is an optimization problem
with two performance objectives: maximization
of water production (distillate produced: DF)
and minimization of blow down flow (BDF)
rates...That is an industrial process consisting to
reheat the ocean water and to evaporate/to
condense a part to obtain the soft water (no salt).
The case study investigated in the paper is a
three stage MSF operation process.. There are
five (5) factors in the input of the process which
are determining and principally influencing on
the values of two performance objectives of the
process in the output. The process had been
modeled with the RSM to establish the
mathematical model and the ACS had been now
applied (to the mathematical model) to optimise
and to obtain the best solution. The problem had

59
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

been simulated in Matlab and the programming powerful and better comparing with the others
execution shows that after 260 iterations (figure techniques, in terms of quality and robustness of
2), the best solution is obtained and the results solution.
show that the proposed hybrid approach is really

AT OPTIMAL
RESULT :
RSM − SIMUL
pe
SIMUL

IF ITERATION
NUMBER EQUAL TO
GIVEN NUMBER OF
ITERATION

Figure 1: Seven steps hybrid approach algorithm

Fitness fonction evaluation according to the iterations

1

0.98

0.96
Fitness fonctionevaluation

0.94

0.92

0.9

0.88

0.86

0.84

0.82

0.8
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Iteration index

Figure 2: Fitness function evaluation according to the iterations

60

Process Improvement in the Emergency Department at
Moses Cone Hospital
Y. Desai, E. Park, P. Demattos, J. Park
North Carolina A & T State University
ysdesai@ncat.edu park@ncat.edu
Abstract
A significant amount of hospital income is
contributed by the Emergency Department (ED).
However, ED throughput can be adversely
affected by non-value added factors such as “bed
holding” and “eloping.” This study focuses on
investigating these factors to improve the
working of the ED for enhanced revenue stream.
This research is based on overall ED patient data
collected from 2006 to 2007 at the Moses Cone
Hospital in North Carolina.
1. Introduction
Emergency Departments (ED) are frontline
hospital units that generate 30-50% of the total
admissions and revenue. Over the last two
decades ED visits have increased with higher
charges per visit [1-3]. It has been reported that
between 1960 and 2002 the proportion of gross
domestic product spent on health care increased
from 5.5% to 9.9% in Canada and 5.3% to
14.6% in the US [4][5]. A significant amount of
critical care is performed in the ED before a
patient is transferred to the intensive care units
(ICUs). In the 2001 US National Hospital
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey [6], 19.2% of
all ED patients were classified as emergent
(patients who should be seen within 15 min),
and over 992,000 patients were admitted to an
ICU through an ED. Thus ED care of critically
ill patients has a significant impact on
downstream ICU costs [7]. As such hospital
administrators are interested in minimizing ED
costs that may cascade over to subsequent units.
Overcrowding is a common phenomenon in the
United States. It is responsible for inferior
quality of health care. It also reduces the
efficiency of the hospital operation. In this
research we identify non-value added factors
61
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
and their resulting costs within an ED setting.
Two of the contributing factors include “bed
holding” and “eloping” that adversely affect
both operational effectiveness and costs within
an ED. Bed holding can be defined as the
unavailability of ED beds due to slow bed
turnover “upstream” on the medical/surgical
units and ICU. Bed holding negatively impacts
the length of time ED patients have to wait for
service. People who need inpatient care spend
their entire stay in the ED because a hospital bed
never opened up. Moreover, beds in intensive
care units can be scarce burdening the ED to
care for critically ill patients over long periods.
Several US single-center studies have also
documented the extent of critical care delivery in
EDs. Fromm and coworkers [8] reported that,
during a 1-year study period in a teaching hospital,
154 patient-days of ED critical care were
provided, with ED length of stays (LOSs) for
these patients of up to nearly 11 hours. Nguyen
and colleagues [9] estimated that an even greater
amount of critical care, 464.4 patient-days, was
provided annually in their large urban teaching
hospital. Similarly, Nelson and coworkers [10]
examined the amount of critical care provided in
their urban hospital’s ED and ICUs during a 3-
month study, and found that 15% of all critical
care was performed in the ED. Finally, Varon
and coworkers [11] and Svenson and colleagues
[12] reported that critically ill patients spent
several hours in the ED before transfer to an
ICU, and that critical care procedures were
commonly performed in the ED. Thus it is
desired that admitted ED patients be moved into
inpatient beds at the earliest, thereby enabling
emergency medical staff to care for more people,
which in turn could greatly increase hospital
revenue. The wait times for patient transfer to a
regular hospital room can vary from 4 to 48
hours. “Eloping” is defined as the loss of waiting

patients from the ED due to extended wait times.
Eloping occurs at different stages of ED
admittance. Commonly, the four stages include:
1. leave pre-triage, 2. leave post triage, 3. leave
post RN - pre MD exam and 4. Against medical
advice (AMA) – leave post MD exam. Both of
the above described factors (bed holding and
eloping) can result in lower hospital income and
the loss of an intangible asset - the hospital
reputation. This study utilizes overall ED patient
data collected at Moses Cone Hospital in North
Carolina from 2006 to 2007. Moses Cone
Hospital, which has 535 beds, offers
comprehensive services in a wide range of
medical and surgical services.
2. Moses Cone Health System
Moses Cone Health System is a multi-hospital
system with a range of outpatient services
designed to provide care for Piedmont residents
throughout all stages of their lives. Residents of
our primary service area include neighboring
four counties the city of Kernersville. More than
7,400 employees work throughout the Moses
Cone Health System and the outpatient services.
And as a teaching facility for internal medicine,
family practice, obstetrics, gynecology and
pediatrics, Moses Cone Health System gives
patients access to the latest developments in
medical care from their first moments of life
through later years.
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, the
flagship of Moses Cone Health System, was
established in 1953 to serve the community by
delivering high-quality healthcare. Located on a
63-acre campus, this 535-bed hospital is the
largest medical center in its four-county region.
To ensure that the services are convenient for
patients, the hospital continues to invest in
updating and expanding its facilities. While
continuing to grow, modernize and plan for the
future, Moses Cone Hospital has consistently
kept its rates lower than those of other
comparable providers. The Moses H. Cone
Memorial Hospital Level-II Trauma
Center serves the greater Greensboro
community by providing superior care to people
who have sustained severe injuries. The trauma
62
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
center began in 2000 and was recently
recertified by the State of North Carolina until
2009. Trauma surgeons are specially trained
general surgeons. The trauma team coordinates
different medical specialties, including, but not
limited to, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery,
plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery,
physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech
therapy and rehabilitation services to optimize
care.
3. Data and Methods
Emergency department patient data collected
at Moses Cone Hospital over two years was used
for this study. For the year 2006 all twelve
months were analyzed, while for the year 2007
data was used for the first 10 months. On an
average the total patients attending emergency
department per year were around 65,000. Data
was further filtered to identify “Eloping”
patients who left the ED without being seen and
treated at the hospital. In order to improve
efficiency of ED and reduce costs we identified
and evaluated non-value added activities within
different stages in elopement. The elopement
data was analyzed on an hourly basis. Further
elopement data was analyzed during peak
periods by different stages of elopement.
4. Analysis of Elopement
In the year 2006 a total of 5974 patients
eloped from the ED while in 2007 a total of
6070 patients eloped from the ED. Depending
on the level of service administered for patients
after their arrival to the ED, eloping commonly
has four categories. Patients leaving the ED
without being directed to triage belong to the
first category called as (1. leave pre-triage).
Patients leaving the ED after being directed from
the triage to determine the level of patient care
needed belong to the second category termed as
(2. leave post triage). Patients leaving the ED
after meeting with the nurse for initial check-up
and before seeing the MD are categorized as (3.
leave post RN - pre MD exam). Finally, patients
leaving the ED after diagnosis by MD against
medical advice are categorized as (4. Against
medical advice (AMA) – leave post MD exam.)
Eloping data was analyzed to observe seasonal
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

trend patterns over the twelve months. We also (AMA). The length of waiting time in ED has an
analyzed data based on age groups and the four influence on the loss of patients at different time
eloping categories. Data was analyzed and periods and categories from the ED
plotted for both the years 2006 and 2007. Figure Patients Based on Type of Elopment
1 shows the monthly data for total number of 2500
patients.
2000

No. of P atients
1500
Monthly Total Patient Data
1000

7000
T o ta l n u m b e r o f p a t i e n ts

500
6000
0
5000 AMA - Leave post Leave post RN-pre Leave post-Triage Leave pre-triage
Year 2006 MD exam MD exam
4000
Year 2007 Type of Elopment
3000 2007 2006
2000
Figure 3. Elopement based on categories
1000
Jan FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Months 5. Analysis for “Hourly Elopement Data”

Figure 1. Monthly data for total number of Figure 4 shows hourly elopement data (two hour
patients time period) for patients for months January through
May for year 2007. These four months were picked
Figure 2 shows the seasonal trend patterns for as they had higher number of eloping patients.
eloping patients. It can be seen that patients
eloping the ED increase in the spring months Total number of patients eloping on hourly basis

and summer months respectively. Also there was 120

increase in the eloping patients at the year end
T o ta l N u m b e r o f P a ti e n ts

100

for 2006. For the years 2006 and 2007 a total of 80

5,974 and 6,070 patients eloped from the ED. 60

On an average 9.5% of total patients eloped 40

every year from the ED. 20

0
0 to 2 2 to 4 4 to 6 6 to 8 8 to 10 10 to 12 12 to 14 14 to 16 16 to 18 18 to 20 20 to 22 22 to 24
Eloping Patients Monthly Data
Two hour time period
800
Jan Feb March April May
700
600
No. of Patients

500
Figure 4. Hourly Elopement Data for 2007 (Two
400 hour increments)
300
200
100
Eloping Patients between 10am-24pm for JAN-MAY 2007
0
v
n

ne

ly

c
g
ril
ch
b

pt

ct
ay

No
Ja

Au

De
Fe

Ju
Ap

Se

O
Ju

220
ar

M
M

Month
N o . o f E l o p i n g P a ti e n ts

200
2007 2006
180
160
Figure 2. Seasonal trend for eloping patients at 140
ED 120
100
JAN
80
Figure 3 shows elopement based on different 60
FEB
categories of elopement. Out of the total eloping Pre Triage Post Triage Post RN AMA
MAR
APR
patients on an average 22% leave at the pre- Elopement Types
MAY
triage stage, 34% leave at the post-triage stage,
23% leave at post RN and pre MD stage, and
21% leave post MD against medical advice Figure 5. Eloping patient data for each stage
during peak period (10am – 24pm)

63

Figure 5 shows the number of eloping patients
for different eloping category. As seen from the
graph the highest elopement occurs during post-
triage stage. For each type of elopement we
identified possible reasons in consultation with
ED staff and hospital administration.
6. Recommendations
The loss of eloping patients directly impacts
the revenue stream and reputation of the hospital.
In order to address these issues possible
suggestions were recommended to the hospital.
These include:
1. Hire additional PA and RN in order to
reduce the loss of patients in the earlier
stages of the ED cycle during peak period
(10 AM – Midnight)
2. Increase number of beds available for ED
3. Create better procedures for the non-insured
4. Use more experienced RN for triage
5. Improve the training of receptionists
7. Conclusion
Emergency department revenues are hampered
by loss of patients at different stages of the
admittance that can be generically termed as
“eloping.” A primary reason for eloping is the
long waiting time in the ED. Based on different
eloping categories the ED will loose different
segments of revenue streams. Some factors
influencing long wait times include bed holding,
MD and staff throughput efficiency per patient.
Eloping has negative implications on ED
revenue and subsequent loss of goodwill for the
hospital. This paper analyzes loss of patients
(elopement) to identify trends and relevant
explanations of the same.
64
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
8. References
[1] Hospital Statistics (1903-1994 and Previous
Years) - Chicago, III: American Hospital
Association; 1993.
[2] Grumbach K, Keane D, Bindman A. Primary care
and public emergency department overcrowding.,
Am.J Public Health. 1993:83:372-377.
[3] McCaig LF. National Hospital Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey: 1992 Emergency Department
Summary. Adv Dam Itial Health Stat. 1995; no. 245.
DHHS publication PHS 94-1250.
[4] Canadian Institute for Health Information:
National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975–2004,
Ottawa 2004.
[5] Health Canada: National Health Expenditures in
Canada, Ottawa 1997
[6] McCaig L, Burt C: National Hospital Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey: 2001 Emergency Department
Summary. Advance Data from Vital and Health
Statistics, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Centre for Health Statistics, 2003 Report No
335.
[7] David T. Huang, Clinical review: Impact of
emergency department care on intensive care unit
costs, Critical Care 2004, 8:498-502.
[8] Fromm RE Jr, Gibbs LR, McCallum WG, Niziol
C, Babcock JC, Gueler AC, Levine RL: Critical care
in the emergency department: a time-based study.
Crit Care Med 1993, 21:970-976.
[9] Nguyen HB, Rivers EP, Havstad S, Knoblich B,
Ressler JA, Muzzin AM, Tomlanovich MC: Critical
care in the emergency department: A physiologic
assessment and outcome evaluation. Acad Emerg
Med 2000, 7:1354-1361.
[10] Nelson M, Waldrop RD, Jones J, Randall Z:
Critical care provided in an urban emergency
department. Am J Emerg Med 1998, 16:56-59.
[11] Varon J, Fromm RE, Levine RL: Emergency
department procedures and length of stay for
critically ill medical patients. Ann Emerg Med 1994,
23:546-549.
[12] Svenson J, Besinger B, Stapczynski JS: Critical
care of medical and surgical patients in the ED:
Length of stay and initiation of intensive care
procedures. Am J Emerg Med 1997, 15:654-657.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Development of a Web-Based Manufacturing Education Tool

Daniel J. Fonseca, Terry Brumback, Christopher M. Greene
The University of Alabama
dfonseca@eng.ua.edu, terry.brumback@ua.edu, cgreene@eng.ua.edu

Matthew E. Elam
Texas A&M University-Commerce
matthew_elam@tamu-commerce.edu

Abstract come about only through the development of a

This paper discusses the development of a
web-based educational tool designed to promote
manufacturing engineering education among
underrepresented high school students. The tool
is a component of a comprehensive
manufacturing curriculum development
initiative created as a response to the impressive
growth of the manufacturing sector of the
Southeast of the United Sates. Such a growth in
the manufacturing activities of the region has
stressed the need for a large workforce
professionally educated in manufacturing
principles and technology
1. Introduction
As the twenty-first century begins, the
demand for an abundant, diverse, and talented
manufacturing systems workforce remains
strong. Continued growth in national
productivity requires a continuous supply of
professionals who are highly competent in
mathematics, science, and informatics, and who
are adaptable to the needs of a rapidly changing
profession. While overall employment in
manufacturing engineering is expected to
increase during the 2000-2010 period,
engineering degrees over the same time period
are expected to remain stable. The number of
18-24 year olds will grow by three million by
2010; and African Americans, American
Indians, and Hispanics will make up almost 60%
of the population increase over that time period.
The consensus among leaders in the
manufacturing community is that the necessary
increase in the engineering labor supply will
more diverse workforce (ACT, 2003).
DeReamer and Safai (2004) also state that
employment opportunities in the U.S. requiring
science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) expertise are growing
rapidly. From 2000-2010, the growth is
expected to increase about three times faster
than the rate for all other occupations. However,
the available domestic STEM labor supply has
and will not be able to satisfy this growth
because of the long-term trend of fewer students
entering STEM programs in college, thus
threatening the ability of U.S. businesses to
compete in the global marketplace. The
situation is so dire that the National Science
Board has stated that the federal government and
its agencies must step forward to ensure the
adequacy of the U.S. STEM workforce, and that
all stakeholders must mobilize and initiate
efforts that increase the number of U.S. citizens
pursuing STEM studies and careers.
May and Chubin (2003) mention that the
STEM workforce, despite years of efforts to
diversify it, remains overwhelmingly white,
male, and able-bodied, and the available pool of
talented women, minorities, and persons with
disabilities remains significantly underutilized.
It is an interesting fact that, if individuals from
these underrepresented groups were represented
in the STEM workforce at the same percentage
as their representation in the total workforce
population, the shortage in the STEM labor
supply would largely be filled. Also, the fact
that currently underrepresented groups are
projected to increase from about a quarter of the
workforce to nearly half by 2050 suggests that

65

the U.S. must cultivate the STEM talents of all
of its citizens, not just those from groups that
have traditionally worked in STEM fields.
Many efforts have been put forth to increase
the percentage of underrepresented populations
in the STEM workforce. These include summer
and after-school programs for high school
students and the integration of STEM
applications into high school curricula. The
unfortunate outcome of many of these efforts is
that they are temporary and disappear once they
no longer have funding. Their positive effects
then dissipate over time, and the same problems
with lack of diversity and shortage of human
resources in STEM disciplines resurface.
The fact that women and minorities are
underrepresented in the engineering labor force
has led to the development of the following
three questions:
• What are the psychological mediators of
both gender and ethnic group differences in
entry into and persistence in the engineering
labor force?
• What are the family and school forces that
underlie the gender and ethnic group
differences in these psychological
mediators?
• How do experiences in tertiary educational
settings and in manufacturing work settings
influence gender and ethnic group
differences in entry into and persistence in
the engineering labor force? (Eccles and
Davis-Kean, 2003).
The state of Alabama is currently
experiencing an expansion and enhancement of
its manufacturing sector; consequently, the
engineering opportunities associated with
manufacturing systems are also growing. This is
especially valid relative to the automotive
industries. Mercedes Benz U.S. International,
Inc. and Honda Manufacturing of Alabama,
LLC already have operational manufacturing
facilities in Alabama. Hyundai Motor
Manufacturing Alabama, LLC is completing
construction on its first U.S. manufacturing plant
in Alabama. With them, several other high-tech
businesses have begun operations in this state.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
To ensure that the manufacturing sector
continues to be a driving force for economic
development, Alabama must have an adequate
workforce that is not only knowledgeable in
manufacturing principles but also
technologically educated in advanced
technological platforms. This is main motivator
for the development of a web-based tool that
assists middle-school and high-school students
to learn fundamental concepts in advanced
manufacturing technologies.
2. The Tool
This section describes the software developed
to help middle and high school students
assimilate basic manufacturing engineering
concepts. Images of the software screens are
presented as figures.
2.1 Welcome Page
Figure 1depicts the "Welcome" page of the
software. This page briefly describes
Figure 1. Welcome Page
the Manufacturing Engineering Program of the
University of Alabama's Department of
Mechanical Engineering and the Alabama
Partnership for Community Partnership (the
funding source for this project), and provides
links to a number of manufacturing engineering
programs and professional societies. This page
also has links to the five modules for the
curriculum.

2.2 Module 1: History
Figure 2 depicts the first page of module one.
In this module, the student is introduced to the
modern history of manufacturing, and emphasis
is given to the role of state-of-the art software
supporting today’s modern manufacturing
machines.
Figure 2. Module One: History
2.3 Module 2: Computer Integrated
Manufacturing
Module two covers computer integrated
manufacturing (CIM). It introduces students
to the following subjects: CAD/CAM,
Computer-Aided Process Planning, Enterprise
Resource Planning, CNC, Direct Numerical
Control, Flexible Manufacturing Systems,
Automated Storage and Retrial Systems,
Automated guided Vehicles, Automated
Conveyance Systems, Robotics, Computer-
Aided Quality Assurance, and Lean
Manufacturing (see Figure 3).
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Figure 3. Module Two: CIM
2.4 Module 3: Programmable Logic
Controllers
Module Three discusses the importance of
programmable logic controllers, PLC’s, in
monitoring the automation of industrial
processes in a manufacturing facility. The
module explains to the students the difference
between a PLC and a desktop computer, putting
emphasis on the PLC’s closed loop system, as
well as its sensors to monitor industrial
processes and determine changes to ongoing
manufacturing processes (see Figure 4).
2.5 Module 4: Robotics
Module Four introduces the concept of
industrial robotics. Students are taught about the
principles governing robotic performance as
well as the different ways in which a robotic
system is programmed. In addition, the module
devotes a considerable time to the description of
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

the main hardware components of a robotic arm

(see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Module Four: Robotics

Figure 4. Module Three: PLC’s

2.6 Module 5: Bar Codes

The last module (see Figure 6) of the web-
based tool involves the study of bar codes. In it,
students learn the importance of bar coding
technologies in areas such as materials handling,
inventory control, quality inspection, and
materials dispatching, among others. The
students also learn how to identify and generate
labels of the most commonly used industrial bar
code types.

Figure 6. Module Five: Bar Codes

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

3. Conclusions

This paper presents internet-based software

for teaching an introductory curriculum in
manufacturing engineering to high school
students. Through the use of modern
technologies, the software is capable of the
following:
• Presenting material in a manner that
addresses all three learning styles (visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic)
• Presenting subject matter to high school
students that is not normally seen until mid-way
through a manufacturing engineering program
by reducing the level of learning to a
comprehension and pace acceptable to a high
school student

4. Acknowledgements
The authors want to thank the Alabama
Partnership for Community Partnership for
funding the development of this tool.

5. References

ACT, (2003), ACT Policy Report: Maintaining a

Strong Engineering Workforce, Information For
Life’s Transitions, Washington.

DeReamer, S.M. and Safai, N.M., (2004),

"Promoting Science and Engineering in Grades
K-12 By Means of a Summer Workshop – A
Universal Model," Proceedings of the American
Society for Engineering Education Annual
Conference and Exposition, Session #1460.

Eccles, J. and Davis-Kean P., (2003), Women,

Minority, and Technology, University of
Michigan, Michigan.

May, G.S. and Chubin, D.E., (2003), "A

Retrospective on Undergraduate Engineering
Success for Underrepresented Minority
Students," Journal of Engineering Education,
Vol. 92, pp. 27-39.

69

Minimizing Line of Duty Deaths (LODD) For Firefighters through Proposing
a Tracking System to Track Fire Fighters at Fire Scenes
Nabeel Yousef and Tarig Ali
University of Central Florida
nyousef@mail.ucf.edu
Abstract
The real-time tracking of firefighters is a
important part of firefighters safely at fire
scenes. This article presents the conceptual
design of a prototype system for tracking
firefighters at fire scenes. The system is based
on the triangulation technique where we have a
transmitter and two receivers to accurately
detect the position of a firefighter in at a fire
scene. The base unit consists of two reader
antennas, fire-scene geo-referencing and
management (GeoMan) software, and a laptop
computer. The mobile unit consists of active
radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, an
electronic compass, and a Bluetooth transmitter.
The GeoMan software in the base unit creates a
local geo-referencing system at the fire scene,
processes the received radio signals to infer the
instantaneous locations of the mobile units
(firefighters), and display the real-time locations
of these units in the locally defined reference
system.
1. Introduction
“To extinguish a fire, it is necessary to remove
one or more of the three components of
combustion. Removing any of these will not
allow combustion to continue. Firefighters work
by
• Limiting exposure of fuel that may be
ignited by nearby flames or radiant heat
• Containing and extinguishing the fire
• Removing debris and extinguishing all
hidden fires to prevent rekindling” [2]
Firefighters' goals are to save life, property and
the environment. A fire can rapidly spread and
endanger many lives including firefighters
themselves. Although firefighters have the
equipment and the cloths that can aid in
protecting them during a fire accident fire
70
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
departments still suffer from firefighter’s
injuries and deaths.
The serious injury or death of a firefighter in the
line-of-duty is a tragedy all members of the fire
service dread. The family is disorganized by
grief. The community and surviving fire
department members are in mourning. The fire
department can be thrown into shock. It must,
however, continue to provide normal services as
well as deal with the serious injury or death.
It is known that fires in enclosed spaces, such as
buildings, behave differently to fires in the open
air. The smoke rising from the fire gets trapped
by the ceiling and then spreads in all directions
to form an ever-deepening layer over the entire
room or space. During this process, the smoke
will pass through any holes or gaps in the walls,
ceiling or floor. Smoke will trap the heat from
the fire in the building, greatly increasing the
temperature. The rising temperature, the
visibility, and the falling derbies endanger the
life of firefighters. Firefighter’s safety relates to
a successful real-time tracking of firefighters at
fire scenes.
In December 2002 FEMA and NFPA (National
Fire Protection Association) published a study
on “A Needs Assessment of the US Fire
Service”. Part of the study was to identify fire
department shortfalls. The NFPA used 26,354
fire departments in the survey, 12,240 completed
surveys were received back and 8,416 were
analyzed for the assessment report. The purpose
of the study was to assess the department needs
not the individual firefighters needs and
concerns.
Based on statistics done by U.S. administration
an average of 100 fire fighters die every year
while on duty and tens of thousands are injured.
In the last decade several incidents involving
firefighter fatalities have brought national
attention to the number of fighters killed in the
line of duty. The last one was the wildfire in
California in October of 2007. The following
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

table gives an overview of the number of on- Harvard researcher Stefanos N. Kales and
duty deaths and injuries that occurred from 1997 colleagues analyzed data on all firefighter deaths
to 2006. between 1994 and 2004, except those linked to
the 9/11. The research found that very high
Table 1: On-Duty Deaths and Injuries that percentages of firefighters are more likely to die
Occurred from 1997 to 2006 [2]5 of heart disease. Firefighters job expose them to
extreme exertion to toxic and high risk
environment. The heavy gears needed to
Year Deaths1 Fireground Injuries2 Total Injuries2
accommodate this type of job forces the need to
be fitted to curry such equipment. The
1997 100 40,920 85,400 environment and the heavy gears make it more
deadly for firefighters. Understanding the risk
1998 93 43,080 87,500 around firefighters and the reason behind that is
very vital.
1999 113 45,550 88,500 Research interest is to minimize the line of duty
deaths whether it’s due to heart attacks or other
related incidents on the scene. Some research
2000 105 43,065 84,550
has been done to maximize the safety and
minimize the deaths by tracking firefighters
2001 1053 41,395 82,250 through the incident scene and monitor their
status. A company in Florida announced that
2002 100 37,860 80,800 they will introduce a firefighter tracking system
that is called Pak-Tracker Firefighter Locator,
which integrates a motion sensor device with a
2003 113 38,045 78,750 transceiver to send and receive critical
information between individual firefighters and
2004 1194 36,880 75,840 a command station. The product was supposed
to be introduced in April of this year in the Fire
2005 115 41,950 80,100
Department Instructor's Conference in
Indianapolis. The prototype for the product
shows that it has a large size that can add more
2006 106 N/A Yet N/A Yet weight to the firefighter’s gear. Also there was
no price prediction that was released with this
1
prototype.
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
just announced in August of 2007 that they have
1
been able to reduce the size of the locator
This figure reflects the number of deaths as transmitter so every firefighter can wear one.
published in USFA's annual report on firefighter The researchers expect that the system will be
fatalities. All totals are provisional and subject to
available in two years. The technology used in
change as further information about individual
fatality incidents are presented to USFA. the system was not released or published.
2 This figure reflects the number of injuries as
published in NFPA's annual report on firefighter This article will be looking at the design criteria
injuries. based on the previous research and products then
3 In 2001, an additional 341 FDNY firefighters, three present the conceptual design of a prototype
fire safety directors, and two FDNY paramedics died
in the line of duty at the World Trade Center on
September 11. the annual USFA report on Firefighter Fatalities in
4 The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefit Act of the United States beginning with CY2004.
2003 has resulted in an approximate 10% increase to 5 Was published by U.S. 1Fire Administration, 2006
the total number of firefighter fatalities counted for
71

system for tracking firefighters at fire scenes
based on Geographic Information system (GIS).
The system consists of a base and mobile units.
The base unit consists of two reader antennas,
fire-scene geo-referencing and management
(GeoMan) software, and a laptop computer. The
mobile unit consists of active radio frequency
identification (RFID) tag, an electronic compass,
and a Bluetooth transmitter. The GeoMan
software in the base unit creates a local geo-
referencing system at the fire scene, processes
the received radio signals to infer the
instantaneous locations of the mobile units
(firefighters), and display the real-time locations
of these units in the locally defined reference
system. The mobile units continuously broadcast
signals, which are received by the reader
antennas and processed by the GeoMan software
to track firefighters at the fire scene. The
electronic compass provides basic local
orientation information of firefighters, which is
transmitted to the base unit via the Bluetooth
transmitter installed in the mobile unit. Local
orientation information is also valuable for
inferring firefighter’s tracks in the events of
losing radio signals.
4. Conceptual Model
In the model proposed we considered the
following characteristics: light weight, small
size, power efficiency, real-time tracking, and
accurate positioning. The first three
characteristics are very essential from a
firefighter perspective. The other characteristics
are crucial to the success of any tracking system
since pinpointing firefighter’s locations in real
time in fire scenes is critically needed. This is
important especially in the situations when a
firefighter is not responding or instantaneously
un accounted for. Real-time tracking enables
the fire scene command center to not only
account for firefighters, but also to use their
relative positions for making life-saving
decisions. Accurate positioning is an important
characteristic given the size of fire scenes and
the large scale map needed to show the locations.
To design a practical, usable tracking system it
needs to be power efficient as well.
In order to better understand the process of
firefighting more efficiently, we have attended a
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
“training burn” by the Orange County Fire
Rescue Department (OCFRD) in mid 2007. We
have also met and interviewed a few firefighters
with OCFRD. We believe that such a needs
assessment study is fundamental not only from a
customer needs perspective, but also from a
conceptual design standpoint. From the training
burn and the interviews we learned that weight,
size, and power efficiency are really important
for many reasons. First, firefighters are already
loaded with devices that have the weight and
size to the extent that adding another device is a
real burden. Figure 1 shows the QFD that
explains the customer needs and the relation
with the product characteristics
Figure 1: QFD for Tracking System
4.1 System Description
The proposed system consists of (a) a light
weight, small size mobile unit that has a
Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag and a
digital compass, and (b) a base unit. The
RFID will transmit firefighter information (a
unique identifier for the firefighter) to the
base unit. The direction and orientation
information of the firefighter will be
broadcasted to the base unit by the
electronic compass via Bluetooth. . The
base unit is connected to two RF reader
antennas, which will be used for inferring
firefighter’s positions by triangulation. The
positions and direction/orientation
information will be processed by the

proposed GeoMan software and a real-time
map will be produced and displayed on the
laptop computer of the fire scene command
center. . Figure 2 shows the architecture of
the proposed system
Figure 2: The Positioning Tracking System as
Proposed
Conclusion
Each year an average of 105 firefighters die on
the line of duty, thousands more are injured. The
injuries sustained in a firefighting scenario can
often impact the life of the fire veteran for the
remainder of his/her life. As we progress we
clearly see many more examples arising which
depict the intensity and overall difficulty of a
firefighting career. Fires in these scenarios are
unrelenting and tremendously difficult to
contain. Although firefighters already have an
array of rather intricate equipment which aids
them, it is simply not enough. We are still losing
many brave men and women, courageous fire
soldiers that will never again be united with their
families or the people they loved. All of them
share one thing in common; they take on the
risks associated with an exceedingly difficult
career to insure our safety and the safety of
others in these situations. Meeting their demise
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
we venerate them and although we care deeply,
we are still resilient and never take on the full
effect of their tragic demise. We simply forget
about the families of these astounding men and
women who are left with nothing but
despondency.
The main goal of designing the proposed
prototype system is to provide an efficient real-
time tracking device that satisfies firefighter’s
needs. Such a system will help save the lives of
those great people through accurately tracking
their position in a fire scene. Based on the needs
assessment study, the characteristics of light
weight, small size, power efficiency, and
reasonable cost have been identified to be
essential for designing a firefighter tracking
system that satisfies customer needs and operate
efficiently.
References
1. Jesse Beitel, Nestor Iwankiw, 2002,
“Analysis of Needs and Existing
Capabilities for Full-Scale Fire
Resistance Testing”, NIST GCR 02-843
2. U.S. Fire Administration, Topical Fire
Research Series: Firefighter Injuries
Volume 2, Issue 1 July 2001 (rev.
March 2002)
3. Sheng Zhou and John K. Pollard, 2006,
“Position Measurements Using
Bluetooth”, IEEE, 2006 pages 555-558
4. G. Knapp, “Microwave Coupler Feeds
Outdoor Antenna through Walls”. High
Frequency Electronics. 2006 Summit
Technical Media. Pages 58-62
5. U.S. Fire Administration, Matching
Assistance to Firefighters Grants to the
Reported Needs of the US Fire Service,
A Cooperative Study Authorized by
U.S. Public Law 108-767, Title XXXVI,
October 2006
6. Hui Tong and Seyed Zekavat, “ A Novel
wireless Local Positioning System Via a
Merger of DS-CDMA and
Beamforming: Probability –of-Detection
Performance Analysis Under Array
Perturbations”. IEEE Transaction Vol
56, No. 3, May 2007
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

7. Marius Marcu*, Sebastian Fuicu* and

Anania Girbant. “Local wireless
Positioning System”. International
Symposium on Applied Computational
Intelligence and Informatics, IEEE 2007
8. The world RFID Authority, “ The
Basics of RFID Technology”, RFID
Journal 2007 .
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articl
eprint/1337/-1/1
9. Hae Don Chon, Sibum Jun, Heejae
Jung, Sang Won An, “Using RFID for
Accurate Positioning”. Journal of Global
Positioning Systems (2004) Vol3, No. 1-
2, Pages 32-39 Published Feb 2005.
10. Scott Electronic Management System,
http://www.scotthealthsafety.com,
Accessed November 25, 2007.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Addressing the Engineering Needs of the Nuclear Power Industry

Wei Zhan and Jacob Schulz
Texas A&M University
wei.zhan@tamu.edu

John Crenshaw and Tim Hurst

South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company

Abstract 10.0
The demand for electricity in the United States 8.0
is increasing. Nuclear power plants have better 6.0
capacity, price, and environment impact than other 4.0
types of power plants. In the last few years, the 2.0
nuclear power industry has been revitalized. There
0.0
is an urgent need to find new engineers to support
the needs of the nuclear power industry. This

95

97

99

01

03

paper discusses this issue and proposes some
actions that can be taken quickly by educational
institutes and industry to effectively address the
engineering needs of the nuclear power industry.
1. A looming nuclear power renaissance
The demand for electricity in the United States
is increasing. According to the Department of
Energy, the demand for electricity in the United
States will increase by 45% by 2030[1].
05
Figure 2. U.S. Electricity Production Costs
cents per kilowatt-hour
The coal power plants face a major challenge
of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Meeting
these requirements will raise the price of energy
generated by coal power plants.
Currently, the amount of green energy
generated from wind and solar power accounts for
less than 5% of the total energy consumption.

Nuclear power can provide a large amount of

energy needed. Currently, there are 439 nuclear
power reactors in 31 countries supplying 15% of
the world’s electricity. In France, 59 nuclear
reactors supply 78% of its electricity. In the U.S.,
there are 104 nuclear reactors supplying 15% of
Figure 1. Estimation for Electricity Needed
the electricity [1].
by 2030
With limited total global energy sources, the
Production costs for nuclear power have
rising demands for energy in USA and other
declined by over 30% in the last ten years
developing countries such as China and India have
(production costs include fuel, operation and
been driving up the prices of oil, natural gas, coal
maintenance, and fee paid into the Nuclear Waste
and other energy sources.
Fund). Currently it is 1.72 cent/kilowatt-hour.
The prices of power from oil and natural gas
Nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium,
tend to fluctuate much more than nuclear and coal
which is relatively abundant and is available from
power. The prices for electricity generated by
many stable countries such as Canada and
different power plants are shown in Figure 2.
Australia. Although the price of uranium has

75

increased about 500 percent since 2002, including
a doubling in price last year, the operating costs of
nuclear power plants have changed very little.
Moreover, the rise in price has prompted an
exploration boom that will ultimately lead to more
mines and a greater supply. Construction accounts
for as much as ¾ of the cost of nuclear generation.
The construction of nuclear power plants has
transitioned to a manufacturing process. Large
modules are shop-fabricated and then assembled
on site. This practice significantly reduces the time
and cost to build nuclear power plants (see [2]).
Figure 3. Fuel as a percentage of electric
power production cost
The price of uranium will never be as much of
a challenge for the nuclear industry as fuel costs
are for other sources of electricity as illustrated by
Figure 3 [6]. For example, 78 percent of the cost
of electricity from a coal plant is the cost of the
coal. At combined cycle gas plants, fuel is 94
percent of the production cost. At nuclear plants,
fuel costs are only 26 percent of production costs.
And only one-half of that nuclear fuel cost is the
cost of uranium. Out of the 1.72-cent-per-kilowatt-
hour production cost, uranium represents only
two-tenths-of-a-cent.
Nuclear power plants are safer, easier to
operate, and less expensive due to the availability
of new technology, new designs, and lessons
learned during the past 50 years. Simpler designs
cuts maintenance and repair costs. Unplanned
plant outages are less frequent (50% in the 70’s to
less than 10% now). The average capacity factor
of 90% for nuclear power plants is very high
compared to 70% for coal plants, 40% for natural
gas plants, and 30% for wind power plants [1].
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Nuclear reactors emit almost none of the
greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
Without the nuclear power, the U.S. electric sector
carbon dioxide emissions would be 27% larger.
In summary, nuclear power offers the
possibility of large quantities of base load
electricity that is cleaner than coal, cheaper and
more secure than gas, and more reliable than wind.
In addition to the cost and environmental
concerns, the Unites States would like to be less
dependent on foreign oil.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides
$18/MWh tax credit for first 6,000 MW of new
nuclear capacity [6]. The Energy Policy Act also
created insurance against delays in commercial
operation caused by licensing or litigation. It also
authorized the Department of Energy to provide
loan guarantees for up to 80 percent of the cost of
projects, like nuclear plants, that reduce emissions.
These policies partly relive the pressure of finding
large initial investments for new nuclear power
plants. A new licensing process, COLA
(Combined Operating License Application),
speeds up the process of building new nuclear
power plants.
Public support for nuclear power is growing.
A poll conducted in 2006 shows that 68% would
accept a new reactor at the nearest nuclear power
plant site to where they live and 81 percent said
that nuclear energy will be important in meeting
the nation’s electricity needs in the future [1].
Geopolitics, technology, economics and
environmental concerns are all changing in nuclear
power’s favor. This convergence of powerful
economic and political forces is leading to a
renaissance of nuclear power. It’s no longer a
question of “Do we need new nuclear plants in the
United States?”, but a question of “How many,
where and when?”
2. Shortage in the nuclear engineering force
France, Japan, Korea, and some developing
countries continue to build nuclear power plants.
But in the US, Ukraine’s Chernobyl accident in
1986 along with the accident at Three Mile Island
in Pennsylvania in 1979 sent the industry in a

decline. The public got scared. The regulatory
environment tightened, and as a result cost went
up. Billions were spent bailing out companies
making loss on nuclear power plants. For two
decades, neither the government nor bankers
wanted to touch nuclear power plants. The nuclear
power industry in the US had experienced almost
no development during that period.
As a result, many of the existing nuclear
power plants are using outdated technologies. This
is partly the reason that students are not interested
in a job in the nuclear power industry. Therefore,
there are very few young engineers in the field of
nuclear power industry. Very few young engineers
even thought about entering the nuclear power
industry.
On the other hand, over 25 new nuclear power
plants have been announced recently [7] and
efforts are in full swing to revitalize the industry.
This new boom requires thousands of engineers to
take on the expanding engineering tasks related to
the design, operation, and maintenance of the
plants [Error! Reference source not found.]. To
make matters worse, many current engineers in the
nuclear industry are at or near retirement age. Due
to the nature of the nuclear power industry, it takes
a few years for a new engineer to go through the
rigorous training program in nuclear industry. As a
result, there is an urgent need to find new
engineers to join the nuclear power industry work
force to support the existing and new nuclear
power needs. Currently, the US education system
lacks the capability to provide the nuclear industry
with the volume of qualified engineers needed by
the industry.
Many nuclear engineering programs prepare
their students for a career in academia and national
research labs rather than the nuclear power
industry since there was almost no need for new
engineers from the industry in the last two decades.
The Navy has been one of the major sources of
nuclear power engineers in recent history. As a
result, students in the nuclear power engineering
programs in many universities are getting more
theoretical training and encouraged to do
fundamental research rather than the practical and
hands-on experience. They are not prepared for the
industrial jobs.
77
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Other countries such as France, Japan, and
Korea are moving ahead in terms of nuclear power
plant building and educational programs in the
field. The outsourcing of jobs in the nuclear power
engineering to other countries is not desirable for
the US. If we do not take actions immediately,
what happened to the manufacturing industry may
happen to the nuclear industry.
3. How to address the needs of the nuclear
power industry?
There are needs for two types of engineering
resources in the nuclear power industry:
operators/maintenance workers and engineers. The
needs of operators and maintenance workers can
be addressed by the community colleges with a
two year degree relatively quickly. The
community colleges are usually more flexible in
changing their programs and curricula. They are
also more responsive to the needs of industry. The
need for engineers is more difficult to meet. There
are very few four year nuclear power engineering
technology programs in the US. University of
North Texas is one of them
[3]. The number of graduates from these
programs falls far short of the needs by the nuclear
power industry due to the latest boom in the
industry. People in both industry and academia are
realizing the seriousness of the problem faced by
the nuclear power industry.
Faced with the challenge of providing the
increasing need of engineers by the nuclear power
industry, universities and the nuclear power
industry are making efforts to address this issue.
For instance, at Texas A&M, a nuclear
engineering technology program is being created
within the Department of Engineering Technology
and Industrial Distribution. However, major
changes in the educational system face resistance
in academia [4]. In addition, the effect of this type
of changes will not be seen by the industry in the
next 4 to 5 years. But the sudden increase in need
from nuclear power industry is immediate. A
quicker and more efficient way to address the
immediate needs of the nuclear power industry is
needed.
We propose the following steps to partly
address the immediate needs of the nuclear power
industry:

1). Curriculum modification:
Modification to the curricula of several key
courses will be made to help indoctrinate students
in the field of nuclear power engineering and
electrical production. Modifications include
additional material on power generation theory in
an ac circuit analysis course with examples of
nuclear power generation to illustrate the basic
concepts.
The control and instrumentation courses will
be modified to emphasize process control systems.
In the instrumentation course, the concepts of
smart sensors and fieldbus technologies will be
added, again with examples from the new nuclear
power plants. The incorporation of process control
concepts in the controls course includes exposing
students to Distributed Control Systems. The use
of this knowledge is not limited to the nuclear
power industry. Many oil and gas companies and
chemical plants all need engineers with similar
skill sets. The proposed curricula changes are
welcomed by most students based on initial
feedback from students.
Guest lectures from the nuclear power
industry will be invited to give classroom
presentations to the students. This allows the
students to learn from the experienced nuclear
power engineers about the real world problems. It
is also another way to build connection between
the students and the nuclear power industry.
2). Senior Design Projects:
The limited amount of education in nuclear
power plant operation will expose many students
to the industry and allow them to be better
prepared for work in the nuclear power industry.
In addition, senior design projects in the field of
nuclear power and plant controls will be
incorporated. It would be helpful if the nuclear
power industry can sponsor some of these projects.
The students can go to the power plant to
understand the problem that they choose to work
on. They will get advice from engineers working
in the nuclear power plant. The students working
on their senior design project in related topics will
spend many hours outside the classroom trying to
learn the knowledge by themselves. In the end,
they will have more in-depth knowledge and
hands-on experiences in nuclear power
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
engineering technology. The senior project can
lead to solutions to real problems of modest scale.
The typical cost of sponsoring a senior design
project is around $5000. This money is well spent
considering the hands-on training students will
receive while trying to solve a real problem for the
company.
3). Summer Faculty Fellowship:
Summer faculty fellowship in the nuclear
power industry is another effective way of making
sure the students learn the skills needed by the
nuclear power industry. If the faculty member
teaching control and instrumentation courses does
not know what kind of problems a nuclear power
plant faces, chances are the material taught in the
classroom will not be very relevant to the nuclear
power industry. The idea is simple: the trainer
needs to be trained first. The summer faculty
fellowship program can be a way for the faculty
members to keep a close tie with the nuclear
power industry. In addition to the educational
benefits, faculty members can also work on some
practical research problems for the nuclear power
industry. Research and education can be
seamlessly combined to have a win-win situation
for academia, industry, and most importantly the
students. The first author, Dr. Wei Zhan, spent
three months in the summer of 2007 at South
Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company on a
summer faculty fellowship program. The benefit
of that summer faculty fellowship experience is
enormous. Many of the ideas in this paper are
inspired by that experience.
4). Laboratory Development:
Laboratories can be established with focus in
the area of control of field devices using DCS and
fieldbus technologies and wireless communication.
This provides students with opportunities to
conduct research work related to nuclear power
plant control systems. The lab development effort
can be tied together with the senior design projects
and the curriculum modification discussed in items
1 and 2. The students involved in the initial lab
development work get the hands-on experience
and the result can be used to improve the control
and instrumentation courses in terms of
developing new lab classes.

5). Summer/Spring Student Internship
Students interested in nuclear power industry
will be encouraged to work as summer/spring
interns for the nuclear power plant companies. The
internship provides an opportunity for both the
students and the company to know each other.
During the internship, the students will learn the
basics of the nuclear power plant, some practical
engineering experience, and better ideas about
what they should be focusing on when they come
back to school. The fourth author, Jacob Schulz,
worked at South Texas Project Nuclear Operating
Company as a student summer intern. His
experience as an intern resulted in a white paper
on the recruiting and retaining of young engineers
[5], and gave him a better idea of the coursework
required to be successful in the industry.
6). Recruiting
Again, because of the down turn in the nuclear
power industry in last two decades, very few
students know much about the industry. The
nuclear power industry and universities need to
work together to increase the awareness of the
nuclear power industry among the students. This
can be achieved by teaching nuclear related
material in different courses, nuclear power
industry participating in the career fairs, and
collaboration on research projects between nuclear
power industry and universities. With a close tie
between the faculty members and nuclear power
industry established, the nuclear power industry
would have a much better chance of finding the
students they need. This can be done through
internships, sponsoring senior design projects, and
founded research projects.
These intermediate steps should help
addressing the urgent needs of the nuclear power
industry as well as encourage students to enroll in
the 4 year nuclear power technology program.
With the industry, universities and community
colleges working hand in hand, we are confident
that the engineering needs for the nuclear power
renaissance will be met.
4. Conclusion
The shortage of engineers in the nuclear power
industry is a serious problem. We need to find
different ways to address this issue as quickly as
possible. Change of curricula, building labs,
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
having senior project design related to nuclear
power plants, student summer interns, faculty
summer fellowships, research projects supported
by the nuclear industry, and a new nuclear power
engineering technology program are just some of
the steps that we can take to address this issue.
One of the objectives of this paper is to increase
the awareness of this issue in academia so that
more universities will work on the solution to this
problem.
5. References
[1] Lighting the future with clean nuclear energy,
GP0066, Nuclear Energy Institute, Dec. 2006.
[2] T. Hurst, “Transfer ABWR construction techniques
to U.S. shores”, POWER, Vol. 151, No. 5, May 2007,
pp. 43-46.
[3] M. Plummer, J. Davis, and C. Bittle, Management
changes as a threat to onsite delivery of nuclear
engineering technology programs, 2007 ASEE
Conference. AC 2007-3090.
[4] Report of the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory
Committee Nuclear Power Engineering Curriculum
Task Force, Department of Nuclear Engineering &
Radiation Health Physics, Oregon State University,
April 7, 2004.
[5] Ideas for recruiting/retaining young engineers, STP
white paper, J. Schulz, 2007
[6] The changing climate for nuclear energy: Annual
briefing for the financial community, Nuclear Energy
Institute, Feb. 22, 2007.
[7] New Nuclear Plant Status, Nuclear Energy Institute,
August, 2007.
Wei Zhan is currently an assistant professor in Department of
Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution, Texas
A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3367.
John Crenshaw is currently a vice president at South Texas
Project Nuclear Operating Company in Bay City, TX 77414.
Tim Hurst is currently the principal I&C engineer at South
Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company in Bay City, TX
77414. He is also the president of Hurst Technology in
Angleton, TX 77515
Jacob Schulz is currently an undergraduate student in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX 77843.

Partial Discharge (PD): PSPICE Simulations
Andrzej J Gapinski
Penn State University-Fayette
ajg2@psu.edu
ABSTRACT
Partial discharge that may occur in electrical
systems has been investigated in the past to
provide better understanding of the
phenomenon. The understanding of the
discharge process is critically important
especially in hazardous environment of chemical
plants, oil and gas, and mining industries. The
purpose of the article is to discuss partial
discharge and its software simulations using
PSPICE software.
Partial Discharge – Can Cause Catastrophic
Damage
Partial discharge (PD), which may occur in
electrical apparatus, is vitally important for
many industries especially those, which are
explosion prone. Partial discharge may not only
degrade the operating equipment but may also
cause a total breakdown of an apparatus and
create unsafe and dangerous environment. In
addition to negative impact on reliability and
operational life span of the apparatus, partial
discharge may contribute to creation of
conditions prone to explosions. Namely, partial
discharge may generate or ionize dangerous
gases, which may be highly combustible. The
industries such as chemical, oil and gas, and
mining are especially vulnerable. Thus,
naturally, partial discharge measurements are
part of testing explosion protected electrical
equipment .
1
Partial Discharge – What is it?
A partial discharge is a localized dielectric
breakdown of a small portion of a solid or liquid
electrical insulation system under high voltage
stress2. Partial discharge might occur in voids
within solid insulation, across the surface of
insulating material due to contaminants or
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
material irregularities or along the surface
between two different insulating materials.
It may or may not exhibit visible symptoms,
which affects detect-ability and thus may create
particularly dangerous conditions for equipment
or personnel.
A corona discharge2 on the other hand usually
displays almost steady glow discharge in air.
PD may begin quite innocently within cracks,
voids, etc. within a solid dielectric, at conductor-
dielectric surfaces within solid or liquid
dielectric or insulating materials. PD may be
infrequent event causing intermittent
malfunction or steady degradation of the system
performance. The final effects are usually quite
devastating, causing complete failure of the
apparatus.
Partial discharge dissipates energy in various
forms:
• Electromagnetic (radio, light, heat)
• Acoustic (audio, ultrasonic)
• Gases (ozone, Nitrous oxides).
PD measurements have become well-established
with their own techniques and standards. 4,5
PD in Dielectric – Equivalent Electric Model
Dielectric with PD fault occurring in a cavity is
usually modeled1 as a capacitive voltage divider
in parallel with another capacitor, as in figure 1.
A fault in the insulating material is represented
by a ’void’ with capacitance C1, which is in
series with the “good,” intact part of insulation
represented by C2. C3 represents the remaining,
intact dielectric.
The total capacitance, Ctot, for low voltage, of
the capacitor configuration is:
Ctot = C 3 + C1 * C 2 /(C1 + C 2) (1)
In the case of increased voltage, PD is initiated
in C1, resulting in a low voltage across C1.
Then, the total capacitance is:
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

including most often used medium voltage

Ctot = C 3 + C 2 (2) apparatus.
The difference between (1) and (2) is:
∆C = C 2^ 2 /(C1 + C 2) (3) Conclusion

The purpose of the article was to discuss partial

discharge (PD) and to provide software
An abrupt change in the capacitance is reflected
simulations of the phenomenon, which is
in a change of a compensating charge, which
experienced frequently in power and signal
causes spike in values of electric current.
transmissions. The performed simulations match
closely the field data reported by the technical
PSPICE Simulations
literature. The understanding of the phenomenon
and early detection is critically important for
The simulations were performed for two values
number of industries that include mining,
of AC input voltage: 120V(see figure 2 and 3),
chemical, telecommunication, power
and 2.4KV(see figure 4 and 5). The capacitor
transmission, utilities, etc. Often, the partial
C1, representing void, with increasing input
discharge is not easily detectable and may cause
voltage, will experience partial discharge, which
severe degradation of the insulating material
will cause a drop in voltage magnitude across it.
affecting apparatus performance either
“Firing” is simulated here with a switch coupled
temporarily or permanently. Undetected partial
with pulse voltage source, which closes at a peak
discharge may create unsafe and dangerous
value of capacitor voltage, C1, providing
environment for the equipment and personnel.
constant, low voltage across capacitor C1. The
switch is activated by a pulse voltage source. A
References
switch is essentially open and closes only for a
short duration of the discharge, .2ms. Due to
1. Heinrich Groch. 2004. Explosion
capacitive nature of the overall impedance, there
Protection: Electrical Apparatus and
is a phase angle shift between input voltage and
Systems for Chemical Plants, Oil and
capacitive current.
Gas Industry, Coal Mining. Elsevier
As expected, the simulations plots show spikes
Butterworth-Heinemann.
in electrical current experienced by capacitor
2. www.wikipedia.com Dec. 15, 2006.
configuration and consequently in electrical
3. E. Kuffel, W.S. Zaengl. 1992. High
voltage.
Voltage Engineering Fundamentals.
Pergamon Press. First Edition.
Partial Discharge Detection
4. IEC 60270:2000/BS EN
60270:2001”High-Voltage Test
There is a variety of methods employed in
Techniques – Partial Discharge
partial discharge detection. Most common non-
Measurements.” International Standards.
intrusive methods6 involve the detection of
5. IEEE 400-2001”IEEE Guide for Field
transient earth voltages (TEV) in the radio
Testing and Evaluation of the Insulation
frequency of spectrum and ultrasonic
of Shielded Power Cable Systems.”
frequencies of emitted emissions. The methods
6. www.aetechnology.com. March 8, 2008.
allow for comprehensive assessment of the
condition of insulation in many systems

81
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

C3 C2

C1

Where:
C1 – capacitance of the void
C2 – capacitance of the intact part of dielectric in series with C1
C3 – capacitance of the rest, intact part of the dielectric surrounding void

Figure 1. Equivalent electric circuit of a PD in a solid dielectric

Figure 2

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 3

Figure 4

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Figure 5

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

On Learning Performance Analogy Between Some Psycho-Learning

Experimental Work and Ant Colony System Optimization
H. M. Hassan and Saleh M. Al-Saleem
Arab Open University
(Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Branch, IT Department)
salehms@arabou.org.sa hassan_sasa_2004@yahoo.com

Abstract minimum error. Thus, cat's stored experience

Simulation results of Thorndike's Psycho-
Learning Experimental Work using artificial
neural network (ANN) modeling are
presented. Moreover learning performance of
related to Thorndike's work is analogously
compared with ant colony systems Ant Colony
System (ACS) performance. Respectively the
first model, presents Thorndike's cat
behavioral learning that to get out from a cage
for obtaining food. The second ACS model
used for solving traveling salesman problem
(TSP) optimum by brining food from different
food sources to store (in cycles) at ants' nest.
Conclusively, both types of natural bio-
systems (suggested Thorndike and ACS
models) investigated relations between
adaptive behavior reinforcement learning and
combinatorial optimization problem.
1. Introduction
This work presents comparative analytical
study for some behavioral learning processes,
referring to simulated experimental results.
That is derived from adaptive behavior
reinforcement learning and combinatorial
optimization observed for two types of natural
bio-systems. Namely such experimental work
based firstly on original animal learning
Thorndike's work, and secondly concerned
with ant colonies solving the traveling
salesman problem. Behavioral learning
processes for both are simulated by artificial
neural network and artificial ant modeling
respectively, [1], [2].
However, commonly, both systems
observed to obey learning paradigm originated
from principles of learning without a teacher.
Thorndike's cat behavioral learning observed
to converge for optimization, through
sequential trial and error steps, [3] (without
any supervision). The convergence process
obeys exponential decay function till reaching
seems to sequence improvement as number of
trials increases. So, that experience modified
well continuously following dynamical
synaptic adaptation (internal weights
dynamics), resulting in better learning
performance. It is worthy to note that response
speed in Thorndike's experimental work,
learning performance curves (for different
individuals), agree well with a set of odd
sigmoid functions. Similarly, this set obeys
performance speed curves (for different
communication levels) concerned with (ACS)
optimization processes while solving (TSP).
In natural world it is observed some diverse
learning aspects for the two suggested natural
biological system (crenatures types for cats
and ants). However, both are shown to behave
similar to each other, considering there
learning performance carves. In details,
simulations of learning performance curves
behave as exponential decay function till
reaching stable minimum error value or
minimum time response. Conversely, this
minimum error implies maximum optimum
speed for both models. That conversed
performance shown to agree well with odd
sigmoid function behavior. Conclusively,
maximum speed for cat to get out from cage at
Thorndike's work corresponds well to
optimum speed reaching solution of TSP
solved by ACS model. Moreover, some other
models considering pattern reconstruction
problem and genetic programming are also
given in comparison with two above presented
models.
The paper is organized as follows. At next
section revising of Thorndike's work is
presented briefly. Description of modeling
process of Thorndike's work is illustrated at
section three. The fourth section is dedicated
to illustrate ant colony system modeling.
Finally, at last section, some conclusive
remarks and discussions are given.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

2. Revising of Thorndike's work

Referring to learning behaviorism

approach, Thorndike had carried out – about
one century ago – some psycho-learning
experimental work on animals, [3], [4]. This
work adopts behavioral learning approach
through trials and errors repeated steps
(cycles), [5]. Initially, the cats performance
trials results in random outputs. By sequential Fig.2 Thorndike normalized results
trials, errors observed to become minimized as seem to be near as exponential decay
learning cycles’ number increases. Referring to
fig.1, Original Thorndike's results are shown
as relation between response time and number
of trials. The results shown at fig.1, represents
behavioral learning performance of
Thorndike's work. However, normalized
learning curve presenting performance is
approximately given at figure 2.
Conversely to above given presentation of
learning performance curve, response speed
curve (for Thorndike's work) introduced at
fig.3. Interestingly, this curve seems to behave Fig.3 Illustrates normalized
similarly to sigmoid function behavior, [6]. performance curve presenting
Time (sec)
response speed rather than original
160
curve presenting response time at
140 figure 2.
120
3. Description of Thorndike's work
100 modeling
80
On the basis of original observed
60 experimentally measured performance,
40
realistic modeling for Thorndike's work is
presented at this section. The behavioral
20 learning process of the original experiments is
0
considered to belong to learning by interaction
0 5 10 15
No. of trial
20 25
with environment principle. However, the
error detected during that process is corrected
Fig.1 the original results of Thorndike spontaneously depending upon stored
representing learning performance for experience inside cat's internal neural system
a cat to get out from the cage for i.e. cat's experience has to be modified
reaching food. dynamically by synaptic adaptation (plasticity)
of internal weights' connectivity.
Consequently, suggested model for
Thorndike's work considers dynamical
changes of learning rate of as number of
learning steps increases. The statistical
analysis of model results proved the
consistency of learning performance
distribution as shown at following table 1.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 1. Illustrates statistical analysis of model results description of original work performance
representing Thorndike's work: results.
Average
Additionally, it is interesting to observe that
Learning Coefficient
rate number Standard of
suggested Thorndike's modeling performance
Variance
of
σ appears to be analogously similar to behavioral
value
σ variation
η training
cycles
deviation
ρ performance of another ACS optimization
0.1 100.7 93.7889 9.6845 0.0962 model. By applying ANT-density algorithm for
0.2 51.3 22.6778 4.7621 0.0928 solving some TSP, results therein, [7], show
0.3 34.8 10.1778 3.1903 0.0917 that efficiency per ant (required to reach
0.4 26.5 6.2778 2.5055 0.0945
optimum) well improved as number of ants
0.5 21.5 2.9444 1.7159 0.0798
0.6 18.2 2.4 1.5492 0.0851 increase see figure 5. Consequently, it could be
0.7 15.8 1.5111 1.2293 0.0778 stated that number of trials for given number
0.8 14.2 1.2889 1.1353 0.08 of trials for given Thorndike modeling is
0.9 12.6 1.1556 1.0750 0.0853
analogous to number of ants. That considering
ACS behavior adopting ANT- density
Virtual initial infinite
error value
algorithm for solving TSP.
120
Finally, the presented model seems to take
100
into account the mixed learning paradigms
80
constituted of reinforcement learning, [8],
Average number
error correction, [9], and interaction with
environmental conditions, [10].
60
of training cycles

40

20
Minimum error limit
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

4 illustrates the relations between

error values and adaptive learning rate
values indicating the increase of stored
experience in biological neural
systems. Fig.5 Number of cycles required to
reach optimum rated to the total
The model performance learning curve is number of ants adapted from, [7].
shown at the above figure. This figure
illustrate, modeling similarity to the 4. Ant colony system modeling
approximated original learning performance
curve shown at Fig.2. The learning rate This section briefly introduces analysis of
parameter (η(m)) is changed as a function of behavioral learning process of ACS. that
training cycles number (m) in accord with the analysis considers solving TSP on the basis of
following formula: natural ecological observations in an ant
⎛ −m
⎞ colony model ,[11]. Additionally, interesting
⎜1− e τ ⎟ analysis of some recently published work is
η ( m) = η 0 ⎜ −m ⎟
(1)
⎜1+ e τ ⎟ taken into account, [1].
⎝ ⎠ Referring to Fig.3 shown at section 2 this
where m is number of training cycles figure illustrates the speed response for
during learning process simulating Thorndike's Thorndike's excremental work. Obviously for
experimental work. η0 is maximum learning different individuals (cats) the maximum
rate for our case equals 0.9, and τ is the search reached response speed may differ from some
time for the cat to get out from its cage to individual to another. This different response
obtain food it is suggested to equals unity. speed is analogous to different communication
Referring to this formula, it is noticed that levels among agents (artificial ants) as shown
maximum value of learning rate parameter at the following figure in blow. It is worthy to
converges to 0.9, as number of learning cycles note that communication among agents of
increases. So, this model provides realistic artificial ants model develops different speed

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

values to obtain an optimum solution

considering variable number of agents (ants).

Fig.7 Graphical representation of

learning performance of ACS model
with different communication levels ( ).

Fig. 6: Communication determines a The above sit of sigmoid functions could be

synergistic effect with different conversely presented as a set of normalized
communication levels among agents decay exponential curves given by following
leads to different values of average formula where suggested (ηi) as individual
speed. differences factor. These differences are
suggested to be as one of factors (ηi). These
Consequently as this set of curves reaches factors could be presented in case of
different normalized optimum speed to get considering different learning performance
TSP solution (either virtually or actually) the curves (when normalized) as follows:
solution is obtained by different number of y(n)= exp(-ηi(n-1)) (4)
ants, so this set could be mathematically Where (n) is the number of training cycles.
formulated by following formula: That set of curves is illustrated graphically at
figure 8 given in blow.
⎛ 1 − e−λ n ⎞
f (n) = α ⎜⎜ ⎟
−λ n ⎟
(2)
⎝1+ e ⎠
where α is an amplification factors
representing asymptotic value for maximum
average speed to get optimized solutions and λ
in the gain factor changing in accords with
communication between ants. However by this
mathematical formulation of that model
normalized behavior it is shown that by
changing of communication levels
(represented by λ) that causes changing of the Fig.8 illustrates different learning
speeds for reaching optimum solutions. In performance curves for the examples
given figure 6 in blow, it is illustrated that
given considering normalization of
normalized model behavior according to
output response values adapted from,
following equation.
[13].
y(n)= (1-exp(-λi(n-1)))/ (1+exp(-λi(n-1)))
(3)
5. Conclusions
where λi represents one of gain factors
(slopes) for sigmoid function.
According to above animal learning
experimental work (Thorndike's cat), and its
analysis and evaluation by ANNs modeling,
agree well as for ACS, optimization process.
Also, the performance of both (ants and cats)
is similar to that for latency time minimized by
increasing of number of trials, [4].

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Referring to, [6], therein, shown that both [9] Haykin, S. 1999, Neural Networks, Englewood
work for Thorndike and Pavlov are supporting Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall pp 50-60.
each other for learning performance, [3],[4]. [10] Fukaya, M., et al., 1988: Two level Neural
So, it is obvious that both obeys generalize Networks: Learning by Interaction with
Environment, 1st ICNN, San Diego.
(LMS) algorithm for error minimization by
[11]Dorigo, M. et al, 1997: Ant colonies for the
learning convergence, [4]. Also, that algorithm traveling salesman problem, at web site
agrees with the behavior of brainier mouse www.iridia.ulb.ac.be/dorigo/aco/ aco.html
behavior (that is genetically reformed) as [12] Hassan, H. M., On principles of biological
shown at, [13]. Additionally; adaptation information processing concerned with learning
equations for all of presented systems in the convergence mechanism in neural and non neural
above are running in agreement with dynamic bio-systems" Published at CIMCA 05 ,28-30
behavior of each other. Moreover, the learning Nov.2005,Vienna ,Austria.
algorithms for suggested systems are close to [13] Hassan, H. M., 2005: On quantitative
each other with similar iterative steps (either mathematical evaluation of long term Potentiation
and depression phenomena, using neural network
explicitly or implicitly). Finally, it is precious
modeling, published at SimMod 2005, pp.237 –
to note that the rate of increase of speed of 241.
response is analogous to rate for reaching [14] H. M. Hassan "On Learning Performance
optimum average speed in ACS optimization Evaluation for Some Psycho-Learning
process. Moreover, the increase on number of Experimental Work versus an Optimal Swarm
artificial ants is analogous to number of trials Intelligent System." Published at IEEE -
in Pavlov’s and Thorndike's work, as shown at Symposium on Signal Processing and Information
[1],[6],[14]. On the basis of above learning Technology ISSPIT 2005 Fifth Symposium held
algorithmic models, the issue of optimal during 18-20 Dec. 2005, Athens – Greece.
methodology for teaching how to read has [15]H. M. Hassan, et al, "Towards Evaluation of
Phonics Method for Teaching of Reading Using
been recently investigated, [15].
Artificial Neural Networks (A Cognitive Modeling
Approach)",to be published at IEEE Symposium on
References Signal Processing and Information Technology
ISSPIT 2007 , Seventh Symposium , 15-18 Dec.
[1]H. M. Hassan, 2004.” On evolutional study of 2007,Cairo-Egypt.
comparative analogy between swarm smarts and
neural network systems (part 1), published at NICA
2004, Natural inspired computer and applications,
Hiefe, China,
[2]Simon Garnier, Jacques Gautrais, and
Guy Theraulaz, 2007 “The biological principles of
swarm intelligence "Swarm Intelligence Journal
Volume 1, Number 1 / June, pp.3-31
[3] Thorndike E.L., 1911: Animal Intelligence,
Darien, Ct. Hafner. October 24-29
[4] Pavlov, I.P., 1927: Conditional Reflex, An
Investigation of The Psychological Activity of the
Cerebral Cortex, New York, Oxford University
press.
[5] Hampson, S.E., 1990: Connectionistic Problem
Solving, Computational Aspects of Biological
Learning, Berlin, Birkhouser..
[6] Hassan H. and Watany M.,2003: on
comparative evaluation and analogy for Pavlovian
and Throndikian psycho-learning experimental
processes using bioinformatics modeling, AUEJ,
6,3, 424-432, July.
[7] Alberto C., et al., 1991: Distributed
optimization by ant colonies. Proceeding of
ECAL91, Elsevier Publishing pp 134-142.
[8] Mariarty,E.D et al,1999: Evolvolutionary
algorithms for reinforcement learning, journal of
AI research 11:241-276.

89

A Multivariate Statistical Approach to Analyze Nursing Errors
Xiaochun Jiang, BaaSheba Rice, Gerald Watson, and Eui Park
North Carolina A & T State University
xjiang@ncat.edu
Abstract
Healthcare has been a contributing factor for
the increasing lifespan in the United States and
around the world. However, the healthcare
industry has also seen medical errors that have
serious consequences. Nursing errors are one of
the problems. As the U.S. faces shortage of
nurses, it is more important to identify the
causes for such errors and provide suggestions to
improve the situation. This research aims to
investigate the relationship between some key
factors that contribute to various nursing errors.
Data from a voluntary medication error
reporting system at a local hospital were
collected and analyzed. A multiway frequency
analysis was applied to study the relationship
among the variables. Results indicated that there
was no significant fifth order or fourth order
association among the five variables that were
identified. However, two third order, five second
order, and five first order associations were
found to be significant. These findings will help
researchers to focus on those critical
associations and better design interventions to
reduce nursing errors in the future.
1. Introduction
The healthcare industry plays an important
role in the world. Over the years, the healthcare
industry has achieved some success as
evidenced from the fact that the average lifespan
worldwide during the second half of the 20th
century has increased by 20 years. Healthcare
industry also provides employment opportunities
for a large number of people with a variety of
skill and educational levels.
Among all the employees in the healthcare
industry, nurses have the largest number. Nurses
play a crucial function in healthcare. They provide
patients with guidance and interpretation of orders,
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
test and laboratory results, and medication
instructions. The growth in the number of and the
wages earned by employed Registered Nurses (RN)
mirror the growth of the healthcare industry. For
instance, employment by registered nurses
increased by 5.4 percent during a 3 year period
from 2003 to 2005. This growth rate was 84 percent
greater than the overall growth rate of total number
of employees which grew by only 2.9 percent
during that same 3 year period [1].
Unfortunately, along with the rapid growth of
the healthcare industry comes the startling
number of medical errors. It has been estimated
that medical errors result in the deaths of
between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital patients
annually [2]. Furthermore, medical errors do not
occur in just hospitals but in all settings, such as
nursing facilities, individual homes, pharmacies,
physician’s offices and urgent care facilities. As
a result of the increasing nature of diagnostic
tests and the more complex work environment,
the potential for these errors has become more
and more serious and life threatening [3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8]
Over the years, studies revealed that a large
number of medical errors were preventable. For
instance, the results of one study indicated that
more than two-thirds of the adverse events were
preventable [4]. Another study estimated that
almost half of the annual cost of 37.6 billion
dollars due to medical errors was associated with
errors that were preventable [2].
Given the important role nurses play in the
healthcare industry, more attention needs to be
given to nursing errors. For instance, the factors
that contribute to nursing errors need to be
investigated. The causes of the nursing error
vary and usually consist of many factors. This
nature of the nursing error indicates that
multivariate statistical analysis instead of
univariate statistics is needed to study nursing
errors [9].

This research aims to study the relationship
among some key variables that was identified to
be factors that contribute to nursing errors and
identify the key associations that need to be
prioritized. Data from a local hospital were
collected and analyzed in this study.
2. Methodology
2.1 Sampling and data collection
Nursing error data in this study were collected
from a large hospital located in the southeast
region. A voluntary reporting system for
reporting medication errors was used in the
hospital. The form used in this hospital is similar
to the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Medication
Error Reporting Form which is commonly used
to report medication errors to the USP.
A random sample of 6000 medical variances
(errors) that spanned a 4 year period was
collected from the hospital. Based on the
literature review and the availability of
information, the following variables were
identified and selected in the sample: (1) day of
the week, (2) the appearance of the medication
on the list of high risk medication or confused
names, (3) type of error, and (4) variance
category. Initially reports had a time that the
error was committed but it was thought that this
information was incorrect so this information is
no longer reported. It is assumed that the
medication error occurred on the same day that
was reported.
Day of the week provides information of on
what day of the week the nursing error occurred.
Its values include Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
High-risk medications, as defined by the
Institute of Safe Medication practices, are drugs
that bear a heightened risk of causing significant
patient harm when it is used in error. Examples
on the list of High Risk Medications include
insulin and oxycotin, if given intravenously.
Confused drug names are those that have look-
alike and sound-alike name pairs and consists
only of those name pairs that have been involved
in medication errors published in the ISMP
Medication Safety Alert. An example of a pair
of drugs on this list includes Cedex and Cidex.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
The types of nursing error relate to the 5 R’s --
right patient, right dose, right medication, right
route and right time – of medication
administration, The values that this variable
could have include, Medication incorrect,
Omitted medication, Dose/Rate incorrect, Other,
Extra medication, Medication given to wrong
patient, Time that medication was administered
was incorrect, Route incorrect, Label incorrect,
and Order manipulation.
Variance categories of the error (i.e.
dispensing variance, prescribing variance, and
medication administration variance), and reasons
and contribution factors (i.e. dosage or rate
incorrect, wrong medication, extra medication,
label incorrect, wrong patient and etc.) for such
variance to occur, and severity of the variance
were recorded in the form by the nurses. To
better understand the variances defined in the
form, Table 1 provides more detailed description
of the categories of the variances. Variances are
classified into categories from A to I.
Categories A and B are used to identify process
improvement issues and represent near misses.
Categories E through I usually require the
immediate notification of risk management.
2.2 Statistical Analysis
All the variables identified in this study were
discrete in nature.
2.2.1 Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistics for the five discrete
variables can be seen in Tables 2 through 6.
Results indicated that the occurrence of errors is
not evenly distributed across all the days of the
week. Wednesdays have the most number of
errors and Sundays have the least as shown in
Table 2.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 1. Categories of the variances Table 2 Descriptive statistics for

day of the week
Category A: Circumstances that have the
Day of the
capacity to cause error.
week Frequency Proportion
Category B: An error occurred but did not Sunday 544 9.1%
reach the patient.
Monday 932 15.5%
Category C: An error occurred that reached
the patient but did not cause patient harm. Tuesday 1013 16.9%

Category D: An error occurred that reach the

Wednesday 1073 17.9%
patient and required monitoring to confirm Thursday 965 16.1%
that it resulted no harm to the patient and/or
required intervention to preclude harm. Friday 845 14.1%
Saturday 633 10.5%
Category E: An error occurred that may have
contributed to or resulted in temporary harm Total 6005 100%
to the patient and required intervention
Table 3 Descriptive statistics for type of error
Category F: An error occurred that may have
contributed to or resulted in temporary harm Type of error Frequency Proportion
to the patient and required initial or prolonged 1= Medication 879 14.6%
hospitalization. Incorrect
Category G: An error occurred that may 2= Omitted 1345 22.4%
have contributed to or resulted in permanent Med
patient harm. 3= Dose/Rate 1456 24.2%
Category H: An error occurred that required Incorrect
intervention necessary to sustain life. 4=Other 448 7.5%
Category I: An error occurred that may have 5= Extra Med 521 8.7%
contributed to or resulted in the patient’s
6= Wrong 642 10.7%
death.
Patient
7= Time 257 4.3%
Regarding the type of errors, three error types
contributed more than three-fifths of the total Incorrect
errors (61.2 percent) as indicated in Table 3. 8= Route 167 2.8%
These three error types were incorrect Incorrect
medication, omitted medication and incorrect 1.9%
dose or rate. 9= Label 117
Incorrect
10= Order 173 2.9%
Manipulation
Total 6005 100%

As reported in Table 4, less than one eighth of

the errors involved high risk medications (11.7
percent).

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

In terms of variance, category C has the 2.2.2 Inferential statistics

largest frequency as shown in Table 6.
Table 5 showed that about three fourth of the A five way exploratory multi-way frequency
errors involved confused name medication. analysis was performed to develop a hierarchical
log-linear model that explains the relationship
Table 4 Descriptive statistics for between five variables: day of the week, high
high risk medication risk medication, confused name medication, type
of error, and variance.
High Risk Multiway frequency analysis is a multivariate
Medication Frequency Proportion statistical technique that is used to discover if
there is an association among the discrete
0 = Low 5301 88.3% variables and to develop a model of expected
cell frequencies that best predicts the observed
1 = High 704 11.7%
frequencies with the minimum number of
Total 6005 100% associations.
Since there are five variables in this research,
Table 5 Descriptive statistics for thirty one (1 fifth order association, 5 fourth
variance category order association, 10 third order association, 10
second order association, and 5 first order
association) hypotheses were tested. For
Variance instance, the following hypotheses were used to
category Frequency Proportion test the fifth order relationship:
1=A 306 5.1%
H0: There is no relationship among day of the
2=B 2026 33.7% week, high risk medication, confused name
medication, type of error, and variance category.
3=C 2567 42.7% Ha: There exists a relationship among these
4=D 976 16.3% variables.

5=E 85 1.4% 3. Results

6=F 35 0.6%
A multiway frequency analysis using the
7=G 6 0.1% maximum likelihood ratio statistic (G2) was
8=H 4 0.1% used to analyze the data. Results showed that
there was neither significant fifth order
Total 6005 100.00% association among the five variables nor any
fourth order association among them.
Table 6 Descriptive statistics for However, there were significant associations
confused names among day of the week, high risk medication,
and type of errors (G2=287.85, p<0.001), and
among confused name, high risk medication,
Confused name
and variance category (G2=217.34, p<0.001).
medication Frequency Proportion
At the 0.05 level of significance, the second
0 = Yes 4348 72.4% order effect tests revealed that there were
significant associations between high risk
1 = No 1657 27.6% medication and type of error, confused name
Total 6005 100.00% medication and high risk medication, day of the
week and type of error, high risk medication and
confused name medication, and high risk
medication and variance category.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

In addition, all the first order effects were medication safety system – preventing high risk
medication errors at the point of care,”
found to be significant. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34, pp. 437-439.

4. Discussion [6] J. Narumi, S. Miyazawa, H. Miyata, A. Suzuki,A.

Kohsaka, and H. Kosugi, (1999) “Analysis of human
error in nursing care,” Accident Analysis and
One of the important findings of this research Prevention 31, pp. 625-629.
is that there was no significant fifth order or
[7] M.C., Balas, L. Scott, and A.E. Rogers, (2004)
fourth order association among the five variables “The Prevalence and Nature of Errors and Near
studied. However, significant effects were found Errors Reported by Hospital Nurses,” pp. 224-230.
for two significant third order associations, five
second order associations and five first order [8] J. Osborne, K. Blais, and J. Hayes, (1999)
“Nurses’ perceptions: When is it a medication error?”
associations. These findings will help Journal of Nursing Administration, 29(4), pp. 33-38.
researchers to focus on those related variables in
order to develop interventions to reduce nursing [9] B. Tabachnick, and L. Fidell, (2001), “Using
Multivariate Statistics,” 4th edition. Allyn & Bacon,
errors. Needham Heights, MA.
Another thing that needs to be pointed out is
that multiway frequency analysis can also
provide insight to the nature of the relationship.
For instance, results from the multiway
frequency analysis can help predict which
category of a variable a case of nursing error
will fall into if a category of another variable
this case falls into is given. Such information,
then, will provide assistance and guide the
researchers to conduct further analysis.

5. References

[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of

Labor, “Census of Employment and Wages,” http://0-
www.statisticalwarehouse.com.sheba.ncat.edu/
Last retrieved on 5/19/2007.

[2] L. Kohn, J. Corrigan, and M. Donaldson, eds,

(2000) “To err is human: building a safer health
system,” Institute of Medicine.

[3] J., Ioannidis, and J. Lau, (2001) “Evidence on

interventions to reduce medical errors,” Journal of
General Internal Medicine, 16, pp. 325-334.

[4] L., Leape, A., Lawthers, T. Brennan, and W.

Johnson, (1993) “Preventing Medical Injury,”
Quality Review Bulletin, 19, pp.144-149.

[5] E., Lambert, (1978), “Modern Medical Mistakes,”

University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.
[6] J. Reinertsen, (2000) “Lets talk about error,”
British Medical Journal, 320, pp. 730-735.

[7] I., Hatcher, M. Sullivan, J. Hutchinson, S.

Thurman, and F. Gaffney, (2006) “An intravenous

94

Implementing Innovative Performance Improvement Practices:
Effects of Workplace Deception
Jerry W. Koehler
University of South Florida
jkoehler@coba.usf.edu
Abstract
Successfully implementing
innovative performance improvement practices
in the United States has been a difficult journey.
Significant resistance to quality initiatives have
been reported by researchers and practitioners
alike. They have attempted to identify causes of
resistance, such as the Lack of top management
commitment. This article hypothesis posits the
primary cause for the lack of success in
American companies is due to cultures that are
embedded with workplaces deception. And the
first priority for companies in the United States
is to develops culture that remove the presence
of workplace deception,
1. Introduction
Although companies in the United
States have adopted innovative performance
improvement practices, why have practices such
as, quality circles, total quality management, six
sigma, Lean, etc., received mixed results and
even failure? Surveys conducted of Gittleman
et.a.l. (1998) and Osterman (2000) found that
while organization’s innovative work practices,
they are “still far from being widely accepted,”
(Erickson and Jacoby; 2003). From their
research and theoretical perspective, Erickson
and Jacoby (2000), “employee networks - -
social ties to individual outside the
establishment - - play an important role in
innovation diffusion and organizational
learning”. We do not take issue with the
Erickson and Jacoby findings. Establishing solid
networks both outside and inside the company
can be very helpful in creating successful work
practices. However, we maintain that the real
challenge to implementing successful innovative
performance improvement practices is to
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Thomas W. Philippe
University of Houston, Clear Lake
philippet@uhcl.edu
overcome organization cultures that foster
deception in the workplace.
The purpose of this article is to develop
a theory to explain why deception is a
significant organization behavior variable that is
organized in US organization cultures that
prevents innovative performance improvement
practices from being successful, we will first
define workplace deceptions. Second, identify
the problem. Third, advance a hypothesis.
Fourth, provide a discussion supporting the
hypothesis, followed by a summary and
suggestions for future research.
2. Defining of Workplace Deception
Workplace deception is a broad term
that signifies the intentional misleading of
another causing them to believe something that
is not true it is (Grover, 1993, Bok, 1978). In the
workplace, an employee intentionally deceives
management and/or another worker for the
purpose of deflecting the truth in order to protect
themselves from embarrassment and/or the
cause of an error. Such behavior is quite
common in the workplace primarily to protect
employees from being blamed for a mistake.
Deception is sometimes associated with
a more harsh definition that includes “lying”
(BOK, 1978). In the workplace however,
deception is not likely to associate to be
associated with plain lying. For example, we
(Phillipe and Koehler, 2005) many subjects were
comfortable with not coming forth with the
whole truth. As one manager stated, “you would
have to be fool to tell them everything.” Another
employee stated, “What management doesn’t
know won’t hurt them.”

3. Issues
Innovative performance improvement
practices require no intentional deceptions by
management and employees. Success is not
achieved with smoke and mirrors, half truth and
acts that cause another to be mislead. In fact, it
is just the opposite. For quality improvement to
be successful, truth at all levels of the
organization must be achieved. There can be no
inconsistency between one’s professed standards
and the operating standard’s. Newman (1986)
asserts that such inconsistency between exposed
commitment not reflected by corresponding
actions creates disconnects that causes
organization members to question their
credibility. “Disconnects” in performance
improvement initiatives are absolutely deadly.
The effects of disconnects create a culture of
mistrust and is likely to prevent quality
initiatives from being successful (Philippe and
Koehler 2005).
In a nutshell, the problem facing
companies in the United States from
successfully implementing innovative
performance practices is that many organization
continue foster a culture of workplace deception.
Workplace deception cultures emerged early in
the past century, when organization cultures
were manifested by management versus labor.
Workplace deception cultures emerged
early in the last century and were manifested by
management – labor disputes. Also, the culture
in the United States is very individual oriented
and tends to be more tolerable of deception
methods as opposed to a collective orientation
that prevail in other culture. (XXXX)
4. Hypothesis
When making a hotel reservation,
obtaining a credit card, securing a bank loan,
purchasing a car, etc., should the organization’s
representative disclose hidden chargers? In all
likelihood, the policy of the organization is: “If a
person doesn’t specifically ask, don’t disclose
“hidden” information.” In fact, an employee
would likely be reprimanded for volunteering
information. Management creates a double
standard by requiring employees to fully
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
disclose detrimental information. It appears that
deception in the workplace is acceptable in some
situations, but not in others. This attitude creates
a culture that often makes it extremely difficult
for organizations to be successful in achieving a
quality culture where any deception is contrary
to implementing a quality Philosophy.
This article advances that one of the
most significant causes of failing to implement
successful innovative performance improvement
practices is workplace deception. We
hypothesize that creating a culture absent of
workplace deception is a required for successful
implementation of innovative performance
improvement practices.
5. Discussion
Organization culture is defined as a
shared set of beliefs, values, assumptions and
patterns of behavior (Ouchi, 1981, p.150). Deal
and Kennedy (1982, p.4) regard corporate
culture as the cohesion of values, myths, heroes,
rituals, and symbols, that have come to mean the
essence of the company. Strong organizational
culture reduces organizational uncertainties and
facilitates a common explanation of the system
among the organization’s employees. It creates a
common social order in which each person has a
clear expectation of his duties. Further it
connects employees to a collective identity and
purpose (Trice and Beyer, 1993; Cameron and
Quinn, 1999, p.4). If an organization is
implementing a quality initiative, a strong
culture of common workplace deception will
become an obstacle and will lead employees to
perceive a disconnection between what
management says and what they actually do.
Cameron and Quinn (1999) report there
are several “scientific studies that suggest a
positive relationship between dimensions of
organizational culture and organizational
effectiveness (1999, p.5). The effects of the
organizational culture on individuals are well
documented (Kozloski, Chao, Smith and
Hedlund, 1993). When individual and the
organization values are harmonious, a
tremendous amount of energy is created. On the
other hand, when values such a quality are not
harmonious, commitment and productivity are
threatened. Inconsistency or incongruence over

quality values results in conflict, false
expectations and diminished capacity (Kouzes
and Pozner, 1993, p.121). Kotter and Heskett
(1992) argue that organizations with adaptive,
performance enhancing cultures out performed
non-adaptive, unhealthy ones precisely because
of the emphasis on attending to their
constituencies. These constituencies can be
described as the organization’s customers,
stockholders and employees. They found, by
contrast, that in organizations with non-adaptive
and unhealthy cultures, most managers are
motivated by self interest and deception
becomes a common organization behavior.
In our studies on hypocrisy (Phillipe and
Koehler, 2005) we found promoting self
interests tend to be common and perceived to be
acceptable. Our findings are supported by
agency theory which assumes that individual
behavior is guided by self-interest (Eisenhardt,
1989). Conflict emerges when the agent
interprets the situation differently that the
principal and feels it is acceptable to protect
their self-interest. Further, our finding is
supported by ethical ambivalence theory (Jansen
and Gilnow, 1985). This theory assumes that
individual ethical behavior is a function of self-
interest. Deception, although unethical, appears
to be acceptable if it is in your self-interest, e.g.,
ENRON.
Kouzes & Posner (1993) Cite a survey
conducted for the American Society of Quality
Control (ASQC) by the Gallup organization.
Fifty-five percent of employees surveyed
reported that their companies stated that it was
extremely important to show their customers
that they are committed to quality. However,
only 36 percent of the respondents stated that the
company followed through extremely well on
this commitment. When asked if their companies
considered making quality everyone’s top
priority as extremely important, 53 percent
stated yes. But only 35 percent said the company
was actually doing very well in that arena (1993,
p.39). When the perception of leadership action
falls behind leadership promises, the credibility
gap widens. This gap induces perceptions of
workplace deception.
Quality initiatives are likely to be
successful when employees manage by facts.
This principle is often cited by organizations.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
However, management by fact is not often
achieved. It is more likely that employees in a
deceptive workplace culture will ignore the facts
or provide deceptive explanations to mitigate
negative reactions. Bies, Shapiro, and
Cummings (1998) and Shapirom Buttner and
Barry (1994) found that Lies, excuses and
stories are used to reduce conflict and mitigate
negative effects of a decision or action. When
failures or harmful outcomes occur, those
involved may lose a great deal of status, power,
credibility and their competence may come in to
question (Sitkin & Bies, 1993; Sutton &
Callahan, 1987). Deceptive explanations can
serve to plausibly deny responsibility for the
problem (Sitkin & Bies, 1993; Browning &
Folger, 1993). However, such explanations only
prevent success in implementing quality goals.
The seduction of misleading excuses or
conceiving stories to protect one’s status can
cause serious harm to the organization.
Most change management specialists
advance that change initiatives must be led to
top management. Top management actions have
to be consistent with their exposed views. We
argue that even when top management is on
aboard; it does not create a culture absent of
deception in the workplace. Top management
actions are pivotal, but do not overcome a
culture that foster deception. For top
management to expose quality and to ignore
fundamental assumptions made by employees is
a mistake. The first step in initiating innovative
performance improvement practices is to create
a culture where employee deception is not a
common organization behavior. When cultures
are able to cultivate an environment of openness
and honesty where removal of blame and
retribution are absent. Organizations that
remove workplace deception are more likely to
be successful in creating cultures that achieve
innovative performance improvement practices.
6. Summary and Future Research
This article hypothesizes that creating a
culture that minimizes workplace deception is a
requirement for successfully implementing
innovative performance improvement practices.
It provides reasoning and research to support our
hypothesis. It suggests the companies in the

United States much meet the challenge of
removing workplace deception in their culture if
they are going to be successful in implementing
performance improvement initiatives such as
Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, and
Lean.
Future research should focus on the
development of a workplace deception
measurement instrument once the instrument is
validated, a test of the proposed hypothesis
could be tested by administering the instrument
in companies that have been successful and
unsuccessful in implementing innovative
performance improvement practices. If the
proposed theory is correct companies that are
successful should have cultures that are
significantly less in workplace deception.
7 References
Bies, R.J., Shapiro, D.L., & Cummings, L.L. 1988.
Causal accounts and managing organizational
conflict. Communication Research, 15, 381-399.
Bies, R.J. & Shapiro, D.L. 1998. Voiced and
Justification: Their influence on procedural fairness
judgments. Academy of Management Journal, 31,
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Osterman, P. 2000. “Work Reorganization in an Era
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Phillippe, T.W. and Koehler, J.W. 2005. A Factor
Analytical Study of Perceived Organizational
Hypocrisy. SAM Advanced Management Journal.
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Shapiro, D.L. 1991. The effects of explanations on
negative reactions to deceit. Administrative Science
Quarterly. 36, 614-630.

Developing an Information Strategy for Civil Aviation Competitiveness: The
Joint Technical Data Integration (JTDI) Project at Morgan State University
Cynthia Brown-LaVeist, S.K. Hargrove, J. Doswell, Deborah Ihezie
Morgan State University, Juxtopia
LaVeistinc@netzero.com
Abstract
The objective of the Joint Technical Data
Integration (JTDI) project at Morgan State
University is to demonstrate specific Department
of Defense advances in aviation maintenance
and aircraft availability in ways that would
benefit the civil aviation community. This
project will describe a research strategy to
configure an information and system
architecture to assist the civil aviation industry
through a collaborative project of academia,
industry, and government.
1. Introduction
The aviation industry utilizes vast amounts of
paper aircraft maintenance documents. The
conversion to a paperless environment provides
maintenance data that is more organized and
easily accessible. The Joint Technical Data
Integration (JTDI) system is a 3-three-tiered
web-enabled Delivery Management System that
provides updated maintenance information to
individuals in the field of aviation. The Unites
States Military utilizes JTDI to deliver
Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals
(IETM) to its pilots. These electronic manuals
are accessed on demand electronically by
Portable Electronic Display Devices (PEDDs)
rather than pull maintenance information from
stacks of paper manuals [1].
2. Background
The Joint Technical Data Integration (JTDI)
system is a 3-three-tiered web-enabled Delivery
Management System that provides updated
maintenance information to individuals in the
field of aviation.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
The JTDI system was developed by the Naval
Aviation Systems Command in 1998 to alleviate
the use of aviation maintenance paper based
processes. The military wanted a system to
improve communication and data reliability
among support groups. These groups consisted
of weapon systems program offices and soldiers
[1].
The key components of the JTDI system are:
ƒ Deployable caching servers. These
servers provide automatic technical
manual data updates.
ƒ Deployable test systems. These systems
receive technical manual updates from a
caching server and supply the manual
information to the Portable Electronic
Display Devices (PEDDs) at the
worksite.
ƒ Portable Electronic Display Devices
(PEDDs) also known as Portable
Electronic Maintenance Aid (PEMA)
display the technical manual
information to the maintainer at the
worksite.
• TechCam capabilities. Real-time
collaboration tools to communicate with
technical representatives and subject
matter experts.
The JTDI system design utilizes Commercial
Off the Shelf (COTS) hardware and software
products, which can be easily upgraded over
time.

Through the efforts of Morgan State
University School of Engineering, the Intergraph
Corporation and the NASA funded Chesapeake
Information Based Aeronautics Consortium
(CIBAC), the JTDI system was implemented at
Morgan State University in December 2007. A
second Morgan State JTDI system was
implemented at the Intergraph Corporation in
Patuxent River, Maryland.
3. Objective
The research objective is to determine what
roles the JTDI technology can play in civil
aviation. JTDI can impact flight safety when
integrated with civil aviation maintenance.
Examples are:
ƒ Increase the effectiveness of information
through Dynamic Personalized Data
Delivery. JTDI can provide the right
data to the right user at the right time.
ƒ Enable continuous access to
aviation/aircraft/safety data by aircraft
operators and maintainers.
ƒ Provide aircraft operators and
maintainers with powerful search tools
so they can effectively execute their
mission.
Through research of the civil aviation
maintenance process with the FAA and civil
airline companies, a determination of the best
adaptation of the JTDI system for civil aviation
will be obtained.
4. Morgan State JTDI Implementation
Morgan State University has two JTDI
systems. One system is located at Morgan State
University School of Engineering in Baltimore,
MD. The second JTDI system is located at the
Intergraph Corporation in Patuxent River,
Maryland. These redundant systems are
implemented in 3 tiers. The top, middle and
PEMA level tiers synchronize to provide the
maintenance data.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Figure1. The architecture of the JTDI system
Figure 1 displays three levels: the Data Owners,
JTDI (Top Tier and Mid Tier) and JTDI Users.
The Data Owners provide the data for the
system at the top tier. The Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs) provide supplemental
knowledge for the system data via video
conferencing at the top tier. The top tier also
provides a system help desk. The JTDI Users are
the on-site employees who are available to
provide the updated data to the war fighters [2].
The top tier capabilities are:
ƒ JTDI Top-Tiers are located at Morgan
State University and Intergraph at
Patuxent River Naval Station, MD
ƒ JTDI Top-Tiers have tech data caching
capacity
ƒ Top-Tiers are directly accessible via
web-based interfaces
ƒ Provides TechCam remote support
capability
ƒ Provides search capability or direct
synchronization via PEMA or work
station
ƒ Same standard look and feel on the Mid-
Tier/Top-Tier for each weapon system
ƒ Weapon system oriented Web sites with
standard look and feel for each weapon
system
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Deployable Test Systems are configured to

contain a wireless antenna, a router, a local
caching server and PEMAs (ruggedized
laptops). The PEMA level capabilities are:

• Provide wireless communication of data

to PEMA.

• Provide caching of data from top and mid

tiers.

• Provide TechCam support to maintainers.

Figure2. JTDI website [4]
Currently under research is an addition to
JTDI PEMA level which would provide
maintenance and TechCam information to
The JTDI mid-tier is optional in a JTDI wireless and wearable head mounted displays.
implementation. The mid-tier capabilities are: These goggles would provide hands free
maintenance information to the maintainer.
ƒ JTDI Top-Tier and Mid-Tier
synchronize data The data flow process of the JTDI system is
done in the following process steps: The data
– Data delivered per site needs owner transfers the data to the top tier server via
e-mail, CD, or maintenance websites. The data
– Tech data library subscriptions owner gains access to the top tier through a web
and weapon systems at a given based user interface.
site
The top tier then caches the data from the data
ƒ Mid-Tier is accessible via a local LAN owner so it can be transported. Once the data is
stored on the top tier, JK Update software from
The PEMA level provides access to the JTTI the Joint Knowledge Caching Server (JKCS)
system IETMs via the Deployable Test System. pulls the information down from the top tier and
transfers it to the mid tier.

The mid tier server then synchronizes the data

from the top tier in order for the PEMAs to
access the data. The mid tier has an Internet
Information Services web service that acts as a
host server to all the data files. The Coveo
Enterprise Search™ engine allows access to the
data on the mid tier. The JK update software
transfers the data from the mid tier to the lower
tier. The PEMAs gain access to the updated data
via the Coveo Search™ Engine. The users can
detach the device from the network and use for
their on-site needs [2].
Figure3. JTDI Deployable Test System (PEMA
LEVEL)

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

5. Methodology carriers. The Federal Aircraft Regulations

(FARs) for civil aircraft maintenance are:
Utilize a Systems Engineering Approach
ƒ Part 121 – Operating Requirements:
Domestic, Flag, and Supplemental
Operations.

ƒ Part 125 – Certification and Operations:

Airplanes Having a Seating Capacity of
20 or More Passengers or a Payload
Capacity of 6,000 Pounds or More.

ƒ Part 135 – Operating Requirements:

Commuter and On Demand Operations.

The FAA states that the maintenance

document procedures for civil aviation are
varied from carrier to carrier.

ƒ Some carriers are fully automated for

maintenance documents.
Figure4. System Development Lifecycle [5]
ƒ Some carriers are still using paper
To research of the civil aviation maintenance
methods.
process and determine the best adaptation of the
JTDI system for civil aviation, a systems
ƒ Many carriers are in transition from
engineering approach will be used. (See Figure
paper method to automated methods.
4) This approach requires the standard phases of
analysis, design, development and
The cost of a “civil” JTDI system will be a
implementation as well as incorporates review
major consideration. The cost of deployment of
steps at the end of each phase.
the JTDI system was approx 1 Million. It is
expected that many carriers cannot afford this
Documentation of the current civil aviation
cost.
maintenance process will be obtained from FAA
and civil aviation companies. The FAA approves
During the requirements and design phase,
the document maintenance procedures for all
two paths will be considered:
civil aviation companies.
ƒ “Right Sizing JTDI” - The JTDI
Requirements Analysis of an adapted JTDI
software, software processes and
system will be performed. The requirements
hardware can be right sized to
document will be used for the design of an
accommodate a more reasonable cost.
adapted JTDI system.
ƒ “JTDI Service” – The current JTDI
Lean Six Sigma tools will be incorporated at
system can provide maintenance data to
each phase to enhance the research.
carriers as a service. The Morgan State
JTDI systems would be approved at the
6. Preliminary Results appropriate security levels and
After initial research with the FAA, the maintenance data would be provided to
following it was determined that FAA approves all approved requestors.
all civil aircraft maintenance programs for

102

The maintainer equipment is another
consideration. Currently JTDI provides
maintenance manuals on PEMAs (Laptop)
devices. Although PEMAs provide a
paperless method of obtaining information,
the maintainer can experience mobility
limitations with PEMAs when servicing
parts of an aircraft, such as the wing area.
Hands free devices will be researched to
supply data to maintainers, such as Head
Mounted Displays (HMDs).
REFERENCES
[1] Nathan Jones. “The Investigation of the JTDI’s
3-Tiered Hardware Architecture for the
Utilization of Data Acquisition and Abstraction
of Aviation Information”, 2007 CIBAC Summer
Institute Research Reports, August 2007
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
[2] Eddie Boyd, “The Investigation of Three-Tiered
COTS Software Technology for Utilization of
Data Acquisition and Abstraction of Aviation
Data”, 2007 CIBAC Summer Institute Research
Reports, August 2007
[3] S. Cummings 2000, Summer. Joint Technical
Data Integration Knowledge as a Force
Multiplier. The DISAM Journal. Summer
2000(issue), p. 57-59
[4] Joint Technical Data Integration
https://jatdi.redstone.army.mil/
[5] The System Development Lifecycle
http://ww2.cis.temple.edu/barampublic/sdlc.jpg

Dimensions of Service Quality for TV Satellite Channel Programs:
A Framework for Quality Improvement
Ashraf H. Galal
Qatar University
a.galal@qu.edu.qa
Abstract
There is no doubt that nowadays we are
living in the era of TV satellite channels. Mass
media has been transformed from a
communication medium to an enormous service
industry that needs to be monitored, controlled,
and improved. It is taken for granted that these
channels whether governmental or commercial
are directed by customer (viewer) orientation.
All these channels are seeking to develop and
improve their quality, but what type of quality?
to what extent? and how? This paper seeks to
explore and develop a deeper understanding of
the service quality dimensions of satellite
channel programs. These include Attractiveness;
Clarity; Diversity of Contents; Freedom;
Transparency; Balance; Convenience for Values
and Traditions; Accuracy; Respect;
Responsibility and Accountability; Usefulness;
and Persuasiveness.
This will then be utilized by the satellite
channels top management to enhance the quality
of the broadcasted programs and thus achieve
better customer (viewer) satisfaction.
Utilizing these dimensions, this paper also
presents a framework that can be used to
improve the service quality for the TV satellite
channel programs.
1. Introduction.
Satellite channel service is becoming
increasingly crucial to people and organizations
both for entertainment and information retrieval
as one of the basic forms of mass media.
Limited authors explained TV satellite channel
service in a process framework where it can be
monitored, controlled and thus improved. This
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Tamer A. Mohamed
British University in Egypt
tamer.mohamed@bue.edu.eg
makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to
manage.
A number of authors had explained
different quality systems in the form of quality
dimensions which constitutes the overall
perceptions of the word quality. These include
service systems as well as product
manufacturing systems; however, this paper
focuses on service systems.
Garvin [3, 4, and 5] were among the most
significant researchers in the area of defining
dimensions for quality. These researchers
identified eight competitive dimensions of
quality that could guide companies and
institutions in tackling their own quality. These
include performance, features, reliability,
conformance, durability, serviceability,
aesthetics, and perceived quality. Garvin also
declared that focusing on these dimensions; any
company/institution can differentiate itself from
their competitors. Other scholars and researchers
framed the word quality in the form of a number
of dimensions based on their perception to the
expression, as follows:
Minjoon, et al. [9] understood the
importance of in-depth investigation of what
customers perceive to be the key dimensions of
service quality and what impacts the identified
dimensions have on the customers' satisfaction.
The statistical analysis in their study identified a
total of four key online banking service quality
dimensions: courtesy, attentiveness/
attractiveness, reliable/prompt service, and
content.
Sebastianelli et al. [12] pointed out that
the factors (dimensions) which affect the quality
of online retailing include: homepage, online
product catalogue, order form, and customer
service and support.

Other researchers pointed out dimensions
like: reliability, convenience, diversity,
availability, responsiveness, empathy, post-
service, and security which will affect the
attraction of potential consumers to utilize
online retailing [15].
Hernon and Calvert [7] explored the
features and dimensions of library e-service
quality among university students. These
dimensions include: ease of use; web site
aesthetics; linkage; collections; reliability;
support; security/privacy/trust; ease of access;
flexibility; and customization/personalization.
Ma et al., [8] identified the dimensions of
service quality for the application service
providers industry through both qualitative and
quantitative approaches. Seven dimensions were
identified namely features; availability;
reliability; assurance; empathy; conformance;
and security.
Srikatanyoo and Gnoth [13] studied the
quality dimensions that drive students' choice of
international tertiary education providers among
Thai potential students. These dimensions were:
academic and supporting facilities, academic
staff performances, environmental conditions,
entry requirements, academic reputation of a
country, and academic reputation of domestic
institutions.
Bedi and Gaur [2] defined quality model
that addresses various dimensions of quality and
proposes a method to evaluate the quality of the
multi-agent distributed software system. This
was based on quality factor-criteria relationship.
Harroff and Valentine [6] explored and
developed thorough understanding of the quality
dimensions of Web-based adult education.
Through their study, dimensions of program
quality were found to be quality of instruction,
quality of administrative recognition, quality of
advisement, quality of technical support, quality
of advance information, and quality of course
evaluation.
Agus et al., [1] defined the dimensions of
service quality in the Malaysian public service
sector. Nine of the ten original service
dimensions identified by Parasuraman et al. [10]
were utilized to relate to distinctive features of
public-service quality. These dimensions are
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
tangibles; reliability; responsiveness;
competence; courtesy; credibility; access;
communication; and understanding the
customer. Defining the above dimensions made
it easy to establish relationships among service
quality, quality performance, and customer
satisfaction. This helps to highlight the need for
customer-oriented approaches that focus on
improving the delivery of the public-service
quality.
Rao et al., [11] investigated some
dimensions that can be used to measure the
quality of the knowledge management system
and to compare knowledge management system
quality across systems. The dimensions were
grouped into ontology dimensions, knowledge
item dimensions, knowledge retainer dimensions
and knowledge usage dimensions. Under each of
these groups, a number of dimensions were
presented with a definition and a way of
assessment or measurement. These sets of
quality dimensions appear to offer the possibility
of many benefits that will help to improve the
quality of service for such systems
From the above literature, it is clear that
defining service quality in the form of
dimensions can help achieve better quality
management, improve quality, and thus attain
customer satisfaction.
The purpose of this study is to identify and
define the basic dimensions of service quality in
the TV satellite channel programs. i.e. explores
the different dimensions that are critical to
service quality in satellite channel programs.
These are explored with an appropriate way of
assessment or measurement. Quality
dimensions definition is the first in a framework
for quality improvement of satellite channel
programs service. This framework is proposed
through the context of the paper to assist
monitor, control, and improve satellite channel
programs service quality. The following section
presents these quality dimensions. The quality
improvement framework for satellite channel
programs is shown in Section 3, followed by
conclusion and future research in Section 4 and
references in Section 5.

2. Multiple Dimensions of Service Quality
for TV Satellite Channel Programs.
In literature, there are no specific
definitions that match all of the TV satellite
channel programs service quality dimensions.
Review of related literature in the area of service
quality dimensions together with interviewing
mass media experts identify the following
dimensions that define the word quality in the
context of TV satellite channel programs. These
dimensions include Attractiveness; Clarity;
Diversity of Contents; Freedom; Transparency;
Balance; Convenience for values and traditions;
Accuracy; Respect; Responsibility and
Accountability; Usefulness; and Persuasiveness.
The authors of this paper try to state
(restate) the quality dimension definitions to
match the service quality of the satellite
channels. In what follows these dimensions will
be explained in more details.
2.1. Attractiveness
This includes the screen uniqueness and
creativeness in terms of structuring, organizing,
lighting, quality of reception, language, way of
presentation, usage of special sounds and music/
visual effect, editing techniques (linear or non
linear). This should be fulfilled in the channel
program, in the promo about the programs, or
about the channel itself.
2.2. Clarity
This is a dual concept. One related to the
format which has been already discussed in the
previous dimension (attractiveness). The other
concept is discussed in terms of: clarity of idea;
clarity of questions (simple/complicated/
sophisticated); clarity of answers; announcer
probing for the guest answers; and clarity of
conclusion.
2.3. Diversity of content
This dimension tries to measure the extent
by which the content of TV satellite channel
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
programs is diversified both demographically as
well as psycho-graphically.
Demographic diversity include: gender
(M/F); age (children/teenager/adult/
mature/elderly); areas (rural/urban/
cosmopolitan); income (low/moderate/ high);
occupation (professional/non-professional);
education (illiterate/ moderated/educated/ highly
educated); and SES (low profile/
moderate/high).
Psychographic diversity include leisure
time; life style; wishes; hobbies; traditions;
values; motives; drives; incentives; and instincts.
2.4. Freedom
This dimension tries to assess many other
items that collaborated in the end result of
freedom including:
- Areas, topics, issues of discussion which are
allowed/not allowed;
- Guests or speakers which are allowed/not
allowed;
- Types of guests in terms of their position
(official/governmental guests, current/ former
guests, opposition figures, public figures,
artists, stars …etc.)
- On air or recording programs
- The extent of cutting content of recorded
programs
- Allowance of receiving telephone calls/ e-
mails/ faxes on air
2.5. Transparency
This is one of the most important
dimensions due to the difficulty of assessment
because of its intangibility. This item can be
measured in terms of: freedom of interest or
benefit from the crew of the program to cover an
issue more than another; honesty in selecting
and covering issues in terms of the professional
criteria; freedom from any compliment in
selecting figures/guest speakers who are
participating in the programs; and finally
flexibility to announce facts, figures, evidence,
proofs…etc. as it is.

2.6. Balance
To what extent the channel is balanced in
dealing with the following areas: replying rights;
correction rights; representation of different
intellectual schools (capitalization, communism;
socialism; Islamic...etc); and representation of
minorities.
2.7. Convenience for values and traditions
This dimension is very difficult to assess
because it is a very respective item. What is
accepted in a certain time, environment, or
culture may be rejected in another. The authors
of this paper depend on measuring this item
from the point of customer/viewer personal
view. For example: the extent by which the
customer considers a specific channel is pro or
against his/her values and traditions.
2.8. Accuracy
This dimension reflects the extent by
which the satellite channel is respecting the
viewer/customer in the following items: the
accuracy of the time and duration of the
programs; the commitment with the program
plan; the interventions of the advertisements
which may interrupt or noise the viewer-ship
process; and the accuracy in covering topics and
issues.
2.9. Respect
This dimension measures how much the
channel respect the audience mentality in
mentioning figures and numbers, receiving real
or artificial mail or calls, utilizing artificial or
real guests, and forcing speakers to tell pre-
specified opinions.
2.10. Responsibility and accountability
It is not enough for the satellite channel to
be responsible for their programs, but also it
must be accountable enough for all the content
of the broadcasted programs. Responsibility and
Accountability is the other face of the coin of
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
freedom because, if the channel is targeting
freedom, it must be responsible enough for all of
its broadcasted programs. Intensive effort should
be made to assess the following aspects: types of
discussed topics/issues in terms of professional
criteria; commitment with its vision and
mission; achieving the strategic goals of the
channel; bias towards audience interest;
keenness of the channel to achieve significant
solutions for different customer problems; and
monitoring and evaluating its performance.
2.11. Usefulness
If all of the above dimensions are fulfilled,
the channel will be useful for all viewers, but
some items could be elaborated as a measure of
usefulness. This includes the extent by which the
channel programs achieved the communication
functions starting from the functional model [14]
to the modern functional school of
communication, which covers the following
items: the audience should be informed about
different important issues; the audience should
learn, be educated from the broadcasted
programs; they should achieve social heritage;
be entertained; and should be able to solve their
problems using program outcomes.
2.12. Persuasiveness
This is not actually a dimension but rather
an outcome. If all of the above dimensions are
highly fulfilled, the channel programs will
persuade the viewer.
3. Quality Improvement Framework.
Defining quality dimensions is the first
step in any service improvement model. It is
required to define the critical dimensions for
such service, assess the quality performance,
point out areas of malfunction, perform
improvement actions in these areas to improve
quality and thus achieve better customer
satisfaction. A framework for improving TV
satellite channel programs service quality
is presented in Figure 1 below. This framework
is divided into four parts:

(a) Dimension Defining and Ranking
(b) Measurement of service quality
(c) Ranking TV Satellite Channels
(d) Improvement take place
The framework starts by interviewing
media expert to recommend quality dimensions
for the TV satellite channel programs. In parallel
to this stage, literature review for the quality
dimensions in different service areas is
performed. These two steps help achieve a
comprehensive list of dimensions that define the
quality in TV satellite channel programs. Upon
achieving the list of dimensions, satellite
channels potential viewers should be surveyed to
prioritize/rank these dimensions with respect to
their perspectives. High priority dimensions
should achieve high top management attention.
Following this, each channel performance
should be assessed using customer surveying
and content analysis. Customer surveying will
reveal the quality performance of the channel
programs from the customer point of view,
whereas, content analysis will explain the
quality performance from the expert
perspectives. Using these two prospects should
in turn help to improve the reliability of the
collected data.
Knowing the performance of each channel
in each dimension and the importance of each
quality dimension, it will be easy to rank the
channels based on an overall score that depends
on both the importance of each dimension and
the quality performance of such dimension. This
will help achieve a list of ranked channels with
respect to customer and mass media expert
opinions.
Malfunctioning dimensions (low score in
performance and high score in importance)
should require top management focus to carry
out a list of recommended improvement actions
that will help enhance quality and achieve better
customer satisfaction.
The above improvement process is not a
one shot process but rather a continuous process
that can repeat itself as necessary to achieve not
only customer satisfaction but also delight.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
4. Conclusions and Future Research
The authors were highly interested to
answer the question what is a “good quality”
television program for audience? Viewers differ
in the ways in which they assess the quality of a
program, and are the best judge of what
considered suitable. However, the dimensions
presented in the context of this paper might help
in selecting programs to view. It also facilitates
the quality improvement process for the satellite
channel programs.
There is an enormous need to define and
quantify the quality dimensions in a way to be
measured precisely. Further research needs to be
done via quantitative and qualitative content
analysis as well as measuring the audiences in
terms of demographic, personal and
psychographic analysis.
There is no way to force satellite channel
by these criteria but in the very competitive era
of communication, satellite channel has to deal
with the audience as a customer and it has to
fulfill customer needs and expectations even if it
is not scrambled.
The quality model would be the same in
logic for different countries although significant
differences due to region, environment, and the
communication system might be available.
These differences are worth being identified in
future researches.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Literature review Media Expert

in service quality Interviewing

Developing a list of important

dimensions for satellite
channels quality

Potential Viewers
Questionnaire Distribution

Dimensions Defining
and Ranking Data Collection

Dimensions Ranking
Statistical Data Analysis

Reach the most important

dimensions that need
management focus

Customer Channel program

Surveying Measuring the performance of Content Analysis
channels in each of the above
dimensions
Measurement of Service
Quality

Rank satellite channels with

Ranking TV Satellite respect to customer and media
Channels expert views

Recommend improvement
actions for each channel in
Improvement Take Place their malfunction dimensions

Improvement actions take

place

Improved Quality Better customer satisfaction

Figure (1) Framework for Service Quality Improvement of TV Satellite Channel Programs
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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

5. References.
[1] A. Agus, S. Barker, and J. Kandampully, “An
exploratory study of service quality in the
Malaysian public service sector”, International
Journal of Quality and Reliability Management,
Vol. 24, No. 2, 2007, pp. 177-190.
[2] P. Bedi, and V. Gaur, “Multi dimension quality
model of MAS”, Proceedings of the 2006
International Conference on Software
Engineering Research and Practice and
Conference on Programming Languages and
Compilers SERP'06, Vol.1, No.1, 2006 pp. 130-
135.
[3] D. A. Garvin, “What does product quality really
mean?”, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 26
No.1, 1984, pp. 25-43.
[4] D. A. Garvin, “Competing on the eight
dimensions of quality”, Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 65, No. 6, 1987, pp. 101-108.
[12] R. Sebastianelli, N. Tamimi, and M. Rajan,
“Consumers' perceptions of the factors affecting
e-quality”, Decision Sciences Institute
Proceedings, 2003, pp. 1855-1860.
[13] N. Srikatanyoo, and J. Gnoth, “Quality
dimensions in international tertiary education: a
Thai prospective students' perspective”, Quality
Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2005, pp.
30-40.
[14] W. R. Wright “Functional analysis and mass
communication”, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol.
24, 1960, pp. 610-613.
[15] N. Ye, and J. Jia, “Customers' perceived service
quality of internet retailing”, Proceeding of the
International Conference on Service Systems and
Services Management, 2005, pp.514-519.

[5] D. A. Garvin, “Managing Quality”, the Free

Press, New York, NY, 1988.

[6] P. Harroff, and T. Valentine, “Dimensions of

Program Quality in Web-Based Adult
Education”, American Journal of Distance
Education, Vol.20, No.1, 2006, pp.7-22.

[7] P. Hernon, and P. Calvert, “E-service quality in

libraries: Exploring its features and dimensions”,
Library and Information Science Research, Vol.
27, 2005, pp. 377-404.

[8] Q. Ma, J.M. Pearson, and S. Tadisina, “An

exploratory study into factors of service quality
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and Management, Vol. 42, 2005, pp. 1067-1080.

[9] J. Minjoon, Shaohan Cai, and Daesoo Kim,

“Linkages of Online Banking Service Quality
Dimensions to Customer Satisfaction”, Decision
Sciences Institute Proceedings, 2002, pp. 2125-
2130.

[10] A. .Parasuraman, W. Zeithmal, and L. Berry, “A

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[11] L. Rao, and K. Osei-Bryson, ‘Towards defining

dimensions of knowledge systems quality”,
Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 33,
2007, pp. 368-378.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

An Intelligent Expert System

for Those Who Wish to Become Billionaires
Robert L. Mullen
Southern Connecticut State University

ABSTRACT expert systems as a means to manage knowledge

This paper describes the conceptual
development of an intelligent–based expert
system with the knowledge of a several well-
known billionaires. The top ten billionaires,
including Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, were
researched on the Internet to develop a
knowledge-base of advice from their collective
philosophies as a guide for others who might
wish to attain similar status with their work
lives.
INTRODUCTION
Since the early 1980s expert systems
have been developed for the purpose of passing
expertise from those with the knowledge to
those who need the knowledge in a convenient
and easily accessed manner. The idea is to tap
the mind of the expert such that a less expertise
person can solve problems normally handled by
the expert without the expert having to be
present. In the early 1980s, expert systems were
crude, self developed by only a few firms that
saw value in them. By the late 1980s, special
languages such as VP-Expert and CLIPS
emerged and software shells developed to
increase the ease of development of these
systems. The first decades of the 21st century
has witnessed the emergence of intelligent
expert systems which provide access to multiple
experts within a narrow field of interest.
In the 1990s with the focus on
downsizing and need to cut costs in all area,
managers of large corporations had turned to
expert systems to provide advice when the cost
of hiring an expert (consultant) or access to a
previous expert employee who has been
downsized was gone. The recent interest in the
first decade of the 21st century on knowledge
management has caused a renewed interest in
for easier and wider distribution. The software
industry has matured to build “intelligence” into
software, sometimes known as “learning
systems” which can adapt themselves based on
how they are used. Expert Systems continue to
become more complex but require constant
upkeep.
This paper addresses the area of
advising non-experts who may be interested in
learning from experts who are currently
billionaires how they might achieve that status
as well. It provides an opportunity for linking
several independently developed expert systems
all with the common thread of being on a list of
current billionaires with an intelligent front-end
to consider the nature of the users interest and
select only those experts whose advice is
appropriate for that particular system user. This
paper will be used in an undergraduate course in
Expert Systems to demonstrate the current focus
of expert system development to support
decision making in management and
engineering thereby extending the value of
expert systems to support such decision making
as the technology of expert systems evolves
from a class of information systems to a member
of the new knowledge management systems.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND TO PAPER
Since early 1990s, I have taught an
elective course in the MIS program at SCSU
titled “Expert Systems”. In MIS work, expert
systems have long been considered the most
difficult and complex of all information system
types. They are included in the family of
applications known as “artificial intelligence”.
They represent an application attempting to
mimic the human brain. These applications
capture the experience of an “expert” in a
narrow area of expertise in computer form such

111
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

that this vast “knowledge base” can be used to technology from providing information from a
produce advice for a non-expert to solve a single expert to a knowledge-based system
problem to which they have not gained providing appropriate advice from an ever-
appropriate experience as if they were equal to growing number of experts.
the expert. This is quite a challenge. Students
were having difficulty understanding the nature FIGURE 1
of these systems and how they differ from COMPONENTS OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM
traditional information systems from a design Dialog Screen – Determine Nature of Problem
standpoint. Figure 1 outlines the components of Knowledge Base – A collection of “If ...Then”
an expert system. statements From Experts
In support of this course, which was my Inference Engine – Software to search
most challenging to teach, I developed a model knowledge base
of an expert system to demonstrate to the Presentation – Determine how to display advice
students how such a system is developed using a to system user
language, CLIPS. The model involved picking
two individuals a year who were experts in their FIGURE 2
field and who were living at the time so CONFERENCES WHERE EXPERT
theoretically I could have interviewed personal SYSTEM PAPER WERE PRESENTED
to capture their expertise. However, these Association of Management
chosen individuals were well known enough in Decision Science Institute
their field to have had books and later Internet Industry, Engineering, and Management
articles published about them. This was the Systems
source of information for these systems. I began Information Resource Management Association
presenting my work at various conferences for
peer comments to improve the process. A list of
FIGURE 3
organizations where these papers have been
COMPONENTS OF AN INTELLIGENT-
presented and published is shown as figure 2.
BASED EXPERT SYSTEM
I realized recently that I had reached a
Dialog Screen – Determine the Nature of
collection of experts handled individually that
Advice Being Sought
had been focused on two areas of expertise –
Knowledge Base – of multiple experts in a
management and the computer industry. This
focused field of expertise
year I focused attention on adding new experts
Inference Engine – Modified to select only those
to those I had researched in the past who for this
experts appropriate
paper are also billionaires but not from the
Presentation – modified to prioritize
computer industry. I will demonstrate how
through the use of an intelligent front-end I
could build a larger system as an example of
extending the generality of my 2006 system for
my MIS undergraduate students on an
application of intelligence to expert system
technology. This system is modeled after the
2006 IEMS paper titled “An Intelligent Expert
System for Those Entering the Computer
Industry”.
Figure 3 denotes the changes required
from the tradition single expert system
development components to a development that
would add front-end intelligence and the ability
to combine a group of experts into a single
system. This would extend the value of this

112
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

FIGURE 4 5. Mullen, Robert (2006): An Intelligent

LIST OF INDIVIDUAL EXPERT SYSTEMS
INCORPORATED IN THIS SYSTEM
Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com
Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers
Bill Gates, CEO and co-founder of Microsoft
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft
Lawrence Ellison, CEO of Oracle
Eric Schmidt, CEO GOOGLE
Larry Page, GOOGLE co-founder
Sergery Brin, GOOGLE co-founder
Warren Buffett, Investor
Micky Arison, CEO Carnival
Ralph Lauren, Chairman and CEO
Rupert Murduch, CEO News Corporation
Fred Smith, CEO FedEx
Willard Marriott, CEP Marriott International
Expert System for Those Entering the
Computer Industry; Decision Making in
Management and Engineering Track; 2006
Industry, Engineering and Management
Systems Association (IEMS) Annual
Conference; March 13-15, 2006; Cocoa
Beach, Florida, page 47.
6. Mullen, Robert (2006): An Intelligent Expert
System for MBA Students on Management
Principles; Decision Making in
Management and Engineering Track; 2006
Industry, Engineering and Management
Systems Association (IEMS) Annual
Conference; March 13-15, 2006; Cocoa
Beach, Florida, page 50.

CONCLUSION

This paper describes the conceptual

development of an intelligent–based expert
system applied to capture the knowledge of a
several well-known experts who happen to have
become billionaires from their success.. A list of
experts included is identified in figure 4. It
provides a learning tool for use in a course on
expert systems so that students in that course
can select some other group experts in a narrow
domain of interest and experience the
development a mid-2000s version of expert
system technology with intelligence added.

REFERENCES:
1. Beerel, Annabel (1998): Expert Systems in
Business: Real World Applications; Ellis
Horwood Publishing; New York.
2. Chandler, John S. (1998): Developing
Expert Systems for Business Applications;
Merrill Publishing; Columbus, Ohio.
3. Durkin; John (2000): Expert System Design
and Development; Maxwell MacMillan
Publishing; New York.
4. Harmon, Paul (1999):Creating Expert
Systems for Business/Industry; Wiley and
Sons, NY.

113
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

An Intelligent Expert System

for Those Entering the Internet/Web Industry
Robert L. Mullen
Southern Connecticut State University

ABSTRACT management has caused a renewed interest in

This paper describes the conceptual
development of an intelligent–based expert
system applied to capture the knowledge of a
several well-known experts who were either
founders of the new technology or developers of
successful businesses in the Internet/Web
Industry. The list of experts includes such
experts as Sir Tim Berners-Lee (developed html
for the Web) and Jeff Bedos, founder of
Amazon.com. By applying intelligence to the
knowledge-base of these experts, common
advice from the combined expertise is
developed to advise others attempting to enter
this fast growing industry.
INTRODUCTION
Since the early 1980s expert systems
have been developed for the purpose of passing
expertise from those with the knowledge to
those who need the knowledge in a convenient
and easily accessed manner. The idea is to tap
the mind of the expert such that a less expertise
person can solve problems normally handled by
the expert without the expert having to be
present. In the early 1980s, expert systems were
crude, self developed by only a few firms that
saw value in them. By the late 1980s, special
languages such as VP-Expert and CLIPS
emerged and software shells developed to
increase the ease of development of these
systems.
In the 1990s with the focus on
downsizing and need to cut costs in all area,
managers of large corporations had turned to
expert systems to provide advice when the cost
of hiring an expert (consultant) or access to a
previous expert employee who has been
downsized was gone. The recent interest in the
first decade of the 21st century on knowledge
expert systems as a means to manage knowledge
for easier and wider distribution. The software
industry has matured to build “intelligence” into
software, sometimes known as “learning
systems” which can adapt themselves based on
how they are used.
This paper addresses the area of
advising non-experts who may be considering
entering the highly competitive computer
industry segment involving the Internet or the
Web. It provides an opportunity for linking
several independently developed expert systems
from within this segment of the computer
industry with an intelligent front-end to consider
the nature of the users interest and select only
those experts whose advice is appropriate for
that particular system user. This paper will be
used in an undergraduate course in Expert
Systems to demonstrate the current focus of
expert system development to support decision
making in management and engineering thereby
extending the value of expert systems to support
such decision making as the technology of
expert systems evolves from a class of
information systems to a member of the new
knowledge management systems.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND TO PAPER
Since early 1990s, I have taught an
elective course in the MIS program at SCSU
titled “Expert Systems”. In MIS work, expert
systems have long been considered the most
difficult and complex of all information system
types. They are included in the family of
applications known as “artificial intelligence”.
They represent an application attempting to
mimic the human brain. These applications
capture the experience of an “expert” in a
narrow area of expertise in computer form such
that this vast “knowledge base” can be used to

114
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

produce advice for a non-expert to solve a single expert to a knowledge-based system

problem to which they have not gained providing appropriate advice from an ever-
appropriate experience as if they were equal to growing number of experts.
the expert. This is quite a challenge. Students
were having difficulty understanding the nature FIGURE 1
of these systems and how they differ from COMPONENTS OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM
traditional information systems from a design Dialog Screen – Determine Nature of Problem
standpoint. Figure 1 outlines the components of Knowledge Base – A collection of “If ...Then”
an expert system. statements From Experts
In support of this course, which was my Inference Engine – Software to search
most challenging to teach, I developed a model knowledge base
of an expert system to demonstrate to the Presentation – Determine how to display advice
students how such a system is developed using a to system user
language, CLIPS. The model involved picking
two individuals a year who were experts in their FIGURE 2
field and who were living at the time so CONFERENCES WHERE EXPERT
theoretically I could have interviewed personal SYSTEM PAPER WERE PRESENTED
to capture their expertise. However, these Association of Management, Decision Science
chosen individuals were well known enough in Institute
their field to have had books and later Internet Industry, Engineering, and Management
articles published about them. This was the Systems
source of information for these systems. I began Information Resource Management Association
presenting my work at various conferences for
peer comments to improve the process. A list of
FIGURE 3
organizations where these papers have been
COMPONENTS OF AN INTELLIGENT-
presented and published is shown as figure 2.
BASED EXPERT SYSTEM
I realized recently that I had reached a
Dialog Screen – Determine the Nature of
collection of experts handled individually that
Advice Being Sought
had been focused on two areas of expertise –
Knowledge Base – of multiple experts in a
management and the computer industry. This
focused field of expertise
year I focused attention on adding new experts
Inference Engine – Modified to select only those
to those I had researched in the past who for this
experts appropriate
paper are also billionaires but not from the
Presentation – modified to prioritize
computer industry. I will demonstrate how
through the use of an intelligent front-end I
could build a larger system as an example of
extending the generality of my 2006 system for
my MIS undergraduate students on an
application of intelligence to expert system
technology. This system is modeled after the
2006 IEMS paper titled “An Intelligent Expert
System for Those Entering the Computer
Industry”.
Figure 3 denotes the changes required
from the tradition single expert system
development components to a development that
would add front-end intelligence and the ability
to combine a group of experts into a single
system. This would extend the value of this
technology from providing information from a

115

FIGURE 4
LIST OF INDIVIDUAL EXPERT SYSTEMS
INCORPORATED IN THIS SYSTEM
Lawrence Roberts, of MIT does paper on
ARPANET plan (1966)
Roy Tomlinson, invents e-mail program (1971)
Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn, develop a protocol
for packet-switching (1974)
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, program to link nodes
(1980), coins hypertext (1989),
develops hypertext browser known as “World
Wide Web” (1990)
Marc Andreessen, forms Mosaic later Netscape
(1994)
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO AMAZON.COM
(1997)
Jerry Yang and David Filo, co-founders of
YAHOO (2000)
Larry Page and Sergery Brin, co-founders of
GOOGLE (2003)
CONCLUSION
This paper describes the conceptual
development of an intelligent–based expert
system applied to capture the knowledge of a
several well-known experts in the internet/Web
industry. A list of experts included is identified
in figure 4. It provides a learning tool for use in
a course on expert systems so that students in
that course can select some other group experts
in a narrow domain of interest and experience
the development a 2008 version of expert
system technology with intelligence added.
REFERENCES:
1. Beerel, Annabel (1998): Expert Systems in
Business: Real World Applications; Ellis
Horwood Publishing; New York.
2. Chandler, John S. (1998): Developing
Expert Systems for Business Applications;
Merrill Publishing; Columbus, Ohio.
3. Durkin; John (2000): Expert System Design
and Development; Maxwell MacMillan
Publishing; New York.
116
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
4. Guida, Giovanni. (2001): Design and
Development of Knowledge Based Systems;
Wiley and Sons, New York.
5. Harmon, Paul (1999):Creating Expert
Systems for Business/Industry; Wiley and
Sons, NY. Chandler, John S. (1998):
Developing Expert Systems for Business
Applications; Merrill Publishing; Columbus,
Ohio.
6. Mullen, Robert (2006): An Intelligent
Expert System for Those Entering the
Computer Industry; Decision Making in
Management and Engineering Track; 2006
Industry, Engineering and Management
Systems Association (IEMS) Annual
Conference; March 13-15, 2006; Cocoa
Beach, Florida, page 47.
7. Mullen, Robert (2006): An Intelligent
Expert System for MBA Students on
Management Principles; Decision Making
in Management and Engineering Track;
2006 Industry, Engineering and
Management Systems Association (IEMS)
Annual Conference; March 13-15, 2006;
Cocoa Beach, Florida, page 50.
8. Wiig, Karl (1999); Expert Systems: A
Managers Guide; Geneva International
Labor Office.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Assessing Six Sigma Project Improvements- A Statistical Perspective

Ali Ahmad
Design Interactive, Inc.
ali@designinteractive.net

Isabelina Nahmens
Louisiana State University
nahmens@lsu.edu

Abstract Introduction

Six Sigma is a well known business strategy that
has helped many organizations globally, across
all industries, by achieving huge business
benefits through the implementation of
successful projects. These projects are identified,
planned, and executed by employees from
different levels of the organization. To deliver
those business benefits, employees first measure
the baseline performance of the key process
output, establish a performance target and then
seeks to close the gap between the baseline and
target applying the systematic and structured Six
Sigma methodology- DMAIC. Comparing
process performance before and after completing
a Six Sigma project is not a trivial task. This
comparison depends on 1) types of measures
(discrete or continuous), and 2) availability of
data (complete, limited, or no data). Adopting
the right comparison technique is imperative to
assess the results of a six sigma improvement
project. This paper discusses comparison
techniques including t-tests, Bayes estimation,
and Monte Carlo simulation. Then, guidelines to
facilitate the comparison of process performance
before and after, under different circumstances
are identified.
The adoption of methodologies outlined in this
paper in companies executing Six Sigma
projects under those circumstances will enable
them to compare their before and after metrics
regardless of their type of measures and data
availability.
In today’s rapidly changing markets, companies
need to deliver their products and services to
customers in increasingly faster times, and these
products and services need to meet and exceed
customer expectations. Applying Six Sigma
methodologies allowed companies to focus on
their customers and deliver products and
services with exceptionally higher quality and
thus allowing enabling bottom-line benefits in
terms of dollars and cost savings.
Six Sigma is both a quality management
philosophy and a problem solving methodology
that is project and team-based. The Six Sigma
approach was pioneered at Motorola and then
witnessed its glorious application in General
Electric (GE) and IBM (Breyfogle, 1999). It has
applications in both service and manufacturing.
The principles, concepts, and tools of Six Sigma
provide a measurable goal, a framework for
problem solving, and the foundations of a
corporate culture designed to reduce costs by
responding to the voice-of-the-customer, and
“doing it right the first time.” Six Sigma
methodologies are flexible and can be used to
address the various facets of the business. It can
be applied to financial, planning, service, and
execution functions of the organization. The
principle of Six Sigma is simple; control the
variation in the process so that there are only 3.4
defects per million opportunities.
Six Sigma utilizes a scientific problem solving
approach to address real world problems.
Typically, a Six Sigma project is executed in
five consecutive phases; Define, Measure,
Analyze, Improve, and Control (Breyfogle,
1999; Rath & Strong, 2002), or DMAIC for

117

short. The Define phase starts by creating a
charter that clearly states project goals, scope
and boundaries, project team, business case, and
stakeholders affected by the project. It aims to
set the rhythm for the project and can be thought
of as a contract between the process owner and
the project team. Several tools can be employed
in the define phase, these include; SIPOC
(Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and
Customers), and the VOC (Voice of the
Customer), Kano model, and critical to quality
driver tree. The Define phase results include a
charter, an overview of the process, and critical
to quality information.
The second phase of a Six Sigma project is
Measure. It aims to pinpoint where the problem
lies in a clear and precise way. The tools
commonly used in the Measure phase include
data collection plan, control charts, gage R&R
(Repeatability and Reproducibility), Pareto
charts, and FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects
Analysis). The Measure phase establishes a
baseline for the process performance in terms of
calculating a process sigma or Defects per Unit
(DPU). It results in collecting the data that feeds
the analyze phase of the project.
The Six Sigma process proceeds by the Analyze
phase, which aims to identify the root cause(s)
of the problem under consideration. The tools
commonly used in the analyze phase include
root cause analysis and statistical tools such as
regression analysis, hypothesis testing, scatter
plots, control charts, and Pareto charts, among
many others. The 5-why technique can be used
to identify the root cause of the problem. The
results of the analysis phase are the root causes
of a particular problem, with a set of potential
solutions.
The fourth phase of a Six Sigma project starts
upon identifying the root causes of a particular
problem. The Improve phase deals with
developing, implementing, and verifying
solutions. The tools commonly used in this
phase include brainstorming, creative problem
solving techniques such as Delphi method, and
planning tools. To assess the degree of
improvement, a new process sigma or DPU
value is calculated for the improved process.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
The result of this phase is an implemented
solution for the problem.
The last phase of Six Sigma application is the
Control phase. It deals with making sure that
the improvement stays in place, and that the
gains achieved by applying Six Sigma are
sustained. The tools used in the control phase
include control charts, flow diagrams, and tools
to compare before and after like run charts and
frequency plots. Many companies add a fixed
period realization phase, where the improved
process is monitored to ensure that the gains are
sustained.
A key feature of a successful six sigma culture is
the creation of an infrastructure that supports
and invests in process performance improvement
(Brue 2002). Six sigma projects involve major
investment of resource and must deliver bottom-
line results. However, determining statistically
the success of process improvement after the
completion of a six sigma project might not be
feasible- depends on the availability of data.
Furthermore, is not a common practice in the
cases where the data after implementation is
limited. Usually six sigma teams realize only the
short-term paybacks and most obvious results of
the improvement. A major difference between
Six Sigma and failed programs of the past is the
emphasis on tangible, measurable results
(Pyzdek 2003). Six Sigma advocates argues that
projects are selected to provide a mixture of
short and long term results, that justify the
investment and the effort. It is vital that
information regarding results be documented
and statistically compared with the process
baseline pre-improvement, for the project to be a
success and properly design an effective control
plan.
Selection of Comparison Technique
Comparing process performance before and after
completing a six sigma project is not a trivial
task. This comparison depends on 1) types of
measures (discrete or continuous), and 2)
availability of data (complete, limited, or no
data). Adopting the right comparison technique
is imperative to assess the results of a six sigma
improvement project. This section explores the

use of comparison techniques such as t-tests,
Bayes estimation, and Monte Carlo simulation,
to assess the process performance of a
completed Six Sigma project. Figure 1exibits a
flow chart of the selection of a comparison
technique. The decision about what comparison
test to use for a particular analysis is of vital
importance to making unbiased and correct
decisions about improvement results.
Statistical Analysis
Pyzdek, a noted quality consultant, states that
more than 400 tools are now available for Six
Sigma (Pyzdek 2003). However, most firms
rarely go behind the basic improvement tools
and fail to recognize the benefits from more
sophisticated statistical tools (Evans and Lindsay
2008). The DMAIC methodology was designed
to be used with advanced statistical methods.
Hence, statistical analysis is essential in
implementing a continuous improvement
philosophy.
Six Sigma DMAIC methodology uses statistical
analysis to interpret statistical information to
understand and predict process performance. A
roadmap for selecting one of the available
statistical testing procedures is illustrated in
Figure 2. The selection of a statistical
comparison is dependent on the type of data,
whether continuous or discrete. A common
form of statistically comparing process
performance of a specific continuous metric of a
before and after improvements of a completed
six sigma project is a t-test. A t-test is a
statistical tool used to determine whether a
significant difference exists between the means
of two distributions or the mean of one
distribution and a target value (Evans and
Lindsay 2008). The two most widely used
statistical techniques for comparing two groups
(normally distributed), are the independent
group t-test and the paired t-test. The
independent group t-test is use to compare
means between two groups where there are
different subjects in each group. Whereas, paired
t-test compares subjects for the two groups by
matched pairs (e.g. same subjects are observed
twice, often with some intervention taking place
between measures). For example, the researcher
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
may observe defect levels of the output of a
process before and after improvements are
implemented. Then the mean difference between
the two repeated observations (e.g. before and
after) is documented and compared. If the
difference is significantly great then there is
evidence that the process improvement
implemented caused some change in the
observed metric (e.g. defect level).
One of the benefits of the t-test is that they are
usually easy to understand and generally easy to
perform. However, the fact that these tests are so
widely used does not make them the correct
analysis for all comparisons. T-tests are used to
perform comparisons on continuous variables,
and assumes normally-distributed data. When
dealing with non-continuous data, other
statistical tests, such as Chi-squared analysis and
proportions tests can be applied. In cases where
normally-distributed data cannot be assumed
(p.s. Anderson-Darling test of normality can be
used to check the data distribution), non-
parametric tests should be used.
Bayesian Estimation
Traditional statistical techniques such as t-tests
and ANOVA comparisons are applied when
sufficient data exists for the process after
improvement. Nevertheless, in many instances,
there exists few (1-5) data points for the new
process, especially when the process
performance measure under consideration is
cycle time, which makes the application of
traditional statistics a challenge. To conduct
such comparison an approach adapted from
reliability engineering is used to demonstrate six
sigma project improvements.
Weibull and Weibayes analysis has been used
extensively in reliability engineering
(Abernethy, 2000). The traditional reliability
theory deals with product/part lifetimes.
Reliability is the probability that a product will
perform its intended function for a specified
period of time, under stated operating
conditions. Weibull analysis is based on using
the Weibull distribution to model the lifetime for
a product or a part. The Weibull distribution has
2 parameters: shape and scale. The shape

parameter Beta denotes designates the whether
the Weibull hazard rate is decreasing (Beta<1),
constant (Beta=1), or increasing (Beta>1). The
scale parameter Eta, also known as the
characteristic life, represents the time or age at
which 63.2% of the parts have failed. If Beta is
equal to 1, the Weibull distribution is identical to
the exponential distribution with mean Eta. In
addition, a shift parameter can be applied to the
Weibull distribution to take into consideration
the parts’ minimum life. Weibayes analysis is a
Weibull type of analysis that assumes a known
Beta value, this assumption can improve the
estimation of Eta when there are few failure data
obtained for a new product design.
The Weibull analysis can be extended to use to
modeling different types of times, which are not
necessarily product/part failure related. For
example, modeling cycle time in situations
where few data points are available after process
improvement. Weibayes analysis can be used to
estimate a scale parameter and confidence
interval for the new data. The approach starts by
using Weibull analysis to obtain the shape and
scale parameters for the original data. After
that, Weibayes analysis is used to estimate the
new scale parameter by assuming the same
original shape or Beta (thus requiring less data
points for comparison). The Weibayes analysis
will result in drawing parallel lines (same slope
or Beta) on the Weibull probability plot. A key
assumption in applying Weibayes analysis is
that resulting improvements didn’t change the
cycle time distribution shape parameter (Beta) to
a significant degree. The confidence intervals
for the new and original data can then be used to
assess whether a statistical difference exists or
not.
Case Study: Statistical Analysis vs. Bayesian
Estimation
A six sigma project in a manufacturing
organization was conducted to reduce the cycle
time of proposal development process. Before
improvement, the original cycle times were 15,
18, 19, 20, 20, 21, 21, 21, 21, 22, 22, 25, 26, 28,
and 29. For this case study, two cases will be
used:
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Case 1: Complete data is available after process
improvement project: 13, 14, 15, 15, 16, 18, 18,
20, 20, and 21
In this case, since sufficient data exists for the
application of traditional statistical analysis
techniques, a t-test comparison is used. The
listing below indicates that the new process has
a statistically significant lesser cycle time as
indicated with the p-value of 0.001 (Running the
Anderson-Darling test of normality shows that
both original and new data can be assumed to be
normally distributed, p-value>0.1).
Case 2: Only four new cycle times were
obtained: 13, 14, 18, and 20.
In this case, only a limited set of cycle time data
is available after process improvement,
therefore, Weibayes analysis will be used. First,
a Weibull distribution is fitted to the original
data. The resulting distribution has a shape
parameter of 7.03 and a scale parameter of 23.28
(the P-value from goodness of fit test is greater
than 0.1). After that and assuming the shape
parameter stays the same, the new scale
parameter is 17.57 (the p-value from goodness
of fit test is greater than 0.5). To conduct the
statistical comparison using confidence
approach, a Weibull probability plot such as that
shown in Figure 4 is used. Since the confidence
intervals don’t overlap, this indicates that the
new cycle time shows reduction from the
original cycle time data.
Monte Carlo Simulation
Typically, Monte Carlo simulations are used in
the Analyze or the Improve phase of a Six
Sigma project. For instance, this approach can
be use to improve the capability of processes
and to quantify the expected variation of the
improvement. However, simulations are not only
very powerful when utilized in the earlier phases
of a Six Sigma project; they also are a powerful
tool in statistical process control (Jordan 2007,
Perry 2006). Monte Carlo is a powerful tool
because it allows the use of statically model to
account for realistic variation and display range
and shape of the process output. In addition, it
can help detect hidden factors that are not
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

directly controlled and measured but may be

indirectly lined to the process inputs (Jordan
2007).

Another application of Monte Carlo Simulation

is for testing process improvements when no
data exists upon completing of a six sigma
project. A common example for this application
is comparing cycle time distributions of an
original and improved process that are each
composed from a set of sequential steps, where
probability distributions are used to model the
time distribution for each process step and the
overall cycle time is computed by summing the
cycle times associated with individual process
steps.

When using Monte Carlo Simulation to test

cycle time reduction in cases where no
improvement data is available, the first step is to
breakdown original and improved processes into
their steps. Then, using available historical data,
probability distributions are fitted using the
times associated with each step from the original
process. Monte Carlo- based cycle time is then
computed by summing up individual process
cycle times. Once modeled cycle times for the
original process are computed, they are validated
against those obtained in the real world. After
that, hypothetical distributions are assumed for
each step in the improved process. It is typical
to use Triangular distributions in cases where no
data are available (Law and Kelton, 2000). To
obtain a Triangular distribution, experts are
consulted to estimate a minimum, a maximum
and a most likely time value for each process
step. After that, using the hypothetical
triangular distributions associated with each step
in the improved process, the improved process
cycle time is computed using Monte-Carlo
Simulation. Finally, modeled original and
improved process cycle times are compared and
conclusions are made based on simulation data,
as illustrated in the example in Figure 5.
Figure 1- Monte-Carlo simulation for process
cycle time
Guidelines for Comparison of Process
Performance Before and After
Findings from the literature review and the
examples given in the paper are summarized in
the following set of guidelines for successfully
comparing process performance before and after
a Six Sigma project are completed.
1. If complete and sufficient data are
available for the process after
improvement, the six sigma practitioner
should apply appropriate statistical
analysis technique based on the type of
the measure (i.e., discrete or continuous)
while making sure that the assumptions
associated with each test are maintained
(such as normality in the case of t-test).
2. If only a limited set of data is available
for the process after improvement, and
there is sufficient evidence that there is
no drastic changes to process shape,
Weibayes estimation can be used to
verify if the new process cycle times are
less than the original process cycle
times.
3. If there is no data associated with the
process after improvement, the six

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sigma practitioner can use Monte-Carlo Law, A., and Kelton, W.D., 2000, Simulation
simulation using Triangular distributions Modeling and Analysis, 3rd Edition,
fitted based on expert inputs on each McGraw-Hill.
step of the improved process to assess Perry, R., 2006, Monte Carlo Simulation in
whether the six sigma project resulted in Design for Six Sigma, Proceedings of
cycle time reductions. the 2006 Crystal Ball User Conference.
Rath & Strong (2002). “Six Sigma Pocket
Conclusions Guide”. Rath & Strong, a subdivision of
AON Management Consultants.
This paper has focused on providing guidance
for six sigma practitioners when comparing
process performance before and after a six sigma
project. Adopting the right comparison
technique is imperative. Based on the
availability of post improvement data, either
traditional statistical analysis, Bayesian
estimation, or Monte-Carlo simulation are used.
The type of data (discrete or continuous) is a key
factor in selecting appropriate statistical analysis
procedure. Six sigma practitioners should
always check the assumptions associated with
the procedures they apply and they should
validate the models prior to their use. The paper
is concluded with a set guidelines derived from
literature and practice in terms of comparing
process performance.

References

Abernethy, R.B., 2000, The New Weibull

Handbook- Reliability & Statistical
Analysis for Predicting Life, Safety,
Survivability, Risk, Cost and Warranty
Claims, 4th edition.
Evans, J.R. and Lindsay, W.K., 2008, Managing
for Quality & Performance Excellence,
7th Edition, Thomson South-Western,
Mason.
Breyfogle Forrest W. III (1999).
“Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter
Solutions Using Statistical Methods”.
John Wiley, New York, NY.
Brue, G., 2002, Six Sigma for Managers,
McGraw-Hill.
Jordan, D., 2007, Using Monte Carlo Simulation
as Process Control Aid, iSixSigma.com,
Retrieved March 2008,
http://www.isixsigma.com/library/conte
nt/c070402a.asp.

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Selection of Comparison Technique

Availability of Performance Data

after Improvement

Complete Data is Limited Data is

No Data is available
available available

Statistical Monte Carlo

Bayesian Estimation
Analysis Simulation

Figure 2- Selection of Comparison Technique

Figure 3- Statistical Comparison Roadmap

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Two-sample T for Original vs New

N Mean StDev SE Mean

Ori 15 21.87 3.74 0.97
New 10 17.00 2.79 0.88

Difference = mu (Original) - mu (New)

Estimate for difference: 4.86667
95% CI for difference: (2.15485, 7.57848)
T-Test of difference = 0 (vs not =): T-Value = 3.72 P-Value = 0.001 DF = 22
Figure 4- Listing of two sample t-test results

Figure 5- Weibayes Comparison of new vs. original cycle time data

124

A Novel Method to Investigate the Possible Locations of
Human Body Injuries During a Vertical Fall
Imshaan Somani Ha Van Vo
Mercer University Mercer University
Somani_i2@mercer.edu Vo_hv@mercer.edu
Abstract
Falling is one of the most accidental
injuries occurring in construction works. This
is an important issue involving worker
compensation cases. Falling accident injuries
can be from minor fractures of bones to life
threatening. Some people testify incorrectly
for the injury in which they are involved in
order to get medical benefits from their
insurance companies. The objective of this
study is to use Finite Element Methods
(FEM) software Solidworks to simulate
injuries sustained during a vertical fall from
different heights. Adjustable geometries were
used and could be customized to any body
position desired especially for simulating
different scenarios involving accidental
injury cases. The model has the flexibility to
assign mass and material properties for
different segmental bones based on person’s
specific biomechanical structures and
anthropometrical data. The simulations were
carried out for four different falling heights
10ft, 20 ft, 25 ft, and 40 ft. The results
revealed comminuted type fractures at the
falling heights of 20ft and above.
1. Introduction
People have been falling for many
centuries and have suffered minor fractures
to life threatening injuries. A common
application for falling and getting injured is
seen in the field of injury mechanics. This is
very common in worker compensation cases.
People can fall while they are at work and
could be involved in serious injuries.
However, this might not be true for certain
cases. During the last three years, impact
biomechanicians are trying to develop an
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
R. Radharamanan
Mercer University
Radharaman_r@mercer.edu
understanding of how bones respond to loads
that cause fractures. This can help in
understanding of how these forces can cause
damage. This also helps in drawing a correct
accidental reconstruction model along with
possible location of bone fractures. Some of
the major causes of bone fractures include
falling down from a height, car accidents,
sporting activities such as football, wrestling,
and soccer etc. Each of these activities that
cause injuries results in types of fractures that
are very predictable because of the way loads
are applied at the surface of the bone.
2. Functional Anatomy
The human skeletal system is made up of
bones, ligaments, tendons, and associated
tissues of joints including cartilage. Bones
provide a rigid structure and aid in
supporting most of the soft tissues of the
body. The bones act as levers and struts to
move parts of the body which provide a place
for skeletal muscles to attach thereby
permitting movement of the body [1]. The
bones are connected to each other at joints
and they are separated by cartilage. The
bones at joints are stabilized by tough but
flexible ligaments. The skeletal muscles
attach to the bone by strong and flexible, yet
inextensible, tendons which are inserted into
the bones. This anatomical assembly forms
the musculoskeletal system. This study helps
to predict locations of injuries in the human
joints focusing on lower extremities during a
vertical fall.
2.1. Functional anatomy: Lower extremity
The bones by which the lower limbs are
attached to the trunk constitute pelvic girdles.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

The hip bone is a large, flattened, irregularly

shaped bone, constricted in the center and
expanded above and below. It consists of
three parts, the ilium, ischium, and pubis.
These three fused bones unite around a large
cup-shaped articular cavity called the
acetabulum which is located on the middle
lateral side of the bone on each side [1].
The femur is the longest and strongest
bone in the skeleton, is almost perfectly
cylindrical in the greater part of its extent. Its
head articulates with the acetabula to form
the hip joint. The hip joint is a ball and
socket joint and contains four major
Figure 1. Ligaments of the hip [2]
ligaments: the iliofemoral ligament, the
ischiofemoral ligament, the pubofemoral
ligament, and the ligamentum capitis
femoris. Figure 1 shows these ligaments [2].
The distal end of the femur contains
condyles articulate with the tibia to form the
knee joint which is a hinge joint. The tibia is
located at the medial side of the leg, and is
the second longest bone of the skeleton after
femur. The fibula is located on the lateral
side of the tibia. There are four major
ligaments that make up the knee joint: the
anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the
posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), the lateral
collateral ligament, and the medial collateral
ligament. Figure 2 shows the anatomical
structure of the knee joint. Figure 2: Anatomical structure of the
The ankle-joint is a ginglymus, or hinge- knee joint [2]
joint. It is formed by the lower end of the
tibia and its malleolus, the malleolus of the
fibula, and the transverse ligament. The
bones are connected by four major ligaments:
The anterior talofibular ligament (ATF), the
deltoid ligament, the posterior talofibular
(PTF), and the calcaneofibular (CF). Figure 3
shows the anatomical structure of the ankle
joint.

3. Materials and Methods

Figure 3: Anatomical structure of the
To perform the simulations and determine ankle joint [3]
the locations of bone fracture, a FEM model
must be created. However, due to complexity
of the human anatomy a simplified model as
shown in Figure 4 was used to predict
locations of the bone fracture in a fall.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

and ligaments already tear before the joints

are affected. The simulations were performed
for heights of 10ft, 20ft, 25ft, and 40ft.
Because of the limitations of the software,
the results were calculated only at the time of
impact and therefore the model did not
bounce or experienced any change in
momentum as time progressed.
Figures 5-8 show the stress contours for
person landing vertically on the feet and
Figures 9-12 show the displacements in order
to determine the possible dislocations at the
Figure 4. Simplified model of the joints.
human skeleton [4]

The geometry was simulated in Solid

Works and the dimensions were assigned
from anthropometrical data. It comprised of a
total of 11 parts of human skeletal structures
that were movable and adjustable to any
motion or position desired. The parts were
attached by using the mating feature of the
Solid Works. The mass of the person was
assigned to be 150 lbs and each of the 11
Anterior view Posterior view
parts was assigned their mass properties
based on anthropometrical data. The material Figure 5. Stress contour for
properties of the cortical bone as shown in 10ft vertical fall
Table 1 were assigned to determine the
fracture behavior. Simulations were From Table 2 it can be inferred that there
performed to predict locations and will be a fracture of the bone if the maximum
characteristics of bone fracture from different stress exceeded the yield strength value of
heights of vertical fall. 120 MPa. For most of these cases, the yield
strength value is not reached. However, since
Table 1. Material properties of cortical the ankle supports five times the body weight
bone [5] during standing position, there is a high
Physical Properties Metric probability of developing calcaneus fracture.
Density 1.70 g/cc During impact type of fracture, the maximum
Mechanical Properties Metric fracture is located at the joint which absorbs
Tensile Strength, Ultimate 90.0 MPa
the maximum energy at the time of impact
Modulus of Elasticity 12.4 GPa
and the fracture is gradually transferred to the
connecting joints as the height is increased.
Compressive Yield Strength 120 MPa
As the height is increased, fracture is located
Compressive Modulus 7.60 GPa
at the ankle joint but also transfers to other
anatomical joints like knee, hip, lumbar (L4-
4. Results and Discussion L5), thoracic, cervical, and atlanto-occipital
joints.
FE simulations were performed for Higher heights will result in complete
positioning the model such that the person shattering of the ankle joint along with
lands on his feet. This was used to predict injuries to other lower extremities and
injuries and fracture behavior in the lower cervical spine. Spine injuries generally affect
extremities. It is assumed that the muscles the spinal cord and could result in severe life

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Anterior view
Anterior view

Posterior view
Figure 6. Stress contour for Posterior view
20ft vertical fall Figure 8. Stress contour for
40ft vertical fall

Anterior view

Figure 9. Displacement during 10ft

vertical fall

threatening injuries and can result in the

paralysis of all four limbs (quadriplegia) or
the lower half of the body (paraplegia).
Posterior view
Figure 7. Stress contour for
25ft vertical fall

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

load and therefore has to perform many load

bearing activities. These ligaments are a lot
stronger compared to ligaments at the other
joints. As the height increases, ligaments that
make up the knee (LCL and the MCL), the
hip, the spine (lumbar, thoracic, and the
spine) also tear starting from partial tear to a
complete tear at different heights. Higher
heights also result in severe biomechanical
deformity. At heights greater than 20ft, varus
knee deformity can be seen. In the varus
knee, the distal segment represented by the
Figure 10. Displacement during foot deviates medially (towards the center
20ft vertical fall line of the body), relative to normal. This
leads to the damage of lateral collateral
ligament. Partial tearing of the ligament is
generally followed by swelling and bruising
and the use of the joint is painful and
difficult. A complete tearing of the ligament
results in swelling and sometimes bleeding
under the skin. As a result, the joint is
unstable and unable to carry any weight
bearing activities. The ligaments that are
commonly affected by the spine injuries are
the anterior longitudinal ligaments, the
posterior longitudinal ligaments, and the
Figure 11. Displacement during 25ft ligamentum flavum. Spine injuries will
generally affect the spinal cord and are
vertical fall
generally classified as complete and partial
[6].

Table 2. Injury behavior of joints at

impact
Height Max. Bone Joints
[ft] Stress Fracture Affected
[MPa]
Ankle (1) ,
Knee (2),
Lumbar(3),
10 113.4 Possible Cervical(4)
Ankle (1) ,
Figure 12. Displacement during 40ft Knee (2),
vertical fall Lumbar(3),
20 115.1 Yes Cervical(4)
Clinical data suggests that when the Ankle (1) ,
Knee (2),
ligament tear is between 3mm and 5mm, Lumbar(3),
there is partial tear or subluxation. However, Cervical(4),
any ligaments tear greater than 5mm results 25 116 Yes Thoracis(5)
in complete tear of the ligament. Table 3 Ankle (1) ,
shows that at 10 feet, there is partial tear of Knee (2),
Lumbar(3),
the ATF and CF ligaments. This is because Cervical(4),
the ankle is subjected to 5 times the body 40 117 Yes Thoracis(5),

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Atlanto-
Occipital(6)
Table 3. Ligament tears due to impact 5. Conclusion and Future Studies
FH MD LA JA TT
ATF, CF, LCL, (1), (2) A
10 3.36 MCL Results revealed that comminuted type
ATF, CF, (1), (2) B fracture occurs at the vertical fall of 20ft or
LCL,MCL, (3), (4) higher because at these heights the joints
IFL, ILL, FL. (5) were subjected to high impact force or stress.
20 4.6 PLL, ALL As the height was increased in the
ATF, CF, (1), (2) C simulations, the stress-strain plot reached the
LCL,MCL, (3), (4)
IFL, ILL, FL. (5), (6) yield strength value of cortical bone. It starts
25 11 PLL, ALL showing failure when the strain is greater
ATF, CF, (1), (2) D than 0.7 mm/mm. Also higher heights
LCL,MCL, (3), (4) resulted in partial tear to complete tear of the
IFL, ILL, FL. (5), (6) ligaments surrounding the cervical, thorax,
40 14 PLL, ALL (7)
lumbar, shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, and the
Where:
FH = Fall Height in ft ankle joint causing severe joint fractures and
MD = Maximum Displacement in mm requiring immediate medical attention.
LA = Ligaments Affected
JA = Joints Affected
TT = Type of Tear
Reference
LCL = Lateral Collateral Ligament
MCL= Medial Collateral Ligament [1] Gray, H., Gray's Anatomy, New York:
IFL = Illiofemoral Ligament Elseiver, 2005.
ILL = Illiolumbar ligament
LF = Ligamentum Flavum [2] Netter, F., Atlas of Human Anatomy,
PLL= Posterior Longitudinal Ligament Teterboro, New Jersey: ICON Learning Systems,
ALL = Anterior Longitudinal Ligament 2004.
Ankle (1) , Knee (2), Hip(3), Lumbar(4), Cervical (5),
Shoulder (6), Thoracic(7)
[3] My Ankle Replacement.com, DePuy, 2007.
A = Subluxation (1 and 2)
<http://www.jointreplacement.com/DePuy/index.html>
B = Subluxation (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)
.
C = Complete (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
D = Complete (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) [4] Hawley, N., Free 3D Models, Free CAD
Models, Solidworks-Dassault Systems, 2007.
Figure 13 evaluates the relationships <http://3dcontentcentral.com/3DContentCentral/S
between stress and strain of bone during the earch.aspx?arg=manikin>.
vertical fall of 40ft height. It shows the [5] Sawbones Third-Generation Simulated
similarity of stress-strain curve of bones in a Cortical Bone, Material Web: Material Property
joint undergoing a compressive force. Also it Data.11 Oct.-Nov. 2007.
reveals the fractures of the ankle bones when
the yield stress is close to 120 MPa. [6] The Spinal Cord and Injury, The Cleveland
Clinic Department of Patient Education and
Health Information, 24 Nov. 2007.
Stress Vs. Strain at 40 ft-Vertical Landing

140

120

100
Stress [MPa]

80

60

40

20

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Strain [mm/mm]

Figure 13. Stress-strain plot at 40 ft

130

Product and Process Improvement in Electronic Manufacturing
Angela P. Ansuj
Cassandra Rodrigues dos Santos
Federal University of Santa Maria
Santa Maria (RS), Brazil
angelaansuj@yahoo.com
Abstract
At present, every manufacturing industry
that is involved in making complex products
must work towards constantly reducing
product costs, shorten time to place the
product in the market and continuously
improve product quality. Today, the first
acceptable design must be close to optimum
and rapidly made with little or no need for
quality induced modifications. The
concurrent engineering design process
provides a stable, repeatable process by
which increased accuracy is achieved in a
shorter time with less variation. In this
paper, the concurrent engineering design
concepts, the tools that are used to achieve
the concept of design for manufacturability,
quality standards (ISO-9000), and quality
function deployment (QFD) are applied for
product and process improvement in an
electronic manufacturing industry. The
results are presented and discussed.
1. Introduction
Concurrent Engineering (CE) is
defined as the earliest possible
integration of overall company's
knowledge, resources, and experience in
design, development, marketing,
manufacturing, and sales into creating
successful new products, with high
quality and low cost, while meeting
customer expectations (Fig. 1). The most
important result of applying CE is the
shortening of the product concept,
design, and development process from a
serial to a parallel one. The general
concepts when applied in an integrated
131
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
R. Radharamanan
Mercer University
Macon, GA 31207
radharaman_r@mercer.edu
manner are very powerful and can be
applied in any type of organization [1].
The basic purpose of CE is to be more
effective by means of cooperation among
all departments involved in the creation
of a product [2].
Market Product
Analysis Design
Sales and
Distribution Production
System
Design
Manufacturing
Figure 1. CE Model
The CE design process [3, 4] in its
simplest form is the integrated execution of
basic principles, such as process
management, design, manufacturability and
automated infrastructure support. Process
management is probably the most important
of the four principles, since it coordinates
and facilitates the CE design process [5, 6].
The design phase is the execution of the
design process for developing a product and
its manufacture, and many different people
that are involved in the project execute this
phase. Manufacturability involves the
interaction of the people involved in the
actual production of the product with its
designers, so that different parameters of the
product can be reviewed and discussed and
any problems quickly identified and solved.

Finally, automated infrastructure support
provides all the processes that facilitate all
the other processes, such as computers, data
transfer and retrieval systems, and the like. A
very basic and important ingredient of CE is
Design for Manufacture (DFM). DFM is the
practice of designing products with
manufacturing in mind so that they can be
designed in the least time with the least cost.
Also, DFM allows a smoother transition from
the design of a product into its production as
well as minimizing the cost of assembling
and testing the product. Quality and
reliability are also affected by DFM in a
positive way, and therefore the needs and
satisfaction of the customers are met and the
product automatically becomes more
competitive in the market [7-9].
This paper provides an overview of
concurrent engineering design concepts and
quality tools. These tools are applied for
product and process improvement in a small
electronic manufacturing company located in
the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil to
reduce the rate at which defective parts are
produced, increase the quality of
manufactured products, increase
productivity, minimize product cost, supply
products on time to customers, provide
customer satisfaction, and keep the company
competitive in the market place.
2. CE/DFM Tools
A simple definition of DFM is the
comprehension and optimization of
interactions between different facets of the
complex manufacturing systems for effective
quality, cost and delivery, with the ultimate
aims of producing products with better
quality, lower cost, and a reduced time-to
market [2, 10]. The design process is the
heart and foundation of DFM. It is an
iterative, decision-making activity involving
the use of scientific and technological
information to produce a system, device, or
process intended to meet specific needs
[2, 7]. The DFM design process should
immediately and accurately identify the
problem at hand, namely, the production of a
product within certain specifications, usually
design constraints and criteria set by the
engineering teams, marketing, and consumer
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
surveys, for example. Once the problem has
been identified, iteration takes place where
different ideas are exchanged and methods
tried in order to completely define and design
the product. This part of the DFM design
process is very important since at this stage
the major decisions will be made regarding
the production and marketing of the product.
This iteration period can vary in length, and
the length is usually subjected to a deadline
in order to meet an optimal time-to-market
for the product. In addition to that, the
iteration period allows the design to be
continuously improved and optimized over
time as better and more complete design
information becomes available and all the
teams involved in the design process
communicate their discoveries and ideas. A
comprehensive planning, research and
development reduces the amount of iteration
and makes any engineering change possible
at a reduced cost in the event that a product is
being revised and redesigned. As a result
the quality, cost and delivery of the product
are greatly improved thanks to early design
decisions and increased communication
among all members involved in the
design, production, and marketing of the
product [11, 12]. A typical product design
cycle for manufacture is shown in Fig. 2.
Concept Physical Prototype
Design Design Test
Release to
Manufacturing
’LITY
Manufacturability
Maintainability
Reliability
Testability
Quality
Figure 2. Product design cycle
2.1. DFM tools
There are two axioms that can be applied
when using DFM tools to improve a product
or process. This approach operates under the
belief that fundamental principles (axioms)
exist for any product to have a good design

and that the use of those principles will guide
and evaluate design decisions that will
ultimately lead to a good design. The axioms
must be applicable to the full range of design
decisions and to all stages, phases and levels
of the design process. Axiom 1: in good
design, the independence of functional
requirements is maintained. Axiom 2: among
the designs that satisfy axiom 1, the best
design is one that has the minimum
information content. In order to apply both
axioms first the team must identify the
functional requirements and constraints to be
used when designing the product. Once
those requirements and constraints have been
found, the axioms should be applied to each
individual design decision to ensure the
success of the project under the DFM
guidelines [8, 13]. The condensed listing of
the DFM guidelines are found in [13, 14].
2.2. Quality tools: ISO-9000 standards
Quality is a competitive advantage in the
marketplace. This means that a company
must have the same or better quality than its
competitors. The quality of competitors,
however, is improving continuously. This
situation keeps a company improving quality
continuously to remain a viable force in the
market place. Companies can no longer
tolerate adverse gaps in product quality
between their products and those of their
competitors. To prevent this, a viable
program of continuous improvement must be
developed and put into practice [15].
ISO-9000 standards exist principally to
facilitate international trade. The driving
forces that have resulted in widespread
implementation of ISO-9000 standards can
be summed up in one phrase: “the
globalization of business”. Expressions such
as “post-industrial economy” and “the global
village” reflect profound changes during
recent decades. These changes have led to
increased economic competition, increased
customer expectations for quality, and
increased demands upon organizations to
meet more stringent requirements for quality
of their products [16].
Vision 2000 report proposed four goals
that relate to maintaining the ISO-9000
standards so that they continually meet the
133
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
needs of the market place. These goals are
universal acceptance, being adopted and
used worldwide; current compatibility,
combined use without conflicting
requirements; forward compatibility, with
successive revisions being accepted by users;
and forward flexibility, using architecture
that allows new features to be incorporated
readily [16, 17].
ISO-9000 certification occurs when a
neutral and independent “registrar” uses one
of the ISO-9000 standards to certify a
supplier. This results in an official
designation of the supplier as an “ISO-9001
or ISO-9002 or ISO-9003” certified supplier.
A supplier registered in this manner is in the
enviable position of being seen as a reliable
worldwide supplier of quality products and
services; its customers can reduce or
eliminate inspection of purchased parts
thereby resulting in an efficient system of
global trade [18].
The ISO quality standards do not refer
directly to the products or services delivered,
but rather to the production and
administrative processes that produce them.
It is generic enough to be applicable to any
industry type. Specifically, the standards
focus on the need for organizational
structure, well-documented procedures, and
management’s commitment of resources to
implement quality management [15]. The 20
clauses of ISO-9001 standard, the most
comprehensive of the three standards are
found in [16, 18].
2.3. Quality function deployment
Measurement and evaluation of product
quality is not difficult, since one can
establish conformance standards, inspect and
test products, identify defect rates, correct
errors, and impose performance level. The
quality function deployment (QFD) permits
to assemble a considerable amount of
information in a concise form, in a small
number of documents - QFD diagrams. The
graphical format is more effective in
simplifying complex information [19, 20].
The QFD aims at the customer. It is
necessary to hear the “voice of the customer”
during the development of the products and
processes, identify and focus on the details

and decide what is important. This tool
simplifies a set of information through the
use of graphs based on matrices. The QFD
is a system that translates the requirements of
the customer, identifies necessary
modifications before major expenses take
place, reduces risks during the development
phase, creates basic knowledge of the
product, and introduce the “voice of the
customer” in the development process
[6, 20]. This method permits to collect a
large quantity of information in the form of
graphs. Each customer differs in his/her
expectations and necessities, consequently, in
the requirements. QFD identifies customers
in the various stages of development life
cycle, and employs techniques to compile
their requirements. The QFD demands a list
of “WHATS” AND “HOWS”, where the
items “WHATS” are the necessities of the
customers and the “HOWS” are the
measurable requisites that can affect the
understanding of the requisites of the
customers. Quality function deployment –
specifically, the house of quality – is an
effective management tool in which customer
expectations are used to drive the process
under consideration [19, 20]. Some of the
advantages and benefits of implementing
QFD are: an orderly way of obtaining
information and presenting it; shorter
development cycle; considerable reduction in
costs; fewer process changes; reduced chance
of oversights during process execution; an
environment of team work; consensus
decisions; and preserving everything in
writing. QFD implementation results in a
satisfied customer [13, 19].
3. Electronic Manufacturing
A study has been conducted for
implementing some of the CE/DFM tools in
a small size electronic manufacturing
industry located in the southern part of
Brazil. The main products of this industry
are: sirens and alarms for the cars. These
products are distributed to the car
manufacturers and retail auto shops located
in several states. The initial study with the
management, design and manufacturing
teams indicated the following: 1. Types of
problems with respect to the product:

134

      
defective plastic parts from supplier, visual
external finish, defective raw material,
defective circuit board, and improper use of
the product. 2. Factors affecting the product
cost:


 


transportation, quality program, rework, idle
time in the assembly line, marketing, taxes,
and product warranty. 3. Problems related to
the production process: burnt resistance and
motors, obsolete machines and equipment,
lack of preventive maintenance, and
insufficient tools. 4.
    
from the consumer:  

 

delivery, high cost of the product, better
product from the competitors, and defective
products.
4. Results and Discussions
Over a period of three months, 625 units
installed and sold through two car
manufacturers have been monitored. Out of
these 625 units installed, 248 units (39.7% of
total units sold) were returned from the
customers to the manufacturer for repair and
rework. The units were inspected before they
were sent for repair and/or rework. Table 1
shows the inspection results on the 248
returned units. It is observed from Table 1
and Fig. 3 that burnt resistance/motor is
responsible for 41% of repair and rework.
About 44% of repair/rework is due to
defective plastic parts and raw materials.
Table 1. Inspection results

  No. of
repair/rework units Percentage
1. Burnt resistance/motor
102
41.129

2. Defective plastic part 67
27.016
3. Defective raw material 42
16.935
4. Improper use
21
8.468
5. Visual external finish
16
6.452

Total
248
100.00

The customer complaints received along
with the returned 248 units were analyzed
and 344 responses were registered as shown
in Table 2. It is clear from Table 2 and Fig. 4
that defective units and low quality (68%) are
major causes for return of the products from
the customers for repair and rework.
Based on the preliminary study results, the
following actions were taken to minimize the

      

number of defective units reaching the existing products. The assembly line has
customers, increase product quality, been redesigned incorporating new tools and
minimize unit cost of the product, and deliver equipment. An intensive training program
the products on time to the customers. has been arranged for everyone in the shop
floor on the new tools and equipment. The
existing raw materials and plastic parts
Inspection results
suppliers have been changed to ISO-9000
120 certified suppliers. The above changes
significantly reduced repair and rework and
No. of units/percentage

100

80
increased productivity.
No. of units Product Quality: Final product testing
60
Percentage procedures have been modified. Everyone in
40
the enterprise starting from the shop floor
20 employees to top management personnel has
0 been trained in total quality management
concepts. Product quality is improved
ls

e
rt
as o r

h
us
ia
pa

is
ot

fin

through ISO-9002 certification.

er
/m

ex p er
tic

at

al
e c nc e

rn
pr

Product Cost: The selling price/unit is

pl

te
a

Im
ra
ive
st
si

e
t

al
re

iv

reduced to that of the competitors in the

su
ct
ef
t
rn

fe

Vi
D
Bu

De

Type of defect
market. This was made possible due to
reduced repair and rework, and increased
Figure 3. Inspection results productivity.

Delivery Time: Product delivery time is
Table 2. Customer complaints significantly reduced due to the incorporation
Customer No. of Percentage of DFM guidelines and increase in
complaints complaints productivity.
1. Defective units 154 44.767 Customer Satisfaction: Quality function
2. Low quality
82 23.837 deployment (QFD) concepts have been
3. High cost
67
19.477
incorporated to meet the customer needs and
4. Delay in delivery
41
11.919
Total
344
100.00 requirements. This also provided continuous
feedback from the customers.
Before the incorporation of the concurrent
Customer complaints engineering concepts almost 40% of the
items manufactured and sold were sent back
No. of complaints/percentage

180
160
by the customers for repair and rework
140 within three months time of purchase. This
120 has been significantly reduced after the
100 No of complaints
80 Percentage incorporation of quality standards, design of
60
40 assembly, and QFD concepts. The customer
20 complaints have been significantly reduced,
0
and the repair and rework dropped less than
Defective units

Delay in delivery
High cost
Low quality

10%. At present, the company is selling their

products in several states of Brazil and
planning to export their products to
neighboring Latin American Countries.
Type of complaint
5. Conclusions
Figure 4. Customer complaints

In this paper, many concepts have been

Defective Units: Some of the concurrent listed that when properly applied will lead a
engineering tools have been adapted and design team to an optimal design of any
applied to this industry. First the DFM product or service. The guidelines and
guidelines were used for redesigning the methods explained here have been proved to

135

be highly effective when applied in small
electronic manufacturing industry. Any
industry that is not currently applying
CE/DFM in its design and production phases
is urged to do so. The benefits that can be
obtained by correctly applying and
implementing CE/DFM, QFD, and ISO-9000
are great when compared to other methods of
design and production. From this study, it is
very clear that only by the skillful integration
of design, manufacturing, and marketing an
industry today can survive in this highly
competitive world where cost, time-to-
market, and good quality are imperative for
survival.
Acknowledgment
This project was funded by FAPERGS
(Process No.: 01/1218.7), Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil. The authors wish to thank the
FAPERGS for providing equipment,
scholarship and travel funds.
References
[1] Allen, W. C., Simultaneous Engineering:
Manufacturing and Design, SME, Dearborn, MI,
1990.
[2] Anderson D. M., Design for
Manufacturability: Optimizing Cost, Quality, and
Time-to-Market, CIM Press, Lafayette, CA, 1990.
[3] Susman, G. I., Integrating Design and
Manufacturing for Competitive Advantage,
Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1992.
[4] Turtle, Q. C., Implementing Concurrent
Project Management, Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliff, NJ, 1994.
[5] Miller, L. C. G., Concurrent Engineering
Design: Integrating the Best Practices for Process
Improvement, SME, Dearborn, MI, 1993.
[6] R. Radharamanan, “Concurrent Engineering
and Design for Manufacture”, Keynote Speech,
XIII Encontro Nacional de Engenharia de
Produção, Florianópolis, Brazil, 1993.
[7] Corbett J., et. al., Design for Manufacture:
Strategies, Principles and Techniques,
-
Wesley Publishing Company, New York, NY,
1991.
136
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
[8] Helander, M., and M. Nagamachi, Design for
Manufacturability: A Systems Approach to
Concurrent Engineering and Ergonomics, Taylor
& Francis, Washington, DC, 1992.
[9] J. P. Tanner, “Product Manufacturability”,
Journal of Automation, , 1989.
[10] H. W. Stoll, “Design for Manufacture”,
Journal of Manufacturing Engineering,  ,
1998.
[11] Boothroyd, G., Product Design for
Manufacture and Assembly, Marcel Dekker, New
York, NY, 1994.
[12] Norman, R., Concurrent Product and
Process Development (CP/PD) - A Current
Design Methodology: Making it Happen,
International TechneGroup Incorporated, Revised
Edition, 1990.
[13] Shina, S. G., Concurrent Engineering and
Design for Manufacture of Electronics Products,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY, 1991.
[14] Nevins, J. L., and E. W. Daniel,
Concurrent Design of Products and Processes: A
Strategy for the Next Generation in
Manufacturing, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY,
1989.
[15] Winchell, W., Continuous Quality
Improvement: A Manufacturing Professional’s
Guide, SME, Dearborn, MI, 1991.
[16] Peach, R. W., The ISO 9000 Handbook,
Richard D. Irwin, Chicago, IL, 1997.
[17] Juran J. M., and A. B. Godfrey, Juran’s
Quality Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York,
NY, Fifth Edition, 1999.
[18] Lamprecht, J. L., ISO 9000: Preparing for
Registration, ASQC Quality Press, Milwaukee,
WI, 1992.
[19] Akao, Y., Quality Function Deployment–
Integrating Customer Requirements into Product
Design, Productivity Press, Cambridge, MA,
1990.
[20] Besterfield, D. H., et. al., Total Quality
Management, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs,
NJ, Second Edition, 1999.

Determining the Most Effective Midsole Material Thickness in
Preventing Calcaneal Fractures
Jonathan B. Ksor Ha Van Vo
Mercer University Mercer University
Jonathn_jb@mercer.edu Vo_hv@mercer.edu
Abstract
The objective of this research is to use a
patient specific study to determine the
optimal midsole thickness of polyurethane
for shoes to reduce the probability of having
a calcaneal fracture when facing a sudden
fall from a height of approximately six feet.
The authors applied the energy governing
equations to calculate the energy absorbed
from the midsole material and Solidworks
software to model the midsole and analyze
the stress and displacement to determine the
optimal midsole thickness of a six feet 200lb
white male. Results showed that the midsole
thickness of about 30mm provided the most
energy absorption. Thus the optimal midsole
thickness of polyurethane for this individual
patient that falls suddenly from a height of
six feet is in the range of 20mm-30mm.
1. Introduction
Calcaneal fractures account for
approximately one to two percent of all
fractures and, in addition, it is considered
the most frequently fractured tarsal bone in
the foot [1-3]. Calcaneal fractures are
subdivided into two groups: intra-articular
and extra-articular [2, 3]. Intra-articular
fractures are the most common (70-80%)
and are the hardest to treat giving the
poorest long term results [2, 4]. While on
the other hand, extra-articular fractures are
less common and have a more favorable
outcome with a lesser morbidity rate.
Treatment options range from conservative
reduction and casting to a more invasive
open reduction and internal fixation [5].
137
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
R. Radharamanan
Mercer University
Radharaman_r@mercer.edu
Often times intra-articular fractures lead
to severe sequelae such as painful subtalar
joint arthritis for which fusion is usually the
treatment of choice. This can lead to
detrimental biomechanical changes resulting
in damages to other joints such as the ankle
and knee. A study done by Patricia
Kolodziej and James Nunley [4] showed that
patients that underwent subtalar joint
arthrodesis as a treatment for painful
arthritis showed improvement in pain scores
(not complete resolution) but suffered in
areas of physical conditioning and
functioning.
The calcaneus is the largest tarsal bone in
the foot. It articulates superiorly to the talus
and anteriorly to the cuboid. It is a major
load bearing surface during gait and its
muscular attachment to the posterior
compartment muscles of the lower leg
allows the foot to forcefully plantarflex. A
common cause of calcaneal fractures are
falls from a height of at least 6 feet [5].
Approximately 10 percent of these injuries
are associated with lumbar spine fractures
[2, 5]. Therefore the severity of the injury is
often times unpredictable and precautions
should be taken to prevent this type of injury
from happening. This can be achieved
through shoe gear which is an important
factor in providing the necessary protection
from all foot injuries. All shoes are made up
of four basic components: the outsole,
midsole, insole, and upper. The outsole is
the outer most portion of the shoe which
functions to provide traction. The insole lies
in direct contact with the foot and functions
to provide support for the foot. Lastly, the
midsole is situated between the outsole and
insole and functions to provide shock
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

absorption during gait. This is considered ( E M − Eo )

the most important part of the shoe in
reducing impact type injuries to the foot
more specifically calcaneal fractures. One of
the main materials used for the midsole is
polyurethane and the average midsole
thickness is about 20mm [6]. By controlling
midsole thickness this will influence the
amount of energy absorbed by the shoe
during walking, running or jumping.
Therefore, it was the objective of this study
to determine the optimal thickness range of
midsole for a specific patient that will best
reduce the probability of having a calcaneal
fracture when falling from a height. This
range will provide a reference for fitting or
building shoes for individuals working in
risk environment.
E% = *100 (3)
Eo
The first equation represents the energy
absorbed directly by the heel, EH when the
patient fell to the ground. This is important
because this is the amount of energy above
the yield stress of bone needed to fracture
the calcaneus of this specific patient. Yield
stress is a material property that quantifies
the highest point before the material goes
from the elastic region into the plastic region
as shown in Figure 4 [2, 8, 9].

2. Materials and Methods

A six feet 200lbs white male presented

with a painful swollen left foot secondary to
falling from a height of approximately six
feet while painting the exterior of a
residential home. X-rays and Computerized
Tomography (CT) scans were taken and
revealed an intra-articular calcaneal fracture
with unremarkable lumbar radiographs as
shown in Figures 1 and 2.
Simpleware software was used to convert
the two dimensional (2D) CT scan of the left A – Left rear foot (medial view X-ray)
foot and ankle to a 3D model to analyze the
stress distribution in the calcaneus as shown
in Figure 3. Multiple fractures of the
calcaneal left foot (red is the calcaneus,
yellow is the fibular, dark blue is the tibia,
and light blue is the talus) are noted.
Therefore, in order to determine the
optimal midsole thickness for this patient,
three governing energy equations were used:

EH = PE + translational KE + Rotational KE

1 1
E H = mgh + mv 2 + Iω 2 (1)
2 2

EM = F * d (2)
B – Right foot (calcaneal axial view X-ray)
Figure 1. Calcaneal fracture

138

A. Transverse view
B. Saggital view
Figure 2. CT scan of left foot
The yield stress of bone is approximately
120 GPa [7]. This represents the amount of
stress that is exerted on the bone as the
patient ambulates. Therefore the total
amount of energy needed to fracture this
patient’s bone is equal to: (yield stress
energy) + EH.
139
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Figure 3. 3D model of the ankle
complex
Figure 4. Stress-strain curve of the
bone
The second equation measures the
amount of energy, EM absorbed by the
material polyurethane. “F” is force and “d”
is the displacement of the material. The
displacement was measured using the
Solidworks software. It was used to simulate
the displacement of material when placed in
the shoe of this particular patient as seen in
Figure 5. The block above was given the
material properties of bone. The block
below was given the material properties of
polyurethane. Previous studies have shown
that the amount of reaction force
experienced by the lower leg when jumping
is approximately 25 times that of the
individual’s body weight [7]. Therefore the
reaction force applied to the bottom material
was 22,240 N. This simulation was done for
four different polyurethane thicknesses:
15mm, 20mm, 30mm, and 40mm. Five
samples of each thickness were used in
simulation to determine the validity of the
results of the simulation by comparing it
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

with what previous studies have shown. For

instance, polyurethane that is 7mm thick can
absorb approximately 83J of energy.
Therefore, for a material that is 20mm thick,
the energy that can be absorbed with impact,
Eo is 273J. This was considered the optimal
thickness since the average midsole
thickness for shoes is about 20mm.
4. Discussions
In this study, the results show that the
thickness of 30mm had the best EM and E%
values. It had the only positive E% value
whereas the 15mm and 40mm were
negative. This means that this thickness had
the better absorption result compared to the
others, even when compared to the optimal
thickness of 20mm. It can also be seen that
the 40mm absorbed less than that of optimal
because at this thickness the material started
to develop bending moment which can be
seen in Fig. 9.

Table 1. The results of displacement,

Figure 5. The model for Solidworks material energy absorption (EM) and
simulation percentage energy (E%).
Material Displacement
The third equation calculates the Thickness (mm) EM (J) E%
percentage of extra energy absorbed by 15mm 9mm 201.06 -26.35
different material thicknesses to the energy 20mm 12mm 266.88 -2.24
absorbed by the optimal thickness of 20mm. 30mm 18mm 401.12 46.93
40mm 8mm 177.92 -34.83
3. Results

The total amount of energy absorbed by

the heel was calculated to be 1812.97J.
According to the simulation, the amount of
displacement for the midsole thickness of
20mm was approximately 266.88J. This
result is about the same as that calculated
previously (273J) using the energy
absorption index reported from previous
studies. This result therefore helps to Figure 6. Displacement results of
validate the results of the simulation of other 15mm thickness polyurethane
material thicknesses. Table 1 shows the material
remaining results of the simulations and
calculations of displacement, energy
absorbed by different material thicknesses,
EM and the energy percent difference from
optimal, E%. Figures 6-9 show the results
of the Solidworks simulations. The
results obtained from these simulations
will be used for predicting the range of
material thickness. Clinical studies are
needed to confirm the optimal results.

140

Figure 7. Displacement results of
20mm thickness polyurethane
material
Therefore, the thickness of material has its
limits. For this patient, a midsole thickness
of 30mm would have been beneficial. It
would have prevented or at least decreased
the injuries incurred to the calcaneus, for
example the added thickness could have
kept the fracture from extending into the
joint (extra-articular).
Figure 8. Displacement results of
30mm thickness polyurethane
material
Figure 9. Displacement results of
40mm thickness polyurethane
material
5. Conclusions
It was the objective of this study to
determine the optimal thickness of midsole
for this patient to prevent or limit the
damages to the heel incurred from a fall.
The optimal range was determined to be
between 20mm and 30mm thick. Therefore,
a patient of his size would benefit from these
results. By adding the necessary amount of
material, this would prevent the long term
141
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
effects related to calcaneal fractures. Future
studies would include a large study group to
compile a chart that would cover patients of
different sizes. This chart would be used to
custom make shoes for patients working in
risk environments such as construction
workers, carpenters, and painters. Other
additional studies would include the effects
of different materials or different geometric
arrangements. Future studies might involve
the use of different materials with different
thickness for landing tests on pressure plates
to obtain realistic data.
References
[1] Bridgman, S. A., Intervention for treating
calcaneal fractures, The Cochrane Collaboration,
2007.
[2] www.emedicine.com.
[3] Benirschke, S. K., and P. A. Kramer,
“Fractures of Os Calcis”, Clinical Orthopaedics,
1999.
[4] Kolodziej, P., and J. A. Nunley, “Outcome of
subtalar joint arthrodesis after calcaneal
fractures”, J. South Orthop. Association, 10(3),
pp. 129-139, 2001.
[5] Banks, A., M. Downey, D. Martin, and S.
Miller, McGlamery’s Comprehensive Textbook
of Foot and Ankle Surgery, Philadelphia, PA.,
2001.
[6] www.sneakerhead.com.
[7] Nigg, B. M., and W. Herzog, Biomechanics
of the Musculo-skeletal System Second Edition,
West Sussex, England, 1999.
[8]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stress_v_s
train_A36_2.png.
[9] Ratner, B. D., A. S. Hoffman, F. J. Schoen,
and J. E. Lemons, Biomaterial Science an
Introduction to Materials in Medicine, Elsevier
Inc., 2004.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Developing a Database that Executes Comprehensive, Comparative Analyses

Among Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Programs Nationwide
Federica Robinson, Mario Marin, Serge Sala-Diakanda,
Jose Sepulveda, Luis Rabelo, Kent Williams
University Central Florida

Abstract continuously input and update their information

Institutions are continuously altering their
curriculum to adapt to changes in academia and
industry requirements. Therefore, to improve
the undergraduate Industrial Engineering
Program at the University of Central Florida,
comparative analyses among IE programs at
other U.S. institutions were necessary. To
simplify the process and increase the usability of
its information, a database was created
incorporating a school’s undergraduate IE
program capacity, its curriculum, and other
significant historical and statistical facts.
To facilitate the capture of this information,
several research efforts were initiated, beginning
with a determination of principle schools to be
analyzed and the development of course
categories to record each curriculum.
Complementing charts and tables were hence
created to organize the wealth of data found.
These findings were entered into a relational
database, later resulting in the ability to generate
queries and reports based on a user-defined
criterion.
This paper describes how this initiative was
approached and thoroughly explains the
database’s design and structure, means of
extending its contents and general analysis tasks
available. With more than 40 schools entered,
the database is in no way complete, partly due to
the extensive number of schools that exist and
the frequency of their curriculum changes. It is
projected that as a result of this paper and other
initiatives, the database will become available
via the World Wide Web, enabling schools to
142
and conduct analyses concentrated to their
purpose.
1. Introduction
Industry and academia are constantly
changing the requirements of prospective
Industrial Engineers (IEs) to adapt to changes
and developments in society. Therefore,
institutions must incorporate these changes into
their curriculum to ensure students’ preparation
and suitability for the ‘IE’ title. In an attempt to
ease the task of performing comparative
analyses among different institutions, a database
incorporating curriculum requirements and other
identifying characteristics was created. This
database can be used to weigh the importance of
specific courses or course categories at a
particular university or group of universities,
while also denoting whether the course is an
emerging topic (A previous study identified the
18 most desirable IE topics new graduates
should be knowledgeable; these topics have
been termed ‘emerging topics’).
2. Approach
To enable comprehensive analyses among
undergraduate IE programs, it was essential to
determine the schools to analyze and the extent of
the data sought. Based on the 2006 U.S. News &
World Report on America’s Best Colleges, it was
determined that the scope would not only include
public institutions, but private schools as well.
The schools would be further classified as those
offering doctoral programs and those that do not.
Aside from gathering general descriptors
about each school, i.e. department size and
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

historical facts, spreadsheets were created to
help organize the remaining information deemed
necessary to accomplish this initiative. First,
twelve categories were designed to thoroughly
evaluate each program while maintaining
emphasis on IE specific courses. Eight of the
categories are dedicated solely to industrial
engineering to allow for a thorough analysis of
programs in terms of the type of IE courses
being taught and the emphasis each program
may be placing on particular IE fields (See
Table 1). Among those, the senior design course
present in most undergraduate IE curriculums
was considered independently because it usually
requires students to utilize an array of IE skills
to address real world problems.
Table 1. Dedicated IE Categories
Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics
Manufacturing (Systems) Engineering
Operations Research & Systems Engineering
Production & Management Systems Engineering
Quality Management
Engineering Management
Simulation & Modeling
Senior Design
category courses were to be placed but after
attempting to categorize several schools,
Exceptions and conflicts arose requiring
additional consideration- 1. Schools operating
on a track basis, requiring students to select a
specialization track early in the program,
required the creation of a separate curriculum for
each track; 2. Institutions operating on a
quarterly system were denoted because these
programs tend to require a higher number of
credit hours, which will potentially skew the
results of some analyses; 3. Distinguish whether
a school is public or private to account for
possible differences due to accreditation
requirements, and political and departmental,
organizational structure.
4. Database Design
Following the structured, compilation of
necessary information, a relational database was
created incorporating all findings. Using
Microsoft Access 2003, a common field
(schoolID) was implemented as the link among
all tables, queries, forms, and reports.

Electives were then divided into three This field is automatically generated for
categories to separate IE electives from each school added to the main informational
Engineering & Science electives and other non- table. Other relationships are depicted in Figure
technical electives. The remaining category,
1 below.
General Education, was designed to account for
the mandatory, yet non-IE courses in the
curriculum.

3. Data Gathering

With great consideration given to the wealth

of information available, three spreadsheets
were created to filter and organize this data. The
IE curriculum table (Table 2), the general
education table (Table 3) and a course topic
worksheet were used in the evaluation of each
curriculum. Each team member used best
judgment and consensus to determine which Figure 1. Database Relationships

143

5. Database Employment
Upon entering the database, the main
interface appears displaying four buttons
attributed to editing and four buttons for
conducting analyses and searches (Figure 2).
Editing tasks allow for the addition and/or
modification of general school information, their
courses and topics, and course categories as
needed. Meanwhile, Analysis Tasks allow for
the evaluation of courses by category, specific
course details or topic. This section provides
informational reports on schools, topics, and
categories based on a combination of criteria
defined by the user. The results are generated
based on queries from combinations of reports
and forms, and allow for clear and simple
representation of the information sought.
5.1 Editing the Database
Figure 2. Main Database Interface
As information changes, the database
provides several means to reflect these changes.
This can be accomplished by using the editing
tasks buttons (IE Programs, Course Categories,
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Courses, and Course Topics) or by adding or
deleting information directly onto the basic
tables.
Within the IE Programs tab, any general
information about a university (i.e. # of credit
hours in the categories represented, department
size, etc.) is available for edit. If the addition of
a university was desired or multiple curriculums
need to be added to a school, this may be
accomplished as well. A link to the tables used
in the data gathering process are embedded
within this interface, as is working links to each
IE department’s website. These features serve a
number of purposes including the ease of
verifying existing information.
Course Categories allow the viewing of the
existing course categories and the addition of
new categories, while the Courses interface
requires the selection of both a university and a
catalog year to yield a list of courses and topics
that can be edited as desired.
Course topics allow for manual scrolling or
the use of the alphabetical search tabs to view
existing topics. Additional topics can be added
and whether they are emerging topics can be
selected.
5.2 Conducting Analysis
To conduct comparative analysis or simple
searches, several queries have been embedded in
the database within the Analysis Tasks options-
Quick Search, Course Category Analysis,
Course Analysis, and Topic Analysis. Each of
these buttons generate results when
complemented with a user-specified criterion.
• Quick Search allows for the viewing of
general information relative to a specific
institution. It produces reports revealing the
University’s name, its program name(s), web
address and geographical location. It also
displays the school’s ranking(s), department
size, an overview of credit requirements and
other general details.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

• Course Category Analysis permits the
input of partial course titles in order to return a
list of courses taught at each university related to
that title. There are many factors available to
limit the output yet those are user-defined.
• Course Analysis allows for analysis
based on a minimal numbers of letters of the
course name to account for variation among
course titles. The type of university can be
selected, and other constraints can be set (i.e.
whether a user desires institutions that teach or
do not teach a particular course).
• Topic Analysis allows for the
comparison of topics, whether emerging or not,
based on the input of any letters describing the
desired, IE concept.
[3] Hamidreza Eskandari, Serge Sala-
Diakanda, Sandra Furterer, Luis Rabelo, Lesia
Crumpton-Young, Kent Williams (2007),
"Enhancing the undergraduate industrial
engineering curriculum: Defining desired
characteristics and emerging topics", Education
+ Training, Vol.49, No. 1.
[4] Industrial Engineering Programs Accredited
by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology, Inc. Retrieved October 2006, from
http://www.abet.org.
[5] Institute of Industrial Engineers, IERC
Conference, “Reengineering the IE Curriculum,
a Departmental Reform Strategy,” May 2004.

6. Summary
This paper clearly demonstrates how this
initiative was approached, research methods
executed, the creation of the category-based
database and means by which the database can
be updated or edited. After the anticipated
release of the database via the World Wide Web,
institutions will be able to continuously update
the database’s content to ensure the accuracy
and availability of their school’s data and be
permitted to freely use its contents to perform a
wide range of comparative analysis suitable for a
number of purposes.

7. Acknowledgements

This study is a part of the NSF funded

research project entitled “ReEngineering the
Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Program.”

[1] America’s Best Colleges 2006, US News

and World Report, August 2006 Edition.

[2] Ana Ferreras, Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young,

Dr. Luis Rabelo, Dr. Kent Williams, Dr. Sandra
Furterer. Developing a Curriculum that Teaches
Engineering Leadership & Management
Principles to High Performing Students.
ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference,
October 2006.

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Table 2: Industrial Engineering Curriculum Spreadsheet

Table 3. General Education Spreadsheet

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Applying Six Sigma to Service Organizations: A Case for the Florida

Department of Children and Families
Alicia Combs, Mihaela Petrova-Bolli, Eric Tucker
University of Central Florida
er319078@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

Dana Johnston
Department of Children and Families, State of Florida

Abstract apply the best practices of industry into the

This project used the Six Sigma methodology
to evaluate the current Tier 3 Review Process for
the Department of Children and Families (DCF),
propose recommendations for improvements and
provide control mechanisms to be implemented
over the next six months. The project was
accomplished by a team that included University
of Central Florida (UCF) students, DCF
program managers, and three mentors well
versed in the Six Sigma methodology. The
purpose of this article is to provide an overview
of the significant events in relationship to
applying the Six Sigma process to this service
organization. Specifically, this article will
expound on the lessons learned, during the team
formation phase and each phase of the DMAIC
(Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Control) process.
This article will be useful to organizations
seeking to implement the Six Sigma
methodology as well as organizations that are
seeking to collaborate with academic
institutions.
1. Introduction
In today’s world, private businesses are being
asked to be more effective with fewer resources.
The public sector is no different. It is with the
mindset to do more with less in a more effective
manner that organizations have looked for ways
to streamline their processes, improve
efficiencies, and improve quality. While the
concepts of Lean and Six Sigma are not new to
manufacturing industries, they are perhaps a bit
more nascent to organizations in the service
industries [1][2]. It is with a keen emphasis to
service sector that the Six Sigma approach was
applied to DCF Tier 3 Review Process.
While organizations adapt to improve
themselves, the academic community is no
different. The goal has always been to provide
the best educational opportunities for students.
In the past, opportunities have come in three
forms. The first is to artificially create projects,
the second is to provide research or research
with industry, and the third approach is to use
students as consultants [3]. The latter has been
utilized by business schools supporting local
businesses by developing plans for
improvement. What is occurring in the Industrial
Engineering and Management Systems (IEMS)
Department at the University of Central Florida
is an adaptation of this last approach. Instead of
working only as consultants, UCF students are
closely integrated in an organizations
improvement effort. The close integration of
UCF students and service entities in this project
were formed in conjunction with the ASQ
Community Good Works Program [4]. The goal
of this program is to use quality practices to
improve the community. This paper will provide
the necessary background to understand the
DCF Tier 3 Review Process as well as the
applied Six Sigma methodology. It will also
expound on the key lessons learned in the areas
of team formation and DMAIC process
implementation. The results of the project and a
brief status update will be provided to conclude
the discussion.

147

2. Background
In order to clearly understand the direction of
this study, it is necessary to understand the
background of two components. The first
component is Florida DCF and the second
component is the quality methodology that is
applied.
2.1 Florida DCF
The purpose of the Florida DCF is to serve as
an agency that promotes the betterment of the
community by protecting the rights of
individuals and promoting the economic well
being for individuals and families [5]. Florida
DCF’s vision is to become the premier social
protection and promotion agency in the country.
It is with this mentality that Florida DCF has
implemented a program called “Quality Quest”
[6]. This program has moved DCF forward in
the effort to improve quality of services across
all of its programs.
One of these implementations is the
Automated Community Connection to
Economic Self Sufficiency (ACCESS) system.
The ACCESS system provides a streamlined and
technological advance interface to apply for
public assistance and to make eligibility
determinations [7]. In September 2007, the DCF
ACCESS system was awarded the Innovations
in American Government Award by the Ash
Institute for Democratic Governance and
Innovation at Harvard University's John F.
Kennedy School of Government [8]. The receipt
of this award is a testament to the focus Florida
DCF has placed on improving its quality and
efficiencies of service.
This mentality has become a pervasive part
of the DCF culture and this Lean Six Sigma
initiative is a natural extension of this
environment. Florida DCF has also partnered
with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) on
several initiatives as part of the Community
“Good Works” program.
2.2 Lean Six Sigma
In conjunction with the “Good Works”
program, a Lean Six Sigma effort was initiated
by a team of DCF Circuit 18 program managers
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
and UCF IEMS students enrolled in a total
quality improvement course. The focus of the
effort was to utilize the Lean and Six Sigma
methodologies in order to propose multiple
courses of action to improve the Tier 3 Review
Process.
The Lean approach uses many different tools
in order to eliminate waste from the
organization. The Six Sigma approach utilizes
the DMAIC process in a structured and
systematic manner in order to understand the
process with the eventual goal of suggesting
improvements and control measures [9].
While many of the applications of Lean and
Six Sigma have been industrial settings, it is
clear that this is not the only realm in which
these tools can be used [10]. Several research
endeavors have shown the potential of using
quality approaches in nonindustrial settings. One
such example is the US Air Force’s Smart
Operations 21 (AFSO 21) initiative [11]. This
initiative was started in March 2006 in an effort
to improve the quality of Air Force processes.
According to all reports to date, the Air Force’s
efforts have been commendable and are a great
illustration of the improvements that can be
accomplished by organizations that focus of
utilizing Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to
improve processes [12].
3. Process (Lessons Learned)
While the background information on Lean
and Six Sigma could fill volumes of journals and
books, the focus of this paper is to explain the
critical lessons learned in the team formation
process and the implementation of the DMAIC
methodology.
3.1. Team Formation
The building of the combined DCF and UCF
team was a remarkable endeavor. It was
interesting because many individuals were asked
to subvert individual goals during the term of the
study in order to accomplish the study. While
the setting aside of individual goals is not
unusual to team building, it is unique when a
great portion of the team does not belong to the
main organization. This circumstance may have
been problematic, but the position of the UCF

students was clearly addressed by the course
instructor and supported by the DCF project
champion.
The summary of team findings showed that
the combined team was a strength, however
there were some noted areas for improvement.
The strength of the combined approach was that
the UCF students had access to DCF and Six
Sigma Blackbelt experts. Another strength was
the diverse set of skills brought to the table by
the UCF students.
While there were several strengths as
previously noted, there were some key areas for
improvement. The three most critical areas were
the following: 1) understanding (willingness to
learn) of the quality improvement methodology,
2) developing and executing a clear set of
communication expectations and requirements,
and 3) balancing the project with other work and
class requirements. Most of these areas for
improvement centered on the student
experiences, but were also felt on a lesser degree
by the DCF team members.
One area of special note was the management
of the team when expectations were not met. For
a three week period, many team members
missed several deadlines for deliverables. As a
result, the team leadership revisited the team
charter and clarified the expectations and the
documentation that would result if expectations
were not met without the proper communication.
After this clarification meeting, the majority of
the team performed very well, with some minor
exceptions. Unfortunately, during the course of
the study, a team member was reassigned to a
different study for not meeting expectations.
While this was an undesirable event, it was a
tremendous lesson to the students that this was
more than a purely academic effort. In essence,
the students were hired as integral quality
improvement experts with an expectation of
performance.
3.2 DMAIC Process
While there were numerous lessons learned
in the building aspect of the study, there were
some critical lessons learned from the
application of the Six Sigma DMAIC process.
The key findings of the define phase took
two forms. The first was driven by the
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
perception that the project was already defined.
This was true in a general context, but not based
on the Six Sigma methodology. It was only
through strong leadership that the team was able
to come together and understand what was really
needed in the define phase. The second finding
was the level of detail that was needed to
perform Six Sigma. The define phase
foreshadowed the depth and breadth of work that
was to come.
The measure was of great interest to the
team. It was the first opportunity that many of
the UCF team members had to understand the
DCF Tier 3 Review Process and to view and
collect data. There were many insights gleaned
from this phase, but three were critical. The first
observation was that the team needed to become
intimate with the process as soon as possible. In
order to meet this task, a portion of the team
interviewed a focus group of DCF employees
and conducted a 16 question survey. The second
insight was how critical it was to understand the
data. In this study, the data that was supplied by
DCF consisted of 37 categories. The amount of
data supplied was initially overwhelming.
However, as the team better understood the
process, the understanding of the collected data
was also increased. This insight will be further
addressed in the analyze phase. The final insight
from this phase was the calculation of the
process sigma. The process sigma is normally
measured in terms of defect per million
opportunities (DPMO); however, the team
learned early in the data collection process that
there was a difference in the way quality was
measured by the state and federal inspectors
versus the local operating agency. The local
agency had a subset of 13 critical categories
whereas the state only looked to see if the
reports reviewed were correct or incorrect. The
reduction in the fidelity of the data that was
measured drove the team to evaluate the process
sigma using attribute data. The use of attribute
data is what necessitated the measurement based
on defects per million (DPM) instead of DPMO.
The use of attribute data required the team to use
several different procedures during the analyze
phase, specifically in the creation of the process
control diagrams.
The analyze phase allowed the team to learn
two main lessons. The first was in the area of

Pareto Analyses. After creating an initial set of
Pareto diagrams, the team was unable to see a
tradition 80-20 break point. Based on this
observation, the team decided to prioritize the
data categories into three categories. The three
categories were weighted and the Pareto charts
were repotted. The result is that actual breaks in
the data could be determined. This enabled the
team to evaluate the data in a systematic manner
and provide useful information to determine
improvements. The second lesson learned in the
analyze phase was that team observations are
critical to understanding a process before
forming options to improve a process. It was
noted by several team members that they could
better understand the nature of the process by
seeing it in operation. While this finding is quite
logical, it was not a priority initially to the team,
but once accomplished made the linkages
between the data and potential more salient
solutions.
The improve phase had one major finding.
The improve phase showed the team that the
previous phases of the DMAIC process
generated information that was very useful to
proposing improvement ideas. The key result of
this work was a matrix of 16 improvement ideas
(reduced from an initial list of 60), that were
prioritized based on the potential benefits (high
or low) and the needed resources to accomplish
the improvement (high or low). From the list of
improvements, there were three that could be
immediately implemented into the Tier 3
Review Process. The remaining improvements
needed additional approval and resources from
DCF. In addition to the list of improvements, the
team was able to combine the information
gained throughout the process and develop a
comprehensive set of performance measures that
would be useful to the organization. The key
lesson is that following the methodology will
generate information that is useful to
improvement.
After the improve phase, the combined team
was concluded and the recommendations for
improvement were delivered by the DCF team
members to the leadership of DCF. The control
measures of this process will depend greatly on
what improvements are implemented. Some of
the improvement measures will result in
modification to training programs, while other
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
will increase the visibility of the performance
measures to the organization.
4. Results
The results of this study should be looked at
from several vantage points.
The first-vantage point is from the
perspective of the DCF team members. The
team members were able to closely pair with the
students from UCF. This arrangement may have
initially appeared to be convoluted; however it
truly turned out to be an exceptional
relationship. DCF was able to serve as experts
on their processes, while harnessing the
knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm of doctoral
and master’s level students supported closely by
local area quality experts and mentors.
The second-vantage point is that of the UCF
students and faculty. The UCF students were
able to have a truly experiential learning
experience, while implementing the Lean and
Six Sigma framework. The UCF team members
learned that they could quickly assimilate the
knowledge of an organization that was initially
very different than any previous experiences.
The UCF students also learned quickly that the
process would not move forward unless they put
in the work to move the process forward and
generate the required products. For their efforts,
the UCF students were certified as Six Sigma
Green Belts and Black Belts depending on their
experience level.
The third-vantage point is that of the results
produced by the DMAIC process. It can be
clearly shown that a systematic process led to
substantial improvement suggestions. The
processes have been successfully used in the
past, so the results of the suggestions once
implemented should be no different.
As of the writing of this paper, DCF Circuit
18 has implemented four of the sixteen
recommendations provided the team. The results
of the four suggestions are at various stages of
execution.
The recommendations that have been
implemented have increased the number of cases
under review, added and improved monthly and
quarterly training, and finally established written
guidance in the form of checklist for reviewers
to follow. The short-term effects of these

improvement efforts have been to increase the
Tier 3 accuracy by 27 percent from Oct 07 –
Dec 07. The short-term increase is noteworthy
and foreshadows future improvements.
5. Conclusions
The approach that was taken in this study
was very effective. The opportunity for UCF
students to partner with an organization truly
interested in quality was exceptional. By
partnering with UCF, DCF was able to create a
synergistic relationship that harnessed the power
and best practices of several organizations. For
the UCF students, the learning opportunity was
outstanding and the lessons learned will not be
forgotten. In the future, organizations should be
encouraged to partner with universities for more
than research. In this instance, multifaceted
expertise was focused on helping the partner
organization. This effort could result in a
solution that is unattainable with intra
organizational resources. From a quality
perspective, it is clear that the Lean Six Sigma
methodology works. At DCF, improvement
ideas that were hidden became visible and
provided DCF with a great opportunity to thrive
in the future.
6. Acknowledgements
The authors of this paper would like to thank
the following individuals who were part of the
combined UCF and DCF teams and performed
admirably throughout the project: Jorge
Martinez, Jackie Robles, Christopher Lee, and
Josue Utreras. Additional thanks go out to Dr.
Ahmad Elshennawy, Dr. Frank Voehl, and Ms.
Erica Farmer.
7. Disclaimer
This paper was written by several authors and
reflects their personal views and is not
necessarily endorsed by the United States
Air Force.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
8. References
[1] S. Furterer and A. K. Elshennawy,
"Implementation of TQM and lean Six Sigma tools in
local government: a framework and a case study,"
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence,
Routledge,12,2005. pp. 1179-1191.
[2] C. Yang, "Establishment of a Quality-
Management System for Service Industries," Total
Quality Management & Business Excellence,
Routledge,11,2006. pp. 1129-1154.
[3] P. L. Burr and G. T. Solomon, "The SBI Program:
Four Years Down the Academic Road," J. Small Bus.
Manage., Blackwell Publishing Limited,04,1977. pp.
1-8.
[4] American Society for Quality, Good Works
Program Retrieved 03/05,2008, from
http://www.asq.org/about-asq/what-we-
do/goodworks.html
[5] Florida Department of Children and Families,
DCF Mission, Vision and Values Retrieved
03/05,2008, from
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/transition/mission.shtml
[6] Florida Department of Children and Families,
Quality Quest Retrieved 03/05,2008, from
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/transition/docs/accomplish
_qualityquest.pdf
[7] Florida Department of Children and Families,
ACCESS Florida Retrieved 03/05,2008, from
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/transition/docs/accomplish
_access.pdf
[8] Florida Department of Children and Families,
ACCESS Florida Honored as Innovations in
American Government Award Winner Retrieved
03/05,2008, from
http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/ashaward.shtml
[9] Li-Hsing Ho and Chen-Chia Chuang, "A Study of
Implementing Six-Sigma Quality Management
System in Government Agencies for Raising Service
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Quality," Journal of American Academy of Business,

Cambridge, Journal of American Academy of
Business, Cambridge,09,2006. pp. 167-173.

[10] A. Parasuraman, V. A. Zeithaml and L. L. Berry,

"A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its
Implications for Future Research," J. Market., 1985.
pp. 41-50.

[11] Michael W. Wynne,

Letter to Airmen: Air Force Smart Operations 21
Retrieved 03/05,2008, from
https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=140
491

[12] Joe B. Wiles,AFSO 21: Fairchild initiative

reduces wait for critical parts
Retrieved 03/05,2008, from
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123039791

152

Resource Utilization: A Study on How to Implement a
Communication System
Kendra Lee, La Shaveria Keeton, Carsolina Walton, Tiki L. Suarez-Brown
Florida A&M University
tiki.suarez@famu.edu
Abstract
The advancement of technology has brought
about many changes, yet organizations continue
to seek increased solutions in an effort to close
communication gaps. This research determined
various business needs for communication
between administration, faculty, students and
staff found within the School of Business and
Industry (SBI) at Florida A&M University.
Furthermore, this research investigated efficient
systems to employ underutilized resources for
inclusiveness purposes. Possible
recommendations are explored for future
implementation.
1. Introduction
Complete utilization of technology to
administer up-to-date announcements and
pertinent information within SBI has been
problematic. Therefore developing processes to
enhance communication vehicles between
students, faculty, staff and alumni within SBI
was identified as the most critical project to
implement. Currently SBI uses communication
portals called Video Information Centers (VICs
also known as plasma screens). However, there
is no formal process in place for students and
faculty to submit information to be displayed on
these screens around the school. Additional
communication procedures are outdated and
inefficient. There is a need for effectively store,
and distribute meaningful information to all
individuals in a timely manner.
The Systems Development Life Cycle
(SDLC) was the methodology chosen to
effectively develop a system to increase
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
communication within the school. The
following three key operations were created to
fully address the following needs:
1. Create an efficient set of procedures to
distribute SBI, FAMU and business news
and information via WSBI Television -
SBI’s VICs (plasma screens) to all faculty,
staff, administration and students,
2. Implement a process to electronically
catalogue and archive previous specific
events such as TV tapings and Forum,
3. Create a process to contact and schedule SBI
Alumni / SBIForce to participate by creating
electronic content for WSBI Television.
This project was viewed as a way to
eliminate and/or prevent the gaps and
breakdowns presently within our internal
communication efforts and viewed as an
opportunity to improve communication
processes within SBI. The Dean of the School
of Business and Industry, Dr. Lydia McKinley-
Floyd provided final approval and agreed upon a
project budget of $25,000. A project scope was
created based on this approval.
2. Overview of SDLC Process
2.1. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) [1]
is a traditional methodology that is used by
Systems Analysts to develop an information
system through investigation, analysis, design,
implementation and maintenance. The process
of SDLC is composed of the following six
phases: Project Identification and Selection,
Project Initiation and Planning, Analysis,

Design, Implementation, and Maintenance (see
figure 1).
Figure 1. SDLC Methodology Phases for
Project
The project identification and selection phase
explored the following project points: overall
feasibility, time length for execution, class
willingness, availability of resources and major
over minor needs of the School of Business and
Industry. This second phase of SDLC developed
four major deliverables: the statement of project
scope, the baseline project plan, statement of
work and work breakdown structure. System
requirements such as current system procedures
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
and new system desires were determined via
traditional methods using interviews with clients
Dean McKinley-Floyd and Mr. Dupree, director
of SBI media and news, during the Analysis
phase. The design phase incorporated
information from the interviews and converted it
into logical and then physical systems
specifications.
Due to time constraints of the semester, the
implementation phase was continued by our
client Mr. Dupree, and his student volunteers.
The implementation phase included installing
approved applications into production
environments. As a result of the project the
Dean purchased a Desktop Computer, an
amplifier, and DVD’s. Currently Mr. Dupree
uses WSBI as an additional communication tool
and creates shows to be aired 3 times a week. An
electronic database was also created to catalog
past and current videos. The objective of
formulating a long term consistent
communication tool is still being formulated.
The final phase of SDLC is maintenance. The
maintenance phase involves making changes to
hardware, software, and documentation to
support its operational effectiveness. These
systematic repairs and improvements
are made at the behest of the user.
3. Communication Strategy
SBI communicates with a number of entities
to include the students, faculty, staff, the
University (collectively to include other schools,
majors, the President and his staff), and SBI
alumni known as the SBI Force. The current
problems stem from the lack of communication
between SBI and its various entities as well as
between SBI and SBI Force.
Currently SBI has installed 10 plasma screens
throughout the school to assist with
disseminating information. However, additional
plasma screens are needed and updated video
system equipment is required to run more
enhanced programs. At the moment, the
majority of the cost associated with the system
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

includes updating the equipment and processes „The DVD creation „Companies can
at the School of Business and Industry, which will require purchase receive a copy of the
includes purchasing equipment necessary for the and inventory of events in which they
improvement of information streamed Recordable DVDs. participated in DVD
throughout the School of Business and Industry. format, which are
The additional cost to hire personnel with more user friendly.
expertise to complete the project must also be „Setup and „The data in digital
considered. maintenance costs format can be
for the broadcasting broadcast to inform
Both tangible and intangible costs and benefits of the digitized others of the current
have been identified with this project. Tangible events. May need events within and
costs for the new system consist of conversion cooperation from the around the school of
equipment, a sound board, personal computers school of journalism. business.
for the VIC staff to use, an entirely new „In order to use the „The video and
background set for the TV taping room, and videos and photos to photos can be used
most importantly additional servers that will be market the program, as a marketing tool
solely for the installation of this new information marketing costs to recruit the best
system. Labor needs associated with the staffing would be created. and brightest
for the technical and production side will consist (Flyers, DVDs, students and
of approximately 20-25 people per Mr. Dupree’s magazines, and corporate
request. In the event that the staff selected has articles) professionals.
experience and understanding of both functions
then labor needs will be reduced to about 15-20
students (see Table 1). Intangible costs are a
factor as well. There is a high cost associated
with the improvement and actualization of this
system, not including the cost of information not
reaching students has desired. Another
unexpected cost includes equipment repair
and/or updates. One-time costs that are incurred
at the beginning of the project include the new
hardware and software utilized to house the
system and system training for the students (as
needed).

Table 1. Cost/Benefit Analysis

Costs Benefits
„Initial transfer from „Digitized
VHS to DVD is audio/video format
timely and the cost can be easily
of the hardware will cataloged and
need be incurred. recovered for future
reference.
„Additional people „Archived TV
will be required to tapings, Forums, and
maintain the system; Close-ups can be
therefore the cost of utilized as a training
resources will tool for students and
increase. professors alike.
155

Figure 1. Level-0 DFD for current system
To increase efficiency, initial hiring of
additional personnel is included in the start up
costs. Any monies used to acquire software,
training, and further developments are all
associated project-related costs. Once the
system is up and running, operating costs will be
incurred in order to maintain the hardware,
software, and facilities.
Logical system specifications for the current and
new systems were created using data flow
diagrams to model function and purpose. These
diagrams along with structured English (logic
modeling) were created in the Analysis phase of
the project. Figure 1. displays a Level-0 Data
Flow Diagram (DFD) of the current system.
3.1. Short-term Goals
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Short-term goals were identified for all
objectives of the project.
First Objective
• Short-term goals for the first objective
include creating and streamlining an
efficient set of procedures to gather news
and information variety of means to include
SBI administration, staff, students and
faculty, the campus community, as well as
the local community. This information will
be displayed via WSBI, plasma screens, etc.
Individuals requesting information to be
displayed must complete an Information
Request Form from Mr. Dupree or receive
the form via email wsbi@gmail.com or
wbsi@famu.edu upon request. All fields on
the Information Request Form should be
completely filled out and sent/delivered to
Professor Dupree and his aides. Once the
information has been received and reviewed,
it must be organized and formatted such that
it can be stored and then sent out using
various communication methods.
• Final stage of this process will release
information via the various communication
mediums including WSBI Newscast, the
plasma screens, etc. The newly installed
server will host the website and provide an
efficient and powerful base for the
dissemination of information. The financial
contribution from SBI will also allow
Professor Dupree to purchase the equipment
needed to convert the archived videos into a
digital format.
Second Objective
• Implement a process to electronically
catalogue and archive previous specific
events such as TV tapings and Forum,
• Create a database of Forums, TV Tapings,
and other recorded events. The database of

all recorded events will be maintained and
placed on the server for users to access. The
database will include information such as
dates of the recorded events, the name of the
company/organization, the presenter, etc.
• Acquire immediate technology including all
of the items in the cost summary such as the
Digital Photo Cameras, Mackie Soundboard,
Digital Video Camera, Apple Computer
(Laptop), VHS/DVD Converter,
Distribution Amplifiers, DPS Velocity
Servers (2 additional), and Recordable
DVDs (50 pack).
• Convert VHS to a digital format therefore
all non-digital recorded events will be
digitized and stored on the server. The
VHS/DVD Converter, listed in the cost
summary, will assist in this process.
Third Objective
The following list displays various ways to
contact SBI Alumni / SBI Force:
ƒ Phone calls – Phone calls will be made to
request demographic information from the
SBI Force. Although this method is more
effective for communicating, extra man
power would be needed for this alternative
to work.
ƒ Bulk Mail – A mass bulk mailing list will be
created to physically mail information to the
SBI Force. The SBI Force will be able to
submit digital video clips and films via
postal mail. This alternative will be costly
in terms of postage and time extensive to
process bulk mailing. Although receiving
digital clips by mail eliminates preservation
efforts, conversion to the proper format to
upload the clip to the server is time
consuming.
ƒ Email – Establish a mass email list to
receive electronic content, disseminate
information, and provide updates about
additions to the WSBI website will be the
most effective and efficient means of
communicating with the SBI Force. Email
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
is an excellent mechanism to send and
receive correspondence, received digital
clips from Alumni ultimately receiving
information such as scheduling visits, etc. in
a more efficient manner.
ƒ Blackboard – Utilize Blackboard,
http://famu.blackboard.com, to setup generic
user names and passwords for all SBI Force
to be able to login and view information as
well as easily upload and send information
without additional costs. Blackboard is
ideal since the infrastructure is currently in
place and easily manipulated to be
incorporated in the project. Other added
benefits of Blackboard include, mass email
capabilities, interactive classrooms,
communication boards, etc
3.2. Long Term Recommendations
The first objective’s long-term goals desire to
completely automate retrieval and distribution of
news and pertinent SBI information.
Information Request Forms will now be
accessible via the WSBI link located on both the
SBI and the SBI Exchange websites. The
completed request form will be electronically
forwarded to Mr. Dupree and his staff;
eliminating the time needed to physically return
the form to the WSBI office. Information will
be updated routinely via the WSBI website, the
newscasts, the plasma screens, etc., in addition
to being stored electronically for efficient recall
of information.
The long term goals associated with objective
two will enable SBI to operate more efficiently
by improving internal communications and
improving organization through the VICs.
Organizing the videos on the server as well as
restricting access to the database will foster a
secure environment for users to retrieve the
information. This goal will be accomplished
through the creation of the WSBI website which
will be (sourced) channeled through a link that
will be added to FAMU’s website to allow users
to access digitally recorded events to display
SBI’s talents in its Forums, TV tapings, and
other events.

The long-term goals associated with the third
objective include developing a mobile crew and
establishing the SBI Exchange website. The
mobile crew will interview the SBI Force in
action whether locally throughout the semester
or at their respective hometowns during the
holidays. The SBI Exchange website will
manage information whether uploaded,
downloaded, or via an instant communication
portal which will bridge the gap between SBIans
and the SBI Force.
4. Observations, Issues and Challenges
Based on what was observed the project
needs identified were based on what was
perceived to be most beneficial to
administration, faculty, staff, students, and all
other stakeholders involved within SBI. First,
SBI must create an efficient set of procedures to
distribute SBI, FAMU, and business news and
information via WSBI Television - SBI’s VICs
(plasma screen) to all faculty, staff,
administration and students. The second
objective involved implementing a process to
electronically catalogue and archive previous
specific events such as TV tapings and Forum.
The final objective involved creating a process
to contact and schedule SBI Alumni/SBI Force
to participate by encouraging these individuals
to mail in electronic content for WSBI
television. Short term and long term goals were
created to execute the aforementioned
objectives. The presented short term plan created
an electronic information form to allow
administration, faculty, staff, and students to
submit data they desired to be announced; and
recommended reinstating a vital Professional
Development (PD) company. The presented
long term goals include allowing electronic
submission of data via the SBI website. To
address the second recommendation, the short
term goals included creating a database of
forums, TV tapings, etc. and digitizing old VHS
tapes – which initially housed this information –
to DVDs. Additional long term goals include
completing an organized process on a server to
allow restricted and ultimately protected access
to the database. To address the third
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
recommendation, the short term goals include
utilizing data from the current alumni website
and SBI exchange to obtain information from
and about Alumni; utilizing Blackboard, email,
and calls to contact Alumni; and utilizing
existing contact information to ultimately create
one central database location. Moreover, the
long-term goals also include utilizing the server
so that all entities can obtain access to the
database for Alumni information.
Issues and challenges were identified
concerning the second and third objectives of the
short-term plan. The implementation process for
electronically cataloguing events would need to
include guidelines that refer to the timeframe in
which information would be maintained on the
WSBI/FAMU’s website. The ordering or setup
would also need to be outlined to ensure
information is stored in a way that is user
friendly and organized such that users
understand the content available that can be
resourced. Another issue or challenge of
concern dealt not only with contacting SBI
Alumni and SBI Force members, but ensuring a
process is in place to obtain and maintain current
information of individuals who would like to be
involved in assisting SBI in its communication
enhancing endeavors (i.e. contributions for
WSBI content).
This action research of SBI’s technological
frontier provides insight about the relationship
between organizational growth and the resources
it must evaluate. This type of reflective process
introduced long and short term goals that
produced a preliminary blueprint that can be
applied to SBI and similar institutions. The
implementation of SDLC provided a framework
that addressed the need for information sharing
through the use of the SBI VIC. The research
provided illustrated the completion of the first
four phases of SDLC which allowed the existing
system to be revamped and streamlined for
effective restructuring purposes. These findings
provide additional support about methodologies
and techniques that can be applied to
organizations, similar to SBI, that have
resources that are not being maximized
efficiently.

5. Conclusions and Future Work
The major objectives of the project included
creating an information management system that
archives past, current, and future communication
mediums and fully utilizes new technology. A
management information system was created to
address the three objectives by incorporating
links leading to additional networking tools such
as the SBI Force, WSBI, and the alumni website
and reinstating the student run company WSBI
Inc. to better organize, maintain, and
disseminate information to SBI members and the
SBI Force.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Future work on communication gaps and
efficient resource utilization can be used to
identify colleges and universities with similar
budgets that have superior/high impact
technological systems that SBI can model.
Extended studies may also be used to research
small firms and businesses operated by
entrepreneurs and the ways in which they use
their systems to effectively disperse information
to a limited amount of employees or a large
number of clients.
References
[1] J. A. Hoffer, J. F. George, and J. S. Valacich,
Modern Systems Analysis & Design 3rd Edition,
Prentice Hall 2002.

The Revolution of Six-Sigma: An Analysis of its Theory and Application
Dominique Drake and J. S. Sutterfield
Florida A&M University
ABSTRACT
Six-sigma is a discipline that has revolutionized
many corporations. It has literally transformed
them from a state of loss to one of profitability.
It can be used to improve any process, and is
particularly useful for improving any production
system, whether one used for tangible products
or services. Although the Japanese are ordinarily
credited with having originated and advanced
the quality movement, the roots of the quality
movement, and consequently the roots of the
six-sigma discipline actually originated in the
United States. If the history of six-sigma is not
well understood, neither is the rather subtle
theory behind it. In this paper we develop the
historical roots of the quality revolution, show
how it developed into six-sigma, develop the
theory behind six-sigma, and analyze the uses of
some six-sigma tools used in an effective,
coherent six-sigma program.
INTRODUCTION
Data is good but good data is better. However, in
order to get this good data it is important to have
measures in place such as quality control
systems to ensure information accuracy. Quality
has evolved over the past two centuries when it
first became an important business measure of
comparison. The ways in which it has been used
to define and assess quality have also evolved as
new business practices and degrees of
acceptance are enforced. One of the first
definitions of quality was conformance to valid
customer requirements or the Goalpost View
(Gitlow & Levine and Levine, 2005). As long as
the company’s process met the customer’s
requirements, then both the customer and the
company were satisfied. Frederic Taylor in his
theories of scientific management subscribed to
this viewpoint. He believed segmenting jobs into
specific works tasks was the best way to control
outputs because then efficiency would increase
(Basu, 2001). Employees were told what to do
and how to do it with little or no input. They
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
also rarely worked in teams or cross-functional
efforts because each person had his or her own
tasks to complete. Moreover, post-production
inspection was the primary means of quality
control, which showed the lack of concern for
waste and error at intermediary steps in the
process (Evans and Lindsay, 2005). Under this
traditional approach, companies did little to
understand customer requirements, neither
external nor internal, and rarely focused efforts
on finding a way to improve quality if it did not
come from a technological breakthrough.
As companies began to realize this approach did
not take into consideration the cost of waste and
variation, many began looking for new ways to
measure and define quality. This led to a more
modern definition of quality being accepted as
the predictable degree of uniformity and
dependability (Gitlow & Levine). This
Continuous Improvement View supported the
notion that every process contains an element
that can be improved. Inherently, continuous
quality improvement focused on fine tuning
parts of the whole through incremental changes.
When a problem was discovered, it was
addressed until the next problem was discovered
and so on. Industrial scientists such as William
Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Walter
Shewhart, Harold Dodge and others were at the
forefront of this era. They began by applying
statistical methods of control to quality. These
methods showed the shift from inspection of the
final product and putting a band-aid on the
problem to actually implementing quality
control into the manufacturing process. This also
illustrated the increasing importance of
management decision-making in the quality
control efforts instead of simply finding a quick
fix to the problem so it fell within the
specification limits of product or service
satisfaction and acceptance.
Deming and Juran believed in a new concept
called Total Quality Management. Research by

Evans and Lindsay (2005) indicate this
viewpoint was based on three fundamental
principles:
1. Focus on customers and stakeholders
2. Participation and teamwork by everyone
in the organization
3. A process focus supported by
continuous improvement and learning
Through Total Quality Management (TQM),
workers were empowered to provide input
throughout the entire process to ensure and
instill confidence that products met customer
specifications. In meeting the customer
requirements, the term quality assurance
became widely used as any planned and
systematic activity directed toward providing
consumers with products of appropriate quality
along with the confidence that products meet
consumers’ requirements (Evans and Lindsay
2004). This extension of the Continuous
Improvement viewpoint coined the terms Big Q
and Little Q, which referred to the quality of
management and the management of quality,
respectively (Evans and Lindsay, 2004). Driven
by upper management, TQM focused on not just
identifying and eliminating problems that caused
defects but educating the workforce to improve
overall quality. Upper management realized it
needed to focus more on identifying and
eliminating problems that were causing the
defects throughout the process rather than just
waiting until the end for post-production
inspections. In order to do this, continuous
education programs were implemented at all
levels. As time passed, these total quality
management efforts soon began to fall short of
expectations of businesses in the United States.
Companies vowed they could promise a certain
level of quality by getting it right the first time,
but in the end the processes were still not
meeting all needs and requirements of the
consumer. TQM was joined by many other
acronyms like JIT, MRP and TPM that all
guaranteed an unreachable quality standard
(Basu 2001). Because these methods focused so
greatly on the parts of the whole rather than the
whole, they fell short in implementing rapid
changes. This led to the introduction of certain
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holistic quality control programs, one of the
most recent being Six- sigma.
Six-sigma is a discipline based on the Greek
letter sigma which is the conventional symbol
for standard deviation. Six-sigma is a very
structured process that focuses on quantitative
data to drive decisions and reduce defects
(Benedetto 2003). Many companies have tried to
implement this program without truly
understanding the theory and concept behind it.
Because of such misguided efforts, Six-sigma
has received a somewhat jaded reputation, but it
is not the discipline that is flawed but rather the
application of it. As Evans and Lindsay note, a
cookbook approach in which management reads
the latest self-help book advocated by business
consultants and blindly follows the author’s
recommendations, will destine Six-sigma or any
other management practice to failure because
experience only describes what happened and is
no help to the emulating management team
(Evans and Lindsay, 2004). Understanding the
subtle theory, on the other hand, will enable one
to better understand the cause and effect
relationships that are applied in Six-sigma and
other management practices. In this paper, we
will further develop the historical roots of the
quality revolution already illustrated, show how
quality revolution developed into Six-sigma,
delve further into the underlying theory of Six-
sigma and then analyze the uses of some Six-
sigma tools used in an effective, coherent Six-
sigma program.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Multiple scientists have contributed to the
evolution of quality management. The main
three who added to the development of six-
sigma and will be discussed here are William
Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip
Crosby. Deming had a Ph. D. in physics and was
trained as a statistician at Yale University. He
and Juran both worked for Western Electric
during the 1920s and 1930s (Evans and Lindsay,
2004). From there he started working with the
U.S. Census Bureau where he perfected his
skills in statistical quality control methods. He
opened his own practice in 1941 and thus began
teaching SQC methods to engineers and
inspectors in multiple industries. Deming, better

known as the Father of Quality, was widely
ignored in the United States for his works. As a
result, he went to Japan right after World War II
to begin teaching them SQC. His work there is
what truly bolstered the “Made in Japan” label
to its well-respected level of quality today (Dr.
W. Edwards Deming, 2007). Dr. Deming’s most
famous work is the 14 points in his System of
Profound Knowledge. There are four interrelated
parts in the program: Appreciation for a System,
Understanding of Variation, Theory of
Knowledge and Psychology (Evans and
Lindsay, 2004). In the first point, Deming
believed it was poor management to purchase
materials at the lowest price or minimize the
cost of manufacturing if it were at the expense of
the product. The second and third points
emphasized the importance of management
understanding the project first and foremost
before taking any steps to reduce variation. The
methods to reduce variation include technology,
process design and training. Under the fourth
point, Deming stressed understanding the
dynamics of interpersonal relationships because
everyone learns in different ways and speeds and
thus the system should be managed accordingly.
Other points in the Deming school of thought
were on-the-job training, creating trust, building
quality into a product or service from the
beginning and inclusion of everyone in the
company to accomplish project improvement.
The common methodology used by Deming for
improving processes is PDCA which stands for
Plan – Do – Check – Act.
Joseph Juran is well known for his book, the
Quality Control Handbook published in 1951.
He too went to Japan in the 1950s after working
at Western Electric to teach the principles of
quality management as they worked to improve
their economy. His school of thought was
different from Deming’s in that he believed to
improve quality companies should use systems
with which managers are already familiar. When
consulting firms, he would design programs that
fit the company’s existing strategic efforts to
ensure minimal rejection by staff. The main
points he taught were known as the Quality
Trilogy: Quality Planning, Quality Control and
Quality Improvement. Quality planning was the
process of preparing companies to meet quality
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
goals by identifying the customers and their
needs. Quality control was the process of
meeting quality goals during operations with
minimal inspection. Quality improvement was
the process of breaking through to
unprecedented levels of performance to produce
the product (Evans and Lindsay, 2004). His
philosophy required a commitment from top
management to implement the quality control
techniques and emphasized training initiatives
for all.
The third philosopher who contributed greatly to
six-sigma was Philip Crosby. Crosby worked as
the Corporate VP for Quality at International
Telephone and Telegraph for 14 years. His most
well-known work is the book Quality is Free
where he emphasized management should “do it
right the first time” and popularized the idea of
the “cost of poor quality.” Crosby emphasized
that management must first set requirements and
those are on which the degree of quality will be
judged. He also believed doing things right the
first time to prevent defects would always be
cheaper than fixing problems which developed
into the cost of poor quality idea. Similar to six-
sigma, Crosby focused on zero defects and
created four Absolutes of Quality Management
to ensure that goal was accomplished (Skymark
Corporation, 2007):
1. Quality is defined as conformance to
requirements, not as “goodness” or
“elegance”
2. The system for causing quality is
prevention, not appraisal
3. The measurement standard must be zero
defects, not that’s close enough
4. The measurement of quality is the Price
of Nonconformance, not indices.
These philosophies have been categorized as
more evolutionary because the changes resulting
from their implementation were more gradual.
As time continued, managers became
increasingly disappointed with TQM and
searched for philosophies that would create
more drastic changes in the existing processes
and systems. These revolutionary processes
recognized that processes are key to quality, that
most processes are poorly designed and

implemented, that overall success is sensitive to
individual sub-processes success rates and that
rapid, dramatic change requires looking at the
entire process. One of the first of these
revolutionary philosophies was Reengineering.
Reengineering is defined as the fundamental
rethinking and radical redesign of business
processes to achieve dramatic improvements in
critical, contemporary measures of performance
(Benedetto, 2003). It places heavy reliance on
statistics and quantitative analysis.
Six-sigma emerged during this revolutionary
time period after reengineering. The two
approaches are very similar but also have many
differences. Whereas reengineering focuses on
the statistical aspect, Six-sigma places more
emphasis on data to drive decisions. When
comparing six-sigma to Total Quality
Management it is very apparent that great
changes have come about in the evolution of
quality. Six-sigma has a more structured and
rigorous training development program for those
professionals using it. Six-sigma is a program
owned by the business leaders, also known as
champions, while TQM programs are based on
worker empowerment. Six-sigma is cross
functional and requires a verifiable return on
investment in contrast to TQM’s function or
process based methodology that has little
financial accountability (Evans and Lindsay,
2004).
Six-sigma started as a problem solving approach
to reduce variation in a product and
manufacturing environment. It has since grown
to be used in a multitude of other industries and
business areas such as service, healthcare and
research and development. It represents a
structured thought process that begins with first
thoroughly understanding the requirements
before proceeding or taking any action. Those
requirements define the deliverables to be
produced and the tasks to produce those
deliverables which in turn illustrate the tools to
be used to complete the tasks and produce the
deliverables (Hambleton, 2007). Six-sigma was
initiated in the 1980s by Motorola. The company
was looking to focus its quality efforts on
reducing manufacturing defects by tenfold
within a five-year period. This goal was then
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
revised to a tenfold improvement every two
years, 100-fold every four years and 3.4 defects
per million in five years (Gitlow & Levine,
2005). A defect in six-sigma terms is any factor
that interferes with profitability, cash flow or
meeting the customers’ needs and expectations.
This led to the next important concept of six-
sigma: critical to quality. Critical-to-Quality
(CTQ) items are points of importance to the
customer be it internally or externally (Adomitis
and Samuels, 2003). Six-sigma projects aim to
improve CTQs because research has proven that
a high number of CTQs correlates with lost
customers and reduced profitability. Ultimately,
the company will have reduced the number of
defects and focused on the CTQs such that it
will cost more to correct the defects any further
than to prevent their occurrence in the first
place.
This thought was advanced in the 1980s by Dr.
Genichi Taguchi with his Quality Loss function.
Prior to that time, it was thought that the
customer would accept anything within the
tolerance range and that product costs do not
depend on the actual amount of variation as long
as it was still within the tolerance range (Evans
and Lindsay, 2004). Taguchi introduced a model
that discredited that school of thought by
showing the approximate financial loss for any
deviation from a specified target value – an idea
that coincides with six-sigma’s inclusion of
financial data in the assessment of a process or
function. His work contradicted the original
concept and showed that variation is actually a
measure of poor quality such that the smaller the
variation is about the nominal level, the better
the quality is. As the graph below depicts, this
loss function also applied an economic value to
variation and defects from the standard. As the
process or project deviates from its target value,
costs become increasingly higher and the
customer becomes increasingly dissatisfied.
Quality loss can be minimized by reducing the
number of deviations in performance or by
increasing the product’s reliability. In six-sigma,
the goal is to minimize the number of defects
and keep the process as close to the nominal
value as possible to avoid high degrees of
variability. The concepts of Taguchi are part of

Six-sigma’s key philosophy of reducing defects
and variation from the norm.
As previously mentioned six-sigma is a product
of the statistical methods era of controlling
quality. It stressed the common measure of
quality, the defect. In measuring output quality,
the key metrics used are defects per million
opportunities (DPMO), Cost of Poor Quality
(COPQ) and sigma level (Druley and Rudisill,
2004). Defects per million opportunities takes
into consideration the number of defects
produced out of the entire batch and the number
of opportunities for error. It is important to
assess quality performance using the defects per
million opportunities because two different
processes may have significantly different
numbers of opportunities for error, thus making
comparison unbalanced. Furthermore, large
samples provide for a higher probability of
detection of changes in process characteristics
than a smaller sample. When Motorola created
this ultimate goal of six-sigma, it was set to be
equivalent to a defect level of 3.4 defects per
million opportunities. According to Evans and
Lindsay, this figure was chosen because field
failure data suggested that Motorola’s processes
drifted by this amount on average (Evans and
Lindsay, 2004). The cost of poor quality metric
was introduced by Crosby. It includes the costs
of lost opportunities, lost resources and all the
rework, labor and materials expended up to the
point of rejection. This metric is used to justify
the beginning of a six-sigma project. When a
company is choosing which project to undertake,
the project with the highest COPQ will most
likely be selected. Lastly, the sigma level
indicates the degree of quality for the project.
Sigma is a statistical term that measures how
much a process varies from the nominal or
perfect target value based on the number of
DPMO. As mentioned, Motorola’s goal was to
have 3.4 defects per million opportunities which
would happen at the six-sigma level. The
DPMOs for various sigma levels are compared
in Table 1 below (iSixSigma, 2002).
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Sigma Level Defects per Million
Opportunities
One Sigma 690,000
Two Sigma 308,000
Three Sigma 66,800
Four Sigma 6,210
Five Sigma 230
Six-sigma 3.4
Table 1: Defects per Million Opportunities at
Various Sigma Levels
One phenomenon that has been widely discussed
in relation to six-sigma is the 1.5 sigma shift.
Because six-sigma focuses on variation, a chart
to understand deviation from the mean should be
used to further understand this concept. A Z-
table shows the standard deviation from the
mean. A process’ normal variation, defined as
process width, is +/- 3-sigma about the mean. In
looking at Table 2, it is clear that a quality level
of 3-sigma actually corresponds with 2,700
defects per million opportunities. This number
may sound small but it is similar to 22,000
checks deducted from the wrong bank account
each hour or 500 incorrect surgical operations
each week. This level of operating efficiency
was deemed unacceptable by Motorola hence
the search for a design that would ensure greater
quality levels. A six-sigma design would have
no more than 3.4 DPMO even if shifted +/-1.5
sigma from the mean. In looking once again at
Table 2, it is evident a quality level of six-sigma
actually corresponds with two defects per billion
opportunities while the more commonly known
value of 3.4 defects per million opportunities is
found at the six-sigma level with a +/-1.5-sigma
shift off the center value or +/-4.5-sigma. This
shift is a result of what is called the Long Term
Dynamic Mean Variation (Swinney, 2007). In
simpler terms, no process is maintained perfectly
at center at all times, thus allowing drifting over
time. The allowance of a shift in the distribution
is important because it takes into consideration
both short and long-term factors that could affect
a project such as unexpected errors or
movement. Also worth noting is that the goal of
3.4 DPMO can be attained at 5-sigma with a +/-
0.5-sigma shift or at 5.5-sigma with a +/-1-
sigma shift. However as Taguchi pointed out, it
is important to minimize the noise factors that
could shift the process dramatically from the

nominal value. Table 2 below shows the DPMO
quality levels achieved for various combinations
of off-centering and multiples of sigma (Evans
and Lindsay, 2004).
METHODOLOGY
Within six-sigma there are different project
based methods that can be followed. Among
them are Lean Sigma, Design for Six-sigma,
Six-sigma for Marketing and the most common
DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve
and Control (Hambleton, 2007). Lean Sigma is a
more refined version of the standard Six-sigma
program that streamlines processes to its
essential value-adding activities. In doing this,
the company aims to do things right the first
time with minimum to no waste. Wait time,
transportation, excess inventory and
overproduction are among the wasteful activities
that can be eliminated. One test used to identify
the value-add activities that will reduce waste is
the 3C Litmus Test: Change, Customer, Correct
(Hambleton, 2007). If the activity changes the
product or service, if the customer cares about
the outcome of the activity and/or if the activity
is executed and produced correctly the first time
then it is a value-add activity and should be kept.
Lean Sigma was popularized in Japan after
World War II by Toyota. The Toyota Production
System challenged Ford’s standard for a large
lot production system by using systematically
and continuously reducing waste through small
lot productions only. Design for Six-sigma
(DFSS) expands Six-sigma by taking a
preventative approach by designing quality into
the product or process. DFSS focuses on growth
through product development, obtaining new
customers and expanding sales into the current
customer base (Hambleton, 2007). It focuses on
not just customer satisfaction but customer
success because from the inception of the
product or service the company will focus on
optimizing CTQs. In order to do this, companies
use multivariable optimization models, design of
experiments, probabalistic simulation
techniques, failure mode and effects analysis and
other statistical analysis techniques. This method
is usually begun only after the Six-sigma
program has been implemented effectively. The
Six-sigma for Marketing methodology simply
means applying six-sigma ideas and principles
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
to improving other functions of the business
such as marketing, finance and advertising. The
most common methodology is DMAIC. One
goal of using the DMAIC methodology is to
identify the root cause of the problem and select
the optimal level of the CTQs to best drive the
desired output. Another goal is to improve
PFQT: Productivity, Financial, Quality and
Time spent (Hambleton, 2007). It is used as an
iterative method to combat variation. With the
built in ability to contrast variation, DMAIC
intrinsically allows for flexibility because as
knowledge is learned thorough implementation,
assumptions of the root cause may be disproved,
requiring the team to modify or revisit
alternative possibilities. Kaoru Ishikawa
promoted seven basic tools that can be used in
assessing quality control. The list has since been
expanded upon to include many other tools but
the original seven were Cause-and Effect
diagrams, Check sheets, Control charts,
Histograms, Pareto charts, Scatter diagrams and
Stratification (Hambleton, 2007). Some of these
tools will be further explained below.
In the first step Define, the company clearly
defines the problem. It begins the trust and
dedication from all stakeholders and all persons
included in the project team. The project team
consists of the Champion, Master Black Belt,
Black Belt, Green Belt and Team Members. Key
activities occurring in this phase include
selecting the team members and their roles,
developing the problem statement, goals and
benefits and developing the milestones and high
level process map (iSixSigma, 2007). One tool
used in this step is the process flowchart. Four
main types of flow charts are considered: top-
down, detailed, work flow diagram and
deployment (Kelly and Sutterfield, 2006). This
tool shows how various steps in a process work
together to achieve the ultimate goal. Because it
is a pictorial view, a flow chart can be applied to
fit practically any need. The process map allows
the user to gain an understanding of the process
and where potential waste or bottlenecks could
occur. It also could be used to design the future
or desired process. An example process map for
a call answering operation is shown below in
Figure 2.

In the second step Measure, the company
quantifies the problem by understanding the
current performance and collecting necessary
data to improve all CTQs. Key activities
occurring in this phase include defining the
defect, opportunity, unit and cost metrics,
collecting the data, determining the process
capability. One tool used in this step is the
SIPOC Diagram. SIPOC stands for Suppliers,
Inputs, Processes, Outputs and Customers. This
tool is applied to identify all related aspects of
the project – who are the true customers, what
are their requirements, who supplies inputs to
the process – at a high level before the project
even begins (iSixSigma, 2007). These diagrams
are very similar to process maps which are also a
tool applied at this phase of the DMAIC cycle.
A SIPOC diagram is shown below in Figure 3
(Simon, 2007).
In the third step Analyze, the root cause of the
project’s problem is investigated to find out why
the defects and variation are occurring. Through
this detailed research, the project team can begin
to find the areas for improvement. Key activities
in this phase are identifying value and non-value
added activities and determining the vital few or
critical-to-quality elements. The care applied to
this phase of the Six-sigma project is very
important to the project’s success because a lack
of understanding and thorough analysis is what
causes most defects and variation. Evans and
Lindsay (2005) described that it could also be
caused by:
ˆ Lack of control over the materials and
equipment used
ˆ Lack of training
ˆ Poor instrument calibration
ˆ Inadequate environmental characteristics;
ˆ Hasty design of parts and assemblies.
Multiple tools exist to guide the efforts of this
process. They include but are not limited to
scatter diagrams, Pareto charts, histograms,
regression analyses and fishbone diagrams. A
scatter diagram shows the relationship between
two variables. The correlation is indicated by the
slope of the diagram which could be linear or
non-linear. If linear the correlation could be
direct or indirect and positive, negative or null.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
If non-linear, a regression analysis can be used
afterwards to measure the strength of the
relationship between the variables. The various
types of scatter plots are shown in Figure 4.
The Pareto chart is used to separate the “vital
few” from the “trivial many” when analyzing a
project. It communicates the 80/20 rule which
states that 80 percent of an activity comes from
20 percent of the causes which thus provides
rationale for focusing on those vital few
activities (Hambleton, 2007). The problem
frequencies are plotted in the order of greatest to
least and show the problems having the most
cumulative effect on the system (Kelly and
Sutterfield, 2006). As mentioned earlier, six-
sigma focuses on eliminating as many noise
factors as possible and this Pareto analysis helps
to do just that. So, the company does not expend
resources on wasteful activities that do not add
value, but instead cost. to the end project. Figure
5 shows a typical cumulative Pareto chart.
In the fourth step Improve, the research of the
problem’s root cause is actually put into work by
eliminating all the defects and reducing the
degree of variation. Key activities in this phase
are performing design of experiments,
developing potential solutions, assessing failure
modes of potential solutions, validating
hypotheses, and correcting/re-evaluating
potential solutions. Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis is a tool used in this step of the
DMAIC process to identify a failure, its mode
and effect through analysis. The analysis
prioritizes the failures based on severity,
occurrence and detection. Through this analysis
a company can create an action plan if a failure
occurs. Results of an FMEA include a list of
effects, causes, potential failure modes, potential
critical characteristics, documentation of current
controls, requirements for new controls and
documentation of the history of improvements.
Items listed low on the priority list do not
necessitate an action plan to correct them unless
they have a high probability of occurrence or are
special cause circumstances (Hambleton, 2007).
In the fifth and final step Control, the project
improvements are monitored to ensure
sustainability. Key activities include developing

standards and procedures, implementing
statistical process control, determining process
capability, verifying benefits, costs, and profit
growth, and taking corrective action when
necessary to bring the project back to its
nominal value (iSixSigma, 2007). The most
important tool used in this phase is the Control
chart. It is a statistical method based on
continuous monitoring of process variation. The
chart is drawn using upper and lower control
limits along with a center or average value line.
As long as the points plot within the control
limits, the process is assumed to be in control.
The upper and lower control limits are usually
placed three sigma away from the center line
because for a normal distribution data points fall
within 3-sigma limits 99.7 percent of the time.
These control limits are different than the
specification limits. Control limits help identify
special cause variation and confirm stability
while specification limits describe conformance
to customer expectations (Skymark Corporation,
2007). However, if there are many outliers,
points gravitating toward one of the control
limits, or there seems to be a trend in the points,
the process may need to be adjusted to reduce
the variation and/or restore the process to its
center. The control chart can help to assess
quantitative gains made through the
improvements because each point will be
compared to the target value. An example of a
control chart for a process in control is shown in
Figure 6 below.
APPLICATION OF METHODOLOGY
Multiple success stories have come from
implementing the aforementioned tools into a
six-sigma project. The most well known success
story is that of General Electric under the
direction of Jack Welch. Welch began a six-
sigma project to work on the rail car repairs and
aircraft engine imports for Canadian customers.
Through his guided efforts, the company
reduced repair time, redesigned its leasing
process, reduced border delays and defects and
improved overall customer satisfaction.
Quantitatively, General Electric saved over $1
billion in its first year of six-sigma application
and then $2 billion in the second year. The
company’s operating margin rose to 16.7 percent
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
while revenues and earnings increased by 11 and
13 percent respectively (Black, Hug and Revere,
2004).
Six-sigma has grown in application from just in
the manufacturing environment to also banking,
healthcare and automotive. In 2001 Bank of
America’s CEO Ken Lewis began focusing on
increasing the customer base while improving
company efficiency. The company handled
nearly 200 customer interactions per second and
thus set the ultimate goal of its six-sigma efforts
to be customer delight. Bank of America
established a customer satisfaction goal and
created a measurement process to evaluate
current performance in order to work toward
improving the state. In the first year, the bank’s
defects across electronic channels fell 88
percent, errors in all customer delivery channels
and segments dropped 24 percent, problems
taking more than one day to resolve went down
56 percent and new checking accounts had a 174
percent year over year net gain. Within four
years of beginning the project, the bank’s
customer delight rose 25 percent. Through the
application of six-sigma, Bank of America was
able to focus on the voice of the customer in
determining what was most important to them to
make their experience a pleasant one (Bossert
and Cox, 2004).
The Scottsdale Healthcare facility in Arizona
began a six-sigma project to work on its
overcrowded emergency department because it
took 38 percent of the patient’s total time within
the department to find a bed and transfer the
patient out of the waiting room. Before
implementing quality efforts, multiple
intermediary steps existed in the process which
inevitably slowed down the time from start to
finish and reduced the potential yield. As a result
of the DMAIC and Lean Sigma efforts, the
facility identified the root cause of the problem
was not that of finding a bed, as originally
thought, but rather reducing the number of steps
involved in the transfer process. This solution
produced incremental profits of $600,000 and
reduced the cycle time for bed control by 10
percent. Moreover, the patient throughput in the
emergency room increased by 0.1 patients/hour
(Lazarus and Stamps, 2002). This project proved

one of six-sigma’s key arguments that inspection
is unproductive and instead quality control
should be implemented from the beginning of a
product or service to reduce non-value add
activities.
It is important to note that not all applications of
six-sigma have led to success. A common
explanation for the failures is that companies
and managers read the latest self-help book and
blindly followed the author’s recommendations.
In doing this, they failed to fully grasp the
theory behind the approach. Experience only
describes programs like six-sigma, but
understanding the theory will help to understand
the cause-and-effect relationships which can
then be used for rational prediction and
management decisions. Also it is important to
note that many of the failures are not due to a
flaw in six-sigma’s conceptual basis, but rather
failures in the mechanics of team operation.
According to Evans and Lindsay, 60 percent of
six-sigma failures are due to the following
factors:
ˆ Lack of application of meeting skills
ˆ Improper use of agendas
ˆ Failure to determine meeting roles and
responsibilities
ˆ Lack of setting and keeping ground rules
ˆ Lack of appropriate facilitative behaviors
ˆ Ambivalence of senior management
ˆ Lack of broad participation
ˆ Dependence on consensus;
ˆ Too broad/narrow initiatives.
To ensure the success of a six-sigma
implementation, it is vitally important that the
project champion and other top management
officials are very intimately involved in the
process. Also implementing constant training for
all employees on related topics will minimize
the misunderstanding and maximize resources,
both financial and human.
CONCLUSION
The objective of this paper was not to examine
the tools of Six-sigma in great detail, but rather
to explain their history and evolution, because it
is more important to understand the origin and
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development of a discipline, and the reason(s)
that it is better than its predecessors. As
explained, Six-sigma is used to resolve problems
resulting in deviation between what should be
happening and what is actually happening. The
methodology and tools of Six-sigma can handle
any problem type from conformance to
efficiency to product/service design. However,
in order for the program to effectively mitigate
all project risks and be implemented
successfully, there must be commitment from
the top-down. Through this paper the history of
quality has been presented. As its definition and
application have evolved from Frederic Taylor’s
scientific management theories to the present
program of six-sigma, and even looking forward
to more refined programs such as Fit Sigma,
quality continues to be a concept of vital
importance for all businesses and industries. In
this paper, the underlying theory and concepts
contributed by each quality philosopher, and
each revolutionary model were explained to
show how they are similar but more importantly
to show how they are different. For each
company and each industry the same quality
control methodology may not be appropriate
because each operates under different
circumstances. The benefits that accrue from
applying the different techniques of six-sigma to
various production situations are invaluable to a
company truly intent upon quality improvement,
longevity in its market, and global
competitiveness.
REFERENCES
1. Basu, R. (2001). Six-sigma to Fit Sigma.
IIE Solutions, 33(7), 28-34.
2. Benedetto, A. R. (2003). Adapting
manufacturing-based Six-sigma
methodology to the service environment
of a radiology film library. Journal of
Healthcare Management, 48(4), 263.
3. Black, K., Revere, L., & Hug, A.
(2004). Integrating six-sigma and CQI

for improving patient care. The TQM
Magazine, 16(2), 105.
4. Bossert, J., & Cox, D. (2005). Driving
organic growth at Bank of America.
Quality Progress, 38(2), 23-28.
5. Druley, S. & Rudisill, F. (2004). Which
six-sigma metric should I use? Quality
Progress, 37(3), 104.
6. Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2004).
An introduction to six-sigma, United
States: Thompson Southwestern.
7. --- (2005). The management and control
of quality. United States: Thompson
Southwestern.
8. Gitlow, H. S. & Levine, D. M. (2005).
Six-sigma for green belts and
champions. United States: Pearson
Education.
9. Hambleton, L., (2007). Treasure chest of
six-sigma growth methods, tools and best
practices. United States: Pearson
Education.
10. iSixSigma (2007). Six sigma DMAIC
roadmap. Retrieved January 15, 2008 from
http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c0
20617a.asp.
11. iSixSigma (2002). Sigma level. Retrieved
January 15, 2008 from
http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/Sigma
_Level-84.htm.
12. Lazarus, I. R. & Stamps, B. (2002). The
promise of six-sigma. Managed Healthcare
Executive, 12(1), 27-30.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
13. Samuels, D. I. and Adomitis, F. L. (2003).
Six-sigma can meet your revenue-cycle
needs. Healthcare Financial Management,
57(11), 70.
14. Simon, K. (2007). SIPOC diagram.
Retrieved January 15, 2008 from
http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c0
10429a.asp.
15. Skymark Corporation (2007). Control
Charts. Retrieved January 12, 2008 from
http://www.skymark.com/resources/tools/co
ntrol_charts.htm.
16. Skymark Corporation (2007). Dr. W.
Edwards Deming. Retrieved January 12,
2008 from
http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/
deming.asp.
17. Skymark Corporation (2007). Philip
Crosby: The Fun Uncle of the Quality
Revolution. Retrieved January 12, 2008
from
http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/
crosby.asp.
18. Sutterfield, J.S., and Kelly, C. S. J. (2006).
The six-sigma quality evolution and the
tools of six-sigma. 2006 IEMS Proceedings,
Cocoa Beach, FL, pp. 370-378.
19. Swinney, Jack (2007). 1.5 sigma process
shift explanation. Retrieved January 15,
2008 from
http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c0
10701a.asp.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 1: Nominal is Best Quality Loss Function

System Operator Operator Operator Secretary

Receives Answers Puts Caller Transfers Answers
Call Call on Hold Call Call

System Operator Message

Call is
Puts Caller Takes Delivered to
Returned
on Hold Message Secretary

Call is not
Returned

Figure 2: Process Flow Chart

Table 2: Defectives per Million Opportunities for Various

Process Off-Centering and Quality Levels

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 3: SIPOC Diagram

Y Y Y

X X X
Negative No Correlation
Positive Correlation Correlation

Figure 4: Scatter plot diagram

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

100 100
90 90

Cumulative Percentage
80 80

Number of Defects
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10

0 Incom- Surface Cracks Others Missha-

plete Scars pen

Figure 5: Pareto chart

Measurement
UCL

Process
Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LCL
Sample Number
Figure 6: Control Chart

172

The Use of Taguchi Methods to Optimize Shape Factors for
Maximum Water Jet Stability
J. S. Sutterfield, Sade L. Chaney and Tiffani R. Davis
Florida A&M University
ABSTRACT
It has been discovered that proper design of a
nozzle can promote water jet stability for longer
distances, and that a quantity called a shape
factor can be used to describe the capacity of a
nozzle to maintain water stream stability over
longer distances. This is particularly important
in the field of fire fighting because improved
water jet stability increases the capacity of fire
fighters to bring a fire under control. In this
paper we demonstrate the versatility of Taguchi
experimental methods by using them to analyze
shape factors for several nozzle types to select
that one nozzle design from several others which
can best be used to produce nozzles with the
greatest water stream stability for fire sighting.
INTRODUCTION
In bringing fires under control and eventually
completely extinguishing them, it is important
for fire fighters to have water jets that maintain
their stability for the longest possible distance
from the fire. By stability is meant the property
of the water jet, emitted from the fire hose, to
remain coherent for the greatest possible
distance before it begins to disperse. There are
numerous reasons for this, but among them are
safety to fire fighters, the need to thoroughly
soak the combustibles to starve them of oxygen,
and to disperse the by-products of combustion
that tend to facilitate continued combustion.
Thus, it is important to employ a design for fire
hose nozzles that facilitates water stream
stability over the greatest possible distances.
The problem of water jet stability, although not
one of the more usual production problems to be
studied, has nonetheless been examined fairly
expensively by a number of investigators. One
such study was done by Theobald (1980) in
which he devised a property identified as a
shape factor to describe the stability of turbulent
flow from water jets. Theobald found a direct
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
correlation between nozzle shape factor and the
distance from a nozzle to which a stream of
water remained coherent after leaving the
nozzle. This coherence is what is referred to as
the stability of the water stream, viz, the
capacity of the water stream to remain collected
or integrated over some distance. Theobald
found that the larger the shape factor, the greater
the distance over which a water stream would
remain coherent or stable, and vice versa. This
phenomenon was investigated for three basic
types of nozzle designs: Straight-sided, a total of
six designs; Convex, sides gradually curved
inward toward the flow stream, two designs; and
Concave, sides gradually curving outward away
from the flow stream, two designs. Diagrams of
the test nozzles are shown below in Figure 1 on
the following page. These three basic nozzle
design types were examined over a fairly wide
range of nozzle exit velocities as to the nozzle
capacity to control water stream coherence.
Although it is not the purpose of this paper to
review in detail the experimental work of
Theobald, it might be to the benefit of the
reader, in order to better understand the
experiment, to provide an overview of the way
in which the experiment was conducted.
Toward this end, a diagram of Theobald’s
experimental apparatus is shown in Figure 2. In
using this test apparatus, the jet of water was
directed toward the screen. The screen support
was designed so that the distance from the
nozzle to the screen could be varied. A 300V
power supply was connected with the positive
side attached to the grid, and the negative side
attached to the nozzle. Thus, as the water jet
impinged upon the screen, an electrical circuit
was completed through the water jet. As the
distance between the nozzle and the screen was
increased, the electrical resistance of water jet
increased as the diameter of the jet increased.
An initial electrical current reading was taken

with the nozzle and screen close together, and
this point was defined as the jet “fully
continuous.” At some point in each experiment,
as the screen to nozzle distance was increased,
the water jet became too diffuse to support
electrical current. This point was defined as
“fully discontinuous.” The point at which the
stream was 50% percent continuous was then
taken as midway between these two readings.
While some of the assumptions in this
experiment may be open to question, suffice it to
the say that the basic experimental approach is
sound and conforms with best experimental
practices. The approach attempts to compare all
perform all experimental runs under the same
conditions so as to eliminate, or at least
minimize, any random effects and interactions
from creeping into any single run (Taguchi,
1988).
In this paper, we shall analyze the data from
Theobald’s original experiment, using Taguchi
methods, to determine whether or not we can
conclude that one type of shape is better than
another in promoting stream stability. This
would be important to do if we were designing
nozzles for commercial use because it would be
essential to produce and sell the type of nozzle
with the greatest water jet stability or coherence.
It would also be important for the contour of
such a nozzle to be determined at the least
possible expense. Determining the best type of
nozzle of the three would allow more
experimentation with that best type to determine
the optimum internal surface shape for
maximizing water jet stability at least cost.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Since the subject of fire hose nozzle design is
not a popular area for research, the literature in
this area is necessarily sparse. Nonetheless,
there is some small amount of pioneering
literature in this area. A very important area of
investigation in nozzle design would be that of
the influence of Reynold’s number on water jet
stability. For the reader who may not be
acquainted with Fluid Mechanics, Reynold’s
number is a measure of the turbulence of
flowing fluids. In general, the lower the
Reynold’s number the smoother the flow, and
the greater the Reynold’s number the more
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
chaotic the flow. When fluid flow is smooth, it is
said to be laminar; and when it is chaotic is is
said to be turbulent. Since turbulent flow is
antagonistic to a stable water jet, it is obviously
important to understand the relationship between
Reynold’s number and water jet stability.
McCarthy and Molloy (1974) investigated this
relationship for flow beginning in the laminar
region (low Reynold’s numbers), through the
transition region to fully turbulent flow (high
Reynold’s numbers). In this work, however, the
same basic type of nozzle was used for each
experiment, and only the diameter of the
discharge opening was varied. This work
resulted in plots of jet break-up length versus jet
efflux velocity, or discharge velocity. Rouse, et
al (1952) on the other hand, experimented
extensively with concave nozzles of the types 9
and 10 above in Figure 1, and actually proposed
a design for concave nozzles. Rouse’s design
proposal was the basis of the concave nozzles
tested by Theobald. The work of Rouse was
extended by Whithead, et al (1951), to high
speed fluid flow in wind tunnel applications.
This work resulted in a prototype model, the
internal contour of which was modified for high
speed wind tunnel applications.
An important piece of work in this area of
investigation was that of Vereshchagin, et al
(1958), which examined the disintegration of
water jets as a function of jet length for various
nozzle diameters. In this experimental work it
was found that the distance from the nozzle at
which a jet of water becomes discontinuous, viz,
becomes incoherent, is relatively invariant out to
some distance from the nozzle, but after which
the discontinuity distance has a Gaussian
distribution. Theobald’s work re-examined this
phenomena using regression analysis and
concluded that the jet discharge maintained
approximately 100% coherence out to a distance
of approximately 1.75 meters. After this point,
jet discontinuity became random out to a
distance of approximately 3.5 meters, at which
point the jet became discontinuous. It was
further found that the random distance between
1.75 and 3.5 meters could then be described with
a Gaussian or Normal distribution.
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

In summary, it may be said that the work of

Theobald is thorough, ingenious, and carefully The data taken from this experiment by
performed. For our purposes, the only criticism Theobald are shown in Table 1.
that may be lodged against it is that it only tested
two specimens each of the convex nozzle shape, To reiterate, this data was taken for six straight-
and two each of the concave nozzle shape. In sided nozzles, two convex nozzles and two
contrast, six types of straight-sided nozzles were concave nozzles. Table 1 above, however,
tested. The small number of convex and reflects only the data for nozzles 2 thru 10. This
concave nozzles tested is probably due to the is because nozzle 1, a straight nozzle in which
additional expense in manufacturing them. At the sides of the nozzle were parallel to the flow
any rate, since our paper is only aimed at stream, exhibited instability the instant the water
indicating how experimental method may be exited. For this reason this nozzle was omitted
used to guide research projects to conclusions at from the analysis, resulting in the nine sets of
minimum cost, we shall take the shapes tested as data shown. Thus, data for nozzles 2 thru 6
being sufficient for our purposes. Most represent straight-sided configurations, data for
importantly, it is to be pointed out that in none nozzles 7 and 8 the convex configurations, and
of the above references has it been attempted to data for nozzles 9 and 10 the concave
analyze the various nozzle shapes as a class to configurations. Table 2 below shows this data
determine which might yield the greatest water stratified for the three nozzle types with a
jet stability, and thus be desirable to analyze as a working mean of 0.8 deducted from each value.
class to find that internal shape which
maximizes water jet stability. Nozzle Exit Velocity
Nozzle 11.73 14.37 16.59 20.32 23.46 28.74 33.18 38.91
Straight
METHODOLOGY Sided 2 0.34 0.17 0.18 0.08 0.06 0.03 0.02 0.02
The general methodology to be employed in this 3 0.13 0.12 0.15 0.09 0.09 0.03 0.06 0.07
paper is that of using the original data of 4 0.05 0.05 0.12 0.06 0.01 0.03 0.08 0.13
Theobald and analyzing it using different 5 -0.02 0.00 0.01 -0.05 -0.03 -0.02 0.00 0.00
methods from his, and for purposes different 6 -0.14 -0.16 -0.20 -0.27 -0.25 -0.26 -0.22 -0.21
from his. We shall, therefore, analyze the data
7 0.26 0.04 0.01 -0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.11
using Taguchi methods to determine whether Convex
8 0.22 0.17 0.21 0.16 0.15 0.14 0.14 0.14
any of the three classes of internal nozzle
shapes, straight, concave or convex, is to be 9 0.17 0.06 -0.02 -0.04 -0.04 -0.05 -0.06 -0.06
Conave
preferred in maintaining the continuity of the 10 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
water jet. Thus, having identified that class of Table 2 – Shape factor working data for thee three
nozzles best maintaining jet stream stability, it nozzle types
would then be possible to plan and perform
further research to arrive at the optimal shape at As previously noted each of the data points in
the least possible cost. the above table is the average of ten test runs, so
that the results in the table represent a total of
Table 1 – Shape factors for straight, convex and 720 test runs. The above data is shown in Table
concave nozzles 3 with the initial calculations performed in
preface to the
Nozzle Exit Velocity
Taguchi analysis.
Nozzle 11.73 14.37 16.59 20.32 23.46 28.74 33.18 38.91
2 1.14 0.97 0.98 0.88 0.86 0.83 0.82 0.82
3 0.93 0.92 0.95 0.89 0.89 0.83 0.86 0.87
We wish to calculate
4 0.85 0.85 0.92 0.86 0.81 0.83 0.88 0.93 the total variation for
5 0.78 0.80 0.81 0.75 0.77 0.78 0.80 0.80 the shape factors, but
6 0.66 0.64 0.60 0.53 0.55 0.54 0.58 0.59 because the number
7 1.06 0.84 0.81 0.78 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.91 of straight-sided test
8 1.02 0.97 1.01 0.96 0.95 0.94 0.94 0.94 nozzles tested, seven,
9 0.97 0.86 0.78 0.76 0.76 0.75 0.74 0.74
10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
is different from that

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

for the number of convex and concave test

CF =
[0.07 + 0.90 + 0.78 ]
2

nozzles, two, it is necessary to obtain this

24
calculation indirectly. In order to do this, we
must first calculate the variation among shape
factors for the various nozzles-velocity CF = 0.1269
combinations, ST1. To proceed, we must average
each column for straight-sided nozzles, each for Then the variation among shape factors for the
convex nozzles, and each for concave nozzles as various nozzles-velocity combinations, ST1, is …
shown in Table 3. This results in the data shown
in Table 4. ST1 = CSS12 + CSS22 + … + CCnvx12 + CCnvx22 + …
+ CCncv12 + CCncv22 + … + CCncv72 – CF
Table 3 – Shape factor data initial calculations ST1 = 0.072 + 0.042 + … + 0.242 + 0.112 + … +
Nozzle Exit Velocity
0.192 + 0.132 + … + 0.072 – 0.1269
Nozzle 11.73 14.37 16.59 20.32 23.46 28.74 33.18 38.91 Total
Straight ST1 = 0.0935
Sided 2 0.34 0.17 0.18 0.08 0.06 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.9
3 0.13 0.12 0.15 0.09 0.09 0.03 0.06 0.07 0.74
4 0.05 0.05 0.12 0.06 0.01 0.03 0.08 0.13 0.53 Next, we calculate the variation among nozzles,
5 -0.02 0 0.01 -0.05 -0.03 -0.02 0 0 -0.11 SN. SN is …
6 -0.14 -0.16 -0.2 -0.27 -0.25 -0.26 -0.22 -0.21 -1.71
Total 0.36 0.18 0.26 -0.09 -0.12 -0.19 -0.06 0.01 0.35 2 2 2
C + C + C
7 0.26 0.04 0.01 -0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.11 0.46
S N = SST CnvxT
8
CncvT
− CF
Convex
8 0.22 0.17 0.21 0.16 0.15 0.14 0.14 0.14 1.33
Total 0.48 0.21 0.22 0.14 0.17 0.16 0.16 0.25 1.79 2 2 2
S 0 . 07 + 0 . 90 + 0 . 78
N = 8
− 0 . 1269
9 0.17 0.06 -0.02 -0.04 -0.04 -0.05 -0.06 -0.06 -0.04
Conave
10 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 1.6
Total 0.37 0.26 0.18 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.14 0.14 1.56 SN = 0.0499

The variation among velocities, SV, is calculated

Nozzle Exit Velocity
as …
Nozzle
Type 11.73 14.37 16.59 20.32 23.46 28.74 33.18 38.91 Total
... + C
2 2 2
C + C +
Straight S V
= V 1T V 2T
3
V 8T
− CF

Sided 0.07 0.04 0.05 -0.02 -0.02 -0.04 -0.01 0.00 0.07
Convex 0.24 0.11 0.11 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.13 0.90 2 2 2 2 2 2
Concave 0.19 0.13 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.07 0.07 0.78
(0.07) +(0.24) +(0.19) +...+(0.00) +(0.13) +(0.07)
S
V
=
3
− 0.1269
Total 0.50 0.27 0.25 0.13 0.14 0.12 0.14 0.20 1.75

CF = 0.1269 SV = 0.0374
Table 4 – Averaged shape factor data for the three
Now, our purpose is to determine whether any of
nozzle designs
the three shapes is superior to the others in
For this data we obtain a correction factor of … promoting jet stability. In order to do this it is
necessary to construct three pairs of linear,

CF =
[∑ (xij )Str + ∑(xij )Cnvx+ ∑(xij )Cncv]
2 orthogonal contrasts. Each pair of these
contrasts will compare one of the general shapes
24 with the other two to determine whether it is
statistically superior to them. In the following
contrasts, N1, N2 and N3 indicate the straight-
sided, convex and concave nozzles, respectively.
The first pair of contrasts compares the straight-

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

sided nozzles with the convex and concave exit velocity. This was in fact has been done in
nozzles and is … our analysis for all three sets of linear,
orthogonal contrasts and the results are shown in
N N + N Table 5 below. Again, for the sake of brevity,
L1 ( N ) = 4
1
− 2
8
3
the actual calculations are omitted and the reader
is referred to Taguchi (1988, vol. 1) for the
N − N details.
L (N ) =
2
2
4
3

For the details of calculating the variations of Components of Jet Exit Velocity
these contrasts, the reader may wish to consult Contrasts Linear Quadratic Cubic Quartic
Taguchi (1988). The variations for this pair of
S L1(N) 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
contrasts evaluate to …
S L2(N) 0.0001 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
SL1(N) = 0.0491 and SL2(N) = 0.0008 S L3(N) 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
S L4(N) 0.0001 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
The second pair of contrasts compares the S L5(N) 0.0001 0.0001 0.0000 0.0000
convex nozzles with the straight-sided and
concave nozzles and is … S L6(N) 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

N N + N
L (N ) = 4
3
2
− 1
8
3
Table 5 – Interactions of contrasts with jet
velocity components

N − N We nearly are prepared to calculate the total

L (N ) =
4
1
4
3

variation, ST, but must first calculate the first and

second order error variations, Se1 and Se2,
The variations for this pair of contrasts evaluate respectively. For Se1 …
to …
Se1 = ST1 – SN – SV – SL5(N)xVl – SL6(N)xVl
SL3(N) = 0.0184 and SL4(N) = 0.0315
Se1 = 0.0935 – 0.0499 – 0.0374 – 0.0001 –
The third pair of contrasts compares the concave 0.0000
nozzles with the straight-sided and convex
nozzles and is … Se1 = 0.0061

N 3 − N1+ N 2 The details of the calculation for Se2 are

L5 (N ) = 4 8
N1− N 2
L6 (N ) = 4 straight-sided nozzles is different than those for
The variations for this pair of contrasts evaluate
to …
SL5(N) = 0.0074 and SL6(N) = 0.0425
As a matter of good practice, the interactions
between (among) control variables always
should be examined. Thus, in our case, the
possibility of interactions between a given
nozzle design and the various components of jet
considerably more complicated. Again the
reader is referred to volume 1 of Taguchi for the
details. Because the number of repetitions for
the convex and concave nozzles, five (5) as
compared with two (2), it is necessary to
calculate an effective number of repetitions in
order to calculate Se2. In general, Se2 is equal to
the variation among repetitions, ST1, divided by
the effective number of repetitions, r-bar. The
value of ST1 and r-bar were found to have been
…

177

ST1 = 0.8918 and r-bar = 2.50
S T1
S e2 = r 2)
0 . 8918
S e2 =
2 .5
S e 2 = 0 .3567
RESULTS
It will be observed that the variations of all three
pairs of linear contrasts sum to 0.0499. This is
because of the fact that in each pair of contrasts
the components are mutually orthogonal. This
means that the variations of these members can
be added as the squares of the sides of a right
triangle. Since in each of the cases the sum of
the variations of the members is 0.0499, it
means that the variation of the nozzles, SN, is
entirely accounted for. In the first pair of con-
trasts, those for the straight-sided compared with
the convex and concave pair, the straight-sided
design has a variation of 0.0491, and the convex
and concave pair a variation of 0.0008. Since
the second variation is quite small, the first
variation accounts for almost all of the total
nozzle variation of 0.0499. This is because the
jet-stream stabilities of the convex and concave
nozzles are fairly similar. In the second pair of
contrasts, that for the convex design as opposed
to the straight-sided and concave designs, the
convex design shows a variation of 0.0184, and
the straight-sided and concave comparison a
variation of 0.0315. This indicates that a fairly
significant variation for the convex design and a
significant variation between the concave and
straight-sided designs. In the third pair of
contrasts, those for the concave design as
contrasted with the convex and straight-sided
designs, the respective variations are 0.0074 and
0.0425, respectively. These indicate that the
concave design shows less variation than that for
the convex nozzle in contrast L3 above. Further
they indicate an even more significant variation
between the convex and straight-sided designs
than that between the concave and straight-sided
designs in contrast L4. From all of this, the
following conclusions may be drawn:
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
1) The jet stability afforded by the straight-
sided design is insignificant compared with that
of either the convex or the concave designs.
The jet stability afforded by the convex
design is approximately 26% greater than that
for the concave design.
3) There are no significant interactions
between any of the contrasts and the components
of jet velocity.
Conclusion “2” is particularly significant
because it differs with the conclusion drawn by
Theobald, viz, that the concave design was
superior to the other two. It was for this reason
that Theobald used the results from it to
normalize all of the results for the other designs.
Thus, it will be seen that all of the values for the
concave design in the last row of Table 1 were
set to 1. While it is true that the second of the
two concave designs afforded the greatest jet
stability, the first tested demonstrated a
significantly lower stability than several of the
others. Consequently, the convex design of the
three types demonstrates the greatest stability of
the three. For this reason, the convex design
will be under consideration for the remainder of
the analysis. Conclusion “3” permits any slight
variations for interactions between contrasts and
jet velocity components to be combined with the
error variation.
ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS
With a value for Se2 it is now possible to
calculate ST. The relevant values heretofore
calculated in this paper are used to calculate Se2
in ANOVA shown below in Table 6. Since the
above results indicate that the convex nozzle
design is superior to the concave nozzle design,
the analysis of variance results are shown in this
table for only the complex design. The general
equation for ST is …
ST = SL5(N)+ SL6(N) + SL5(N)xVl + SL6(N)xVl + Se1 + Se2
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 6 – ANOVA for shape factor analysis

Source Component f S V F0 Source Component f S V F0 S' ρ (%)

S L5(N) = 1 0.0074 0.0074 1.2196 Nozzle S L6(N) 1 0.0425 0.0425 7.0343 0.0365 8.11
Nozzle
S L6(N) = 1 0.0425 0.0425 7.0343
Jet Velocity SV 7 0.0374 0.0053 0.8833 0.0374 8.31
Linear 1 0.0198 0.0198 3.2783
Jet
Quadratic 1 0.0155 0.0155 2.5631
Velocity e' 63 0.3702 0.0060 0.3763 83.58
Residual 5 0.0021 0.0004 0.0683
Total 71 0.4502 0.4502 100.00
S L5(N)xVl = 1 0.0001 0.0001 0.0137
NxV
S L6(N)xVl = 1 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 Table 7 – Modified analysis of variance for
water jet stability
e1 12 0.0061 0.0005
It will be seen from the above table that is
e2 48 0.3567 0.0074
significant and consulting a table of F
Total 71 0.4502
statistics discloses that the significance is at
From the above table, it will be observed that approximately the 99% level. Jet velocity, on
SL5(N) does not present a significant source of the other hand affords no significant source of
variation. Further, none of the components of variation. In all fairness it must be said that a
velocity variation proved to be significant. With similar analysis indicates a variation for the
none of the variations in the velocity compo- concave nozzle that is significant at
nents being any more significant than any of the approximately the 96.5% level. The reason that
others, it would be expected that there would not it is believed that the convex family of nozzles
be any significant interactions between the would be preferable for further investigation is
convex nozzle shape and any velocity that there is significant difference between the
component. It will be seen that this is indeed the two shapes of the concave nozzle. The two
case, for neither SL5(N)xVl nor SL6(N)xVl affords a shapes of the convex nozzle, however, were
significant source of variation. Although much nearer to each other and not far below the
interactions are shown in the table for only the better of the two shapes for the concave nozzle.
linear component of velocity, they were checked Lastly, it will also be seen that there is no
for higher order velocity components and found significant variation is the jet velocity.
to be even less significant than those for the
linear component. It must be said that this CONCLUSIONS
development proved to be contrary to the The objectives of the foregoing analysis were
authors’ intuition. At the beginning of the twofold: First, we wished to analyze Theobald’s
analysis it was believed that because of jet original data for three water jet nozzle designs to
velocity profile considerations there would determine whether our analysis would lead us to
probably be an interaction between the nozzle the same conclusions reached by Theobald in his
shape and the quadratic component of velocity. original analysis; Second, we wished to
However, this did not prove to be the case. As is demonstrate a method for using Taguchi
customary is such analyses of variance as this, methods to choose one design from others for
when a source of variation proves to be further investigation.
insignificant, it is combined with the error
variation. When this is done in the above As to the first objective, that of reaching the
analysis of variance, the result is the modified same or differing conclusions from those of
analysis of variance as shown in Table 7 below. Theobald, we have come to somewhat different
conclusions from those of Theobald. At the very
least it may be said that there is no statistical
basis for selecting the concave design over the
convex design. The foregoing analysis shows

179
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

that while both designs are statistically REFERENCES

significant above the 95% level, they do not 1. Theobald, C. (1981). “The Effect of Nozzle
differ significantly from each other. The convex Design on the Stability and Performance of
design has a significance about 2.5% greater, Turbulent Water Jets,” Fire Safety Journal, 4, 1,
being at approximately 99%. Thus, we re- pgs. 1-13
spectfully differ with Theobald’s conclusion as
to the superiority of the concave design over the 2. Taguchi, G., (1988). System of Experimental
convex. The only conclusion that may be Design, UNIPUB/Kraus International
legitimately drawn from a purely statistical point Publications and American supplier Institute,
of view is that designs with curved sides are White Plains, NY and Dearborn, MI, vol. 1
superior to those with straight sides.
3. McCarthy, M. A., and Molloy, N. A. (1974).
For the second objective, the method of linear, “Review of the stability of liquid jets and the
orthogonal contrasts was used in order to influence of nozzle design,” Chemical
investigate whether one of the designs, straight- Engineering Journal, 7 (1974), pgs. 1-20
sided, convex or concave, might be superior to
the others. It was found, of course, that the 4. Rouse, H., et al (1952). “Experimental
convex design was significantly superior to the investigation of fire monitors and nozzles,”
straight-sided design, but only slightly so to the Transactions of the American Society of Civil
concave design. Although slightly superior to Engineers, 117 (1952), 1147
the concave design, the convex design was not
statistically superior. Both the concave and 5. Whitehead, L. G., Wu, L. Y., and Waters, M.
convex designs were found to demonstrate water H. L. (1951). “Contracting ducts of finite
jet stability above the 95% confidence level. length,” The Aeronautics Quarterly, 2 (1951),
Even so, it is believed that the convex design pgs. 254-271
would be the better candidate for further
investigation, because it shows considerably less 6. Vereshchagin, L. F., Semerchan, A. A., and
variability between runs. The larger variability Sekoyan, S. S. (1958). “On the problem of the
for the concave design suggests that some break-up of high speed jets of water, Soviet
experimental error may have crept into the test Physics – Technical Physics, 4 (1958), pgs. 38-
process for that design. Also, the first of the two 42
concave designs tested was significantly below
the second one, and considerably below both
convex designs. It is also important to point out
that in examining the superiority of one nozzle
design over the others, we are really examining
the tendency of one type of shape to provide
greater jet stability than the others. For this
reason, it would have been preferable to have
tested more than just two shapes of each of the
convex and concave designs. If this were done,
it more confidence could be placed upon the
conclusions drawn from such experimental
analysis.

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Figure 1: Nozzle shapes examined by Theobald

Figure 2: Theobald’s test apparatus for investigating water jet continuity

181
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

In's and Out's of Product Placement

Kaylene C. Williams, Al Petrosky, and Edward H. Hernandez
California State University, Stanislaus
KWilliams@csustan.edu, APetrosky@csustan.edu, and eh@hrmgt.com

Robert A. Page
Southern Connecticut State University
pager1@southernct.edu

INTRODUCTION and products during the natural process of the

Product or brand placement continues to be
an important practice within advertising and
integrated marketing communications in which
advertisers push their way into content far more
aggressively than ever before (The Economist,
2005). While product placement is riskier than
conventional advertising, it is becoming a
common practice to place products and brands
into mainstream media including films,
broadcast and cable television programs,
computer and video games, blogs, music
videos/DVDs, magazines, books, comics,
Broadway musicals and plays, radio, Internet,
and mobile phones (Stephen and Coote, 2005).
In recent years, product placement frequently
has been used as the basis of multi-million dollar
marketing and promotional campaigns with
more than 1000 firms that specialize in product
placement (Balasubramanian, Karrh, and
Patwardhan, 2006; Argan, Velioglu, and Argan,
2007). The purpose of this paper is to examine
product placement in terms of definition, use,
purposes of product placement, specific media
vehicles, variables that impact the effectiveness
of product placements, the downside of using
product placements, and the ethics of product
placements.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT DEFINED
Product placement--also known as branded
entertainment or product integration--is a
marketing practice in advertising and promotion
wherein a brand name, product, package,
signage, or other trademark merchandise is
inserted into and used contextually in a motion
picture, television, or other media vehicle for
commercial purposes. In product placement, the
involved audience gets exposed to the brands
movie, television program, or content vehicle.
(Panda, 2004; Cebrzynski, 2006) That is,
product placement in popular mass media
provides exposure to potential target consumers
and shows brands being used or consumed in
their natural settings (Stephen and Coote, 2005).
Ultimately, the product or brand is seen as a
quality of the association with characters using
and approving of the product placement, e.g.,
Harold and Kumar on a road trip to find a White
Castle, Austin Powers blasting into space in a
Big Boy statue rocket, Will Ferrell promoting
Checkers and Rally's Hamburgers in the
NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights, MSN
appearing in Bridget Jones' Diary, BMW and its
online short films, Amazon.com's Amazon
Theatre showcasing stars and featured products,
Ford and Extreme Makeover, Tom Hanks and
FedEx and Wilson, Oprah giving away Buicks,
Curious George and Dole, Herbie and VW,
Simpsons' and the Quik-E-Mart, Forrest Gump
and the Bubba Gum Shrimp Co. restaurants,
Jack Daniels and Mad Men, LG phones in The
Office, and Living the Hills Life, just to name a
few. In addition, Weaver (2007) gives
numerous examples of product placements
related to tourism.
Even though product placement was named
and identified formally only a decade ago,
product placement is not new (Balasubramanian,
1994). Beginning in the 1930s, Proctor &
Gamble broadcasted on the radio its "soap
operas" featuring its soap powders. Also,
television and film were used by the tobacco
companies to lend glamour and the "right
attitude" to smoking (The Economist, 2005).
However, due to poorly organized efforts and
negative publicity about the surrender of media

182

content to commercialization, product
placements were relatively dormant after the
Depression. Product placements were
recatalyzed in the 1960-70s with a growth spurt
during the 1980s and 1990s. (Balasubramanian,
Karrh, and Patwardhan, 2006) But, movies and
programs are watched many times, and product
placements also are not limited in time to the
original filmed item. In addition, today's
technology can insert product placements in
places they were not before. This digital product
integration is a new frontier for paid product
placement. As a result, consumers will see more
and more product placements that are
strategically placed in the media. Most product
placements are for consumer products, yet
service placements appear more prominently.
Service placements tend to be woven into the
script and are probably more effective than
product placements that are used simply as
background props. (La Ferle and Edwards,
2006)
Product placements may be initiated by a
company that suggests its products to a studio or
TV show, or it might work the other way
around. Intermediaries and brokers also match
up companies with product placement
opportunities. (Stringer, 2006) Costs for
product placements can range from less than
$10,000 to several hundred thousand dollars.
However, television and movie producers
routinely place products in their entertainment
vehicles for free or in exchange for promotional
tie-ins. (Cebrzynski, 2006)
USE OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT
According to the research company PQ
Media, global paid product placements were
valued at $3.07 Billion in 2006 (projected at
$4.38 Billion in 2007) with global unpaid
product placements valued at about $6 Billion in
2005 and $7.45 Billion in 2006. Global paid
product placement spending is expected to grow
at a compounded annual rate of 27.9% over
2005-2010 to $7.55 Billion. Consequently,
product placement growth is expected to
significantly outpace that of traditional
advertising and marketing. The overall value of
paid and unpaid product placement is expected
to increase 18.4% compounded annually to
$13.96 Billion in 2010. (Business Wire, 2006)
183
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Television product placements are the dominant
choice of brand marketers, accounting for 71.4%
of global spending in 2006 (Schiller, 2007).
The U.S. is the largest and fastest growing
paid product placement market, $1.5 Billion in
2005 and $2.9 Billion expected for 2007
(Brandweek, 2007). Some 75% of U.S. prime-
time network shows use product placements.
This number is expected to increase due to the
fact that 41% of U.S. homes are expected to
have and use digital video recorders that can
skip through commercials. Because of this,
product placements are likely to eclipse
traditional advertising messages. (Russell and
Stern, 2006)
In terms of specific numbers, U.S. product
placement occurrences for Q1 2007 prime-time
network programming for the Top 10 programs
featured 8,893 product placements. American
Idol was the leader in terms of the number of
product placements (3,113 occurrences in Q1
2007), followed by Amazing Race All Stars,
Beauty and the Geek, The Apprentice, The
Pussycat Dolls Present, Extreme Makeover
Home Edition, America's Next Top Model,
NCIS, The Office, and Til Death. The Top 10
brands that featured product placements for Q1
2007 included Coca-Cola, Pussycat Dolls
Lounge Nightclubs, the Boston Red-Sox
Baseball Team, Nike Apparel, Dell, Chicago
Bears Football Team, Cingular, Wireless Text
Messaging, Hewlett-Packard, Nike Sport
Footwear, and Under Armour apparel. (PR
Newswire, 2007)
Generally, U.S. product placement markets
are much more advanced than other countries
such that other countries often aspire to the U.S.
model. The next largest global markets are
Brazil, Australia, France, and Japan. China is
forecast to be the fastest growing market for
product placements this year, up 34.5%
(Thomasch, 2007). Product placement methods
differ widely by country given varying cultures
and regulations. Most product placements are in
five product areas: transportation and parts,
apparel and accessories, food and beverage,
travel and leisure, and media and entertainment.
(Business Wire, 2006)

PURPOSES OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Product placement can be very useful. Its
purposes include achieving prominent audience
exposure, visibility, and attention; increasing
brand awareness; increasing consumer memory
and recall; creating instant recognition in the
media vehicle and at the point of purchase;
changing consumers' attitudes or overall
evaluations of the brand; changing the
audiences' purchase behaviors and intent;
creating favorable practitioners' views on brand
placement; and promoting consumers' attitudes
towards the practice of brand placement and the
various product placement vehicles. (Panda,
2004)
(1) To achieve prominent audience exposure,
visibility, and attention
Product placements can have a significant
effect on message receptivity (Panda, 2004).
The sponsor of product placements is likely to
gain goodwill by associating itself with a
popular program targeted to a specific audience.
The more successful the program, the longer
shelf life of the product placement. (Daugherty
and Gangadharbatla, 2005; d'Astous and Seguin,
1999) More frequent viewers and viewers who
enjoy the program pay more attention to product
placements. Brands need to be visible just long
enough to attract attention, but not too long to
annoy the audience. (Argan, Velioglu, and
Argan, 2007)
(2) To increase brand awareness
Nielsen Media Research has shown that
product placement in television shows can raise
brand awareness by 20% (Cebrzynski, 2006).
Tsai, Liang, and Liu (2007) found that higher
brand awareness results in a greater recall rate,
more positive attitudes, and a stronger intention
of buying. When brand awareness is high, a
positive attitude toward the script leads to a
higher recall rate. Also, when a brand gains a
certain level of awareness, the more positive the
attitude toward product placement, the stronger
its effect on recall rate, attitude, and intention of
buying. However, when product/brand
awareness is not high enough, consumers
typically fail even to remember the names of the
advertised products.
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(3) To increase consumer memory and recall
of the brand or product
Product placements can have a significant
effect on recall (Panda, 2004). For example,
memory improves when visual/auditory
modality and plot connection are congruent
(Russell, 2002). Pokrywczynski (2005) has
found that viewers can correctly recognize and
recall placed brands in movies, using aided
recall measures and free recall measures. Also,
brands placed prominently in a movie scene
enjoy higher brand recall than those that are not.
Verbal and visual brand placements are better
recalled than placements having one or the
other. Also, sitcoms rather than reality shows
tend to spark better recall for product placements
(McClellan, 2003). Brand recall is typically no
higher than 30% (Pokrywczynski, 2005).
(4) To create recognition of the
product/brand in the media vehicle and at the
point of purchase
Product placement can have a significant
effect on recognition (Panda, 2004). Familiar
brands achieve higher levels of recognition than
unfamiliar brands (Brennan and Babin, 2004).
In addition, product or brand placement
recognition levels received from audio-visual
prominent placements exceed the recognition
rates achieved by visual-only prominent
placements (Brennan and Babin, 2004). Some
57.5% of viewers recognized a brand in a
placement when the brand also was advertised
during the show. That number is higher than the
46.6% of viewers who recognized the brand
from watching only a television spot for the
brand. (Cebrzynski, 2006)
(5) To bring desired change in consumers'
attitudes or overall evaluations of the brand
The influence of product placement on
attitudes toward a product or brand has not been
researched very much. With this in mind,
however, no differences have been found in
viewers' attitudes toward a product or brand. On
the other hand, evidence suggests that
consumers align their attitudes toward products
with the characters' attitudes to the products. In
addition, this process is driven by the consumers'
attachment to the characters. (Pokrywczynski,
2005; Russell and Stern, 2006) Argan, Velioglu,

and Argan (2007) suggest that the audience pays
attention to and accepts brand placement in
movies and takes celebrities as references when
shopping. However, the movie should not be
over commercialized. At the same time,
attitudes toward product placements do not
differ based on gender, age, income, or
education. Authors van Reijmersdal, Neijens,
and Smit (2007) have found that as consumers
watch more episodes, the brand image becomes
more in agreement with the program image.
This confirms that learning and human
association memory are important to brand
placement.
(6) To bring a change in the audiences'
purchase behaviors and intent
Product placements are associated with
increased purchase intent and sales, particularly
when products appear in sitcoms, e.g., Ally
McBeal in Nick and Nora pajamas, Frasier and
Friends in Starbucks and New World Coffee,
and Cosmopolitan martinis in Sex and the City
(Russell and Stern, 2006; Panda, 2004). In one
example, Dairy Queen was featured on The
Apprentice. The contestants needed to create a
promotional campaign for the Blizzard. During
the week of the broadcast, Blizzard sales were
up more than 30%. Website hits also were up
significantly on the corporate and Blizzard Fan
Club sites as well as the Blizzard promotional
site. While DQ had six minutes of screen time,
the overall tone was a little harsh with two
contestants arguing. So, it was not the most
positive environment for good, old-fashioned
DQ. However, it cost DQ in the "low seven
figures" to appear on the show and run its
supporting promotion. Not bad for a 30%
increase in sales. (Cebrzynski, 2006)
(7) To create favorable practitioners' views
on brand placement
Practitioners' views on product placement
generally are favorable or else the product
placement market would not continue to
increase. Practitioners remain positive about
product placements as long as no harm is done,
sales and brand image go up, and consumers are
positive about the product and brand. Also,
product placements help the practitioner make
up for an increasingly fragmented broadcast
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market due to technology such as TiVo and
DVD recorders.
(8) To promote consumers' attitudes towards
the practice of brand placement and the
various product placement vehicles
Viewers tend to like product placements as
long as they add realism to the scene. Snoody
(2006) has found that viewer enjoyment of
product placements actually increased for media
vehicle versions of product placements where
products were an integral part of the script. He
conjectures that peoples' lives are so saturated
with brands that the inclusion of identifiable
products adds to the sense of reality, that is,
validates the individual's reality. About half of
respondents said that they would be more likely
to buy featured products. People with more
fashionable and extroverted lifestyles typically
have more positive attitudes toward product
placement (Tsai, Liang, and Liu, 2007). Also,
product placements are preferred to fictitious
brands and are understood to be necessary for
cost containment in the making of programs and
movies (Pokrywczynski, 2005). Also, if brand
image is positive, then consumers' brand
evaluation towards the product placement seems
to be more positive (Panda, 2004). Older
consumers are more likely to dislike product
placements and more likely to consider the
practice as manipulation (Nelson and McLeod,
2005). (Daugherty and Gangadharbatla, 2005)
USE OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN
SPECIFIC MEDIA
Most product placement is done through
television, film, and video games. However,
regardless of the media used, the brand's image
and the content vehicle need to fit in such a way
that the product/brand image will not be harmed
and that attention will be brought to the product
or brand (Cebrzynski, 2006). Also, because
advertisers continue to look for ways to stay in
touch with consumers, they easily could follow
their audiences into less-regulated media such as
the Internet and 3-G mobile phones. As web-
connected television becomes a practical reality,
a user-driven environment and peer-to-peer file
swapping is being reinforced. While new
platforms such as 3G and MPEG-4 create
greater opportunities for interactivity, successful

product placement still must be relevant to its
host content. (New Media Age, August 11,
2005)
Television
Television viewing is complicated with the
use of zipping, zapping, TiVo, and DVRs. That
is, the audience can shift the channel, change the
program, and slow down or fast-forward the
program to avoid advertising. In addition, media
clutter, similarity of programming across
channels, and channel switching behavior all
compound the advertising effectiveness of
television. (Panda, 2004) As a result, top-rated
television shows are not necessarily the best
places for product placements. Product
placements depend on a number of factors,
including length of the time on air, when and
how products are woven into the story line, and
targeted audience. (Friedman, 2003)
Plot connection (Russell, 1998, 2002;
Holbrook and Grayson, 1996) is the degree to
which the brand is woven into the plot of the
story. Lower plot placements do not contribute
much to the story. Higher plot placements
comprise a major thematic element. Essentially,
verbally mentioned brand names that contribute
to the narrative structure of the plot need to be
highly connected to the plot. Lower plot visual
placements need to serve an accessory role to
the story that is lower in plot connection. Visual
placements need to be lower in plot connections,
and audio and visual placements need to be even
higher in plot connection. (Panda, 2004) Also,
prominent brand placements in television have a
more significant advantage than subtle brand
placements (Lord and Gupta, 1998).
Film
What is the effect of Tom Cruise chewing
Hollywood chewing gum or Agent 007 using a
BMW? These are typical examples of product
placement in movies. Higher involvement is
required to view a movie than for viewing
television. Television viewers can multi-task in
the home setting thereby reducing their attention
span and brand retention. Moviegoers actively
choose the experience, movie, time, and cost.
As such, they are much more receptive to the
brand communication during the movie. (Panda,
2004) A majority of movie watchers have a
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positive attitude toward this form of marketing
communication, feeling it is preferable to
commercials shown on the screen before the
movie. (d'Astous and Sequin, 1999) More
frequent viewers and viewers who enjoy the
movie more, pay attention to product placements
in the movie (Argan, Veliogly, and Argan,
2007).
Shapiro (1993) has classified four types of
product placements in movies: (1) provides
only clear visibility of the product or brand
being shown without verbal reference, e.g., a
bottle of Coca-Cola sitting on the counter; (2)
used in a scene without verbal reference, e.g.,
actor drinks a Coca-Cola but does not mention
anything about it; (3) has a spoken reference,
e.g., "Boy, I'm thirsty for a Coke"; and (4)
provides brand in use and is mentioned by a
main star, e.g., actor says "This Coke tastes so
refreshing" while drinking the Coke. The star
using and speaking about the brand in the film is
assumed to have higher impact than the mere
visual display of the brand. That is, meaningful
stimuli become more integrated into a person's
cognitive structure and are processed deeply and
generate greater recall. (Panda, 2004)
Video Games
Products and brands are expanding into video
games and even creating their own games.
Essentially, there are three general approaches to
game advertising: (1) traditional product
placements, signs, and billboard ads that are just
in the games from the beginning and cannot be
changed later, (2) dynamic advertising wherein
new ads can be inserted at anytime via the
Internet, and (3) advergames or rebranded
versions of current games that blatantly promote
a single product throughout. Until now,
advergames and product placements have been
the leading forms of in-game advertising. For
example, Burger King created three games
suitable for the whole family: racing, action,
and adventure, featuring The King, Subservient
Chicken, and Brooke Burke. Their target market
of young males meshes well with the Xbox
audience, given that 18-34 year old men have
been a hard group for marketers to get their
product or name in front of. (Cebrzynski, 2006;
New Media Age, October 27, 2005)

However, dynamic advertising is taking off and
is probably the wave of the future. In dynamic
advertising, a marketer can specify where ads
are put, can set times when ads will run, can
choose which audience type your ad goes to, and
can get all the tracking available for Internet ads.
Approximately 62% of gamers are playing
online at least some of the time. Researchers
can track how long each ad is on the screen, how
much of the screen the ad occupies and from
what angle the gamer is viewing the ad.
Companies pay for ad impressions – one ad
impression constitutes 10 seconds of screen
time. About half of video games are suitable for
ads and could be contextually relevant to the
game. More than 50 games already are
receiving dynamic ad content, with another 70
set to go by year-end. (Hartley, 2007)
Another wave of the future is 3D ads that are
twice as powerful as billboards. Also, the latest
version of digital video standard MPEG-4 offers
the possibility to personalize storylines or even
hyperlink from tagged content, so viewers can
click on objects they want to buy. Whatever the
future brings, advertising and product
placements need to fit with the game. That is,
video game developers need to incorporate
advertising in an ambient way that will not
distract players. In addition, the center of the
screen gets the most attention based on eye-
tracking research. (New Media Age, October 27,
2005)
VARIABLES THAT IMPACT THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF PRODUCT
PLACEMENT
There is no universal agreement about what
makes product placements effective. However,
Balasubramanian, Karrh, and Patwardhan (2006)
have developed a useful model comprised of
four components: (1) execution/stimulus
factors such as program type, execution
flexibility, opportunity to process, placement
modality, placement priming; (2) individual-
specific factors such as brand familiarity,
judgment of placement fit, attitudes toward
placements, involvement/connectedness with
program; (3) processing depth or degree of
conscious processing; and (4) message
outcomes that reflect placement effectiveness.
According to the authors, execution and
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individual factors influence processing depth,
which in turn impacts message outcomes. While
this model still is relatively untested, it does
make sense and provides an integrative
framework. In the interim, until it is more
universally tested and accepted, the variables
that are discussed consistently in the literature
are expanded below:
Visual/Audio/Combined Audio-Visual
Product placements can be visual only, audio
only, or combined audio-visual. Most product
placements are visual which involves
demonstration of a product, brand, or visual
brand identifier with no sound. In the audio
product placement, there is audio placement but
the brand is not shown. However, visual only or
audio only may not get noticed. About one in 10
brands on television occurred as plugs verbally
delivered by an on-camera personality. Visual
product placements last an average of 6.2
seconds with the majority (68%) lasting for 5
seconds or less. The verbal mentions lasted 5.5
seconds on average. For consumers to form
association with the product placement, the
brands need to be on screen longer or with more
impact. The combined hybrid strategy of audio-
visual shows the product or brand and also
mentions it in the medium. Only about 3.1% of
product placements in sitcoms/dramas were both
visual and auditory. Recall is enhanced from
dual-modality processing. (La Ferle and
Edwards, 2006) This dual mode requires
creativity and greater cost so that it does not
interfere with the natural flow of the program.
(Argan, Velioglu, and Argan, 2007)
Primary Product Placement Strategies
There are three primary product placement
strategies (d'Astous and Sequin, 1999; Panda,
2004):
1. Implicit product placement strategy: The
brand, logo, the firm, or the product is
presented passively with only clear visibility
within the program without being expressed
formally. This product placement is more
contextual or part of the background with no
clear demonstration of product benefits, e.g.,
wearing clothes with the sponsor's name or a
scene in front of the Gap. A second type of
implicit product placement strategy is when

the product is used in a scene but no spoken
attention is given to the product.
2. Integrated explicit product placement
strategy: In this strategy, the brand, logo,
the firm, or the product plays an active role
in the scene and is expressed formally
within the program or plot, e.g., Domino's
pizza delivered in a scene where everybody
is starving and actually eats it. That is, the
attribute and benefits are demonstrated
clearly and mentioned by the main star. In
general, explicit product placements are
more effective than implicit placements
(Panda, 2004).
3. Non-integrated explicit product placement
strategy: In this strategy, the brand, logo,
the firm, or the product is formally
expressed but not integrated into the
contents of the program, e.g., the program
was sponsored by Toyota or the Hallmark
movie by Hallmark. This type of reference
normally is included in the sponsorship deal.
Brand/Sponsor Image
An expected result of television sponsorship
is the transfer of the program's image to the
sponsor. As such, a product placement needs to
be associated with programs and stars that are
congruent with the sponsoring identity.
However, a more positive image of the sponsor
does not lead to significantly better consumer
reactions to product placements. (d'Astous and
Sequin, 1999) But, higher levels of involvement
with the movie or program have a greater impact
potential. Also, on-set brand placement can
experience success regardless of the viewer
involvement with the segment. (Pokrywczynski,
2005)
Sponsor-Program Congruity
A strong sponsor-program congruity suggests
that the sponsor's products and activities are
clearly related to the contents of the program,
i.e., the product placement is likely to be natural
and consistent with the program. However,
when sponsor-program congruity is weak, the
product placement may be seen as inconsistent
and not credible. For example, if a sponsor has
a product that is placed in a reality show
competition, the product may or may not be used
as the sponsor intends it to be used, and the new
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uses may alienate current segments. (d'Astous
and Sequin, 1999) In general, however, greater
interplay between the characters and the brand
makes the most successful product placement
(La Ferle and Edwards, 2006).
Type of Television or Media Program
Consumers' reactions toward a product
placement may be impacted by the type of
television program. There are four general types
of television programming: (1) quiz/variety
shows wherein the need for entertainment is
maximized, (2) mini-series/dramas which
satisfy the need to identify oneself with
characters, (3) information/services
programming which capitalizes on the need for
information, and (4) sports and cultural events
wherein the sponsoring is more linked to the
event than it is to the program. Consumer
evaluations are most negative when a product
placement occurs in mini-series/dramas.
(d'Astous and Sequin, 1999) In general, success
of the product placement is dependent on the
success of the programming content (Panda,
2004).
On the other hand, 18-34 year-old men spend
little or no time watching TV, but they do like
gaming. Unpaid product placements in games
have been around for more than 10 years. In the
past, the limitation has been the consoles, but
new consoles are launching that have Internet
connectivity built in. So, product placements in
video games are expected to increase and
improve. Predictions indicate that dynamic in-
game product placements are taking off and will
continue to do so. (New Media Age, October 27,
2005)
Degree of Viewers' Parasocial Relationship or
Attachment with the Characters
Character attachment is a function of three
variables or stages: (1) inside-program
character-product relation, (2) outside-program
consumer-character relation, and (3) interaction
between inside and outside influences in the
consumer-product attitude. As a general
statement, consumers align their attitudes toward
a product with the inside-program characters'
attitudes toward the product. This alignment
process is driven by the consumers' extra-
program attachment to the characters. Or, the

consumer's attitude toward the product is a
function of the valence and strength of the
character-product association in the program and
the valence and strength of the consumer-
character attachment. As such, if a consumer
experiences a strong parasocial relationship or
alignment with the television character, then this
will contribute to the formation and change of
consumers' attitudes toward consumption and
attitude alignment with the product. (Russell
and Stern, 2006; Russell, Norman, and Heckler,
2004)
Degree of Clutter around the Product
Placement
Product placement is impacted by how much
other product placement there is in the show,
and product placements are prevalent with one
brand appearing in every three minutes of
programming. Because there is so much clutter,
the value of any one brand may be limited.
Hence, this cluttered promotional environment
and product placements must be managed
actively. Game shows offer the greatest
exposure and storied programming offers the
fewest and least prominent product or brand
appearances. (La Ferle and Edwards, 2006)
Too much product placement can annoy viewers
and be viewed as unacceptable commercialism.
However, communication interference from
competitors can be limited. This occurs because
the sponsor often buys a good portion of the
commercial time within a program. When the
product placement is integrated into the
program, the realism is enhanced and the
likelihood of viewer zapping due to clutter is
reduced. (Daugherty and Gangadharbatla, 2005;
d'Astous and Seguin, 1999) In general, other
competing products in the product category
should not be incorporated into the
programming (Panda, 2004).
DOWNSIDE OF USING PRODUCT
PLACEMENT
There are several downsides to using product
placements: (1) lack of control, (2) media
programming may not be successful, (3)
possibility of negative character association, (4)
difficulty in pricing product placements, and (5)
product placement ethics.
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The first downside to using product
placements is that marketers may have a lack of
control over how products are portrayed or
incorporated into a scene or storyline
(Daugherty and Gangadharbatla, 2005).
Products may end up being misused, ignored,
criticized, associated with questionable values,
or used unethically. This can be especially true
in reality shows. So, advertisers must exert
greater control over product or brand
appearances to ensure their prominence. Most
appearances are visual or verbal but rarely both.
In addition, most brands are portrayed neutrally
and for less than five seconds. (La Ferle and
Edwards, 2006)
The second downside to using product
placements is that marketers have little if any
influence over how successful media
programming will be. That is, it is difficult to
predict where to place brands for maximum
positive exposure. Also, if one places too many
product placements, then consumers may feel
that they have had enough and the saturation
may have a negative effect. Product placement
cannot be so overwhelming that it detracts from
the television show, movie, or content vehicle.
(Cebrynski, 2006)
A third downside to using product
placements is the possibility of negative
character association. If the product is
associated with a particular character, then when
that character falls from grace or does something
inappropriate, the product or brand may be
tarnished as well. That is, the target audience
may shift its attitude about a character in such a
way that products associated with the character
also will be diminished.
The fourth downside to using product
placements is the difficulty in pricing product
placement (The Economist, 2005) Typical
placement fees are based on a fairly standard
scale of expected audience size for the media
vehicle. This pricing method assumes that
product placement exposure is equal across
events and scenes and equal to the exposure
value marketers get from a 30-second
commercial. However, evidence exists
supporting the premise that how and when the
products appear in the media vehicle may be
more important in determining cost and value.
(Pokrywczynski, 2005)

With product placements continuing to grow
in the TiVo era, businesses are having increasing
pressure to show a return on investment for that
activity. As a result, marketers are becoming
more sophisticated about measuring product
placements. Several firms offer tools that rate
product placements in terms of viewer impact
and dollars and cents. For example, Nielsen is
creating a tool that would produce product
placement ratings. Even though Nielsen has
tracked 100,000 product placements since the
fall of 2003, it is not easy to get product
placement data to assess the effectiveness and
price of product placements. However, some
means are available. For example, weekly
product placement ratings can be issued to
subscribers. Or, a weekly summary of top-
ranked product placements is available in the
Wall Street Journal or other publications that
assess some sweeps-related data. (McClellan,
2003) And, at least a dozen other firms have
established unique methods of measuring
product placements. Some of the variables that
are tracked in various measurement systems
include: placement foreground or background,
oral or visual, main character or sidekick, how
much air time compared to competition, viewer
response, awareness scale, product placement to
commercial cost ratio, degree of integration,
whether or not it does harm, "fit" scores, object
or purpose of placement, reach, credible use of
product placement, and meeting of long-term
strategies and objectives. (Wasserman, 2005)
Regardless of which measurement system and
variables are used, there will continue to be
differing opinions over the value of product
placements and how to measure that value. In
addition, the concern is that once marketers
quantify product placement value, then product
placement will become a standardized
commodity.
One example of a company releasing ground
breaking research for product placement
measurement is Visure Corp., a privately-held
company based in Richmond, VA. Visure Corp.
offers innovative, web-based cataloging and
measurement services that help marketers justify
and maximize product placement effectiveness.
The company's integrated product placement
solution has the ability to measure what
consumers are doing in response to product
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placements (e.g., brand research, purchase
intent, and word-of-mouth) and can multiply the
quantity of product placements by 4-6 times
without compromising the production. For
example, they found that film and television
product placements both generate an average
response and action rate of 25-30%; hence,
converting a product placement into consumer
action is remarkably high and measurable.
(Song, 2007)
One last downside of product placement is
that of product placement ethics. In particular,
some individuals question the ethics of product
placement. Product placement ethics are
discussed below.
ETHICS OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Many consumers and researchers consider
product placements as excessive
commercialization of the media and an intrusion
into the life of the viewer. The viewer does not
go to the movie or television to see the product
placement. Rather, viewers often attend movies
and television to escape the realities of life. As
such, marketers must make the product
placement look obvious at the point of
emergence. Sometimes, the product or brand
placement is weaved into the plot, like ET's
Reese's Pieces with a 65% increase in sales due
to this placement (Balasubramanian, Karrh, and
Patwardhan, 2006). If the plot connection and
the reflection of the user or character in the film
are missing, the product placement often is
futile. Hence, relevance of the product to the
situation needs to be created by possibly
incorporating the placement planning at the
script level. (Panda, 2004)
Product placement caters to a captive
audience even though the brands are shown in
their natural environment. But, viewers
generally tend to like product placements unless
there are too many. Product placements
typically are seen as an acceptable practice,
frank, amusing, pleasant, and dynamic. In
general, viewers consider product placements to
enhance realism, aid in character development,
create historical subtext, and provide a sense of
familiarity. However, if the audience realizes
that the product placement was placed there, it
may affect their judgment and they may counter
argue the placed messages. (Panda, 2004)

Still, some individuals feel that product
placements are sinister and should be banned or
at least clearly disclosed in the credits at the end
of the program (The Economist, 2005). This is
particularly true for implicit product placements
that should be avoided since they are perceived
as less ethical than the other types of product
placements, particularly if they appear in an
information/series television program. Also,
consumers' ethical opinions about product
placements differ significantly across product
categories, with greater concern for ethically
controversial products such as alcohol,
cigarettes, and guns. (d'Astous and Sequin,
1999)
Toys are likely products for product
placement. But, the use of toy placements is
very low, little better than chance. However,
children's programming is highly regulated by
the FCC and much product placement in
children's shows is essentially banned. That is, a
2004 APA finding states that kids under 8 have
difficulty distinguishing ad content from
program content. However, the Children's
Advertising Review Unit makes voluntary rules
regarding advertising to children, and companies
typically honor these rules. While some
companies have product placement strategies or
policies, television generally offers few venues
for kids and toy product placements. As an
interesting research note, 3-5 year olds were
asked to sample identical fast food. One bag
had a McDonald's golden arches logo while the
other bag was unmarked. With exactly the same
food and only a different bag, children preferred
the branded version. Even young kids are
swayed by advertising and brand placements.
(Business Wire, 2007; Auty and Lewis, 2004;
Edwards, 2006)
Newspapers also are under ethical scrutiny.
An important ethical issue is whether or not
newspapers should be allowed to use product
placements. While they are under pressure to do
so, they have held out so far to not blur the line
between content and ads. (The Economist,
2005) The fear is that if product placements
seep into newspapers and news magazines, then
editorial content may be jeopardized and
credibility violated (Callahan, 2004). Still, rigid
editorial content policies appear to be easing up
as marketers and agencies pressure publishers to
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mix branded mentions into their stories
(Mandese, 2006).
An additional area of ethical controversy is
pharmaceutical product placements. The FDA
requires that pharmaceutical companies give
both the benefits and the side effects of their
drugs. This clearly will not work for product
placements. However, the FDA does allow
reminder ads that only mention the brand with
no other information or claims. The FDA
currently is reviewing all promotional activity
following calls by medical groups to ban direct-
to-consumer drug ads. It is not clear how
product placements will fit into the review.
(Edwards, 2005) The drug industry association
PhRMA has published guiding principles for
advertising prescription medicines: the industry
should adapt its television ads to what is
appropriate for the audience, health and disease
awareness should be part of the promotion,
products should be discussed with doctors
before drug campaigns are launched, and low-
income groups should be provided with
information about health assistance programs.
(Business Monitor International, 2007)
SUMMARY
Product placement has become an
increasingly popular way of reaching potential
customers who are able to zap past commercials.
To reach these retreating audiences, advertisers
use product placements in more clever, effective
ways that do not cost too much. The result is
that the average consumer is exposed to 3,000
brands a day including even billboards, T-shirts,
tattoos, schools, doctor's office, ski hills, and
sandy beaches (Nelson and McLeod, 2005). A
wise caveat to consider for product and brand
placement is "Our philosophy is if the brand
doesn't make the show better, the brand doesn't
make the show. People must not notice the
integration, but they must remember it. That's
the test." (Stringer, 2006, p. 1) The ideal
product placement situation is win-win-win-win:
customer gets to know about new and
established products and their benefits, client
gets relatively inexpensive branding of their
product, media vehicle gets a brand for free or
can reduce its production budget, and the
product placement agency gets paid for bringing
the parties together.

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Conference Proceedings, Chicago, 16, 28.

193

New Marketing Public Relations Trend: Customer As
A Business Partner in Corporate Innovation Strategies
Banu Karsak and Elgiz Yılmaz
Galatasaray University
bkarsak@gsu.edu.tr , elyilmaz@gsu.edu.tr
Abstract
The role of customers’ advices as innovation
consultants offers valuable experiences to
executives in providing data and strategies to
enhance a corporation’s creativities. This
study aims to provide a quantitative and
qualitative survey about how consumers
evaluate this new concept of customer based
marketing public relations trend with Turkish
innovation cases selected according “ The
most Successful Turkish Brands in 2006”.
1. Introduction
Marketing focuses on consumers, as in
consumer relations, which is part of public
relations. Traditional consumer relations
tactics, such as product oriented, can work
hand in hand with marketing tactics such as
innovation strategies.
New product ideas can come from many
sources: customers, scientists, employees,
competitors, channel members and top
management.
Today the new business environment is
providing possibility to the new customer
based concepts instead of classical marketing
concepts. Corporations that achieve high
customer retention and high customer
profitability aim for: the right product (or
service), to the right customer, at the right
place, at the right time, through the right
channel, to satisfy the customer’s need or
desire[1]. Current economic trends and the
impact of the technology in the new business
life put the end to the product based
management strategy. Companies grow and
prosper when they efficiently meet the needs
of customers. As the world moves into the new
millennium four particular changes are
reshaping the environment of business: the
globalization of markets, changing industrial
structures, the information revolution and
rising consumer expectations.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
2. The theoretical framework
2.1. The theoretical framework of
marketing public relations
Integrated Marketing Communications
(IMC), according to The American Marketing
Association, is “a planning process designed
to assure that all brand contacts received by a
customer or prospect for a product, service or
organization are relevant to that person and
consistent over time”. The definitions of the
IMC concept are many and varied. IMC
concept first emerged in the 1980s and
developed relatively slowly into the middle of
the next decade. Smith et al. (1997) argued for
three different definitions of IMC, each with
common elements. These grouped definitions
are as follows:[2]
1- those that refer to all marketing
communications
2- a strategic management process based
on economy, efficiency and
effectiveness
3- the ability to be applied within any
type of organization.
The marketing communications industry
often uses terms such as advertising, public
relations, sales-promotion, direct mail or
sponsorship to describe what they do. The
relationship between the public relations and
marketing functions has always been a
somewhat ambiguous and controversial one.
The three main pillars of IMC are public
relations, advertising and marketing. Although
these three disciplines have much in common,
much also differentiates them. Definitions for
each disciplines are as follows: [3]
Advertising is the use of controlled media
(media in which one pays for the privilege of
dictating message content, placement, and
frequency) in an attempt to influence the
actions of targeting publics.
Marketing is the process of researching,
creating, refining and promoting a product or

service to targeting consumers. Marketing
promotion disciplines include sales
promotions (such as coupons), personal
selling, direct marketing-and, often aspects of
advertising and public relations.
Public relations is the values-driven
management of relationships between an
organization and the publics that can affect its
success.
Advertising, marketing and public relations
follow the same process: research, planning,
communication and evaluation. But unlike
marketing public relations focused on many
publics, not just on consumers. And unlike
advertising public relations doesn’t control its
messages by purchasing specific placements
for them. [3]
Both marketing professionals and academics
have tended to treat public relations as simply
a subset of the marketing mix, a view which
may ascribe the role of public relations as one
largely concerned with simply generating
publicity in support of marketing goals. Harris
reckons that the 1980s has seen Marketing
Public Relations emerge as a distinctive new
promotional disciple which comprises
specialized application public relations
techniques that support marketing activities.
Harris states that this specialized form of
public relations should be differentiated from
general public relations and from corporate
public relations. Harris proposes that MPR is
likely to become a separate marketing
management function distinct from the broader
area of corporate public relations. But he also
states that these two functions will need to
maintain a close working relationship because
they both involve similar skills and experience
and because of the perceived need to integrate
marketing and corporate objectives. Using this
viewpoint, Marketing Public Relations would
be treated as part of the marketing
communications mix [4].
Grunig and Grunig [5] concluded that
marketing communication theories differ
significantly from public relations theories
when applied in an integrated communication
department.
2.2. Customer based marketing public
relations
By the year 2000, the information revolution
was beginning to offer a better alternative-
mass customization. The customer is the focal
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
point of marketing, sales, contacts, products,
services, time, and profitability. When we
define “customers” we are speaking of
multiple types of groups of customers:[1]
Consumer- The retail customer who buys the
final product or service (individual or a
family)
Business to business- The customer who
purchases your product and adds it to its
product for sale to another customer or a
business using your product within its own
organization to increase profitability or
services.
Channel, distributor-franchisee- A person or
organization that does not work directly for
you and is (usually) not on your payroll, which
buys your product to sell or utilize it as your
representative/location in that area.
Internal customer- A person or business unit
within your enterprise that requires your
product or service to succeed in their business
goals.
Choosing the right customers is important
because some customers do not offer the
potential to create value, either because the
costs of serving them exceed the benefits they
generate, or because the company does not
have the appropriate bundle of skills to serve
hem effectively [6]. The company wants long-
term relationships with its chosen customers
because loyal customers make possible faster
and more profitable growth.
Companies grow and prosper when they
efficiently meet the needs of customers. As the
world moves into the new millennium four
particular changes are reshaping the
environment of business: the globalization of
markets, changing industrial structures, the
information revolution and rising consumer
expectations: That’s why 4 P of marketing
have been replaced by 4 C.[7] This process
starts with understanding the market for the
customers. For this, managers need a detailed
understanding of 4 C which defines the valued
customers and how to create a competitive
advantage.
According to Kotler, customer satisfaction
with a product or service may depend on a
range of additional or augmented product
benefits that the customer may derive over and
above those that comprise the core product or
service [3].
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Table 1: 4 C in Marketing [7] The new product development can take two
4P 4C forms. The company can develop new
Product Customer needs & wants products in its own laboratories. Or it can
contract with independent researchers or new
Price Cost (to the customer) product development firms to develop specific
products for the company.[7]
Place Convenience
Nowadays, we can talk about another new
Promotion Communication marketing management trend in which
customer is considered as a business partner in
corporate innovation strategies.
The consulting firm Booz, Allen & Hamilton
2.3.Corporate innovation strategy and has identified six categories of new products in
corporate citizenship terms of their newness to the company and to
the marketplace: [10]
A significant boost to corporate citizenship z New to the world products: New products
initiatives was given in 1996 when President that create an entirely new market.
Clinton called to Washington a group of z New product lines: New products that
leading business people to discuss the notion allow a company to enter an established
of corporate citizenship and social market for the first time.
responsibility. President encouraged the z Additions to existing product lines: New
business leaders “ to do well by their products that supplement a company’s
employees as they make money for their established product lines as package
shareholders”[8]. According to Carroll sizes, flavours, etc.
corporate citizenship has four faces: an z Improvements and revisions of existing
economic face, a legal face, an ethical face and products: New products that provide
a philanthropic face [9]. Good corporate improved performance or greater
citizens are expected to: perceived value and replace existing
z Be profitable (carry their own weight products.
or fulfill their economic z Repositioning: Existing products that are
responsibility) targeted to new markets or market
z Obey the law (fulfill their legal segments.
responsibilities) z Cost reductions: New products that
z Engage in ethical behavior (be provide similar performance at lower
responsive to their ethical cost.
responsibilities) Their existing products are vulnerable to
z Give back through philanthropy changing consumer needs and tastes, new
(engage in corporate contributions). technologies, shortened product life cycles,
Corporate citizenship addresses the and increased domestic and foreign
relationship between companies and all their competition.
important stakeholders, not just employees. New products may sometimes be failed.
Once a company has carefully segmented the Several factors may be responsible [11]:
market, chosen its target customer groups, 1-A high level executive may push a favourite
identified their needs, and determined its idea through in spite of negative market
desired market positioning, it is ready to research findings.
develop and launch appropriate new products. 2-The idea may be good, but the market size is
Marketing management plays a key role in the overestimated.
new product development process. 3-The actual product is not well designed.
Every company must carry on new product 4-The new product is incorrectly positioned in
development. Replacement products must be the market, not advertised effectively or
created to maintain or build sales. overpriced.
Furthermore, customers want new products, 5-Development costs are higher than expected.
and competitors will do their best to supply 6-Competitors fight back harder than
them. expected.
That’s why the role of customers’ advices as
innovation consultants offers valuable

196

experiences to executives in providing data
and strategies to enhance a corporation’s
creativity. This new trend should be one of
the key success factors.
Because, a well defined concept prior to
development, where the company carefully
defined and assessed its target market and
product requirements assure many benefits.
Kotler affirms that: “The teamwork aspect is
particularly important. New product
development is most effective when there is a
team work among research&development,
engineering, manufacturing, purchasing,
marketing, finance and customer relationship
from the beginning of the innovation process.
The product idea must be researched from a
marketing point of view and a specific cross-
functional team must guide the project
throughout its development.” [7] p.309
Successful new product development
requires the company to establish an effective
organization for managing this innovative
process. Top management is very accountable
for the success of new products. It should
define the business domains, product
categories and customer feed-backs that the
company wants to emphasize.
3. New product development decision
and development process
New product ideas can come from many
sources: customers, scientists, employees,
competitors, channel members and top
management.
The marketing concept holds that customers’
needs and wants are the logical place to start
the search for innovation ideas. Hippel has
shown that the highest percentage of ideas for
new industrial products originate with
customers [12].
Companies can identify customers’ needs
and wants through surveys, projective tests,
focused group discussion, suggestion and
complaint letters from customers. Many of the
best ideas come from asking customers to
describe their problems with current products.
Arzum, one of the Turkish small electric
white goods producer, for example, asks
buyers at big points of purchase, what they
like and dislike about their products, what
improvements could be made. Then they
evaluate these demands to develop new
products or to modify the existing ones.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Arzum General Manager Murat Kolbaşı said
that: their market share increased from 0% to
20% with their product entitled “Arzum
Ehlikeyif Kettle”. He informed that this
product was a new product idea came from
their customers who drink often tea and who
would like to drink Turkish coffee too with the
same apparatus.
Gencturkcell, one of the Turkish biggest
GSM operator’s brand, for example, conducts
its business projects with young people
through the “gnçtrkcll club” in “The Voice of
Youth” project. 13 millions members of this
“gnçtrkcll club” help to manage organizational
inovation strategies. Turkcell CRM Based
Marketing Department Chief Burak Sevilengül
said that: in order to understand better their
target audience, they collaborated with 150
young people (the average age is between 16-
25). He added that the “lovebird” campaign is
designed with the “gnçtrkcll club”s members’
comments and obtained a great success.
Companies also rely on their scientists,
engineers, designers and other employees for
new product ideas. Successful companies have
established a company culture that encourages
every employee to seek new ways of
improving the company’s production, products
and services.
Akbank, one of the Turkish bank, for
example, evaluated its cusotmers’ feed-backs
about their credit demands. Customers would
like to obtain bank credit without going to the
bank’s agencies, without waiting for a
longtime in the agency and without
completing long forms. Thus, the marketing
and R&D managers have worked together to
create a fast and easy asking for credit way.
They founded “mobile credit” which allows to
customers to make their credit demands using
their handy phone. Akbank Individual Bank
Operations Marketing Department Chief Cem
Muratoğlu said that CRM based strategies
have an important role on the concurrent
banks’ successes. Our “mobile credit”
application desgined by our customers’ feed-
back had a great success. 700.000 people
addressed to “Akbank mobile credit” only in
2006.
Companies can also find good ideas by
examining their competitors’ products and
services. They can learn from distributors,
suppliers and sales representatives what
competitors are doing. They are often the first
to learn about competitive developments.

They can find out what customers like and
dislike in their competitors’ new products.
If the product concept passes the business
test before the evaluation of different new
product ideas sources, it moves to R&D and/or
engineering to be developed into a physical
product. These departments will develop one
or more physical versions of the product
concept. Its goal is to find a prototype that the
consumers see embodying the essential
elements described in the product-concept
statement that performs safely under normal
use and conditions.
Producers and R&D people must not only
design the product’s required functional
characteristics but also know how to
communicate its psychological aspects
through physical issues. How will consumers
react to different colours, sizes, weights and
other physical characteristics? Marketers need
to supply producers with information on what
attributes consumers seek and how consumers
judge whether these attributes are present.
When the prototypes are ready, they must be
put through functional and consumer tests
whose are business partner in corporate
innovation strategies, now. Consumer testing
can take a variety of forms, from bringing
consumers into a laboratory to giving them
samples to use in their homes.[7] p.327
3.1. The consumer adoption process
In this study, we asked: “How do final and
potential customers learn about new products,
try them and adopt or reject them?”
Management must understand this consumer
adoption process to build an effective strategy
for market share. Kotler affirms that:
“Adoption is an individual’s decision to
become a regular use of a product”. [7] p.335
The consumer adoption process is later
followed by the consumer loyalty process,
which is the concern of the established
producer.
An innovation refers to any good, service or
idea that is perceived by someone as new.[13]
The idea may have a long history, but it is an
innovation to the person who sees it as new.
Rogers defines the innovation diffusion
process as “the spread of a new idea from its
source of invention or creation to its ultimate
users or adopters”. [14]
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Adopters of new products have been
observed to move through the following five
stages:
z Awareness: The consumer becomes
aware of the innovation but lacks
information about it.
z Interest: The consumer is stimulated to
seek information about the innovation.
z Evaluation: The consumer considers
whether to try the innovation.
z Trial: The consumer tries the innovation
to improve his or her estimate of its
value.
z Adoption: The consumer decides to make
full and regular use of innovation.
The companies seek to estimate some
variables as trial, first repeat, and adoption and
purchase frequency of consumer products.
Therefore they conduct consumer goods
market testing. It’s true that many of the best
ideas come from asking customers to describe
their problems with current products as users
of these. In this context, Rogers sees the five
adopter groups as differing in their value
orientations: [8] Innovators are willing to try
new ideas at some risk. Early adopters are
guided by respect; they are opinion leaders in
their community and adopt new ideas early but
carefully. The early majority are deliberate;
they adopt new ideas before the average
person, although they rarely are leaders. The
late majority are sceptical; they adopt an
innovation only after a majority of people have
tried it. Finally, laggards are traditional; they
are suspicious of changes, mix with other
traditional people. They adopt the innovation
only when it takes on a measure of tradition
itself.
4. Methodology
The purpose of this study is to examine the
following questions:
What are the main stages in customer
oriented developing new products, and how
can they be managed better?
What factors affect the rate of consumer
adoption of newly launched?
This paper aims to move on to examine the
marketing public relations literature and to
identify links between the concepts of
consumers as business partner and corporate
innovation strategies. An empirical study was
designed to evaluate the essences of
experience relating to consumer based
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

innovation management and the perception of ages and 15 (21%) were between
this new trend between final consumers. A 36-45 ages.
representative sample of 100 people selected
randomly would be interviewed with a Table 3. Transmitting feed-back
questionnaire. This form is constituted 3 Freq
questions aimed at interviewing demographic uenc Valid
parameters, 12 questions aimed at y Percent Percent
interviewing their perception about Valid yes 52 71,2 71,2
corporation innovation experiences. But 73 of no 21 28,8 28,8
our sample answered us; that’s why 73 Total 73 100,0 100,0
transcripts of interviews are analyzed, coded in
SPSS program and the essences of experience We determined that 52 (71%) of our data
are collectively synthesized in the description. transmit their feed-backs about the products to
We used descriptive statistical techniques producers, but we also measured that 21 (29%)
evaluating our findings such as chi-square test, of our data don’t prefer to transmit their feed-
correlation and frequencies. We measured backs. These data mean that the majority of
demographic variables: gender, consumers are conscious and they feel
age and job. Our responsible themselves of the products and the
representative sample was services which they use.
constituted from 38 women (52%)
and 35 men (48%).
Table 4. Preference of channel
Freque Perce Valid
5. Findings ncy nt %
Valid cst
Table 1. Gender 6 8,2 8,2
rprsnttv
Freque Perce Valid call
12 16,4 16,4
ncy nt Percent centre
Valid W e-mail 10 13,7 13,7
38 52,1 52,1
M fax 1 1,4 1,4
35 47,9 47,9
Total 1-2 4 5,5 5,5
73 100,0 100,0
1-3 6 8,2 8,2
Table 2. Age 2-3 1 1,4 1,4
Freque Perce Valid 2-4 1 1,4 1,4
ncy nt Percent 3-4 1 1,4 1,4
Valid 18- 1-2-3 8 11,0 11,0
16 21,9 21,9 1-2-3-4 2 2,7 2,7
25
26- N/A 21 28,8 28,8
32 43,8 43,8 Total
35 73 100,0 100,0
36-
15 20,5 20,5
45
46- Our findings suggest that the majority of our
1 1,4 1,4
55 data (12 – 16%) prefer call centres and to send
56- e-mails (10 – 14%) to transmit their feed-
5 6,8 6,8
65 backs about the product and/or the services.
65- We also measured that 8 (11%) of our data
üzer 4 5,5 5,5 prefer to use customer representatives, call
i centres and sending e-mails to transmit their
Tota feed-backs. We may say that the customers
73 100,0 100,0
l look for the rapidity to communicate with
producers and e-mail is considered as one of
Our data suggests that 32 (44%) of the the most preferred transmitting channel.
sample were between 26-35 ages,
16 (22%) were between 18-25

199
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Table 5. Age & transmitting feed-back %

14,3
TRANSMI Total within 1,9% 5,5%
%
TRANS
yes no % of 4,1
Age 18- Count 1,4% 5,5%
10 6 16 Total %
25 Total Count 52 21 73
%
37,5 100,0 %
within 62,5% 28,8 100,0
% % within 71,2%
AGE % %
AGE
%
28,6 %
within 19,2% 21,9% 100,0 100, 100,0
% within
TRANS % 0% %
TRANS
% of 8,2
13,7% 21,9% % of 28,8 100,0
Total % 71,2%
Total % %
26- Count
24 8 32
35
% Our data suggest that young people transmit
25,0 100,0
within 75,0% their feed-back more than the others. 33% (24)
% %
AGE of our samples who are between 26-35 ages
% and 16% (12) who are between 36-45 ages
38,1
within 46,2% 43,8% more interested in communication with
%
TRANS producers. We may comment that young
% of 11,0
32,9% 43,8% population are more actual and busier in
Total %
36- Count
everyday life and they’re more interested in
12 3 15 new products, services or trends which
45
% facilitate their life.
20,0 100,0
within 80,0%
% %
AGE Table 7. Knowledge of innovation concept
% Frequ Valid
14,3
within 23,1% 20,5% ency Percent Percent
%
TRANS Valid yes 51 69,9 69,9
% of 4,1
16,4% 20,5% no 22 30,1 30,1
Total %
46- Count Tot 73 100,0 100,0
1 0 1
55
% We also measured that the majority of our
100,0 100,0
within ,0% samples 51 (70%) know the meaning of
% %
AGE “innovation” concept. Our findings are similar
%
with the results of “preference of channel”;
within 1,9% ,0% 1,4%
TRANS
because 28 of our samp+le prefer to
% of communicate with producers via e-mail, which
1,4% ,0% 1,4% is a innovative product. In addition to this,
Total
56- Count these are consistent with our results about age-
4 1 5
65 transmitting feed-back cross ratio: Our data
%
20,0 100,0
suggest that young people (24 - 33%) transmit
within 80,0% their feed-back more than the others. Thus,
% %
AGE young population know new innovative trends
% and they use them currently.
4,8
within 7,7% 6,8%
%
TRANS
% of 1,4
Table 8. Knowledge Arzum kettle product
5,5% 6,8% & innovation background
Total %
65- Count Frequ Valid
üzer 1 3 4 ency Percent Percent
i Valid yes 65 89,0 89,0
% no 8 11,0 11,0
75,0 100,0
within 25,0%
% % Tot 73 100,0 100,0
AGE

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Arzum * Arzum innovation crosstabulation Gnctrkcll * Gnctrkcll innovation

ARZMINV Total crosstabulation
yes no GNCTINV Total
y Count yes no
e 14 51 65 y Count
s e 15 52 67
% s
21,5 78,5 100,0
within % within 22,4 77,6 100,0
% % %
Arzum Gnctrkcll % % %
% % within 93,8 91,2 91,8
100,0 86,4 89,0
within Gncinv % % %
% % %
Arzinv % of 20,5 71,2 91,8
% of 19,2 69,9 89,0 Total % % %
Total % % % n Count
1 5 6
n Count o
0 8 8
o % within 16,7 83,3 100,0
% Gnctrkcll % % %
100,0 100,0
within ,0% % within
% % 6,3% 8,8% 8,2%
Arzum Gncinv
% % of
13,6 11,0 1,4% 6,8% 8,2%
within ,0% Total
% %
Arzinv Tot Count
16 57 73
% of 11,0 11,0 al
,0%
Total % % % within 21,9 78,1 100,0
Tot Count Gnctrkcll % % %
14 59 73
al % within 100,0 100,0 100,0
% within 19,2 80,8 100,0 Gncinv % % %
Arzum % % % % of 21,9 78,1 100,0
% within 100,0 100,0 100,0 Total % % %
Arzinv % % %
% of 19,2 80,8 100,0 We determined that 92% (67) our sample
Total % % % know the new product “gençturkcell”, but they
don’t know (78% - 57) that this is a new
We determined that 89% (65) our sample product idea came from final customers of
know the new product “Arzum Kettle”, but Turkcell GSM Operator. Our findings are
they don’t know (81% - 59) that this is a new similar with the results of “Knowledge of
product idea came from final customers of Arzum Kettle” parameter; 89 % of our
Arzum. samples know the product, but 81% of them
don’t know the new product idea came from
Table 9. Knowledge Gencturkcell product customers.
& innovation background
Frequ Valid Table 10. Knowledge Akbank mobile
ency Percent Percent credit Product & Innovation background
Valid yes 67 91,8 91,8 Frequ Valid
no 6 8,2 8,2 ency Percent Percent
Tot 73 100,0 100,0 Valid yes 47 64,4 64,4
no 26 35,6 35,6
Tot 73 100,0 100,0

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 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Akbank * Akbank innovation strategies. This theory is coherent with our

crosstabulation findings. Because our findings suggest that our
AKBNINV Total selected companies cooperate with their
yes no customer to manage their innovation
y Count strategies. The majority of consumers are
e 11 36 47 conscious and they are aware of their
s responsibility as a consumer and the services
% within 23,4 76,6 100,0 they use. One of the results of this study is
Akbank % % % that companies do not promote “consumer
% within 100,0 58,1 64,4 based strategy” which helps to protect and
Akbinv % % % enhance their image.
% of 15,1 49,3 64,4
Total % % % Eight stages are involved in the new product
n Count development process: idea generation, idea
0 26 26 screening, concept development and testing,
o
% within 100,0 100,0 marketing strategy development, business
,0% analysis, product development, market testing,
Akbank % %
% within 41,9 35,6 and commercialization. The purpose of each
,0% stage is to determine whether the innovation
Akbinv % %
% of 35,6 35,6 idea should be dropped or moved to the next
,0% stage. The company wants to minimize the
Total % %
Tot Count chances that good ideas will be dropped or that
11 62 73 bad ones will be developed. That’s why, the
al
% within 15,1 84,9 100,0 new trend of marketers is to profit from their
Akbank % % % consumers as corporate innovations strategies’
% within 100,0 100,0 100,0 consultant.
Akbinv % % %
% of 15,1 84,9 100,0 Acknowledgments
Total % % %
This research has been financially supported
by Galatasaray University Research Fund.
We determined that 64% (47) our sample
know the new product “Akbank Mobile
Credit”, but they don’t know (85% - 62) that 7. References
this is a new product idea came from final
[1] Ronald S. Swift, “Accelerating Customer
customers of Akbank. Our findings are similar Relationship: Using CRM and Relationship
with the other results of “Knowledge of Technologies”, Prentice Hall, USA, 2001, p.XVII.
Arzum Kettle” and “Knowledge of [2] Tench, R. and L. Yeomans, Exploring Public
gençturkcell” parameters. Relations, Prentice Hall, England, 2006.
Regarding these three last tables, we should [3]Guth, D.W. and C. March, Public Relations-A
notice that this adopter classification suggests Values Driven Approach, Pearson Education, USA,
that an innovating firm should research the 2006.
demographic, psychographic and media [4] P.J. Kitchen and D. Moss, “Marketing and
characteristics of innovators and early adopters Public Relations”, Journal of Marketing
Communications, 1995, pp. 105-119.
and direct communications specifically to
[5] J. Grunig and L. Grunig, “The relationship
them. between public relations and marketing in excellent
organizations:evidence from the IABC”, Journal of
6. Conclusion Marketing Communications, 4:3, 1998, pp. 141-
162.
Successful new product development [6] Peter Doyle, “Value-Based Marketing:
requires the company to establish an effective Marketing Strategies for Corporate Growth and
organization for managing the development Shareholder Value”, John Wiley &Sons, Ltd,
process. Companies can choose to use product Oxford, 2000, 7.
managers, new product managers or customers [7] Kotler, P. and G. Armstrong, Principles of
as business partner in corporate innovation Marketing, 9.ed.,Upper Saddle River, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey, 2001.

202

[8] Archie B. Carroll, “The Four Faces of
Corporate Citizenship”, Business and Society
Review, 100/101, 1998, pp. 1-7.
[9]Archie B. Carroll, “The Pyramid of Corporate
Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral
Management of Organizational Stakeholders”,
Business Horizons, July-August, 1991, pp. 39-48.
[10] New Products Management for the 1980s
(New York: Booz, Allen & Hamilton, 1982).
[11]Kotler, P., Marketing Management Analysis,
Planning, Implementation and Control,
International Edition, 9.ed., Upper Saddle River,
Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1997.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
[12]Eric von Hippel, “Lead Users: A Source of
Novel Product Concepts,” Management Science,
July 1986, pp. 791-805. Also see his The Sources
of Innovation (New York: Oxford University Press,
1988); and “Learning from Lead Users,” in
Marketing in an Electronic Age, ed. Robert D.
Buzzell (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business
School Press, 1985), pp. 308-17.
[13]Cooper, Robert G. and Kleinschmidt, Elko J.,
New Products: The Key Factors in Success,
American Marketing Association, Chicago, 1990.
[14]Rogers, Everett M, Diffusion of Innovations,
Free Press, NewYork, 1962.

Exploration of Factors Affecting Online
Social Networking Services
Joycelyn Finley-Hervey Tiki L. Suarez-Brown
Florida A&M University Florida A&M University Florida A&M University
joycelyn.finley@famu.edu tiki.suarez@famu.edu forrest.thompson@famu.edu
Abstract
The driving communication tools among
millennials have been MySpace and
Facebook. With these new mediums,
individuals who utilize these social online
services are faced with opportunities and
challenges. This paper seeks to assess
students’ perceptions and explore factors that
affect the utilization of social networking.
The paper concludes with implications for
utilizing the social networking tools more
effectively.
1. Introduction
Social networking services focus on the
building of online communities of people
who share interests and activities, or who are
interested in exploring the interests and
activities of others. MySpace and Facebook,
the most popular of these websites, have
been around for less than ten years. They
have member bases of more than 360
million. Beyond these numbers, independent
surveys have confirmed a mere fact of life in
America: students are addicted to these new
“social clubs.”
MySpace was launched in 1999 and offers an
interactive, user-submitted network of
friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups,
photo, music and videos internationally.
MySpace is currently the world’s sixth most
popular website and the third most popular
website in the United States. Currently,
MySpace has over 300 millions active users.
MySpace allows users to customize their user
profile pages and the option of allowing
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Forrest Thompson
certain personal data to be restricted to
people other than those on their friends list.
Users can depict their mood, make comments
for all viewers to read, and post and sell
music, which has proven popular among
MySpace users.
Facebook was launched in 2004 at
Harvard University as a networking site for
students to get to know others on campus.
Within months, the site was open to all Ivy
League schools and shortly thereafter
expanded to most American and Canadian
universities. In 2006, high schools and some
large companies were included in Facebook.
Since then, it has expanded to countries
around the world. Currently, Facebook has
over 60 millions active users. Users can
select to join one or more participating
networks, such as a school, place of
employment, geographic region, or social
group. The viewing of detailed profile data
of a user is restricted to users from the same
network or confirmed friends. For example,
the “status” feature allows users to inform
their friends and the Facebook community of
their current whereabouts and actions; and
the “events” feature allow users to let friends
know about upcoming events in their
community and to organize social gatherings.
By 2005, MySpace was reportedly getting
more page views than Google, with
Facebook rapidly growing in size. In 2007,
Facebook began allowing externally

developed add-on applications thus linking
social networks to social networks. It is
estimated that there are over 200 social
networks with MySpace and Facebook being
the most popular. Given the popularity of
online social networking, there is a need to
understand the associated promises and
downfalls, which are detailed in the next
section.
2. Opportunities and Challenges of
Online Social Networking
2.1. Social Networking Opportunities
There are several opportunities and
challenges of utilizing social networking
sites. Based on interviews conducted with
executives from Communications firms,
Sangaran (2007) reports that social
networking presents the following
opportunities:
1. Helps an individual keep in touch
with acquaintances, friends and
family as well as make new friends.
2. Generates fun and entertainment, as
Facebook has games and different
applications to play with.
3. Gives updates on current issues and
allows you to know what your
friends and family think of a specific
topic.
4. Offers new pictures posted by friends
and family, to download and keep.
5. Allows an individual to update job
details and other personal details like
age and marital status.
6. Supplies non-invasive assurances.
Users can block or show profiles
only to those they choose.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
2.2. Social Networking Challenges
Contrary to the aforementioned factors,
which mostly relate to personal matters,
challenges cover a range of operational,
personal and professional aspects. The
below items pose key social networking
challenges:
1. Becoming familiarized with online
social networks and applications may
be difficult in the initial stages
(Sangaran, 2007).
2. Spending too much time on social
networks for personal reasons can
affect work productivity (Perkins,
2008); consequently, class
performance may suffer.
3. Posting some personal information or
pictures on sites could be damaging
to career opportunities (Perkins,
2008) because companies often
search online networks to obtain
information about potential hires or
competitors.
4. Introducing viruses, worms and
spyware into computers because
online networks have limited
restrictions on links or content
(Perkins, 2008).
5. Being targeted by virtual strangers
who want to get acquainted with you
(Sangaran, 2007). Predators and
stalkers are a very real concern in
today’s society.
Millennials’ perceptions of opportunities and
challenges will be discussed in the next
section.

3. Methodology
The survey’s target population included
undergraduate and graduate students taking
courses within the School of Business and
Industry at Florida A&M University. These
students were asked to complete a survey of
34 questions. Questions consisted of multiple
choice and short answer to assess factors
related to perceptions and reasons for using
two social online networking sites:
Facebook and MySpace. Surveys were
administered to 309 individuals within the
following seven undergraduate and graduate
courses: Introduction to Business Systems,
Systems Theory and Design, Organizational
Behavior, Organizational Theory and
Behavior, Intermediate Accounting Part I,
Intermediate Account Part II and
Governmental Accounting. All students
were asked to complete the survey only once.
The survey was divided into the following
three major areas:
Section #1: Personal information
Questions (Q)1-4
Section #2: General utilization of
Facebook/MySpace
Questions Q5-13
Section #3: Specific use while on
Facebook/MySpace and perceptions
Questions Q14 -34
The First section gave students the
opportunity to answer personal information
such as classification, gender and major. The
Second section addressed questions that
pertained to the use of Facebook/MySpace,
its importance and what students liked
least/most. The Third section listed
questions pertaining to inappropriate material
(sexual, racial), privacy issues, relationship
discussions and profile commenting/viewing.
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
3.1 Results
Sixty percent of students who completed
the survey were males. Over 95% of the
students were between the ages of 18-24 and
99% of the students stated they were of
Black/Non-Hispanic nationality. Over 98%
of the individuals were students in the School
of Business and Industry. 86% of the
students stated they used online social
networking tools such as Facebook and
MySpace and that they used it to keep in
touch, to network, to supply information and
for business purposes. Additional write in
answers included using the tools to view
pictures and for fun. Over half of our
respondents stated they have been using
these tools for only 1-2 years. Although,
over 50% of the students surveyed stated
they use these tools at least once or twice a
day (several times a day 21%, once/twice a
day 31%). In addition, results from the
survey revealed that although most students
utilize Facebook and MySpace, only 40%
stated they feel they it is somewhat
important.
It is also interesting to note that students
who stated they do not use these online social
networking tools do not because it either
provided too much information for others to
view, it did not interest them or it was seen as
a violation of privacy. Additional questions
also revealed that privacy was of major
concern. 69% of the students who utilize
Facebook/MySpace sites chose the privacy
option, allowing only friends to view specific
information on their pages. This specific
question, which was found in the second
Section, addressed Opportunity #6.
Opportunity #1 which relates to two
questions found in the first Section of the
survey (What do you like most about
Facebook/MySpace and What did you like
least about Facebook/MySpace) ranked
Photos, Message and Profiles first, second
and third, respectively as items they liked
most about Facebook and MySpace.
Newsfeeds, Groups and Notes were ranked

first, second and third, respectively for items
that they liked least. Opportunity #2 relates
to a survey question found within the third
Section. This question asked students what
type of data did they upload onto Facebook
and MySpace. Over 79% of the students
stated they uploaded self-photos, while 54%
stated they uploaded their personal
information such as hometown and date of
birth and 51% stated they uploaded photos of
their friends. Figure 1 shows the percentage
of items uploaded to Facebook/MySpace
Which Items Have you Uplo
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Perce 0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Self-Photos
Photos of
My Email
List of Current
Relationship
Personal Info
FriendsAddressClasses Status
Ite
Figure 1. Uploaded Items to
Facebook/MySpace
Challenges #3 and #5 relates to several
questions found in the third Section.
Challenge #3 relates to a question, which
asked students if they ever decided not to
post photos of themselves on
Facebook/MySpace because it might be read
by current or future employers, University
administrators and/or teachers and parents.
Most students stated they did NOT desire to
upload photos because they feared
current/future employers (61% stated Yes)
might read it more so than university
admin/teachers (43% stated Yes) and even
parents (36% stated Yes). A following
question concerning posting information
about them also revealed similar results.
Challenge #5 relates to two questions that
discuss whether or not it is okay for either
strangers or acquaintances to comment on
their profile, when you see each other in
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
person. Students were asked to select “Yes”,
“No”, or “Yes - only if they have a
reasonable explanation for what they are
looking at”. Over 35% of the students
surveyed answered Yes, that is was okay for
strangers to comment and over 55%
answered Yes, that it was okay for
acquaintances to comment. However, over
19% of the students responded to the answer
Yes - only if they have a reasonable
explanation for what they are looking at for
‘acquaintances’ and 17% of the students
responded to the answer Yes - only if they
have a reasonable explanation for what they
are looking at for ‘strangers’. See Figure 2
can acquaintances comment on profile.
Figure 2: Can Acquaintances Comment
on Profile
The survey also revealed interesting facts
related to inappropriate sexual and racial
material. 50% of the students stated that
Facebook and MySpace should be monitored
for inappropriate racial material, while 72%
of the students stated that these online
services should be monitored for
inappropriate sexual material. Lastly 76%
stated that they have seen inappropriate
sexual material on these sites.
4. Conclusion
There are several implications for utilizing
social networking more effectively. It is a
tool that corporations and millennials can
gain benefit. Corporations can use networks
to recruit and secure referrals for potential
employees. Firms can also incorporate
Facebook and MySpace applications on
computer workstations to encourage
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

collaboration, creativity and team building References

among employees. Millennials can use the
sites to network with peers regarding suitable [1] Perkins, Bart. 2008. Pitfalls of
employment opportunities and to highlight socialnetworking. Computerworld, February 11,
professional profiles that are attractive to 2008; 42, 7, p. 44.
company recruiters.
[2] Sangaran, Shyla. 2007. Varied appeal of
social networking. New Straits Times, Kuala
In addition, an increasing number of Lumpur. December 10, 2007, p. 15.
academicians are interested in studying the
impact of MySpace/Facebook and other
social networks on society. Social networks
connect people at low cost, thus it has vast
applications. Companies can use social
networks for advertising. Entrepreneurs and
small businesses can expand their contact
base. Since businesses operate globally,
social networks can make it easier to keep in
touch with contacts around the world.

Furthermore, professionals such as

doctors, lawyers, accountants and others are
adopting social networks to manage
institutional knowledge, disseminate peer-to-
peer knowledge. In addition, users can tap
into the power of social networks for social
good. These networks are highly successful
in connecting like-minded communities with
a broader audience with interested and
passionate users.

Lastly, privacy issues are becoming a

major concern of social networks. There is a
growing concern about users giving out too
much personal information. Users need to be
aware of data theft or viruses. In addition,
there is a perceived privacy threat in relation
to placing too much personal information in
the hands of companies and governmental
bodies. These entities can produce a
behavior profile of the users on which
decisions, detrimental to the users, may be
taken. Information posted on
MySpace/Facebook has been used by
employers, law enforcement agencies, and
universities to investigate and prosecute
users. Legal experts agree that information
on MySpace/Facebook should be considered
public information and available for use
without restrictions.

208
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

Recent Literature in Stochastic Resource Constrained

Project Scheduling
Sandra Archer Robert L. Armacost Julia Pet-Armacost
University of Central Florida University of Central Florida University of Central Florida
archer@mail.ucf.edu armacost@mail.ucf.edu jpetarma@mail.ucf.edu

Abstract
This article describes recent advances in
both predictive scheduling (developing the
best schedule before work begins that will be
the most robust to uncertainty) and reactive
heuristics (rescheduling procedures that a
project manager may use in real-time as
uncertainty occurs) for the Stochastic
Resource Constrained Project Scheduling
Problem (SRCPSP).
1. Introduction: Predictive and
Reactive Scheduling
Stochastic project scheduling is
generally concerned with developing an
order of tasks within a project that is robust
to uncertainty in areas such as resource
availability, resource breakdown, or task
durations. A robust schedule is "flexible"
such that metrics of performance (most
commonly project duration) remain as close
as possible to optimal when disturbances
occurrence [32]. To account for uncertainty
in a project schedule, project managers may
use two approaches: a predictive (or
proactive) scheduling technique to develop a
baseline schedule before work begins or a
reactive scheduling technique that provides
decision points once work begins to react or
reschedule in light of the outcome of
uncertain events. Managers may apply a
combination of both of these techniques
during the course of a project.
209
1.1. Predictive Scheduling
Predictive or proactive scheduling
techniques allow a project manager to
develop a baseline schedule that protects the
project against the effects of uncertainty.
Analytical approaches and techniques for
developing robust proactive schedules have
been extensively studied ([2], [17], [27],
[45]). Approaches include redundancy-based
techniques that allow for extra time in each
activity, or scheduling extra resources. Other
approaches include robust machine
scheduling techniques to develop schedules
to minimize the consequences of the worst
case scenario.
1.2. Predictive Scheduling – Buffering:
Goldratt’s [11] Critical Chain and
Buffer Management Method provides a
heuristic framework for project managers to
plan, schedule, and control their projects, but
leaves it up to the user to determine exact
implementation. The method identifies the
critical chain, or the set of tasks that results
in the longest path to project completion,
considering both precedence and resource
constraints. A “feeding” buffer is placed at
the points in the schedule where resources
feed into the critical chain path, to protect the
critical chain, while a “project” buffer
protects the overall project completion time
[12].
Tavares, Ferreira, et al.[36] have applied
the concept of using buffers to protect the
schedule by adding time buffers throughout a

baseline schedule, although their method
does not prohibit resource conflicts from
occurring. This method was then developed
into an adapted float factor heuristic by Leus
[23] and was further adapted to the resource
constrained version by Van de Vonder,
Demeulemeester, Herroelen, and Leus [39,
43]. Additionally, Van de Vonder, et al. [40,
41] introduced multiple algorithms to include
time buffers in a given schedule while a
predefined project due date remains
respected. At the same time, Trietsch [37]
developed a method involving optimal
feeding buffers to protect against tardiness
and suggested that the marginal cost of a
buffer should match its criticality, even for
the case of unknown project completion time
distribution.
1.3. Predictive Scheduling – Other
methods:
There have been many recent
developments in the area of developing
robust baseline schedules. Ke and Liu [20]
designed a hybrid intelligent algorithm using
stochastic simulation and genetic algorithms
to solve the project scheduling problem with
stochastic activity duration times to minimize
total cost under completion time limits.
Sakka and El-Sayegh [31] developed a
method to quantify risks associated with float
loss in construction projects. Zhu, Bard, et
al. [46] approached the concept of setting due
dates for project activities with random
durations as a two-stage integer program to
balance project completion cost and late
penalties.
1.4. Reactive Scheduling: Reacting to
changes
Instead of, or in addition to, anticipating
uncertainty, managers must be prepared to
make decisions as the project progresses in
light of current events. Managers may utilize
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
a technique of contingent schedules, or
developing multiple schedules at once. As
the project progresses, the project manager
may switch to the schedule corresponding to
the events that have occurred [6]. This
technique, however, focuses on flexibility,
rather than robustness and is valuable for
time-critical reactive scheduling. GERT
(Graphical Evaluation and Review
Technique) is a tool that allows managers
working with stochastic project networks to
review projects with a stochastic evolution
structure. There have been many heuristic
solutions proposed, including those that offer
a full-rescheduling option, depending on the
project objective function [8].
2. Stochastic Resource Constrained
Project Scheduling Problem
(SRCPSP)
The classic SRCPSP has the objective to
minimize project duration with deterministic
resource availability while activity durations
occur stochastically. Techniques to solve the
problem include predictive scheduling and
reactive scheduling, with the literature
dominated by those methods to develop a
robust baseline schedule. Some research into
the timing of activity variability on overall
project duration has shown that projects may
benefit from efforts to reduce activity
variability early rather than late in the
schedule [13].
2.1. Predictive Scheduling for SRCPSP
Robust project scheduling includes
mathematical programming models for the
generation of stable baseline schedules under
the assumption that the proper amount of
resources can be acquired if booked in
advance based on the pre-schedule and that a
single activity disruption (duration increase)
may occur during schedule execution [16].

The same authors have also used a resource
flow network resource allocation model that
protects a given baseline schedule against
activity duration variability [24].
Stochastic task duration can be
approached as a multi-stage decision process
that uses so-called “scheduling policies”
[34]. Scheduling policies have also been
employed to minimize the expected project
duration by developing multi-stage stochastic
programming problems ([9], [10], [28]).
Branch and bound methods have also been
applied [19], [34], [35].
Al-Fawzan and Haouari [1] provided a
tabu search algorithm to generate a baseline
schedule for the resource constrained
problem with stochastic task durations to
minimize makespan while maximizing
robustness. However, Kobylanski and
Kuchta [22] questioned the methods in a note
on their paper and provided their own
definitions and methods of determining a
robust schedule. They suggested a fixed
makespan for the project and then
determining a robust schedule for this fixed
makespan. Their proposed robustness is
measured by minimal free slack or the
minimal ratio of free slack to activity
duration as high as possible. Azaron,
Perkgoz, et al. [3] evaluated the time-cost
trade off with a multi-objective genetic
algorithm that allocates resources as the
decision variable while optimizing project
cost, mean completion time, and the
probability that the project exceeds a time
threshold.
Ballestin [4] evaluated when heuristic
algorithms should be used to solve problems
with stochastic task durations instead of
working with the deterministic problem and
provided heuristics to develop the baseline
schedule when activity durations are given
by a known distribution. The first algorithm
is based on regret-based biased random
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
sampling, that uses a Schedule Generating
Scheme by constructing different activity
lists and a priority rule to calculate its
possibility of being selected. The second is
based on Hartmann’s [14] genetic algorithm
and demonstrates the adaptability of this
method to stochastic RCPSP. Ballestin and
Leus’s [5] work continued in the
development of a Greedy Randomized
Adaptive Search Procedure heuristic to
develop baseline schedules for minimizing
expected project makespan and they
evaluated the heuristic by studying the
distribution of the possible makespan.
Deblaere, Demeulemeester, et al. [7]
provided three integer programming-based
heuristics and one constructive procedure to
develop a baseline schedule and resource
allocation plan for the RCPSP with activity
duration variability to maximize stability.
Other approaches include that of Long
and Ohsato [26] who provided a genetic
algorithm for the RCPSP with stochastic
activity durations so optimal project duration
is minimized. Shih [33] proposed a greedy
method for resource allocation to reduce
completion time for the RCPSP with
stochastic task duration.
2.2. SRCPSP Approach: Critical Path
and Buffering Methods
Grey [12] provided a detailed overview
of Critical Chain Buffer Management and its
application for the RCPSP, and included a
discussion of critiques of the method. One
concern is that the technique generates a
baseline schedule by solving the
deterministic RCPSP and subsequently
inserts buffers for robustness, instead of
solving a stochastic RCPSP [15], which may
be an oversimplification of the problem [18].
Most of the research related to the use of
buffers for project scheduling is in the job
shop or machine scheduling literature and

includes time and resource redundancy [12].
Rabbani, Fatemi Ghomi, et al. [29]
developed a new heuristic for the RCPSP
with stochastic task durations by using
concepts from critical chain to determine the
finish time of activities at certain decision
points. Additionally, Van de Vonder,
Demeulemeester, et al. [44] proposed a
heuristic algorithm to protect the starting
times of intermediate activities when
multiple activity disruptions occur by adding
intermediate buffers to a minimal duration
RCPSP.
Kim and De La Garza [21] proposed
and evaluated the resource constrained
critical path method (RCPM), that allows for
the identification of alternative schedules by
identifying the critical path and float data.
Liu, Song, et al. [25] proposed a multi-
objective model for the RCPSP and use a
critical chain scheduling approach to insert
feeding and project buffers into the
approximate optimal project schedule to
enhance stability. Grey [12] suggested the
possibility of using feeding and project
buffers for the Stochastic Task Insertion
(STI) case as an area of future research.
Tukel, et al. [38] have introduced two
new buffering methods for determining
feeding buffer sizes in critical chain project
scheduling for the SRCPSP with stochastic
task durations. One method uses resource
utilization and the other uses network
complexity.
2.3. Reactive Scheduling for the SRCPSP
Van de Vonder, Demeulemeester, et al.
[39, 42] evaluated several predictive-reactive
SRCPSP procedures with the objective of
maximizing stability and the probability of
timely project completion. Herroelen and
Leus [17] described predictive-reactive
scheduling techniques as those that repair a
baseline schedule to account for unexpected
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Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
events, and described the various reactive
strategies a project manager may take. On
one hand, a reactive effort may be a very
simple schedule repair such as the right shift
rule [30] which will move forward in time all
activities affected and does not re-sequence
activities. More complex techniques
suggested by the authors include a full
rescheduling of the remaining portion of the
schedule. This full rescheduling action may
be completed with a different set of
objectives than those used to construct the
original baseline schedule because an
additional objective may include the
minimization of deviations from the baseline
schedule. The authors refer to this re-
scheduling case with new objectives as "ex
post stability" measures of performance.
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Authors
Sandra Archer, M.S. is a Ph.D.
candidate and Robert L. Armacost, D.Sc. and
Julia Pet-Armacost, Ph.D. are Associate
Professors in the Department of Industrial
Engineering and Management Systems at the
University of Central Florida.

Design and Manufacturing of an Acoustic Panels Test Frame
Michael Ferguson Jesse Parkhurst
Univ. of North Florida Univ. of North Florida
Ferm0013@unf.edu parj0034@unf.edu
Abstract
The University of North Florida in
collaboration with the Goodrich Corporation has
designed a test frame to be used in investigating
the mechanical properties of acoustic panels.
Strain and deflection of the panel will be
measured while supporting uniform pressure
applied through vacuum loading device. Design
and manufacturing details of the frame are
presented.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this project is to
characterize the strength of composite material
panels. This will be achieved by conducting
experiments to measure the strain and the
deflection of a plate fabricated from the material
while the plate is subjected to a quasi-static load.
With this information the strength characteristics
can be calculated. The material has many
practical uses. One known application of the
material is construction of sonar windows of
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). The
sonar windows need to be strong enough to
absorb an impact while not disturbing the sonar
signal passing through the nosecone.
The research conducted was enabled by
a grant from National Science Foundation (NSF)
which funds the Manufacturing Innovation
Partnership (MIP) program at the University of
North Florida (UNF) [1]. MIP was created to
enhance the educational experience of the
students and to create a design and
manufacturing center for local companies to aid
in the economic and technical development in
the Northeast Florida region. A large number of
other projects have been undertaken by MIP [2-
11]. These projects help students gain a better
understanding of engineering applications.
While it’s not part of the regular curriculum, it
provides active learning opportunities to the
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
Alexandra Schonning Simeon Ochi
Univ. of North Florida Goodrich Corporation
aschonni@unf.edu simeon.ochi@goodrich.com
students. The two students working on this
particular project have completed courses in
Strength of Materials, Machine Design etc.
Active learning is supported by NSF [12] and
has been found beneficial to students in a variety
of fields including engineering [13-23].
2. Conceptual Design Ideas
One of the objectives was to design and
build a test rig to use in testing the static strength
of composite material panels used for AUV
sonar windows. The material to be tested would
be in the form of panels of 20 by 20 inches with
variable thickness. With this known, constraints
were formalized. The test fixture should disperse
the load evenly over the panels in a quasi static
fashion. The test fixture must be able to measure
the deflection and strain in the material when the
load is applied and the measurements must be
easily viewable. With these constraints
preliminary designs were discussed.
The first design considered was one that
would load the panels from the top. A column
would be created to hold water and which would
evenly distribute the load across the top of the
panel. This design was dismissed due to
practical reasons; if the panel failed a huge
column of water would be dispersed onto the
testing floor and clean up would be excessive. A
column of sand was then considered because the
sand is denser and less material would have to
be used in applying the same load. It was also
dismissed for the same reason as the water
column. The next design idea involved
application of pressure underneath the panel.
With this setup the panel could have strain
gauges to measure the strain in the material and
a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)
could be placed above the panel to measure the
displacement of the material. This design was
dismissed because if the panel were to fail, small
215
 Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference

pieces would fly outward and possibly injure inch tall C-section steel. The C-section steel was
someone. After these dismissals a final design used to save weight over a solid bar while not
was found. A vacuum would be pulled from greatly sacrificing strength. A 21 inch by 21
underneath the panel to reduce the chance of inch steel plate was used for the bottom portion
pieces flying outward. Strain gauges would be of the frame and was welded to the walls of the
placed on the bottom surface of the panel to frame.
measure strain and an LVDT would be mounted
above to measure the deflection of the center of
the panel. Using a vacuum pump, the vacuum
could be slowly applied to the panel to form the
static load. This final design idea was chosen
based on safety and since it met all of the
constraints. The preliminary design is shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 2. First base design

Upon further calculations using a finite

Figure 1. Preliminary design
3. Detailed Design
After approval of this preliminary
design a rough model was designed on the
computer using Rhinoceros 3.0 CAD program.
The basic components of the test frame are a flat
square plate used as the base, four wall sections,
one loading and accessory rail, two vertical
support beams, and four gussets. Once it was
drawn in the CAD program a few minor changes
were needed. The walls of the test frame were
going to be two inches tall by ½ in thick
allowing the panel to deflect almost two inches.
This first conceptional design is shown in Figure
2. Initial calculations suggested that the
deflection of the panels could be as much as 5
inches. The walls were therefore changed to a 6-
element analysis program it was determined that
the panels were not likely to deflect more than a
maximum of 2 inches. The walls were therefore
changed to C3x5.5 steel which is a three inch
tall C steel section that would provide enough
room for the panels to deflect. The design was
approved by the company liaison. In summary, a
flat steel plate of size 21 by 21 inches would be
the base of the test rig and the walls would be
made up of C3x5.5 steel members, cut at 45o
angles at the corners. This steel would also be
used to the loading and accessory rail located
above the test panel. The loading rail would be
supported by two steel gussets located on two
opposing walls. The gussets would be welded to
the outside of the wall as shown in Figure 3.
Each gusset has two bolt holes with a size of ¼
inch that supports a vertical ten inch C3x5.5 bar.
The two vertical C3x5.5 bars support the 23¾
inch loading and accessory bar by four ¼ inch
bolts. The loading rail will support the LVDT
during tests and during transportation the rail
could be used to hoist the test rig. The lifting
eyelets are 1.5 inches and are located on the
vertical support bars.

216


ure 3. Gussets
Three holes of diameters two with ¾ inch and a
single ½ inch would be drilled into the wall for
instrumentation installation. One is used to
connect the vacuum pump to the rig. Another
port measures the pressure inside the vessel.
These instruments can be seen in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Instrumentations
The third hole will allow the wires from
the gauges to feed from the bottom of the panels
to the computer. To ensure a vacuum a rubber
stopper is used to seal the hole. The strain
gauges will be placed on the under side of the
panel. A flange was designed to hold the test
panel securely in place and to help with being air
217
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
tight. The flange is held down by eight bolts.
There is a bolt hole at every corner and one at
the midpoint between the corners. The flange
can be seen in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Flange
The size and grade had to be increased once tests
were conducted. The original bolts were number
10 fine thread, but failed once pressure was
exerted onto the plate. This failure is likely due
to the shear stress in the bolts exceeding the
shear strength of the material. The bolt size was
increased to ¼ in. Even after the increase of size
the bolts still failed, so the bolt size and grade
was increased to 5/16 and grade eight,
respectively. Another test was conducted and
during which the bolts did not fail.
4. Manufacturing
The C3x5.5 steel bar was cut into four
pieces that were 20.82 inches long with a 45
degree cut at the ends. These wall sections were
welded together using a double v-groove weld to
ensure air tightness. The wall was welded to the
plate and using a fillet weld. All welds were
cleaned up for appearance. The top of the walls
were milled down to ensure a clean, level mating

surface for the panel. After milling, hand filing
was used to further improve the surface finish.
The flange material was cut to the same length
as the wall. The pieces of the flange were also
welded with a double v-groove together. The
pieces were slightly arced to allow the ability to
pretension the panel. It was also milled flat to
give a good seal. Four gussets were cut from a
sheet of steel to the desired dimensions and size.
The edges had to be grinded to ensure a tight fit
into the C3x5.5 wall. Two ¼ inch holes were
drilled into each gusset for bolting the vertical
supports. The gussets were welded onto the
outside of the wall. Two ten-inch sections were
cut from the C3x5.5 steel bar. These were used
for the vertical supports. Six ¼ inch holes were
drilled into the vertical supports. There were
four bolt holes matching the gusset bolt patterns
on the bottom and two bolt holes on top to attach
the loading and accessory rail. The final piece
cut was a 23.640 inch long C3x5.5 steel that was
used for the loading and accessory rail. Four bolt
holes were drilled into it on either end to match
the holes from the vertical support columns. The
vertical columns were bolted to the gussets and
the loading and accessory rail was bolted to the
vertical supports. To ensure an airtight seal, a
gasket material was needed. A latex based
gasket was used first. It was air tight but was
extremely hard to remove. It also caused the
surface to pit which in the long run would
destroy the air tight seal. A silicon based gasket
was used next and it worked well, providing an
airtight seal. The silicon was easily removed
without pitting or other detrimental effect
occurring. The final product is shown in Figure
6.
Figure 6. Completed Frame
218
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
5. Conclusion
In collaboration with Goodrich
Corporation undergraduate students have
designed and manufactured a test frame to be
used in testing acoustic panels. Design ideas
were produced and altered to come to the
preliminary design. A model was developed in a
CAD program and was easily changed to fit new
calculations. The frame was built on site at UNF
with donated materials and UNF purchased
machinery. Tests were conducted and the
strength of the composite materials were
analyzed and found. With this project the
undergraduate researchers gathered much
knowledge of design and manufacturing
processes. Future work will be conducted on this
frame. It will be modified to allow dynamic
testing to be performed on the panels.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These efforts are partially sponsored by the
National Science Foundation, grant EEC-
0438582, and the Goodrich Corporation.
7. REFERENCES
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Effects of lecture information density on
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collaboration: Enhancing the quality of
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DC: The George Washington University,
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20. E. Bodrova, D.J. Leong., Tools of the Mind:
The Vygotskian Approach to Early
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231.

A Model for Audit Brainstorming: The Search for
Material Misstatements and Fraud
LuAnn Bean
Florida Institute of Technology
Lbean@fit.edu
Jeff Manzi
Kaplan Financial Education
Jeff.Manzi@kaplan.com
Abstract
Both Statements on Auditing Standards
(SAS) No. 99 and No. 109 require that auditors
conduct brainstorming sessions during every
audit for purposes of identifying material
misstatements and fraud in company operations
and financial statements. This paper explores a
concurrent model for this process.
1. Introduction
In an effort to enhance auditor understanding
of the risks faced by a company and improve
application of the audit risk model, the Auditing
Standards Board (ASB) has issued several
standards as part of new auditing guidance. One
of these, the Statement on Auditing Standards
(SAS) No. 99, Consideration of Fraud in a
Financial Statement Audit, was released in 2002
[1]. It requires that auditors conduct a
brainstorming session during every audit for the
major purpose of bringing audit team members
together to generate ideas about how and where
fraud could occur in a client’s company. The
resulting ideas then set the stage for suggestions
about ways to detect possible frauds.
A second standard, SAS No. 109
(Understanding the Entity and Its Environment
and Assessing the Risks of Material
Misstatements), also has expanded client risk
inquiry through brainstorming sessions with its
issuance in 2006 [2]. Under this standard,
brainstorming sessions are required to target the
susceptibility of client financial statements to
material misstatements. The ASB further
220
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
boosted the potential for this standard to
uncover risk by requiring the auditor with final
responsibility for the audit to participate in these
brainstorming sessions.
Given this relatively new focus on
brainstorming and the added inference by SAS
No. 109 suggesting that concurrent
brainstorming would be acceptable for both
SAS No. 99 and SAS No. 109, many
practitioners agree that this is the most cost
effective way to go [5, 14]. However, there is a
void in the literature explaining how this
concurrent model could be effectively
undertaken. The remainder of this article
examines brainstorming basics, suggests ways to
customize the process through a synectics
model, and proposes targeted queries to
maximize risk detection when using a combined
brainstorming session for both standards.
2. Brainstorming Basics
Brainstorming in the professional accounting
environment was initiated as an innovative
approach for auditors to examine each client’s
operations with a greater degree of skepticism at
a more customized level. As such, the process is
relatively new to many accountants. In an effort
to maximize the benefits and address challenges
of these sessions, many have turned to best
practices experts such as Beasley and Jenkins
[3], who suggest that several rules are necessary
for leaders to follow when planning for effective
audit brainstorming sessions. These basic rules
include:

• Scheduling brainstorming sessions in
advance with sufficient time available to
effectively achieve the objective.
• Developing a brainstorming agenda and
assigning each participant “homework”
prior to the session.
• Setting rules prior to the session so that
effective communications is achieved
between audit team members.
• Setting a cooperative climate for the
session that encourages involvement.
• Making it clear that individuals
participating will not be criticized for
their ideas.
• Encouraging idea generation through
the recasting of the client operations
from different perspectives.
• Recognizing the group as a whole for
the ideas generated, rather than
selectively praising specific individuals
for their thoughts.
• Managing both the size and composition
of the auditors participating in the
sessions, so that outcomes are
maximized.
In addition, Beasley & Jenkins [3] present
several formats for conducting financial
statement audit brainstorming sessions. These
include: open discussion, round-robin, or even
cyber-sessions. In open brainstorming, the
discussion is unstructured and members suggest
ideas in a free flowing manner. The drawback
of this approach is that: (1) the quantity of ideas
may push aside the generation of quality ideas,
and (2) the process commonly breaks down so
that one or only a few members participate.
Round-robin sessions require that members plan
or anticipate issues in advance of the meeting in
order to achieve a more efficient idea generation
process. From the standpoint of generating
quality ideas, this method is preferred, even
though ideas may lack spontaneity. For diverse
teams covering multi-locations, cyber
brainstorming can be an effective technique,
because it allows members to meet remotely
using collaborative software. Moreover, this
technique can enhance the anonymity of
contributions.
221
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
3. Brainstorming and the Use of Synectics
Research studies by Carpenter [6] and
Bellovary and Johnstone [4] indicate that most
auditing firms, in fact, do not follow the
preferred brainstorming techniques previously
mentioned. Instead, most audit firms lack
individual preparation prior to a session, devote
as little as five minutes to these sessions, fail to
structure sessions to encourage the quality over
the quantity of ideas, and have insufficient
involvement by all brainstorming participants
and specialists.
To overcome these obstacles, professionals in
fields other than accounting have found the use
of synectics as an effective approach for
brainstorming. Synectics is basically a creative
problem-solving process developed as a
refinement of brainstorming by William J. J.
Gordon and George Prince during the 1960s [8].
These researchers examined both successful and
unsuccessful brainstorming sessions and
developed synectics as a process to refine and
cull ideas, conquer resistance to brainstorming,
and minimize mental blocks related to complex
situations.
Our purpose in this paper is to propose this
model as a structure for effective concurrent
audit brainstorming sessions, since the
complexity encountered in financial statement
audits is consistent with Gordon and Prince’s
methodology. In other words, the use of
synectics is very applicable to concurrent SAS
No. 99 and 109 sessions because it emphasizes
the development or customization of “new” and
unique brainstorming ideas for each client,
despite the relatively similar nature of the audit
process that must be followed. The steps
involved for facilitating a session using this
approach include:
1. Defining or describing the client’s
organization. An important factor in
this step of the model is to include both
expert and novice auditors. For
example, researchers note that experts
(i.e., more experienced auditors) spend
more time than novices (i.e.,
inexperienced auditors) in analyzing a
problem before actually trying to solve

it [7,13]. Therefore, a key part of this
step is to schedule sufficient time
before convening a session so that all
participants can complete
brainstorming “homework.” This
should include a review of the most
current financial information, a review
of prior year or interim financial
statements, and a review of previous
management letters and other
documents. Many experts agree that
this methodical but somewhat slow
start may lead to long-run time saving
benefits because fewer wrong ideas
will be generated and greater problem
solving effectiveness results.
2. Use direct analogies to generate ideas.
Analogies can lead auditors to notice
parallels or interconnected fraud or
material misstatement situations—those
that might be occurring in the current
client’s organization but are based on
knowledge of similar incidences in
previous clients or cases. An important
checklist to incorporate during this step
of the model is actually contained in
Appendix C of SAS No. 109.
Facilitators can utilize the factors listed
in this standard stimulate discussion
about similar situations in the current
audit, since this list was collectively
developed as a summary of business
risks found in past audit failures or red
flags noted by the ASB. However,
researchers caution that this approach
might lead to a functional fixedness of
the mental set at this point in the
process. In other words, more
knowledgeable auditors (or experts)
may focus too closely on similar audits
and as a result generate fewer ideas
than less experienced auditors about
potential misstatements or fraud
situations due to their biases,
preconceptions, and overconfidence
[11,12].
3. React to the analogies. How is this
client’s company similar or dissimilar
to analogized cases of fraud or material
misstatement? Here, research indicates
222
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
that experts (or more knowledgeable
auditors) will surpass novices (or less
experienced auditors) due to their
abilities to recognize patterns [10].
Therefore, facilitators should draw on
the knowledge of auditors with the
most extensive experience and memory
of client history for these answers
during this step of the model.
4. Explore conflicts and uncouple
oxymorons. This step promotes the
dissection of new ideas, which may at
face value seem ridiculous or
contradictory. Discussion should be
focused on questions about what client-
specific controls, personnel,
environmental, or risk-centric
situations would or would not allow
generated scenarios to exist. In the
process, the audit team should address
significant areas of audit risk, areas
subject to management’s override of
controls, unusual accounting
procedures used by the client, and
important control systems.
5. Develop any new analogies. Through
Step 4 exploration, new analogies may
surface. During this step explore what
additional factors, risks, or red flags of
fraud were identified that made
previous ideas feasible, implausible, or
partially possible.
6. Reexamine the original client situation.
Both SAS No. 99 and SAS No. l09
suggest that resulting ideas should be
help determine the extent of testing for
fraud and the establishment of
materiality at both the financial
statement and account levels. As a
result, final financial statement
scenarios that identified overall audit
risks may require procedures and
actions performed by a more
experienced audit team, while
assertion-based risks at the account
level may target specific, directed
procedures (like the analysis of product
demand and inventory turnover used to
explore inventory obsolescence).

4. Concurrent Brainstorming Sessions for
SAS No. 99 & 109
If you are considering concurrent
brainstorming for SAS No. 99 and SAS No. 109,
several targeted queries advanced by
practitioners such as Hayes [9] or Bellovary and
Johnstone [4] can also serve as optimal planning
guides for facilitators of these sessions. These
include:
• Analyzing the current state of your
brainstorming methods under SAS No.
99 and comparing them with what
additional emphases are needed under
SAS No. 109.
• Looking at how your current
brainstorming processes and the
resulting content have worked for
specific audits.
• Identifying which audit team member(s)
use the final risk factors generated for
audit plan development.
• Examining how the experience level of
your audit staff has impacted
brainstorming efforts.
• Reviewing what fraud-focused
specialists are available to these
sessions, as well as efforts to
incorporate personnel with specialized
skills, like IT staff.
• Evaluating unique experiences with
current client business risks, formal risk
assessment processes, and mitigating
controls that fit the concurrent
brainstorming model for both fraud
susceptibility and material
misstatements.
• Assessing how brainstorming ideas
might impact audit budget
modifications.
• Analyzing how the logistics of the audit
team is best suited for coordination and
communication with the lead auditor
given multi-location problems.
• Deciding who makes the final
assessment of the risks identified for
material misstatements and fraud
223
Proceedings of the 2008 IEMS Conference
susceptibility that were generated by the
audit team.
5. Conclusion
Auditors no longer have a choice on whether
or not to employ brainstorming techniques. The
ASB’s recent guidance under SAS No. 99 and
SAS No. 109 encourages control testing and an
in-depth understanding of the client
environment. If carefully planned and
facilitated, concurrent brainstorming sessions
for both standards can do much more than
occupy auditors’ time, as was feared by a
number of accountants with the initiation of this
approach. In fact, the effective use of
brainstorming basics and consideration of a
synectic model can improve the continuous
communication and risk assessment processes of
the audit and the linkage of audit procedures
with relevant assertions.
6. References
[1] Auditing Standards Board. Statement on Auditing
Standard No. 99, Consideration of Fraud in a
Financial Statement Audit, 2002.
[2] Auditing Standards Board. Statement on Auditing
Standard No. 109, Understanding the Entity and Its
Environment and Assessing the Risks of Material
Misstatements, 2006.
[3] Beasley, M. S. and J. G. Jenkins. “A Primer for
Brainstorming Fraud Risks,” Journal of Accountancy,
2003, 196 (6), pp. 32-38.
[4] J. L. Bellovary and K. M. Johnstone, “Descriptive
Evidence from Audit Practice on SAS No. 99
Brainstorming Activities,” Current Issues in
Auditing, 2007, Vol. 1, pp. A1-A11.
[5] J. Carney. “Risk Assessment Standards in
Action,” Journal of Accountancy, 2008, 205 (1), pp.
41-47.
[6] T. Carpenter. “Audit Team Brainstorming, Fraud
Risk Identification, and Fraud Risk Assessment:
Implications of SAS No. 99,” Accounting Review,
2007, 82 (5), pp. 1119-1140.
[7] M. T. H. Chi, R. Glaser, and E. Rees. “Expertise
in Problem Solving,” In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances
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in the Psychology of Human Intelligence (Vol. 1, pp. Research and Empirical AI (pp. 191-203). New
7-76), Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1982. York: Springer Verlag, 1992.

[8] Gordon, W. J. J., Synectics, New York: Harper & [13] J. F. Voss, T. R. Greene, T. Post, and B. C.
Row, 1961. Penner, “Problem Solving Skill in the Social
Sciences,” In G. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of
[9] A. A. Hayes, “Sneaking a Peek: How the New Learning and Motivation, pp. 165-213. New York:
Auditing Standards on Risk Assessment May Affect Academic Press, 1983.
Fraud Huddles.” The Journal of Government
Financial Management, 2006, 55 (3), pp. 68-70. [14] R. E. Wortmann and A. Henry, “Don’t Get Stuck
Behind the Eight Ball: Master New Auditing
[10] A. Lesgold, H. Rubinson, P. Feltovich, R. Standards Now,” Pennsylvania CPA Journal, 2007,
Glaser, D. Klopfer, and Y.Wang, “Expertise in 77 (4), pp. 28-35.
Complex Skill: Diagnosing X-Ray Pictures,” In
M.T.H. Chi, R. Glaser, M.J. Farr (Eds.), The Nature Authors
of Expertise (pp. 311 – 342), Hillsdale, N.J.:
Erlbaum, 1988. LuAnn Bean, Ph.D., CPA, CIA, CFE, FCPA, is
Professor of Accounting at Florida Institute of
[11] R. J. Sternberg, “Costs of Expertise,” In K. A.
Technology in Melbourne, Florida.
Ericsson (Ed.), The Road To Excellence: The
Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and
Jeffrey Manzi, Ph.D., CFA, is Vice President of
Sciences, Sports, and Games (pp. 347 – 354),
Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1996.
Securities and Insurance for Kaplan Financial
Education in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
[12] R. J. Sternberg and P. A. Frensch, “On Being an
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224
 INDEX
Author Page Author Page

Ahmad, Ali 117 Desai, Yogeeta 61

Design Interactive, Inc. North Carolina A&T State University
Ahmad, Raheel 191 Doswell, J. 99
University of Southern Mississippi Morgan State University
Alexander, Suraj 1, 10 Drake, Dominique 160
University of Louisville Florida A&M University
Ali, Dia 191 Elam, M.E. 65
University of Southern Mississippi The University of Alabama
Ali, Tarig 70 Ferguson, Michael 215
University of Central Florida University of North Florida
Allen, Steve 20 Finley-Hervey, Joycelyn 204
Truman State University Florida A&M University
Al-Saleem, Saleh 85 Fonseca, Daniel 65
Banha University The University of Alabama
Amiri, Shahram 25 Galal, Ashraf 104
Stetson University Qatar University
Ansuj, Angela 131 Gapinski, Andrzej 80
Federal University of Santa Maria Penn State University
Arbogast, Gordon 31 Greene, C.M. 65
Jacksonville University The University of Alabama
Archer, Sandra 209 Hargrove, S. Keith 99
University of Central Florida Morgan State University
Armacost, Robert 209 Hassan, Hassan 85
University of Central Florida Banha University
Ateme-Nguema, Barthelemy 59 Hernandez, Ed 182
University of Quebec California State University, Stanislaus
Bean, LuAnn 220 Hurst, Tim 75
Florida Institute of Technology S. Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co.
Bell, Michael 37 Ihezie, Deborah 99
NASA Morgan State University
Bourgeois, Brian 41 Jajpuria, Shalini 1
Naval Research Laboratory University of Louisville
Brandon, Donald 41 Janjirala, Praveen 10
Naval Research Laboratory University of Louisville
Brown-LaVeist, C. 99 Jiang, Xiaochun 90
Morgan State University North Carolina A&T State University
Brumback, Terry 65 Johnston, Dana 147
The University of Alabama University of Central Florida
Burbridge, Jr., John 47 Karsak, Banu 194
Elon University Galatasaray University
Carstens, Deborah 54 Keeton, LaShaveria 153
Florida Institute of Technology Florida A&M University
Chaney, Sade 173 Koehler, Jerry 95
Florida A&M University University of South Florida
Combs, Alicia 147 Ksor, Jonathan 137
University of Central Florida Mercer University
Crenshaw, John 75 Lee, Kendra 153
S. Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. Florida A&M University
Dao, Thien-My 59 Manzi, Jeff 220
University of Quebec Kaplan Financial Education
Davis, Tiffani 173 Marin, Mario 142
Florida A&M University University of Central Florida
Demattos, Policarpo 61 Mohamed, Tamer 104
North Carolina A&T State University British University in Egypt
 INDEX
Author Page Author Page

Morris, Ashley 41 Sala-Diakanda, Serge 142

Naval Research Laboratory University of Central Florida
Mullen, Robert 111, 114 Schonning, Alexandra 215
Southern Connecticut State University University of North Florida
Nahmens, Isabelina 117 Schulz, Jacob 75
Louisiana State University Texas A&M University
Ochi, Simeon 215 Sepulveda, Jose 142
Goodrich Corporation University of Central Florida
Omachonu, Vincent 37 Somani, Imshaan 125
University of Miami Mercer University
Page, Robert 182 Songmene, Victor 59
Southern Connecticut State University University of Quebec
Park, Eui 61, 90 Suarez-Brown, Tiki 153, 204
North Carolina A&T State University Florida A&M University
Parkhurst, Jesse 215 Sutterfield, J.S. 160, 173
University of North Florida Florida A&M University
Pet-Armacost, Julia 209 Thompson, Forrest 204
University of Central Florida Florida A&M University
Petrosky, Al 182 Tucker, Eric 147
California State University, Stanislaus University of Central Florida
Petrova-Bolli, Mihaela 147 Vo, Ha Van 125, 137
University of Central Florida Mercer University
Philippe, Thomas 95 Walton, Carsolina 153
University of Houston, Clear Lake Florida A&M University
Price, David 156 Watson, Gerald 90
Washburn University North Carolina A&T State University
Rabelo, Luis 142 Williams, Kaylene 182
University of Central Florida California State University, Stanislaus
Radharamanan, Ramachandran 125, 131, 137 Williams, Kent 142
Mercer University University of Central Florida
Rahimi, Shahram 191 Yilmaz, Elgiz 194
University of Southern Mississippi Galatasaray University
Rice, BaaSheba 90 Yousef, Nabeel 70
North Carolina A&T State University University of Central Florida
Rich, Coleman 47 Zhan, Wei 75
Elon University Texas A&M University
Robinson, Federica 142
University of Central Florida
Rockfield, Stephanie 54
Florida Institute of Technology

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