Abdallah Fawaz Al Dwairi

Coffee is one of the drinks that are consumed worldwide. The global coffee beans industry is currently facing several challenges, including The COVID19 pandemic’s long-term effects on their supply chains (SCs), adverse weather conditions affecting major coffee-producing regions, escalating price dynamics, and the increased in transportation costs. Jordan significantly relies on coffee imports, a critical agricultural product that constitutes an important part of local trade. Due to the lack of previous studies, the research aims to evaluate the current SC and improve Jordan’s coffee SC performance by reducing lead time and shipping cost. The research first uses the combined Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and The Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method to rank the supplier and choose the best suppliers based on established criteria. Then, the research proposes an analysis with the goal of enhancing the efficiency of Jordan’s coffee SC by applying Discrete Event Simulation (DES). Real company data is utilized to study, apply and evaluate the methodology used. The decision-making process employ decision makers and expert opinion input, providing a comprehensive and balanced evaluation of suppliers. Different scenarios are evaluated and compared based on the integrations of the FMCDM results in the simulation model. The findings identify the best and least favorable suppliers, highlighting Ethiopia’s leadership in several indicators. The outcomes suggest reducing lead time and shipping costs, investing in technology, and establishing a culture of continuous improvement to improve efficiency, stability, and adapt to market conditions. The research provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the coffee SC and suggests opportunities for development. Finally, recommendations to improve the current coffee SC in Jordan and directions for future research are discussed.

Purpose: This study aims to validate the use of ProAnalyst (Xcitex Inc.), a software for professional motion analysts to assess the performance of surgical interns while performing the peg transfer task in a simulator box for safe practice in real minimally invasive surgery.Methods: A correlation study was conducted in a multidisciplinary skills simulation lab at the Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology from October 2019 to February 2020. Forty-one interns (i.e., novices and intermediates) were recruited and an expert surgeon participated as a reference benchmark. Videos of participants’ performance were analyzed through the ProAnalyst and Global Operative Assessment of Laparoscopic Skills (GOALS). Two results were s analyzed for correlation.Results: The motion analysis scores by Proanalyst were correlated with those by GOALS for novices (r=–0.62925, P=0.009), and Intermediates (r= –0.53422, P=0.033). Both assessment methods differentiated the participants’ performance based on their experience level.Conclusion: The motion analysis scoring method with Proanalyst provides an objective, time-efficient, and reproducible assessment of interns’ performance, and comparable to GOALS. It may require initial training and set-up; however, it eliminates the need for expert surgeon judgment.

The paper presents a methodology that integrates Quality-Function Deployment (QFD) and the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) used for generating innovative solutions to design problems. It proposes a modified analytical House of Quality (HoQ) to reveal and prioritize contradictions between design parameters and between customer requirements. The proposed methodology extends the traditional HoQ and eliminates the need for the TRIZ’s Function Analysis (FA) procedure. Function Analysis involves identifying the functions of a product or process elements and trying to find contradictions between the system elements. The usability of the proposed method is illustrated through the redesign of an assembly workshop to overcome major problems addressed by the various stakeholders of the process. The new design of the assembly workshop helps reduce the number of work stages from 3 to 1, reduce the number of workers from 4 to 2, decrease rework, decrease the percentage of damaged products, enhance workplace ergonomics and improve the overall system efficiency.

Musculoskeletal disorders and the stagnation of sitting are among the side effects of excessive sitting in awkward sitting positions. In this study, a developed chair attachment cushion design with an optimal air blowing technique is proposed to eliminate the negative side effects of prolonged sitting. Instantaneously reducing the contact area between the chair and its occupant is the fundamental goal of the proposed design. The fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approaches represented by FAHP and FTOPSIS were integrated to evaluate and select the optimal proposed design. An ergonomic and biomechanics assessment of the occupant’s seating position while employing the novel safety cushion design was validated using simulation software (CATIA). Sensitivity analysis was also used to confirm the design’s robustness. Results show that the manual blowing system using an accordion blower was the optimal design concept based on the selected evaluation criteria. In fact, the proposed design provides an acceptable RULA index value for the examined sitting postures and performed very safely in the biomechanics single action analysis.

Planar drag-link mechanism is a Grashofian four-bar chain with the shortest link fixed. In practice, the mechanism is used as a coupling between two shafts to convert uniform rotation of the driving shaft into a nonuniform rotation of the driven shaft. The nonuniformity in rotation is characterized by a cyclically increasing and decreasing delay (or advance) in the displacement of the driven shaft relative to that of the driving shaft. Drag-link synthesis problems include synthesizing the mechanism to generate a specified maximum delay. In a drag-link mechanism, the longer links make a full rotation about fixed pivots, which results in a relatively large installation space. This calls for designing drag-link mechanisms with a focus on space occupation, along with the traditional criteria of quality of motion transmission. Using position analysis, we investigate the relationships among mechanism space occupation, extreme transmission angle, and the generated maximum delay. Space occupation is represented by the link-length ratio of input link to fixed link. Given a desired maximum delay, the proposed approach suggests finding a unique extreme transmission angle value for which this link-length ratio is at a minimum. A closed-form solution to drag-link synthesis to generate a specified maximum delay is developed based on a compromise between quality of motion transmission and space occupation. For any drag-link designed by this compromise, the coupler link and the output crank are of the same length. Based on the obtained design equations, a graphical design solution and a method for evaluating space occupation are provided.