Journal of Systems Thinking in Practice
Volume:2 Issue: 3, Oct 2023

This study addresses simulating manufacturing processes and maintenance activities in a multi-product industry to model the complexity of interactions between maintenance strategies and their effects on a manufacturing system. A novel simulation model has been developed using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to investigate interactions between manufacturing and maintenance systems. A real two-product manufacturing line in an automotive factory was studied to demonstrate the proposed model's efficacy. Two significant challenges were considering Preventative Maintenance (PM) as imperfect PM activities and estimating unknown probability distribution in a real industry. These are new assumptions that generally have not been considered in the prior studies. To overcome these problems, imperfect maintenance activities are defined as different scenarios and unknown probability distributions are estimated based on historical records in the case study. A simulation-based optimization method was developed using OptQuest, and the results of the proposed method were then compared with the current values in the case study. The findings illustrate that the proposed model can reduce the system's manufacturing and maintenance costs by 13%. In addition, the implementation of maintenance planning in this research improved some factors in the manufacturing system efficiently.

Nowadays, the increase in waste generated by citizens and its consequences, including environmental pollution, human and animal health endangerment, and depletion of natural resources, have become fundamental issues and challenges in Isfahan. The research proposes a comprehensive and systemic model to offer effective solutions for reducing waste volume by applying a system dynamics approach within Isfahan. In order to achieve this objective, the study first identified and localized the influencing factors on waste generation within the city by reviewing pertinent literature and research background, as well as consulting experts and officials from Isfahan. Subsequently, the relationships between these factors were delineated using insights from 32 experts and officials from Isfahan, who were selected through a snowball sampling. A causal loop diagram was constructed based on the identified relationships among factors affecting waste generation. Moreover, a stock-and-flow diagram was developed based on information extracted from municipal records of the identified variables' quantities and values. The results of this study demonstrate the significance of investing in waste collection equipment and advertising to raise citizens' awareness and reduce waste production in Isfahan. These efforts play a crucial role in decreasing the overall volume of urban waste. Moreover, they contribute to the saving and sustainability of resources while enhancing the city's beauty, ultimately attracting more tourists.

The pressure on Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to focus on Green Information Technology (GIT) has recently increased. However, many organizations still need to manage their environmental efforts due to a lack of strategic planning. This study aims to design a fuzzy expert system to suggest a proper GIT strategy for organizations, considering qualitative, obscure, and fuzzy factors. The study employs questionnaires distributed to experts to evaluate the factors that impact the level of GIT maturity using fuzzy logic. Based on the results obtained, a fuzzy expert system is designed to suggest a proper GIT strategy. The proposed expert system has been used at Alzahra University as a case study for selecting GIT strategies and activities. The findings suggest that Alzahra University should adopt a primary-level GIT strategy involving a three-year process of implementation, which includes actions such as removing old monitors, developing a green supply chain, reengineering organizational processes, disposing of useless ICT equipment in a green manner, and adopting green marketing practices. The fuzzy expert system designed in this study can help organizations adopt appropriate GIT strategies.

The mission of power companies is to provide standard and reliable electricity to their customers, and one of the threats of not fulfilling this mission is breakdowns and accidents in the electricity network equipment. The System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) is a critical indicator in the power distribution industry to determine network reliability; Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and root cause analysis (RCA) of failures and applying the results of these two in two dimensions of network maintenance and design, are two effective measures in reducing SAIDI. This paper presents a model for the system and structure that creates SAIDI behavior, which can be simulated to achieve appropriate policies to determine the level of use of RCM and RCA and, thus, the optimal value to reduce the index value. The System simulation method has been used to simulate system behavior. After designing and simulating the cyclic causal model, various scenarios for determining RCM and RCA policies are proposed and reviewed, and the results are presented. The criterion for selecting the appropriate scenario in this article is to reduce the SAIDI index's value further. Based on the research findings, the policies selected have a suitable reducing effect on SAIDI. The model's validity was evaluated through behavior replication testing, extreme condition assessment, and sensitivity analysis. Since the organization's vision in 2026 is to reduce SAIDI to 14 minutes per year, the impact of RCM and RCA policies in different scenarios on the model variables was evaluated. The results showed that if the existing policies are not changed, the process of SAIDI changes will increase. Changing the system approach from non-implementation to implementing RCM and RCA under optimal conditions will decrease SAIDI from 26.73 minutes at the beginning of 2020 to 41.34 minutes by the end of 2026

This study aims to identify and prioritize the influential variables in the marketing tactics used by Bank Melli Iran. Key elements impacting Bank Melli Iran's marketing strategies have been employed to identify the system's various components and sub-components. Then, in order to adapt these factors to the situation of the studied bank, the opinions and collective agreement of the experts of the studied bank, in the form of a 15-member decision team, were taken on the influential factors in the studied bank. In the next step, the weight of each component and subcomponent was determined using the group-fuzzy hierarchical analysis process and experts' participation. Following this step, the decision team of the National Bank of the Khorasan Razavi Province filled out the present situation appraisal questionnaire. This research analyzed a comprehensive set of 5 components and 22 subcomponents. By assessing the weight of these aspects and quantifying their deviation from the planned condition, the balanced gap was calculated to establish the priority for improvement. Based on the results, the subcomponents of sales meetings, television marketing, and the press and media were identified as the top three factors. Therefore, it shows that the bank has a good capability in these sub-components, and suitable infrastructures are also available. Also, fourteen sub-components of awareness in the stadium, catalogs, films and tapes, written and verbal advertisements, placing advertisements on buses, specialized magazines and brochures and booklets, doing charity work, presenting services in person, selling with catalogs, contests and entertainment, low-interest credits, prizes and gifts, business negotiations, raffles, and annual reports are of low importance or at a favorable level of the status quo.

Despite the many studies conducted in knowledge management and experience management, providing a model in knowledge management of customer experience is an issue that needs to be addressed. The paper was conducted with two 1. Providing a model of customer experience knowledge management and 2. its effectiveness evaluation in the Fintech ecosystem from the experts’ perspective. The research is a descriptive and analytic survey type. The research method is Grounded Theory. In order to achieve the first purpose, 48 articles were selected, studied, and opinionated by purposefully sampling people. After reading and analyzing articles, customer knowledge experience concepts were extracted and categorized based on the phenomena, context, cause, intervention, strategy, and consequence. Then, the relationship between the concepts was designed as a model. Based on those propositions, the customer knowledge experience management model was provided, and the fitting test was tested and approved. In order to achieve the second purpose, a questionnaire was designed based on four components, including 1- Understanding the importance of customer experience knowledge management, 2- the role of tacit knowledge in customer experience, 3- the effectiveness of customer experience knowledge, and 4- Applying knowledge of customer experience. The results showed that from the point of view of experts, the effectiveness of customer experience knowledge management in the Fintech ecosystem leads to improving marketing performance, better management of products and services, and increased customer satisfaction.