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This paper presents a circular recycling system for end-of-life tires (ELTs) under extended producer responsibility (EPR) by integrating Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) and Industrial Symbiosis (IS). The system aims for sustainability and circularity in the tire industry, avoiding the detrimental effects of landfilling. It focuses on emission-free recyclers to create IS for ensuring environmental sustainability. Additionally, the system uses a "dynamic pricing strategy" to take-back ELTs from consumers. This paper also presents a "multi-period scenario-based nonlinear mixed integer programming" model to investigate the economic sustainability of the proposed system under uncertainty. Three different evolutionary metaheuristic algorithms, "genetic algorithm (GA)-based simulated annealing", "GA" and a new variant of "particle swarm optimization" are used to obtain the solution of the model. Through a case study, it is found that the proposed system is economically sustainable and has the potential to aid in the successful implementation of EPR in the tire industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of increasing importance of servitisation for the success of automobile organisations, the factors that influence it are not well researched. In this paper, we discuss the important issue of computing service quality of an automobile organisation and put forward a graph theory-based methodology to evaluate the factors affecting the quality in the servitisation practices to propose a critical service quality index (CSQI) to measure the same. The application of the proposed methodology is demonstrated in three Indian automobile organisations. This ensures the validation of the proposed approach and also helps to evolve select key recommendations for improving servitisation quality in the Indian automobile organisation. This research advances the present body of knowledge by making three-fold contributions. First, it delivers an organised methodology for quantification of services on adoption of servitisation in an automobile manufacturer and integrates the results obtained in the form of a critical service quality index. The proposed methodology is equally beneficial for assessment and classification of a set of manufacturers. Second, it demonstrates an application of methodology for three Indian automobile organisations to develop select key recommendations which can be seen as a first attempt in the field of servitisation in the Indian context. Finally, the paper proposes a conceptual framework for addressing servitisation challenges and extends key recommendations for improving competitiveness of an automotive organisation through servitisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the rationale for the lack of growth in the two-wheeler service sector despite an exponential growth in the number of two-wheelers on Indian roads. Design/methodology/approach: The data of a premier manufacturer were gathered to develop a system dynamics model. Policy experimentation was carried out after validating the model. Findings: The results corroborate that a mere increase in the number of facilities is inadequate for sustainable growth. Improving service quality is vital for sustainable growth of the service sector. Practical implications: The system dynamics model unveils facts that otherwise would remain obscured. It is very useful for real-world managers in carrying out policy experimentation to understand the effect of one variable on the other. Managers can design effective policies only through double-loop learning. Originality/value: The complexity of the system increases as the business grows. Managers need to adopt double-loop learning to achieve true growth in capacity, revenue, and the bottom line. The paper demonstrates the essence of double-loop learning in the two-wheeler service sector.

This paper presents a conceptual model that measures the knowledge growth and team-composition impact on the performance of a co-located software project. Inspiration for the development of the conceptual model is obtained from previous literature and focus-group-discussions. The model is validated with the help of the data obtained from two co-located software modules. A set of team-composition scenarios for different team knowledge-processing-abilities and team-seniority ratios are used to evaluate and compare the effect of the proposed model on a co-located team performance. The performance is measured in terms of total costs, extent of faulty-work and rework cost. It has been found that teams comprising of medium level of experience and medium-to-high knowledge-processing-ability provide good compromising solutions with lower total costs, less faulty-work and less cost of rework. The proposed model may act as a decision-support tool to the co-located software project managers during team composition in order to improve performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient, flexible and unvaryingly porous polymer composite membrane based nanogenerator (PPCNG) without any electrical poling treatment has been realised as wireless green energy source to power up smart electronic gadgets. Owing to self-polarized piezo- and ferro-electretic phenomenon of in situ platinum nanoparticles (Pt-NPs) doped porous poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)- membrane, a simple, inexpensive and scalable PPCNG fabrication is highlighted. The molecular orientations of the -CH2/-CF2 dipoles that cause self-polarization phenomenon has been realized by angular dependent near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The squarelike hysteresis loop with giant remnant polarization, Pr~68 µC/cm² and exceptionally high piezoelectric charge coefficient, d33~- 836 pC/N promises a best suited ferro- and piezo-electretic membrane. The PPCNG exhibits a high electrical throughput such as, ranging from 2.7V to 23V of open-circuit voltage (Voc) and 2.9 µA to 24.7 µA of short-circuit current (Isc) under 0.5 MPa to 4.3 MPa of imparted stress amplitude by periodic human finger motion. The harvested mechanical and subsequent electrical energy by PPCNG is shown to transfer wirelessly via visible and infrared transmitter-receiver systems, where 17% and 49% of wireless power transfer efficiency, respectively, has been realized to power up several consumer electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]