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In modern industrial processes, the need of reducing lead time is imperious. This goal is pursued by “Holonic” structures, which are systems based on a network of collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to appraise the possible benefits, in terms of production duration, of such organizations compared to non-holonic arrangements. In addition, this analysis represents virtual teams, which are a significant and strategic attribute of holonic manufacturing systems.

The experiment performed in this paper is a simulation of an automobile assembly process under both a holonic and a non-holonic structure to observe lead times and the distinctive characteristics of each organization. Other targets of this research are to monitor the advantages that either strategy may offer in terms of efficiency and to examine a possible model of how virtual teams can be used in holonic networks.

The findings are unexpected. An initial expectation might lead to the belief that, given the better coordination and communication of holonic networks, lead times would be diminished. This experiment, utilizing virtual teams of university students, indicated otherwise.

It should be noticed, however, that future experiments in real manufacturing assembly processes are recommended to complement the findings of this study.

The management of lead times is indeed a complex task that includes a diversity of variables. Holonic structures should balance several factors that might play a role in lead times and ultimately in the success of a project. An original experiment with the participation of many universities in different countries is presented in this study. The exposure of global characteristics of modern manufacturing structures constitutes the main value of this research.

Merges the latest results obtained by the holonic manufacturing systems (HMS) consortium with the latest developed standards for platform interoperability released by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) to propose a novel e‐business model: the holonic e‐enterprise (HE). The HE extends both the HMS and FIPA models. On one side it extends the holonic manufacturing paradigm with one top level, the inter‐enterprise one. On the other side it extends the multi‐agent system (MAS) paradigm to the hardware (physical machine) level.

This paper addresses the implementation of ISO 9000 international standards in the university environment, and presents examples of developing a quality system based on these standards in a Canadian university department. The application is based on a holonic systems concept, which is first explained. Subsequently, a project plan for the design, documentation, implementation, and maintenance of an academic quality system is presented. Emphasis is placed on the effective structuring of the system, development of a set of product quality indicators accepted by faculty and staff, as well as non‐bureaucratic documentation. The systems concept allows for the integration of the ISO 9001 quality system with other systems, such as the ISO 14001 environmental management system. A university may decide on implementing both of these systems simultaneously, or incorporating one into the existing framework of the other. Positive synergy effects will occur in any case. The integration of such management systems in academia is also discussed.

Paper aim is to analyse and consider the business network contract (BNC) as a model of voluntary holarchy in which the holons are isomorphically linked between them by means managerial chooses and laws to reach a communal and individual survival condition.

The Italian SME manufacturing firms signing a BNC are seen as holonic elements in an adaptive system. Data drawn from the Italian business register are analyzed to understand the driving factors of the firms’ adaptation and survival, by using descriptive, causality and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical techniques.

The main findings of the paper support the holonic approach by demonstrating that BNC are alliances based on strategic relations able to create synergies and increase performance. Empirical results suggest that “internal and external efficiency,” given by knowledge sharing practices and firms’ geographical proximity will positively influence BN firms’ productivity, although without resorting to investments (tangible or intangible).

BNC is an instrument able to introduce common rules and finalized isomorphic behaviors making firms acting as a holon with positive effects on performance.

This work enriches the existing literature by joining the systemic approach with the network theories and providing evidence of the suitability of the “holon” construct as the basis for a multi-level framework for the study of organizational networking.

In this paper, an investigation of the characteristics of computerised maintenance management systems (CMMSs) is carried out to highlight the need for them in industry and identify their current deficiencies. A proposed model provides a decision analysis capability that is often missing in existing CMMSs. The proposed model employs a hybrid of intelligent approaches. This hybrid system is analogous to the Holonic concept. The distinction between these two features is important. The rules function automatically. Practical implications. The main practical implication of this paper is the proposal of an intelligent model that can be linked to CMMSs to add value to data collected in the form of provision of decision support capabilities. A further implication is to identify the need for information to aid maintenance, followed by the provision of reasons for current deficiencies in existing off‐the‐shelf CMMSs.

In the era of industry 4.0, managing the design is a challenging mission. Within a dynamic environment, several disciplines have adopted the complex adaptive system (CAS) perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how we may deepen our understanding of the design process as a CAS. In this respect, the key complexity drivers of the design process are discussed and an organizational decomposition for the simulation of the design process as CAS is conducted.

The proposed methodology comprises three steps. First, the complexity drivers of the design process are presented and are matched with those of CAS. Second, an analysis of over 111 selected papers is presented to choose the appropriate model for the design process from the CAS theory. Third, the paper provides methodological guidelines to develop an organizational decision support system that supports the complexity of the design process.

An analysis of the key drivers of design process complexity shows the need to adopt the CAS theory. In addition to that, a comparative analysis between all the organizational methodologies developed in the literature leads the authors to conclude that agent-oriented Software Process for engineering complex System is the appropriate methodology for simulating the design process. In this respect, a system requirements phase of the decision support system is conducted.

The originality of this paper lies in the fact of analysing the complexity of the design process as a CAS. In doing so, all the richness of the CAS theory can be used to meet the challenges of those already existing in the theory of the design.

Any kind of production flow is obtained not from individual production organizations but from a more or less widespread Production Network of interconnected production modules located in different places and times. All of these modules are, consciously or not, necessarily connected, interacting and cooperating in a coordinated way to combine and arrange, step by step, the factors, materials, components, manpower, machines and equipment to obtain flows of products’ final goods, in particular’ and to sell these where there is a demand for them. The purpose of this paper is to determine, in logical and formal terms, the minimum conditions that bring about the formation of production networks and to discover the laws that explain their dynamics over time.

At the global level, the continuous and accelerated economic progress of mankind is witnessed. There is an increase in the quantity and quality of satisfied and yet to be satisfied needs, of attained and yet to be attained aspirations. The increase in productivity and in quality has become unstoppable and appears to guide the other variables in the system. It is natural to ask who produces and governs these phenomena. It does indeed seem there is a Ghost in the “Production” machine whose invisible hand produces growing levels of productivity and quality, increases the quality and quantity of satisfied needs and aspirations and reduces the burden of work, thus producing increasingly higher levels of progress in the entire economic system. This conceptual framework gives a simple answer: there is nothing metaphysical about this evolution towards unstoppable and irreversible progress, and it is produced by the spontaneous genesis and activity of selfish nodes and governed by the rules and laws of the production networks.

The author has identified ten “rules of selfish behavior” on the part of the nodes, whose application necessarily and inevitably produces three evolutionary dynamic processes “which refer to the network as an entity” which the author has called the “rules of the production networks” to emphasize their cogency: continual expansion, elasticity-resiliency and continual improvement in performance. The cognitive and creative processes that characterize the nodes do not allow us to predict the actual evolution of production networks; nevertheless, if it is assumed that nodes “consciously or not” follow the 10 “rules of selfish behavior”, then several typical trends, or behavioural schema, can be deduced which the author has called as the “laws of networks”, to highlight their apparent inevitability and cogency.

More than any other structure, Production Networks display Holland’s features and Arthur’s properties as their modules, viewed as autonomous entities with cognitive functions, represent a collectivity of agents that interact and exchange information with their environment to maintain over time their internal processes through adaptation, self-preservation, evolution and cognition, making individual and collective decisions as part of a network of micro behaviours.

This new conception of production through production networks, which takes into account the “rules” and “laws” regulating their behaviour, also sheds new light on the development of networks and their natural tendency to become globalized.

Although the concept of a network is becoming more popular in economic and business studies, it is yet to see an interpretation of production as deriving exclusively from the actions of increasingly larger networks. This paper presents an integrated view of production that does not discard the notion that production is carried out by organizations and companies but introduces the broader concept of the integration among organizations, which must be interpreted as nodes of a broader network that produces the flows of all the components needed to obtain the flow of a specific product. This represents an innovative view that will help us in understanding the difficulties policymakers encounter in governing production and controlling the basic variables that characterize it, specifically productivity, quality, quantity, prices and value. This perspective also allows to derive rules and laws for the behaviour of production networks that appear to be cogent and unvarying over time.

Cities evolved into quite complex urban systems. The rigid management process must reflect the complexity of the current political, social, and economic environment. With the vast city growth, citizens experience new difficulties – traffic congestion, pollution, immigration, overcrowding, and inadequate services.

In our research, we analyze problems and benefits that occur with the growing complexity and offer a new concept considering every city as a live and constantly developing complex adaptive system of many participants and actors that operate in an uncertain environment. These actors (residents, businesses, transport, energy, water supply providers, entertainment, and others) are the main elements of city life.

The new concept of “Smart City 5.0” is based on a previously developed model of Smart City 4.0 (compared with Industry 4.0) and implements the Urban Digital Ecosystem, where every element can be represented by a smart agent operating on its behalf. It is shown that smart services can interact vertically and horizontally in the proposed ecosystem, supporting competition and cooperation behavior based on specialized network protocols for balancing the conflicting interests of different city actors.

The chapter describes the design principles and the general architecture of the Urban Digital Ecosystem, including the basic agent of smart service, protocols of the agent’s negotiation, the architecture, and basic principles Smart City knowledge base.

The developed evolutionary methodology of implementation will ensure a minimum of disruptions to city services during its transformation into an urban ecosystem to harmoniously balance all spheres of life and the contradictory interests of different city actors.

Today's volatile condition of the market is forcing the manufacturing organizations to adapt the flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) to meet the challenges imposed by international competition, ever‐changing customer demands, rapid delivery to market, and advancement in technology. There are certain enablers, which help in the implementation of FMS or in the transition process from traditional manufacturing system to FMS. The utmost need is to analyze the behavior of these enablers for their effective utilization in the implementation of FMS. This paper aims to address these issues.

This paper presents a methodology based on graph theoretical approach for finding the feasibility of transition to FMS for any industry. A universal feasibility index of transition (FIT) is proposed that evaluates and ranks different organizations according to their capability to be converted into FMS. This FIT value is obtained from a permanent feasibility function obtained from an enablers' digraph of FMS.

The major finding of this paper is that one can judge whether a particular industry is fit for FMS or not by calculating its FIT value. This FIT value can also be utilized in ranking different industries for their possible transition to FMS.

The FIT obtained from a permanent function indicates the strength of enablers and their inter‐relations. More is the value of this index; more will be suitability of that organization for FMS adoption. In this way, managers can judge that a particular organization is suitable or fit for FMS implementation or not, without making the huge investments for such a complex production system and thus, minimize their risks.

Identification, classification of enablers into some important categories, and their analysis is a unique and innovative effort in the area of FMS.