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Complex products, such as aircrafts and ships, are assembled from many parts and there are many available assembly sequences. Selecting the best from the available assembly sequences is challenging because of many factors, such as assembly performance, assemblability, assembly cost, assembly quality and assembly time. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a new and efficient algorithm aimed at this goal.

A new and efficient algorithm evaluating assembly sequences based on multi‐objective harmonious colony‐decision method is presented. This algorithm mainly includes three key steps: first, presenting the priority relationship between assembly sequences and the coefficient matrix for these objectives: assembly performance, assemblability, assembly cost, assembly quality, assembly time, and so on by several experts; second, calculating the maximum of harmonious values and harmonious priority value; third, if the maximum of harmonious priority value is not negative, the algorithm ends. Then the priority relationships of assembly sequences are obtained and the optimal assembly sequence can be selected.

This algorithm can efficiently support several experts to evaluate assembly sequences according to plenty of evaluation objectives and then to output a harmonious and recognized priority relationship of assembly sequences.

The algorithm is applied successfully to evaluate assembly sequences and select the optimal assembly sequence for component of aircraft's wing with fixtures.

This algorithm provides a new method to synthetically evaluate assembly sequences for complex product according to multi‐objectives.

Assembly variations, which will propagate along the assembly process, are inevitable and difficult to analyze in Aeronautical Thin‐Walled Structures (ATWS) assembly. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for analyzing the variation propagation of ATWS with automated riveting.

The paper addresses the variation propagation model and method by first, forming a novel Stage‐State model to represent the process of automated riveting. Second, the effect of positioning error on assembly variation is defined as propagation variation (PV), and propagation matrix of key characteristic points (KCP) is discussed. Third, the effect between the variations in each stage is defined as expansion variation (EV). According to the analysis of mismatch error and the reference transformation, the expansion matrix is formed.

The model can solve the variation propagation problem of ATWS with automated riveting efficiently, which is shown as an example of this paper.

The variation obtained by the model and method presented in this paper is in conformity with the variation measured in experiments.

The propagation variation and expansion variation is proposed for the first time, and variations are studied according to novel propagation matrix and expansion matrix.

An appropriate fixture layout can decrease the assembly variation of Aeronautical Thin‐Walled Structure (ATWS) substantially. The purpose of this paper is to develop a fixture layout method to minimize variation.

The paper uses genetic algorithm and ants algorithm (GAAA) to optimize the fixture layout by first, analyzing the “N‐2‐1” positioning principle of ATWS riveting, and then developing a hierarchical fixture layout model to represent the base points and locating points of ATWS. Second, information of base points and locating points is coded as gene and chromosome, according to a special coding rule and the fixture layout model. The fitness is also defined by the assembly variation of key characteristic points (KCPs). Third, the genetic and ants manipulations are discussed individually, and the two parts are connected by threshold value of the probability for chromosome in the genetic manipulation.

The method can solve the fixture layout problem of ATWS with automated riveting efficiently, which is shown as an example in this paper.

The assembly variation is decreased by using the method presented in this paper according to the variation comparison.

The hierarchical fixture layout model is proposed for the first time in this paper and base points and locating points are optimized successfully by the GAAA.

The Bed and Breakfast (B&B) enterprises generally lack sufficient human resources and time to conduct research on important social media marketing factors for visitors’ satisfaction and visitors’ intentions. Therefore, this study aims to provide crucial social media marketing and factors and service quality elements for improving customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in B&B sectors. This study also provides some recommendations for attracting more visitors and increasing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through social media.

First, social media marketing factors and service quality elements were identified through the systematic literature review. Then these identified factors and elements were used to design a survey questionnaire for collecting data. The research data included responses of 64 B&B enterprises and 625 customers. The collected data was analyzed by feature selection approaches including Decision Tree algorithm and Information Gain to identify the key factors for improving customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

The findings of this study determined that featured choice is an important social media marketing factor, and assurance is the common service quality element for both B&B enterprises and their customers in terms of satisfaction and loyalty.

This study adds a value to the growing literature on customer satisfaction and loyalty in B&B sectors by exploring key social media marketing factors and service quality elements. The study reveals several implications for theories and practices. The findings hopefully help B&B enterprises better social media marketing with less workforce and budget.

This study aims to examine the mediating and moderating processes that link airline brand image to passenger loyalty through perceived value.

The research participants were Taiwanese passengers with experience travelling abroad by air. Structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis were used to investigate the effect of airline brand image and perceived value on the loyalty of passengers using full-service and low-cost carriers.

For both airline types, airline brand image had a significant and positive effect on passenger perceived value. Perceived value had a significant and positive effect on passenger loyalty, perceived value was a crucial mediator and airline type was not a key moderator in the model.

In this study, focusing on the perspective of Taiwanese passengers, a conceptual model of the factors that lead to passenger loyalty, with a focus on brand image, was developed. This paper contributes to the literature and application field by examining the mediating effect of perceived value and the moderating role of airline type in the aviation industry; on the basis of the results, potential recovery strategies for airlines in the post-COVID-19 era are provided.

本研究檢驗透過知覺價值將航空公司品牌形象與乘客忠誠度連結起來的中介和調節過程。

受訪者是曾經有搭乘飛機出國旅行經驗的台灣乘客。本研究採用結構方程模式和多群組分析進行驗證, 分別從搭乘全服務型航空與低成本航空的乘客探討航空公司品牌形象和知覺價值對乘客忠誠行為的影響。

不論是就全服務型航空或低成本航空而言, 航空公司品牌形象對乘客知覺價值都具有顯著的正向影響, 知覺價值對乘客忠誠行為同樣具有顯著的正向影響; 知覺價值是一個重要的中介變數, 而航空公司類型不是關鍵的調節變數。

在這項以台灣乘客的視角為重點的研究中, 開發了一個以品牌形象為重點的導致乘客忠誠度因素的概念模型。本研究通過檢驗知覺價值的中介作用和航空公司類型在航空業中的調節作用, 為文獻和應用領域做出了貢獻; 最後根據研究結果, 提供後疫情時代航空公司的潛在恢復策略。

este estudio examinó los procesos de mediación y moderación que vinculan la imagen de marca de la aerolínea con la lealtad de los pasajeros a través del valor percibido.

los participantes de la investigación eran pasajeros taiwaneses con experiencia en viajes al extranjero por vía aérea. Se emplearon modelos de ecuaciones estructurales y análisis multigrupo para investigar el efecto de la imagen de marca de la aerolínea y el valor percibido en la lealtad de los pasajeros que utilizan líneas aéreas de servicio completo y de bajo costo.

para ambos tipos de aerolíneas, la imagen de marca de la aerolínea tuvo un efecto significativo y positivo en el valor percibido por los pasajeros. El valor percibido tuvo un efecto significativo y positivo en la lealtad de los pasajeros, el valor percibido fue un mediador crucial y el tipo de aerolínea no fue un moderador clave en el modelo.

En este estudio centrado en la perspectiva de los pasajeros taiwaneses, se desarrolló un modelo conceptual de los factores que conducen a la lealtad de los pasajeros, con un enfoque en la imagen de marca. Este documento contribuye al campo de la literatura y la aplicación al examinar el efecto mediador del valor percibido y el papel moderador del tipo de aerolínea en la industria de la aviación; Sobre la base de los resultados, se proporcionan posibles estrategias de recuperación para las aerolíneas en la era posterior a la COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the hotel selection problem of airlines for their hotel and airline alliance (HAA) to develop potential customers of airlines. This paper will propose a hybrid mathematics evaluation model to help airline to select an optimal hotel with both qualitative and quantitative criteria.

To solve the hotel selection problem of airlines for their HAA, this paper focuses on the implementation of the NGT, Fuzzy TOPSIS and MCGP models in the hotel selection process. Initially, the NGT was used to create HAA decision-making criteria based on the literature review and expert opinions, and it was found that scale and scope possibility, brand value, tourism attraction, operating cost and industrial conditions are the most important criteria. Later, the Fuzzy TOPSIS method was used to obtain the general normalized fuzzy preference and to compute the closeness coefficients of each alternative hotel with respect to each criterion. Third, five tangible constraints were incorporated into the Fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP model to calculate the optimal hotel with LINGO software.

Airline managers can use the proposed model to form a clear view of how to choose the most suitable hotel to cooperate with to outperform their competitors. Having access to this information allows airline managers to take steps to perform better and improve the performance of the partnership, helping them to gain more confidence in their decision-making capabilities while reducing investment risks.

This is the first paper that has adopted Fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP to select hotel for their HAA from the airline’s point of view. The major contributions of this study are as follows: an efficient and simple evaluation framework is proposed for handling vagueness and uncertainty in real-world hotel selection problems; the advancement of treating uncertainty in the MCDM process; the fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP method is extended for such problems, taking into account tangible and intangible criteria; airline managers can now make decisions in choosing to select the best hotel for their HAA that meets the airline's business goals and passenger demands; hotel operators are flexible in selecting their airline partnership, thus creating greater profit for both parties.

饭店和航空公司之间横向联盟的选择模型：NGT, fuzzy TOPSIS和MCGP方法的综合应用

本文的主要目的是在协助驾驶评估酒店选择的问题, 并通过由酒店与航空公司的合作联盟HAA, 开发整合的潜在客户。评估模型, 以帮助航空公司选择同时满足定性和定量标准的最佳酒店。

这些研究集中在规模和范围的可能性, 品牌价值, 旅游吸引上力, 运营成本和产业条件上。第二个步骤是日期近似近似最佳解排序技术（fuzzy TOPSIS）计算每家替代酒店与理想解决方案的接近度系数。规划方法（MCGP）选择最佳酒店, 同时选择方法同时考虑酒店的定性和定量标准, 并且从未在酒店选择文献中被采用过。

为了帮助评估评估合适的酒店和建立合作联盟, 因此本文提出了NGT-Fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP模型, 以帮助决策的决策者实现替代的酒店。在此模型中, 决策者通过最后, 在名目人群技术（NGT）确定客观的酒店选择规范, 然后他们可以根据模糊近似最佳解排序技术（TOPSIS）确定标准权重, 并计算模糊的TOPSIS-MCGP模型中, 决策制定者可以使用多选择目标规划（MCGP）, 通过设定每个目标的期望水准寻找最佳酒店。

这是第一篇以航空的角度, 同时采用模糊TOPSIS-MCGP方法选择合适的酒店的论文。本文最主要的贡献是: 1. 提出了一种有效而简单的评估框架, 用于处理现实世界中酒店选择问题中的模糊性和不确定性。2. 在处理MCDM过程中不确定性方面的进展；模糊TOPSIS-MCGP方法针对此类问题进行了扩展, 同时考虑了有形和无形的标准。3. 航空公司经理现在可以做出决定, 选择适合其HAA的最佳酒店, 借以满足航空公司的业务目标以及乘客的需要。4. 酒店运营商可以灵活选择航空公司合作伙伴关系, 从而为双方创造更大的利润。

饭店, 航空公司, 名目人群技术（NGT）, 最佳解排序技术（TOPSIS）, 多选择目标规划（MCGP）, 横向联盟

El modelo de selección Para alianzas horizontales entre hoteles y aerolíneas (Haa): una aplicación integrada de los métodos NGT, fuzzy TOPSIS y MCGP

El objetivo principal de este documento es evaluar el problema de selección de hoteles de las aerolíneas para su HAA (hotel airline alliance) a fin de desarrollar clientes potenciales para las aerolíneas. Este documento propondrá un modelo híbrido de evaluación matemática para ayudar a la aerolínea a seleccionar un hotel óptimo con criterios cualitativos y cuantitativos.

Para resolver el problema de selección de hoteles de las aerolíneas para su HAA, este documento se centra en la implementación de los modelos NGT, Fuzzy TOPSIS y MCGP en el proceso de selección de hoteles. Inicialmente, el NGT se utilizó para crear criterios de toma de decisiones de HAA basados en la revisión de la literatura y las opiniones de expertos, y se descubrió que la escala y la posibilidad de elección, el valor de la marca, la atracción turística, los costes operativos y las condiciones industriales son los criterios más importantes. Posteriormente, se utilizó el método Fuzzy TOPSIS para obtener la preferencia fuzzy general y normalizada y calcular los coeficientes de cercanía de cada hotel alternativo con respecto a cada criterio. En tercer lugar, se incorporaron cinco restricciones tangibles al modelo Fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP para calcular el hotel óptimo con el software LINGO.

Los gerentes de aerolíneas pueden usar el modelo propuesto para tener una visión clara de cómo elegir el hotel más adecuado para colaborar con el fin de superar a sus competidores. Tener acceso a esta información permite a los gerentes de las aerolíneas tomar medidas para gestionar mejor y mejorar el resultado de la alianza, lo que les ayuda a ganar más confianza en su capacidad de toma de decisiones y al mismo tiempo reducir los riesgos de inversión.

Este es el primer documento que adopta el modelo Fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP para seleccionar un hotel para su HAA desde el punto de vista de la aerolínea. Las principales contribuciones de este estudio son las siguientes: 1. Se propone un marco de evaluación eficiente y simple para manejar la imprecisión y la incertidumbre en los problemas de selección de hoteles del mundo real. 2. El avance del tratamiento de la incertidumbre en el proceso MCDM; extiende el método fuzzy TOPSIS-MCGP a tales problemas, teniendo en cuenta criterios tangibles e intangibles. 3. Los gerentes de aerolíneas ahora pueden tomar decisiones al elegir el mejor hotel para su HAA que cumpla con los objetivos comerciales de la aerolínea y las demandas de los pasajeros. 4. Los operadores de hoteles son flexibles en la selección de su asociación de aerolíneas, creando así mayores ganancias para ambas partes.

Hotel, Aerolínea, Técnica de grupo nominal (NGT), Técnica Para el orden de preferencia por similitud a solución real (TOPSIS), Programación de objetivos de opción múltiple (MCGP), Alianza horizontal

Trabajo de investigación

Manufacturing in Mauritius is mostly export-oriented. Any supply chain (SC) failure or resilience deficit may result in cancellation of orders and loss of customers, market share and revenue and reduce capability to compete globally. Addressing this challenge is complex, although digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) models can improve resilience by assisting decision-making and mitigate risks, thus infusing greater predictability across the SC.

Supply chains are facing increasing disruptions and uncertainties owing to extreme weather events, the war in Ukraine, market volatility and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors. Manufacturing industries and their supply chains essentially create thousands of jobs that enable economic growth and sustain export capability. In addition, they need to maintain or increase both productivity and efficiency and recover quickly from unforeseen or unexpected challenges – that is they need to be resilient. Transformation initiatives, whether in production or supply chain management (SCM), are never easy. Process changes not supported by data or hurried human decisions can sometimes have unintended consequences, mainly adverse. However, in times of greater uncertainty (war and pandemic), setbacks can have greater consequences on the business. Manufacturers are already apprehensive and report slowing exports as recession concerns have caused consumers and businesses to pull back on spending. There is therefore a need to reduce uncertainty and augment resilience by unlocking and synthesising insights that emanate from the power of data analytics, AI and machine learning to improve the resilience efficiency balance.

This chapter will discuss the opportunities arising from the adoption and implementation of digital technologies and AI in SCM, leading to better value creation, less greenhouse gas emissions and resilience. The hurdles that enterprises are facing to integrate AI in their logistics and SCs will also be highlighted. This work comments on initiatives that uphold the objectives of SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 – industry, innovation & infrastructure and SDG 13 – climate action.

Learning objectives of this case is to understand the hairdressing industry and develop the sub-branding strategy. After reading this case and practicing in class, students should be able to understand this business and marketing terminology and apply them in the real world. Students will learn the branding strategies: brand extension, brand architecture and brand portfolio. Students will design (DS) the brand name for the new store.

Case synopsis Mr. Tai-Hua Teng (aka TR) was a hair artist and opened his first hair salon, vis-à-vis (VS), in 1989 using a high-end positioning strategy. VS focused on offering superb and diverse services to keep ahead of the competition rather than trying to undercut prices. VS hair salon had a solid foundation based mainly on the elite, celebrities and high-salary customers. In 2017, TR owned 16 stores (including one in Canada and two intern salons), 1 academy, 265 employees and 3 brand names. The three brand names were VS, DS and concept (CC). DS and CC were less known to the public, so now these two brands had been carried the parent name and were known as VS DS and VS CC. Quick cut hairdressing businesses were thriving because customers needed quick and cheap hairdressing services. Acknowledging the benefits of entering the highly competitive quick haircut market, TR began to contemplate the new brand name and services to offer. VS had adopted the brand house strategy but TR wondered if it was better to have an individual brand name when entering the quick haircut market. The sub-branding strategy carried the established quality assurance of VS but there was possible brand overlap. An individual new brand name might lack the well-established values from VS but it also showed the potential to reach different segments of customers. TR’s decision to make: a branded house or hybrid? This case showed a high-end hair salon facing the need for simplicity in the market and considered how to expand its business to the lower-end market. Keywords: hairdressing, brand extension and sub-branding strategy.

Level of difficulty: easy/middle level to undergraduate courses specific prerequisites: it is not necessary for students to prepare or read any marketing theory or chapters of the textbook. However, it would help a more in-depth discussion if students know the CCs of brand architecture, brand portfolio, brand extension and line extension.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This paper aims to present a design methodology to enable product design for ease of assembly. It is corroborated by means of a case study. The methodology is based on standard time data. This enables quick computation of assembly time as well as comparing different design options for ease of assembly.

Component design that is easy to assemble is likely to take less time and vice versa. Assembly time is a function of product design attributes such as geometric shape, weight, center of gravity, type of material, number of fasteners and types of fasteners. The methodology uses standard data to achieve its objective. Numeric scores are developed for each design feature based on the aforementioned design attributes. This enables not only computation of assembly time for a brand new product but also comparison of two or more alternative design configurations from the point of view of ease of assembly.

The value of the system is corroborated by means of case studies of actual product designs. It is demonstrated that changing any of the underlying design attributes (such as type of fastener used, number of fasteners used, material of the component and component shape) is likely to result in changing the amount of time taken to assemble the product. The scoring system facilitates the quick computation of assembly time

The amount of time to assemble a product before the product is ever designed is facilitated by this system. Assembly time is a direct function of product design attributes. Process time is calculated using standard data, specifically, the Methods Time Measurement (MTM) system. This is accomplished by converting design features into time measurement units (TMUs). Assembly cost can then be easily computed by using assembly time as the basis. The computation of assembly time and cost is important inasmuch as its role in influencing productivity. This is of obvious value not only to the designer but the company as a whole.