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Silk is a natural protein fibre. It is the only natural fibre available in continuous filament form. Earlier research studies on physical structure and mechanical properties of silk have indicated that the physical and chemical architecture varies between different varieties of silk and a substantial variation of these properties was observed within the cocoon. The amino acid composition and even the dyeing behaviour are different in different silk. Silk is considered as a non-thermoplastic fibre and is generally not expected to undergo significant morphological changes as a result of thermal shrinkage like synthetic fibres, viz., polyester and nylon. Needless to mention, silk fibres do undergo several kinds of heat treatments either in dry or wet state in the course of textile processing. Hence, an attempt has been made in this paper to deal with the response of different silk varieties (mulberry and non-mulberry) to thermal inputs. Five varieties of silk, two mulberry (bivoltine and crossbreed) and three non-mulberry (tasar, muga and eri) were subject to thermal treatments using TGA and DTA techniques. It was found that both mulberry and non-mulberry varieties behave differently to thermal inputs. Non-mulberry varieties show lower weight loss of 35-37% at 400oC as compared to about 41- 44% for mulberry varieties. They also exhibit a higher decomposition temperature. Interestingly, an additional transition at around 290°C is clearly observed with all the nonmulberry silks. The DTA results indicate higher stability of non-mulberry silks towards thermal treatments.

Concrete is found to undergo degradation when subjected to elevated temperatures during an accidental event, such as fire and lose substantial amount of its original strength. The loss of strength in concrete is mainly attributed to the decomposition of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) and release of chemically bound water, which begins when the exposure temperature exceeds 500°C. When such a concrete is supplied with water and allowed to recure, it is found to recover substantial amount of its lost strength. This work is carried out to investigate the effect of recuring on strength recovery of un-blended and blended concrete specimen (100 mm cubes) subjected to elevated temperatures from 400°C to 700°C, in steps of 100°C, for a retention period of two hours at the designated temperatures. The concrete cubes immediately after exposure were subjected to thermal shock by quenching them in water, and then temperature of thermally shocked concrete is allowed to cool to room temperature. The cooled specimen were then recured in water for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 56 days and tested for compressive strength recovery. These studies were carried out for Portland Cement (PC) based concrete and Portland & Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (70% PC + 30% GGBS) based concrete (blended concrete), and some interesting results are presented and discussed in this paper.

This study aims to propose and evaluate a simpler technology to reduce harmful emissions from diesel engines by preheating the fuel before injection into the combustion chamber.

A spring-type heater coil with suitable insulation was installed on the high-pressure fuel pipeline to preheat the fuel. Experiments were conducted at a standard injection timing of 23° before top dead center, across 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of full load. The fuel was preheated to 100°C, 160°C and 220°C for each engine load. Engine performance, emissions and thermal balance were analyzed for preheated and unheated diesel.

This study found that preheated fuel improved combustion characteristics, with higher pressure rise and net heat release rates during diffusion combustion. Brake thermal efficiency increased by 8.75% to 10.58%, and brake-specific fuel consumption decreased by up to 9.18%. Emissions significantly dropped: nitrogen oxides by up to 51%, smoke density by up to 63%, carbon monoxide by up to 67% and hydrocarbon by up to 25%. Thermal balance results showed increased useful work and reduced heat losses, particularly at higher preheating temperatures.

This research presents a novel and simpler approach to enhancing diesel engine performance and reducing emissions by preheating the fuel. The findings demonstrate significant improvements in efficiency and substantial reductions in harmful emissions, highlighting the potential of preheated fuel as a viable solution for cleaner diesel engine operation.

The purpose of this work is to gain insights about Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the Indian context by reviewing the related literature for one decade based on various perspectives, such as author profile, year of publication, type of firm, type of methodology used, type of industry for which the research work is carried out and the key findings from the research.

This study reviews the research related to LSS from the articles published in the reputed journals. The literature used for reviewing is derived from the sources, including Science direct, Google scholar, IEEE, Taylor and Francis Group, Emerald Insight, Springer, Inderscience and Elsevier during the period between 2010 and 2021. Totally, the authors have included 141 LSS-related research articles that are published in the Indian context. The keywords used are Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma in the Indian context, Lean Sigma and LSS to identify and consolidate the research papers published during this timeframe.

The research papers collected from various reputed journals, including Scopus and non- Scopus enlisted, are classified and grouped under various categories to identify the class of author who publishes more in this field, research trend over the years, the type of firm which implements LSS, the research methodology which is commonly used in LSS and related research and also the key takeaway from these articles are highlighted. Further, the authors have also identified the major contributions of researchers in various sectors during this period in India.

This classification framework and the systematic review help in identifying the research gap and in giving directions for future researchers. It will be useful for researchers and practitioners working on the area of LSS, rural and urban entrepreneurs, start-up managers, professionals working in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and executives of the Make in India Project to make India as Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Further, the clear direction of progress over the current decade in manufacturing industries, service sectors and processing industries can help the professionals working in these sectors.

India liberalized its economy in 1991, which resulted in intense global competition, quality-conscious and demanding customers. Additionally, significant technological advancements lead to enhancements in products and processes. These forced Indian organizations to adopt innovative business strategies in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, the Lean Six Sigma methodology has significantly grown with vast applicability during the past 30 years. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop the learning on Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context through investigation of literature.

A three-stage systematic literature review approach was adopted to investigate the literature during the present study. In total, 187 articles published in 62 journals/conference proceedings from 2005 to 2022 (18 years) were shortlisted. The first part of the article summarizes the significant milestones towards the quality journey in the Indian context, along with the evolution of the Lean Six Sigma methodology. The second part examines the shortlisted papers on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, their applicability in industrial sectors, performance metrics, outcomes realized, publication trends, authorship patterns and leading researchers from the Indian perspective.

Lean Six Sigma has emerged as a highly acclaimed and structured business improvement strategy worldwide. The Indian economy has seen remarkable growth in the past decade and is one of the fastest-growing economies in the 21st century. Lean Six Sigma implementation in India has significantly increased from 2014 onward. The study revealed that researchers have proposed several different frameworks for Lean Six Sigma implementation, the majority of which are conceptual. Furthermore, the balanced applicability of Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing and service sectors was observed with the highest implementation in the health-care sector. Additionally, the widely adopted tools, techniques along with performance metrics exploring case studies were reported along with a summary of eminent and leading researchers in the Indian context.

This study is confined to reviewed papers as per the research criteria with a significant focus on the Indian context and might have missed some papers due to the adopted papers selection strategy.

The present study is one of the initial attempts to investigate the literature published on Lean Six Sigma in the Indian context, including perspective on the Indian quality movement. Therefore, the present study will provide an understanding of Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context to graduating students in engineering and management and entry-level executives. The analysis and findings on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, research approach, publications details, etc., will be helpful to potential research scholars and academia. Additionally, analysis of case studies on Lean Six Sigma implementation by Indian industries will assist the managers and professionals in decision making.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of agile manufacturing practices on business performance of Indian medium and large-scale manufacturing industry.

A survey questionnaire was designed to attain the research objectives. Agile manufacturing questionnaire was sent to around 500 randomly selected manufacturing organizations in the northern spectrum of India through e-mails and posts, out of which 154 usable responses have been received. This study investigates the inter-relationships between various agile manufacturing implementation practices and business performance measures using various statistical techniques. This paper deploys Games–Howell hoc test to establish the statistical significance of business performance improvements, progressively accrued over a reasonable period of time, through holistic agile manufacturing implementation.

The paper validates the contribution of agile manufacturing toward realization of the significant improvements in various business performance measures such as customer-related achievements, financial achievements, business-related achievements, operational achievements, employee-related achievements, and supplier-related achievements. Further, the discriminant validity test has been used in this paper for classifying highly successful and moderately successful organizations.

The paper only concentrated on manufacturing organizations in northern India. The results of this paper cannot generalize across all the sectors and spectrum of Indian manufacturing organizations.

This paper develops an insight into the strong potential of agile manufacturing implementation practices in affecting business performance measures.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existing literature on agile manufacturing (AM) to pinpoint critical success factors (CSFs) affecting the successful implementation of agile manufacturing systems.

The study focused on empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1991 to 2019 (July). In total, 37 empirical studies were shortlisted for analysis as the reliability and validity of the constructs were critically tested using various statistical methods. Further, “Pareto analysis” tool was employed to sort and arrange the factors critical for smoother and effective implementation of AM, in descending order according to their frequency of occurrence.

The present work scrutinizes 37 research papers, resulting in 33 CSFs that affect AM implementation. Using Pareto analysis, 8 CSFs are regarded as “vital few,” which account for 82.66 percent of occurrence, and the remaining 25 CSFs are regarded as “useful many,” which account for 17.34 percent of occurrence. The managers must focus on successful deployment of “vital few” CSFs, as they are more critical in achieving business excellence through the successful implementation of AM, in comparison to other 25 “useful many” CSFs.

To the best knowledge of authors, this work is the first attempt to employ Pareto analysis for critically analyzing a wide range of AM CSFs studies. The findings of this study will assist researchers and managers in AM implementation in a more smoother and effective way in manufacturing industries.

Workflow optimisation is crucial for establishing a viable acute stroke (AS) intervention programme in a large tertiary care centre. This study aims to utilise Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles to enhance the hospital's workflow.

The Action Research methodology was used to implement the project and develop the case study. The study took place in a large tertiary care academic hospital in India. The Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control approach optimised the workflow within 6 months. Lean tools such as value stream mapping (VSM), waste audits and Gemba were utilised to identify issues involving various stakeholders in the workflow. Sigma-level calculations were used to compare baseline, improvement and sustainment status. Additionally, statistical techniques were effectively employed to draw meaningful inferences.

LSS tools and techniques can be effectively utilised in large tertiary care hospitals to optimise workflow through a structured approach. Sigma ratings of the processes showed substantial improvement, resulting in a five-fold increase in clinical outcomes. Specifically, there was a 43% improvement in outcome for patients who underwent acute stroke revascularisation. However, certain sigma ratings deteriorated during the control and extended control (sustainment) phases. This indicates that ensuring the sustainability of quality control interventions in healthcare is challenging and requires continuous auditing.

The article presents a single case study deployed in a hospital in India. Thus, the generalisation of outcomes has a significant limitation. Also, the study encounters the challenge of not having a parallel control group, which is a common limitation in quality improvement studies in healthcare. Many studies in healthcare quality improvement, including this one, are limited by minimal data on long-term follow-up and the sustainability of achieved results.

This study pioneers the integration of LSS methodologies in a large Indian tertiary care hospital, specifically targeting AS intervention. It represents the first LSS case study applied in the stroke department of any hospital in India. Whilst most case studies discuss only the positive aspects, this article fills a critical gap by unearthing the challenges of applying LSS in a complex healthcare setting, offering insights into sustainable quality improvement and operational efficiency. This case study contributes to the theoretical understanding of LSS in healthcare. It showcases its real-world impact on patient outcomes and process optimisation.

In the past, the insufficiency of the traditional business practices to meet vibrant customer demands in continuously changing business environment has severely affected organizational competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to develop and propose a new framework for smoother and effective implementation of agile manufacturing by identifying and integrating a set of significant agility principles and techniques.

The present work proposed a framework for agile manufacturing by deploying the comparative analysis of 17 frameworks published in peer-reviewed journals.

The proposed conceptual framework constitutes of eight pillars for agile manufacturing implementation. The proposed framework relies on a strong foundation of leadership support. The roof of the proposed framework of agile manufacturing is supported by the pillars constituted of seven elements, an industry must deploy for successfully implementing agile manufacturing, namely, human resource-related issues, organizational culture-related issues, supplier-related issues, customer-related issues, innovation, concurrent engineering and information technology.

This work is the first attempt, in the best knowledge of the authors, to employ comparative analysis for critically analyzing a wide range of agile manufacturing frameworks. The findings of this study will assist researchers and managers in agile manufacturing implementation in more a smoother and effective way in manufacturing industries.