Assembly operation productivity improvement for garment production industry through the integration of lean and work-study, a case study on Bahir Dar textile share company in garment, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Productivity improvement is a significant issue for the textile and garment industry to survive global competition. Therefore, the nation's efforts towards this improvement are one of the key weapons to attain cost, time, and quality advantages for rivalry. Ethiopian garment industries are not competitive due to low productivity, which is caused by multidimensional productivity factors related to humans, methods, control, processes, and products. Hence, a single tool or simple model cannot boost significant change for productivity improvement and cannot solve both internal and external productivity factors of the garment industry at this time. However, combined techniques or tools of lean and work-study are preferable. Lean manufacturing is a procedure to identify and eliminate non-value-adding activities in a consistent, continuous improvement. Lean techniques provide a good overview of the processes, whereas work-study methods focus on the critical areas of the operation. This research deals with productivity improvement in the assembly operation of the garment industry with a case study using integrated techniques and tools, such as line balancing, work standardization, time and method study, total working method, and process improvement related to kaizen and 5S. These tools help to eliminate non-value-adding activities were reduce lead time, and defects. The study illustrates, using a case study, the most critical factors that hinder the productivity of Ethiopian garment industries and how to solve these factors through integrated techniques or tools. The research is practical and realistic, and the necessary data was collected using primary and secondary data from the Minister of the Ethiopian garment industry and the case garment. The observed results indicated that non-value-adding activities were minimized from 43% to 5%, bottlenecks from 3 to 0, and the transportation distance of the workers was reduced by 650 m per shift. The daily production output of the case garment and main exports of Flat sheet and Quilt cover products increased from 43.3% to 57.7%-75.8% and 100% pcs per shift, respectively. The standard time for each operator can be set using time study, which can save 315 min for the case garment operation, achieving its production targets of 800 pcs per shift. Therefore, using a single tool or model has not significantly improved this garment industry, but it should be used as a combined tool of lean and work-study for attractive productivity improvement.

Students managing work and study role boundaries: a person-centred approach.

To cope with demands of working while studying, students must structure the boundaries between these roles (e.g., integrate or segment them) to suit their preferences and circumstances. However, students differ on how well they do this, and we do not yet understand the factors that contribute to managing work and study well. We sought to determine if different student groups existed and if the groups reported different work, study, and wellbeing outcomes. Using latent profile analysis and assessing work-study boundary congruence and flexibility (N = 808; 76% female; MAge 19.6 years), we identified four groups of (a) "balanced" (65.4%; with moderate boundary congruence and flexibility); (b) "high work congruence and flexibility" (17.5%; working arrangements supportive of study role); (c) "low work congruence and flexibility" (9.7%; unsupportive workplace arrangements); and (d) "low study congruence" (7.3%; study arrangements unsupportive of work role). These groups reported different work/study demands, role conflict, study burnout, and perceived employability, with "balanced" and "high work congruence and flexibility" groups scoring more positively and "low work congruence and flexibility" and "low study congruence" groups scoring more negatively. Results supported that different student groups existed, and these will need different supports to manage their multiple role responsibilities.

Surgimiento y evolución de la ergonomía como disciplina: reflexiones sobre la escuela de los factores humanos y la escuela de la ergonomía de la actividad / Emergence and evolution of ergonomics as a discipline: reflections on the school of human factors and the school of ergonomics of the activity / Surgimento e evolução da ergonomia como disciplina: reflexões sobre a escola dos fatores humanos e a escola de ergonomia da atividade

Resumen La ergonomía es considerada, en la actualidad, una disciplina científica consolidada, que se expande continuamente a nivel global. Este escenario actual es el resultado de diferentes visiones que han permeado la evolución de la ergonomía. En este artículo se hace un recorrido histórico de la ergonomía como disciplina, tomando en cuenta la escuela de los factores humanos y la escuela de la ergonomía de la actividad. Se presentan los orígenes de estas escuelas, sus paradigmas subyacentes y se realiza una comparación entre ellas. Las reflexiones presentadas en el artículo en torno a la ergonomía parten de la idea que, desde las diferencias y la diversidad, se erige el desarrollo. Los autores de este artículo son partidarios de abordar la ergonomía como una única disciplina, reconociendo la convergencia y la complementariedad entre las dos escuelas. Más allá de las diferencias existentes, la práctica de la ergonomía debe enfocarse en el diseño de los sistemas de trabajo, tomando como eje central al ser humano. Se espera que estas reflexiones permitan a los profesionales de la ergonomía y de otras diciplinas afines ganar mayor comprensión de cómo abordar la actividad humana para transformarla positivamente.

Abstract Ergonomics is now considered a consolidated scientific discipline that is continually expanding globally. This current scenario is the result of different visions that have permeated the evolution of ergonomics. This article presents a historical overview of ergonomics as a discipline considering human factors and the activity-oriented ergonomics schools. The origins of these two schools of thought on ergonomics and their underlying paradigms are presented, and a comparison between them is made. The reflections presented in the article on ergonomics are based on the idea that progress is built on differences and diversity. The authors of this article support the idea of approaching ergonomics as a single discipline, recognizing the convergence and complementarity between the two schools. Beyond the existing differences, ergonomics' practice should be focused on the design of human-centered work systems. It is hoped that the reflections made in this article will enable professionals in ergonomics and other related disciplines to understand how to approach human at work to transform working conditions positively.

Resumo A ergonomia é considerada, na atualidade, uma disciplina científica consolidada, que se expande continuamente a nível global. Este cenário atual es el resultado de diferentes visões que han permeado la evolución de la ergonomía. Neste artigo se tem uma recorrido histórico da ergonomia como disciplina, tomando na cuenta a escola dos fatores humanos e a escola da ergonomia da atividade. Se presentan los orígenes de estas escuelas, sus paradigmas subyacentes y se una realiza comparación entre ellas. Las reflexiones presentadas en el artículo en torno a la ergonomía parten de la idea that, from las diferencias y la diversidad, se erige el desarrollo. Los autores de este artículo son partidarios de abordar la ergonomía como una única disciplina, reconociendo la convergencia y la complementariedad entre las dos escuelas. Más allá de las diferencias existentes, la práctica de la ergonomía debe enfocarse en el diseño de los sistemas de trabajo, tomando como eje central al ser humano. Se espera que estas reflexiones permitan a los profesionales de la ergonomía y de otras diciplinas afines ganar mayor comprensión de cómo abordar la actividad humana para transformarla positivamente.

[The advanced nursing practice university course]. / Le dispositif de formation universitaire de l'infirmier en pratique avancée diplômé d'État.

Following the publication of the regulatory framework by the relevant ministries, the summer of 2018 was very busy for the university teams intending to offer, from September, an advanced nursing practice course. The training programme selected mainly follows on from existing initial training programmes but there are also a number of aspects which are particularly innovative in the nursing pathway. Setting up this training requires a change in social representations, still a source of challenges. These are linked to the innovative character of this type of practice in France as well as the fact that the training is university-based.

Financial and caregivers' stressors in Australian law students - a qualitative analysis.

Australian law students exhibit high levels of psychological distress compared to the general population. In 2013, The University of Sydney Law School conducted a survey to examine the level of distress in students, what factors were associated with their distress and what strategies might mitigate student distress. This article reports on the survey's qualitative findings relating to financial stressors and care-giving responsibilities. The findings provide further insights into the context of financial stressors for law students and how they may undermine students' candidacy. The study found that financial stress, work commitments, caring for dependents, illnesses and death in the family can be potential reasons for students suspending studies or withdrawing from their studies altogether. In view of the findings, possible solutions to alleviate stress and support students with their work-study and care-giving concerns are discussed.

A study of factors related to willingness to learn among work-study students attending an acupuncture vocational school / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

[Objective]In order to provide proper educational guidance to work-study students attending an acupuncture school, learning-related standards were prepared by conducting an exploratory inventory survey, and the relationships among willingness to learn, average test scores, and the number of absences was investigated.<BR>[Methods]Subjects were 234 work-study students majoring in acupuncture at a vocational school. The construct validity of the standards and the verification validity of external variables were investigated using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.<BR>[Results]The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed the following four factors affecting learning:fatigue, willingness to learn, career matching, and class environment. With verification validity, a model having the number of absences at the center matched the data well (GFI=0.959, AGFI=0.929, RMSEA=0.057, and CFI=0.912).<BR>[Conclusion]For proper educational guidance, the establishment of guidance based on the number of absences-which is affected by willingness to learn and in turn affects average test scores-appears valid.