• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2017

One of the challenges facing precision manufacturers is the increasing feature complexity of tight tolerance parts. All engineering drawings must account for the size, form, orientation, and location of all features to ensure manufacturability, measurability, and design intent. Geometric controls per ASME Y14.5 are typically applied to specify dimensional tolerances on engineering drawings and define size, form, orientation, and location of features. Many engineering drawings lack the necessary geometric dimensioning and tolerancing to allow for timely and accurate inspection and verification. Plus-minus tolerancing is typically ambiguous and requires extra time by engineering, programming, machining, and inspection functions to debate and agree on a single conclusion. Complex geometry can result in long inspection and verification times and put even the most sophisticated measurement equipment and processes to the test. In addition, design, manufacturing and quality engineers are often frustrated by communication errors over these features. However, an approach called profile tolerancing offers optimal definition of design intent by explicitly defining uniform boundaries around the physical geometry. It is an efficient and effective method for measurement and quality control. There are several advantages for product designers who use position and profile tolerancing instead of linear dimensioning. When design intent is conveyed unambiguously, manufacturers don't have to field multiple question from suppliers as they design and build a process for manufacturing and inspection. Profile tolerancing, when it is applied correctly, provides manufacturing and inspection functions with unambiguously defined tolerancing. Those data are manufacturable and measurable. Customers can see cost and lead time reductions with parts that consistently meet the design intent. Components can function properly-eliminating costly rework, redesign, and missed market opportunities. However a supplier that is poised to embrace profile tolerancing will no doubt run into resistance from those who would prefer the way things have always been done. It is not just internal naysayers, but also suppliers that might fight the change. In addition, the investment for suppliers can be steep in terms of training, equipment, and software.

• Clean Technology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.51-59
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• 1996

Billions of tons of industrial waste are generated annually in industrialized countries. Managing and legally disposing of these wastes costs tens to hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and these costs have been increasing rapidly. The escalation is likely to continue as emission standards become even more stringent around the world. In the face of these rapidly rising costs and rapidly increasing performance standards, traditional end-of-pipe approaches to waste management have become less attractive. The most economical waste management alternatives in many cases have become recycling of the waste or the redesign of chemical processes and products so that wastes are prevented or put to productive use. These strategies of recycling or reducing waste at the source have collectively come to be known as pollution prevention. The engineering challenges associated with pollution prevention are substantial. This presentation will categorize the challenges in three levels. At the most macroscopic level, the flow of materials in our industrial economy, from natural resource extraction to consumer product disposal, can be redesigned. Currently, most of our raw materials are virgin natural resources that are used once, then discarded. Studies in what has come to be called industrial ecology examine the material efficiency of large-scale industrial systems and attempt to improve that efficiency. A second level of engineering challenges is found at the scale of individual industrial facilities, where chemical processes and products can be redesigned so that waste is reduced. Finally, on a molecular level, chemical synthesis pathways, combustion reaction pathways, and other material fabrication procedures can be redesigned to reduce emissions of pollution and unwanted by-products. All of these design activities, shown in Figure 1, have the potential to prevent pollution. All involve the tools of engineering, and in particular, chemical engineering.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.148-162
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• 1993

There is much speculation that modern capi-talist society is undergoing fundamental and qualitative chnge towards flexible specialization. The purpose of this study is to examine this hypothesis. This paper focusses on: the idea of flexible specialization; the significance of this transition; industrial district; and the implicati-ons of this new production system for Korean industrial space. Main arguments of this study are as follows: First, as all different groups of researchers apply the idea of flexible specialization according to their own specifications, the current debate on this topic is not much fruitful. Not surpri-singly, the concept of flexible specialization has overlapped with subocontracting. This intergration of subcontracting into flexible specialization systems, however, is inappropriate because the two concepts have different historical contexts. The other cause of this controversy is its inherent weekness, conceptual ambiguity. Thus, today's flexibility becomes tomorrow's rigidity. Secondly, transition towards flexible speciali-zation has only been partially achieved even in advanced capitalist countries. The application of dualistic explanatory framework, such as rigidity versus flexibiity, mass production versus small-lot multi-product production, and de-skilling versus re-skilling, has resulted in great exaggeration of the transformation, from Fordism to post-Fordism. There is no intermediary part between two places. Considering that the workers allocated to the Fordist mass production assembly line are not as large as one might imagine, the shift from mass to flexible production has only limited implications for the transformation of capitalist economy. Thirdly, 'industrial district' contorversy has contributed to highlighting the importance of small firms and areas as production space. The agglomeration of small firms in specific areas is common in Korea, but it is quite different from the industrial district based on flexible specialization. The Korean phenomenon stems from close interactions with its major parent firm rather than interactions between flexible, specialized, autonomous and technology-intensive smll firms. Most Korean subcontractors are still low-skilled, labour-intensive, and heavily dependent on their mojor parent firms. Thus, the assertion that the Seoul Metropolitan Area adopts flexible specialization has no base. Fourthly, the main concern of flexible speciali zation is small firms. However, the corporate organization that needs product diversification and technological specialization is oligopolistic large corporations typified by multinational corporations. It is because of this that most of these organizations are adoptiong Fordist mass production methods. The problem of product diversification will be resolved naturally if economic internationalization progresses further. What is more important for business success is the quality and price competitiveness of firms rather than product diversification. Lastly, in order to dispel further misunderst-anding on this issue, it is imparative that the conceptual ambiguity is resolved most urgently. This study recommends adoption of more speci-fied and direct terminology (such as, factory automation, computer design, out-sourcing, the exploitation of part-time labor, job redesign) rather than that of ideological ones (such as, Taylorism, Fordism, neo-Taylorism, neo-Fordism, post-fordism, flexible specialization, peripheral post-Fordism). As the debates on this topic just started, we still have long way to go until consensus is reached.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.5-9
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• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the applicability and effectiveness of both teukyakmeip contracts of Korea and consignment contracts of the United State to demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of teukyakmeip in Korea. These are popular contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers and vendors. In recent years, teukyakmeip was critically examined and scrutinized by the politicians, the media, and the public of Korea. Consequently, this paper focusesheavily on identifying and analyzing different types of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers that currently exist in Korea and compares and contrasts those analyzed contract agreements with teukyakmeip. The article also comparesand contrasts teukyakmeip with the consignment agreements of the United States to identify similarities and differences. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is a descriptive study and has used personal interviews to collect and analyze the data. This study also fits the definition of the case study wherein it is entirely focused on investigating a real-life event: analyzing and examining contract agreements in the distribution industry. Both randomly selected management and vendor representatives from the three major department stores, Lotte, Hyundai, and Shinsegae, in Korea were interviewed between July and September 2013. The analysis of the consignment agreement was conducted based on existing secondary data. Results - Although the evidence of the abuse of teukyakmeip and consignment by large retailers from both countries clearly exists, the findings suggestthat both contract agreements would remain as the most relevant and effective legal contracts between large retailers and their suppliers. Based on the comparisonanalysis of teukyakmeip and consignment, both contracts indicated that suppliers are fully responsible for inventory and inventory management. If sales person is necessary for promoting special product, then suppliers are responsible for providing a sales person and their wages under both contracts. However, American department stores, those located outside urban area, tend to use their own employees to perform special product and sales promotion. The retailersare fully responsible for any interior or floor design or redesign of the retail store to accommodate the products from vendors under consignment; however, both suppliers and retailers share the cost of designing and redesigning the interior to accommodate vendors'products under teukyakmeip. Suppliers are responsible for pricing and supplying the quantity of the products under both agreements. Both contracts allow special sales commission as long as vendors agreed. Vendors use this special commissionto introduce their new products or apply market penetration strategy. Conclusions -The findings of this study showed the changing pattern of contract agreements between large retailers and their suppliers from both countries. Furthermore, this study evidently generated policy implications of teukyakmeip which recently became the major social issue in Korea and attracted many policymakers to gain political points by criticizing the teukyakmeip system and the large retailers. The findings of the study would be valuable to policy makers in making appropriate decisions and to large retailers and vendors in making beneficial agreements. The major implication of this study is that teukyakmeip and consignment agreements include very similar or almost identical characteristics, and they are popular among department stores and suppliers. The issue of abolishing teukyakmeip in Korea needs to be examined cautiously because teukyakmeip is the best one available at the moment, and the study suggests that no one benefits from abolishing this system.