Volume 29 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)

The COVID-19 crisis hit the economy hard, it is a global situation of declining activity due to a highly contagious disease which has pushed the world to the brink of a deeper recession than ever. Small and medium-sized enterprises constitute 92% of the Moroccan economic fabric, they are among the organizations most seriously affected by the current pandemic. This paper examines the problems that exist before and during this crisis, in order to raise major challenges and choose the ideal approach that will strengthen the competitiveness of these companies. the analysis is based on secondary data and the literature to demonstrate the different constraints of these companies and to show the importance of lean manufacturing as the guarantor of industrial performance. the main question is how the alignment of Lean principals goes well with the desired improvement and with the constraints posed by this crisis, the primary objective of Lean is to provide the means to succeed and accelerate competitiveness. Finally, these circumstances can be a real opportunity to assist Small and Medium Moroccan companies to integrate the methods they need, and “Lean approach” is one of the best performance solutions to adopt in a post COVID-19.

Supply chain management is one of the most important elements of sustainable development. And due to the fact that the world market is driven by supply and demand, and the determinant of access to products is regional and international logistics, this paper focuses on the possibilities of implementing a green transport strategy in the context of sustainable development in logistic enterprises. This paper presents the results of the SWOT analysis pointing out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of green vehicles market for the transport enterprises. It was noticed that the situation on the green vehicles market for the transport enterprises is characterized by the advantage of strengths and these strengths should be used to maximize the use of green vehicles. It emphasized that subsidies for green vehicles would allow to invest in a modern fleet, new solutions (e.g. own charging stations) can have an impact on the greater energy efficiency (self-sufficiency), increase of social awareness would force enterprises to take appropriate actions in the field of environmental protection and development of public transport based on green vehicles.

In this paper, an extremely short shelf-life inventory of age-discriminated stochastic demand is considered. Age discriminated demand can be found in products of high circulation and short shelf-lives such as dairy products, packaged food, pharmaceutical products and medical products of short shelf lives. Simulation based optimization is considered to find the optimal order quantity. The model employs Discrete Event Simulation along with a modified simulated annealing algorithm. To validate the model and the optimization algorithm, the classical newsvendor problem is tested first, later, different experiments are carried out for different product lifetimes. In contrast to the classical newsvendor, this problem tackles a multi-period inventory of different ages and different demand distributions. The objective is to determine the optimal order quantity to satisfy the stochastic demand of all ages such that shortages and expirations are minimized. The results showed remarkable performance and outstanding minimum levels of shortage and expiration.

CO₂ emissions are considered to be the main contributor to global warming and climate change. One of the ways reducing the emissions to atmosphere is a proper capture and further geological storage of the carbon dioxide. In the oil industry, CO₂ is used as one of the injection agents to displace oil and enhance its recovery. Due to the low multi-contact miscibility pressure between CO₂ and hydrocarbons, fully miscible condition is quickly reached, leading to efficient displacement and high recovery factors. The utilization of the depleted gas fields for CO₂ storage, however, is considered as the option that is more expensive compared to oil field, since the enhanced recovery of gas with CO₂ is not effective. For this reason, our study considers the potential use of CO₂ EOR in depleted gas-condensate fields. This potential is evaluated by performing numerical simulations for the typical-size gascondensate reservoirs with no active aquifer, in order to estimate both the storage efficiency and the additional oil recovery from condensed C₅₊ hydrocarbon fractions, that otherwise will be never recovered and lost in the reservoir. Obtained results indicate significant potential for CO₂ storage and additional condensate recovery from the typical gas-condensate field of Eastern Ukraine.

Today, sharing knowledge requires taking into account many aspects. Variable environmental conditions, the people factor, and the security of resources are just a few that should be considered for a noticeable improvement in the functioning of the company. Supporting this course of action requires the identification of all barriers that may exist in the enterprise. Only the owner and senior management by establishing system and organizational changes can influence this element of the business. The aim of the article is to indicate the problems in this respect that block the proper functioning of the company in the field of information and knowledge exchange. The survey was conducted with the help of a questionnaire among 189 respondents. The industry has significantly decreased in the last few decades, currently there are 307 companies operating in Poland. Conclusions from the conducted research were collected on the basis of a questionnaire survey. The further stage of the research will be to compare the collected results with the results from Western European countries.

The purpose of the paper is to develop a model for managing the motivation of managers and ensure its effectiveness. The principles of formation of management model of managers’ work motivation which correspond to the universal system approach to management model of managers’ work motivation and define its basic functions are outlined: a) goal setting, b) assessment and forecasting of the state and efficiency, c) development and decision making, d) planning, e) organizational, f) communication and subordination, g) regulation of the management model of motivation of managers, h) control. The management model of managers’ work motivation of (MMMWM) is formalized in the form of a structural-logical scheme based on a systematic approach and decomposition, which reflects the interaction of subject and object in the process of forming and implementing a system of motivation of managers at the enterprise. The factors for achieving the set goals have been formed, which are divided into internal and external motivators for managing managers’ work motivation. The management model of managers’ work motivation which is presented by the following subsystems is offered: “X” – target subsystem (the management process of managers’ work motivation), “Y” – providing subsystem (factors of rational achievement of the goals), “XY” – providing subsystem (regulatory legal acts, resources), “Z” – management subsystem (reflects the implementation of the general functions of management work motivation on the basis of experience), which are characterized by parameters, indicators, criteria for managing the motivation of managers. According to the method of linear multiple regression, a system of equations was constructed to describe the economic-mathematical model of management motivation at oil and gas enterprises, which after the repeated experiments provided diagnostics of indicators before, during and after the implementation of management motivation model.

The purpose of this paper is to study the management systems of quality, cost, and deadlines during the environment friendly transition process. Some 102 companies operating in the aeronautics industry in Morocco were surveyed during the period of May 2019 to December 2019. The results showed that about nearly 80% to 96% of the companies confirmed having effective systems for monitoring and improving quality, cost management, and respect for deadlines. But, unfortunately, below 80% of these companies are respecting the environment. The environment is considered as a constraint, and its respect is mainly related to the requirements of standards, certifications and laws Therefore, we find a great shortfall of these Moroccan companies when it comes to respect the environment. The analysis of the results reveals that some indicators imply the desire and predisposition of these companies to go beyond the classic concept of the logistics triptych quality/cost/time to a whole new concept: quality/cost/delay/environment.

The paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of technical, organizational and human factors on accident rate in small-sized enterprises. The research was carried out using the authors’ questionnaire. The results were verified using the method of direct interview with elements of observation. The results were compared with the trends prevailing in enterprises of EU countries. The respondents, i.e. production company workers, indicate technical factors as those which most significantly affect the occurrence of accidents at work. However, the assessment of the factors changes with the age of the respondents. Older workers, more often than younger employees, indicate the ones related to man or work organization as the most important factors affecting accidents at work and, consequently, the level of occupational safety. The presented results are a part of a larger whole project the authors of this paper are working on.

In the paper the problem of personnel allocation under threat was presented. The possibilities of undertaking optimization measures in the process of workers’ health and safety and expenses incurred were emphasized. A mathematical model for this issue has been formulated. An algorithm solving the problem of staff allocation was presented. The evaluation criterion for this assignment was the minimization of worker safety risks. Simultaneous optimization of expenses incurred in the implementation of production tasks was taken into account. The productivity of the staff and all existing jobs with the skills of the employees also was considered. This problem was solved using GNU Octave. The example presented in the paper shows that in case of the most unfavorable allocation of tasks to employees, it will lead to a significant reduction in profits and may increase the risk of undesirable situations. The proposed analysis is the starting point for determining the risk in case of multi-position work.

Custom designed insoles are a niche product that is not always affordable to all who need them. When commercial insoles are fabricated using advanced technologies, the insoles in this study are assembled out of pre-cut modular components to keep the production cost down, hence their price. In this study, algorithms driven by a fuzzy inference were proposed in comparison with a decision tree in order to select the best component combination. One hundred and twelve subjects were recruited to collect foot data extracted from their foot images. Approximately 95% of 182 AI-designed insole pads were found in perfect agreement with the professional podiatrist’s decision with acceptable 5% deviation. Differences in the algorithms’ strength were also discussed. In addition to their superior performance, both algorithms allow the podiatrists to speed up the diagnosis and design phases. This approach, when integrated with applications of mobile devices for remotely retrieving foot data, will expand another simple yet effective customer-oriented product design service.