Systems approach to the multistage manufacturing connected-unit situation

This paper investigates the relationships among incoming quality limit (AIQL), manufacturing quality level in each stage of production, and outgoing quality limit (AOQL), for a multistage manufacturing connected-unit situation from the systems cost-effectiveness point of view. An objective function is developed and the formulated problem is solved using discrete optimization technique. The study is restricted to the development of single sampling plans where inspection is by attribute. Lot size and sample size are fixed for incoming and outgoing inspection for each stage of manufacturing.     

Meanings of military ranks

This paper studies what kinds of meanings reserve officers ascribe to military ranks. The study builds on existing literature on reserve forces and hypothesizes that military ranks among reserve officers are subject to rendering the ranks with multiple meanings, and which are bound to create ambiguity of interpretation. To elaborate these theoretical insights a survey among Finnish reserve officers was conducted (N = 6193). The data was analyzed using factor analysis and correlation analysis. The results show that military ranks are ascribed, in addition to the functionalistic, hierarchical meaning, also with meanings of prestige, proficiency, and identity. The main theoretical contribution of the paper is in complementing the previous literature on ambiguity of military ranks by specifying four different meanings in the interpretation of the ranks.