Empirical Study of the Production Process in the Chemical Industry as an Element of Supporting Sustainable Development—Case Study Analysis
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAbstract Section
1) Briefly highlight the core results obtained from this study as the last statement of the abstract.
Introduction Section
1) How the issue of employee frequent changing of jobs affects production disruption, thereby affecting the business sustainability should be briefly described in the introduction.
2) The basis or need to conduct big data analysis towards addressing production disruption should be explicitly described using appropriate literature references.
3) How production process could support sustainability of an enterprise should be explicitly described using appropriate references.
4)References provided in the manuscript is too thin. Add 10 to 12 more literature references to the manuscript.
Materials and Method Section
1) Lines 7 - 8: indicate the other companies you made comparison with.
2) The various time elements highlighted in Figure 1 should be briefly described.
3) The full meaning of “N” should be provided.
4) The information provided in the methodology focused more on elaborating the problem investigated in this study rather than emphasizing on the materials and methods deployed by the authors to solve the research problem. Hence, this section should be re-written to highlight the materials and methods used to solve the identified problem while information currently presented in this section should be used to beef-up the introduction section of this manuscript.
Results Section
1) Information presented in section 3.1 should be moved to the ‘Materials and Method’ Section.
2) The various components of the data collection system in Figure 2 should be labelled.
3) Last box is empty. Hence, provide information in the empty box.
4) Include the developed survey in the manuscript (put it in the Appendix section).
Section 3.2
1) Write “approx.” in full.
2) Briefly discuss Figures 7 and 8.
3) The basis of how the data regarding production disruption was automatically collected and analyzed using the innovative data collection system presented in Figure 2 to arrive at the results presented in section 3.2, should be briefly described in the research methodology section.
Discussion Section – Section 4
None.
Conclusion Section
1) Conclusion section is too thin. This section should be enriched with core conclusions drawn from this study. In addition, the future research work that could emanate from this study should be stated.
2) The core contribution of this study to the body of knowledge in terms of the research gap in the literature that this study addressed should be echoed in the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your review and valuable comments. They helped us systematize the results and clean up errors. This makes the final conclusions more coherent and clearer. Below we respond to the reported inaccuracies:
Abstract Section 1) Briefly highlight the core results obtained from this study as the last statement of the abstract.
The following wording was added: „The research carried out showed that it is not excessive load on machines that is the problem, but unnecessary downtime resulting from, for example, poor quality materials for packaging goods.”
Introduction Section
1) How the issue of employee frequent changing of jobs affects production disruption, thereby affecting the business sustainability should be briefly described in the introduction.
The article supplemented the above information with references to the following literature sources:
Al-suraihi, W., , Siti, A., Al-Suraihi, A., Samikon, S.A., Employee Turnover: Causes, Importance and Retention Strategies, European Journal of Business Management and Research 6(3):10, 2021, DOI: 10.24018/ejbmr.2021.6.3.893
Moon., K. 2018. Exit Line. The Effects of Employee Turnover on Manufacturing), https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wharton-podcast/effects-of-employee-turnover-on-manufacturing/ (accessed on 17.05.2024).
Lancaster, L.,2023, Status HR, How High Employee Turnover Affects Your Business, https://stratus.hr/resources/effects-of-high-employee-turnover (accessed on 18.05.2024).;
Wyczewska, E., Stadnicka, D. (2024). Value Stream Mapping and Process Indicators Supporting Sustainable Development in Organizations – A Systematic Literature Review. In: Burduk, A., Batako, A.D.L., Machado, J., Wyczółkowski, R., Dostatni, E., Rojek, I. (eds) Intelligent Systems in Production Engineering and Maintenance III. ISPEM 2023. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44282-7_8
2) The basis or need to conduct big data analysis towards addressing production disruption should be explicitly described using appropriate literature references.
The authors are of the opinion that production analysis solutions should be selected depending on the specific nature of the company and its size. Small and medium-sized enterprises often do not have funds for expensive big data analyses. Sometimes simple solutions such as flow mapping or using the described system are more effective.
3) How production process could support sustainability of an enterprise should be explicitly described using appropriate references.
Taking into account sustainable management in production activities can reduce the waste of time and materials, as well as support conscious human resources management - activities that take into account the company's activities, respecting employees and their needs, as well as supporting the company's external image.
4)References provided in the manuscript is too thin. Add 10 to 12 more literature references to the manuscript.
Added 21 scientific articles e.g:
https://www.leanmanufacture.net/operations/productiondata/, (accessed on 11.04.2024).
https://www.marposs.com/ita/data-collection-manufacturing-process, (accessed on 11.04.2024).
Bruno S. Silvestre, Diana Mihaela Ţîrcă, Innovations for sustainable development: Moving toward a sustainable future, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 208, 2019, Pages 325-332, ISSN 0959-6526, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.09.244. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618329834).
Cochan, D. S., Kinard, D., Bi, Z., Manufacturing System Design Meets Big Data Analytics for Continuous Improvement, Procedia CIRP, Volume 50, 2016, 647-652, ISSN 2212-8271, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2016.05.004.
Cui, Y., Kara, S., Chan, K.C., Manufacturing big data ecosystem: A systematic literature review, Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Volume 62, 2020, 101861, ISSN 0736-5845, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcim.2019.101861
Cochan, D. S., Kinard, D., Bi, Z., Manufacturing System Design Meets Big Data Analytics for Continuous Improvement, Procedia CIRP, Volume 50, 2016, 647-652, ISSN 2212-8271, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2016.05.004.
Cui, Y., Kara, S., Chan, K.C., Manufacturing Sustainability 2020, 12, 6300. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166300.
Luangkesorn, K.L., Klein, G., Bidanda, B., Analysis of production systems with potential for severe disruptions, International Journal of Production Economics, Volume 171, Part 4, January 2016, Elsevier, 478-486 DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.09.014.
Wang, J., Xu, Ch., Zhang, J., Zhong, R. Big data analytics for intelligent manufacturing systems: A review, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Volume 62, 2022, 738-752, ISSN 0278-6125, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2021.03.005.
Azeem, M., Haleem, A., Bahl, S., Javaid, M., Suman, R., Nandan, D., Big data applications to take up major challenges across manufacturing industries: A brief review, Materials Today: Proceedings, Volume 49, Part 2, 2022, Pages 339-348, ISSN 2214-7853, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.147.
Materials and Method Section
1) Lines 7 - 8: indicate the other companies you made comparison with.
In the described study, it was decided to use the case study method. The selection of the company was related to its specificity and the possibility of making data available.
2) The various time elements highlighted in Figure 1 should be briefly described.
Done.
3) The full meaning of “N” should be provided.
The time needed to produce the entire batch (n) of products is marked with the letter N.
4) The information provided in the methodology focused more on elaborating the problem investigated in this study rather than emphasizing on the materials and methods deployed by the authors to solve the research problem. Hence, this section should be re-written to highlight the materials and methods used to solve the identified problem while information currently presented in this section should be used to beef-up the introduction section of this manuscript.
The part regarding preliminary information regarding the study was moved to point 2. materials and methods.
Results Section
1) Information presented in section 3.1 should be moved to the ‘Materials and Method’ Section.
2) The various components of the data collection system in Figure 2 should be labelled.
3) Last box is empty. Hence, provide information in the empty box. 2
4) Include the developed survey in the manuscript (put it in the Appendix section).
The above comments have been taken into account in the text.
Section 3.2 1) Write “approx.” in full.
2) Briefly discuss Figures 7 and 8.
3) The basis of how the data regarding production disruption was automatically collected and analyzed using the innovative data collection system presented in Figure 2 to arrive at the results presented in section 3.2, should be briefly described in the research methodology section.
The above comments have been taken into account in the text.
Conclusion Section 1) Conclusion section is too thin. This section should be enriched with core conclusions drawn from this study. In addition, the future research work that could emanate from this study should be stated. 2) The core contribution of this study to the body of knowledge in terms of the research gap in the literature that this study addressed should be echoed in the manuscript.
The research conducted based on the case study method is characterized by typical limitations for this research method. As a result, further research using the described system and its improvement are planned. It was also shown that analysis of disruptions in production systems does not always have to be related to big data analysis, because for many enterprises this will not be possible, for example due to the costs incurred. As a result, without thorough analyses, they may draw incorrect conclusions about production inefficiencies, which will ultimately make it impossible to move towards sustainable development.
Changes in the text are marked in yellow.
I remain at your disposal if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Anna Stasiuk-Piekarska
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors conducted a very poor literature review, which is rather insufficient for research papers. The authors should make a thorough review of the literature and familiarize themselves with the scientific achievements in the field of research before formulating the purpose of the article and the hypothesis. The authors have included only a few selected legal acts and online sources.. I also have a few comments on the description of the research methodology and terminology used in this area. The description of the methodology is too general and does not include a description and justification of the methodology, technique and tools used in the research. The article does not bring any new cognitive or application values. The conclusions are too general and do not add any value to the scientific discourse. The authors also did not address the limitations of the research and did not indicate the potential for future research. The article also does not meet the publishing guidelines.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your review and valuable comments. They helped us systematize the results and clean up errors. This makes the final conclusions more coherent and clearer. Below we respond to the reported inaccuracies:
The authors conducted a very poor literature review, which is rather insufficient for research papers. The authors should make a thorough review of the literature and familiarize themselves with the scientific achievements in the field of research before formulating the purpose of the article and the hypothesis. The authors have included only a few selected legal acts and online sources..
Scientific articles on the developed topic were revised again. The article was supplemented with information from 21 research articles.
I also have a few comments on the description of the research methodology and terminology used in this area. The description of the methodology is too general and does not include a description and justification of the methodology, technique and tools used in the research. The article does not bring any new cognitive or application values. The conclusions are too general and do not add any value to the scientific discourse.
The authors also did not address the limitations of the research and did not indicate the potential for future research. The article also does not meet the publishing guidelines.
The above comments have been taken into account in the text.
The research conducted based on the case study method is characterized by typical limitations for this research method. As a result, further research using the described system and its improvement are planned. It was also shown that analysis of disruptions in production systems does not always have to be related to big data analysis, because for many enterprises this will not be possible, for example due to the costs incurred. As a result, without thorough analyses, they may draw incorrect conclusions about production inefficiencies, which will ultimately make it impossible to move towards sustainable development [Case study research: opening up research opportunities, Roseli A., Takahashi W., Araujo L., RAUSP Management Journal, ISSN: 2531-0488, https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RAUSP-05-2019-0109/full/html; Cote, C., 5 BENEFITS OF LEARNING THROUGH THE CASE STUDY METHOD, https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/case-study-method; Yin R.K., Case Study Research and Application. Design and Methods, SIXTH EDITION, COSMOS Corporation, 2017].
The formatting of the article has been improved.
Changes in the text are marked in yellow.
I remain at your disposal if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Anna Stasiuk-Piekarska
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsGeneral comments:
The manuscript in its present form can be considered a first draft of a scientific paper, but does not meet the criteria for a final research article and therefore does not merit a publication. The draft lacks an appropriate theoretical framing (e.g. a jarring lack of study of the current body of literature on the subject), analytical depth (very general, vague and unspecific information) and scientifically mature conclusions. An analysis based on the selection of a sample population in empirical studies limited to only one industrial enterprise cannot be the basis for comparisons and generalizations, which severely limits the broader applicability of the results. This can be alleviated by a solid analysis of literature and similar research.
In detail:
1. Title – I suggest a less general title, more closely reflecting the aim of the study. The term “production process” needs a specifier, as the authors analyze a concrete enterprise set in a concrete branch of a concrete industry.
2. Keywords – are too general in nature, I suggest usage of specified narrow keywords reflecting the analyzed case, such as “identification of downtime”, “minimizing loss and waste” etc.
3. Abstract: Please include the research aim, the applied methodology and the research scope (regarding the timeframe, the subject and the process of the conducted analysis). Has the research aim been accomplished and what were the results? The resources on how to write an appropriate abstract are plentiful, e.g. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/writing-an-abstract-for-your-research-paper/.
4. Introduction:
- the first paragraphs pertaining to sustainability should be written in a more succinct way and on point, delivering a base for a clear framing of the research problem;
- please add the current state of knowledge based on the extensive analysis of international literature and indicate the research gap.;
- use the introduction to explain the context of you research, i.e. describe the subjects of your research, what kind of processes have been analyzed etc.
- be specific, e.g. in line 61-62 “This article presents a system whose origins come from reports (inquiries) from production plants of various industries regarding better management of the production process.” - what kind of system, from what kind of reports and from what scope in time, how many, from what sort of production plants (from where, from which industries, how big etc.) and how have these reports been obtained, indicate the source/s.
- back up non-general and argumentative statements with well researched and current world literature.
5. Methodology:
- The description of applied research methods is inadequate and very vague. Please specify when you carried out the study, how you designed your study, i.e. the data collection method (a questionnaire, an interview etc.), how you selected the sample, describe the sample, describe the questions, describe the feedback, give a qualitative and quantitative overview of the responses, how many responses did you receive, why you selected the only one enterprise etc.
- The titles and descriptions of figures 4, 7 and 8 are in Polish.
- Figure 1 should show the connections of the individual records (in rectangles) according to their order, and should be modified by inserting arrows to show the direction of the links.
- In line 122 'to' should be 'To'.
- In line 135 check for error.
- Line 166 : what is a meaning of "previously"; has this already been published?
- Do you refer to other similar systems (which are not included in the text?)?
6. Results:
- Line 185-188: suggest SPC methods have been used. Here it is necessary to provide some references to the applied statistical methods.
- Sources of process disruptions can be searched for using SPC methods, as well as Artificial Intelligence, with reason and moderation. However, production efficiency depends on many overlapping reasons, which need to be sufficiently analyzed prior to giving a solution.
7. Discussion:
- Please indicate if and to what extend you have been able to fulfill your research objective and what were the constraints in its achievement.
- Please place the obtained results within the context of similar current research published in international journals. Are your results similar, contrary, new?
- Indicate and discuss the limits of your results.
- Move all descriptions referring to the applied solution and obtained results to the section on results.
- The following fragment is not true, these valid questions have not been stated in the Introduction and alas have not been adequately discussed in this paper:
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The questions stated in the introduction are: |
469 |
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What are the sources of new problems in the safety of production processes? |
470 |
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What methods can be used to identify them? |
471 |
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Why are existing quality systems unable to fully secure the safety of the production |
472 |
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process? |
473 |
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How to supplement them (what, who?) to make them effective in new areas (of what?)? |
474 |
8. Conclusions: An analysis based on the selection of a sample population in empirical studies limited to only one industrial enterprise cannot be the basis for comparisons and generalizations. Therefore, please change the word “showed” (line 546) to “confirmed”, and demonstrate the problem confirmed in the introduction by data from world literature.
9. References: The references used are inadequate both in quality and in quantity. I suggest at least 5 general international positions on the subject and at least 10-15 specific positions published in accomplished journals, all of which should be not older than 20 years. In an international publication, references in Polish or languages other than English, should be used sparingly and only to supplement the bulk of well researched and current international positions.
The manuscript should be extensively edited. I suggest the Authors get familiar with the review questionnaire used by MDPI and edit their article so that reviewers can give positive feedback to each question.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe ovarall quality of the English language is low, which may or may not reflect the poor quality of the manuscript in the national language. E.g. from section 2:
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The source of the approach to the topic were inquiries delivered directly from the |
85 |
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industry, and concerned mainly threats related to unstable work performance with |
86 |
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sources that cannot be clearly identified. From among many inquiries, a company was |
87 |
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selected that produces a small range of its own solid products, has staff with at least sev- |
88 |
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eral years of experience, and the nature of its business concerns bottling and packaging of |
89 |
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liquid products, and should therefore relatively easily identify the sources of problems. |
Suggested language and technical edits: The study has been based on responses (implies a research questionnaire!?) received directly from the industry (from how many enterprises, how have they been selected?!), and indicating the occurrence of risks associated with unstable work performance (of what or whom?!), the origin of which could not have been clearly identified by the respondents. From a large number (how many!?) of respondents, one company was (how?!) deliberately selected (why this company?!) on the premise of an easy identification of the source of the reported problems. The selected company produces a small range of solid products (what kind of products?!), has (how many?!) employees with at least several years' of working experience and deals with filling and packaging of liquid products.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your interesting and very insightful comments.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAuthor has sufficiently improved the article, and at this level, it can be considered sufficient for publication
