Abdallah A. Abdallah’s research while affiliated with German Jordanian University and other places

True unilateral posterior crossbite in adults is a challenging malocclusion to treat, especially when we need to correct cross-arch segments with unwanted effects on non-cross segments. Conventional expansion methods are expected to have some shortcomings; the Unilateral dental expander appliance used to restore unilateral cross bite dental arch is an uncommon appliance; for this, a designed new device is needed. This paper aimed to invite a new unilateral dental expander appliance (UDEX) to treat unilateral dental posterior crossbite in adults using available dental material, easy to use and handle, well tolerated by the patient, and biocompatible with oral structure. It could find that in all dental markets and dental clinics—an eighteen-year-old female with bilateral crossbite and upper and lower dental arch crowding. During active orthodontic treatment, a quad-helix expander had broken from one side at soldering between band and wire attachment. The patient did not show up to the clinic for a while due to COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, leading to a true unilateral crossbite at the dental arch’s upper left side, especially at the molar premolars area. This unilateral cross bite was treated using a new specially designed expanded appliance as a unilateral posterior cross bite dental maxillary expander. As a result of this study, orthodontic treatment was finished within (15) months, much less than expected. We obtained Class I molar and canine relationships with uncrossed dental arches in both upper arch sides, proper overbite and overjet with well-leveled and aligned teeth as it confirmed by clinical examination and radiographic images (OPG (Orthopantomogram) and cephalometric radiograph (WebCeph analysis digitalized computer program). Conclude from that, the newly designed unilateral dental expander (UDEX) is proven to be useful for treating real unilateral posterior crossbites as single molar or premolar tooth and multiple joint unilateral crossed posterior teeth. Also, it could easily modify it for future unilateral crossed purposes. This appliance was fabricated using readily available dental material, well tolerated by patients, and reduced the need for excessive patient compliance. An orthodontist could fabricate devices, or cautious laboratory work is required; it can rapidly achieve favorable results.

This work tries to answer the following question: can healthcare be engineered using lean management tools? Lean is known to achieve successful results when implemented in the manufacturing sector. Typical results are operational cost reduction, cycle time reduction, and higher customer satisfaction. The service sector, however, has seen mixed results. For the last two decades, educators and healthcare professionals are trying to implement lean tools in healthcare. Some reported success and many did not, for variety of reasons. In this paper, we search the literature and reveal the special nature of healthcare services, success factors, and barriers facing implementation of lean in healthcare. We then conduct a survey of 18 elite Jordanian hospitals to study the case holistically. Statistical analysis of the survey results confirmed some of what the literature revealed; organizational leadership seems to be the most dominant factor, followed by knowledge of employees about lean, training, and patient satisfaction (customer focus). Another important finding, not captured by the literature, is that lean implementation success depends on educating physicians about continuous improvement and lean and ensuring they are part of the improvement team. Based on the revealed enablers and obstacles, we created a full lean implementation framework. This framework was then used along with selected engineering tools to implement lean in a major hospital successfully. Implementation results showed 60% of reduction in cycle time, 80% reduction in operational cost, and many other benefits.

Six Sigma is widely used in many industries for the purpose of improving process performance. Typical improvements sought in Six Sigma projects include decreased operational cost, increased customer satisfaction, decreased cycle time, and enhanced profits, but regardless of the nature of the improvement, all projects follow the “Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control” (DMAIC) methodology. This paper proposes the use of simulation and multi response optimization in addition to other typical Six Sigma tools in order to arrive at optimum performance at the end of each project through an established optimization framework. The framework is used in a real case study performed at a global logistics company. The case study is concerned with an e-commerce logistics station located at John F. Kennedy airport (JFK) in New York; a station that suffers from low on-time delivery performance and high operational cost. As result, a Six Sigma project was implemented and the process was simulated to reveal various scenarios suggested by the Six Sigma team in order to optimize the process. The project resulted in 65 percent reduction in labor, 41 percent reduction in work in process (WIP) and 55 percent reduction in average time packages spend at the station. These improvements highly support the effectiveness of implementing Six Sigma projects in the format suggested.

Purpose Organizations have varied levels of success with Lean implementation and many did not see tangible results. Some scholars believe the reason has to do with weak Lean culture or Lean values (LVs). The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between Lean implementation practices and LVs. The research goes further to study the nature of this relationship; does LVs affect Lean practices only or do they affect each other in a reciprocal manner? Design/methodology/approach Literature regarding Lean implementation in various sectors was reviewed. Representatives from several organizations were surveyed. Results from both approaches are compared and presented to highlight the key challenges and drivers facing Lean implementation. Findings Lean works well on enhancing organization performance (OP) but the implementation has to be preceded by careful nourishment of the proper Lean culture and LVs. The relationship between Lean implementation and LVs is of a complex nature and driven by OP. Practical implications The study has important managerial implications that is if Lean is going to be sustained, continuous efforts has to be exerted by Lean professionals to engage leaders and decision makers in the organization and ensure proper values are nurtured. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the reciprocal relationship between Lean implementation practices and LVs while focusing on OP by employing a structural statistical model.

Six Sigma is used heavily in various industrial sectors, yet no noticeable applications are seen in healthcare logistics. This paper reveals the special case of healthcare logistics where cost reduction is not the only factor considered in project selection; performance and criticality of each item in the logistics system are of high importance as well. This paper provides a proposed framework to apply Six Sigma in the area of healthcare logistics. It also presents a case study implementing the proposed framework at a Jordanian hospital. In the case study, the paper reveals how the modifications of the define phase to take into consideration the criticality, cost, and performance of items make typical Six Sigma methodology very beneficial for healthcare logistics. In addition, it shows how the Six Sigma project selection can be done to deal effectively with healthcare logistics issues. This paper paves the road for research to elaborate on ways to use Six Sigma in the area of improving healthcare logistics.

In managing healthcare logistics, cost is not the only factor to be considered. The level of items’ criticality used in patient care services plays an important role as well. A stock-out incident of a high critical item could threaten a patient's life. In this paper, the DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology is used to drive improvement projects based on customer driven critical to quality characteristics at a Jordanian hospital. This paper shows how the application of Six Sigma improves the performance of the case hospital logistics system by reducing the number of stock-out incidents.