Dan Săvescu’s research while affiliated with Universitatea Transilvania Brasov and other places

The best business relationships are built as relationships between people and organizations that work together to achieve common goals. In the current digital era, Business to Business collaboration relationships is essential for business success. The response time to customer requests can be a key factor in maintaining these relationships and obtaining a competitive advantage. The use of Visual Basic for Applications automation for repetitive tasks can help speed up this process, but it is important that computer operators have medium knowledge about using Visual Basic for Applications macros. This work deals with issues related to improving response times to requests received by email, using a macro program for repetitive tasks. The empirical study was conducted on an average of 50 daily emails for order confirmation, with an average writing time of 68 s per email, resulting in a potential reduction in working time for the operator of approximately 1 h/day, only for order confirmation. The results show a significant improvement in working time for computer operators, using Visual Basic for Applications buttons for repetitive tasks.

The paper presents some aspects and examples of handling intellectual property (IP) at universities or R&D institutes regarding how to promote and to protect innovative results or products. The first example is an outline of a strategy for the implementation of a university policy in the field of IP. The second example is the European IPEDU project and its implications in the continuing education of librarians. The project is an original initiative with ethical implications for and considerations of IP. The paper focuses on the main result of the project: the postgraduate course with five modules aimed at librarians and recent graduates to strengthen their knowledge in the field of IP and industrial property. The structure of the course and the main modules are outlined. This course is considered essential for librarians and non-law students, as understanding the wide range of relevant information and practical implications of IP is critical in today’s world of information-based careers. As a freshly accredited programme, it needs evaluation, because there has not yet been any feedback from the learners.

The best business relationships are built as relationships between people and organizations that work together to achieve common goals. In the current digital era, B2B collaboration relationships are essential for business success. The response time to customer requests can be a key factor in maintaining these relationships and obtaining a competitive advantage. The use of VBA automation for repetitive tasks can help speed up this process, but it is important that computer operators have medium knowledge about using VBA macros. This work deals with issues related to improving response times to requests received by email, using a macro program for repetitive tasks. The empirical study was conducted on an average of 50 daily emails for order confirmation, with an average writing time of 68 s per email, resulting in a potential reduction in working time for the operator of approximately 1 h/day, only for order confirmation. The results show a significant improvement in working time for computer operators, using VBA buttons for repetitive tasks.

The circular economy (CE) is a contemporary concept that includes the use of renewable materials and technologies, making sustainability an important part of corporate management. The paper deals with issues related to the current state of learning and management of the application of circular economy concepts—CE. The main purpose of this work is to identify both the interest of industries in the CE field in terms of the principles of eco-design and eco-innovation of sustainable industrial products, as well as the approach and development of the concept during the pandemic period. The authors performed a scientometric analysis in the Web of Science (WOS) database for the CE field, having two search criteria: sustainability and eco-design. As a result, 66 publications from the last five years were retained. Given the higher number of publications in the last three years, CE was found to be a topical area. Out of the 66 publications, using the PRISMA diagram, the authors identified the eligible articles, excluding 15 of them as being only tangential to the CE field and not applied in the industry. Depending on the high frequency of certain keywords, the authors identified three important directions for the CE approach that corroborate and interpret the results obtained: M—management (1); P—packing (2); and L—Learning (3). Following this approach, the authors determined the focus of the manufacturing industries in terms of applying the concepts and principles of CE, thus being able to contribute to the creation of eco-innovation and eco-design practices of industrial products, especially industrial packaging. The paper will also be beneficial for Ph.D. students who show a certain interest in CE and will help develop the following research directions in this field.

To remain competitive on the market with a developed product, it’s very important to analyze the manufacturing costs and times, from the concept stage of the product. Design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) is one of the engineering methods that can be applied to reduce manufacturing costs and times, right from the design stage, without compromising product performance and reliability. The 3D modeling of the tray was made in Solidworks, and for the analysis of it’s manufacture and assembly, the Boothroyd and Dewhurst principle and recommendations from the DFMA software were followed. This paper presents a case study for a subassembly called a tray, used in automatic vertical storage systems. For the redesigned model, substantial improvements were obtained, through cost reductions of 12% and an increase in design efficiency from 4.86 to 12.03. Product analysis using DFMA has proven to be a key point in the development of a product that meets engineers.

Population health and air quality represents the objective of nowadays. Environmental pollution represents its deterioration and involves altering the chemical and structural characteristics of the natural and anthropogenic components of the environment, diminishing the diversity or biological productivity of natural ecosystems, affecting the natural environment with effects on quality of life, mainly caused by pollution. Environmental monitoring becomes a systematic and methodical concern, achieved through various measurement systems, in order to ensure the efficient management of all social activities. The Covid-19 pandemic has left its mark on air quality, reducing the amount of harmful compounds. Consequences of "lockdown" caused by the COVID-19 have been studied in the city Brasov, from Romania country, where the amount of suspended particles of 10 microns, respectively 25 microns.

The sustainable development of humanity imposes precise norms regarding the management of natural resources, their extraction, use, and the introduction in a complex, innovative circuit of the waste resulting from exploitation. The paper deals with some aspects related to the sustainable management of general medical waste on the one hand and the medical waste specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand. Medical waste requires special treatment given its impact on the environment and on humanity. The management of activities related to its storage, transport, destruction is an important point in the sustainable development of mankind, especially in the current context of the pandemic. Medical waste is in a continuous increase in quantity and involves many effects in various activity fields. Through a scientometric study in the Web of Science—WOS database, the authors identify clusters of keywords, analyze the articles identified in the WOS and identify the main research directions and existing concepts. Corroborating and interpreting the results obtained, three significant trends of approach to medical waste are identified: M—management (1); E—exposure (2); and D—distribution (3). An extensive map of the concepts is made, a narrow map of the concepts used, and a theoretical map of the concepts. The link between medical waste and the development of a sustainable society is demonstrated, and it is possible to open new research directions. The scientometric research undertaken on 1192 WOS articles that were published in 2020 led to the selection of 32, focused on issues related to hazardous medical waste, especially of COVID-19 patients. Following this approach, the authors were able to see, by comparison, the different forms of management of this waste in different countries, thus being able to contribute to the creation of procedures for the collection, storage, and destruction of this hazardous waste, with direct influence on the environment.

Purpose – The work approaches the finding of a good sorting combination, starting from the traditional method of selective assembly, so that the control over the precision classes of the bearings is more precise and obtaining management procedures to minimize the resulting waste. Methodology/approach - Systemic optimization through a selective assembly method, regarding the control on the radial play of the radial ball bearings. Findings – Following the application of the selective assembly algorithm, some classifications of the radial clearance in the bearing have resulted, with the help of which some management procedures can be obtained for the reduction of bearing rejects. Research limitations/implications – Limitations regarding the application of the method over a wide range of dimensions. Practical implications – Being a wide range of bearing sizes, the proposed algorithm requires a C +++ programming language, for the automatic calculation and sorting of the bearing components. Originality/value – optimization algorithm by the method of selective assembly.