Defects are considered as one of the wastes in manufacturing systems that negatively affect the delivery times, cost and quality of products leading to manufacturing companies facing a critical situation with the customers and to not comply with the IPC-A-610E standard for the acceptability of electronic components. This is the case is a manufacturing company located in Tijuana, Mexico. Due to an increasing demand on the products manufactured by this company, several defects have been detected in the welding process of electronic boards, as well as in the components named Thru-Holes. It is for this reason that this paper presents a lean manufacturing application case study. The objective of this research is to reduce at least 20% the defects that are generated during the welding process. In addition, it is intended to increase 20% the capacity of three double production lines where electronic boards are processed. As method, the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, is applied. The Pareto charts and the flowchart are used as support tools. As results, defects decreased 65%, 79%, and 77% in three analyzed product models. As conclusion, the PDCA cycle, the Pareto charts, and the flowchart are excellent quality tools that help to decrease the number of defective components.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine period determined that university students (human resource) in Mexico had adopted the online class modality, which required them to adapt themselves to new technologies and environmental conditions that are different from classrooms at their university. Specifically, these new environmental conditions can be uncomfortable and have an impact on the students’ academic performance. Consequently, the present study aims to determine the impact that the lighting, noise, and temperature levels (independent variables) have on academic performance (dependent variable) in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, a questionnaire was developed, which was applied to 206 university students online, and a structural equation model was built that integrates the four variables through three hypotheses, which were statistically validated through the partial least squares method. Results showed that temperature, lighting, and noise have significant direct effects on university students’ academic performance. As a conclusion, it was obtained that the three independent variables have an impact in the sustainability of university students (human resource).

Foodborne diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies have shown that the knowledge, attitude, and practices of food handlers are important factors in preventing foodborne illness. The purpose of this research is to assess the effects of training interventions on knowledge, attitude, and practice on food safety and hygiene among food handlers at different stages of the food supply chain. To this end, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis with close adherence to the PRISMA guidelines. We searched for training interventions among food handlers in five databases. Randomized control trials (RCT), quasi-RCTs, controlled before–after, and nonrandomized designs, including pre–post studies, were analyzed to allow a more comprehensive assessment. The meta-analysis was conducted using the random-effects model to calculate the effect sizes (Hedges’s g) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Out of 1094 studies, 31 were included. Results showed an effect size of 1.24 (CI = 0.89–1.58) for knowledge, an attitude effect size of 0.28 (CI = 0.07–0.48), and an overall practice effect size of 0.65 (CI = 0.24–1.06). In addition, subgroups of self-reported practices and observed practices presented effect sizes of 0.80 (CI = 0.13–1.48) and 0.45 (CI = 0.15–0.76) respectively.

Managers implement several Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices to improve sustainability and economic performance, such as environmental management systems (EMS), eco-design (ED), source reduction (SR) and attending to external environmental management (EEM) requirements; however, the relationship among them requires a deep study. This paper reports the case of the Mexican maquiladora industry, analyzing the main relationships among GSCM practices with environmental impact (EI) and environmental cost savings (ECS). The analysis reports three structural equation models (SEM) developed as simple, second-order, and mediating models. Those relationships are tested using 160 responses to a survey applied to the Mexican maquiladora industry and with partial least squares algorithms (PLS), where conditional probabilities for different scenarios in latent variables are also reported. Findings indicate that EMS has a direct effect on EI (β = 0.442) and ECS (β = 0.227), indicating that EMS reduces EI and cost associated with the production process; however, ED has no direct effect on EI (β = 0.019) and ECS ((β = 0.006), and it can be due to the maquiladora nature as foreign companies focused on manufacturing and not to product design.

Poor workstation designs represent a risk factor for operators in assembly production lines. Anthropometric design of workstations facilitates the sustainable development of the workplace. This paper proposes a novel integrated approach about work standardization and anthropometric workstation design as a strategy to increase human factor performance as well as the productivity index in manufacturing companies. The integrating approach is presented through a case study in a publishing press company with operators who perform manual and mechanical tasks in production lines in the box assembly department. Currently, the company’s production capacity is below demand, and in order to satisfy customers’ requirements, the company pays a lot of overtime to operators. In order to solve this problem, the integrated approach was applied. The findings indicated that inefficient movements and body postures in operators decreased from 230 to 78, and the standard time was reduced from 244 to 199 s for each assembled box. In addition, the production rate increased by 229 units per assembly line per day, and overtime was eliminated. Therefore, the novel integrated approach allows the increase of sustainability in the company and the operators’ well-being by making a better use of the human factor, eliminating overtime, and increasing production capacity.