The global economy is characterized by a progressive complexity, uncertainty, and volatility, which exert intense pressures to organizations and confronts them, with increasing frequency, to disruptive and unexpected events. In such environments, some organizations develop a resilience profile to increase the capacity to anticipate, adapt, and recover equilibrium or even, gain a new advantage position after the disruption. In this research, the factors of organizational resilience (OR) are identified and a structural equations model is developed. The article discusses the theoretical background and the literature of the resilience factors, and proposes their classification, which is used for the development of a questionnaire for the determination of the relative importance of the factors in several industrial sectors. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was validated with the Cronbach’s α coefficient and was applied to a sample of 159 manufacturing companies of the twin plant “maquiladora” industry of Ciudad Juarez, México, using a convenience sampling method. The key driver factors related to the development of OR are identified employing a partial least squares structural equation modeling approach, also is developed a structural model as a predictor of OR and its effectiveness, covering the description of the proposed model. By hypotheses tests, it is verified that resilient leadership explains the role of variables related to the development of OR, having a high influence in the organizational culture and in the capacity to organize and manage operations, being these three contributors, the drivers of the adaptation capacity that has a direct relation to the development of resilience.

The large amount of information handled by organizations has increased their dependance on information technologies, which has made information security management a complex task. This is mainly because they cover areas such as physical and environmental security, organization structure, human resources and the technologies used. Information security frameworks can minimize the complexity through the different documents that contain guidelines, standards, and requirements to establish the procedures, policies, and processes for every organization. However, the selection of an appropriate framework is by itself a critical and important task, as the framework must adapt to the characteristics of an organization. In this paper, a general vision of the newest versions of the NIST CSF, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and MAGERIT frameworks is provided by comparing their characteristics in terms of their approaches to the identification, assessment, and treatment of risks. Furthermore, their key characteristics are analyzed and discussed, which should facilitate the consideration of any of these frameworks for the risk management of complex manufacturing organizations.

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the application of several Six Sigma tools to explain the improvement changes needed in a company that manufactures concrete blocks. The paper explains the methodology and the tools of the Six Sigma system, their use in the project, the application of the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) process for the identification and definition of the problems, the related performance variables and the results obtained.Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports the research made to improve the production of concrete blocks, specifically, the application of the DMAIC process, which is part of the Six Sigma methodologies; DMAIC stands forDefinition of the problem,Measurement of the performance,Analysis using specific statistical methods and tools,Improvement the factors that cause the problem andControl the processes to ensure that the problem will not occur again. Each of those steps is explained in detail in the paper, which also presents the application of other improvement techniques.Findings: The results show the adaptability and relevance of Six Sigma for the improvement of production operations. It is clearly demonstrated that it leads to benefits such as the elimination of machine downtime, reduction of scrap from 18 to 2 per cent and the improvements made in plant layout and production facilities to increase the productivity.Research limitations/implications: In improvement projects, the differential between the initial and final conditions varies, depending on the magnitude of the problems or potential opportunities. Although this paper describes only the application of Six Sigma, the methodology has a wide potential application in most manufacturing industries.Practical implications: With the Six Sigma and DMAIC tools’ application and the improvement process, the agility obtained is driving a more mechanized perspective of production operations. The customer service level was increased, through fast deliveries of complete orders. This project shows that the application of the Six Sigma methodology is feasible and produces attractive financial and operational results in this segment of the construction industry.Originality/value: The companies dedicated to the production of concrete blocks commonly reproduce the systems and standards of the industry, which are commonly designed around civil engineering and technical issues. Thus, the application of improvement tools is exceptional in manufacturing environments. Although this paper is just one application of the methodology, it explains in detail the DMAIC use for companies that are committed to the development of new competencies to increase their competitiveness.

Many hand accidents are reported around the world resulting in a necessity to perform a procedure of amputation of the hand. For this consideration, a large number of hand prostheses have been designed. However, the mechanical design of these prostheses present challenges such as kinematic functionality, strength, and cost. The present article analyses the mechanical design of a low-cost practical hand prosthesis using the finite element method with the help of Abaqus commercial software. Functional and technical requirements were considered to consider the biomechanics of the human hand. The hand prosthesis was conferred with 14-degrees-of-freedom (DOF), which gives it the capacity for grips associated with security, stability, dexterity, and sensibility. Additionally, due to practicality and low-cost manufacturing techniques, fused deposition modelling with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is proposed. The evaluation of the hand prosthesis was carried out by tensile, flexural, and torsional load conditions. Finally, the mechanical effectiveness of the designed prosthesis was demonstrated since maximum stresses close to 13 MPa were computed, which are less than the yield stress of ABS.