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Europe's first exhibition and conference combining machine vision and automatic identification technology was held in Sindelfingen, just south of Stuttgart, at the end of June. The event attracted some 2,500 visitors, many from the surrounding Baden‐Wurttemberg area which has a concentration of high technology industries. Don Braggins of Machine Vision Systems Consultancy reports on the synergy between the two events.

This paper describes the application of rough set theory to equipment productivity estimate. Rough set theory offers a novel approach both in generation of rules and statistical classification of the equipment productivity data. The approach is based on upper and lower approximations of a set in terms of positive, negative and boundary regions. The information about the equipment productivity is organized in productivity information table. The table contains data about the object of interest characterized in terms of some attributes. The paper is more of an exploratory research to determine how rough set theory can be applicable to specific construction engineering problems.

Aims to discover the different technologies used in warehouse stock control.

The paper begins with a review of optical and radio‐frequency product‐labelling technologies, and then examines various devices and systems for reading these labels and integrating stock control into back‐office databases. It then looks at techniques for finding the goods within the warehouse, from simple address labels to radar positioning and inertial navigation, considering both operator‐based and guided vehicle handling systems.

Labelling technologies facilitate automatic product identification. Rugged handheld computers with wireless communications give real‐time capability and integrate stock control into wider software systems for efficient resource management. Speech synthesis provides one man‐machine interface enabling workers to order‐pick under database control. Automated readers record products entering and leaving the warehouse, theoretically removing the need for stock taking. Automatic guided vehicles are now available to stack and retrieve goods in the warehouse.

Provides engineers with an overview of the diversity of solutions employed in warehouse stock handling.

Copystatic Ltd entered the photocopying sales and maintenance market‐place in tire early 1970s, going through a boom and then a price war. In order to stay in business, the company took the decision to offer customers added value in the form of quality field service, or “uptime”. It recognised a need to have more effective control over its servicing activities and it was decided that a computer system would be the only effective solution. Consultants were commissioned to locate suitable software, but none existed, so the company was forced to develop the system in‐house. After nine years of development and £2 million of investment, the system, known as Copystatic software, is now the market‐leading management information system for organisations involved in field service and repair. During the early part of 1987, Copystatic was awarded BS 5750 certification from the British Standards Institution for excellence in customer engineering services. Without a computer system to control such a vast service operation, this would have been impossible to achieve.

This chapter explores connections of the assessment of learning at the programmatic level and the humanitarian mission of higher education. To highlight typical aspects of assessment routines, we examine the experiences and processes of a small department in the college in the United States focusing on two themes: concerns about assessment culture and concerns about assessment data. Assessment of student learning falls under the umbrella of regular faculty work. However, these activities become contradictory if we reflect on assessment as cultural labor discussed through layers of alienation and distribution of labor among part-time, full-time faculty and students. Further, discussing data practices, we question the philosophy of datafication, or tendency to measure any aspect of learning with presumed objectivity, as well other data routines. To address the limitations of assessment from the humanistic point of view we call to develop a dialogue in order to provide opportunities for justice to students, faculty, and data. Such opportunities can emerge from honest discussions of faculty labor in the assessment engagement and reframing assessment as a research process.

Presents a series of articles on each of the following topics: digital strategy in the next millennium (Digital strategy – a model for the millennium; Searching for the next competitive edge; The technology link; Value web management opportunities; clash of the Titans: communications companies battle for new ground; and a guide through the maze); retailing and distribution in the digital era (The business case for electronic commerce; superdistribution spells major changes; VF Corp. sews up software operation; IBM seeks to harness digital revolution; Egghead’s bold move to a Web‐based strategy; achieving successful Internet banking; and enterprising uses for IT); and the changing shape of the aviation industry (boom times ahead for air cargo; United Airlines flies high through employee ownership; Asian practices to West at Cathay Pacific; and Ryannair strips to the bone).

Involvement in the effective design and use of computer‐based information systems is essential for the manager of the 1990s. To be most effective, systems must be designed for the requirements of the manager‐user. Too often there is a communication gap between managers who are too busy, uninterested or unwilling to become directly involved, on the one hand, and on the other, the consultant who is more usually engrossed in the special nature of the system. The author aims to provide an up‐to‐date and integrated treatment of organisation and management, as well as to emphasise the utilisation of management information systems to improve the art of managing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine new directions for diversity scholarship in the context of future of work or advanced technological shifts that are impacting organizations and society. It proposes that both new opportunities and challenges are likely to emerge for individuals and offers considerations around ethics, inequalities and global dimensions as relevant conversations within this domain.

The paper provides an overview of new technological advances in the domains of artificial intelligence, automation and the gig economy. It then layers considerations related to diversity within this context, focusing on issues of relevance to mainstream, critical and transnational traditions within diversity scholarship.

It is likely that technological shifts will impact several domains of diversity scholarship including how we define “diversity,” and the value and appropriateness of using advanced technologies to replace certain jobs that are predominantly held by underrepresented groups. Furthermore, the paper outlines ways in which bias, ethical considerations and emergent digital inequalities will become important conversations within diversity research in the context of future of work.

This paper brings together diversity scholarship and future of work conversations in assessing the ways such research and trends will intersect and provides insights about future directions that diversity-focused research should take to address and understand the consequences of rapid technological advances for inclusion.