Search results

Most organisations experience difficulties when implementing and developing SPC. The mistakes can be avoided. This paper provides the framework for the successful introduction of Statistical Process Control.

Argues that Statistical process control is not limited solely to manufacturing applications and that major benefits are to be gained from introducing SPC in administrative and staff support functions. Considers that improving service delivery requires constant measurement against established standards of performance. Describes the key features of SPC programmes. Contends that control charts on their own will not result in improvement. Discusses the use of SPC techniques and asserts that, although not easy to implement, for those organisations which are beginning to introduce them in non‐manufacturing areas, the potential for improvement in quality of service is considerable.

It came originally as a suggestion from Ford Motor Company: a university‐based institute that could function as an industrial club, providing a clearing house on information on sensor technology and capabilities for conducting and sponsoring its own research in sensor technology of industrial relevance. Ford looked to Southampton to provide such a facility, and the result was that in 1987, the University of Southampton Institute of Transducer Technology was born. The only remarkable fact about it was that given the prevalence of sensor technology, no one had thought of it before.

Discusses Shewhart’s control charts and how they have been confined traditionally to the shopfloor in manufacturing industry. Contends that now practitioners are leading a growing interest in the charts’ wider application in areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, and inventory management. Shewhart discovered that variation in a process can result either from common causes (part of the process) or special causes (not part of the process). Shewhart’s charts enable us to learn about processes and improve them with the aid of his plan‐do‐study‐act continuous improvement cycle. Research conducted in Japan showed that companies which won the Deming Prize consistently outperformed the averages in financial measures for the industry.

To be successful, the voice of the customer needs to be matched to the voice of the process. SPC can be used to close that gap by defining the type of variation that causes the mis‐match.

Anti‐reductionist social theory is a relatively ‘new’ but methodically eclectic body of theory which analyses the complexity of the tripartite theory, policy and practice. The work of Roger Sibeon (1996, 1999 and 2004) has contributed to a sensitising frame work in regard to a sociology of knowledge: generating epistemic narratives for theoretical construction and re‐construction, contrasting to a substantive sociology for knowledge based upon methodological generalisations for empirical or practical use: although the of/for distinction is not inflexible as there are circumstances when they form a process of what Powell and Longino (2001) call ‘articulation’: a united or connected analysis of/for theorising and practice.

The international nuclear community continues to face the challenge of managing both the legacy waste and the new wastes that emerge from ongoing energy production. The UK is in the early stages of proposing a new convention for its nuclear industry, that is: waste minimisation through closely managing the radioactive source which creates the waste. This paper proposes a new technique (called waste and source material operability study (WASOP)) to qualitatively analyse a complex, waste‐producing system to minimise avoidable waste and thus increase the protection to the public and the environment.

WASOP critically considers the systemic impact of up and downstream facilities on the minimisation of nuclear waste in a facility. Based on the principles of HAZOP, the technique structures managers' thinking on the impact of mal‐operations in interlinking facilities in order to identify preventative actions to reduce the impact on waste production of those mal‐operations.'

WASOP was tested with a small group of experienced nuclear regulators and was found to support their qualitative examination of waste minimisation and help them to work towards developing a plan of action.

Given the newness of this convention, the wider methodology in which WASOP sits is still in development. However, this paper communicates the latest thinking from nuclear regulators on decision‐making methodology for supporting waste minimisation and is hoped to form part of future regulatory guidance. WASOP is believed to have widespread potential application to the minimisation of many other forms of waste, including that from other energy sectors and household/general waste.

The aim of the study is to determine the ethical concept of the companies’ statements and correlations with each other. Therefore, content analysis with quantitative methods were applied to the formal and written documents of 192 companies. In addition, corporate characteristics were determined. Consequently, statements were determined in 36 different subject areas. Among these, “high quality production” is the most frequently mentioned subject, while “supplier satisfaction” and “union relations” are the least. Also, “human resources” is the most, while “environmental issues” are the least examined subjects in the context of business functions. Companies’ ethical statements are affected by their year of establishment, the number of personnel, market values and ISO certificates.

Explores the changing relationship between work and leisure with particular reference to women’s equality in economic and other activities through a review of the history of leisure opportunities since the industrial revolution; indicates the ways in which social and economic changes have had a major impact on women’s leisure needs and activities. Focuses in particular on the provision of workplace fitness facilities, undertaking a survey of more than 200 companies across a number of industry sectors (the rationale for selection is outlined here) to discover the reasons behind such provision and the actual facilities provided; identifies the reasons behind provision as primarily commercial (e.g. being seen as an additional benefit to help recruit high quality employees) and notes that assessment of user group needs was not carried out, with the result that women’s particular needs tended not to be taken into account, for example gyms (favoured by men) being more widely provided than space for aerobic exercise (favoured by women). Concludes that the findings strongly suggest that women remain unequal in their leisure as well as working lives.