Search results

The Research Committee of Aslib has recently approved a programme setting out the broad objectives to be followed by the Research Department over the period 1969–71. The paper that follows summarizes the aims of research during the last five years, briefly reports on the progress made, and outlines plans for the future.

This paper analyzes managerial practices currently used for outsourced logistics activities in mechanized cutting, loading and transportation (CLT) of sugarcane in a Brazilian company using performance-based logistics contracts (PBL) as reference.

The methodology draws on literature review, design of an analysis model, small group meetings with academics/industry professionals and practical application through a case study. The model is based on PBL and its construction involved choosing the analysis axes, defining evaluation items and respective measurement scale and the means and sources of data collection.

When comparing the evaluation results with PBL recommendations, it is possible to see that there are still many improvement opportunities. In contracting axis, decision-making process was poor-rated due to the absence of strategic considerations to support outsourcing decision. Procurement, contract and implementation are in intermediate level. Performance management is the most mature axis. However, quality analysis showed intermediate level. In relationship axis, the most relevant gap is the lack of expectations alignment. Remaining items showed intermediate levels of compliance but still need focusing on communication, establishing a structured relationship management development.

This study contributes first to develop an analysis model based on PBL to evaluate the level of relationship integration between company and logistics service provider, and second, to apply the model to an empirical case in a CLT company operation. As a result, the analysis model presents guidelines for the company, not to just contract/rent equipment and manpower but hire results.

ANOTHER document has been added to the Denkmaler of British librarianship with the publication of the Library Association's evidence to the Roberts Committee. Most librarians will have now read it and started to form their own opinions and I suppose it is too much to expect that there will be complete agreement. It will be a pity if there is undue criticism or parochialism as on the whole this must be considered a very fair Statement of library policy.

Addresses the way in which Conserves Modernes Chtaura (CMC) of Lebanon is tackling the challenges of increased competition in the Lebanese food industry. Describes the company’s attempts to re‐structure its supply chain to improve links with farmers and raise quality standards, as the Lebanon enters a new era of food processing. Concludes that the continuous globalisation of food markets will necessitate the elimination of all subsidies and import control policies currently operated by the Lebanese government. Food processing will be transformed by a much higher degree of complementarity with the farming industry, through vertical alliances, and with the retail industry, through improved supply chain management. Gives the most important strategies that CMC are currently pursuing.

During the beginning of the 1970s it became apparent to the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's library service that the mechanized information revolution was upon us. We had taken part in a number of investigations which indicated that the technology was well developed and reliable. We knew, in addition, that large‐scale commercial services were available. What we did not know was what the real value of these external services was to the Ministry. They were all derived from very familiar printed secondary journals. Did mechanized operation offer substantial advantages? Was the cost justified? How could mechanized operations fit into the present library activities? If mechanized services did offer improved facilities, what administrative arrangements were necessary? It was decided, therefore, to attempt to answer these questions by the evaluation of external computer‐based bibliographic information services under practical conditions.

This study aims to research the large cross-section tunnel stability evaluation method corrected after considering the thickness-span ratio.

First, taking the Liuyuan Tunnel of Huanggang-Huangmei High-Speed Railway as an example and taking deflection of the third principal stress of the surrounding rock at a vault after tunnel excavation as the criterion, the critical buried depth of the large section tunnel was determined. Then, the strength reduction method was employed to calculate the tunnel safety factor under different rock classes and thickness-span ratios, and mathematical statistics was conducted to identify the relationships of the tunnel safety factor with the thickness-span ratio and the basic quality (BQ) index of the rock for different rock classes. Finally, the influences of thickness-span ratio, groundwater, initial stress of rock and structural attitude factors were considered to obtain the corrected BQ, based on which the stability of a large cross-section tunnel with a depth of more than 100 m during mechanized operation was analyzed. This evaluation method was then applied to Liuyuan Tunnel and Cimushan No. 2 Tunnel of Chongqing Urban Expressway for verification.

This study shows that under different rock classes, the tunnel safety factor is a strict power function of the thickness-span ratio, while a linear function of the BQ to some extent. It is more suitable to use the corrected BQ as a quantitative index to evaluate tunnel stability according to the actual conditions of the site.

The existing industry standards do not consider the influence of buried depth and span in the evaluation of tunnel stability. The stability evaluation method of large section tunnel considering the correction of overburden span ratio proposed in this paper achieves higher accuracy for the stability evaluation of surrounding rock in a full or large-section mechanized excavation of double line high-speed railway tunnels.

In this study, the authors explore how novel and relevant technologies can change the overall design of systems, and which factors influence the design of resilient systems in particular. After evaluating the effects of these factors, the authors describe the potential role of AM-supported maintenance operations in military logistics and draw broader conclusions regarding designing for resilience.

The authors build a simulation model of the AM-supported maintenance capability of a mechanised battalion to analyse factors affecting its resilience. AM production capacity specifically refers to metal printing and was verified by data generated from 3D printing of the actual APC parts.

The current AM speed is not able to increase resilience at the depot level, so at present, increasing the spare parts inventory is a better way to improve resilience. However, with future improvements in speed the AM may become feasible in battlefield maintenance.

AM holds great promise in increasing resilience of especially the spare part logistics. At present technology, it is not yet fully realised in the case.

The authors suggest a concrete system performance measure, where reaching a concrete limit, system resilience is lost. The authors present arguments for a definition of resilience where pre-disruption activities are not part of resilience. The authors maintain that simulation, with its ability to include detail, is well-suited in design-for-resilience because supply chains are context dependent and disruptions unexpected.

The highest possible compliment to the manufacturing skills of Automotive Products was paid last year when the Soviet Union signed a £4 million‐plus contract to make the Borg & Beck DST clutch under licence using AP's manufacturing technology. This article reviews the mechanised assembly methods which are being licensed to the Soviets.

At the beginning of the 1970s it became apparent to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food that the use of computers for information work merited serious consideration. We had taken part in investigations which indicated that the technology was well developed and reliable. We knew that large scale commercial services were available. What we did not know was the real value of these external services to the Ministry. All the databases concerned were derived from very familiar printed secondary journals. Did mechanized operation offer substantial advantages? Was the cost justified? How could mechanized operations fit into the present library activities? If the use of computers did offer improved facilities, what administrative arrangements were necessary? It was decided, therefore, to attempt to answer these questions by the evaluation of external computer‐based bibliographic information services under practical conditions.

Document retrival systems are designed and implemented for the purpose of satisfying the information needs of a group of users, and the final stage of the technical processes required is the search of the stored file of documents or document surrogates. Studies of many aspects of retrieval systems have been made, but work has concentrated on the indexing or input stage, and little attention has been paid to the search or output stage.