Search results

Re‐engineering is the latest in a long line of performance improvement programmes with which US industry has experimented during the last decade. The radical approach taken by re‐engineering is the main characteristic setting it apart from any of its predecessors. Re‐engineering is based on the premiss that the best way for a corporation to make significant improvements is to take a clean sheet of paper and ask itself “if I were to start this company over from the beginning, what would I do?” Now, two years after the introduction of this unusual approach, many corporations are finding their efforts have failed. By analysing these case studies, several key topics have arisen which explain why some organizations have completed their re‐engineering programmes without meeting their expectations. First discusses re‐engineering in detail, and then addresses several of these recent developments.

Re‐engineering is losing its place at the top of the fashionable management methodologies. This is perhaps because it has failed to deliver its promised range of benefits. In turn, this is because the practice of implementing re‐engineering is complex ‐ more complex than is realised by many who understand the simple concept behind re‐engineering but fail to think through the many factors associated with making the change. Suggests that many managers have too simplistic a view of re‐engineering; outlines critical success factors, and sets out an approach to delivering the full potential of re‐engineering.

The key to successful project management is knowing how well the process is performing to prevent problems rather than fix them after they occur. Success measurement in product development has emphasized end‐result measures of overall project performance or economic value. The product development literature has largely ignored process performance (i.e., the measurement of how effectively the product development process is actually working). Process performance may be an early warning signal of downstream problems in a project's quality, time, or productivity. This paper proposes a model of process performance at the project level during product and process engineering. The model suggests that process performance mediates the influence of concurrent engineering (process choice) on overall project development performance. This process performance model is tested in the automobile industry using a sample of 406 product development projects in Germany and the USA. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Re‐engineering is a “hot” topic for managers. Many are aware of the spectacular claims made for re‐engineering; fewer realize the infrastructure necessary to apply re‐engineering successfully. Suggests that organizations have a simplistic or a limited view of the potential of re‐engineering; outlines critical success factors that organizations must be aware of, and sets out approaches to delivering the real potential of re‐engineering through a structured approach to interpreting the basic concepts

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Collaborative working using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems in construction has become a reality as many activities are performed globally with actors located in various geographical locations. Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) is the type of ICT system that binds a fragmented and geographically distributed set of construction stakeholders collaborating together. Although the concept of CIC has been the subject of research for many years, its uptake has been very limited due to the development of the technology and its effective implementation. Research in this area is still premature and does not pay much attention to the development and implementation of the prototypes in the industry. As a result, the research developments have remained as prototypes although they have captured industrial interest. However, ongoing research within the field of construction IT is stressing that it is crucial to define research methodologies for human centred and adaptive CIC developments through industry‐wide knowledge sharing. The aim of this paper, through triangulated research strategy of interviews, surveys and case study is to justify the need for a requirements engineering process as a CIC development methodology for adaptive and user‐centred systems developments and as a guideline to bridge the gap between industry and the research community. The case study project is the DIVERCITY system development undertaken by researchers and practitioners across Europe to develop a shared virtual construction design and briefing environment that enables the construction industry to better undertake the client briefing and design review phases of a construction project.

This paper aims at proposing a process of requirements engineering for the human centred, adaptive computer integrated construction systems development through industry wide information sharing.

The research strategy is based on case study research methodology. The EU‐funded DIVERCITY project was analysed. This project was undertaken by a European consortium of researchers and practitioners from the construction industry. They developed a virtual environment that enables the industry to undertake collaboratively the client briefing and design reviews and the construction stages.

DIVERCITY's requirements engineering approach has the potential to provide opportunities for research to determine the appropriate requirements engineering techniques for the development of the systems and their effective implementation in the construction industry.

The main contribution of the research is the construction of the requirements engineering process for the development of the computer integrated construction systems.

Recent surveys show that process‐reengineering (BPR) has had widespread adoption in western countries. This has been motivated by case studies where drastic improvements in quality, productivity, cost reduction and competitiveness have been reported. The rate of failure in re‐engineering attempts, though, has been reported to be equally high. It is estimated that over 70 per cent of all re‐engineering attempts fail to produce bottom‐line improvements. Describes one such failed attempt in a large public organization in Brazil. As a result of the re‐engineering attempt, the organization had its IT infrastructure significantly improved, and the access to IT was decentralized by the downsizing of computer applications from a mainframe to a local area network. On the other hand, no radical changes in the organization’s business processes had resulted, despite the US$ 8 million invested in the BPR attempt. Moreover, even though some processes had been automated, almost no staff reduction was effected. The lack of layoffs meant that even the increase in efficiency in those processes, which by no means was radical, was not realized.

Describes a set of re‐engineering strategies that critically examine current business policies, practices and procedures (3Ps), rethink these 3Ps and then redesign some mission‐critical “products, processes, and services.” The term process improvement implies that the change or effort is directed towards an array of re‐engineering strategies. Process improvement efforts are categorized into four primary re‐engineering strategies: a set of continuous process improvement (CPI) tactics, a set of restructuring tactics, a set of organizational traits, and a set of renovation tactics. Discusses how these four re‐engineering strategies can be logically combined in a concurrent fashion to achieve significant process improvements. Introduces two new hybrid re‐engineering strategies for process improvements that have been found quite useful at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Accounts.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of Industrial Management & Data Systems is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Industrial Management; Industrial Engineering and Work Study; Industrial Design; Quality Management; Manufacturing Strategy and Production; Information Systems.