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Reviews some of the more important technologies used for fabricating microcomponents and systems – bulk silicon micromachining, surface micromachining and LIGA, a process for forming deep microstructures by lithography, electroforming and moulding. Discusses the relative merits of using synchroton, electron beam and excimer laser irradiation. Gives a comb actuator and an electrostatic motor as examples of micromachined components.

At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Institute of Circuit Technology held on Tuesday, 20th November 1979, a resolution was passed which allowed companies trading in the circuit technology industry to become affiliated to the Institute. To mark that historical decision the Council decided to organise a trade exhibition to be held concurrently with the Annual Symposium, Brunel 80.

The Science Research Council has opened a mask‐making facility at the Rutherford Laboratory based on the EBMF‐2 Electron Beam Microfabricator. Ancillary equipment designed to support the EBM resolves features down to 1 micron or below. The paper discusses the principles, design parameters and the performance of the EBM and outlines mask manufacturing procedure.

The purpose of this study is to rank additive manufacturing (AM) processes for microfabrication using integrated fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS).

AM technology selection is formulated as multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and ranking is obtained using fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS. Five candidate processes considered are laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), microstereolithography, micro-selective laser sintering (micro-SLS), inkjet, micro 3D printing.

Criteria weights are obtained using fuzzy AHP, and ranking is obtained using fuzzy TOPSIS. The top ranked criteria include material compatibility, geometrical complexity and minimum feature size. The ranking sequence is LIFT > microstereolithography > micro-SLS > inkjet > micro-3D printing.

In the present study, ten criteria and five alternatives are used. In future, additional criteria and alternatives could be considered in line with technological advancements.

The generated ranking enabled the selection of appropriate AM process for microfabrication.

The application of hybrid MCDM approach for ranking AM processes for microfabrication is the contribution of the study.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how collaborative contracts can improve industrial maintenance contract relationships.

The research compares performance contracts with collaborative contracts, a new contract type whereby the contract parties align their objectives. The study uses game theory and describes the contract types as mechanism designs to compare the contract types. The mechanisms are validated with case studies. The utility of the contract types is verified with Monte Carlo simulations using expert opinions.

The research demonstrates that, under certain conditions, collaborative contracts result in a higher utility than performance contracts for all contract parties.

The use of collaborative contracts between an operator of a technical system and a maintenance organisation reduces maintenance costs and improves the availability of the technical system, increasing the utility for all contract parties.

The collaborative contract is a new contract type for maintenance services and the research method provides a new approach to optimise industrial maintenance contract relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to address the increasingly important issue of the impact of product design on supply chain risk management in an era of global supply arrangements. The need to include product design considerations in the development of global supply chain strategies is highlighted.

The research methodology is based on an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a major UK retailer. Data collection tools included observation of supplier meetings/workshops, semi‐structured interviews and access to key company documentation and archives.

This paper provides a framework for design‐led supply chain risk management and thus presents a case for recognising design as more than a creative function but as a platform to manage risk in supply chains.

The empirical research reported in this paper is specific to the clothing manufacturing and fashion retail industry. Though the findings will most likely apply to all industries and supply chains where design has an integral role and plays an important part in the competitiveness of the final product, there would be benefit in extending the research into other sectors.

The increased trends to outsourcing and offshore sourcing and the elimination of trade barriers have added to the competitive pressures faced by clothing retailers, hence frameworks to manage supply chain risks are significant to the survival of companies from this sector.

Whilst there is a growing literature in the field of supply chain risk there is less empirical evidence providing practical examples of the impact of product design on risk. Design‐led risk management offers a novel approach to mitigating supply chain risk.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a practical means of incorporating ecological capital into the framework of business entities. Investors and shareholders need to be informed of the viability and sustainability of their investments. Ecological (natural) capital risks are becoming more significant. Exposure to material risk from primary industry is a significant factor for primary processing, pharmaceutical, textile and the financial industry. A means of assessing the changes to ecological capital assets and their effect on inflows and outflows of economic benefit is important information for stakeholder communication.

This paper synthesises a body of literature from accounting, ecological economics, ecosystem services, modelling, agriculture and ecology to propose a way to fill current gaps in the capability to account for ecological capital. It develops the idea of the ecological balance sheet (EBS) to enable application of familiar methods of managing built and financial capital to management of ecological assets (ecosystems that provide goods and services).

The EBS is possible, practical and useful. A form of double-entry bookkeeping can be developed to allow accrual accounting principles to be applied to these assets. By using an EBS, an entity can improve its capability to increase inflows and avoid future outflows of economic benefit.

Although major efforts are under-way around the world to improve business impact on natural resources, these efforts have been unable to satisfactorily help individual businesses elucidate the practical economic and competitive advantages conferred by investment in ecological capital. This work provides a way for businesses to learn about what the impact of changes to ecological assets has on inflows and outflows of economic benefit to their enterprise and how to invest in ecological capital to reduce their enterprise’s material risk and create competitive advantage.

No one has synthesised knowledge and practice across these disciplines into a practical approach. This approach is the first demonstration of how ecological assets can be managed in the same way as built capital by using proven practices of accounting.

This paper aims to discuss whether recent theoretical and practical approaches within industrial safety management might be applicable to, and solve challenges experienced in, the field of information security, specifically related to incident management.

A literature review was carried out.

Principles, research and experiences on the issues of plans, training and learning in the context of industrial safety management would be suitable for adoption into the field of information security incident management and aid in addressing current challenges.

There are a number of reasons why approaches from industrial safety management have something to offer to information security incident management: the former field is more mature and has longer traditions, there is more organizational research on industrial safety issues than on information security issues so far, individual awareness is higher for industrial safety risks and worker participation in systematic industrial safety work is ensured by law. More organizational research on information security issues and continuous strengthening of individual security awareness would push information security to further maturity levels where current challenges are solved.

This paper shows that the field of information security incident management would gain from closer collaborations with industrial safety management, both in research and in practical loss prevention in organizations. The ideas discussed in this paper form a basis for further research on practical implementations and case studies.

The main audience of this paper includes information security researchers and practitioners, as they will find inspirational theories and experiences to bring into their daily work and future projects.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific stages of the humanitarian logistics process in which the agile and lean principles are needed.

To achieve this purpose, the authors propose an original conceptual framework and apply it to evidence from a “best practice” case study in the humanitarian sector: the United Nations World Food Programme and its efforts in the Darfur (Sudan) crisis.

Although several previous works introduced the agile principle as suitable for disaster relief, when and how to embrace the agile and lean principles remained unclear. This paper demonstrates the proper combination of the agile and lean principles in disaster relief phases. The correspondence is based on the coincidence of the objectives that arises in every stage and that each principle is capable of achieving.

Further empirical research is needed to support the framework and to enrich the results that arise from this first explorative work.

The proposed framework is targeted at leading actors involved in the operation and planning of humanitarian logistics when a crisis emerges. This approach, which is based on the combination of the agile and lean principles, is not exclusive to the humanitarian sector. This perspective may be useful to create business logistics that address disruptions to traditional supply chain flows and other forces that disrupt logistics, production and information handling.

The paper clarifies how agility and leanness should be emphasised in specific stages of the humanitarian logistics process, to reach a higher level of effectiveness and efficiency when planning disaster relief.

Information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) is a commonly utilized IT service management execution technique that helps IT services to be planned, designed, selected, operated and continuously improved. ITIL procedures are utilized to measure the efficiency of IT service management procedures and their association with the accelerated system development of cloud systems. The challenges faced in IT deployment and maintenance management significantly restrict cloud computing services' reliability. Therefore, this article aims to review a comprehensive study of the role of cloud computing on the ITIL processes.

Each enterprise strives to stay competitive in the market and offers the services its consumers are looking for, all in line with cost-effectiveness and client needs. The ITIL framework provides best practice guidance for IT service management that includes a collection of ample publications supplying detailed guidelines on the management of IT functions, processes, responsibilities and roles associated with IT service management. On the other hand, the way companies employ IT services with an effect on the role of enterprise infrastructure is altered by cloud computing. Hence, the investigation makes utilization of a systematic literature review (SLR) detailing crucial success factors of cloud computing execution in ITIL. The authors have recognized 35 valuable contributions, providing a comprehensive view of study in this field, of which 22 papers were found according to some filters that have been analyzed in this article. Selected articles are presented in two groups, including cloud service and cloud service providers.

Owing to the overall expense of execution and problems with combining the ITIL approach with the existing organizational IT strategic strategy, ITIL adoption has begun to wane over the last few years. An established methodology for ITIL deployment that will assure long-term success for those wanting to use private cloud procurement will be the most important inference that can be taken from this article. ITIL offers a perfect platform to execute and support cloud applications effectively. IT will prevent cloud sprawl and instability, reduce the likelihood of service interruption and optimize customer loyalty by merging humans, procedures and technologies into hybrid environments.

This survey is more aimed at specialists such as IT experts; so, further evaluations must also be carried out in order to understand the company's views on the risks and advantages of adopting ITIL. In addition, non-English articles are not discussed in this article.

The study outcomes would help suppliers of cloud computing services assess their service quality and ensure customer satisfaction with the quality of cloud computing services. The outcomes will also supply a reference for cloud infrastructure customers to assess and choose various kinds of cloud computing services.

An SLR with perspectives from ITIL professionals and business studies is the benefit of this report. By offering a more thorough framework that helps companies achieve efficiency, effectiveness and creativity in ITIL execution, this article would be useful for ITIL clients, decision-makers and developers.