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Performance improvement for requirements planning systems is an issue which receives wide interest. Many programming approaches have been proposed to improve material requirements planning procedures. However, most of them appear to be too complex for large manufacturing problems. Alternatively it might be promising to explore the integration of materials requirements planning and capacity requirements planning. Several simple heuristics for integrated requirements planning systems are suggested. Several heuristics are offered to balance the load in the systems and several procedures presented to adjust the planned requirements so that the system will execute more smoothly. An industrial example supports the adequacy of the general concepts provided in this research. Results are presented which demonstrate the adequacy of these heuristics, and illustrate the ease of implementing the procedures into any MRP system.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

Key components of the logistics mix are described in an effort to create an understanding of the total logistics concept. Chapters include an introduction to logistics; the strategic role of logistics, customer service levels, channel relationships, facilities location, transport, inventory management, materials handling, interface with production, purchasing and materials management, estimating demand, order processing, systems performance, leadership and team building, business resource management.

A workstation‐based system for materials planning is intended to complement a host‐based materials‐planning system, thereby leading to a multi‐level system that combines fully detailed planning procedures with “aggregate” decision support capabilities. Planning objects as well as planning procedures are formulated within the relational database frame‐work. By that means, at execution time the database management system guarantees processing efficiency as well as consistency control. After a short characterisation of the state‐of‐the‐art of database utilisation in conventional materials planning, a set of requirements which have to be met by the proposed approach is formulated. Based on this, the suitability of the relational database model as a framework for multi‐stage materials planning is discussed. In particular, the integration of abstraction hierarchies is emphasised and hierarchical planning procedures adopted from artificial intelligence are integrated into the concept. Some examples adopted from a prototype show that, at least for simple planning problems, it is possible to achieve end‐user support at any level of detail when using a relational database system for materials planning.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate requirements, benefits and inhibitors of scenario planning in strategic decision-making.

This paper is based on a sample of 15 case studies with executives in the South African context to reveal the perceived corporate requirements, benefits and inhibitors of scenario-planning.

From the cases, it is evident that industry-, organizational- and leadership-related factors enable or inhibit scenario planning. Requirements, benefits and inhibitors are revealed in strategic decision-making.

Further research to determine supportive tools and technologies for enabling scenario-planning across multiple contexts is needed.

This paper expands insights into the requirements, benefits and inhibitors of scenario-planning in strategic decision-making.

Given the increasing complexity of the business environment, a framework of scenario-thinking is presented and recommend greater emphasis on developing strategic decision-making competence, changed mindsets and organizational agility.

This study aims to demonstrate how the process of quality function deployment (QFD) is used to identify the basic requirements of the customers in designing and executing the commercial business center.

This study was considered with the aim of determining the approach of QFD methodology used in the planning and designing of commercial business centers. The methodology used in the study is a customer-driven process that includes customer requirements in each and every aspect of the planning and designing of the project. The main focus of this study is to understand the requirements of the customers and to design and execute a commercial business project.

This study illustrates the quality requirements of the projects that benefit from the QFD process to obtain customer requirements for the planning and designing of commercial business centers. A case study is used to demonstrate the use of QFD process. This helps to explain the effective application of QFD in the planning and designing of business centers and similar constructions.

The planning and designing of the commercial business center using the QFD process were challenging and hence it is limited to the design part. The strategic objectives are not taken into account while performing QFD in this case study and the risk of market research is lacking. House of quality (HOQ) can be too complicated at times; hence, the adaptability in the traditional QFD is lacking. Most of the work in the HOQ matrix is done through subjective evaluation. Therefore, this research is mostly useful for a single party responsible for all phases of the planning and designing of the project.

In the construction industry, the use of the QFD process for project performance analysis and application is restricted. As a result of the scarcity of studies on the planning and design of construction projects, this study on the planning and design of a construction project was inspired.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of literature and methods that can be used for deconstruction project planning of buildings. Furthermore, shortcomings of the identified planning methods are presented and research gaps are identified.

Requirements to consider for the planning of deconstruction projects are defined, to help in the classification of planning methods. With the help of these requirements, in a detailed literature review strategic and operational planning methods for deconstruction projects are investigated and discussed. Requirements which are not met by any of the identified planning methods can be interpreted as research and/or documentation gaps.

On the one hand, the literature review shows that recent approaches deal with planning methods for deterministic time and resource scheduling. Furthermore, project costs can be well planned by several methods. On the other hand, the literature review reveals that recent approaches mostly do not consider risks and uncertainties, environmental hazards or specific safety issues. A major shortcoming is that applied planning methods can only calculate up to a specific level of detail, e.g. with a limited number of activities, due to a very high computational effort in solving such project planning problems exactly.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides an overview of literature and methods for the deconstruction project planning of buildings and it is also the first study that unveils research gaps for future research. Furthermore, the classified planning methods assist in identifying suitable methods for the planning of future deconstruction projects.

The management in non‐profit humanitarian organizations is often preoccupied with its welfare objectives and ignores the operations efficiency and operating cost controls. Proposes an operations‐planning and control framework for small non‐profit humanitarian organizations. The proposed framework integrates several operations management‐planning tools such as time series forecasting, aggregate production planning, ABC analysis, and material requirements planning (MRP) to facilitate better demand and resource management. The purpose of this framework is to provide management with better resource planning and a base of performance evaluation. Using real data, this framework was applied to a non‐profit organization taking into consideration its unique welfare objective. Results indicate that substantial improvements in operations efficiency and cost reduction are possible for small non‐profit organizations through modified operations‐planning and control activities.

Since the 1960s, interconnection technology has been dominated by implementations of printed circuit board (PCB) technology. However, in response to the ever increasing demand for higher routing densities and improved electrical performance, this technology has been increasingly challenged by multichip module (MCM) technology and in particular the MCM‐L type. MCM‐L technology is a laminate construction and is basically a further development of PCB technology with two or more bare chips and fine line interconnects. Consequently, it is perceived that the current PCB fabricators are ideally positioned to take the initiative with MCM‐L technology. Reviews the current state of PCB industry and MCM‐L technological (process and material) requirements, within the UK, such that a comparison can be made between the two technologies. Planning, training and investment requirements for new technology implementation are then identified and compared with PCB fabricators’ technological, training, planning and investment capabilities. The shortfalls between MCM‐L fabrication requirements and PCB fabricators capability are identified and discussed.