A methodology for implementing a decision support system:a small company case study

The importance of non-technical factors in the design and implementation of information systems has been increasingly recognised by both researchers and practitioners, and recent literature highlights the need for new tools and techniques with an organisational, rather than technical, focus. The gap between what is technically possible and what is generally practised, is particularly wide in the sales and marketing field. This research describes the design and implementation of a decision support system (DSS) for marketing planning and control in a small, but complex company and examines the nature of the difficulties encountered. An intermediary with functional, rather than technical, expertise is used as a strategy for overcoming these by taking control of the whole of the systems design and implementation cycle. Given the practical nature of the research, an action research approach is adopted with the researcher undertaking this role. This approach provides a detailed case study of what actually happens during the DSS development cycle, allowing the influence of organisational factors to be captured. The findings of the research show how the main focus of the intermediary's role needs to be adapted over the systems development cycle; from coordination and liaison in the pre-design and design stages, to systems champion during the first part of the implementation stage, and finally to catalyst to ensure that the DSS is integrated into the decision-making process. Two practical marketing exercises are undertaken which illustrate the nature of the gap between the provision of information and its use. The lack of a formal approach to planning and control is shown to have a significant effect on the way the DSS is used and the role of the intermediary is extended successfully to accommodate this factor. This leads to the conclusion that for the DSS to play a fully effective role, small firms may need to introduce more structure into their marketing planning, and that the role of the intermediary, or Information Coordinator, should include the responsibility for introducing new techniques and ideas to aid with this.

Competitive edge through operations management

A view has emerged within manufacturing and service organizations that the operations management function can hold the key to achieving competitive edge. This has recently been emphasized by the demands for greater variety and higher quality which must be set against a background of increasing cost of resources. As nations' trade barriers are progressively lowered and removed, so producers of goods and service products are becoming more exposed to competition that may come from virtually anywhere around the world. To simply survive in this climate many organizations have found it necessary to improve their manufacturing or service delivery systems. To become real ''winners'' some have adopted a strategic approach to operations and completely reviewed and restructured their approach to production system design and operations planning and control. The articles in this issue of the International journal of Operations & Production Management have been selected to illustrate current thinking and practice in relation to this situation. They are all based on papers presented to the Sixth International Conference of the Operations Management Association-UK which was held at Aston University in June 1991. The theme of the conference was "Achieving Competitive Edge" and authors from 15 countries around the world contributed to more than 80 presented papers. Within this special issue five topic areas are addressed with two articles relating to each. The topics are: strategic management of operations; managing change; production system design; production control; and service operations. Under strategic management of operations De Toni, Filippini and Forza propose a conceptual model which considers the performance of an operating system as a source of competitive advantage through the ''operation value chain'' of design, purchasing, production and distribution. Their model is set within the context of the tendency towards globalization. New's article is somewhat in contrast to the more fashionable literature on operations strategy. It challenges the validity of the current idea of ''world-class manufacturing'' and, instead, urges a reconsideration of the view that strategic ''trade-offs'' are necessary to achieve a competitive edge. The importance of managing change has for some time been recognized within the field of organization studies but its relevance in operations management is now being realized. Berger considers the use of "organization design", ''sociotechnical systems'' and change strategies and contrasts these with the more recent idea of the ''dialogue perspective''. A tentative model is suggested to improve the analysis of different strategies in a situation specific context. Neely and Wilson look at an essential prerequisite if change is to be effected in an efficient way, namely product goal congruence. Using a case study as its basis, their article suggests a method of measuring goal congruence as a means of identifying the extent to which key performance criteria relating to quality, time, cost and flexibility are understood within an organization. The two articles on production systems design represent important contributions to the debate on flexible production organization and autonomous group working. Rosander uses the results from cases to test the applicability of ''flow groups'' as the optimal way of organizing batch production. Schuring also examines cases to determine the reasons behind the adoption of ''autonomous work groups'' in The Netherlands and Sweden. Both these contributions help to provide a greater understanding of the production philosophies which have emerged as alternatives to more conventional systems -------for intermittent and continuous production. The production control articles are both concerned with the concepts of ''push'' and ''pull'' which are the two broad approaches to material planning and control. Hirakawa, Hoshino and Katayama have developed a hybrid model, suitable for multistage manufacturing processes, which combines the benefits of both systems. They discuss the theoretical arguments in support of the system and illustrate its performance with numerical studies. Slack and Correa's concern is with the flexibility characteristics of push and pull material planning and control systems. They use the case of two plants using the different systems to compare their performance within a number of predefined flexibility types. The two final contributions on service operations are complementary. The article by Voss really relates to manufacturing but examines the application of service industry concepts within the UK manufacturing sector. His studies in a number of companies support the idea of the ''service factory'' and offer a new perspective for manufacturing. Harvey's contribution by contrast, is concerned with the application of operations management principles in the delivery of professional services. Using the case of social-service provision in Canada, it demonstrates how concepts such as ''just-in-time'' can be used to improve service performance. The ten articles in this special issue of the journal address a wide range of issues and situations. Their common aspect is that, together, they demonstrate the extent to which competitiveness can be improved via the application of operations management concepts and techniques.

I am the very model of a special purpose vehicle

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical comment on complex funding systems. Design/methodology/approach – This is a critical comment written in the form of a poem. The poem is in the style of the English light opera composers Gilbert and Sullivan, and is a variation on their song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General”, from The Pirates of Penzance. Findings - The poem spotlights financial failure. Originality/value - The poem spotlights the crazy names and poor transparency of special purpose vehicles.

Real-time temperature estimation for power MOSFETs considering thermal ageing effects

This paper presents a novel real-time power-device temperature estimation method that monitors the power MOSFET's junction temperature shift arising from thermal aging effects and incorporates the updated electrothermal models of power modules into digital controllers. Currently, the real-time estimator is emerging as an important tool for active control of device junction temperature as well as online health monitoring for power electronic systems, but its thermal model fails to address the device's ongoing degradation. Because of a mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion between layers of power devices, repetitive thermal cycling will cause cracks, voids, and even delamination within the device components, particularly in the solder and thermal grease layers. Consequently, the thermal resistance of power devices will increase, making it possible to use thermal resistance (and junction temperature) as key indicators for condition monitoring and control purposes. In this paper, the predicted device temperature via threshold voltage measurements is compared with the real-time estimated ones, and the difference is attributed to the aging of the device. The thermal models in digital controllers are frequently updated to correct the shift caused by thermal aging effects. Experimental results on three power MOSFETs confirm that the proposed methodologies are effective to incorporate the thermal aging effects in the power-device temperature estimator with good accuracy. The developed adaptive technologies can be applied to other power devices such as IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs, and have significant economic implications.

Electronic dispersion compensation using full optical-field reconstruction in 10Gbit/s OOK based systems

We investigate the design of electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) using full optical-field reconstruction in 10Gbit/s on-off keyed transmission systems limited by optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). By effectively suppressing the impairment due to low- frequency component amplification in phase reconstruction, properly designing the transmission system configuration to combat fiber nonlinearity, and successfully reducing the vulnerability to thermal noise, a 4.8dB OSNR margin can be achieved for 2160km single-mode fiber transmission without any optical dispersion compensation. We also investigate the performance sensitivity of the scheme to various system parameters, and propose a novel method to greatly enhance the tolerance to differential phase misalignment of the asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This numerical study provides important design guidelines which will enable full optical-field EDC to become a cost-effective dispersion compensation solution for future transparent optical networks.

A design and implementation methodology for high variety electronics assembly systems

Small indigenous manufacturers of electronic equipment are coming under increasingly severe pressure to adopt a strong defensive position against large multinational and Far Eastern companies. A common response to this threat has been for these firms to adopt a 'market driven' business strategy based on quality and customer service, rather than a 'technology led' strategy which uses technical specification and price to compete. To successfully implement this type of strategy there is a need for production systems to be redesigned to suit the new demands of marketing. Increased range and fast response require economy of scope rather t ban economy or scale while the organisation's culture must promote quality and process consciousness. This paper describes the 'Modular Assembly Cascade' concept which addresses these needs by applying the principles of flexible manufacturing (FMS) and just in time (,JlT) to electronics assembly. A methodology for executing the concept is also outlined. This is called DRAMA (Design Houtirw !'or· Adopting Modular Assembly).

Using a systems approach in logistics design and planning

The international economic and business environment continues to develop at a rapid rate. Increasing interactions between economies, particularly between Europe and Asia, has raised many important issues regarding transport infrastructure, logistics and broader supply chain management. The potential exists to further stimulate trade provided that these issues are addressed in a logical and systematic manner. However, if this potential is to be realised in practice there is a need to re-evaluate current supply chain configurations. A mismatch currently exists between the technological capability and the supply chain or logistical reality. This mismatch has sharpened the focus on the need for robust approaches to supply chain re-engineering. Traditional approaches to business re-engineering have been based on manufacturing systems engineering and business process management. A recognition that all companies exist as part of bigger supply chains has fundamentally changed the focus of re-engineering. Inefficiencies anywhere in a supply chain result in the chain as a whole being unable to reach its true competitive potential. This reality, combined with the potentially radical impact on business and supply chain architectures of the technologies associated with electronic business, requires organisations to adopt innovative approaches to supply chain analysis and re-design. This paper introduces a systems approach to supply chain re-engineering which is aimed at addressing the challenges which the evolving business environment brings with it. The approach, which is based on work with a variety of both conventional and electronic supply chains, comprises underpinning principles, a methodology and guidelines on good working practice, as well as a suite of tools and techniques. The adoption of approaches such as that outlined in this paper helps to ensure that robust supply chains are designed and implemented in practice. This facilitates an integrated approach, with involvement of all key stakeholders throughout the design process.

Benefits of electronic vision enhancement systems (EVES) for the visually impaired

PURPOSE: To examine whether objective performance of near tasks is improved with various electronic vision enhancement systems (EVES) compared with the subject's own optical magnifier. DESIGN: Experimental study, randomized, within-patient design. METHODS: This was a prospective study, conducted in a hospital ophthalmology low-vision clinic. The patient population comprised 70 sequential visually impaired subjects. The magnifying devices examined were: patient's optimum optical magnifier; magnification and field-of-view matched mouse EVES with monitor or head-mounted display (HMD) viewing; and stand EVES with monitor viewing. The tasks performed were: reading speed and acuity; time taken to track from one column of print to the next; follow a route map, and locate a specific feature; and identification of specific information from a medicine label. RESULTS: Mouse EVES with HMD viewing caused lower reading speeds than stand EVES with monitor viewing (F = 38.7, P < .001). Reading with the optical magnifier was slower than with the mouse or stand EVES with monitor viewing at smaller print sizes (P < .05). The column location task was faster with the optical magnifier than with any of the EVES (F = 10.3, P < .001). The map tracking and medicine label identification task was slower with the mouse EVES with HMD viewing than with the other magnifiers (P < .01). Previous EVES experience had no effect on task performance (P > .05), but subjects with previous optical magnifier experience were significantly slower at performing the medicine label identification task with all of the EVES (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Although EVES provide objective benefits to the visually impaired in reading speed and acuity, together with some specific near tasks, some can be performed just as fast using optical magnification. © 2003 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.