The potential of electrospinning in rapid manufacturing processes

We review the process of electrospinning and how this new technique for generating a rich morphology of nano and micro scale fibres sits alongside established procedures for rapid manufacturing. We introduce the key elements of electrospinning and how these influence the nature and distribution of the fibres produced. We describe the range of polymers available for electrospinning and the limitations to the use of these materials. Using this base we review the potential approaches to using electrospinning as part of a broader rapid manufacturing system and the possible applications for such a hybrid system.

Women, other "fresh” workers, and the new manufacturing workforce of interwar Britain

Structural, organizational, and technological changes in British industry during the interwar years led to a decline in skilled and physically demanding work, while there was a dramatic expansion in unskilled and semiskilled employment. Previous authors have noted that the new un/semiskilled jobs were generally filled by “fresh” workers recruited from outside the core manufacturing workforce, though there is considerable disagreement regarding the composition of this new workforce. This paper examines labour recruitment patterns and strategies using national data and case studies of eight rapidly expanding industrial centres. The new industrial workforce is shown to have been recruited from a “reserve army” of workers with the common features of relative cheapness, flexibility, and weak unionization. These included women, juveniles, local workers in poorly paid nonindustrial sectors, such as agriculture, and (where these other categories were in short supply) relatively young long-distance internal migrants from declining industrial areas.

Immunoassays, methods for carrying out immunoassays, immunoassay kits and method for manufacturing immunoassay kits

The invention relates to immunoassays, methods for carrying out immunoassays, immunoassay kits and methods for manufacturing immunoassay kits. In particular, the invention has relevance to capillary (especially microcapillary) immunoassay technology.

Regional performance and characteristics of Indian manufacturing industry

This paper investigates the regional characteristics of Indian manufacturing industry. Its aim is to assess whether geography plays any major role in determining the performance or characteristics of Indian manufacturing firms, and in order to do this, it presents the results of cross-section regressions estimated on the basis of a balanced sample of 1607 firms across the 30 Indian states. The results suggest that firm performance and characteristics are related to many of the expected industrial organization variables. However, there is also evidence of significant region–state influences on both the performance and characteristics of Indian manufacturing industry. As such, the results demonstrate that analyses which focus solely on standard non-spatial industrial organization variables will fail to explain much of the cross-sectional variation in firm performance and characteristics. In particular, while there are no systematic simple centre–periphery variations in the Indian regional economic system, there is evidence to suggest that industrial spatial concentration, regional specialization, and regional market size play a key role in determining the performance and characteristics of Indian manufacturing industry.

Generic strategies and performance: evidence from manufacturing firms

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between business-level strategy and organisational performance and to test the applicability of Porter's generic strategies in explaining differences in the performance of organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The study was focussed on manufacturing firms in the UK belonging to the electrical and mechanical engineering sectors. Data were collected through a postal survey using the survey instrument from 124 organisations and the respondents were all at CEO level. Both objective and subjective measures were used to assess performance. Non-response bias was assessed statistically and it was not found to be a major problem affecting this study. Appropriate measures were taken to ensure that common method variance (CMV) does not affect the results of this study. Statistical tests indicated that CMV problem does not affect the results of this study. Findings – The results of this study indicate that firms adopting one of the strategies, namely cost-leadership or differentiation, perform better than “stuck-in-the-middle” firms which do not have a dominant strategic orientation. The integrated strategy group has lower performance compared with cost-leaders and differentiators in terms of financial performance measures. This provides support for Porter's view that combination strategies are unlikely to be effective in organisations. However, the cost-leadership and differentiation strategies were not strongly correlated with the financial performance measures indicating the limitations of Porter's generic strategies in explaining performance heterogeneity in organisations. Originality/value – This study makes an important contribution to the literature by identifying some of the gaps in the literature through a systematic literature review and addressing those gaps.

Automatic control of food manufacturing processes. 2nd edition

In the ten years since the first edition of this book appeared there have been significant developments in food process engineering, notably in biotechnology and membrane application. Advances have been made in the use of sensors for process control, and the growth of information technology and on-line computer applications continues apace. In addition, plant investment decisions are increasingly determined by quality assurance considerations and have to incorporate a greater emphasis on health and safety issues. The content of this edition has been rearranged to include descriptions of recent developments and to reflect the influence of new technology on the control and operations of automated plant. Original examples have been retained where relevant and these, together with many new illustrations, provide a comprehensive guide to good practice.

Optimizing mixing during the sponge cake manufacturing process

Sponge cakes have traditionally been manufactured using multistage mixing methods to enhance potential foam formation by the eggs. Today, use of all-in (single-stage) mixing methods is superseding multistage methods for large-scale batter preparation to reduce costs and production time. In this study, multistage and all-in mixing procedures and three final high-speed mixing times (3, 5, and 15 min) for sponge cake production were tested to optimize a mixing method for pilot-scale research. Mixing for 3 min produced batters with higher relative density values than did longer mixing times. These batters generated well-aerated cakes with high volume and low hardness. In contrast, after 5 and 15 min of high-speed mixing, batters with lower relative density and higher viscosity values were produced. Although higher bubble incorporation and retention were observed, longer mixing times produced better developed gluten networks, which stiffened the batters and inhibited bubble expansion during mixing. As a result, these batters did not expand properly and produced cakes with low volume, dense crumb, and high hardness values. Results for all-in mixing were similar to those for the multistage mixing procedure in terms of the physical properties of batters and cakes (i.e., relative density, elastic moduli, volume, total cell area, hardness, etc.). These results suggest the all-in mixing procedure with a final high-speed mixing time of 3 min is an appropriate mixing method for pilot-scale sponge cake production. The advantages of this method are reduced energy costs and production time.

Developing temporary manufacturing facilities for residential building: a case of the modern flying factory

The building industry is often berated for its short comings in meeting up with the demand for the provision of new housing. Addressing the need for new housing stock is a challenge that has led to debates among professional bodies, the construction sector, housing industry and government. The introduction of new manufacturing technologies is often offered as a solution, but the challenges of increasing the amount of off-site construction in residential building are well known and well-rehearsed. The modern flying factory (MFF) is a concept that involves the manufacture of specific components or modules in temporary off- or near- site locations using relatively simple and quick to set up and dismantle technologies and processes. The aim is to produce short batches and hence achieve some of the benefits of off-site manufacture on a much smaller scale than in dedicated factory environments. A case study of a modern flying factory being set up to produce pre-assembled utility cupboards for a large residential development in London is presented, involving participant observation and informal interviews with key actors on the design and operationalising of the process. The case reveals that although there are costs, efficiency and health and safety benefits to using MFF approaches, there are also challenges to overcome over the time required to set up and establish the process for relatively short runs, and in evaluating whether the MFF or traditional site based production is most effective for particular aspects of projects.

Firms in international trade: importers’ and exporters’ heterogeneity in Italian manufacturing industry

Combining data on structural characteristics and economic performance for a large sample of Italian firms with data on exporting and importing activity, we uncover evidence supporting recent theories on firm heterogeneity and international trade, together with some new facts. In particular, we find that importing is associated with substantial firm heterogeneity. First, we document that trade is more concentrated than employment and sales, and show that importing is even more concentrated than exporting both within sectors and along the sector- and country-extensive margins. Second, while supporting the fact that firms involved in both are the best performers, we also find that firms involved only in importing activities perform better than those involved only in exporting. Our evidence suggests there is a strong self-selection effect in the case of importers and the performance premia of internationalised firms correlate relatively more with the degree of geographical and sectoral diversification of imports.