According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

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Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

Freedom of design, mass customisation, waste minimisation and the ability to manufacture complex structures, as well as fast prototyping, are the main benefits of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing. A comprehensive review of the main 3D printing methods, materials and their development in trending applications was carried out. In particular, the revolutionary applications of AM in biomedical, aerospace, buildings and protective structures were discussed. The current state of materials development, including metal alloys, polymer composites, ceramics and concrete, was presented. In addition, this paper discussed the main processing challenges with void formation, anisotropic behaviour, the limitation of computer design and layer-by-layer appearance. Overall, this paper gives an overview of 3D printing, including a survey on its benefits and drawbacks as a benchmark for future research and development.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing): A review of materials, methods, applications and challenges

Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product.

This report was commissioned by the Built Environment Industry Innovation Council and funded by the Australian Government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Built environment procurement practice: Impediments to innovation and opportunities for changes

The management of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) is considered a complex exercise by academics and practitioners alike. The reason for this is that there are ubiquitous portfolios of tangible and intangible benefits that are offered to an organization following the adoption of IT/IS that, in turn, all need managing to ensure realization. Organizations also have to take into account the direct and often larger indirect costs that are typically associated with IT/IS deployments. To provide managers with a critical insight into the management of new technology, this paper uses a case study research strategy to examine the technology management experiences of a leading U.K. manufacturing organization during its adoption of a vendor-supplied Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) information system. Following the lack of attention given to human and organizational technology management factors while implementing MRPII, the vendor-based information system was later abandoned and deemed a failure. In addressing those technology management factors that were later identified as important, it was found that key employees were able to overcome a number of organizational barriers and develop and implement a bespoke MRPII system that significantly improved the organization's competitive position. Technology management taxonomies that contributed to the failure and later successful implementation of MRPII are identified and discussed. The organization's experiences in solving the problems associated with the implementation of their IS offers a learning opportunity for those companies that are seeking a competitive advantage through technology management.

Evaluating the impact of IT on the organization - The propagation of technology management taxonomies for evaluating investments in information systems

An exploratory study of indirect ICT costs using the structured case method

As construction is a project‐orientated industry, it is suggested in this paper that traditional business process re‐engineering (BPR) will only improve intra‐organisational business processes, not the inter‐organisational normally used to procure construction facilities because of the degree of process incompatibility between participating organisations. The aim of this paper is to explain why traditional BPR is not considered to be an effective method for improving the performance of projects. The paper argues that an alternative to BPR is needed and suggests that construction process re‐engineering, founded on the “new production philosophy” should be used to initiate change at a project level. Models for re‐engineering processes in construction at a company and project level are presented and discussed.

From BPR to CPR ‐ conceptualising re‐engineering in construction

Purpose – The loss of heritage buildings should be avoided as they provide a tangible example of a period of life that is now gone. Adaptive re-use enables buildings to be given a second life, enabling them to live on when they may have been previously underutilized. Changing the capacity, function or performance of underutilized buildings for a different purpose, or to suit new conditions, or making use of pre-existing structural elements has become necessary to preserve heritage buildings. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSF) for the adaptive re-use of heritage buildings. Design/methodology/approach – Identification of CSF for adaptive re-use can provide asset owners, developers and key stakeholders with the knowledge needed to ensure a project is delivered successfully. Due to a lack of research in the area of CSF for heritage buildings, an exploratory approach was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with stakeholders to solicit their views as t...

Peter E.D. Love

Papers

Built environment procurement practice: Impediments to innovation and opportunities for changes

Evaluating the impact of IT on the organization - The propagation of technology management taxonomies for evaluating investments in information systems

An exploratory study of indirect ICT costs using the structured case method

From BPR to CPR ‐ conceptualising re‐engineering in construction

Critical success factors of adapting heritage buildings: an exploratory study