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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to devise a general solution that allows a policy-based (i.e. rule-based) management system to explain its operation. In particular, a solution has been developed and evaluated in the context of an automated home care system. Design/methodology/approach - The work has built on an existing policy-based management system called Advanced Component Control Enhancing Network Technologies (ACCENT). This includes automated management of home care using two forms of rules: higher-level (user) goals and lower-level (system) policies. These rules can be defined by users (typically carers) to personalise how the system should support the resident. In new work, the system has been extended to include an explanation facility that allows the user to understand the past and future behaviour of the system. Findings -An explanation facility has been created to explain the past and future behaviour of the system. An initial evaluation of this has been carried out with carers. The participants in this evaluation found the facility to be understandable and were able to use it effectively. Research limitations/implications -The work has made a useful extension to the design of policy-based systems in general. The initial evaluation with a limited group of users identified small weaknesses in the explanation facility that will be addressed in future work. The updated approach will then be evaluated with a larger group of users. Practical implications - The enhanced home care system is now more usable and comprehensible, and so will be easier to deploy and maintain. Social implications - The explanation facility has made the home care system more usable and comprehensible for users, and so will enhance its acceptability in future deployment. Originality/value - Although expert systems have long been able to explain their operation, this kind of solution has not previously been attempted for policy-based management systems. The value to end users is that the approach makes automated support of home care more understandable and thus more acceptable and usable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper aims to describe how BMW in the UK has increased the number of industrial robots at Plant Oxford in the UK; this plant is part of a production "triangle" that brings together three of its four manufacturing plants in the UK to produce the latest version of the Mini passenger car - the Mini Clubman. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the major production line techniques that are used in the manufacture of the body-in-white (BIW) structure as well as the functions of painting and final assembly of the vehicle. The BIW techniques include spot-welding and ultrasonic weld inspection for parts assembly. Findings - Over the space of the last three or four years, the management of BMW Group has increased significantly the stature of its UK manufacturing units with the aim of increasing the diversity of models produced, while at the same time achieving greater utilization of its existing capacity, and improving productivity. Research limitations/implications - The BMW Group continually assesses all of the functions involved in the manufacture of a motor vehicle, and in this context is working both with its own plants and with suppliers of equipment and components to enhance production and quality processes. This includes all of the processes of joining steel and other materials using spot welding and adhesives. There is also much to be gained from the interchange of information between the various plants in the group world-wide with a view to implementing continuous improvement. The benefits achieved from one process in one particular plant are quickly communicated to other facilities, again with the object of improving quality and productivity. A typical example here is the paint shop. Practical implications - It is likely that, arising out of greater plant integration and utilization, the management of BMW Group will be able to further increase the capacity of its Mini production units to be in a position to move to the next stage of expansion, namely to reach a target of 300,000 units a year. Originality/value - BMW continues to rationalise its UK plants in Oxford, Swindon and Hams Hall, further integrating these production facilities with those of major component suppliers to produce a finished vehicle. There is a heavy concentration of KUKA robots within the BIW and sub-assembly manufacturing facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the kind of technological education and training which will be necessary to staff the successful companies of the year 2000, concentrating on the recent European Automation and Robotics Training Conference held in London, where a discussion of this subject took place. Topics covered included ways of unlocking European funds to support education and training projects, the need for hybrid technicians with multi-disciplinary skills and the launching of the first undergraduate degree course in the UK with robotics as a central theme. Concludes that training in robotics and automation is becoming more difficult as the complexity of controls, monitoring and adaptive devices grows. There is a need for more awareness of industry when developing courses for upcoming technicians and engineering graduates and a need to develop a continuous improvement culture that updates the education training of management and staff at all levels in companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Healthcare organizations in the UK face a particular combination of challenges in managing learning and development (L&D) activity and have traditionally lagged behind corporates in adopting relevant technologies. However, a wave of initiatives from the UK government's Department of Health has underlined its support for greater use of technology and greater deployment of e-learning to improve knowledge and competence throughout National Health Service (NHS) organizations. These organizations also have to meet a variety of mandatory and statutory reporting requirements and in effect suffer financial penalties if they fail to meet set targets. The purpose of this case study is to review how one newly-merged Primary Care Trust (PCT) - a body that manages local delivery of primary healthcare - progressed from having a new L&D team with no common systems, to successfully rolling out self-service learning and e-learning to end users. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses the experience of the PCTs covering the Hertfordshire area as a case study Findings - The trust has found that the right strategy and technologies deliver greater transparency to the L&D process, raismg the profile of L&D in the organization, creating better understanding and appreciation of the benefits of L&D and generating better training attendances and positive feedback. Originality/value - The Hertfordshire PCTs form one of the most proactive and innovative healthcare organizations in the UK, in terms of the rollout of self-service learning and the way it integrates the NHS web-based knowledge and skills framework - called the e-KSF - with its learning management system. This potentially offers valuable insights to other healthcare organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — Forthcoming requirements in MiFID and RegNMS mean that buy-side and sell-side firms need to find ways of showing regulators that they are sifting through their trading volumes in a justifiable, methodical manner looking for anomalous trades and investigating them, in order to prove ‘best execution’. The objective was to see if a SVM/DAPR approach could help identify equity trade anomalies for compliance investigation. Design/methodology/approach — A major stock exchange, a computer systems supplier, four brokers and a statistical firm undertook a cooperative research project to determine whether automated statistical processing of trade and order information could provide a tighter focus on the most likely trades for best execution compliance investigation. Findings — The support vector machine approach worked on UK equities and has significant potential for other markets such as foreign exchange, fixed income and commodities. Research limitations/implications — The research has implications for risk professionals as a generic approach to trading anomaly detection. The prototype compliance workstation can be trialed. Originality/value — Automated anomaly detection could transform the role of compliance and risk in financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses some of the findings of an organizational survey of companies that have implemented flexible manufacturing systems in Great Britain. One of the main objectives of the study was to identify strategic and operational objectives for implementing flexible manufacturing systems. The survey has been used to validate certain views on the relationship between management objectives and manufacturing flexibility. The survey was intended to supplement or refute some of the above observations and inferences, and aid future implementation and management of advanced automation, as well as providing groundwork for future investigations. The returned questionnaires and structured interviews were analyzed by writing summaries for each of the twelve companies and then applying a type of content analysis to them. Not all questionnaires returned were complete. In these instances, alternative sources, primarily from published company accounts and professional journal articles were drawn upon to supplement the data.