This economic study was conducted to compare the cost of transporting coal from mines to power plants by coal log pipeline with other modes of transportation including truck, rail and coal slurry pipeline. Unit cost is defined here as the cost of transporting a metric ton of coal for any...

Many articles have been written on how to implement total quality management (TQM) and have stated that customer satisfaction is the key to long‐term profits. However, there has been little explicitly stated concerning how a company can meet customer requirements and ensure achievement of...

Quality improvement continues to be an important international business strategy as we enter the twenty‐first century. Legal requirements, customer demand, market pressure, competition, and the need for in‐house quality improvement has driven more companies to become ISO 9000 registered....

The objective of performance measurement has changed over the past few decades. Traditional performance measures based on productivity are no longer appropriate or representative of the information needs of today’s competitive global market. Alternative performance systems have been proposed...