Considerable interest is now being shown in the concept of flexible manufacturing systems. This paper reviews the early experience of a number of UK users and examines the range of choice now opening up for firms engaged in batch manufacturing operations. Although the potential benefits of...

Research on the innovation process and its effective management has consistently highlighted a set of themes constituting "good practice". The limitation of such "good practice" is that it relates to what might be termed "steady state" innovation — essentially innovative activity in product...