Physical distribution management in New Zealand, is still, in many companies, subordinate to other functions in the corporate organisational hierarchy. In this study of three industries (Menswear, Foodstuffs and Pharmaceuticals) it was found that most distribution executives were responsible for...

Expert systems are computer software packages that experts in specific fields enrich with their knowledge by distilling their expertise into a set of laws for the system. The development of expert systems and the contribution they can provide in banks, whereby financial experts can produce...

The requirements for two smaller companies in integrated manufacturing are addressed, in particular, the area of manufacturing control. The functional areas pertaining to manufacturing control in both companies are reviewed. On the basis of these reviews and management objectives, their...

Sound design, planning and monitoring is critical to the operational and financial success of today′s sophisticated manufacturing and non‐manufacturing systems. Owing to their increasing complexity, discrete‐event simulation is becoming the most acceptable tool to aid planning the design...

The development of computer technology, artificial intelligence, and simulation modelling has become increasingly complex, and yet the application of these techniques is necessary for a company to be effective and competitive. However, the end users may not have the ecessary sophistication to...

In the operations management field, where data are always second best to reality, the whole success of a computing scheme will depend on the motivation of the users. A scheme is presented, based on the idea of simplifying the task of supplying relevant information to operations managers with the...

This paper describes a decision support system for once‐off facility acquisition decisions in a manufacturing environment. The system is based on the Kepner Tregoe Decision Analysis Technique and has been implemented in a high‐level language.