Evaluation of a manufacturing task support system using the Task Technology Fit Model

This paper presents an exploratory study of a Task Support System (TSS) supporting manufacturing task operations. The study investigated the degree to which a TSS, in use in a company, actually supports the task of the shop floor personnel. The approach has been to adopt the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) instrument to measure the degree of fitness between the TSS and the associated task. The analysis gives an indication of the state of the TSS and the potential improvements that can be made. The study also shows that the instrument can be used as a foundation for the development of a hypermedia TSS and a benchmarking tool for a TSS

The contribution of GMH Elizabeth operations to the South Australian economy and the potential impacts of closure

Description: This paper presents the results of an analysis of the contribution that the GMH manufacturing facility in Elizabeth makes to South Australia. It updates a previous analysis of the contribution in 2011 undertaken for the Department of Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy – to reflect the reduction in employment at the facility that has occurred over the last two years. Note that this report does not consider the issues around what is required to underpin the longer term sustainability of the operations at GMH. Nor does it consider the benefits that would arise from alternative uses of the funds that have and might be applied to GMH support

Republic of Ghana Country Strategy Paper 2012-2016

This report aims to propose a Bank Group's strategy for supporting Ghana's development efforts over the period 2012 -- 2016. Several factors make a new Bank country strategy for Ghana particularly timely at this moment. These include the enormous challenges the country still faces in its development trajectory in spite of its impressive growth in the last decade, the recent adoption by the Government of the "Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda" (GSGDA), the promising developments the country is experiencing in its economic prospects, including becoming an oil producer, attracting interest from BRICS, and the recent completion by the Bank and other development partners of a number of key knowledge products. All these combined provides an opportunity for the Bank and Ghana to lay the foundations for a renewed partnership

Leveraging State Economic Development Resources to Create Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities

A 2009 research brief produced for the NTAR Leadership Center, a consortium led by the John H. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Founded in 2007 under a grant/contract with the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, the NTAR Leadership Center's mission is to build capacity and leadership at the federal, state, and local levels to enable change across workforce development and disability-specific systems that will increase employment and economic self-sufficiency for adults with disabilities. This brief examines existing state, regional, and local economic development resource tools and discusses ways in which states and localities can leverage traditional loan and financing programs that enhance job creation, provide access to local employment opportunities, or help support employment for residents, including those with disabilities

Supporting Rural Non-Farm Enterprises: What Can be Learned from Donor Programs?

This paper presents a summary of the large and growing literature about donor experience in attempting to meet employment and income objectives through assistance to the rural non-farm enterprises. Key conclusions about these experiences are presented stressing those that have implications for Philippine rural development and for the upcoming PIDS Dynamics of Rural Development project.rural nonfarm enterprise, nonfarm work

Supporting Rural Non-Farm Enterprises: What Can be Learned from Donor Programs?

This paper presents a summary of the large and growing literature about donor experience in attempting to meet employment and income objectives through assistance to the rural non-farm enterprises. Key conclusions about these experiences are presented stressing those that have implications for Philippine rural development and for the upcoming PIDS Dynamics of Rural Development project.rural nonfarm enterprise, nonfarm work

The Workforce Needs of New Jersey's Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology Industry

This report is based on an online survey conducted in spring 2006 of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies in New Jersey. It identifies the current and future workforce needs of the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry in New Jersey

Service Implementation Framework in Manufacturing Firms: A Case Study

The culture and the operational methods of service management have become a formidable competitive weapon even for manufacturing firms. The term "service factory" has been proposed for identifying that particular integration of products and services, achieved by the excellent manufacturing firm, where "service is a multidimensional concept". The creation of a service factory necessarily implies a radical change in the operational and organizational characteristics of the firm. In order to support manufacturing firms in adopting a service strategy, it is relevant on the one hand to identify the bundle of services which have to be provided for the customers and, on the other hand, to understand the implications for firm management model. As regards the first point, the paper proposes a framework which classifies the services along with two dimensions: Timedimension and target-dimension. The proposed framework is of interest for manufacturing firms because it allows a better recognition of services that are more perceptible for the customers. In the second part of the paper, authors discuss the implications of a service strategy adoption on the management model of manufacturing firms. In order to carry out this analysis, authors propose a model that combines four service dimensions with three decision-making categories (Organization, Methodologies and Technologies). In the end, the proposed framework has been applied in a sample of Italian hot water heater manufacturers and a case study analysis has been carried out

Internet of robotic things : converging sensing/actuating, hypoconnectivity, artificial intelligence and IoT Platforms

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept is evolving rapidly and influencing newdevelopments in various application domains, such as the Internet of MobileThings (IoMT), Autonomous Internet of Things (A-IoT), Autonomous Systemof Things (ASoT), Internet of Autonomous Things (IoAT), Internetof Things Clouds (IoT-C) and the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) etc.that are progressing/advancing by using IoT technology. The IoT influencerepresents new development and deployment challenges in different areassuch as seamless platform integration, context based cognitive network integration,new mobile sensor/actuator network paradigms, things identification(addressing, naming in IoT) and dynamic things discoverability and manyothers. The IoRT represents new convergence challenges and their need to be addressed, in one side the programmability and the communication ofmultiple heterogeneous mobile/autonomous/robotic things for cooperating,their coordination, configuration, exchange of information, security, safetyand protection. Developments in IoT heterogeneous parallel processing/communication and dynamic systems based on parallelism and concurrencyrequire new ideas for integrating the intelligent “devices”, collaborativerobots (COBOTS), into IoT applications. Dynamic maintainability, selfhealing,self-repair of resources, changing resource state, (re-) configurationand context based IoT systems for service implementation and integrationwith IoT network service composition are of paramount importance whennew “cognitive devices” are becoming active participants in IoT applications.This chapter aims to be an overview of the IoRT concept, technologies,architectures and applications and to provide a comprehensive coverage offuture challenges, developments and applications

Sustaining the Promise: Realizing the Potential of Workforce Intermediaries and Sector Projects

Reviews the outcomes of sector-specific workforce development projects run by intermediaries with a comprehensive, long-term approach. Outlines the challenges of and recommendations for securing sustainability in financing, infrastructure, and operations