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The key focus in the 1990s for manufacturers of capital equipment and high-value goods has been to optimize the ir re sponsive ne ss to customer re qu ire ments without compromising the performance of their products. Important elements which underpin such agility must be the information links to the customer and the interfaces to key suppliers. The extended lead-time for engineer-to-order (ETO) products typically requires a review of the whole order fulfilment process and the software systems that support this to improve re sp on sive ne ss. Re se arc h shows th at a ke y fac to r for manufacturing responsiveness is the performance of the firm' s manufacturing control function. Whilst there is a wide range of ge ne ric p ro prietary software available that me e ts a company' s planning and schedu ling re qu ireme nts with varying degrees of success, the main difficulty lies in understanding the match between the business needs and the capabilities of the software. This is a particular problem for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are common in the ETO sector. The EPSRC-funded work covered by this paper is aimed at developing novel planning and scheduling reference models for industrial sectors where the MRPII paradigm is not a good fit. The work is based upon detailed case studies within 13 industrial companies. This paper presents the research aims and objectives, gives an overview of the ETO sector, ex plains the data capture method used for the case study companies, and the use of extended event process chains and planning and scheduling process models which underpin the development of the reference models, and finally, presents and discusses the reference model for the ETO sector.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractDownloaded by West Virginia University At 12:18 08 March 2015 (PT) [ 194 ]

Most manufacturing fInns are under considerable pressure to increase their flexibility and responsiveness within the market. Key business processes concerned with responsiveness include infonnation systems for demand management and manufacturing control. Overall, infonnation systems account for almost a quarter of all IT investment within major manufacturing companies and much of this is currently being spent with ERP vendors who include BAAN, Oracle, SAP and MK Manufacturing (Vortman, 1998). It is estimated that Seventy-fIve percent of these fInns still use infonnation systems based on the MRPIMRPII paradigm regardless of its suitability to their specifIc requirements and its inherent inability to be responsive to short tenn changes in customer needs. Whilst simpler systems (TIT for example) appear to work well for high volumes of standard products, the market trend in many industries is towards a reduction of product volume and increase variety to the extent that computer support for manufacture becomes essential. Recent research (Little et aI, 1995) has shown that one key area for all manufacturing companies is the performance of the manufacturing control function. There is a wide range of generic proprietary software available that meets a company's planning and scheduling requirements with varying degrees of success. The diffIculty experienced by many companies is not only in examining available software, but also in understanding the match between their business needs and the capabilities of that software. A poor match typically limits the ability of a fInn to respond to market changes and is likely to inhibit company K. Mertins et al. (eds.), Global Production Management

Background and Purpose. The remediation of postural control problems is a common feature of many physiotherapy interventions. Provision of augmented visual feedback through use of mirror‐reflected body image is one means by which therapists can purportedly facilitate patients' postural correction abilities. Despite the historic place of this treatment modality within the physiotherapist's armamentarium, the strategy has however received very limited investigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which availability of reflected body image influences the normal subjects' postural control abilities when in a sitting position. Method. A pilot investigation was undertaken, utilizing a sample of convenience comprising 18 healthy female subjects (mean age 20.8 years). All subjects underwent testing of their sitting postural control abilities in two separate conditions: with and without mirror feedback. A full length therapy mirror, as typically found in many rehabilitation departments, was used where appropriate to provide the reflected body image. Testing was carried out three times for each condition (six tests in total), obtaining average performance across three tests for each condition. Test order for each subject for the six tests was varied using a Latin square procedure to control for learning effect. Measurement of the subjects' postural control abilities was achieved by Balance Performance Monitor using a seat plate monitor and evaluating body sway path (mm). Postural control was challenged during testing by asking the subjects to maintain a standardized complex sitting position. Results. Group mean sway path with mirror feedback was lower than without: means 165.72 mm (standard deviation [SD] = 40.52 mm) versus 244.74 mm (SD = 68.48 mm). This suggested improved postural control ability when the subjects were able to view their reflected body image during testing. A related t test (t = 4.873, n = 18) showed differences between the two conditions to be statistically significant (p < 0.001), 95% confidence interval = 44.80 mm–113.23 mm. Conclusion. This relatively unsophisticated evaluation of mirror feedback nonetheless suggested a potential intervention effect. The precise mechanism(s) by which this strategy might effect changes in postural control ability, as well as the likely carryover of the effect and its replication in individuals with movement control problems, are all issues requiring further investigation. Nonetheless, these results provide provisional support for the notion that mirror feedback is a potentially useful strategy in the training of postural control. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.