Micrographics is no small business

One of the key issues facing information management professionals today is the selection of appropriate information storage technologies. As controversial as it may be, to use or not to use optical disks as a records management technique is not the major issue facing the micrographics industry and the micrographics — buying public today. The micrographics industry must show that the two technologies are not competitors, but viable solutions applicable to different document management needs and cost considerations. Micrographics vendors see healthy growth in their industry, and are optimistic about future technological breakthroughs. If their predictions hold true, we can expect what everyone would like to see: less expensive, more flexible, easier to use, more automated micrographics equipment

Modern Office Technology (USA), vol. 31.

Fresh approach to healthcare-information management

In 1983 AT & Т committed significant resources to the healthcare market. Two new business units were launched by the company for developing information systems for specific segments of the industry. The result has been a fresh approach to the healthcare community's information movement and management problems, and one of the most striking examples to date of AT & T's ability to create and integrate efficient, cost-effective computer networks.

The developments include the Care Com. family of clinical information systems. The system takes into account the typical flow of information among healthcare professionals and departments within a hospital.

T. Cuilwik. Computers in Healthcare (USA), vol. 7, p. 48.50

Logistics Operations &Production

Logistics means controlling flow of materials through firm's processes, managing the movement, storage, and processing of materials and information in the supply chain. Logistics encompasses the acquisition of raw materials and components, manufacturing or processing, and the distribution of finished products to the end user. Each organization focuses on a different aspect of logistics, depending on its area of interest.

For example, one might apply logistics to find a way of linking physical distribution managementwith earlier events in the supply chain, another to plan its acquisition and storage, while a third might use logistics as a support operation.

Industry Level

An industry value chain is a physical representation of the various processes that are involved in producing goods (and services), starting with raw materials and ending with the delivered product (also known as the supply chain). It is based on the notion of value-added at the link level. The sum total of link-level value-added yields total value. The French Physiocrat's Tableau ?conomique is one of the earliest examples of a value chain. Wasilly Leontief's Input-Output tables, published in the 1950s, provide estimates of the relative importance of each individual link in industry-level value-chains for the U.S. economy.

The value chain framework quickly made its way to the forefront of management thought as a powerful analysis tool for strategic planning. The simpler concept of value streams, a cross-functional process which was developed over the next decade, had some success in the early 1990s. The value-chain concept has been extended beyond individual firms. The delivery of a mix of products and services to the end customer will mobilize different economic factors, each managing its own value chain. The industry wide synchronized interactions of those local value chains create an extended value chain, sometimes global in extent. Value chain analysis has also been successfully used in large Petrochemical Plant Maintenance Organizations to show how Work Selection, Work Planning, Work Scheduling and finally Work Execution can (when considered as elements of chains) help drive Lean approaches to Maintenance. The Maintenance Value Chain approach is particularly successful when used as a tool for helping Change Management as it is seen as more user friendly than other business process tools.