I have the pleasure to announce that this year, with the kind support of our publishers Taylor and Francis, Production Planning and Control is making an award to recognise the “best paper” in Volume 14 (2003).
The winning paper has been selected on the basis of nominations from the members of the Editorial Board, to whom I would like to extend my thanks.
The criteria used to select the paper were simply the criteria we ask for in all papers submitted to the journal. The journal focuses on research that stems from an industrial need and which can guide the activities of managers, consultants, software developers and researchers. The journal brings together writers from a wide range of disciplines who address the problems associated with the planning, management and control of operations in various industries. Thus it is the focus on the industrial problem, not the academic discipline, that links our work and which should be clearly shown in all papers. We also ask for papers to provide guidance, which includes not only theoretical observations but also practical advice based upon industrial experience. Often and most directly, papers will describe methods or approaches that can be directly applied by managers in industry to deal with emergent problems. Such papers may also be of interest to consultants who advise managers. Alternatively, papers might provide insights that are of assistance to software developers producing the next generation of software to be applied in industry. An academic role is also fulfilled by developing the research agenda to guide future research work through the identification of new challenges in industry or the limitations of current knowledge. This is an important role for papers written about particular case studies, often describing the experiences of companies trying to bring theory into operation. We also apply the usual requirements for originality and scientific rigour that are expected of all first-class journals, and expect papers to take into account previously published work in the area.
The paper we have selected takes as its subject the problem of selecting a flow control approach for the management of material release, dispatch and control under different conditions. This problem is of importance to those setting up or reviewing production facilities, as well as to those advising them or producing software. Through experimentation and careful analysis, the paper evaluates the alternative approaches for different scenarios, providing both guidelines for industrial practice and for future investigations. Careful description and explanation of the concepts used make the paper accessible to a wide range of readers from different backgrounds. My congratulations go to Seonmin Kim, K. Roscoe Davis and James F. Cox III for the paper “An investigation of output flow control, bottleneck flow control and dynamic flow control mechanisms in various simple lines scenarios” published in Volume 14, No. 1, pp. 15–32.
Where do we go from here? I hope to announce a “best paper” next year for Volume 15. I would like to encourage writers to focus upon the management issues, both problems and solutions, concerned with various industrial situations and theoretical developments. What pressures are put on the managers when we try to implement theoretical approaches? What new situations are being faced by managers?
I would also like to encourage and congratulate the authors of the following papers that were nominated:
Ralf Hieber and Ingo Hartel, Impacts of SCM order strategies evaluated by simulation-based ‘Beer Game’ approach: the model, concept, and initial experiences, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 122–134.
Nuran Acur and Umit Bititci, Managing strategy through business processes, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 309–326.
Simon P. Mosey, David J. Woodcock, Jeremy N. Clare, Processes to support strategic ambition in SMEs, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 372–383.
Paul W. B. Hyland, Roger Jenkins, Ross L. Chapman, The strategic mindset of Australian manufacturing managers: some missing links, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 384–395.
Umit Bititci, Veronica Martinez, Pavel Albores, Kepa Mendibil, Creating and sustaining competitive advantage in collaborative systems: the what and the how, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 410–424.
Atthawit Techawiboonwong and Pisal Yenradee, Aggregate production planning with workforce transferring plan for multiple product types, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 447–458.
J. Dejonckheere, S. M. Disney, M. Lambrecht, D. R. Towill, The dynamics of aggregate planning, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 497–516.
Ming Dong, Inventory planning of supply chains by linking production authorization strategy to queueing models, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 533–541.
David Barnes and Frank Rowbotham, Developing a questionnaire for the four-stage model of operations strategy, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 613–622.
M. H. Xiong, S. B. Tor, L. P. Khoo, WebATP: a Web-based flexible available-to-promise computation system, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 662–672.
Shimon Y. Nof, Design of effective e-Work: review of models, tools, and emerging challenges, Vol. 14, No. 8, pp. 681–703.
Hong Li and Theodore J. Williams, Interface design for the Purdue enterprise reference architecture (PERA) and methodology in e-Work, Vol. 14, No. 8, pp. 704–719.
Finally, I would like to thank all authors for their continuing support of the journal.
Acknowledgments
Stephen J. Childe
Editor
