Caroline Weinstein

Building an automated and flexible production plant

Flexibility in production planning and control, plus the ability to switch from one production model to a replacement, can often mean the difference between success and failure (or at least profitable sales and nonprofitable sales). Olivetti has recently built a new manufacturing and test plant for its M24 personal computer, and this article is based on a visit to that plant by a UK computer journalist

Sea dart missile on target

When one considers the defence of ones country, it may be fashionable to think first of air defence and therefore of aircraft. However, the ship is also a fighting platform from which to attack and destroy enemy targets in the air and the Royal Navy is modernising its fleet and equipping it with newer missiles

A few years ago the product was king, today we are selling service

The telecommunication industry has been under a cloud in recent years as the British Post Office cut back its orders. Consequently, its equipment suppliers have been forced to trim their workforces, and Standard Telephones & Cables Ltd. has been no exception. CAROLINE WEINSTEIN asked KENNETH CORFIELD, deputy chairman and managing director of STC, how he saw the future

UK's flexible transmission system proves its worth

Much attention has been paid to the power generation side of the Central Electricity Generating Boards activity, particularly to the controversy surrounding the Drax ‘B’ order and its plant suppliers. However, cable-system makers are also facing a drop In UK business because of slower growth in electricity demand. CAROLINE WEINSTEIN visited the CEGBs headquarters talk to GLYN ENGLAND, who was appointed chairman In May 1977, about power transmission and general CEGB policy. Mr. England opened the discussion

Instruments in the care of the critically Ill

Most of us like to steer clear of hospitals (at least as patients), and the intensive-care unit perhaps even more so. However, electronics engineers at least may find themselves at home in this environment. Just as electronic equipment today has a role in almost every other aspect of our lives, in intensive care it is helping to keep alive the critically ill

Taking stock of component distribution

Change and expansion have been the predominant features of the electronic components industry in the past 10 years, and component suppliers have multiplied and changed as much as the components they sell. Even as little as six years ago, manufacturers were willing to sell small quantities of their components, and most customers preferred to purchase from the original suppliers. Today the picture has almost reversed; distributors have become the mainstay of component supply to all except the highest volume users of components.

Putting good ideas into practice

After 16 years with Hewlett-Packard Ltd. in the UK, and spending nine of those years as managing director, Dennis Taylor left to run his own company. He talks to Caroline Weinstein about managing a big organisation and expresses some ideas on how British companies can compete in world markets.

Nuclear interests sprout in Brussels

A threat to progress, American war games, the well being of Europe: the arguments for and against using nuclear energy ranged back and forth in the open discussions organised by the European Commission in Brussels recently. For three days an invited audience, which included many journalists from all over W. Europe, heard speakers arguing the case for pursuing or for rejecting the nuclear power option. The speakers, invited by the Commission, came from most nuclear nations of the European Community and from outside it. No answers emerged from the discussions, but some interesting questions were asked

The British Army's communications brought up to date

Winning a battle requires superiority in something, whether it be firepower, numbers, tactics or equipment, or perhaps, in the 1980s, communication. Wars are no longer fought from trenches as in World War I, nor even in large formations of tanks and guns. It is more likely that combat in any future hostilities will be conducted by smaller individual fighting units and that remote command posts will control and integrate their activities using a highly advanced tactical communication system. This is the way the British Army expects tomorrows battles to be fought and is the kind of war for which it has specified its next generation of mobile communication equipment, the Clansman range of vehicle and man-mounted radio packs and accessories

Energy elegy. For the Government: Secretary of State for Energy Tony Benn answers questions set by Caroline Weinstein

This year is an important for the future of Britains energy supplies. Research in alternative, renewable energy sources has been stepped up, but has it been stepped up enough? North Sea oil production has started to make an impact on fuel imports, but what will happen when it runs out? This is also the month when the Nuclear Power Company and the Nuclear Inspectorate are due to report their assessments on s.g.h.w.r., a.g.r. and p.w.r. power stations to Mr. Benn. His decision on which to order should follow swiftly after. This is the first in a series of interviews in which Elecrtonics & Power tries to find the answers to some of these questions.