Does Collaboration Work?

Bringing together a number of design celebrities, among them Greg Lynn, UN Studio, Foreign Office Architects (FOA) and Kevin Kennon Architect, United Architects (UA) was established to create a collaborative proposal for the 2003 competition for a new World Trade Center. Invoking the name as well as the intentions of what started as a similar collaborative formation by established actors and film-makers in the 1940s (United Artists) to challenge mainstream corporate power, UA attempted to offer more visionary alternatives to the expectations of typical mainstream architectural solutions. Kevin Kennon here presents an insider's perspective on the UA collaboration and employs his unique history, including his former partnership at Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) to raise important questions about collective design in terms of authorship, identity and practice. Central to his observations are the differences between the efficiency models of corporate teams and truly collaborative endeavours. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empirical evaluation of the reformed assembly work at the Volvo Uddevalla plant: Psychosocial effects and performance aspects

This paper reports on the innovative, now defunct, Volvo Uddevalla final assembly plant. Theoretical frames of reference, the design process and empirical data on work group characteristics and working conditions are focused upon.

Information regarding the Uddevalla plant has been gathered during a long-term co-operation project with the Volvo Corporation. During the closing-down period we obtained full access to all the production engineering data and personnel files available. We also had the opportunity of studying the responses to a questionnaire distributed to a random sample of blue-collar workers.

Working conditions in Uddevalla in the form of psychosocial job factors are compared with industrial blue-collar workers in general as well as with assembly workers in the closed down Volvo Kalmar final assembly plant, which had a different, more traditional, production system. The paper also compares the psychosocial job factors, performance measures and work-group characteristics in the five assembly workshops in the Uddevalla plant.

In comparing assembly workshops, the paper contrasts two approaches to competence development and work structuring used in Uddevalla, namely (1) giving priority to individual in-depth training of a specific task or (2) giving priority to a large competence overlap between individuals in a work group.

Relevance to industry

This paper reports and explains some results from a multidisciplinary evaluation of shop-floor work in the Volvo Uddevalla plant, a full-scale assembly plant with parallellized flow and long cycle time, using autonomous work groups. These experiences should be of general interest to industries searching for the factory of the future.     

Effect of laser induced rapid solidification structures on adhesion and bonding characteristics of alumina/silica based oxide to vitreous enamel

Abstract

The present work is concerned with investigating the effects of high power diode laser (HPDL) radiation on the microstructure of an amalgamated alumina/silica based oxide compound (AOC). The main rapid solidification theories, namely constitutional supercooling and the theory of morphological stability, are used to explain the observed microstructural changes in the AOC resulting from HPDL interaction. Without laser treatment of the AOC surface it was impossible to fire the enamel onto the AOC. However, wetting experiments, using a number of control liquids and the sessile drop technique, revealed that laser treatment of the AOC surface significantly altered the wetting characteristics of the AOC and allowed the enamel to bond to the AOC. Accordingly, HPDL treatment was identified as allowing the vitreous enamel to wet the surface by causing a decrease in the enamel contact angle from 118° to 33°. Moreover, no discernible difference was seen in the change in contact angle across the range of rapid solidification microstructures obtained. The actual incidence of rapid surface resolidification, and not the degree of rapid surface resolidification, was therefore identified as being the primary factor governing changes in contact angle. The bonding mechanisms were identified as being principally owing to van der Waals forces, however, some evidence of chemical bonding was also observed. The work has clearly shown that laser radiation can be used to alter the wetting characteristics of the AOC.     

Göteborg,Sweden

The Swedish city of Göteborg, located on the west coast of Sweden, is the country’s western gateway. Göteborg dates back to the 1600s when it was founded to function as both a port and a defensive position. From the beginning the city saw an influx of people from other countries and Göteborg at one point was known as ‘little London’. Soon industries were introduced and the town became an important commercial centre, growing rapidly in both area and population during the second half of the nineteenth century. Town districts subsequently developed different identities and these can still be experienced today. The town’s heavy industry and shipbuilding were important up to recent times but today the city has made the transition to become a knowledge centre and also an attractive city for tourism. Planning for the future aims to consolidate Göteborg as a dynamic regional centre and an attractive place to live with its diversified urban environment enhanced by its natural qualities. The city aims to create a climate of participation among the inhabitants, corporations and organizations in the region. Ultimately, success will be measured in terms of the city’s ability to engage with all sections of the rapidly expanding community.