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This Thesis reports on the principles and usefulness of Performance Rating as developed by the writer over a number of years. In Part one a brief analysis is made of the Quality scene and its development up to the present. The need is exposed for Performance Rating as a tool for all areas of management*. At the same time a system of Quality Control is described which the writer has further developed under the title of 'Operator Control'. This system is based on the integration of all Quality control functions with the creative functions required for Quality achievement. The discussions are mainly focussed on the general philosophy of Quality, its creation and control and that part of Operator Control which affects Performance Rating. Whereas it is shown that the combination of Operator Control and Performance Rating is both economically and technically advantageous, Performance Rating can also usefully be applied under inspection control conditions. Part two describes the principles of Area Performance Rating. *The need for, and the advantages of, Performance Rating are particularly demonstrated in Case study No.1. From this a summation expression is derived which gives the key for grouping of areas with similar Performance Rating (P). A model is devised on which the theory is demonstrated. Relevant case studies, carried out in practice in factories are quoted in Part two, Chapter 4, one written by the Quality manager of that particular factory. Particular stress is laid in the final conclusions on management's function in the Quality field and how greatly this function is eased and improved through the introduction of Area Performance Rating.

This thesis describes the history of robots and explains the reasons for the international differences in robot '. diffusion, and the differences in the diffusion of various iobot applications with reference to the UK. As opposed to most of the literature, diffusion is examined with an integrated and interdisciplinary perspective. Robot technology evolves from the interaction of development, supply and manufacture, adoption, and promOtion. activities. Emphasis is given to the analysis of adoption, at present the most important limiting factor of robot advancement in the UK. Technical development is inferred from a comp'arison of surveys on equipment, and from the topics of ten years of symposia papers. This classification of papers is also used to highlight the international and institutional differences in robot development. Analysis of the growth in robot supply, manufacture, and use is made from statistics compiled. A series of interviews with users and potential users serves to illustrate the factors and implications of the adoption of different robot systems in the UK. Adoption pioneering takes place when several conditions exist: when the technology is compatible with the firm, when its advantages outweigh its disadvantages, and particularly when a climate exists which encourages the managerial involvement and the labour acceptance. The degree of compatibility (technical, methodological, organisational, and economic) and the consequences (profitability, labour impacts, and managerial effects) of different robot systems (transfer, manipulative, processing, and assembly) are determined by various aspects of manufacturing operations (complexity, automation, integration, labour tasks, and working conditions). The climate for adoption pioneering is basically determined by the performance of firms. The firms' policies on capital investment have as decisive a role in determining the profitability of robots as their total labour costs. The performance of the motor car industry and its machine builders explains, more than any other factor, the present state of robot advancement in the UK.

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Government regulation of industrial hazards is examined in the context of the economic and technical processes of industrial development. Technical problems and costs of control are considered as factors in both the formation and impact of regulation. This thesis focuses on an historical case-study of the regulation of the hazard to painting workers from the use of lead pigments in paint. A regulatory strategy based on the prohibition of lead paints gained initial acceptance within the British state in 1911, but was subsequently rejected in favour of a strategy that allowed continued use of lead paint subject to hygiene precautions. The development of paint technology and its determinants, including concern about health hazards, are analysed, focusing on the innovation and diffusion into the paint industry of the major white pigments: white lead (PbC03 .PB(OH)2)and its substitutes. The process of regulatory development is examined, and the protracted and polarised regulatory d~bate contrasted to the prevailing 'consensual' methods of workplace regulation. The rejection of prohibition is analysed in terms of the different political and technical resources of those groups in conflict over this policy. This highlights the problems of consensus formation around such a strategy, and demonstrates certain constraints on state regulatory activity, particularly regarding industrial development. Member-states of the International Labour Organisation agreed to introduce partial prohibition of lead paint in 1921. Whether this was implemented is related to the economic importance of lead and non-lead metal and pigment industries to a nation. An analysis is made of the control of lead poisoning. The rate of control is related to the economic and technological trajectory of the regulated industry. Technical and organisational characteristics are considered as well as regulatory factors which range from voluntary compliance and informal pressures to direct legal requirements. The implications of this case-study for the analysis of the development and impacts of regulation are assessed.

A description of the background to testing friction materials for automotive brakes explains the need for a rapid, inexpensive means of assessing their behaviour in a way which is both accurate and meaningful. Various methods of controlling inertia dynamometers to simulate road vehicles are rejected in favour of programming by means of a commercially available XY plotter. Investigation of brake service conditions is used to set up test schedules, and a dynamometer programming unit built to enable service conditions on vehicles to be simulated on a full scale dynamometer. A technique is developed by which accelerated testing can be achieved without operating under overload conditions, saving time and cost without sacrificing validity. The development of programming by XY plotter is described, with a method of operating one XY plotter to programme the machine, monitor its own behaviour, and plot its own results in logical sequence. Commissioning trials are described and the generation of reproducible results in frictional behaviour and material durability is discussed. Teclmiques are developed to cross check the operation of the machine in retrospect, and retrospectively correct results in the event of malfunctions. Sensitivity errors in the measuring circuits are displayed between calibrations, whilst leaving the recorded results almost unaffected by error. Typical results of brake lining tests are used to demonstrate the range of performance parameters which can be studied by use of the machine. Successful test investigations completed on the machine are reported, including comments on behaviour of cast iron drums and discs. The machine shows that materials can repeat their complex friction/ temperature/speed/pressure relationships at a reproducibility of the order of +-0.003u and +~ 0.0002 in. thickness loss during wear tests. Discussion of practical and academic implications completes the report with recommendations for further work in both fields.

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