Management consultants and technologyL.J. Weaver, C.Eng.. F.I.E.E.. F.I.Prod.E., F.I.M.C.

Indexing terms: Engineering administration & management

Abstract: The paper reviews the emergence of management consultancy and its role in introducing new tech-nology to industry. The increasing importance of computers is examined, particularly in the areas of advancedmanufacturing technology (AMT), computer-aided design and manufacture (CADCAM) and information tech-nology (IT). The effect of technological developments in management consultancy is analysed. The Institute ofManagement Consultants (IMC) is described. In conclusion, a consideration of future trends in managementconsultancy is presented.

1 Introduction

Management consulting is a 20th century phenomenonwhich originated in America after Word War I and spreadto Europe in the early 1930s. Its subsequent growthstemmed mainly from gradual recognition of the need toapply scientific methods in complex, large-scale industries.

In this country, management consulting has passedthrough a number of distinct evolutionary phases. In the1930s the emphasis was mainly on industrial engineering,and at that time the application of techniques such as timeand motion study proved remarkably effective as a meansof improving output. It is perhaps of interest to add that,during the Second World War, these work study tech-niques were further developed by consultants to improveproductivity in the aircraft and armaments industries:

The post-war boom in demand for advice and servicescontinued unabated for over twenty years and thus estab-lished the foundation for modern management consul-tancy. This remarkable phase of sustained growth can, atleast in part, be attributed to what has been described as'the managerial revolution', involving both the separationwithin companies of the management function from that ofownership, and growing awareness in industry of the needfor corporate development and more professional manage-ment. The larger management consultancy firms diversifiedrapidly, in order to satisfy new requirements for advice andassistance in the functional areas of marketing, distribu-tion, management accounting and personnel.

By 1970 management consultants were providing a widerange of professional management services to industry,commerce and government. Assignments generallyincluded one or more of the following features:

(a) provision of independent and objective advice(b) application of specific skills and expertise(c) assistance with the implementation of new projects.

Many companies retained consultants to obtain the bene-fits of a fresh and detached approach to questions ofcompany structure, corporate strategy and managementorganisation. In dealing with such intangible problemareas the experienced consultant tended to adopt the roleof a catalyst rather than that of the 'expert'. By workingclosely with management and leading discussion groups,he used his impartial status and objectivity to persuadesenior management to define and accept their problemsand then seek commitment to an agreed solution. Suchassignments required highly developed consulting skillsrather than expert knowledge.

A rather greater demand for consultants' services arose

Paper 33O1A (M3, M4), received 6th March 1984

The author is Executive Chairman of Polymark International PLC, Jeddo Road,Shepherds Bush, London W12 9EE, England

from the need for expert knowledge in a wider range ofdifferent activities. Few organisations could justify employ-ing all the specialist skills they might require, and consul-tants were frequently asked to undertake what wasgenerally regarded by clients as a one-off special exercise.Such assignments included detailed studies within a func-tional area, for example, market planning, distributionsystems, purchasing procedures, office organisation andproduction planning; and feasibility surveys of proposedprojects, workshop relocation, factory layouts and com-puter applications.

Perhaps the main reason for employing consultants wasto obtain experienced but temporary additional resoucesto help manage a major programme of change, and manyclients found that this use had considerable merit. In manycases the programme of change had been recommendedduring an earlier feasibility study and the consultants werecommitted to a successful outcome. The consultants couldalso concentrate fully on the project without the dis-traction of day-to-day operational problems suffered bymanagement, and they or their firms would almost certain-ly have tackled a similar project in a comparable organis-ation elsewhere.

In the 1970s the hectic expansion of earlier decadesslowed down considerably and the pursuit of growth gaveway to the development of higher quality and more sophis-ticated services. Most of the larger practices wererestructured to allow for both increasing specialisation andthe advent of the computer, which was soon to pervademuch of their work.

The profession of management consultancy is now well-established while remaining relatively small, in that it com-prises some 5000 consultants. The Institute ofManagement Consultants, founded in 1962 to providequalifications and standards, has since flourished as theprofessional body for individual management consultants.Two of the major firms, the P-E Consulting Group andUrwick Orr & Partners, are celebrating their fiftieth anni-versaries in 1984. Nevertheless, the profession is entering anew era as an increasing proportion of consulting work isdirected towards helping clients harness new technologies.The future development and commercial exploitation ofthese technologies will intensify this trend, and thus bringabout further significant changes in the structure of theprofession and in the nature of the work undertaken bymanagement consultants.

2 Technological developments influencing thework of consultants

2.1 Influence of computersThe leading consulting firms have always had to developand adapt their skills to meet the changing needs of their

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clients. At the start of the 1970s, even computer feasibilitystudies were comparatively rare, whereas by the end of thedecade the larger practices were finding that most of theirconsulting work was computer-related, and they were alsoproviding software services. By 1980 most assignments infields such as production, materials management, financialcontrol and management information systems involved theuse of computers, and sophisticated software was beingused to assist management in such areas as marketing, jobevaluation, personnel records and financial modelling.During the intervening ten years consultants had seen theevolution of the minicomputer, the advent of the micro-computer and the emergence of such concepts as 'localarea networks' and integrated systems. However, it wasnot fully appreciated that these concepts would soonbecome realities through the rapid development ofadvanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and informa-tion technology (IT).

2.2 Advanced manufacturing technologyConsiderable emphasis and publicity is now being given toAMT as an important means of improving our industrialcompetitiveness. In this context AMT is a generic termembracing sophisticated machining systems such as FMS(flexible manufacturing systems), and computer-based tech-niques including computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacture (CAM) and computer-aided productionmanagement (CAPM).

The current and potential impact of these systems onmanufacturing industry can hardly be understated. Indeed,it can be argued that our manufacturing companies arenow subject to a process of change more significant than atany time since the late eighteenth century. The changestaking place as the result of widespread use of sophisti-cated control and information systems are extraordinarilypervasive. Their influence has now spread to all areaswithin a manufacturing company, to the extent that activ-ities such as design, product specification, manufacturinginstructions, the manufacturing process of machining andassembly, and all the detailed procedures associated withpurchasing, stock control and works order scheduling canbe integrated in a radically new manner. The purist wouldthus be inclined to interpret AMT as the integration ofsubsystems to achieve optimum performance for thecompany's activities as a whole.

The widespread publicity given to AMT together withthe substantial support provided by a variety ofgovernment-aided schemes is generating considerableinterest from industry, which in turn is having a majorimpact on the nature of the services provided by manage-ment consultants. This interest can best be explained byreviewing briefly some of the recent developments in AMTsystems and the nature of the benefits to be gained byinstalling them.

The output of a manufacturing operation may be con-sidered in terms of the volume and variety of the itemsproduced. At one end of this spectrum a large variety ofproducts are produced in ones and twos, and at the otherend a few products are mass-produced in high volumes.The largest area of engineering manufacture, perhaps 75%,lies in the midvolume, midvariety sector of batch pro-duction. The total manufacturing costs per unit of conven-tional batch production have tended to be high becauseof:

(a) the low utilisation of machine tools resulting fromthe frequent setting operations needed for different work-pieces

(b) the lack of automation possibilities resulting fromthe need to accommodate continually changing workpieces

(c) the large amount of capital tied up in work-in-progress and finished stocks

(d) the difficulty of achieving efficient production controlbecause of the large number of different batches of work,tools and fixtures to be scheduled and controlled.

Although conventional batch production is relatively inef-ficient, difficult to control and expensive, it is likely togrow as a percentage of total engineering manufacture.Solutions are now becoming available to many of theproblems of machining components for batch production.These are the result of a continuing development of tech-niques and equipment and particularly of computerisedcontrols.

The key feature of this new approach to batch machin-ing is the ability to combine the flexibility of general-purpose machinery and equipment with the efficiency ofmass-production plant. Thus total machining need nolonger be regarded as a series of discrete steps but as the'mass-production' of small and varied batches. The inte-gration of NC machine tools and workpiece handlingequipment to perform automatically all or most of themachining operations as a family of parts has becomeknown as a 'flexible manufacturing system' (FMS), whichmight include the following features:

(a) adaptive control of machining conditions(b) automatic checking of dimensions of tools and/or

workpieces with feedback of corrective signals(c) automatic removal of swarf(d) automatic scheduling and rescheduling of production(e) provision of production statistics and other manage-

ment information.

In the early 1970s advances in machine tools (automatictool changing, computer control) and workpiece handling(conveyors, pallet changers), together with the growingrealisation that much greater efficiency was needed inbatch production, led to the first commercially successfulmachining systems. They were widely publicised, and as aresult many engineers associate the term FMS with large,high-capital-cost systems. However, developments inmachine design and control systems have made it possibleto gain many of the advantages of integrated machiningwith much smaller systems, perhaps containing as few astwo or even a single machine tool. More importantly, it isno longer necessary to install a complete system at onetime, as it can be built up step-by-step, gaining experienceprogressively and using the profits generated by the firststages to finance additions. Thus the advantages of FMSare now becoming available to even the smallest machineshop. These advantages include:

(a) reduced material usage and lower levels of stocksand work-in-progress

(b) reduced lead times on new and modified designs(c) improved product quality and a step towards 'zero

defects'(d) consistent levels of output(e) higher labour productivity(/) improved speed and quality of management infor-

mation(g) enhanced scope for CADCAM linkage

To develop CNC machine tools it was necessary to definenumerical values for the tool positional movements, thusenabling control logic to replace hand wheels and dials.Further research resulted in the evolution of computerpart programming languages, of which APT

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(automatically-programmed tools) remains the most exten-sively used. This language was used as the basis for thedevelopment of the electronic drawing board, permittingscaling and rotation of engineering components. Subse-quently, geometric data base components were identifiedand software techniques developed to provide the basis forcomputer-aided design (CAD).

2.3 Computer-aided designThe extensive development of computers in the 70s led togreat advances in graphics technology and different waysof representing geometry, e.g. wireframe, polygonal primi-tives, sculptured surfaces and solid modelling. These devel-opments facilitated the detailed modelling of engineeringcomponents, and comprehensive on-line interactionbetween designer and computer now provides scope formore effective design.

The benefits to be gained from the effective introductionof CAD are very worthwhile. Apart from the increase indrawing office productivity (blanket figures of 3:1 are fre-quently quoted), the more intangible benefits of reduceddesign lead times, better drawing quality, more consistentaccuracy and increased standardisation are also likely tobe significant. Furthermore, while the design process doesnot readily lend itself to automation, the human processesof innovation and creativity can be greatly assisted by theuse of CAD techniques.

The extension of CAD to computer-assisted part prog-ramming by means of CAM is another important develop-ment having a major impact on manufacturing efficiency.All CNC machines require detailed instructions, known aspart programs, to produce a component. The manualpreparation of part programs includes determining the rawmaterial size, cutting methodology and tool paths; everychange of direction, intersection and blend point needs tobe defined, and requires time-consuming and error-pronecalculations. Development of machine tool controlsprovide special cycle routines which save considerabletime, and other controls employ methods akin tocomputer-assisted languages. However, a much more valu-able breakthrough is possible by extending CAD to CAM.Geometry on a CAD system is stored in terms of points,lines, circles and volumetric primitives such as cubes, cylin-ders and cones which are combinations of points, lines andcircles. A part programming system also stores thegeometry of a part in the same way, and since tool motionsare related to the part geometry they can also be createdfrom the CAD system. By adding cutting technology data(feeds, speeds, depth of cut) the resulting CADCAM systembecomes capable of producing the computer part program.

2.4 CADCAMThe potential benefits to be gained from CADCAM interms of manufacturing efficiency are clearly very great,and they are also likely to reduce, if not eliminate, the tra-ditional barriers between the design and manufacturingfunctions. Many engineering companies are seeking todevelop and implement CADCAM and thus achieve betterintegration of these two vitally important engineering func-tions.

Another area where new technology is having a majorimpact on the work of consultants is in the area of pro-duction and stock control, where computer-aided pro-duction management (CAPM) systems have madeconsiderable advances in recent years. In the past, pro-duction control systems used expensive mainframe com-puters, which required specialist support from dataprocessing staff and tended to be located centrally because

they were employed for other tasks such as the payroll andaccounting.

In recent years this picture has changed dramaticallywith the development of the minicomputer and softwarepackages. Not only are these machines less expensive thanmainframe computers, but are 'user friendly' and can beoperated by production personnel after limited training.Minicomputers can accordingly be dedicated to such activ-ities as material-requirements planning, stock control orshop scheduling under the direct control of productionpersonnel. The advent of the minicomputer has reducedboth the hardware cost and the time required to computer-ise production control systems: it has also improved thelikelihood of successful implementation.

The two most significant benefits arising from effectiveCAPM are represented by reliable delivery performanceand lower stocks/work-in-progress. Delivery performanceis frequently an important nonprice factor in sustainingmarket share, even if products have technical or priceadvantages. In many engineering industries the workingcapital required to finance stocks and work-in-progresscan be as much as a third of a company's turnover, and thecosts of servicing this investment can have a markedimpact on profit margins. The application of effective pro-duction control systems usually reduces stocks and work-in-progress as a proportion of output, thus yieldingvaluable financial benefits in terms of reduced workingcapital requirements.

2.5 Information technologyOther developments which will have a major impact onthe work of consultants are in the area of informationtechnology. This whole field is still evolving rapidly, but itis possible to identify a number of important trends:

(a) convergence of telecommunication, data processingand office equipment through the use of common digitalelectronics technology

(b) emergence of office automation from electronic type-writers, word processors and computers to the advancedmultiple-featured workstation

(c) computer-aided storage and retrieval of microfilmand videodiscs

(d) integrated information systems involving viewdata,videotex and local area networks.

Developments in information technology have resulted inthe steady diffusion of processing and storage capabilityfrom central sites to remote terminals. The complexnetwork hierarchies required for this purpose have beenmade possible by consistent reductions in processing andstorage costs. Developments in LSI (large-scaleintegration) of devices are reducing processing costs bysome 30% per annum, and new semiconductor materialssuch as gallium arsenide offer scope for even greaterreductions. Storage costs are reducing by similar amountsper annum as the capacities of magnetic discs continue toincrease.

Information technology has emerged as a very potentforce during a period when the population of thoseworking in offices has grown, but rapid growth has inevita-bly generated a number of problems. For example, there isat present widespread incompatibility of computer hard-ware and software, and the need for greater stan-dardisation is now becoming urgent. However, whiledevelopments in information technology continue to out-strip the rate of existing commercial applications, the morediscerning companies recognise the vital need for detailedinvestigation and planning prior to the introduction of anynew system. It is perhaps of interest to add that these

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studies invariably raise the issue of centralisation anddecentralisation of IT systems, and thus tend to focus moreon matters of management philosophy and style ratherthan simply on the actual technology.

All these developments in AMT and IT are now com-bining to provide a range of technological solutions tomany organisational and managerial problems. This isparticularly true in the batch production engineeringindustries, and a growing number of companies in thissector are becoming aware of the benefits that can bederived by adopting these technologies.

3 Result of technological developments on theconsulting profession

3.1 From generalised to specialised consultingAs a result of the growth in computer-related assignments,the profession has been steady moving away from classicalmanagement consulting to the provision of computer-related services. The 'belle epoque' of generalist consultinghas now been eclipsed by the demand for specialised'hands-on' expertise to help companies harness developingnew technologies and sophisticated computer systems.Increasing awareness of AMT and IT is accelerating thistrend and bringing about further changes. These are reflec-ted in the organisation and style of the major practices, thestructure of the profession and in the skills and knowledgerequired of the management consultant today.

The larger consulting firms have certainly been con-fronted with changes in their market place as dramatic asany facing their clients. Most of these practices recognisedthat adjustment to the increasing demand for greaterspecialisation in technology-based consulting would havemajor implications. For example, the rapid build-up of aneffective consulting capability in just one high-technologyarea would require substantial investment in new specialiststaff and in the retraining and development of some exist-ing staff. The build-up of several different specialisationswould, therefore, probably bring about some reduction inthe range of consulting services that could sensibly be pro-vided. Most of the larger firms have now implementedorganisational changes which were conceived some timeago and which involved identifying future core businessesand establishing these as separate subsidiary units, if notcompanies. PA, which is the largest firm having originallyestablished itself in the personnel services area, is nowfocusing on four main businesses, of which two are PAComputers & Telecommunications and PA Technology.P-E, well known for its work in the manufacturing area,now has a number of subsidiary companies, of which twoare P-E Computer Services Ltd., and P-E InformationSystems Ltd. Such developments are a far cry from thelarge monolithic structures of the 1960s and the provisionof work-study-based incentive schemes.

3.2 Emergence of accountancy-based firmsIn recent years there have been changes in the overallstructure of the consulting profession which can in part beattributed to advancing technology; an interestingexample of such change is the emergence of accountancy-based firms. During the early 1970s the consulting arms ofthe major accountancy practices were seen to be enteringinto competition with the 'big four' (PA, P-E, Inbucon andUrwick Orr & Partners) who at that time still dominatedthe profession. These accountancy-based practices grad-ually acquired most of the consultancy work in companyfinance departments, including the computerisation ofmanagement accounting and financial control systems;

they were quick to identify the potential for future consult-ing work that would arise from office automation, andthey developed new capabilities accordingly. Having anatural introduction to the financial services industrysector where organisations such as banks, insurancehouses and investment companies were concerned aboutthe labour intensity of their operations, these accountancy-based practices have been able to exploit their new exper-tise to some advantage. Today, the consulting firms ofCoopers & Lybrand, Price Waterhouse, Arthur Andersen,Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Deloitte Haskins & Sellsrank among the top eight in the management consultancyleague table.

There is a fairly general belief among the directors andpartners in the larger firms that advancing technology iswidening the differences between them. Ten years ago aclient might have invited competitive quotes from all of the'big four', but this is unlikely to happen today. Companiesrequiring assistance with integration of their informationsystems would probably single out one of the accountancy-based firms, whereas those requiring help with newproduct development would probably consider using PA.Companies requiring assistance with AMT would verylikely include P-E among those invited to tender; Inbuconand Urwick Orr have a similar reputation in systemsdevelopment.

3.3 Changing structure of the professionAdvancing technology has also contributed to otherchanges in the profession. The number of sole practitionersand small firms in practice has grown steadily over thepast seven years, and they now represent a significantsector within the profession. The majority of these consul-tants have wide generalist experience acquired duringseveral years with one of the larger firms, and many choseindependence as an alternative to increasing specialisation.However, most of them are now concentrating in the'people' disciplines such as executive search and selection,industrial relations, training, personnel and managementdevelopment. While this group of consultants readilyacknowledge that they have neither the resources norexpertise to compete with their larger counterparts onhigh-technology assignments, they are nevertheless estab-lishing themselves in fields which once provided much ofthe 'bread and butter' consultancy for the big firms.

3.4 Recruitment into management consultancyThe larger practices have reviewed their recruitment poli-cies to meet the changing demand for consulting services.In the past, the typical recruit was almost invariably agedbetween 28-35, a graduate having qualified in engineering,accountancy or economics and having spent time inindustry gaining some management experience. The re-cruiters were searching for men who were good communi-cators, articulate and able to present not only their ownideas but those of their clients' management in a coherentand persuasive manner. Successful applicants were givenextensive training for several months and were then closelysupervised on their early assignments which were carefullyselected. After five years varied experience these men wereconsidered to have acquired the skills and knowledge toperform competently on most assignments without closesupervision. Today the emphasis has veered away fromseeking future potential to recruiting practitioners in thehigher-technology areas whose knowledge and experiencecan soon be put to good use. The larger practices are re-cruiting both young men who may be attracted into con-sultancy from university after completing a Masters degree

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in such subjects as information science, manufacturingsystems or computer sciences, and older men in their 40swho may have extensive industrial experience in somespecialist activity. In almost all cases 'computer literacy' isconsidered to be an essential requirement.

Although the larger practices are experiencing some dif-ficultly in finding recruits with appropriate knowledge andexperience, most of them are able to cope with the demandfrom those industrial companies wishing to implementAMT or IT. Many of these companies have some in-houseexpertise, but they still seek the advice of consultants tohelp them find the most appropriate solution out of thebewildering array of equipment, systems and softwarepackages currently available.

3.5 DTI supportAn important factor stimulating the demand for consultingassistance in this field is the DTI support for new tech-nology in the form of aid schemes for CADCAM, FMSand robotics. This support is generous in that withCADCAM (and CAPM) applications, the consultancy feefor feasibility studies is funded up to £3000, and sub-sequent project planning and implementation studiesqualify for grants of 50% up to a maximum grant of£50000. The nature of the work done by consultants inthese areas tends to follow a well-established pattern: feasi-bility study outlining scope and benefits, detailed analysisof needs and requirements, equipment and software specifi-cations, project planning and support with implementationand training. The modern form of government-aided con-sultancy work emerged some six years ago with the MAS(Manufacturing Advisory Service) scheme and, as a resultof a succession of further grant-aided schemes, has sincegrown to the extent that it now represents a significantproportion of the work undertaken by several of the largerpractices.

4 Institute of Management Consultants

The Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) is therecognised professional institute of individual managementconsultants in the UK, and is concerned with the stan-dards, status and development of the profession. It wasfounded in 1962 when all the major firms were expandingrapidly to meet the rising demand for general managementconsultancy services. Since that time it has coped with anever-widening range of specialist consulting activities, byconstantly reviewing and changing the criteria regardingqualifications, knowledge and experience for admissionand subsequent transfer to the grades of Member andFellow. In 1984 it still requires candidates for membershipto have a broad understanding of general management,but will accept that the necessary levels of expertise andexperience need be acquired in only one of 12 defined fieldsof specialisation. The fields of specialised business activityaccepted by the Institute are defined as follows:

(a) Corporate policy & development(b) Financial management(c) Administration(d) Marketing and selling(e) Production(/) Distribution and transport(g) Information technology(h) Economic planning(i) Environmental planning(j) Human resource management(k) Management services(/) Other technological areas.

Some of these fields, such as production, financial manage-ment and human resource management, comprise impres-sively long lists of subspecialisations. Even one of the latestadditions, information technology, includes such activitiesas computer strategy and feasibility studies, computeraudits, equipment and software selection, office automa-tion, telecommunications equipment and systems, informa-tion systems, information management and systemssecurity management. Each review undertaken by the IMCover the past ten years further recognises advancing tech-nology, and reflects the trend away from general manage-ment advice to assisting companies with bothhardware/equipment selection and system implementation.

The results of technological development are furtherreflected in the attitude and motivation of the youngerconsultants in the profession. Fifteen years ago young menjoined a management consultancy to acquire the broaden-ing of experience that would eventually enable them toreturn to industry at general management level, and agreat many achieved this transition successfully after somefive years with a major consulting firm. Today many ofthose entering management consultancy do so in order todevelop their specialisations and keep pace with techno-logical developments in a way that would be difficult withan industrial employer. Those who return to industry tendto be lured back because of their specialised knowledgeand experience and they continue to be associated withtheir specialisms, albeit in a management role.

5 Future trends

There is no doubt that the consulting profession willbecome increasingly technology-oriented in the future, forthe following reasons:

(a) an increasing range of business problems will lendthemselves to technological solutions

(b) the rate at which first-generation AMT and IT sub-systems will be adopted by industry will increase as moreand more companies realise the valuable benefits to begained from implementation

(c) the present generation of these subsystems will veryquickly be replaced by succeeding generations incorpo-rations increasingly sophisticated capabilities

(d) the more advanced and discerning companies willseek greater integration of existing systems.

The majority of current AMT applications (FMS, robotics,CADCAM, CAPM) exist in metal-cutting industries, andthe successes already achieved are stimulating a greatmany companies with similar processes to consider AMTseriously. To a lesser extent FMS is now being extended tosuch processes as assembly (particularly with printedcircuit boards) and fabrication. The progress made in theseareas indicates that the scope of FMS could well embraceother processes and applications. Although the hardwareand equipment for these other processes would be very dif-ferent from the conventional FMS, the same philosophywould apply, as would many of the software modules. Inany event, implementation of AMT subsystems across awider spectrum of manufacturing industry will providemanagement consultants with a substantial load of workfor the foreseeable future.

AMT is developing at a remarkable pace. In some cases,as with CADCAM, CAPM and other information pro-cessing systems, many of the improvements can be attrib-uted to software sophistication. However, there is nowevidence of significant developments in a number of impor-tant areas which include:

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(a) interfaces between subsystems(b) networking and distributed computer systems(c) the commercial use of fibre-optic links(d) multiple-fault-tolerant software control systems(e) real time 'intelligent' FMS control(/) the technology required for unmanned operations:

better sensors, intelligent adaptable systems, machine con-dition monitoring, real-time automatic rescheduling, auto-matic on-line inspection, adaptive quality control etc.

Many of the advances made will not only improve the per-formance of the AMT subsystems, but will facilitate theprocess of system integration. The ultimate objective willbe computer integrated manufacture (CIM) within a totalfactory or business. At present there is no genuine CIMsystem in the UK, but several companies have developedAMT and IT subsystems to an extent that suggests thatCIM may be achieved within the next three or four years.Other companies, mindful of the high cost of implementingAMT in a comparatively piecemeal and fragmentedmanner, are beginning to develop a coherent long-termmanufacturing strategy with CIM as an ultimate goal. Atthe same time, consultants are beginning to help theirclients plan for integration in two forms. Firstly, the use ofand access to a common database for both engineeringand administrative purposes and, secondly, the linking

together of control systems CAD/CNC/FMS/CAPM. Inview of all these efforts, it is to be hoped that a number ofgenuine CIM systems will be fully operational by the endof this decade.

The advance of technology will thus create new andexciting challenges for the management consulting pro-fession, but it will also generate new problems. The majorpractices will develop a valuable body of knowledge andexperience in these complex fields, and industry will regardthe profession as a fertile source of resources that are likelyto remain scarce for some years to come. There is thedanger that the sheer range and depth of technical knowl-edge required in these fields may make practitioners regardthemselves as machining/computer/systems specialistsrather than management consultants. This would be unfor-tunate, as AMT and IT are not just about installing newequipment, but about the reorganisation and managementof whole businesses in a totally new and much more effec-tive manner. It is perhaps appropriate to conclude with therather ironic thought that advancing technology may wellhelp to bring to the fore once again the broader-based gen-eralist consultant, who can view all the activities in adeveloping company with a balanced perspective, but whoalso realises that our national ability to create wealthdepends largely on the efficiency of our manufacturingindustries.

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