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Peter C Grossi
Publication References


  • Peter Grossi (2023) Artificial Intelligence, presentation to the CQI Slides, September 2023
    A presentation given to the Charterered Quality Institute (Wales) introducing Artificial Intelligence to an on-line audience of managers.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2022) The Cashless Society
    This report looks into the prospect of the UK becoming a cashless society.
    Over a number of years, but with increasing frequency, many articles have been published on this subject, and a selection of these are reviewed to determine the various viewpoints, pros and cons. No doubt there are many more commercially confidential reports considered by financial institutions, but these are not available for review by the author.

  • Peter Grossi (2022) Miniature Railway magazine issue 57, Autumn 2022 "Ultrasound Wireless Signals" Front cover
    The article is extracted from a report on developing a robust system for measuring the speeds of miniature (ride-on) railway trains. Detecting trains reliably with only track-mounted equipment is a perpetual problem across the world. Various solutions have been tried but have not been entirely satisfactory.
    The report provides technical details of an ultrasound-based solution which is published in the Projects section of this website.

  • Peter Grossi (2019) A Mechanical Horse project, presentation to the CMES Slides, September 2019
    A presentation given to the Cardiff Model Engineering Society introducing the design and demonstration of a 50% scale mechanical horse leg. This is based on a 4-jointed architecture with artificial tendons permitting realistic movement using only two motors.

  • Grossi P.C. and Smith, R (2014) "Creative Adaptations", Quality World, June 2014: pp 30-37
    Following the dramatic rule changes in Formula 1 this season, this article looks at how such changes can help the less well funded teams to compete against the leading marques. A Causal Loop Diagram is used to illustrate the iterative relationships between sponsorship, funding, creative opportunities and race results.

  • Nasir, U and Grossi, P.C. (2013) "Strong management is the key to Lean", QW Express, March 2013
    Shows that the problems with improvement initiatives so often experienced, can be overcome if the programme is addressed from the position of sound management instead of textbook process.

  • Smith, R and Grossi, P.C. (2013) "V for Victory", Quality World, January 2013: pp 22-27
    A look at how Formula 1 technology and supercar innovations influence the mainstream. System-V is discussed as an example of a new generation of engineering development process control systems that meet the demands of parallel and concurrent development in a virtual environment.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2011) "Driving Down Quality With Costs", Quality World, January 2011: p 10
    Defining the word "Downgeneering" in relation to the unfortunate trend in the motor industry to sacrifice product quality, as evidenced by the recent product recall incidents among top global marques.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2010) "Flushed With Success", Quality Progress, September 2010: pp 34-39
    While implementing ISO9001, ISO14001 and Lean, the author has worked with a number of engineering companies that use oils and other biotoxic materials. With increasing attention to the environment, through legislation as well as social pressure, safe disposal of these materials is of mounting concern. The disposal problem is related to the quantities required, not only of the materials themselves but also of the agents used to clean the equipment. So this is a situation where environmental responsibility and commercial advantage are entirely compatible as they converge on a single requirement to minimise the use of cleaning agents. This article shows that great savings can be made by thinking carefully about the effectiveness of cleaning and the efficiency of use of cleaning agents. It has shown that, with some basic mathematics, coupled with a willingness to invest in some inexpensive, re-usable tools, a substantial difference can be made to both a company's cost base and its ecological footprint.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2010) "Why Continuous Improvement Initiatives Fail", Quality World, July 2010: pp 32-35
    Continuous improvement has become firmly established as a necessary strategy for the success, even the survival, of most organisations. It can take a number of forms, such as building on the principles of kaizen, total quality management, ISO management standards and lean. There are innumerable textbooks and training courses prescribing and describing continuous improvement in one form or another and of course they generally cite favourable case studies. However, case studies don't necessarily represent the whole truth. Much the same problem arises with seminars and presentations: "successful" projects often turn out to be incomplete or a projection of anticipated results not yet achieved. This article analyses survey data from a LinkedIn discussion group, and if we take away the lessons that this survey teaches us we will have already gone a long way towards improving the liklihood of a successful outcome.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2009) "Cruise to Success", Quality World, August 2009: pp 34-38
    While large companies can afford to employ an IT department, this is not often the case with small- and medium-sized enterprises. For large companies it should not be a problem to integrate administrative processes with internet resources, but SMEs usually keep internet resources separate. But for one SME in the leisure sector this was beginning to get in the way of efficient customer relationships. For a successful internet strategy the company took a step back from the detail and pictured the whole customer/administration loop, both as seen by the company and by the customer. This picture then had to be matched or overlaid by a robust and reliable implementation that focused on the business issues with minimum technical distraction.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2009) "Prepared for Battle", Quality Progress, June 2009: pp 18-23
    The current condition of the global economy has many organizations scrambling to cut costs by any means necessary. During these difficult times, there is less money circulating, income is harder to maintain, and there is increasing pressure from customers to lower prices. What organizations need to keep in mind, however, is that while the impact of a recession may be significant from a psychological perspective, in reality the application of sound quality management principles has a much more significant effect on an organization�s success than the state of the economy.

  • Grossi, P.C. (2009) "PDCA or K9P? Even my dog can manage PDCA", Quality World, March 2009: p 14
    Discussing the simple and obvious virtues of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, and how it resonates with natural intuition.

  • Grossi, P.C., Rowlands, H. and Harwood, D.J. (2006) "Modelling Organisational Performance Using Stakeholder Objectivity", Presented at Performance Management Association Conference, Henley, 2006
    A number of models exist to help managers measure and control the performance of their organisations. Among the most widely used are the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence model, and the Balanced Scorecard. This paper looks at those and other models, as well as standard accounting measures, and considers their weaknesses from performance management and modelling viewpoints. Taking these issues in relation to stakeholders, a set of criteria is established for a more effective performance modelling system. A multi-layer model is then presented, which is tested for compliance with the proposed criteria.

  • Grossi, P.C., Harwood, D.J. and Rowlands, H. (2005) "Culture Club", Quality World, September 2005
    The freedom, or lack of it, to discuss cultural issues in an organisation is an important feature of the cultural mechanism as it solidifies cultural development and can lead to the perpetuation of inappropriate beliefs and behaviours. This is plainly in direct contradiction to the widely accepted requirement of a management system that is continually improved by feedback and review.

  • Grossi, P.C., Harwood, D.J. and Rowlands, H. (2005) "Determining Organisational Success Through Stakeholder Analysis", Presented at Philosophy of Management 05, St. Anne's College, Oxford, 2005
    Financial factors, such as turnover and return on investment, are found not to be reliably predictive and don't usefully apply to not-for-profit organisations. This paper is based on the premise that the success of any organisation depends on its ability to create value, and that value extends beyond the expectations of shareholders into a much broader range of interested parties, or stakeholders. These therefore have legitimate claims on the management focus of the organisation, and these claims have to be reconciled and balanced. Such a balance, coupled with the measurable expectations of each stakeholder group, can be defined as a structure for measuring overall performance. By deploying this as part of a strategic feedback loop, problems and opportunities can be identified early and addressed promptly. These concepts are supported by field research described in this paper.

  • Grossi, P.C., Harwood, D.J. and Rowlands, H. (2005) "The Stakeholder Model as a Performance Standard", Presented at British Academy of Management Annual Conference, Said Business School, Oxford, 2005
    The research reported in this paper discusses the nature of stakeholders, and how their relationships can be developed as a general model for a quantifiable framework of organisational values. A standardised list of stakeholder groups is defined, and a method of determining the relative importance of those groups is reported. The results and analysis of a field sample comprising a widely varying selection of organisations demonstrates the feasibility of this method. It is found that, while organisations vary greatly in their relationships with the different stakeholder groups, the field research indicates that it can be used as a structure for defining measurable strategic objectives for organisations of all types. The model is therefore found to be robust and can be applied generally. The model is further developed into a structure for defining operational performance indicators which supports a new method of deploying strategy within a process oriented organisation.



© Peter Grossi 2023. This site prepared and published by Peter Grossi

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