The Delft Systems Approach: Analysis and Design of Industrial Systems

This book is primarily intended for engineers that reach a managerial position in organisations in the industrial sector (production or transport), public and private services, societies, banks, etc., as well as for members of staff who support these functions. In addition, this book is also intended for engineering students who aspire to a managerial or staff position in the future. Whenever we use the word “manager”, we specifically address the engineer who performs a managing function. 1.1 The Purpose of this Book The purpose of this book is as follows: • To improve the conception of a design in order to obtain a better match between the expected operation and the real operation of an (intended) industrial system. • To integrate the structural and behavioural conceptions of a system to be designed. • To support communication between different specialists, both of whom are involved in the same processes and projects. • To guide managers in their application of this knowledge to the problems with which they are confronted in practice. • To communicate knowledge and understanding of the part of systems theory that will enable managers to further improve their performance and/or to reduce their workload.