The issue of manufacturing flexibility (MF) is gaining growing importance in production/operations management, mainly due to the changing nature of competition, and in such a context, the efficient use of resources may be a major concern and challenge for manufacturing strategy in many industries, particularly in the capital intensive automotive industry. Building on the foundation laid by previous researches on flexibility concerns, the objective of this study is to gain further insights on the nature of the linkage between employees' skills and MF, as well as its impact on business performance. Moving toward such purpose, a structural equation modelling is applied to data collected from 144 manufacturing firms in the automotive industry from several countries. Findings provide evidences that workforce' skills may foster MF as an effective approach to cope with uncertain environments and turbulent markets. More precisely, results show that employees' skills directly influence new product, volume and mix flexibility, which in turn directly influence business performance. Moreover, findings revealed that MF mediates partially the relationship between employees' skills and business performance.

This paper focuses on usefulness of a plant model for model-checking of untimed properties of logic controllers. Verification results obtained on a case study by using the symbolic model-checker NuSMV and three methods: verification of the only controller, constraints-based verification, in which the plant is simply modeled as a set of physical constraints, and model-based verification, that relies on a detailed model of the plant, are presented. The results yielded by these approaches enable to draw up application rules for formal verification of logic controllers.

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The combined use of computers and telecommunications and the latest evolution in the field of Artificial Intelligence brought along new ways of contracting and of expressing will and declarations. The question is, how far we can go in considering computer intelligence and autonomy, how can we legally deal with a new form of electronic behaviour capable of autonomous action? In the field of contracting, through Intelligent Electronic Agents, there is an imperious need of analysing the question of expression of consent, and two main possibilities have been proposed: considering electronic devices as mere machines or tools, or considering electronic devices as legal persons. Another possibility that has been frequently mentioned consists in the application of the rules of agency to electronic transactions. Meanwhile, the question remains: would it possible, under a Civil Law framework, to apply the notions of ''legal personhood'' and ''representation'' to electronic agents? It is obvious that existing legal norms are not fit for such an endeavouring challenge. Yet, the virtual world exists and it requires a new but realistic legal approach on software agents, in order to enhance the use of electronic commerce in a global world.