Abstract
In this paper a set of specific applications under development for the Portuguese Shoe Industry are presented. The applications include CAD/CAM, the visualisation of graphical information (related to shoe and shoe components models) and the management of production and prototyping information. Besides describing some of the R&D details of the applications developed by the authors, this paper aims to present a case study of a successful technological application. It is part of a more general process for the introduction, in this industrial sector, of new production, management and administrative working philosophies, which are based on the centralisation of information and integrated global solutions. Copyright © 2004 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

Abstract
In the global market, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face increasing competition from large corporations for the control of the more profitable business areas. These corporations compensate for their lower agility and flexibility with easier access to information, resources and economies of scale. The virtual enterprise model of a business organization is thus often seen as one of the best strategic moves for SMEs to achieve a global reach without compromising their independence. This emerging business paradigm certainly brings new challenges to many areas of the enterprise, one of which is the quality assurance of external processes and contracted products and services. This paper introduces and discusses the issue of quality assurance within the scope of virtual and networked enterprises, and presents a novel methodology for the integration of quality management into enterprise modelling and for quality certification of the virtual enterprise. This is especially important because quality certification is becoming mandatory in nearly all markets and the well-established certification methods do not cover all the aspects of the virtual enterprise. ISO 9001:2000, the most widely used quality management system standard in the world, is presented as an interesting starting point for virtual enterprise quality management system implementation and certification. Further requirements include broadening the scope of the quality management system to include the whole enterprise life cycle, i.e. from its creation to decommission. Current auditing procedures will have to be adapted to this new business environment and, to meet such a requirement, a continuous real-time third-party auditing mechanism-fully integrated into the virtual enterprise--model is proposed. A pilot/simulator, implemented in a small virtual enterprise, in the occupational safety and health-care business, is used to illustrate the new environment as well as the novel requirements that quality systems will have to meet in the future.

Abstract
Within the scope of virtual and networked enterprises, this paper introduces a novel methodology for the integration of quality management into enterprise modeling and allowing for quality certification of the whole enterprise. The ISO 9001:2000 standard is presented as an interesting starting point for the virtual enterprise quality management system implimentation. Quality management systems certification within the scope of ISO 10011 (or even ISO FDIS 19011) is however quite a difficult task. An alternative scenario for certification is therefore proposed.

Abstract
The complex and extensive nature of urban environments creates difficulties to the task of generating virtual models. Thus a great effort in terms of human resources, time and money is needed. Nevertheless a large number of professionals and institutions devout efforts to gather and analyse data from these urban environments. As data is usually stored in a digital format, it becomes a valuable asset to incorporate it in the modelling process of virtual environments. This paper presents a three-dimensional modelling system with interoperable access to data in diverse formats and digital support, drived by an L-system based modelling process that automatically generates initial solutions for virtual environments, which can be incrementally improved.

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