Industrial Engineering articles from November 1992

Industrial Engineering archives from November 1992

CAD system and database increase efficiency and quality. (computer-aided design) (ABB Power T&D Company Inc.'s Relay Division)
November 1, 1992... For decades, protective relays have been essential to safe electrical power generation and transmission. The "silent sentinels" guard against surges, shorts and other faults that can destroy equipment belonging to both power utilities and...

Rapid prototyping a strategic tool in concurrent engineering. (Biomet Inc.)
November 1, 1992... How does a company with spectacular growth, operating in a fast-paced market make a decision that can potentially trim weeks off their manufacturing process? Very quickly. Biomet Inc., Warsaw, Ind., designs, manufactures and markets...

Growing business solves big business problems. (Stockhausen Inc.)
November 1, 1992... Wouldn't we all welcome the opportunity to manage a company through a period of explosive growth? Stockhausen Inc. encountered this situation when it entered the U.S. market. The company was founded in the early 1980s by its German parent...

A material handling solution for an air cargo facility. (RAPISTAN Demag designs material handling system)
November 1, 1992... RAPISTAN Demag was recently approached by a major international carrier to competitively bid the supply of a material handling system for an automated air cargo facility. Land is very scarce within the airport and floor space, if available,...

MRP II software provides flexibility for manufacturer. (material requirements planning) (Turck Inc.)
November 1, 1992... Turck Inc. is a CIM-savvy manufacturer now enjoying the benefits of a CIM commitment - flexibility, reliability and well-managed growth. After effectively networking a bar code RF data collection/mobile inventory cart to LAN-based MRP II...

World-class strategies help create a world-class CIM facility. (computer-integrated manufacturing) (includes related article on the systems personnel at Allen-Bradley Company Inc.)
November 1, 1992... In 1985, Allen-Bradley, a worldwide manufacturer of industrial automation controls and systems, introduced the World Contractor Facility, one of the first computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) operations. Now, less than a decade later,...

How Raychem meets the challenge of high-volume, high-quality output.
November 1, 1992... Manufacturers hoping to improve their competitive abilities are looking afield for new models of factory layout, inventory control, training, management and computer automation. There are challenges associated with each of these areas, but one...

Computer integrated manufacturing platforms: DOS or UNIX?
November 1, 1992... With all the confusion about computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) technologies, including hardware platforms, network architecture, operating systems, CIM software packages, application development tools, design methodologies, support...

Implementing CIM in a small company. (computer-integrated manufacturing) (includes related article on basic requirements for a CIM system) (Tutorial)
November 1, 1992... Recent statistics show almost 76 percent of all manufacturing firms in the United States employ less than 100 employees. These small firms have been slow to adopt advances in computer technology, even though costs for computer hardware and...

CIM II: the integrated manufacturing enterprise. (computer-integrated manufacturing)
November 1, 1992... For many manufacturers, drops in market share, profits and productivity in the 1970s and 1980s served as a sobering "wake-up call" that change was necessary in how they do business. Huge investments were made in information technology, factory...

The changing roles of coordinate measuring machines. (computer-integrated manufacturing)
November 1, 1992... When the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) was introduced in the 1960s, it brought about a subtle, yet significant, change in manufacturing practices of machined parts. The driving force for the development and introduction of the CMM was the...

Outline of a successful simulation project. (Tutorial)
November 1, 1992... Simulation modeling is being used more frequently for evaluating and fine tuning designs of new processes, for analyzing the operating characteristics of existing operations and for verifying control strategies for automated systems. Computer...

Wasteful practices: handicaps to the JIT process. (just-in-time)
November 1, 1992... As one of the world-class manufacturing (WCM) techniques, just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing has been in the spotlight for some years. Since a lot of success stories have been published by successful implementation groups, WCM transformation is...

Design of experiments and the waste of subjectivity. (Tutorial)
November 1, 1992... A very subtle, yet significant, form of waste is the acceptance of subjective beliefs in business. Profits have never been born out of mysticism. Subjective thought without an accurate base is a form of a lie. Although "the lie" may not be...

Patient-focused hospitals: creating a competitive edge.
November 1, 1992... Recently, the healthcare industry has come under close scrutiny due to rising costs. In fact, national medical costs rose 10 percent last year, consuming 12.5 of the gross national product. To add to this, state and federal agencies have been...