IIE Solutions articles from June 2000

IIE Solutions archives from June 2000

Networking works.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Jane Gaboury What a treat to get out of the office and be among IIE members for a few days in May. It certainly helps put things in perspective. For better and worse, I got an earful of opinions, suggestions, and anecdotes at IIE's...

Fancy chairs don't prevent carpal tunnel.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... No matter how ornate an ergonomic office chair is, it's probably not going to help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome or other wrist injuries that result from working at a computer keyboard, according to a Cornell University study. Marisol...

The world at work.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... In France, a law was passed Feb. 1 that fixes the standard work week to 35 hours in businesses that employ more than 20 people. In Greece, a bill to reduce the work week from 40 to 35 hours, which was opposed by employer and worker...

A different angle on system failure.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have come up with an innovative approach to studying how and why engineered systems fail due to human error. "Instead of systematically trying to determine all the possible things a person might...

Learning e-commerce through 'virtual enterprise'.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Engineering students at the University of Missouri-Rolla will soon be working with students majoring in marketing, accounting, business, and other disciplines from the three other University of Missouri campuses in a "virtual enterprise"...

No-pressure software selection.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... It can be confusing listening to software vendors tout their products. That's why managers at Louis industries Inc., a steel fabricating company, decided to purchase their software system a different way. The firm used a service that...

EMFs linked to worker suicide.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Workers who are exposed to low-frequency electromagnetic fields face an increased risk of suicide, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Electricians working for five U.S. power...

Applying OR to the office pool.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... "Defeating 99.7 percent of the competition is pretty good," crowed Edward H. Kaplan, a Yale University operations researcher who used his OR skills to gain an edge in the CBS Sportsline Pool. "At one point we were in fourth place -- but then...

Engineering ed for Detroit kids.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program is an educational curriculum designed to increase the number of African American, Hispanic, and American Indian students who are prepared to pursue careers in engineering and related fields....

NEWSMAKERS.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... * Michael T. Kusmin joined Network Six Inc. as a senior business consultant, where he will handle new business development. Formerly of CareGroup Healthcare Systems and Health Data Sciences Corp., Kusmin earned a bachelor's degree in industrial...

Sleepiness takes a toll on American workers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 1, 2000... Turns out that sleeping on the job may be a key to greater productivity after all. One-third of American workers would nap at work if given the opportunity, according to the results of a poll released by the National Sleep Foundation. Studies...

Engineering in print.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... It's not unusual for an industrial engineer to work as a plant manager, especially an IE who minored in business, as Andrew Johnson did. What's uncommon about his career, Johnson says, is that there aren't many IEs in the printing industry --...

Building the supply chain.(Review)
June 1, 2000... Companies all over the world are pursuing supply chain management as a way to reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, build new revenues, and make the most of assets -- but some are doing it better than others. In Advanced Supply Chain...

NSF funds available.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Two National Science Foundation programs that offer funding to engineers and scientists are soliciting proposals. The Faculty Early Career Development program recognizes and supports the early career development activities of faculty...

University of Texas came out on top in the Theta Tau Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The University of Texas came out on top in the Theta Tau Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held at Purdue University in April. The University of Toledo placed second, and Purdue came in third. The contest honors cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who was...

More conveyors were sold in 1999 than ever before.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... According to the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association, more conveyors were sold in 1999 than ever before. This is the fifth consecutive year that the industry has broken records for growth. Booked sales totaled $6.4 million for 1999, a...

AGV system to support mail processing operations.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... AGV Products Inc., a designer and supplier of automated guided vehicle systems, was awarded a contract to supply an AGV system to support mail processing operations at the U.S. Postal Service's Ft. Myers, Fla., processing and distribution...

Industry will receive almost 42 percent of federal R&D funds.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... According to a National Science Foundation survey of federal agencies, more than three-quarters of the estimated federal dollars designated for research and development in fiscal year 2000 will go to industry, academic, and other non-federal...

Imports of all specialty steel in 1999 declined two percent.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Data released by the Specialty Steel industry of North America indicates that the volume of specialty steel imports was 26 percent of the U.S. market in 1999, a one percent decrease from 1998. Imports of all specialty steel in 1999 declined two...

Netsource.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... INFORM http://www.informintl.com The International Forum for Management Systems provides information and discussion on international standards and their applications to prevailing business practices. CIO.com ...

What are you in for?(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The thank-God-it's-Friday mentality bothers me. The phrase indicates an acceptance that work is not fun -- that we should be naturally glad to get away from it by the weekend. Although we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, we...

Emerging entrepreneur.
June 1, 2000... Some who saw Al Berning win the National Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Companies award in 1999 say he wasn't even fazed by the tremendous honor. When he speaks of it today, the CEO of Pemstar, a contract manufacturing and engineering...

What's Up With E-Business.
June 1, 2000... Despite the hype, the "hurricane" of e-business isn't necessarily changing business-as-usual for industrial engineers It's a slippery subject, e-business. Ask one industrial engineer how he's using it, and he'll tell you he saves time by...

Aligning workers and workloads.
June 1, 2000... Cross-training personnel and rethinking established scheduling practices result in direct labor savings Visionary companies understand that the dynamism of the marketplace is a fierce challenge that needs to be addressed if they are to...

Motivating engineers.
June 1, 2000... If your job depends on the work of other engineers, you'll need to look beyond simple solutions to get them energized for productivity An organization may need to tune its internal, external, or both components to function efficiently...

SHS promotes industrial engineering at HIMSS.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Industrial engineers working in health care were the key focus for IIE's Society for Health Systems when it co-sponsored the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society conference in April. Jennifer Lindsay, director of managment...

Simulation conference fuels exchange of ideas.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... In March, more than 200 attendees descended on Hilton Head Island, S.C., to participate in the Simulation Solutions Conference 2000. "The conference was really an outstanding opportunity for many users from the industry to exchange ideas," said...

Parsaei steps up as Dotti resigns.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Hamid Parsaei, Ph.D., was chosen to assume the position of IIE senior vice president-at-large, international, when Humberto Dotti resigned from the position due to unanticipated commitments in his native country of Venezuela. The economic...

Student tackles real problems.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Only two semesters stand between IIE customer service representative Shayna Sklar and a degree in industrial engineering technology from Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga. Much of her time during her final undergraduate...

Purdue professor named president-elect.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... According to IIE Immediate Past President Rich Hansen, "It is with deep regret that the IIE Board of Trustees accepts the resignation of John Birge, dean of the school of engineering at Northwestern University, as IIE president-elect because of...

Coors' creative solutions impress CIE.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Coors Brewing Co. is an organization built on tradition, but when it comes to engineering solutions, embracing change is the order of the day. As host of this season's Council on Industrial Engineering meeting, Coors demonstrated how it is...

The Engineering Economist goes online.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The Engineering Economist, a journal dedicated to the concerns of capital investment, has taken to the Internet. Chan Park, the editor of the publication, says, "There are a couple of features that are still under development, but the current...

Human resources representative moves on.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Pam Sherwood, part of the IIE accounting and human resources staff, said goodbye in April to pursue a career in drafting. Donna Calvert, director of member and customer support said, "She has been a tremendous asset to many departments here,...

NASA soliciting R&D projects.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... NASA's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs present ample opportunity for industrial engineering research grants, according to Tim Barth of NASA's Office of the Deputy Director for Launch and...

Education and hostility levels linked to body 'wear and tear'.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Men who are less educated and more hostile show geater signs of physiological "wear and tear" than others, according to a recent Harvard University study. The results may suggest a relationship between lower socioeconomic status (SES) as...

Easy unit conversion.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Nooter Unit is a software program designed to help engineers convert metric units to English units. The program enables users to convert any dimension or thermal measurement into a compatible unit of measurement. It was designed by Nooter...

Supply chain optimization.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... The Supply Solver is a simulation tool that helps companies analyze supply chain processes. Each scenario allows users to look at acquisition costs, labor costs, delivery risks, and processing time for each supplier in the process. The tool can...

Keep an eye on shipments.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Smart labels from Shockwatch can record and report a history of a shipped product's journey. The highly visible adhesive labels use chemical, magnetic, and mechanical technology to record temperature extremes, humidity, and impact or shocks....

High-density storage and retrieval.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Air Technical Industries has developed a high-density storage and retrieval system for handling most types of plate, steel, plywood, and cardboard flat materials. The system is capable of lifting up to 4,000 pounds of 48- by 96-inch materials...

Cylinder tracking.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... DataWeld's SPT 1700 is a hand-held bar-code scanner and cylinder tracking device. Based on the Palm computing platform, the scanner allows one-handed operation, weighs 10.3 ounces, and can easily fit in a pocket. Rain, dust, and sunlight do not...

Monitoring inventory.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... BinTel Systems' iBin is a real-time measurement system that continuously monitors inventory levels and communicates quantity and replenishment information via wireless links to BinTel software and the Internet. The system automatically measures...

Inventory control software.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Spectrum 1000 inventory contol software enables picking, managing active order fulfillment, stockroom operations, and manufacturing operations. The Windows-based system automates horizontal and vertical carousels, light-directed picking...

Planning solution.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... RockySoft's e-SupplierLink Planning Suite is a tool designed to assist electronics manufacturers with supply chain planning. The suite features an engine that uses synchronized ERP/MRP data from different suppliers across multiple levels of the...

Accurate order picking.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Eskay's Picking Cart features a built-in radio frequency terminal that transmits every transaction to and from the host computer, providing paperless, real-time inventory control. Designed for large-variety, low-volume order picking operations,...

Hell: Re-engineered.(Brief Article)(Review)
June 1, 2000... University of Virginia professor and IIE fellow James Ignizio, Ph.D., P.E., is no stranger to publishing (having seven scholarly books and hundreds of articles to his credit), but his newest tome makes one wonder if there's no one stranger in...

Irishwoman's salute.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... "On this May Day, I propose to salute poor Frederick Winslow Taylor of Philadelphia, long maligned by labour historians and activists as the man responsible for the evils of the 20th-century workplace.... "I'm not such a revisionist' that I...

Forget ergo chairs, think mops.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Despite the hype about leaps of ergonomic advancement in this brave new century, housework remains drudgery. In fact, data from a Cornell University study show that the most tiring household tasks -- scrubbing and mopping floors -- are just as...