Industrial Engineer articles from April 2003

Industrial Engineer archives from April 2003

See for yourself.(Editor's Desk)
April 1, 2003... I read an interesting quote recently. A writer praised an editor he worked with by saying, "Her judgment is flawless. I never disagree with her." What a cute (if cocky) sentiment. I was amused by the writer's backhanded compliment to himself,...

Toward practical ergo solutions: OSHA's advisory committee of experts will search for ways to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses.(News)
April 1, 2003... OSHA Administrator John Henshaw welcomed the inaugural National Advisory Committee on Ergonomics in January with a challenge to help the agency achieve its goal of reducing musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Automated linehaul system earns kudos.
April 1, 2003... Automating its system of scheduling trailer movement across North America was Con-Way Transportation Services' ticket to the Enterprise Value Award given by CIO magazine. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Con-Way received the award in January for...

Slimming down assembly facilities.(Book of the Month)
April 1, 2003... Michel Baudin's Lean Assembly is a guided tour of lean manufacturing techniques for assembly facilities. With the use of many photographs and illustrations, Baudin shows improvements and provides tools to those whose work involves implementing...

Starting salaries up.(Stat of the Month)
April 1, 2003... The average starting salary offer to industrial engineering undergraduates is $48,112. That represents a 1.3 percent increase over last year's $47,509 average, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Ford rolls out flexible assembly.(News)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Ford's three plants producing the 2004 F-150--in Norfolk, Va., Kansas City, Mo., and Dearborn, Mich.--will lead the automaker's roll out of its flexible assembly system. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When the next-generation flexible...

Worried workers aren't safe.(News)
April 1, 2003... When manufacturing workers are worried about their jobs, the likelihood of their being involved in a workplace accident is twice as great as it is at plants where there is no threat to jobs, according to a Washington State University at...

Newsmakers.
April 1, 2003... IIE member S. Keith Hargrove, Ph.D. was named chairman of the department of industrial, manufacturing, and information engineering at Morgan State University. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee State...

Newsmakers.
April 1, 2003... Ashland, Inc. has consolidated additional financial functions under Daniel B. Huffman and appointed him vice president, finance. Huffman holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech. He...

Newsmakers.
April 1, 2003... Ralph A. LaRossa was named vice president, delivery operations support by PSE&G. LaRossa joined the company in 1985 after completing a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He has since held a...

Newsmakers.
April 1, 2003... Rapt Inc. hired Rick Burghli, Ph.D., as vice president of strategic market development. Burghli comes to Rapt from i2 Technologies, where he held a variety of roles in sales, business implementation, and solution architecture. He holds a B.S....

Rearing engineers to be business leaders: University of Houston program fosters leaders and entrepreneurs.(News)
April 1, 2003... A University of Houston program will prepare engineering graduates to be more successful in assuming leadership roles in their companies and facing business challenges. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Engineering Leadership and...

Load of information.(Site to See)
April 1, 2003... Unit load design takes a systems approach to analyzing pallets, packaging, and material handling equipment to optimize material handling efficiency. Housed at Virginia Tech, the Center for Unit Load Design contains lab facilities capable of...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Good Technology Inc. named Terrence A. Austin president of field operations. He comes to Good after presiding over European operations for Manugistics Group Inc. and serving as head of the electronics and high technology sector of Accenture's...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Cummins Inc. promoted Ravi Venkatesan from the position of managing director-India to the position of vice president-India. Venkatesan holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Institute of Technology in Bombay, India, an M.S. in...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Lisa Smith Leight has been named vice president, marketing for E Team. Leight is a C.P.A. with a degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School. Leight has more than 15 years of experience...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... University of Missouri-Rolla professor Henry Wiebe, Ph.D., has been appointed vice provost for UMR Global. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Ph.D. in industrial...

Illinois planning homeland security info system.
April 1, 2003... Homeland security experts from the state of Illinois and Purdue University are working with emergency personnel to develop a statewide communication system to be activated in the event of a terrorist attack. Law enforcement, fire, and...

Top technologies will change the world; MIT's technology review magazine identifies 10 most dramatic developments.(News)
April 1, 2003... 1. Wireless sensor networks: Computer scientist David Culler is perfecting the use of small monitoring devices that may pave the way for wireless networks capable of tracking anything precisely, including traffic, weather, seismic activity, and...

Cost still a top automaker concern; survey of automotive engineers ranks challenges facing the industry.(News)
April 1, 2003... Managing costs still tops the list of challenges facing the automotive industry, according to the ninth annual survey conducted by DuPont Automotive and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Coming in at second and third are technologies for...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Modine Manufacturing Co. promoted David B. Rayburn to president and chief executive officer and elected him to the Board of Directors. Rayburn earned a B.S. in industrial engineering from Penn State University and an M.B.A. in management from...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Bob Stoffel has been named president of UPS Supply Chain Solutions. A 28-year UPS veteran, Stoffel has served in a variety of operations and industrial engineering posts in five different operating districts and regions. In recent years he has...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Howard L. Lance has been named president and chief executive officer of the Harris Corp. He holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Bradley University and a master's degree in management from Purdue University. Before joining...

Newsmakers.(News)
April 1, 2003... Beckman Coulter Inc. appointed Elias Caro president of its new biomedical research division. Caro earned a B.S. in industrial engineering with a minor in information systems and a master's degree in business administration from the Universidad...

Sharp technology tracks razors.(News)
April 1, 2003... The Gillette Co. will begin large-scale testing of radio-frequency ID technology that will make it possible to track products from manufacturing to the point of sale. The breakthrough "smart tag" technology was developed at the Auto-ID Center,...

Survey: innovation earns: but manufacturers stressed by the economy turn to less productive tactics.(News)
April 1, 2003... Manufacturers that compete based on product and process innovation rather than low cost earn higher profits, according to the 2002 Georgia Manufacturing Survey. Researchers also found that, on average, annual wages were $10,000 higher at...

Calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2003... APRIL April 14-15 * Applied Ergonomics For Operational Improvement seminar, Norcross, Ga. April 22-24 International Relay Conference, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.: (703) 907-8027; http://my.execpc.com/~narm/technic.htm April...

Feel their pain.(Performance improvement)
April 1, 2003... Front-line workers Often expect industrial engineers to help justify improvements that will make their jobs easier or safer. At the same time, there is often a lack of tangible justification for such improvements. For example, we often...

No man is an Island.(Management)
April 1, 2003... "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." --John Donne The manager trying to master the subtleties of his or her trade must be...

IIE annual conference: May 17-21, 2003 Portland Hilton * Portland, Oregon.
April 1, 2003... COME ALIVE IN PORTLAND! Join us in Portland for the latest in IE research and practical, real-world applications! Impact your bottom line with the newest techniques in: * Lean manufacturing * Supply chain * Ergonomics *...

Who needs ergonomics, anyway?(Ergonomics)
April 1, 2003... I don't believe in ergonomics anymore. Who needs it anyway? As a field of study, and worse, as an applied science, it is very expensive and downright wasteful. But industrial engineers need not lead the way in abolishing ergonomics;...

Good planning gone bad.(Manufacturing)
April 1, 2003... People tend to work well within established guidelines, systems, and procedures because their adherence to these things, or lack thereof, is observable and, in most cases, measurable. Although it sometimes takes a while, it is easy to spot...

Margin of excellence.(Logistics)
April 1, 2003... When most managers talk about potential profit centers, logistics is rarely mentioned. If you're one of those managers, you could be inadvertently undermining your company's economic potential. Although moving and managing raw materials and...

High-tech and high-touch: what does it take to make a Mini? Log in and see.(Cover Story)
April 1, 2003... You've seen them on the highway, no doubt, whizzing by like a painted metal mystery. "What kind of car is that?" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's a Mini and it has made its way across the Atlantic Ocean from its home in Oxford, England, to...

Distinguishing functions: engineers can increase their value in an organization by defining line and staff roles.
April 1, 2003... One way engineers can increase their value in an organization is to make a clear distinction for managers between line and staff functions. Current thinking on the distinction is often vague, especially when it comes to defining support...

The persistence of chickens; against all odds, the floppy rubber fowl has found a way to survive and prosper.
April 1, 2003... Jim Jones of Loftus International makes no claim that his is a technically complex business. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It's about tricks and jokes here," he admits. "This is definitely not rocket science." Nevertheless, Jones is...

Engineers on the line: Ford Motor Co. makes ergonomics awareness required learning.
April 1, 2003... The ergonomics program at Ford Motor Co. is enjoying a renaissance. Traditionally, a reactive ergonomics team performed job-specific analyses on high-risk operations in the plant. The analyses were aimed at correcting job elements causing harm...

Ergonomics ROI: affecting worker's compensation costs, productivity, quality, and revenue.
April 1, 2003... Return-on-investment is nothing new to the business world. Industrial engineers have relied heavily on cost justification when driving system improvements. ROI is considered the hall pass that gets you in the door with management--without ROI,...

The essential process: the quick and painless path to successful process mapping.
April 1, 2003... Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in Fathers and Sons in 1862, "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound." And this is one of the major benefits of process mapping. Process maps illustrate the essential...

Research reports: executive summaries of current studies.
April 1, 2003... This month we highlight three papers in the area of scheduling and logistics. Topics include an analysis of the optimal trade-offs between machine replacement and maintenance in the face of increasing customer expectations, an integrated...

Remember this face: Michael Washington, Ph.D., honored as a New Face of Engineering.(Focus on IIE)
April 1, 2003... National Engineers Week was observed February 16-22 and included many initiatives to promote the field of engineering to the public. One of those initiatives was the New Faces of Engineering program, which recognized 16 outstanding young...

Society for health systems forum in pictures: annual meeting draws health care professionals.(Focus)
April 1, 2003... Rainer Dronzek of Simulation Modeling Services espouses the benefits of simulation to a conference attendee. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mona Moon, president of Motivation Dynamics Inc., gives her keynote presentation. [ILLUSTRATION...

Leading the way: the executive team helps steer the IIE ship.(Meet the Staff)
April 1, 2003... IIE comprises numerous departments and dozens of individuals that work on myriad projects simultaneously. Overseeing this thrumming hive is Executive Director John Powers, Corporate Operations Manager Donna Calvert, and Administrative Assistant...

Brave new worlds: students design award-winning cities of the future that reflect present concerns.(Focus)
April 1, 2003... Students competing in this year's Future City Competition were clearly influenced by more than The Jetsons and Star Wars. Despite record snowfall and an ominous Code Orange U.S. security alert, 31 regional winners gathered in Washington for the...

Six Sigma online: correspondence course helps green belt students buckle down.
April 1, 2003... Engineers interested in earning their Six Sigma green belt certification but unable to travel to training venues will be happy to learn that IIE is developing an Internet correspondence course. Spearheaded by seminar specialist and IIE fellow...

Expert advice: members get the scoop from pros.
April 1, 2003... IIE has begun a new program to match experts with members who require answers to unique problems beyond their capability to solve. It is aptly named Ask the Expert. Donna Calvert, IIE corporate operations manager, stated, "IIE is the...

The flow of flight; a conversation with Jeff Peace, program manager of Boeing's 767 tanker program and a keynote speaker at this year's IIE annual conference, on the IE's role in the tumultuous air transportation industry.
April 1, 2003... IIE: How do you apply the principles of industrial engineering in your job? Peace: Success in the air transportation and airplane manufacturing business, like many others, is dependent on understanding flows. Those flows can be airplanes...

3rd Annual Lean Management Solutions Conference september 7-11, 2003 * Atlanta Georgia * sheraton buckhead.
April 1, 2003... LEAN FOR ACCELERATING GROWTH INTO THE FUTURE Lean initiatives have expanded as organizations have become more proactive in making the changes necessary to allow them to survive and prosper in an ever-accelerating competitive environment....

Don't-miss Annual Conference events; it's better than a string around your finger!(Focus)
April 1, 2003... IIE's Annual Conference is right around the corner. Portland, Ore., is the host of this year's event, which promises to draw a who's who of industrial engineering. Feel free to copy and save this list of not-to-be-missed events. Doctoral...

Call for nominations: guidelines for nominating candidates for the 2004-2005 term.
April 1, 2003... IIE is an organization that exists primarily to benefit its members. Thus, it is only appropriate that members should help determine its course. The IIE Board of Trustees is one way in which members can serve the organization in a leadership...

About nominations.(Ask IIE)
April 1, 2003... Q: What should I include when submitting a nominee for the upcoming election? A: Nominations should include the nominee's name, any relevant organizations the nominee is affiliated with, the position(s) sought, your name, and a brief...

Resources.
April 1, 2003... Work Measurement Divilbiss Electronics Random Data Sampling Equipment for: * Personal Time Management * Cost and Labor Allocation * Work Process Improvement * Efficiency Studies Simulation Modeling Simulate...

Study: Israelis hate lines.(Punchline)
April 1, 2003... Research from the industrial engineering and management department of Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, provides the first scientific analysis of Israelis' disdain for standing in line. As reported on Haaretz.com, the study...

Management flavor of the month.(Humor on the Web)
April 1, 2003... Management by Walking Faster than Employees: Managers who subscribe to this method can readily be seen in corporate corridors, but they are always 10 steps away. "We'll have to talk," you can hear them say, just as they disappear around the...

Fashion foibles: Americans unsuitably attired for work.(Punchline)
April 1, 2003... If you have never felt inappropriately dressed for work it might not be because you're always right. It might be because you didn't know you were wrong. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nearly two-thirds of Americans have felt inappropriately...