Industrial Engineer articles from August 2007

Industrial Engineer archives from August 2007

Systemic failure.(editor's desk)(Editorial)
August 1, 2007... Monopoly--still a great board game yet still bad for consumer interests. The cable service provider in the city where I live has no competitors. And that condition is what I pinpoint as my current Internet problem--the problem being that I...

IE or PR?(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I just finished reading the June issue of Industrial Engineer. I wanted to make sure that we got paid for the Volvo article ("Sustainable Packaging for Rent"). It was over half advertisement, and we should have been clearer about marking it as...

Tuition costs taunt.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Just read Paul Engle's column ("Higher Education Reinvented," June) and can't agree more. I am in the process of wrapping up supporting the education of the last of my three children through their bachelor's programs. I estimate I have expended...

What service.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... After spending eight hours in an airport waiting for a cancelled flight announced at midnight, after getting a hotel voucher and later learning that every hotel in and around the airport was overbooked, and in the midst of a 20-hour layover in...

Editor enchants.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Thanks for the delightful thoughts on the Annual Conference on your monthly Editor's Desk musings ("Springing into Action," May). I know it's your job, but you do it so well! GEORGE L. SMITH, PH.D., P.E. Columbus, Ohio

Peace grows business.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I read Jane Gaboury's comments in the January 2007 issue ("'Let There Be Supply Chains on Earth"). I agree with the premise that supply chains exist where business grows and peace reigns over the country. I know that both work well if the...

Ensuring food supply safety: free FDA program helps reduce vulnerabilities in the chain.(Front Line)(Food and Drug Administration)
August 1, 2007... A downloadable computer program created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration helps food processors secure their products against intentional contamination by terrorists. The program, CARVER + Shock, takes users through a series of...

Record-breaking robot.(Front Line)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The Kuka KR 1000 earned its place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's strongest robot. The six-axis robot has nine motors that deliver the power of a mid-sized car. With a payload capacity of 1,000 kilograms, the machine is designed...

Customization hurdle.(PRIME NUMBER)(Report)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The primary barrier to customization in build-to-order and engineer-to-order manufacturing is not product complexity. According to a recent survey, 67 percent of engineers believe customers' lack of knowledge of the options available to them is...

A future in manufacturing.(SITE TO SEE)(www.dreamit-doit.com)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The "Dream It. Do It." campaign was recently honored with a Webby People's Voice Award for its innovative Web site (www.dreamit-doit.com). Designed to point young adults to varied careers in the manufacturing sectors, the campaign was developed...

Chainsaw carver.(UNCOMMON IE)(Dayle Lewis talks about his career)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... THE TASK AT HAND: Prior to a successful career in wood carving, Dayle Lewis held several traditional and satisfying positions that made use of his Kansas State University industrial engineering degree. But in 2002, he was laid off from his day...

Innovation process.(QUOTE, UNQUOTE)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "Everything that managers need to do to improve innovation is under their control. It's not as though they have to wait for some new technology or process to arrive from the lab. They need to recognize that innovation is not just about ideas or...

Higher standard of leadership.(BOOK OF THE MONTH)
August 1, 2007... Peter S. Pande coauthored the 2000 best-selling book The Six Sigma Way, which instructed readers how to use the quality management system in assorted industries and under various conditions. Pande is back with more advice in The Six Sigma...

Doubling crane trips hastens freight: efficient port operations also reduce environmental impact.(Front Line)
August 1, 2007... Even working nonstop, cranes at many U.S. ports can barely keep up with the growing volume of freight moving from Asian factories to American stores. Slow-moving, expensive cranes are the bottleneck in an overloaded freight system. ...

Mercedes-Benz to be built in India.(Front Line)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... A new plant for Mercedes-Benz vehicles is under construction in Chakan in Pune, India. The manufacturing facility will produce Mercedes-Benz S-Class, E-Class, and C-Class cars for the Indian market. Production is expected to start in early...

Dilbert.(Cartoon)
August 1, 2007... www.dilbert.com scottadams@aol.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3-25-06 [c] 2006 Scott Adams, Inc./Dist. by UFS, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [c] Scott Adams/Dist. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Money can't buy hospital health: quality of care not influenced by financial incentives.(Front Line)(patient care and treatment)
August 1, 2007... Financial incentives to hospitals don't significantly improve the welfare of heart attack patients. But giving hospitals the information they need to improve heart attack care does help. A team of researchers led by the Duke Clinical...

More U.S. production to go overseas: cost of chemicals, driven by natural gas increases, to blame.(Front Line)(foreign operations)(Report)
August 1, 2007... A looming manufacturing crisis poses a threat to the U.S. economy and national security, according to a report by AMR Research, the National Association of Manufacturers, and its Manufacturing Institute. The report reveals that as a result of...

Inspiring young engineers: summer program teaches teachers to get kids excited.(Frong Line)
August 1, 2007... Purdue University's College of Engineering reaches out to elementary teachers in hopes of reinforcing the future job force in a field that is lagging in numbers. This summer, Purdue's department of engineering education conducted two...

Wine: a case for consistency; Reducing supply chain temperature variation ensures quality.(Front Line)
August 1, 2007... The taste of your favorite wine isn't just the result of an ideal synthesis of soil, grapes, and weather. It's also due in part to the route that spirit took from vineyard to table top. An international consortium to improve...

Power of the PDA.(performance)(personal digital assistants)(Personal account)
August 1, 2007... WHEN IT COMES TO PERSONAL DIGITAL assistants, I am a bit old school. In other words, I don't have one. I can rationalize my resistance. First, I don't see the need to keep minute-by-minute tabs on incoming e-mail. Second, there aren't a lot of...

More on the missing cases.(case of inventory error of truckloads of consumer goods)
August 1, 2007... WHO WOULD WANT 1,500 CASES OF STOLEN cornstarch? You may remember that my company was employed to investigate an inventory error of two dozen truckloads of consumer goods ("The Case of the Missing Cases," July). The error occurred over the...

Doing offshore assembly right.(manufacturing)
August 1, 2007... THE ERGONOMICS COMMUNITY KNOWS THAT all-day sit-down jobs are bad. However, almost any photo of manual assembly operations in a low-wage country shows long lines of seated assemblers doing an abbreviated, repeating task. Thankfully, that...

Lies, fraud, and felony: an IE reflects on his crime, his jail time, and his climb back to respectability.(industrial engineer)(Personal account)
August 1, 2007... On the morning of March 14, 2001, I left my home in Savannah, Ga., for a two-hour ride south to the federal prison in Jesup, Ga. I was to begin serving a 25-month sentence for a white-collar crime I committed while working at a leading...

Passage to a museum near you: fine art tests logistics.(Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University)
August 1, 2007... As the saying goes, Art just happens. However, the logistics behind transporting fine art don't just happen. In recent years, massive exhibitions with immoderate costs and display needs have jostled and altered techniques in material handling,...

Waste's final foothold: uncovering the hidden muda of potential.(waste management techniques as per Kaizen)
August 1, 2007... From the balcony above the production floor, the general manager looked out across the clean, bustling packaging factory. Spotting the production manager below, the GM quickly made her way to the production area. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

I have an idea! Is that enough to make me an entrepreneur?
August 1, 2007... So you're sitting at your desk wondering where the $250,000 you need to fund your next research project will come from. Or perhaps, as you are waiting for the last leg of your flight to end, you ponder what it would take to sell your boss on...

Studies in survival: future supply chains are growing in a laboratory.(supply chain management)
August 1, 2007... Research is a crucial activity that not only opens doors for improvement but creates the architectural blueprint by which these doors will be measured and constructed. Through partnerships between industry and academia, technology that will...

The house that lean saved.(SOLUTIONS IN PRACTICE)(Hoffman should use Kaizen in it's lean manufacturing)
August 1, 2007... Michele Massimino often tells a favorite lean story. In 2006, employees at the Anoka, Minn., headquarters and manufacturing plant of Hoffman Enclosures Inc. were treated to a celebratory July 4 luncheon. Company managers, all standing...

Research.(determination of product reliability and methods of data mining)
August 1, 2007... Described below are two articles from the quality and reliability segment of IIE Transactions that appear in the August issue (Vol. 39, No. 8). The first article considers the problem of determining product reliability, warranty duration, and...

How many devices?(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
August 1, 2007... How many devices? Q: What method should I use to determine the number of computer devices needed each hour of the day on a nursing unit? The devices will be used by rounding physicians and health care providers (physicial therapy,...

Implementing a kanban.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
August 1, 2007... Q: I am looking for some insight on how to implement a kanban system most effectively. I would first like to look at the sales and then work that all the way back to subassemblies. How do I determine when the variability of demand is too great...

On to an M.B.A.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
August 1, 2007... Q: I will soon be a senior in industrial engineering. After getting my B.S., I am planning to spend a year earning an M.B.A. Do you think it is more beneficial to enter the work force after graduation and get an M.B.A. later or is it better to...

Scenes from the Annual Conference: Nashville, Tenn., event replete with educational offerings, social activities.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)(Jim Barany educator of Purdue Inc.)(Jacob Chen vice president of Foxconn Technology Group)(Teresa Vanhooser director of NASA)
August 1, 2007... On hand to recognize the achievements of their peers with an awards dinner and presentation were more than 300 conference attendees. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sponsored by the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the...

Quetech Ltd.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(WorkStudy+ 3.0)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Need help tracking time studies, work sampling, and random sampling projects? Quetech Ltd. offers WorkStudy+ 3.0 as an easy-to-use interface within logistics, manufacturing, and health care, among other areas. Palm OS and Pocket PC users can...

Accusplit.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Accusplit Eagle Memory 500)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The Accusplit Eagle Memory 500 facilitates time study, process flow analysis, and other industrial applications. It features an adjustable time base that includes second, decimal-minute, and decimal-hour stopwatch modes. A three-line LCD...

Franklin Instrument Co. Inc.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(TimeSync Pro)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The TimeSync Pro series incorporates GPS synchronized time throughout a facility, encouraging productivity and reduced maintenance costs. The system provides communication using wireless devices and clocks. The series includes a GPS...

Informance International.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Real-time operational metrics and performance play significant roles in enterprise manufacturing intelligence. Thanks to the Informance Performance Scoreboard, plant floor employees can learn how they stack up in meeting goals. Production line...

Maynard.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(StandardsPro Work Measurement Software )(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Maynard's StandardsPro Work Measurement Software is a development tool designed to create, maintain, retrieve, and analyze time standards for all types of work. Users can create individual, measurable units of work that describe short-cycle and...

Work perfect: the day we strive for.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... The Toyota Production System is typical lean manufacturing. The Honeywell Operating System--HOS--is an integrated system built on a Six Sigma foundation. It's a marriage between the two. In 2006, we deployed it at about 34 sites. In 2007, we...