Industrial Engineer articles from December 2004

Industrial Engineer archives from December 2004

Working titles.(editor's desk)(American Library Association)(Editorial)
December 1, 2004... ENGINEERS ARE COMMONLY SADDLED WITH A REPUTATION FOR NOT BEING highly literate, but after interviewing many IEs over the years, I've learned that such generalizations are unfounded. It's true that the literary arts are not usually a priority in...

Magnetic content.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... I picked up my monthly copy of Industrial Engineer for the first time a few days ago and instinctively opened it from the back to see what the closing article was. I was most surprised and pleased to see the piece "Swamp Water Fricassee" in...

Reliable certifications.(RANTS AND RAVES)
December 1, 2004... The article on certifications by Kevin McManus raises some interesting points about the value of certifications in today's competitive employment arena ("Crazy about Certifications," October). With the growing number of certifications in...

Versatility is the order of the day.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... When I first read the title of John Houston's article "Where Are the Real IEs?" in the September issue, I was expecting a column more positively focused on improving the public's understanding of the capabilities of industrial engineers....

IEs as integrators.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... My own experiences and observations lead me to concur with John Houston ["Where are the Real IEs," September]: The entire IE profession suffers from a public image problem (Houston's term) or a lack of identity (mine). [ILLUSTRATION...

Less tech, more technique.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... Sometimes I wonder what IEs and industrial engineering really can do. In the April issue, IE reported on Germany's futuristic factory ("Designs from the Holodeck"). But perhaps there is no future for Opel Ruesselsheim. Workers [there], even the...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2004... In the November issue's "Well-Fed Warehouse," the University of Oklahoma is abbreviated as UO. However, the university is commonly referred to as OU in its shortened form.

Leading with innovation: Georgia Tech launches a new center for enterprise transformation.(Front Line)
December 1, 2004... Companies seeking to jump-start their approach to long-term strategic planning often lack the wherewithal to facilitate the kind of change that leads to consistent success. The Tennenbaum Institute for Enterprise Transformation, based at...

Is cockpit design flawed? Human perception of perception is due for a change.(Front Line)
December 1, 2004... New research suggests that the design of aircraft cockpit displays may benefit from a radical change. The work challenges previous scientific consensus and indicates that changing displays so they flicker, use one color, and contain more...

Open journal for resource allocation.(SITE TO SEE)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... In the spirit of scientific information sharing, the peer-reviewed journal Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation provides open electronic access to all its articles. Representative papers found on the site...

For the lack of two sigmas.(QUOTE, UNQUOTE)(Universal Pictures Chairwoman Stacy Snider)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... "Two or three years ago, we borrowed from Six Sigma and came up with the four sigma." --Universal Pictures Chairwoman Stacy Snider, as quoted in The New York Times in a story about General Electric's acquisition of Universal and whether...

Optimum designers.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... For the third year in a row, a team of Virginia Tech engineering students took first place in the national Material Handling Student Design Competition, which challenges teams to solve a facility design problem in five weeks. The team, made up...

Student trilogy.(Front Line)
December 1, 2004... Necessary components for increasing the number and diversity of people pursuing education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Mixed manufacturing outlook: executives not as optimistic about the economy but think they'll do ok.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Overall, manufacturing executives are less confident in the economy, reports Grant Thornton's "Survey of U.S. Business Leaders." According to the national survey, 74 percent of manufacturing respondents expect the U.S. economy to improve in the...

Events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... > DECEMBER DEC. 6-8 * Six Sigma Green Belt seminar, Norcross, Ga. DEC. 19-21 International Industrial Engineering Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.iiec2004.ksu.edu.sa > JANUARY JAN. 10 * Lean Enterprise: An...

Iron man.(UNCOMMON IE; Robinson Iron's Scott Howell discusses renovation of iron statue )
December 1, 2004... Scott Howell has done a lot of interesting work during his career at Robinson Iron, overseeing the crafting of everything from cast iron fountains and lampposts to the restoration of the New Jersey state capitol dome. But he says nothing quite...

Back muscles: use them or lose them.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... While some back pain is due to injury, as many as 90 percent of back pain cases can't be pinpointed to any particular cause. Some inexplicable cases of lower back pain could be prompted by a lack of use, finds new research. A European...

Who's an engineer?(PRIME NUMBER)(educational aspects)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Approximately 20% of Americans working in engineering occupations have a high-school diploma or associate's degree with no higher college degree. Source: "InfoBrief," National Science Foundation, August 2004

Construction work system design: research aims to increase safety in one of the most dangerous industries.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... In industry, the highest injury rate occurs in the construction sector, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Each year, some 38,000 construction injuries are reported, with 21,000 involving days away from work. In an effort to...

Data diving helps sick kids: children's hospitals that use national database send patients home faster.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... A new study shows that sick children can go home from the hospital more quickly, less expensively, and with less chance of a repeat visit if children's hospitals use a unique source of national data to check their performance against peer...

Delta goes wireless: RFID offers hope for struggling airline.(Front Line)(radio frequency identification)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Delta Air Lines announced this summer that it will use disposable radio tags to track its passengers' luggage at domestic airports. Despite a rocky financial outlook, the Atlanta-based airline estimates that it will invest up to $25 million and...

Engineers mix it up: combining granular ingredients is harder than it looks.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Rutgers engineers have demonstrated that stirring a mix of granular ingredients faster or longer in food or pharmaceutical manufacturing won't always produce a smooth blend. In fact, some ingredients may be separated in the process. The...

Ultra small-scale production.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The National Science Foundation announced a $12.4 million grant for a new nanoscale science and engineering center to be headquartered at Northeastern University. The grant will enable research focused on developing mass production capabilities...

Warm offices mean better productivity.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Turn up that office thermostat and hide the fans because according to an ergonomics study at Cornell University, warm workers work better. Chilly workers not only make more errors, but cooler temperatures could increase a worker's hourly...

Call me Scrooge.(performance)
December 1, 2004... YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT A friend showed me the other day: A book is now out on the market that attempts to help companies improve their leaders by following the practices of Santa Claus. In the spirit of Who Moved My Cheese, this book...

No choice required.(management)
December 1, 2004... ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES RECENTLY mentioned that lean is just a subset of Six Sigma. Both approaches are proven and accepted techniques for improving company performance and both claim to be the best approach. There are important differences,...

Empower your employees.(member forum)
December 1, 2004... HOW MANY CEOS OF MODERN organizations train workers themselves instead of leaving it to the business equivalents of drill sergeants and junior officers? When they do, everyone in the organization takes training very seriously and realizes its...

Speaking volumes: a collection of the year's best reference and reading material.(Bibliography)
December 1, 2004... Achieving Inventory Accuracy Donald H. Sheldon J. Ross Publishing, $49.95 Inventory accuracy control can be one of the most effective methods for minimizing unnecessary costs in an organization, yet less than half of businesses...

Evidence of lean: adding value to the forensic stream in criminal investigation.
December 1, 2004... THE WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE FORENSIC Laboratory in Charleston, W.V., provides forensic services to law enforcement agencies in the state and administers the state Combined DNA Index System and Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The...

Getting results from good relationships: Wendy Underwood puts people first in business development for Lockheed Martin.
December 1, 2004... THE MONIKER "PEOPLE ENGINEERS" IS OFTEN USED TO describe industrial engineers, and even though her career has taken her beyond the traditional role of an IE, Wendy Underwood is the epitome of what that nickname characterizes. Twenty years...

Trimming trees: planning equals success in the Christmas tree business.
December 1, 2004... WHETHER YOU PUT IT UP THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING or the night before Christmas, there's just something about a pine-scented, sap-dripping, water-sucking, alive-until-just-recently Christmas tree. Thus, for the thousands of Americans who hold...

Outsourcing in China: why would you do it? How would you do it?
December 1, 2004... FOR MANY U.S. MANUFACTURERS, reducing material cost is an important part of survival strategy. Global sourcing is no longer a choice. There is no right formula. Each company is unique and all suppliers are not equal. The key is to do your...

Research.
December 1, 2004... This edition of Research highlights two problems related to dealing with reliability in manufacturing and services: the problem of correlated failures in critical software and the trade-off between inspection frequency and line throughput in...

Too hot to handle?(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Q: What can you tell me about OSHA glove requirements for workers who handle parts that are hot? A: Good question. OSHA does not have a standard that requires gloves for workers handling objects above a certain specific temperature....

A matter of degrees.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
December 1, 2004... Q: I'm going to graduate this semester in mechanical engineering, aerospace and vehicle systems. I would like to continue studying, but I don't know which program I should take. One of the electives I took this semester is...

Make your mark: help choose IIE's Board of Trustees.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
December 1, 2004... Now that the U.S. presidential election has been decided, it's time to choose who will lead IIE into the future. The online polls for the 2005-2006 election open Dec. 17 and close Feb. 4. Voting is a crucial responsibility for every member, as...

This robot is no connoisseur: a bellyful of bugs and a penchant for boring work.(BEYOND THE NORM)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Wringing energy from dead flies or rotten fruit, it doesn't have a discerning palate, but this robot could be the key to fully autonomous machines that perform tasks humans would rather not do. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A team of...

Dilbert[R].
December 1, 2004... Dilbert reprinted by permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The value of time.(BEYOND THE NORM)(influence of time on consumer purchasing behavior)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Despite a well-worn adage to the contrary, time is not money. People find it easier to be extravagant by the hour than by the dollar. Marketing professors from the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania conducted...

Keeping stuff found.(BEYOND THE NORM)(computerized records versus paper documents)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Maybe there's still hope for a paperless office of the future. According to a survey from the University of Washington's Information School, people are twice as likely to keep track of electronic information as paper documents. More than...