Industrial Engineer articles from January 2003

Industrial Engineer archives from January 2003

What's in a name?(Editor's Desk)
January 1, 2003... The debate about the professional identity of industrial engineers rages for some and has become moot for others. Many believe that we should be a happy hodgepodge of multi-talented professionals, while others are anxious for the world to...

Role reversal.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... The November 2002 cover story "Living up to Expectations" was an interesting read. Being an IE with more than five years of experience, I have run into most, if not all, of the 10 issues mentioned by plant managers. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Not-so-Basic math.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I must take serious exception to Jeffrey Howard's letter "Back to Basics" in the October 2002 issue. He states that all the counters had gone through training, but he determined that 50 percent of them could not do simple subtraction. He...

Engineering ingenuity.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... This was a great teaser ("The Frugal Ergonomist," October 2002)! Can we expect more of this type of article? Once when a mill operator complained about the other shifts messing up his organized cutters, he came up with a board mounted to...

Encourage P.E. registration.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... The decision to update the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in industrial engineering with input from all practicing industrial engineers is a good one ("P.E. Exam to be Updated," November 2002). This decision gives IIE an...

October excellence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Nice work [on the October 2002 issue]. I enjoyed reading the "Party Patter Primer" article. Merle Mielke's explanation is right on the money. Also, I really enjoyed "The Frugal Ergonomist" article. Thanks for consistently providing a great...

Work, work, work.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... It's interesting to see the variety of phrases and sound bites we use to tell others what IEs do ("Party Patter Primer," October 2002). We are getting better at skirting around the essence of IE and better at flowering the image, but in our...

True observations.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I read Mark Ousnamer's column in the July 2002 issue ("The Absolute Truth"). Apparently, he ran into a chat room that cares little for the truth or for things that actually work. Maybe what we need is a chat room devoted to things that...

Clarify and correct.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2003... Some readers of the article "Esteemed Member Dies" (November 2002) may have mistakenly construed that the company Carl Lindenmeyer founded, C-Four, was no longer in business. That is not the case: The consulting company is still in operation....

Smart traffic optimization: moving more vehicles faster is the goal.(News)
January 1, 2003... University of Arizona engineers have designed a system to ease traffic flows. The intelligent traffic control system was tested last fall in Seattle, and a similar test is scheduled to take place in Tucson, Ariz. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Getting to the root of problems.(Book of the Month)
January 1, 2003... Undesirable outcomes, chronic failure, incidents, and accidents--the cost of such events to corporations is high, adding up to tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in "accepted" losses. Why accept these losses? What if you could understand...

Monster truck is the model of robotics.
January 1, 2003... Equipped with its own computer system, video camera, and sensors, "Timbot" maps its own route in the world. Professors and students at Oregon Health & Science University's School of Science and Engineering stripped down a radio-controlled...

A role model of academic archiving.(News)
January 1, 2003... A system for electronically archiving books, lecture notes, and scientific data unveiled by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may be a model for academic libraries in the future. Called DSpace, the digital repository system will...

Prize recognizes ergo research.
January 1, 2003... Recognizing outstanding original research leading to the reduction or mitigation of work-related injuries is the goal of the 2003 Liberty Mutual Prize, sponsored by the International Ergonomics Association. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The...

Newsmakers.
January 1, 2003... Willard L. Kern was appointed executive director of Apgsearch. com's engineering search and placement division. Kern, a life member of IIE who joined in 1965, will direct activities for the search and placement of manufacturing managers as well...

Newsmakers.
January 1, 2003... IIE fellow Berhokh Khoshnevis, Ph.D., a professor in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California, won the Best Paper Award at the 19th International Conference on Automation...

Newsmakers.
January 1, 2003... Gerald Nadler, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the University of Southern California's industrial engineering department, was awarded the title of fellow by the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science. Nadler is a former chair of...

Newsmakers.
January 1, 2003... Shimon Y. Nof, Ph.D., was presented the Joseph F. Engelberger Award in Education by the Robotics Industry Association. In addition to being a professor at Purdue. Nof is also director of the Production, Robotics, and Integration Software for...

Siemens Energy & Automation was recognized for its safe work environment.(Business Briefs)
January 1, 2003... Siemens Energy & Automation was recognized for its safe work environment in Ohio. OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program Star award was bestowed on the Bellefontaine, Ohio, plant, which designs and manufactures low-voltage circuit breakers. The...

Space and Engineering Academy.(Education Briefs)
January 1, 2003... West High School of Tracy, Calif., garnered recognition by the California School Board Association for its Space and Engineering Academy. The program, which had 250 students enrolled, was awarded the state's Golden Bell for exemplary programs....

Future faculty diversity.(Site to See)
January 1, 2003... Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network has launched FacultyfortheFuture.org, a new Web site dedicated to increasing the number of women and underrepresented minority faculty in engineering, science, and business. [ILLUSTRATION...

Elementary level of quality: secondary schools aren't as quality conscious as their younger siblings.(News)
January 1, 2003... U.S. elementary schools are more advanced than secondary schools in their use of quality tools and approaches. A national survey sponsored by the American Society for Quality also revealed that the majority of principals (70 percent) believe...

Bout of logistics: annual competition sees grad students putting their best case forward.(News)
January 1, 2003... The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business is hosting the sixth annual International Graduate Logistics Case Competition Feb. 20-22 in Chicago. According to Ted Bouras, one of the event's organizers and the director of...

Stan Settles.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... The Institute for Operations Research and Management Science recognized Stan Settles, Ph.D., with the title of fellow. Settles holds the IBM Chair in Engineering Management in the University of Southern California's industrial engineering...

Ashley Kyle Kornegay.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... Ashley Kyle Kornegay earned the Exceptional Performance Award from The Boeing Co., in St. Louis, Mo. The award recognizes outstanding engineers for their support in the development of cost-saving projects in the area of cost estimating for the...

Keith Hefner.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... Keith Hefner of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., was named program manager for NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory. He will be responsible for planning, budgeting, and operations for the world's most powerful X-ray...

William Shaner.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... Entegris Inc. named William Shaner president of its services market segment. In this role, Shaner will oversee sales, marketing, product management, and support of Entegris' on-site and off-site services, cleaning equipment, and environmental...

Warehousing wages.(News)
January 1, 2003... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Median annual salary + bonus $95,000 Director of logistics $80,000 General manager $58,659 Operations manager $55,050 Customer service manager $50,000 Traffic manager $40,998...

Distance learning to the rescue: Purdue faculty returns to Afghanistan to aid rebuilding.(News)
January 1, 2003... Purdue University faculty members traveled to Afghanistan for a week in December as part of ongoing efforts to revitalize engineering and agriculture education, two areas critical to rebuilding the nation and its economy. "Funding agencies...

David E. Ferguson.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... David E. Ferguson joined McCamish Systems as strategic technology consultant. Ferguson has more than 30 years of experience in developing information and control systems for the insurance industry. He holds several insurance and technology...

John Schniedwind.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... John Schniedwind became CIO for the quantitative equity discipline of American Century Investment Management Inc. The teams under Schniedwind are responsible for managing $8 billion in investor assets. Schniedwind holds a bachelor's degree and...

Peter M. Scheffler.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... Saturn Electronics and Engineering Inc. hired Peter M. Scheffler as chief operating officer. Scheffler completed his B.S. in industrial engineering at Purdue University and his M.S. in industrial and systems engineering at Ohio State...

Ravi Belani.(Newsmakers)
January 1, 2003... Ravi Belani joined Draper Fisher Jurvestson as a senior analyst for the firm. He brings operational and strategy experience from his work in enterprise software project management with Zaplet and Extensity to his new role. Belani graduated from...

Calendar.(Calendar)
January 1, 2003... JANUARY January 13-15 Six Sigma Green Belt Training, Norcross, Ga. January 14-16 Advanced Productivity Exposition, Orlando, Fla.; (313) 271-1500; service@sme.org; http://www.sme.org/orlando January 14-16 ...

The challenge of changing culture.(Performance Improvement)
January 1, 2003... Whenever the subject of large-scale organizational change is discussed, the challenge of shifting the organization's culture comes up. Many people would like to give the impression that significant shifts in company cultures are commonplace....

Ring in the old!(Management)
January 1, 2003... With 76 million baby boomers still eight years away from their retirement year of 2010 and technical literacy becoming implicit in nearly all job descriptions, it is inevitable that young managers will find themselves supervising older...

6th Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference.(Real World. Real People. Real Results.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... HOTEL INTERCONTINENTAL / DALLAS, TEXAS March 10, 2003 March 11-13, 2003 Pre-conference Workshops Conference The 6th Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference is the exclusive venue for ergonomists, engineers, and other safety...

So many tools, so much frustration.(Manufacturing)
January 1, 2003... The dramatic emergence of Japanese industry in the 1970s struck fear into American industry. At first we didn't believe their success was sustainable. Then we tried to determine how they were doing it and how to imitate what they were doing....

IIE Annual Conference: May 17-21, 2003 Portland Hilton Portland, Oregon.
January 1, 2003... PORTLAND COME ALIVE! 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 * Quality and process improvement *...

Resolve not to repeat errors.(Logistics)
January 1, 2003... Every year around this time, companies turn over an organizational leaf--trotting out new budgets, initiatives, and plans. Unfortunately, many of their warehouses seem to be exempt from this out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new exercise. Although...

The dinosaurs in your business.(Member Forum)
January 1, 2003... There are dinosaurs roaming the world. They are walking down the aisles of many manufacturing facilities. You can find them running machinery, driving forklifts, filing papers, and doing numerous other jobs. Identify them by their language: ...

A quality world, a quality life: a conversation with Joseph Juran on the past, present, and future of his field.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2003... Fortune magazine's 2002 top 10 ranking of quality product and service providers includes companies based in the United States, Japan, Germany, and Finland. World industry seems to have taken its cue: Even if companies are not implementing a...

Charged with change: a battery manufacturer on the brink leverages a lean turnaround.
January 1, 2003... Batteries are not complicated. In fact, they've been around for more than 200 years. So it's not surprising that in 2001, one of the world's largest producers of lead-acid batteries still prescribed to an outdated manufacturing system. "A...

The transformation battlefield: achieving organizational change with corporate physics.
January 1, 2003... Just as human beings require natural selection to survive and propagate as a species, organizations require strategies to compete and improve in their respective marketplaces. Inevitably, organizational strategy in a free market economy must...

The right prescription: for supply chain re-engineering in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond, Wilson Lester is your man.
January 1, 2003... Eckerd, Abbott Laboratories, and the Sports Authority may represent disparate sectors of industry, but Wilson Lester, senior vice president of supply chain for Rite Aid Corp., is at home in any industry as long as there's supply and demand....

Call for presentations.
January 1, 2003... SEPTEMBER 7-11, 2003 3rd Annual Lean Management Solutions Conference Atlanta, Georgia * Sheraton Buckhead LEAN FOR ACCELERATING GROWTH INTO THE FUTURE Share your knowledge and experiences with your peers at the Lean Management...

Elements of effective ergonomics: three basic steps to securing and sustaining ergonomics success.
January 1, 2003... A successful ergonomics process can be defined as one that is sustainable, business-driven, and injury-reducing. Three critical elements of an effective ergonomics process have been identified by observing companies that consider themselves...

Research Reports: executive summaries of current studies.
January 1, 2003... PROFIT MAXIMIZATION Inventory management is of primary importance in distribution planning. In "Balancing Desirable But Conflicting Objectives in the Newsvendor Problem," Mahmut Parlar and Z. Kevin Weng consider the problem of balancing...

University regional conference dates.(Calendar)
January 1, 2003... Jan. 23-25 Region 3--Auburn University Christy Horne, hornecm@auburn.edu http://www.eng.auburn.edu/organizations/IIE/ Jan. 23-25 Region 14--University of Windsor Christine Ciliska, christine.ciliska@trw.com ...

An IE for quality.(Profile of a Winner)
January 1, 2003... After admiring the 28 previous winners of the Frank & Lillian Gilbreth Award, Kenneth Case never imagined he would be the 29th. "I was absolutely shocked," he said. "If you look at the 28 people who went before me on that stage... I'd have...

Efficient in Seattle.(Focus)
January 1, 2003... Interest in IIE's annual Lean Solutions Conference last fall was anything but slim. More than 250 attendees convened in Seattle for an uncharacteristically sunny week of sessions, exhibits, keynote addresses, and informal networking. The third...

The real world: this year's Applied Ergonomics Conference reveals the value of practical solutions.(Focus)
January 1, 2003... The fact that ergonomics offers real solutions as opposed to empty rhetoric or theories is the primary focus of the 2003 Applied Ergonomics Conference, which will be held March 11-13 in Dallas. To illustrate this point, each year the...

Purveyors of lifelong learning: meet the professionals who champion the continuing education cause for IIE.(Focus)
January 1, 2003... IIE takes pride in being a lifelong learning organization, and the Institute has a stellar team of professionals that helps make that happen. Bill Gibbs recently returned to the halls of IIE headquarters in November 2002 as a meeting...

Networking in the age of anonymity.
January 1, 2003... With a cadre of conferences on the IIE horizon in the coming months, there will be many opportunities to engage in the grand old tradition of networking. It seems like a simple process: give a name, get a name. But in practice, networking is a...

Resources.
January 1, 2003... Work Measurement Royal J. Dossett Corporation Time Study/Work Sampling Package Only $495 Complete package comprises Datawriter data collector, Charger, and Cable, plus Time Study software and Work Sampling software. No setup needed....

IIE gift items.
January 1, 2003... 1 / IIE Denim Shirt Three Rivers 100% cotton long-sleeved denim shirt with button-down collar, horn-style buttons, and chest pocket. The IIE logo is embroidered in navy blue above the pocket. Order Code: DSHRTM, DSHRTL, DSHRTX Price -...

Sharp harp production.(Punchline)
January 1, 2003... A craftsman in rural Wales is developing a community business to create traditional harps. Not so unusual, perhaps. But he'll be producing the instruments more quickly and at a lower cost thanks to engineering expertise from a local university....

The uncrackable lightness of codes: light-based encryption method could revolutionize Internet security.
January 1, 2003... Cryptography is not only vital to national safety, it's also essential to the security of a form of communication and commerce that has become ubiquitous--the Internet. Researchers at Northwestern University have demonstrated a new...

Fashionable bacterial jeans.
January 1, 2003... Stonewashed jeans are so 1990s. Acid-washed? Forget it. The newest denim fashion on the horizon is bug-washed jeans, colored by vats of active bacteria. Bacteria has been used in the past to create indigo dye used to color jeans, but the...