Industrial Engineer articles from July 2007

Industrial Engineer archives from July 2007

My left kidney.(Editorial)
July 1, 2007... There is one interesting aspect of my left kidney: It works in Boca Raton, Fla. While the rest of my organs reside with me in Georgia, my left kidney heeds a greater calling. Finding independence from its twin, the kidney is currently living in...

HIMSS backs SHS: societies oppose mandated nurse staffing.(Front Line)(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society supports patient-to-nurse ratios)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Nearly a year after IIE's Society for Health Systems formally opposed the adoption of legislation that would mandate nursing ratios, a sister professional society has followed suit. In June, HIMSS, a society that focuses on management...

Good working conditions mean good health: patient outcomes are better when nurses aren't overworked.(Front Line)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Hospitals that offer better working conditions for nurses are safer for elderly intensive care unit patients. So concludes research led by the Columbia University School of Nursing. Hospital-associated infections are the sixth leading cause...

Productivity headache.(PRIME NUMBER)
July 1, 2007... Up to $28.7 billion in annual direct and indirect health care costs can be attributed to migraine-related losses in productivity. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Source: Data presented at the May meeting of the American Academy of Neurology

Undergrad researchers go far.(Front Line)(choices for careers and post graduation for undergraduates students )(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Undergraduate students who participate in hands-on research are more likely to pursue advanced degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) fields, according to a new study. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "This...

Job performance linked to personality: satisfaction not so important, finds research.(Front Line)(assistant professor of psychology at Wright State University Nathan Bowling)(Report)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... It seems like common sense to identify job satisfaction as a key to job performance. People who are happy in their work perform better than people who aren't happy, right? Not so, according to a research project by Nathan Bowling, Ph.D.,...

Center studies manufacturing ergonomics: full-scale environment will aid automakers.(Front Line)(Ohio State University created new research center Center for Occupational Health in Automotive Manufacturing)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... A new research center at Ohio State University will explore ergonomic issues in the automotive manufacturing process that impact worker safety as well as health care costs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Equipped with a mock manufacturing...

Party project manger.(Front Line)(event planner Anne Wilson)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... THE TASK AT HAND: Anne Wilson's work is no game, but it is a birthday party. Or a wedding reception. Or perhaps even a baby shower. Her small business, It's Your Party Event Planning, calls upon many of the skills she learned as an industrial...

Building a better bug trap.(Front Line)(battery operated bug trap designed by engineering undergraduates)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Industrial engineering senior Hans Yeakel inspects the interior of a battery operated bug trap designed in part by University of Florida engineering undergraduates. Unlike traditional bug zappers, which blow bugs into thousands of tiny pieces...

Moving nano to market: nist offers research assistance.(Front Line)(National Institute of Standards and Technology accepting proposals for nanotechnology research projects)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... University, industry, government, and other researchers who need access to state-of-the-art facilities to study nanotechnology have a new resource. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology...

Dilbert.(Cartoon)
July 1, 2007... www.dilbert.com scottadams@aol.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3-9-06 [c] 2006 Scott Adams, Inc./Dist. by UFS, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [c] Scott Adams/Dist. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A happy lot.(Front Line)(General Social Survey conducted among working Americans regarding general happiness)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Industrial engineers rank No. 9 in general happiness among working Americans of all occupations. In the General Social Survey conducted at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, nearly half of industrial engineers (48...

Green design.(SITE TO SEE)
July 1, 2007... A new international competition will reward superior design with $50,000 cash as well as production and legal support worth an additional estimated $50,000. Live Edge: Electronic Design for the Global Environment is sponsored by Premier...

Innovation process.(QUOTE, UNQUOTE)(management)(Brief article)
July 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...

Trusting the stats.(BOOK OF THE MONTH)('Beyond the Balanced Scorecard')(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... How trustworthy are the statistics in which we put our faith? According to author Mark Graham Brown, most companies use performance measures; however, for the most part, they are building their balanced scorecards on unsophisticated...

Birding goes high-tech. .(OUTLIER)(online game 'Collaborative Observatories for National Environments-Sutro Forest')(Product/service evaluation)
July 1, 2007... An engineering professor and an Internet entrepreneur are two of the figures who have developed an amusement that is truly for the birders. Their online game allows players to earn points by taking live photos with a remotely controllable...

Service engineering center: Marcus endowment to fund Penn State operation.(Front Line)(donation made by Harold and Inge Marcus to Pennsylvania State University)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... A $1 million gift has endowed a center devoted to the field of service enterprise engineering. The donation was made by Harold and Inge Marcus of Olympia, Wash. Harold Marcus is a 1949 industrial engineering graduate of Pennsylvania State...

The inbox grind.(performance)(e-mails damaging organizational relationships)(Viewpoint essay)
July 1, 2007... PEOPLE SPEND AS MUCH AS 25 PERCENT OF their work day grinding through e-mail. Because of the volume, key messages sometimes aren't getting read, let alone replied to. Organizational relationships become damaged instead of growing stronger. The...

The case of the missing cases.(management)(managing warehouses)(Viewpoint essay)
July 1, 2007... A WHOPPING 35,000 CASES OF CANNED goods disappeared from a warehouse on the West Coast. The inventory, enough to fill a dozen trailers, was lost over a period of six months. There were no prior losses of this magnitude at any warehouse during...

Cross-docking demystified.(supply chain)(meaning and benefits of crossdocking)
July 1, 2007... CROSS-DOCKING IS AN AGE-OLD PRACTICE that has served many companies well for decades. If industry surveys are any indication, cross-docking will become even more popular. If your company is already involved in cross-docking, I applaud your...

Save the Earth, save a dollar.(member forum)(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Performance Track program)
July 1, 2007... PHILOSOPHER MITCHELL SILVER RECENTLY noted a problem with the popular song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." The song claims of Santa. "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good...

Modern medical wonder: Medtronic engineers the patient connection.(Medtronic Inc.)(Cover story)(Company overview)
July 1, 2007... To patients, pharmaceutical plants and medical device manufacturers can resemble merely abstracted dots on a map even though their state of health may depend on the products of those companies. In the distance, experts conduct research, develop...

Saving lives just in time: DePuy serves health care through orthopedic supply and demand.(DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.)
July 1, 2007... A husband and father of three has just been admitted to a local hospital following a car wreck that pushed metal from the driver's side door into the man's left side. He is severely injured with a broken hip. The hip will need to be replaced in...

Hormel gets technical: PDAs bring efficiency, flexibility, and accuracy to work measurement.
July 1, 2007... Hormel Foods Corp. has long embraced technology and cultivated an innovative work environment. Founder George A. Hormel coined the phrase "Originate, don't imitate"--a philosophy that carries throughout the company to this day. ...

Infrastructure advisory: managing risk in logistically challenged lands.(City overview)
July 1, 2007... Equatorial Guinea is a relative newcomer to the world of power brokers. Joining the ranks of its better known neighbors Nigeria and Gabon, West Africa, Equatorial Guinea is now a legitimate player when it comes to the exploration, discovery,...

L'Oreal factories play it safe.(L'Oreal USA Inc.)
July 1, 2007... Even with its six U.S. manufacturing plants receiving accolades for safety and health standards, L'Oreal USA isn't satisfied. "When it comes to safety, there is no finish line," said Eric Fox, assistant vice president of plant management in...

Research.(operations engineering)
July 1, 2007... Two articles are summarized below from the July issue of IIE Transactions (Vol. 39, No. 7), which focuses on operations engineering. The first article explores the effects of pending legislation that would allow companies to award compensatory...

Standard time data search.(answers to your technical questions)(Interview)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Q: Where can I find publicly available standard time data on working with different size screws? A: Since most standard data is developed specifically for an organization's own processes, I suggest that you look instead at one of the...

Setting the baseline.(answers to your technical questions)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Q: I am an industrial engineer working at plastic storage tanks factory. There is no data, production information, or planning in place. How do I start planning and making improvements without this information? A: To make improvements, you...

Batch size consideration.(answers to your technical questions)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Q: I am looking for a formula or standard way to calculate optimal batch sizes for a manufacturing line that fills a distribution center with 161 different product styles. Our current process is to negotiate batch sizes with the planning...

Economic analysis.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
July 1, 2007... Q: How are the median service lives, useful lives, and salvage values for assets determined in advance of purchases in order to perform an economic evaluation of alternatives? A: Economic analysis is difficult because it requires estimating...

Your award-winning magazine: IIE members have reason to be proud.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)(Institute of Industrial Engineers)
July 1, 2007... Again this year, Industrial Engineer made a strong showing at the Magazine Association of the Southeast Conference, bringing home five Gamma awards for editorial and design excellence. "This program put us in competition against some of the...

Walking the line at Annual Conference: host city Nashville draws praise from attendees.(keeping pace with IIE)(Institute of Industrial Engineers)(Conference news)
July 1, 2007... There was more going on in Nashville, Tenn., in May than the common occurrence of country music and line dancing. Industrial engineers and students from around the world gathered at the Renaissance Hotel Nashville and the Nashville Convention...

Six Sigma course delivers college credit: Black Belt seminar approved by ACE.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
July 1, 2007... Attendees of IIE's Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate Program can now earn college credit for their efforts. The course was evaluated and recommended for graduate semester credits by the American Council on Education (ACE) earlier this year. The...

Keynoters set for lean conference: guest lecturers have diverse backgrounds among industries, disciplines.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
July 1, 2007... Three business leaders and experts will be featured as keynote speakers for the Lean and Quality Conference and Expo 2007, Sept. 24-27 at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel in Atlanta. On Sept. 24, conference attendees will be greeted by Bill...

2007 scholarship, fellowship recipients: students bring home honors.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Fourteen scholarships and fellowships were granted to students in May during the IIE Annual Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tenn. The honors recognize the achievements of industrial engineering students at the undergraduate, graduate, and...

Stephanie Carnes joined the staff of H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc. as a consulting analyst.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(appointment of Stephanie Carnes)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Stephanie Carnes joined the staff of H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc. as a consulting analyst. Carnes graduated with honors from the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a B.S. in industrial engineering. She enjoyed a collegiate career that...

John English, Ph.D., P.E., has been named dean of engineering at Kansas State University.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(appointment of John English)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... John English, Ph.D., P.E., has been named dean of engineering at Kansas State University. English has served as head of the department of industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas since 2000 and as a faculty member since 1991. He...

Kim LaScola Needy, Ph.D., has been elected secretary of the American Society for Engineering Management.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(appointment of Kim LaScola Needy)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Kim LaScola Needy, Ph.D., has been elected secretary of the American Society for Engineering Management. She is an associate professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, where she serves as undergraduate program...

Gavriel Salvendy, Ph.D, received the John Fritz Medal from the American Association of Engineering Societies.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(Gavriel Salvendy received John Fritz Medal)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Gavriel Salvendy, Ph.D, received the John Fritz Medal from the American Association of Engineering Societies. He was honored for his "fundamental, international and seminal leadership and technical contributions to human engineering and...

Motorola.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... For hand-held identification and verification, Motorola's MC9090-G RFID reader could prove to be versatile among several work environments. The mobile computer included is designed for several industry and market applications, including RFID...

Datamax.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(DATAMAX Corp. (Orlando, Florida))(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... The Datamax I-Class RFID printer opens the door for smart label applications that can serve current and future needs. Labels printed on this device fit RFID tags into traditional thermal labels, allowing users to combine graphical and radio...

3M.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... 3M has developed adhesive labels that can withstand time and removal. The company's Thermal Transfer Polyester Label Materials with 3M Adhesive provide stable adhesion that builds moderately without degrading over time. The thermal labels can...

Camcode.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... Camcode considers its Warehouse Floor Bar Code Labels to be among the most durable labels available. Each includes a protective 1/8-inch beveled aluminum frame that is easily attached to the floor by four concrete anchors. The MetalPhoto...

Metalcraft.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... Metalcraft's Teflon-Coated Bar Code Nameplates are designed to withstand the effects of harsh industrial and commercial environments. The Teflon coating protects the bar code label from dirt, grease, dried paint, weather exposure, ultraviolet...

Remstar.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... With real-time data capabilities, Remstar's Transactional Information Center Lights improve accuracy in high-volume order fulfillment operations. TIC Lights can be used as information centers within vertical carousels and shuttle vertical lift...

Global Sensor Systems Inc.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... The ExpressCube 150 from Global Sensor Systems Inc. is a low-cost dimensioning and weighing system for moderate volume shipping applications. Designed to fit on a 24-inch countertop, the device measures and weighs boxes with dimensions of...

ID Technology.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... ID Technology's F-1000 Series Laser Coders can sear permanent marks and labels on numerous surfaces. Using a fast mirror tracking system and modern software applications, the lasers can print up to four lines of text for static and dynamic...

Telesis.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... Telesis' BrandMark 320 Marking System creates high-quality, permanent marking on a wide range of materials. Fully programmable, the device comes with a compact controller with rubber keyboard and four-line LCD display, so there's no need for an...

Labelling Technologies.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)
July 1, 2007... Labelling Technologies' Model VDR-1AXIS printer is designed for front, side, and corner wrap applications. Its vacuum drum assembly allows labeling of uneven surfaces with the help of a pneumatic self-adjusting arm. The system is easily...

Work perfect: the day we strive for.(interview of Christopher Perry employee of United Air Lines Inc.)(Interview)
July 1, 2007... My main responsibility is to facilitate the integration of our people, processes, and technology. And the aim of doing all that is to ultimately improve our customer service--our passengers that fly with us--as well as to better our...