Industrial Engineer articles from June 2003

Industrial Engineer archives from June 2003

Cosmic wanderlust.(Editor's Desk)
June 1, 2003... What is it about space that fascinates us? It was just 34 years ago that more than 600 million people watched spellbound as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. That journey to the moon was the only trip that could rival the other exalted "trip"...

A contraption to make Goldberg proud.(News)
June 1, 2003... How do you crush a soda can in 20 steps or more? Just ask the students of Purdue University, who walked away with first prize in the 2003 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in April. The winning contraption, designed around a sports theme, used...

Cost of workplace injuries grows.
June 1, 2003... The cost of disabling workplace injuries and illnesses in the United States grew faster than inflation between 1998 and 2000, while the direct costs of workers' compensation claims were concentrated in a relatively small number of injury...

It pays to convert food processing wastewater; extracting gases generates revenue and reaps savings.(News)
June 1, 2003... Wastewater from a food processing facility needn't be a waste product. Pennsylvania State University environmental engineers have shown that wastewater from a confectioner, an apple processor, and a potato chip maker can each produce hydrogen...

Precision in inventory.(Book of the Month)
June 1, 2003... Inventory accuracy starts with an understanding of the conditions under which errors occur and ends with error-resistant processes, intelligent use of technology, a trained and motivated workforce, and a process of continuous improvement. In...

Lack of measurement saps satisfaction; executives don't know where to apply HR resources.(Book of the Month)
June 1, 2003... A key concern of business executives is the lack of measurement in their companies--specifically, measuring business impact of human resources training and development initiatives that would guide them in applying resources for best effect. ...

Sheldon H. Jacobson.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * IIE member Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., was awarded a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship. Jacobson is a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, Willett Faculty Scholar, and director of the Simulation Optimization Laboratory at the...

Kathleen Holmgren.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Alvesta Corp. added Kathleen Holmgren to its board of directors. Holmgren is senior vice president of network storage marketing for Sun Microsystems. She holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, with honors, from California...

Dinesh Verma.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Stevens Institute of Technology professor Dinesh Verma, Ph.D., was elected a fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering. Verma also received a special faculty award from IBM Corp. that included a $40,000 cash component. He...

Brian M. Antsey.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Brian M. Antsey was named director, new markets, Delphi Energy & Chassis Systems by the Delphi Corp. Antsey holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from General Motors Institute. He also completed the executive management program...

NCSU swoops in for paper glider win.(News)
June 1, 2003... Students from North Carolina State University soared to first place in Energy Challenge 2003 with their paper-winged glider, claiming a $15,000 first prize. Ten teams competed in the April 5 challenge at Nags Head, N.C., to commemorate the...

Wesley Chen.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Solectron Corp. appointed Wesley Chen vice president and managing director of Solectron China Electronic Manufacturing and Test Solutions Group. Chen holds a master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington...

Jim Gross.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Jim Gross, Ph.D., was named dean of Fox Valley Technical College's business and marketing division. Gross taught as an associate professor of operations management at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh previously. He holds bachelor's and...

Bill Wiberg.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Orange Ventures named Bill Wiberg a general partner. Wiberg joins Orange from Bowman Capital. He holds a B.S. in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University, an M.S. in engineering economics from Stanford...

Robert Seebold.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Robert Seebold was named president of InfoVista Corp. He will be responsible for business operations including pre-sales, sales, and finance and administration for North America. Seebold joins the company after leaving 2ndWave Inc., a company...

The gold of Green Buildings.
June 1, 2003... A 53,000-square foot solar electric rooftop system is one Earth-friendly feature of the new Toyota Motor Sales U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif. The project received gold-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership...

Protect small-business IT systems.(Site to See)
June 1, 2003... Protecting electronic information and data is vital to the success of any company. But small businesses that don't have the staff or resources to monitor their information technology systems constantly are vulnerable to failure or intrusion....

Bad code.(Stat of the Month)
June 1, 2003... Software errors cost the U.S. economy about $59.5 billion annually, half of which is borne by software users, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Goodness in grief.(Uncommon IE)
June 1, 2003... Juan Kenigstein was inconsolable after the death of his son in 1995, but when he was finally ready to get help for his grief, he had a difficult time finding someone with anything meaningful to say. So almost 15 years after he earned his...

Robert J.Coury.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Mylan Laboratories Inc. named Robert J. Coury chief executive officer. Coury has been serving as a consultant to Mylan since 1995. He has already been appointed vice chairman of the company and sits on the Board of Directors. He earned a B.S....

Divakar Tailor.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Divakar Tailor was promoted to senior vice president and general manager, aftermarket, for Delco Remy International Inc. Tailor joined Delco Remy in 1997 and most recently served as senior vice president of manufacturing for the electrical...

William J. McClean.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * SAMSys Technologies Inc. named William J. McClean to its board of directors. McClean serves as vice president, manufacturing, development, and marketing operations at IBM Canada, where he is responsible for product mission alignment and...

Mehran Rahbar.(Newsmakers)
June 1, 2003... * Mehran Rahbar was tapped to lead the Electric Motor Drives division of Siemens VDO Automotive. Rahbar holds a B.S. in civil and environmental engineering and mechanical and industrial engineering from Clarkson University in New York. He is a...

Key to boosting mag tape density is at the edge.
June 1, 2003... A key manufacturing step could improve one of the world's most popular data storage materials: magnetic tape. How a tape is cut in the factory plays a major role in how much data it can hold as well as whether the $6 billion American...

A novel way to manage knowledge; designing organizations the way engineers design bridges.(News)
June 1, 2003... The most critical networks in organizations are not necessarily the ones carrying Internet traffic, they are the social networks among people and groups that define an organization's process and knowledge flow. Kathleen Carley's goal is to...

The mark of good highway lines.(Human Factors)
June 1, 2003... Few drivers likely consider the importance of yellow pavement marking lines, even though yellow lines--unlike white--indicate opposite-moving traffic and their distinctive color is a part of the national traffic code. [ILLUSTRATION...

Decision support improves health care.
June 1, 2003... A University of Notre Dame study shows a link between the use of decision support systems (DSS) and hospital benefits such as lower patient death rates and increased hospital profitability. "Our findings indicate that if managers execute...

R&Detour; research and development funding forecast predicts major shift that will last for years.
June 1, 2003... The annual "R&D Forecast" by Battelle and R&D Magazine predicts outside factors will deeply affect the funding for scientific research this year and well into the future. "Actions have been set in motion that will have a longer-term impact...

Education briefs.
June 1, 2003... A program at Georgia Tech and Emory University brings together graduate and doctoral students in science, engineering, business, and law to address the technical, legal, and business issues involved with moving fundamental research to the...

Calendar.(Calendar)
June 1, 2003... International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly, Newport, R.I.; (800) 424-3362 or (401) 783-5840; info@dfma.com; http://www.dfma.com/forum. Straightforward, how-to presentations from industry leaders like Harley Davidson,...

Commit it to memory.(Performance Improvement)
June 1, 2003... Although we recognize the need to remember and use key tools, rules, and ideas we learn in training sessions, most of us recall little of what we hear or see during training unless we put the newly learned concepts to use quickly. Let's...

3rd annual Lean Management Solutions Conference.
June 1, 2003... September 7-11, 2003 * Atlanta, Georgia * Sheraton Buckhead LEAN FOR ACCELERATING GROWTH INTO THE FUTURE The 3rd Annual Lean Management Solutions Conference... it's the place you'll find the leaders in lean and all the tools you need...

Keeping it simple.(Management)
June 1, 2003... Solving problems is a central management skill, and fact analysis is critical to problem solving. It stands to reason that the more facts one can gather prior to solving a problem, the better the solution will be. In cases where management...

Raising simulation awareness.(Member Forum)
June 1, 2003... At a recent simulation conference, panel members discussed the state of the industry and its future. The panel comprised representatives from the major discrete-event simulation software vendors. Projections ranged from dismal to optimistic. At...

Across the universe: NASA's Keith Hefner looks inside distant galaxies as program manager for the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.(Cover Story)
June 1, 2003... Sagittarius A is a super massive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Over the course of a two-week observation, Chandra photographed more than a half-dozen X-ray flares near the hole's event horizon. Scientists believe that...

IIE's continuing education seminars course schedule / fall 2003 - Spring 2004.
June 1, 2003... Take advantage of IIE's many new comprehensive seminars and you'll come away with practical information you can use to strengthen your knowledge and improve the way you work. Seminars Our expanded seminar schedule for Fall 2003 and...

Cooking up quick meetings: the curse of modern business gets a recipe redux.
June 1, 2003... "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." --Ronald Reagan, U.S. president "Souffle is more important than you think. If men ate souffle before meetings, life could...

Building strategic partnerships: between companies and suppliers, the right relationship is everything.
June 1, 2003... For more than a decade, industry experts have been advising manufacturers that judicious use of supply chain management applications would give them a competitive edge. Such business applications, which can include demand planning through...

Planning in uncertain times: be prepared to make social decisions using design of experiments.
June 1, 2003... In the age of the Internet and intercontinental missiles, oceans alone no longer provide a sense of security. Can we expect our political or industrial leaders to act appropriately when they are uncertain of probable consequences to their...

Research Reports: executive summaries of current studies.
June 1, 2003... Reliability is an increasing concern in industry. This edition of Research Reports highlights three papers that focus on different aspects of the reliability problem, including the choice between standby and active redundancy, the method of...

IIE bestows its greatest honor.(Focus on IIE)
June 1, 2003... IIE fellow and North Carolina State University professor Salah E. Elmaghraby was honored at last month's IIE Annual Conference as the recipient of the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Industrial Engineering Award. An IIE member since 1960, Elmaghraby...

The benefit of youth; IIE's 2003-04 Scholarship winners.(Focus on IIE)
June 1, 2003... A.O. Putnam Memorial Scholarship ($400) Jessica L. Heier--Kansas State University E.J. Sierleja Memorial ($400) Stephen Ormon--University of Arkansas Dwight D. Gardner Scholarship ($1,500 each) Andrew J. Fisher--South...

Serving more than his country: John Fargher, Ph.D., makes time to help his organization.(Volunteer Snapshot)
June 1, 2003... After graduating from high school, John Fargher served his country as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division. He was taller then, or so he claims. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I used to be 6'8" tall before I began jumping out of...

Ads you like it: sales team brings together advertisers, vendors, and members.(Focus)
June 1, 2003... Editorial content gets all the glory, but it's advertising that drives a magazine's success. Two men at IIE work hard to bring ads into Industrial Engineer for relevant, innovative products and services that interest IIE members. And they also...

Liberty Mutual and Wells Fargo join the fold.(Member Benefits)
June 1, 2003... Membership has its benefits. Now IIE has added more thanks to affinity agreements with Liberty Mutual and Wells Fargo. Members seeking home, auto, or renters' insurance will be happy to learn they are eligible for a special IIE group...

Talk to us: use this headquarters directory to keep in touch with staff.(Focus)
June 1, 2003... Denise Hadley Designer (770) 349-1117 dhadley@iienet.org [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Steven Averett Editorial Assistant (770) 449-0461, ext. 113 saverett@iienet.org [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Monica Elliott...

Farewell to a longtime friend; Rhonda Taylor reluctantly concludes a stunning career.
June 1, 2003... If you've ever contacted IIE for help with your membership, there's a good chance you spoke with Rhonda Taylor. For more than 14 years, Taylor served IIE and its members as a customer service administrator and accounting representative. Her...

The benefit of age.(Focus)
June 1, 2003... Q: I've been an IIE member for a while now. How do I attain senior member status? A: Senior membership is a prestigious designation, demonstrating considerable knowledge of and dedication to the industrial engineering profession. It is not...

Choice chapters: senior chapters receive recognition for excellence.(Focus)
June 1, 2003... GOLD AWARD Dallas Greater Miami Rochester (N.Y.) Detroit Wichita (Kan.) Greater Kansas City (Kan.) South Jersey Portugal SILVER AWARD Pittsburgh Birmingham (Ala.) National Capital (D.C.)...

Resources: your guide for finding industrial engineering services and recruiters.
June 1, 2003... Work Measurement MTM Association * Work Measurement Systems * Work Measurement Software * Industrial Engineering Training and Support * Ergonomics Training * Productivity Improvement Analysis * Profitability...

You can't fool an IE; IBM researcher Rakesh Agrawal is working to keep people honest.(Punchline)
June 1, 2003... Many companies have found that they can't squeeze money out of Internet users, who, with a world of information available to them, simply move on to other sites if they are asked to fork over a credit card number in exchange for access to...

Equal vs. equitable rewards: motivating teams is about trade-offs.(Punchline)
June 1, 2003... Work team managers are faced with the question of rewards: Do you compensate team members equally, giving everyone the same reward, or equitably, giving to individuals in proportion to their contributions? There are trade-offs with any...

Ticket-buyers' revenge.(Punchline)
June 1, 2003... It's a classic dilemma for air travelers: Purchase a ticket today while the fare seems reasonable or wait for a better deal at the risk of a price increase? Oren Etzioni, associate professor in the University of Washington's computer...