Industrial Engineer articles from May 2006

Industrial Engineer archives from May 2006

The bare necessities.(grocery store)
May 1, 2006... Scene: The checkout line in a grocery store Time: The end of a long day when I needed one ingredient for dinner that I thought would take me all of five minutes to run in and purchase. You know what's coming. The woman standing in line...

Eye-catching art.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... The March issue of Industrial Engineer had something of special interest to me: the graphics on pages 30 and 31. As both an IE and longtime cat/bird person, it got my attention. By the way, the article, The Trust Factor, lived up to the...

A healthy dose of options.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... In the Ask the Expert section of March's Industrial Engineer, someone asked how to bring together love of industrial engineering and the passion for helping others. Larron Fritz's response provided some excellent examples, and I was pleased to...

Controversial care regulations.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... A recent Front Line article in Industrial Engineer reported on retrospective studies linking increased nurse-to-patient ratios with reductions in hospital lengths of stay, complications, and mortality ("More Nurses, Better Health Care Quality,"...

Clarification.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2006... The full name of the author of the March issue Member Forum column ("Engineering Quality Success") is Miguel Gomez SantaMaria.

Intelligent design meets string theory: ergonomic violin takes the strain out of making music.(Tricia Ho is drawing praise for her violin design)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Violinist and industrial designer Tricia Ho is drawing praise for her violin design that takes the pain out of playing the bowed instrument. Ho, who recently completed a bachelor of industrial design degree at Australia's University of New...

Manufacturer optimism is down.(survey)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... A survey of U.S. manufacturers shows that 44 percent expect manufacturing to trail the overall economy in 2006, up from 34 percent in the previous year's survey. A substantial majority of respondents also expect the economy to grow more slowly...

Purdue defends inefficiency title: students win contest that glorifies complex gadgetry.(Teams also are judged on the creative use of materials and related themes.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The Purdue Society of Professional Engineers defended its national title in complexity and inefficiency at the 18th National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest with a contraption that used 215 steps to shred a few sheets of paper. [ILLUSTRATION...

Sharing know-how reluctantly: why workers protect their methods.(workplace training)
May 1, 2006... Industrial engineers agree that when it comes to job knowledge, few people know more about it than the person performing the assignment. But it's not always easy to set that knowledge free. "Employees accumulate a wealth of information...

Execs worry about overdoing it.(Executives)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Senior corporate financial executives are concerned about overexertion, with 34.4% of them naming it their top safety priority. Repetitive motion and body reaction came in distant second- and third-place concerns, selected by 13.5 percent and...

Recovery partner relations VP.(vice president)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... THE TASK AT HAND: As vice president of recovery partner relations for LifeNet, Tom Buersmeyer is the liaison between the nation's largest nonprofit, full-service organ donation agency and tissue banking system and nearly a dozen organ...

Avoid hazardous work design.(online training materials for occupational health and safety)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... WorkSafe Saskatchewan provides online training materials from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's basic certification program. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Chapter 11, Work Design Hazards, is an especially instructional...

Skills scarcity.(sales representatives rank number one)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "Across North America and Asia, the top three talent shortages are identical: sales representatives rank No. 1, followed by engineers and technicians." --Manpower CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Joerres, summing up a survey conducted by the...

Careers of choice for teens: what career field are you most interested in?(table of career choice)(Table)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Careers of choice for teens WHAT CAREER FIELD ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED IN? Arts 17% Medicine or health 17% Engineering 14% Law 13% Teaching 10%...

Risk analysis instruction.(book named Risk Analysis in Engineering: Techniques, Tools, and Trends)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Based on author Mohammad Modarres' 20 years of experience, Risk Analysis in Engineering: Techniques, Tools, and Trends presents an engineering approach to probabilistic risk analysis for practitioners. The book requires no prior knowledge of...

Sustainable strategy.(leader in automotive sector )(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... BMW was pronounced the automotive sector leader in the latest Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The index rates various performance areas in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions. An important factor in the company's favorable...

Meetings are fun ... for some.(corporate meetings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Reports indicate that the average number of meetings at work more than doubled in the second half of the 20th century, and the time spent in meetings keeps growing. Everyone complains about the proliferation of meetings, it seems, but few...

Bush signs anti-counterfeit act.(counterfeiters could then attach to fake products)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In March, President Bush signed the Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act into law. This will arm the government in its efforts to stem the $500 billion global trade in phony products. Although it was already illegal to manufacture,...

Dilbert.(cartoon)(Cartoon)
May 1, 2006... THE PROJECT WAS MOVING ALONG WELL UNTIL MANAGEMENT CHANGED OUR CODING LANGUAGE AND METHODOLOGY. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NOW OUR TIMELINE IS REPRESENTED BY THIS M.C. ESCHER PRINT OF AN ENDLESS STAIRWAY. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Be proactive.(quality standards)
May 1, 2006... I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT WE approach our work proactively, but many indicators tell me this isn't the case. We live in a reactive world. As author Peter Senge noted years ago, human beings are conditioned to respond primarily to events. We wait...

Don't fret over the upgrade.(upgrade enterprise resource planning)
May 1, 2006... INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GENERates intense emotional responses among managers. The acronym ERP threatens even the most courageous members of the management team. But it doesn't have to be that way. We recently assessed a client's plan to...

Ugly ponderous bureaucracy.(life cycle of most businesses)
May 1, 2006... I ONCE HEARD A COMEDIAN OBSERVE that the appearance and sound of some words creates an image that seems well-matched with their meanings. The word ugly is a good example. Ugly is kind of an ugly word, isn't it? Ponderous and bureaucratization...

Keep it simple: business decisions don't have to be complicated to be good.(business management)(Cover story)
May 1, 2006... Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, was a proponent of simplicity. In Warren Bennis' 2002 article "Will the Legacy Live On?" for Harvard Business Review, Bennis noted that one thing Welch understood early on--years before the 24/7,...

A good start: no need to stumble out of the gate when entering the job market if you have a CEO's scouting report.(Chief Executive officers)
May 1, 2006... The alarm clock is a lot more imposing than it used to be. You were once at liberty to blow off class and sleep in, but that business at the auditorium with the caps and gowns and incessant photographs put an end to all that. You're in the...

The customer is always right: complete quality is inevitable for those who demand it.(research of complete quality process)
May 1, 2006... A company thought it had a forecasting problem. Many of its products were slow movers with spiking demand. It's a daunting forecasting problem when four units sell in one week, three the next, five the next, 10,000 the next, three the next, six...

Tradition that runs deep: a third-generation ship builder keeps a family business advancing by breaking the mold.(Nichols Brothers Boat Builders Inc.)(Company overview)
May 1, 2006... As Matt Nichols tells it, there's a big difference between his shipyard and the one his father and grandfather built. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "With Grandpa and Dad, the work they did and what we do is like the difference between flying...

A hot and spicy model.(supply chain research)
May 1, 2006... In the past decade, supply chain research in Colombia has sharpened. And since the nation is one of the largest exporters of coffee in the world, some recent attention has been focused on creating a green supply chain for that industry. But the...

Research: executive summaries.(commercial optimization software)
May 1, 2006... This month's highlights include research papers on capital investment decisions in two contexts. The first paper considers a scenario in which equipment replacement decisions are made to support a limited-term contract; the second is concerned...

Ask the Expert: answers to your technical questions.(institute of industrial engineers)(Interview)
May 1, 2006... Terminology lesson Q: What is the difference between realization and efficiency? A: There are two things to think about: What the terms really mean and how the terms are used by the people you work with. It is more important for...

Spring's time: Annual Conference is getting close.(FOCUS)
May 1, 2006... Orlando, Fla., is staying put, but the deadline to register for the IIE Annual Conference is drawing near. Don't miss out on the foremost gathering of industrial engineers May 20-24. Highlights include: * Thirteen innovative research...

Division directives.(industrial engineers)(Interview)
May 1, 2006... Q: Why doesn't IIE have a division for my specialization? A: Industry- and discipline-specific divisions are organized to help members network and benchmark with others doing work similar to their own. Divisions also give members an...

Ergo mastery: cup competition yields three winners.(Ergonomics Conference)
May 1, 2006... More than 700 attendees packed the 2006 Applied Ergonomics Conference in Orlando, Fla., in March for a wide variety of ergonomics programming, including world-class keynote speakers and more than 90 educational presentations. A big draw to the...

Be an IIE leader: a call for 2006-2007 BOT and NLC nominees.(Institute of Industrial engineers)
May 1, 2006... IIE is seeking nominees to run in the 2006-2007 Board of Trustees and Networking Leadership Council elections. Members of the Board of Trustees are required to attend four face-to-face meetings per year. Spring, summer, and fall meetings are...

Ron Askin.(appointment)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Ron Askin, Ph.D., has been named chair of the department of industrial engineering at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. He previously served as chair of the systems and industrial engineering department at the...

Elizabeth Cudney.(Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Elizabeth Cudney, a Ph.D. student in engineering management at the University of Missouri-Rolla, was awarded the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. The award is given to manufacturing...

Muhanad Hirzallah.(professor received Six Sigma certified black belt recognition)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Muhanad Hirzallah, a professor of quality and operations management at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, has received ASQ-certified Six Sigma black belt recognition. Hirzallah holds a B.S. in industrial engineering and an M.S. in industrial...

Jack B. ReVelle.(Melvin R. Lohmann Medal for Jack B. Revelle)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In April, Jack B. ReVelle, Ph.D., was inducted into the Purdue University ROTC Hall of Fame and awarded the Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology Melvin R. Lohmann Medal. ReVelle holds a B.S. in chemical...

Harvey Wolfe.(appointment)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Harvey Wolfe, Ph.D., professor and past chair of the department of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, has announced his retirement after 42 years of service. Wolfe joined the department in 1964 and served as the department...

Handle with care.(issue of Industrial Management)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In the March/April issue of Industrial Management, contributors discuss facets of management, including management of resources, finances, and organizational change. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the seventh installment in his series of...

Warehouse managers.(warehousing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... With a short head length of only 14.7 inches, the AM 2200 hand pallet truck by Jungheinrich is ideal for maneuvering in confined spaces. The hand pallet truck is rated at a maximum load capacity of 5,500 pounds and includes a tiller handle that...

Work perfect: the day we strive for.(Six Sigma, implemented)
May 1, 2006... A great day at work for me is interacting with people: interacting with my colleagues in the company, talking to them about what they're doing, seeing their successes, interacting with customers, understanding how they're using our products and...