Industrial Engineer articles from November 2004

Industrial Engineer archives from November 2004

No place like home.(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... FOR MANY PEOPLE, HOME IS NO LONGER WHERE THEY GREW UP BUT the home they have made since growing up. For others, there still exist two disparate places: where their families live and where they live, a scenario that is never more evident than...

Finding your way as a young IE.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The column "Where are the real IEs?" (September) was really compelling. Having obtained my master's in IE and a bachelor's in ME, I have spent two years doing energy and productivity consulting and, right now, have taken up the role of IE/ME...

Keeping it simple.(RANTS AND RAVES)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... I just finished reading John Houston's column "Where are the real IEs?" in the September issue. His column reminds me that I sometimes feel like a lost person crying in the wilderness. I've never had an identity crisis with who or what I am. I...

False perception of Taylor.(RANTS AND RAVES)
November 1, 2004... [According to Monica Elliott,] James Hoopes' book False Prophets "asserts that the critical consensus is that Frederick Taylor's treatment of men as machines supposedly led American industry... into noncreative stagnation by the 1970s"...

Improving airport security systematically: TSA funds human factors research.(Front Line)
November 1, 2004... A research institute to examine ways to improve security systems at airports and other transportation hubs is being established at the University at Buffalo under a $538,000 grant from the Transportation Security Administration to a UB...

Baby steps toward production: in Ghana, making key chains by hand is a leap into manufacturing.(Front Line; MIT Center for Bits and Atoms team builds lab in Ghana to help promote knowledge of manufacturing processes )
November 1, 2004... For students in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana, pink key chains they designed and manufactured by hand with modern tools represent a first step into high technology. This summer, a team from the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) at the...

Strategic play.(QUOTE, UNQUOTE)
November 1, 2004... "No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward." --Electrical engineer Amar Gopal Bose, founder of Bose Corp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Logistical scholars.(Front Line)
November 1, 2004... Executives seeking an advanced logistics education can vie for one of three $20,000 scholarships being awarded by Georgia Tech's Executive Master's in International Logistics program. The scholarships will be awarded to professionals living...

Deadly work: 2003 fatal occupational injuries.(Front Line)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
November 1, 2004... Exposure to harmful substances or environments 9% Fires and explosions 4% Transportation incidents 42% Assaults and violent acts 16% Contact with objects and...

Boosting diversity: grant will help Wisconsin increase underrepresented minorities in the sciences.(Front Line)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... With a $2.5 million grant from the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Partnerships, a program of the National Science Foundation, UW-Madison will lead an alliance of 21 state colleges and universities that aims to boost the number of...

Events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... > NOVEMBER NOV. 14-16 International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, San Francisco; (506) 856-0045; www.engr.sjsu.edu/ydessouky/cie34 NOV. 15-16 * Work Measurement Tools for Improved Operational...

Hands-on entrepreneur.(UNCOMMON IE; Kate Brew and Kim Shivler open Aegean Skin and Massage Therapies businesses)
November 1, 2004... Hearing that Kate Brew moved from product and personnel management at IBM to running a day spa is a joke that seemingly writes itself: After a career at IBM, who couldn't use a massage? But Brew approached the entrepreneurial venture with the...

Data disappointment.(PRIME NUMBER; poor software interoperability leads to lost efficiency)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Poor software interoperability in the capital facilities industry has cost the U.S. commercial, institutional, and industrial building sectors $15.8 billion in lost efficiency, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Ensuring business survival.(BOOK OF THE MONTH)
November 1, 2004... Businesses need to be ready to respond to any and every kind of unplanned occurrence, including fires, electrical outages, computer viruses, and even terrorism. The Disaster Recovery Handbook by Michael Wallace and Lawrence Webber presents...

Thwarting bioterrorism with simulation: computer program readies health care departments for infectious outbreaks.(Front Line; Georgia Institute of Technology professor, Eva Lee's RealOpt program )
November 1, 2004... Imagine a terrorist releasing the smallpox virus in Atlanta. Suddenly there's a race against time to vaccinate and treat everyone in the metropolitan area--more than 4 million people--before the deadly virus can spread. [ILLUSTRATION...

Statistical perspective.(performance; industrial engineer questions value of some statistical tools )
November 1, 2004... DURING MY 23-PLUS years in business, I have yet to work in a place where anyone, engineers included, used the types of advanced statistical concepts I was taught in school or that my son is now learning in his industrial engineering course...

Breaking the rules.(management; discussion of two sucessful American manufacturers )
November 1, 2004... CERTAIN CIRCLES BELIEVE THAT American manufacturers can't compete with offshore suppliers, especially when a product is sold to consumers through big-box retailers. Two companies have proven this notion is overly simplistic. Both are growing at...

Disconnects.(manufacturing)(Industrial engineers facilitating lean transformations)
November 1, 2004... THE FURTHER A COMPANY GOES along the progression to lean, the more likely it will require outside expertise for strategy development, training, design, construction, and sundry specialties in each of these categories. Facilities design and...

Working smarter.(member forum)(Column)
November 1, 2004... IS LABOR A COST TO MINIMIZE OR A scarce resource to optimize? The pendulum seems to be swinging rapidly in the direction of eliminating American jobs without consideration of the value added by American workers. Several decades ago, it was...

Global perspective: Jerry Weinstein proves it's a small world after all.(Biography)
November 1, 2004... THE CAREER OF JERRY WEINSTEIN, PH.D., stands as a shining example of why industrial engineers are so often called people engineers. In every stage of his working life, Weinstein has learned to relate to those around him, to find common ground...

Virtual queuing: could it be a reality for airports?
November 1, 2004... IF ELIGIBLE AIRLINE PASSENGERS WERE GIVEN A specific time window for arriving at the airport security checkpoint, would security lines, missed flights, and flight delays become things of the past? In fact, simulation modeling shows that...

A well-fed warehouse: two students help an Oklahoma food bank improve its productivity.
November 1, 2004... EVERY DAY IS A DAY OF THANKSGIVING AT THE REGIONAL Food Bank of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. In the past fiscal year, the organization distributed 21.1 million pounds of food and other products, and perhaps it will be able to provide a lot more...

The measure of performance: industrial engineers are perfectly suited to manage human capital.
November 1, 2004... WHILE HUMAN CAPITAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN A NECESSARY INPUT for business enterprises, the shift to a knowledge-based economy in the United States has increased its relative importance. Measurement practices in capitalist organizations have...

Research.(uncertainty in manufacturing and supply chain design)
November 1, 2004... This edition of Research highlights three problems related to uncertainty in manufacturing and supply chain design. The papers summarized below can be found in the November issue of IIE Transactions (Vol. 36, No. 11). [ILLUSTRATION...

Clarifying lean and Six Sigma practices.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
November 1, 2004... Q: Do conveyors conflict with Six Sigma and lean manufacturing methodologies? Are cells a requirement in order to be classified as lean, and do they apply to all types of manufacturing lines regardless of takt time? A: Conveyors do not...

Sigma shift.(ANSWERS TO YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS)
November 1, 2004... Q: In a normal distribution, if we say that all units are within +/-1 sigma (standard deviation), then we are saying 68 percent are good. Likewise, if we extend the acceptable range out to +/-2, then we are saying 95 percent are good. How does...

Achieving greatness: board of trustees and staff draw lessons from good to great.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... You don't often hear someone wax rhapsodic about a hedgehog. But that's just what members of the IIE Board of Trustees and staff were doing after devoting a morning of their August planning meeting to discussion of Jim Collins' book Good to...

Shall we play? Because IEs like to have fun, too.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
November 1, 2004... Civil engineering students have steel bridge and concrete canoe competitions. Mechanical engineers get revved up for their Formula One and mini-Baja races. Electrical engineers set robots on each other. And chemical engineers run their ChemE...

Building a better test: the P.E. Exam specification gets a facelift.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)(related article: P.E. EXAM REVIEW)
November 1, 2004... The long process of updating the professional engineering exam specification is drawing to a close. The test, administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, is updated roughly once a decade. "Every seven...

Work measurement learning online.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
November 1, 2004... This month, a one-hour Web conference on work measurement will present advice from three experts. The online learning session is Friday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. EST. The conference, hosted by IIE's Society for Work Science, features three short...

Kenneth E. Case.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(Grant Medal for leadership and service in quality education)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The American Society for Quality presented IIE fellow Kenneth E. Case, Ph.D., with the Eugene L. Grant Medal for leadership and service in quality education. Case is Regents Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at...

Paul Kauffman.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(lifetime achievement and contributions to the engineering)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... As part of its 2004 Weather Accident Project review, NASA recognized Paul Kauffman, Ph.D., for his outstanding contributions to aviation weather safety research and development. He was also honored with the Bernard Sarchet Award from the...

Ralph Liberatore.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Ralph Liberatore, Ph.D., was named director of academic affairs for the University of Phoenix. Previously, he served as chairman of the university's graduate school of business. Liberatore earned a master's degree in metallurgy and a doctoral...

Harriet Black Nembhard.(KUDOS CELEBRATING MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The American Society for Quality presented Harriet Black Nembhard, Ph.D., with the Armand V. Feigenbaum Medal. The recognition is for a young professional who has displayed outstanding characteristics of leadership, professionalism, and...

Lean meet: scenes from the lean management solutions gonference.(KEEPING PACE WITH IIE)
November 1, 2004... In September, the Lean Management Solutions Conference celebrated its fourth successful year. Held in Los Angeles, the conference was highlighted by a slate of astute keynote speakers, a rich selection of workshops, and an exhibit hall full of...

New recruits.(ASK IIE)
November 1, 2004... Our chapter is very small and we'd like to recruit more members, but we're not really sure how to go about it. Can you offer any tips? IIE provides numerous resources to help chapters recruit new IIE members. The first place you should...

Capture and evaluate activity time.(MEMBER REVIEW)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Time is an important factor in operations. With the changing economic conditions, it becomes even more essential to capture the amount of time required for activities and associated expenses. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I downloaded a trial...

First aid in a bottle.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Suspended from a wall-mounted holder, Bradley's OneStep is bottle eyewash for first-aid relief. A patented design allows users simply to pull the bottle from the holder and use it immediately to rinse the eye. No turning, twisting, or...

Rugged thermal imaging.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The rugged IR-InSight T20 handheld camera delivers high image quality with precision temperature measurement up to 250 degrees Celsius. With intuitive software and a simple design, the camera is easy to operate, even suited to users with little...

Smart reader.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Combining the advantages of contact and contactless smart technology, Omnikey's CardMan 5121 is an affordable dual interface smart card reader. The reader is based on a 13.56 MHz contactless smart card RFID interface and works with a variety of...

Real-time data for decisions.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... ActiveFactory data analysis and reporting software offers real-time and historical plant analysis tools for the Industrial SQL Server. The software includes a component for SuiteVoyager portal software, providing enhanced displays to illustrate...

Low-cost guardian.(WHAT ENGINEERS WANT)(MK Automation Engineering Inc)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... MK Automation's modular system allows customers to crease easy-to-install custom guarding solutions for virtually any in-plant application. Designed to comply with OSHA norms, the line includes components ranging from basic guarding panels to...

Human reliability: we break down just like machines.(BEYOND THE NORM)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Reliability engineering may be a way to understand our longevity believe University of Chicago biologists Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Developed to describe the failure of complex electrical and...

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

A mad, crooked man.(BEYOND THE NORM)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... How aggressively an angry person will react may be predicted by physical proportions. The farther certain paired body parts are from symmetrical--if one ear, index finger, or foot is bigger than the other, for example--the more likely it is...

Once upon a formula.(BEYOND THE NORM)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Math and storytelling may seem like very different abilities, but University of Waterloo scientist Daniela O'Neill suggests that preschool children's story-telling abilities are predictive of later mathematical ability. O'Neill looked at...