Industry Week articles from December 2007

Industry Week archives from December 2007

Is anybody listening to us? Elected officials need to get the message that if they can't deliver on their promises, we'll find somebody else who can.(JUST IN TIME)
December 1, 2007... All politics is local, which probably explains why the national pundits didn't have much punditry to offer following the recent odd-year elections. Even though we live in a world of continuously streaming news updates, the ability to concisely...

Getting less than we bargained for.(IW READER FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... * "Just In Time: The Cost of Doing Low-Cost Business," Page 7, Nov. 2007 I very much appreciated your editorial. Here are some other considerations. I am in the corrugated fiberboard shipping container business and this is how trees become...

Just say no.(IW READER FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... * "The Ninth Waste--Saying No," www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle. aspx?ArticleID=15106 I agree with Norman Bodek. Saying "no" is often the easy answer. Understanding why is important if we want managers to answer "yes" more frequently....

Training the next generation.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... * "Viewpoint: Want to Fill Those Jobs? Then Educate and Train the Next Generation," www.industryweek.com/ ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=15080 Good summation of the challenge we face in preparing the next generation of manufacturing workers...

What's this sustainability stuff all about? Manufacturers are discovering there are many good business reasons for focusing on profit, people and the planet.(CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT)(Association for Manufacturing Excellence hold a conference on using lean manufacturing techniques)
December 1, 2007... Many of you have heard the word "sustainability" used to refer to a business initiative or process, and you probably wonder how it fits with continuous improvement activities in your own business. At the recent AME Annual Conference in Chicago,...

Lean takes the driver's seat at Lear: "total lean behavior" has helped auto supplier stay competitive in a struggling market.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like most companies in the U.S. automotive industry, Lear Corp. finds itself in a fight for survival. The $17.8 billion automotive seating systems manufacturer is battling back from previous-year losses, posting a...

Rules of engagement.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(manufacturing industries launches employee improvement programs)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the key workplace metrics Industry Week examines during its annual best Plants competition is the level of employee engagement at each facility. Based on past winners, it's clear why an involved workforce is...

The Mexican connection: Mexico's workers are most likely to feel engaged at their workplaces.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(stastical representation of employee involvement in work )(Towers Perrin)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... When professional services firm Towers Perrin took a look at employee involvement levels throughout the world, surprisingly enough Mexican workers ended up at the top of the list in terms of their feeling engaged. The survey asked employees to...

10 ways to get yourself fired.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 10 WAYS TO GET YOURSELF FIRED 1. Don't have a clear life plan. 2. Don't keep your skill set current. 3. Never deliver results. 4. Confuse efficiency with effectiveness. 5. Believe that you are...

The ABCs of FTZs.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(Foreign trade zones)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Manufacturers familiar with foreign-trade zones know the obvious benefits, namely no duties on goods exported from the foreign-trade zone (FTZ) and the deferral of duties until goods are moved outside the FTZ. But, according to Greg Jones,...

Preparing for the factory of the future: start with broadening mindsets toward equipment innovations and then optimize those opportunities as they appear. That greatly increases the production floor's competitive value via equipment speed, accuracy and flexibility.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When it comes to milling and turning equipment, place more emphasis on strategies that work toward increasing flexibility and easing equipment setup, advises Bill Tandrow, director of mechanical engineering, Haas...

Creating the Ultimate Lean Office: A Zero-Waste Environment With Process Automation.(Bookshelf)
December 1, 2007... A Zero-Waste Environment With Process Automation By Raymond S. Louis, Productivity Press, 2007, 141 pages, $45 Manufacturing and service-related businesses are heavily dependent on office and administrative processes, which can add up to...

Fitting product design to production efficiency: building manufacturing competitiveness on tomorrow's production floor will require strategic conceptual foresight--including part and product designs optimized for both the customer and the manufacturing and assembly processes.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)
December 1, 2007... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Maximizing the competitive power of production equipment starts with product design. For example, is the product designed to be efficiently manufactured--as well as effectively used? Product design needs to be connected...

How to sustain successful supplier/buyer partnerships: supplier-relationship-management strategies should emphasize compliance, conduct and strategic financing.(PURCHASING)
December 1, 2007... The relationship between a supplier and buyer can be complex, says Sara Ireton, assistant vice president with JPMorgan, because "each party wants to maximize its time, resources and cash investment; these may be competing priorities that can...

Continuous improvement gets a green makeover: don't get hung up on the enviro-hype. Reducing waste, emissions and pollution is simply good business.(GREEN MANUFACTURING)(Cover story)
December 1, 2007... These days, all things green are occupying a prime place in the public consciousness, and those same core issues manufacturers have been dealing with forever--energy use and waste reduction, pollution prevention, supply chain management and...

The Boeing 787: a matter of materials: the Dreamliner is far more than just another ambitious product. Its six-month delay is largely due to Boeing attempting to rethink its product development, production processes and supply chain management in one fell swoop.(SPECIAL REPORT: ANATOMY OF A SUPPLY CHAIN)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Aerospace giant Boeing Co. calls its new 787 aircraft the Dreamliner, but in the closing weeks of 2007 the project has become something more closely resembling a nightmare. After promising to deliver its...

Worlds of difference: language isn't the only communication barrier when establishing foreign operations. Every culture has its own workplace customs and expectations, and savvy managers are knowledgeable about all of them.(WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ERASER MAN SEEMED like a harmless gimmick to promote lean manufacturing throughout the global operations of Columbia, Md.-based W.R. Grace & Co. The pink eraser mascot was supposed to convey a simple message:...

Online poll.
December 1, 2007... Would an overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission be helpful to U.S. manufacturers? IndustryWeek.com readers respond: YES 77% NO 23%

"You write the caption".(OnLine: www.industry.com)
December 1, 2007... >>Congratulations to josh6277, who has achieved the lofty title of CWE (Caption Writer Extraordinaire). You, too, can earn fame (but, alas, no fortune) by joining in the latest "You Write The Caption" contest, featuring gags from cartoonist...

Apple's iPhone: IW's IT Product of the Year: wildly popular communication device could become a game-changing enterprise platform.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
December 1, 2007... Oh, iPhone. Even typing your name feels trite at this point--but that's exactly what makes you a perfect candidate for IndustryWeek's IT Product of the Year for 2007. Even for those who didn't wait in line for days to buy one, there's no...

Wireless works.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)(Helena Industries managed production costing and payroll)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... "For the first time ever, we were able to reconcile production hours into product costing and payroll without variances." --Angela Mallory, controller, Helena Industries, from a Sept. 13, 2007, Webcast on mobile labor tracking (archived at...

What's on your Web site? John Deere's eBay play is just one part of an overall e-overhaul.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)(MachineFinder.com,)(Website overview)
December 1, 2007... Farm equipment manufacturer John Deere recently gave its dealer equipment sales Web site, MachineFinder.com, a much-needed upgrade, both in its own right and by integrating its content updating system with popular auction site eBay. ...

Top 10 tech stories of 2007.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
December 1, 2007... 2007 was a banner year for IT and its impact on the manufacturing field, as evidenced by the following articles, which were the most popular news stories in IndustryWeek's Information Technology e-newsletter over the past year: 1 Second...

Transportation costs are down--will the economy follow? In the short term, manufacturers will enjoy cheap and readily available transportation.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Manufacturers are always looking for a way to lower costs, and right now, with the trucking industry caught in a slump, 2008 should see some of the lowest pricing for transportation since the recession at the start...

Sterling commerce shifts from EDI to the supply chain: acquisitions of supply chain vendors paces Sterling's integration strategy.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)(electronic data interchange)
December 1, 2007... The one constant in the supply chain technology marketplace ever since it blossomed in the 1990s has been change, namely market consolidation. While the acquisitive enterprise solution providers--particularly SAP, Oracle and Infor--have rapidly...

Benchmarking do's and don'ts.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Top 5 Do's: 1. Do align with key stakeholders. 2. Do succinctly summarize benefits for top management. 3. Do reduce your scope to actionable items. 4. Do maintain perspective of both your...

The drive to innovation.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
December 1, 2007... "Customers are demanding solutions that provide them the ability to innovate, which is driving the solution vendors to be more innovative, too."

Kimberly-Clark embraces virtual reality: new design studio uses advanced technologies to drive innovation and strengthen customer relationships.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Virtual reality technology has found its footing in many industries and applications, including healthcare, automotive and aerospace. Now, consumer goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark has incorporated proprietary...

By the numbers: hey big spender.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)
December 1, 2007... The largest corporate research and development spenders picked up the pace of their R&D expenditures in 2006, according to Booz Allen Hamilton. The consulting firm's analysis of the world's top 1,000 public corporate R&D spenders reveals the...

Teeny tiny tunes: researchers create single carbon nanotube that operates as a fully functional radio.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's got to be Guinness Book world record. A team of researchers has created a working radio from a single carbon nanotube that they say functions across a bandwidth widely used for commercial radio. Its application...

Trying times for IP protection: intellectual property disputes appear on the upswing as other litigation declines.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)
December 1, 2007... There's some good news on the litigation front. According to law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, the number of lawsuits filed against U.S. firms dropped in the past year. The bad news: This good news does not extend to intellectual property...

Meeting the challenge of change.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(management of Nokia Corp.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... "Companies need to embrace openness on many levels. At Nokia, we work with experts in the academic, scientific and developer communities, and increasingly importantly, directly in interaction with our customers. Innovation can come from...

You, too, can be a marketing consultant: the road to obscene riches begins with learning the four "Rs" of marketing.(BRANDT ON LEADERSHIP)(methods for developing self skills)
December 1, 2007... Many people mistakenly believe that a career as a highly paid marketing professional is beyond their reach, assuming that they could never be creative or brazen enough to craft (and charge for) a global marketing plan full of meaningless...

Continuous availability for SAP Perfect Plant.(SAP AG launched a program that helps for better control of manufacturing)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A WHITEPAPER BY STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES SAP AG has taken an innovative business approach to delivering manufacturing integration and intelligence to the shop floor through a program called the Perfect Plant. This program brings together...

Mobile tracking optimizes labor effectiveness.(control labor cost will help to manage manufacturing effectively)
December 1, 2007... A WEBCAST HOSTED BY MOTOROLA Manufacturers depend on accurate labor data to manage job costing, customer billing, production standards and plant efficiency. But you can't manage what you can't measure. Many companies still struggle with...

Electrical controls enhance capabilities.(industrial equipment industry can gain higher profitability by energy conservation)
December 1, 2007... A WHITEPAPER BY EATON CORPORATION In the fight for market share with increasingly aggressive global rivals, manufacturers of industrial machinery need every competitive edge they can find. Using real-world examples, this whitepaper...

Better, faster day-to-day decision-making.(Business intelligence used in the companies)
December 1, 2007... A WHITEPAPER BY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Business intelligence (BI) is all about delivering the right information in the right format to the right people at the right time so they can make effective and timely business decisions. It has...

Lean on me: lean guru Jim Womack believes the world--though not necessarily manufacturing--is marching in a lean direction.(THOUGHT LEADERS)(interview)(Interview)
December 1, 2007... The Machine That Changed the World, published back in 1990, has proved to be one of the books that has changed the manufacturing world. The lean movement in the United States was jump-started when James Womack, Daniel Jones and Daniel Roos...