Blogs

According to Steve McConnell, CEO of Construx, technical debt is technical work delayed when short cuts are taken. Technical debt can be accidental as a result of insufficient skill to finish the job right or a job done badly. It can also be intentional with good enough to get it done decisions. He believes that technical debt can be useful, when it helps meet a schedule. Other technical debt is counterproductive. Mr. McConnell believes technical debt should be managed just as financial debt is managed.   Mr. McConnell states that technical debt can be estimated from the maintenance budget. I believe it can also be estimated based on work backlogs, past ...

Whether you’re watching “Shark Tank” or reading a crowdfunding campaign, the term revolutionary gets tossed around quite a bit. I like Peter Drucker’s definition of revolutionary; the true revolution is when technology or processes from a totally different sector overturn a market, such as genetics upending medicine or the internet altering everything from social interactions to looking up information. There are four technologies often cited as certain to dramatically alter manufacturing: the Internet of Things, machine learning, artificial intelligence and 3D printing.   Internet of Things   The Internet of Things is simply a level up from the ...

Leaders Ready for Change – CESSE Conference Recap Not that I’m superstitious but my hotel room was 911 and my return flight was on Friday the 13th. Oddities aside, attending ACCESSE18, the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE) annual conference July 10-12 in Pasadena, California, with my IISE colleague Doug Long was a completely positive and inspirational experience.   Billed as “a unique opportunity for leaders and experts to collaborate and develop solutions to the strategic issues facing scientific and engineering societies,” ACCESSE18 did not disappoint. It was a refreshing deep dive into all things related to leadership ...

Artificial intelligence is not a faster horse. Joseph Byrum makes that abundantly clear in this month’s cover story, “Taking advantage of the AI revolution.” Smart technology, which Byrum defines as a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and data analytics that accomplishes more with fewer inputs, will usher exponential change into the market, just like the three previous industrial revolutions. And in the distant future, yes, it is possible that the general intelligence of the machines surpasses the general intelligence of humans. Long before Arnold Schwarzenegger uttered the catch phrase “I’ll be back” in “The Terminator” ...

What does it take to Win and Ergo Cup®? A village of Volunteers!  Yes, that's what it is.  Anyone who has participated in the competition has heard me say that,  " To be a finalist at the competition is an honor.  To win is an achievement of a lifetime! For these teams, it’s like winning an Oscar!" The internationally recognized Ergo Cup® competition, sponsored by the Ergonomics Center of North Carolina and Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University and presented by IISE , provides an exciting opportunity for companies to highlight their successful ergonomic solutions. The general theme across all Ergo ...

Recently, I had the privilege of representing members of the Institute and the ISE profession at the Engineering Public Policy Symposium in Washington, D.C., alongside IISE Immediate Past President Joe Hartman and IISE CEO Don Greene. It’s so important to be visible, make connections, and stay involved and informed with key players when and wherever possible throughout the year. And, we successfully achieved these objectives in D.C. It was a memorable trip and we made our mark as the public face of our association and profession.   It’s just as important that all of us make our mark and aim for visibility, knowledge-sharing and connections in our own lives ...

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” – Henry Ford Whether you are an ISE novice or a seasoned professional, ongoing learning is essential and a key ingredient to fulfillment in all aspects of our lives and livelihoods. A steady diet of learning is our very own continuous improvement regimen that will help us excel personally and professionally all the while making a difference in bottom lines.   So, where do you stand on your learning spectrum? Like anything else we pursue, we need a plan to go after our goals and achieve them. ...

It hasn’t happened in 30 years. During the recent 2018 Applied Ergonomics Conference (AEC) in Atlanta, the attendees heard a rare and important announcement. A new IISE society was launched and its proud name is – drum roll, please – the Applied Ergonomics Society (AES).   Here is the emblem that our in-house designer Kelli Huffman created for the new society to give it distinction and pizazz; its brand. On March 27, hundreds of participants attending the keynote presentation by David Cochran, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, saw the society become a reality. It truly is a testament to ergonomists worldwide, many of whom have ...

Hands-on Learning isn't just for sewing, cooking or painting; A common name for Experiential Learning, this idea of immersing oneself in a subject in order to learn, has been around since 350 BCE. Aristotle wrote, "for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".  Two thousand years later, this idea became popular due to the backing of famous psychologists such as Jean Piaget, Kurt Lewin and John Dewey. Experiential Learning quickly became a staple in American education beginning in the 1950s. Reference   http://info.thinkfun.com/stem-education/the-importance-of-hands-on-learning What does this have to do with your company? A ...

February 5, 2018 | Advanced Manufacturing , Manufacturing USA , National Network for Manufacturing Innovation The National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Technology, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing published a Request for Information – National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing. This RFI solicits input from the public on ways to improve government coordination and on long-term guidance for federal programs and activities in support of United States manufacturing competitiveness, including advanced manufacturing research and development that will create jobs, grow the economy across multiple industrial sectors, strengthen national ...

Hello IISE Connect- My name is Karl Kraebber.  I am a member of the Society for Health Systems Board of Directors within IISE.  I am the board liaison for the experience professionals committee that is chaired by John Elliott.  We are looking to engage the experienced professionals within the society by using the new IISE Connect platform.  We are going to be pushing out routine blog posts on a wide variety of topics but most focused on sharing our experience regarding such topics as the application of process improvement tools/methodologies in healthcare; transitioning from practitioner to manager to leader; development of skills necessary to advance; and ...

Digital technology adds improvement to century-old measurement tool By Adrienne J. Dickerson and Larry Aft Although time studies have been used for more than 100 years, the advances in digital recording technology offer some opportunities to improve upon the accuracy of this valuable measurement system. Work measurement is performed to develop the standard time to perform operations. Time standards traditionally have been defined as the time required by a typical operator, working at a normal pace, to perform a specified task using a prescribed method, with time for personal, fatigue and delay allowed. Time standards, work standards – or just standards ...

Critical care unit improves throughput, works-in progress – and saves lives By Satya S. Chakravorty Mindfulness is defined as the "enhanced attention to, and awareness of, current reality or the task on hand." Mindfulness promotes an understanding among individuals of how their actions contribute to improving process performance. It is the ability to hang on to current ideas or concepts, remember them and not allow distractions to obscure them. Mindfulness keeps the mind "steady as a rock" instead of bobbing about like a pumpkin in water. Steadfastness is a principal characteristic of mindfulness, and combined with a razor-sharp focus on an objective ...