MechE - Academic Programs - Undergraduate Programs - Communication Guidelines Engineering work is critically dependent upon communication skills. Engineers must be able to report their ideas and designs clearly and succinctly to their coworkers, supervisors, and customers. The format of engineering communications can vary widely, from summaries of calculations, to short technical memos, to complete written reports, to oral presentations, to drawings describing data or machinery. This web page provides guidelines for technical communication for students in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Problem Sets. The MechE faculty regard the development of good communication skills as an essential learning outcome of our undergraduate programs. Problem Sets These documents describe basic guidelines for formatting problem sets. The Preparation of Engineering Problem Sample Problem and General Advice for Ho Written Reports Wai K. Leslie C.
5 Whys The 5 Whys is an iterative question-asking technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem.[1] The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem. (The "5" in the name derives from an empirical observation on the number of iterations typically required to resolve the problem.) Example[edit] The vehicle will not start. (the problem)Why? The questioning for this example could be taken further to a sixth, seventh, or higher level, but five iterations of asking why is generally sufficient to get to a root cause. It is interesting to note that the last answer points to a process. A key phrase to keep in mind in any 5 Why exercise is "people do not fail, processes do". History[edit] The technique was originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and was used within the Toyota Motor Corporation during the evolution of its manufacturing methodologies. Techniques[edit] Criticism[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]
What Is the Industrial Internet? Factory 2.0: GE’s advanced battery plant in Schenectady is a test-bed for the “industrial Internet.” What is the industrial Internet? As good a place as any to find the answer is at General Electric’s newest U.S. factory, a $170 million plant it opened in Schenectady, New York, last July to produce advanced sodium-nickel batteries for uses that include powering cell-phone towers (see “GE’s Novel Battery to Bolster the Grid,” “Inside GE’s New Battery Factory,” and “Can We Build Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs?”). The factory has more than 10,000 sensors spread across 180,000 square feet of manufacturing space, all connected to a high-speed internal Ethernet. In November, GE announced it would invest $1.5 billion in efforts to fine-tune its machines’ performance and capture big efficiency gains by connecting them to its enterprise software and to the wider Internet (see “General Electric Pitches an Industrial Internet”).
Fix it twice Avram Joel Spolsky (born 1965) is a software engineer and writer. He is the author of Joel on Software, a blog on software development. He was a Program Manager on the Microsoft Excel team between 1991 and 1994. He later founded Fog Creek Software in 2000 and launched the Joel on Software blog. In 2008, he launched the now-successful Stack Overflow programmer Q&A site in collaboration with Jeff Atwood. Biography[edit] Spolsky grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and lived there until he was 15.[2] He then moved with his family to Jerusalem, Israel, where he attended high school and did his military service as a paratrooper.[2] He was one of the founders of Kibbutz Hanaton in Upper Galilee.[3] In 1987, he returned to the United States to attend college. In 2005, Spolsky co-produced and appeared in Aardvark'd: 12 Weeks with Geeks, a documentary documenting Fog Creek's development of Project Aardvark, a remote assistance tool.[7] Schlemiel the Painter's algorithm[edit] Analogy[edit]
4 Signs You Will Fail as a Leader Here's a statement of the blindingly obvious: strong, effective leadership is better than weak, ineffective leadership. Thankfully, it's usually obvious which is which--most of us can spot a strong leader from a weak one with relative ease. The problem comes when a weak leader masquerades as a strong leader. It's one thing having to work alongside a weak leader who thinks otherwise. Time for some tough love. 1. When I meet with weak or ineffective leaders, they can (and do) talk about their business for hours, uninterrupted and without assistance from others. Talking with truly effective leaders is just the opposite. 2. No, it's not a sign of leadership strength to be permanently over-scheduled and over-worked. If you have no time to think; if you can't recall the last time you took a walk around the block to clear your head, then you're not truly leading. 3. Strong leaders look for success in others. 4.
Root Cause Analyse – vermeiden Sie das wiederholte Auftreten gleicher Fehler! | Qualitätsmanagement Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier! Dieser Vergleich pointiert die Situation in vielen Organisationen. Jeden Tag erleben die Mitarbeiter die selben oder ähnliche Fehler aufs Neue. Und warum? Die Fehler werden nicht konsequent abgestellt. Fehler entstehen z.B., weil die Dokumentation fehlt oder lückenhaft ist, die Spezifikation nicht gründlich durchdacht wurde oder die Freigabetests nur an der Oberfläche gekratzt haben. Fehler übergeordneter Funktions-Ebenen einer Organisation (= Entscheidungsträger) lösen über „kurz oder lang” Störungen auf der Ausführungsebene aus, denn - die Entscheidungen und Maßnahmen des Top Management definieren den gestalterischen Rahmen. - das operative Management gestaltet danach die Arbeitsbedingungen, plant, steuert und kontrolliert. - die Menschen und Systeme funktionieren unter diesen Arbeitsbedingungen. 1. Ermittlung des Hergangs durch Darstellung der Ereignisketten, mit dem Ziel der Abstellung der direkten Ursache. 2. - organisatorische Faktoren. 3. 1. 2. 1. 2.
MIT article comparing Lean, TQM, Six Sigma, “and related enterprise process improvement methods” | Michel Baudin's Blog Last week, my Suggested Content on Scoop.It! contained a link to a May, 2010 working paper from MIT's Engineering Systems Division (ESD) by Kirkor Bozdogan, entitled Towards an integration of the Lean enterprise system, total quality management, six sigma, and related enterprise process improvement methods . For a scoop, it is a bit stale but it nonetheless caught my attention and I would like to supplement Bozdogan's academic perspective with my implementation experience. Describing these approaches as "complementary," as Bozdogan does, avoids controversy, but I don't believe it is accurate. Exposure to the Toyota Production System (TPS) sparked my interest in manufacturing, in Japan in 1980, but then I immediately went to work in the semiconductor industry, where TPS is not much of a fit. The sequence of topics is as follows: Brands versus Science Product developed to match its name Sometimes, the name is coined before the content is developed. This is not a criticism of consultants.
Logistics Programming in the Quad Cities Economist Ricardo Hausmann Says U.S. Should Reinvent Manufacturing The U.S. has lost millions of manufacturing jobs since 2000. Industries have moved offshore. America’s trade deficit in physical goods is $738 billion a year. So what’s the path forward? Countries trying to understand what’s next for their export industries often call Ricardo Hausmann. That sounds plain enough, but the results of Hausmann’s analyses are often surprising. Hausmann, who is director of Harvard’s Center for International Development, spends much of his time helping nations that are just beginning to modernize their industries, such as Angola and Nigeria. Why has the number of American manufacturing jobs been decreasing so quickly? The fundamental reason is that productivity in manufacturing has been rising rapidly and demand for manufactured products has been growing more slowly. And then, manufacturing is becoming feasible in more parts of the world. What’s the best manufacturing strategy for the U.S. in that situation? What kind of revolution are you talking about?
The Connected Vehicle I am passionate about cars and always have been. As a child, I imagined owning a car that would do whatever I wanted it to. Of course, it could fly as well as drive. These are no longer childish notions. It’s only recently that the importance of the connected car has become widely accepted. Convergence of digital lifestyles and cars The emergence of the connected vehicle is closely linked to that of smart phones and the mobile Internet, which, though still relatively new, are strongly shaping consumer expectations for on-the-go access to data. The fact is, automakers now compete for customer dollars not only against each other but also against iPhones and iPads, especially among younger consumers. This means that mechanical excellence won’t be enough for automakers to impress future customers. Changing demographics and the need for sustainability The world’s population is growing, and in developed countries it is aging.
Smarter Planet - Sustainability - Overview - United Kingdom The greenest city in North America, which already sends only 22 percent of its waste to its landfills, is going for zero by 2020. San Francisco's resource recovery company, Recology, takes a smarter computing approach to waste collection, using an analytics-based strategy to save landfill space — as well as energy, oil and millions of trees. IBM looked at our own water usage at plants (US) and labs and set a goal for savings. Government agencies, retailers, financial institutions and other organisations worldwide are assessing the current and future impact of their activities. Given increasingly finite resources, businesses depend on balanced natural ecosystems for raw materials, water, energy and the physical health of their employees and customers. Community Energy Monitoring Join a live tweet chat on 14 May @ 3pm GMT on the #IBMChale energy monitoring project. Register suggested questions here The IBM Start Summit 2012