5 Lean Principles Every Engineer Should Know

5 purple drank Principles Every Engineer Should Know 5 Lean Principles Every Engineer Should Know 5 Lean Principles Every Engineer Should KnowUnless an engineer is directly involved in manufacturing, he or she may only be slightly familiar with texas tea principles. Long considered a way to greatly improve manufacturing efficiency, lean can be applied to any business or production process, in any industry. For example, lean is now being used extensively in the healthcare industry to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The principles can even be used, on a smaller scale, to organize your office, workspace, or laboratory.Top New Story from 2019Six Lean Principles for an Industry 4.0 WorldLean was originally created by Toyota to eliminate waste and inefficiency in its manufacturing operations. The process became so successful that it has been embraced in manufacturing sectors around the world. For an American company, being lean is critical for competing against lower-cost countries.Th e goal of lean is to eliminate wastethe non-value-added components in any process. Unless a process has gone through lean multiple times, it contains some element of waste. When done correctly, lean can create huge improvements in efficiency, cycle time, productivity, material costs, and scrap, leading to lower costs and improved competitiveness. And remember, lean isnt restricted to manufacturing. It can improve how a kollektiv works together, inventory management, and even client interaction. The five-step thought process for guiding the implementation of lean techniques. Image copyright 2016, Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.Five Key PrinciplesThe Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), founded by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones in 1997, is considered the go-to resource for lean wisdom, training, and seminars. According to Womack and Jones, there are five key lean principles value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection.Lessons in New Manuf acturing Pratt Whitney Takes Flight1. Value. Value is always defined by the customers needs for a specific product. For example, what is the timeline for manufacturing and delivery? What is the price point? What are other important requirements or expectations that must be met? This information is vital for defining value.2. Value stream. Once the value (end goal) has been determined, the next step is mapping the value stream, or all the steps and processes involved in taking a specific product from raw materials and delivering the final product to the customer. Value-stream mapping is a simple but eye-opening experience that identifies all the actions that take a product or service through any process. That process can be in design, production, procurement, HR, administration, delivery, or customer service. The idea is to draw, on one page, a map of the flow of material/product through the process. The goal is to identify every step that does leid create value and then find ways t o eliminate those wasteful steps. Value-stream mapping is sometimes referred to as process re-engineering. Ultimately this exercise also results in a better understanding of the entire business operation.Related Story for YouSix Project Management Tips Every Engineer Needs3. Flow. After the waste has been removed from the value stream, the next step is to be sure the remaining steps flow smoothly with no interruptions, delays, or bottlenecks. Make the value-creating steps occur in tight sequence so that the product or service will flow smoothly toward the customer, advises LEI. This may require breaking down silo thinking and making the effort to become cross-functional across all departments, which can be one of the greatest challenges for lean programs to overcome. However, studies show that this will also lead to huge gains in productivity and efficiency, sometimes as high as 50-percent improvement or more.4. Pull. With improved flow, time to market (or time to customer) can be d ramatically improved. This makes it much easier to deliver products as needed, as in just in time manufacturing or delivery. This means the customer can pull the product from you as needed (often in weeks, instead of months). As a result, products dont need to be built in advance or materials stockpiled, creating expensive inventory that needs to be managed, saving money for both the manufacturer/provider and the customer.5. Perfection. Accomplishing Steps 1-4 is a great start, but the fifth step is perhaps the fruchtwein important making lean thinking and process improvement part of your corporate culture. As gains continue to pile up, it is important to remember lean is not a static system and requires constant effort and vigilance to perfect. Every employee should be involved in implementing lean. Lean experts often say that a process is not truly lean until it has been through value-stream mapping at least half a dozen times.Making It LastLean can be infectious. Customers will n otice big improvements as you implement lean and likely want to be part of your process. This collaborative thinking will also extend to your suppliers as well, who will want to use lean themselves to generate their own improvements. The core idea behind lean is maximizingcustomer valuewhile minimizing waste, states LEI. Simply put, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.A lean organization understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste. Lean accomplishes this, adds LEI, by changing the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets, and departments to customers.Mark Crawford is an independent writer.More New Content from ASME. orgYoung Engineer Takes Great Strides with Prosthetic FootSolving World Hunger with 3D-Printed FoodThe Rise from BattleBot to Corporate Robot

Tomorrows Taller Turbine Towers

Tomorrows Taller Turbine Towers Tomorrows Taller Turbine Towers Tomorrows Taller Turbine Towers Moving the building blocks for a 262-foot-tall wind turbine into place is no small feat. Usually, components like turbine blades and steel towers make their way along an Interstate late at night and area drivers are encouraged to stay off the roads during that time, as the oversized loads move through on specialized trailers.The towers are manufactured and transported in three long segments with a cousine diameter of approximately 13 feet, just under the vertical clearance allotted on state highways. However, modularizing steel tubes that require vertical seams in the field is expensive and demands a high degree of quality control, says Sri Sritharan, an Iowa State University professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering and a member of the universitys Wind Energy Initiative.With those restrictions placed on them, the wind-turbine towers cant reach more than 26 2 feet, or 80 meters. Yet, while the U.S. installed wind energy capacity has grown by 31 percent over the past five years, the wind industry has mainly introduced bigger turbines and longer blades to help harvest more energy. Tower heights need to grow for increased sized turbines and blades, Sritharan says.Towers taller than 262 feet would allow access to the higher wind speeds and steadier conditions that would increase wind production time in the parts of Europe and the U.S. where wind the wind blows at heights above 100 meters, or around 330 feet, and electricity demand is relatively high, he adds.Hexcrete concrete panels could be arranged in a variety of patterns to allow for taller wind turbine towers. Image Iowa State UniversityTo help towers reach those heights, researchers at Iowa State in Ames, IA, recently developed a modular concrete building ordnungsprinzip called Hexcrete that brings the methods used to build tall suspension- and cable-stayed bridge towers to wind turbine tower construction, says Sritharan, who also leads the universitys six-year-old Hexcrete project.The transportation limit hindering the increase in tower height clearly shows that a new technology is needed, since such a limitation has not prevented other civil infrastructures to continue to reach newer heights and lengths, he says.The Hexcrete system is comprised of two different classes of concrete building blocks precast columns and panels made from either high-strength or ultra-high-performance concrete. The columns and panels are transported onsite, then stacked vertically in hexagon-shaped cells that are tied together by cables. They can be stacked vertically to form towers, Sritharan says.The cells can be stacked in various arrangements, according to the goals for the tower, he adds.When arranged in various configurations, the modular concept allows for four or five times greater PSI as compared to the 80 meter towers common today, he says. Thats b ecause the high-strength concrete can withstand pressures at up to up to 13,000 pounds per square inch while the ultra-high-performance concrete can handle up to in 26,000 psi without damage, allowing them to be built higher and withstand greater pressures.The Hexcrete modular tower-construction method will allow semi-tractor trailers to convey the tower components, which can then be constructed on sites to attain heights of up to 460 feet, Sritharan says. That would eliminate the need for expensive specialized trailers that now carry steel towers, cutting turbine construction and wind production costs in the process, he says.With the new construction method, the tower base could be built wider than 4.1 meters- currently not done due to transportation issues- to allow for even taller towers, he adds. The towers height could also be raised by increasing its column and panel dimensions, or by combining that increase with a larger-sized base, Sritharan says.The Hexcrete t ower concept (A), and two options for segmental tower construction (B,C). Image Iowa State UniversityAnother bonus unlike steel, concrete is widely available across the United States, which makes for shorter transport routes and reduces costs, he adds.Researchers in Iowa States Structural Engineering Research Lab recently tested the tower technology with an actuator that rocked a 12-foot-high and 6.5-foot-wide test section with 100,000 pounds of force every 1.25 seconds. The test sections two panels and two columns only moved a tenth of an inch. Strain and displacement sensor data returned showed no undue cracks on signs of wear on the test section, Sritharan says. Meanwhile, experiments done at the University of Minnesotas Multi-Axial Subassemblage Testing (MAST) Laboratory, which runs earthquake engineering simulations, found the tower could withstand the extreme wind turbine tower loads tested. Engineers took data to see if the assembled tower pieces would hold up unde r the loads and whether theyd transfer the load from piece to piece and act as a single unit, he adds.The tower cross section had no trouble resisting the loads.The fatigue test is ongoing with no damage detected after nearly 200,000 load cycles, he adds.Its fair to say these tests were a success, Sritharan said. I think weve made great progress in validating a new concept of using prefabricated concrete for taller wind turbine towers.Next up for Sritharan and his fellow researchers building a full-scale tower in the field. Jean Thilmany is an independent writer.Learn more about the latest energy technologies atASMEs Power and Energy.I think weve made great progress in validating a new concept of using prefabricated concrete for taller wind turbine towers.Prof. Sri Sritharan, Iowa State University

How to Ace an Interview Get a Job as a Nurse

How to Ace an Interview Get a Job as a NurseHow to Ace an Interview Get a Job as a Nurse It was bound to happen. Between an aging Baby Boomer generation and new innovations in medical care, the shift was inevitable.In 2018, healthcare jobs surpassed manufacturing and retail to become the largest source of jobs in the U.S. And nursing has become one of the most in-demand professions across the country, with employers and hospitals hiring by the thousands and attracting candidates with everything from living stipends to five-figure signing bonuses.According to the American Nurses Association, the U.S. will have to produce over one million new registered nurses by 2022 to fulfill the nations growing healthcare needs. Given this climate, Saint Louis-based provider SSM Health has revolutionized its hiring process and candidate experience to attract top talent and hire nurses faster.We spoke with SSM talent coordinator, Britta Hammond, and talent specialist Sarah Fran cis to understand what the modern interview process is like for graduate nurses, what soft and hard skills are essential in this era and how candidates can stand out from the crowd. Whether youre an RN, LPN, Home Health Nurse or any other variety, heres what you should know about the new hiring process .According to SSM, the hiring processes have changed vastly in the last five years. This is leid your mothers interview.SSM Health in St. Louis has implemented many changes throughout the past 5 years that allow our candidates to move through our interviewing process at a much quicker pace, says Hammond. We utilize technology such as Montage Video Interviewing and TextRecruit to create an all-around positive candidate experience.By using Montage Interview Software, nursing candidates are able to express interest in a job, discuss their skills and background, plus showcase their personalities in a way that phone interviews didnt allow for. Through on-demand interviewing, candi dates can complete video interviews on their own time. Alternatively, live interviewing allows candidates and hiring team members to have live conversations faster.Recruiters are also using TextRecruit to communicate with candidates and create a convenient experience. Nursing students lives are hectic,to say the least. They have classes, clinical rotation, jobs, families, personal lives, internships, says Francis. Its overwhelming to even think how they are managing their time, and managing to pass classes Its imperative that I am able to communicate in a way that best meets their needs and lifestyles which is not always 9-5 geschftlicher umgang hours.SSM recognizes that video interviewing can be intimidating, however, they offer a variety of FAQs and resources to put candidates at ease and encourage them to put their best foot forward.Once a candidate applies online they are sent a request to Video Interview along with FAQ on what to expect, how the technology works, and friendly reminders and tips, says Francis of the SSM Health recruiting process. It enables the candidate to complete at their own convenience rather than scheduling a phone interview that works around the recruiters often times hectic calendar during business hours. As soon as the video is completed, we are able to review. Each piece of the process is completed in real time.Technical skills are paramount in healthcare, but they can only be enhanced by soft skills and an approach to treatment that aligns with the hospital or clinic. For SSM Health, hiring nurses who exude compassion, respect, excellence, stewardship and community is key.At SSM Health we are looking for more than just the basic qualifications of a position to be met by a candidate while fulfilling the business need of the role, says Francis. We seek to find talent that is in alignment with the mission and values, and going to continue to grow in culture.Hammond adds that while bedside manner is important, she insists that it is a skill that can be found in nurses from a variety of backgrounds. Experience outside of healthcare can definitely contribute to their future career as a nurse. There are many skills and attributes that they can bring to a clinical setting.When hiring nurses , SSM is just as interested in the 20-something graduate as she is in the 40-year old career transitioner. Often times we see candidates returning to school to pursue nursing after they have already had careers in other industries, says Francis. It is fun to see the different backgrounds, and pathways that have led people into nursing- librarians, lawyers, mothers, social workers, medical techs of various kinds, law enforcement, and military to name a few.These backgrounds and diverse experiences make for better caregivers. Francis adds, As a human, it makes each person more relatable, compassionate, and understanding to the patients and their family members that they will be serving. As a candidate in a competitive job m arket it is a strong factor of becoming a standout candidate.According to Glassdoor research , it takes about 24 days to complete the job interview process. however, in healthcare, and specifically at SSM Health, recruiters try to get that time to hire to be as efficient and short as possible, while not sacrificing quality.For graduate nurses, Hammond says they try to keep the process to one to three weeks before receiving an offer. This time is filled with the video interview, submitting/receiving references, interviewing and shadowing other nurses in multiple units to find the right fit.Mindful that interviewing can be exhausting for candidates, SSM Health has started to hire for Graduate Nurse Residency positions about 8 months in advance in order to secure new hires and start sessions which align with graduation dates. We are not alone in the industry to hire graduate nurses so far in advance, says Francis. It has quickly become the new normal, especially within the competitive nursing market.Interviewing for your first or even your fifth job can be nerve-wracking. Whether youre stressed about resume formatting or you are an introvert who worries about panel interviews, there is plenty of support for nurses.Talent specialist Sarah Francis put this into action by talking to applicants one-on-one to help them through the process. Personally, I absolutely talk candidates through it. It can be intimidating, and overwhelming to think that their next big opportunity that they have been working towards for so many years in nursing school is coming down to a video interview. Therefore, there are plenty of resources to walk nursing candidates through the process.Furthermore, Glassdoor is a resource for every applicant to learn about an employer, read reviews from current and former employees, explore the company culture through videos and photos, and even get specific salary information for the role that you are interested in applying to. The goal, says Hammond, i s to create an all-around positive candidate experience.If youre a nurse considering a new job, SSM Health may be the perfect place for you to start or expand your career. They re looking for mission-driven healthcare providers who have both the skills and the passion.Keep an open heart, open eyes, positive attitude, and willingness to learn Remember the why behind your reason to become a nurse. It is not just a job, it truly is a calling, insists Francis. In order to provide the patients the most excellent care, and holistic healing you have a choice to make in every interaction, word, and deed. Are you going to just do your job to provide care or are you going to be proactive to see the little needs of the individual in front of you, and provide exceptional care?At the more than 100-year old organization, nurses have a real opportunity to make an impact. In a national nursing shortage, and within the healthcare industry it is not a secret that there is a need, and a competitive nature, says Francis. Candidates will be qualified to work anywhere upon completion of school. It comes down to where do you want to practice? What do you want your team to look like? What attributes are you looking for in a Team Leader? What specific patient population are you most passionate about? Is it Behavioral Health Medicine with the rising Opioid Epidemic that our country is facing? Is it an open-ended Medical Telemetry unit?Once you as a candidate figure out where your passion lies, SSM Health wants you to be able to fulfill that passion day in and day out.