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May issue was so money

The May 2012 issue of IE magazine is one of your best.

The column by Kevin McManus on the importance of key performance indicators was superb. I was so enthralled with his column that I went out and rented the movie “Moneyball” hours later. In the work we do as industrial engineers, performance measurement is essential for knowing what is working, as well as what is not working, what the trends are and what is the impact of changes made.

It was very gratifying to see a true story on baseball stats whereby managers made the numbers talk to them in such a way that they could make better decisions and player choices.

Great job.

Bob Trainor
President and owner
Trainor & Associates
Bartlett, Tenn.

Euromatics in practice

On July 9, The Wall Street Journal Asia published an article titled “Fiat Uses European Crisis to Retool Car Maker.” This is, indeed, euromatics used in practice as a way to boost operational efficiencies, as described in my article, “Euromatics: Economic Challenges and Opportunities,” in the July issue of Industrial Engineer.

Industry always should seek opportunities to seize. This bears out the saying that while the optimist and pessimist are arguing over whether the glass is half full or half empty, the opportunist decides to drink whatever the glass has to offer. Eurozone problems, like other business challenges, often contain embedded opportunities for improvement. The choice is ours whether we seize or shun the opportunities.

Adedeji Badiru
Professor
Air Force Institute of Technology
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

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