Aug2016 ISE magazine-Features

FEATURES

There for the picking

In setting up a successful gleaning organization, there are a number of things one must take into account with respect to the local community and its food shed: farm location, median farm size, crop types, farmer outreach and education, liability, transportation infrastructure and formal collaboration with distribution partners such as food pantries. Of course, gleaning programs also face the same challenges that farmers do in maximizing labor efficiency, but with the added challenge of working with volunteers.
By Erkut Sonmez, Deishin Lee, Miguel I. Gómez, Xiaoli Fan, Laurie Caldwell, Natasha R. Thompson and Melissa Knowles

A new day for home delivery

Should the existing logistics network for retail products in the United States just be augmented with an automated delivery option from the existing set of stores and other retail establishments, or are there unique aspects of this new mode of delivery that warrant the reconsideration and possible redesign of the retail network to better realize the full potential of these automated delivery vehicles?
By Michael G. Kay

Don't dread the documentation

If we are good engineers, we can be good engineering writers. All it takes is to reframe the process of writing from being a tedious, mind-numbing task to being an essential communication of your engineering thinking and design process. In fact, we can use the engineering design process itself to develop effective and clear written documents.
By Theresa Barker

Six Sigma can estimate custom jobs

Lean Six Sigma methodologies (and algebra) can be applied in myriad ways. Ultimately, the Six Sigma side is all about developing more representative mathematical models. When viewed in that context, their scope seems endless. That is not to say that we should apply these methods willy-nilly to every source of error.
By Brady Beckham and Gary Stiles