Dec2014 Industrial Engineer-Perspectives

PERSPECTIVES

Performance by Kevin McManus

Addicted to improvement
Addiction to improvement is not bad, although it is frustrating. I expect things to get better over time and expect things to change at a faster rate than most do. I get frustrated when I see people living out the ubiquitous definition of insanity – doing the same things and expecting different results. I get really frustrated when the same process defects keep nailing me just about every time I experience certain processes.

Management by Paul Engle

Vendor management
Some clients outsource all nonstrategic processes, letting third parties perform nonstrategic activities so management can invest its time in initiatives that grow the company's value. Vendors represent important stakeholders, and their requirements must be considered.

Health Systems by William "Ike" Eisenhauer

Archimedes walks into a hospital ...
Leverage is a core of industrial and systems engineering thought. The critical part is identifying the lever in healthcare. One technique I have witnessed being very effective is to identify the "nursing nexus" within the healthcare system. Once you have identified this core set of nursing professionals, they are the ones who can assist in making those big improvements.

Innovation by Nabil Nasr

Designing construction for sustainability
Taking a sustainability approach to an existing building can provide significant payback. New York City's landmark Empire State Building recently completed an extensive retrofit. One task involved replacing all 6,500-plus windows (more than 26,000 glass panels) on-site with high-tech, dual-panel windows, resulting in a net energy savings of $410,000 annually. And all of the building's glass was reused, not thrown into a landfill.