Friday, July 20, 2007

Awards Just heard that Automation World's Managing Editor Wes Iversen won an award for technical writing from the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) last night. He writes lots of good articles, so this is justice. Congratulations, Wes. 12:16:07 PM    comment []

Research on Lean Here's a good opportunity. I'd love to know the results of this survey myself. MESA International and ARC Advisory Group are sponsoring a Web-based research project on Lean Manufacturing. If you take this survey (note, users only, no suppliers), you will receive the final report for free. The survey will be live through August 3. The purpose of the research is to identify best practices in Lean. If you are involved in a continuous improvement program that includes Lean, then you should take the survey. A summary of the results will also be presented at the MESA conference in Orlando in September. 11:47:11 AM    comment []

Priorities I probably should cover more material handling news than I do--but it's a function of space and time. This item seemed to have general relevance, though. A Material Handling and Logistics Summit was held last month sponsored by Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and the College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) in order to define the top priorities for the industry. These issues are broadly applicable just by substituting your market area in place of these. The list: Creating a funding source that supports material handling and logistics initiatives in research, education, innovation and development. Building a vision and roadmap for next generation supply chains and material handling and logistics strategies that support them. Developing the workforce of the future for distribution, warehousing and manufacturing. Expanding industry and academia collaboration especially in research and technology transfer. Creating better interoperability between material handling and supply chain hardware and software. 9:41:00 AM    comment []