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December 29, 2006

Light Friday: Rubber Sidewalks, Seasonal Spike in Sewage Spices, Suds and Science...

... Invisible Transistors, Mistletoe Not a Cure for Cancer (because we just weren't sure until now), Don't Call in Sick — Fake your Kidnapping, and MORE.

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December 28, 2006

7 Major Hiring Trends for 2007

About 40 percent of some 2,600 hiring managers recently said they plan to increase their number of full-time employees in 2007, according to results in CareerBuilder.com's "2007 Job Forecast" in December. Another 40 percent expect no change in their head counts, and 8 percent are expecting job eliminations. So keep an eye out for the following hiring trends in the new year.

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December 21, 2006

Good Tidings and the Gift of Quiet

This will be our last pre-holiday post, until we return mid-next week. From the IMT blog, we wish our dear readers a Merry Christmas or Happy Hannukah or Late-Winter-Solstice-in-the-Northern-Hemisphere Celebration (i.e., cheer for whichever holiday you intend to celebrate during your day(s) away from work). Happy Holidays!**

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December 20, 2006

5 Tax Tips to Save the New Year

Holidays are usually fun. Usually. They may not be as fun if you're an entrepreneur or small-business owner who has yet to finalize year-end tax strategies. Hopefully, we can help to make your tax burden less, er, burdensome. Just make sure to get your accounts set before New Year's Eve.

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December 19, 2006

UAW's Full Plate and Drastic Action

The U.S. labor movement already has gone through major changes in recent years, not the least of which is a dramatic decline in union membership. Now, as buyouts, plant closings and unmet agreements continue, so too do talk of union mergers and other drastic actions, particularly for the United Auto Workers.

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December 15, 2006

Light Friday: 'Snow'-tipped Space Mountains, Santa Science, Can the Plane Take Off?

We have a brainteaser for engineers and physics-minded readers. Also, some of the principles involved in Santa's epic annual journey: advanced knowledge of electromagnetic waves, the space/time continuum, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and computer science.

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December 14, 2006

Rise, R&D, Rise: Tax Credit Resurrected

Last week we touched on the significance of whether the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate would extend a research and development tax credit during the final days of the lame duck session. Well, the extension was approved. Here's what it means for U.S. competitiveness.

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December 13, 2006

Corrugated Holds Stiff Under Pressure

In a sort of postscript to yesterday's IMT e-newsletter on the packaging industry and the holiday season, today corrugated gets some face time. Here we unload some stats of the flattening paperboard box market, as well as some designs and technologies that may help drive corrugated improvement.

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December 12, 2006

Unwrapping the Packaging Industry

Today's package designers are designing packaging for a new consumer — an on-the-go consumer. Here we parse growing trends that range from portable to flexible to biodegradable packaging, as well as industry machinery expenditures. Also, we look at why manufacturers and consumers are at odds over how holiday gifts are packaged.

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Features for the 'Moment of Truth'

As current competition at the retail shelf level is fierce, some of today's leading manufacturers have built a new demand-driven imperative around the "moment of truth" concept — the crucial point in time when a consumer makes a purchasing decision. Innovation in packaging is critical in this concept, as we examine herewith.

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Your Holidays are Numbered

Do you know how many fake Christmas trees in the U.S. are manufactured and imported from China, or the number of packages UPS expects to deliver worldwide every second on its peak day during the holidays? Warm up to some fun facts about this hectic time of the year.

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Obvious or Ingenious?

U.S. Supreme Court justices late last month heard arguments on the issue of what exactly constitutes "obviousness" when it comes to patent rules. If the high court decides to rewrite the legal standard to make it more restrictive, the effects could reshape intellectual property law and reduce the number of marginal patents throughout any number of industries.

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The Morphing Job of Engineering Brainy Gadgetry

While engineers create gadgets and psychologists study the human mind, the combination of the two creates the field of engineering psychology, sometimes called "human factors" or "cognitive engineering." Though it traditionally promoted easy-to-use tech designed with the strengths and limitations of human users as priorities, the oft-overlooked field is now expanding beyond ergonomic improvements.

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Burning Question

What is your business or career resolution for the New Year?

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Setting up Shop Online: Small Biz Survival

Three out of four holiday shoppers say they plan to shop for holiday gifts online, according to a recent Yahoo! Small Business survey, and 75 percent say they are likely to purchase gifts online from small businesses. Yet nearly half of all small businesses have not established a solid Web presence. What are you waiting for?!?!

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H-1B Visas

There's an ongoing debate in the engineering community about the value and effects of the H-1B visa program, with opinions running the gamut from enthusiastic support to strident condemnation, writes John Donovan, editor-in-chief of Portable Design. Here Donovan picks apart the payoff.

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Re-engineering New Orleans

As Nov. 30 marked the end of a mercifully mild hurricane season more than a year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the U.S. Gulf Coast, here we refocus on the region's reconstruction. Despite a number of hurdles and criticisms, there has been progress.

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10 Tips: Find Capacity When None Exists

As shippers everywhere face capacity challenges that are likely to stay for a while, they need to plan ahead, writes Deborah Catalano Ruriani at Inbound Logistics. Here she offers 10 tips on finding capacity, prescribed by two guys who should know.

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Project Green Light: Coping with New Zoning Issues

As more firms become wise to the ways of building "green," industry is seeing unique challenges surrounding new zoning procedures. When it comes to giving "green" construction projects the green light, zoning boards are being forced to rethink the approval process to support a new generation of architecture.

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Recommended Reading

In "Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things," acclaimed author Donald Norman draws on a wealth of examples and the latest scientific insights to articulate the profound influence of the feelings that objects evoke. This book should appeal not only to designers and manufacturers but also to managers, psychologists and, really, readers who love to think about their stuff.

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December 11, 2006

Case Packing: Traditional or the New Hotness?

Nothing wrong with tradition: painting your face for a football match; handwritten letters; paper newspapers; watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" 37 times through the holiday season. Then again, the new hotness definitely has its benefits, too. When it comes to case packing, going robotic or traditional automation is an application-by-application decision.

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December 8, 2006

Light Friday: NASA's Permanent Moon Base, Avoiding Lawsuits at Office Parties, How Engineers Make Milkshakes...

...Congress' Real Labor Issue, Boeing's Patented Anti-Terrorist System, and "the Strongest Evidence to Date that Water Still Flows on the Surface of Mars."

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December 6, 2006

R&D Tax Credit Not Dead Yet

If the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate do not extend the research and development tax credit, among some other popular deductions, during the final days of the lame duck session, businesses could be big losers. If it is passed, however, businesses could look forward to a shiny new year.

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December 5, 2006

Electronics Make a Run For the Border

Mexico's electronics industry suffered a detrimental setback following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 due to the economic downturn in the U.S. Yet the country's electronics industry has rebounded nicely. In fact, electronics buyers involved in outsourcing decisions may find they are driving to Mexico rather than flying to China for EMS providers.

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December 4, 2006

Benchmarking for Continuous, Ongoing, Unending Improvement

Whatever you call it, improvement must not be a one-time project. Lasting improvement requires continuous improvement. In manufacturing and supply chain initiatives, benchmarking can lead to significant increases in long-term efficiency goals.

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December 1, 2006

Light Friday: Guacamole Lawsuit, Sandwich Patent, Bouncing Inventor...

...RFID at the Pub, Souped-up Golf Carts, Freaky Fish, Electric Car Supply vs. Demand, and MORE!

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November 30, 2006

Compliance Complexities Bait Competitive Benefits

The complexities of compliance can be enormous. However, so can the strategic, competitive benefits gleaned by investing in regulatory requirements such as RoHS, as IndustryWeek points out this week.

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November 29, 2006

Seasonal Hiring Brings Holiday Spending Cash, Headaches

Presents and travel expenses are some of the extra costs that come with the holidays. Opportunities remain for people looking for extra holiday cash, as employers across industries are in need of skilled workers to fill seasonal positions. Of course, seasonal hiring is one of the biggest challenges a manager can face.

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November 28, 2006

Oil for Ethanol: Swapping One Fuel Addiction for Another?

With all the continued talk of the too-familiar catchphrase "America is addicted to oil," we can't help but wonder if ethanol might be the new fuel addiction lurking around the corner, based on a flurry of manufacturing activity in this space. But not everyone thinks ethanol is the best juice to get hooked on.

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November 27, 2006

So You Want to Be a Government Contractor...

The government is the most powerful customer on earth. It enacts the laws that govern the process and drafts the implementing regulations. And a certain percentage of government contracts must go to small businesses. Wanna get in on that? It can be a long and complicated process, so it's good to know how to start.

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November 22, 2006

Turkey, Gluttony, Retail and Remainders

Well, things are pretty quiet around here. Colleagues have taken off for Turkey Day travel, and those of us still working are trying to stay productive. So IMT is here to provide helpful tips and info. for retailers and consumers before the big holiday shopping weekend, as well as some other fun stuff. Enjoy, and we'll see you Monday.

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November 21, 2006

Priority Shipping Overseas: Offshoring Highly Skilled Jobs

While the overseas flight of skilled jobs to less-costly labor markets is alarming many workers in many professions because of its scope and speed, others are unfazed, arguing that offshoring helps the economy. Explore the two sides of the ongoing offshoring debate.

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I Spy Something Debatable: Corporate Snooping

The Hewlett-Packard spying scandal has been drawing attention to the growing corporate practice of snooping on employees. With increasing regularity, companies are relying on surveillance to monitor their employees — from cubicle to office to boardroom. How far is too far?

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Labor Shortage: Fact or Fiction?

The battle cry on one side of the debate of a purported oncoming labor shortage has consistently revolved around retaining jobs in the U.S. Conversely, others say the notion of a labor shortage is ridiculous, for the exact same reasons the aforementioned group use to argue their case. A forthcoming labor shortage: fact or fiction?

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Burning Question

What controversial issue are you most concerned about?

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The Great R&D Dispute

Many industry and government leaders fear that the U.S. will lose its technological preeminence because of current research and development funding practices. As such, one of the long-debated issues among manufacturers and engineers is how R&D should be funded. The dispute continues.

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Exploring the Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley

Proponents of Sarbanes-Oxley contend that it has cleaned up corporate America, ushering in a new age of responsibility and accountability. On the other hand, critics claim that despite Congress' noble intentions, the sweeping legislation has been nothing but intrusive, expensive and heavy-handed. The truth, writes Andrew Edison at Oil & Gas Financial Journal, probably lies somewhere in the middle.

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Drill or No Drill?

In recent years, there has been furious debate between politicians, industry and environmentalists about the prospect of opening part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil drilling and development. Few issues get people in a tizzy as much as the environment or oil. When both issues collide, watch out.

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Creating a Better Oil Pipeline

Since a leaking pipe shut down operations at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in August — cutting U.S. domestic production capacity by nearly 8 percent — the subject of pipeline inspection has become one of great concernment. While the incident does point to serious lapses on the oil giant's part, writes Shirley S. Savage at IEEE Spectrum, it also gives us a chance to analyze how smarter pipeline technology might catch catastrophes before they happen.

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Recommended Reading

Both Lean and Six Sigma are lauded for driving out waste and reducing variation in many business practices. So which is the right approach for effective continuous improvement? Why not both? "Using Lean for Faster Six SIGMA Results" details a no-nonsense strategy for maintaining the best of both initiatives without diluting either.

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November 17, 2006

Light Friday: Non-polluting Paper Battery doesn't Explode, Engineering RoboCop, High-Tech War on Pigeons...

...Paint-On Polymer Kills Influenza, Scientists Build Artificial Gut, High-Tech T-shirt to Fake a Shred, Nanotech Sword from 17th Century and MORE!

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November 16, 2006

Electrical Transmission System Old and Wrinkly, Falling Down

According to the Department of Energy, 70 percent of U.S. transmission lines are 25 years or older, 70 percent of power transformers are 25 years or older, and 60 percent of circuit breakers are more than 30 years old. And they are showing their age.

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November 14, 2006

Bush Busy with the Big Three

After multiple delays, the heads of the Big Three automakers will meet with the White House today to discuss the factors that they believe give global competitors an unfair advantage — namely health care, currency manipulation and energy. The meeting comes a week after Democrats — some of them backers of the auto industry — gained control of the U.S. House and Senate.

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November 13, 2006

The Popularity and Pains of Agile

Today's fast-paced business environment requires an organization's development process to be flexible and adaptable to changing needs. So increasingly more companies are using "Agile" methodologies in their projects to reduce risk and deliver value to the business early. In so doing, values are overlooked often and mistakes are made.

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November 10, 2006

Light Friday: Outsourcing Drive-Through, 'Cocoon' in Norway, Business Bib...

...Robots Don't Know it's Not Bacon, Light-Transmitting Concrete, Rising Sun Space Photos and MORE!

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November 9, 2006

Metal Needs to Rock to Rule

Driving top- and bottom-line growth is a tough nut to crack for almost anyone. The metalworking industry, for one, which looks to generate revenue of less than $1 billion by 2013, is, well, let's just say it's hanging in there for now. But tools and processes are available to help such small companies and manufactuers, so embrace 'em to become more competitive.

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November 8, 2006

Fed Up with Gas Prices? DIY Car: 100 MPG

For our tinkerers: With a bit of DIY ingenuity, not to mention what has to be lots of fun, you can build a microcar that gets 100 miles to the gallon. But steer clear of expressways.

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November 7, 2006

Auto Industry Outlook: Sinking and Soaring

The 2004-2006 timeframe likely will be remembered as a pivotal period in the automobile industry, as a host of calamitous trends arose to threaten the industry. While "The Big Three" suffer from common ills in the U.S., automakers elsewhere have established themselves as true, high-quality manufacturers with a growing global customer base.

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Features for Your Pleasure...and Yours and Yours

In addition to fuel efficiency, increasingly more consumers want vehicles that are, well, cool. As if sensing a ho-hum lull, automakers are making sure the fleet of next-generation cars has a higher degree of personalization packed with niftiness: multi-media storage devices, video cameras and bleeding-edge sound systems.

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A Collision-Free Future

Between seemingly endless traffic jams and widely swinging weather patterns, not to mention plain old bad driving, you don't have to look far for reasons why car crashes are a leading cause of accidental death. You also don't have to look far for examples of automakers focusing on a new generation of systems aimed at eliminating ALL accidents.

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Burning Question

What future automobile feature would you like to see most?

(IMT is still waiting for the flying car.)

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Protecting Intellectual Property

You can assume that it's just a matter of time before your invention gets knocked off, says Portable Design Editor-in-Chief John Donovan. Here Donovan explores not only how to protect your products, but how, with caution and care, intellectual property can be both the value add and the future for the electronics industry.

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In Automobiles, it's What's Inside — and Outside

In the highly competitive automotive market, effective use of materials is important to engineers in developing parts and components, as manufacturers strive to achieve increased performance and fuel efficiency standards. That means they need superior materials. Join us for a ride through some interesting goings-on in automotive's "material world."

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Engineering Jobs Specialize, Require More Communication, Collaboration

A shift toward engineering specialization has prompted the need for increased communication and has led to more "collaborative" jobs. Why? Here Control Engineering senior editor Jeanine Katzel looks at the reasons "why" before discussing energy security and the growing concern over energy's role in supporting global growth.

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Alternative Fuels Drive Forward

Gas prices have settled a bit in the past few months, but with the cost of a gallon still hovering in the $2 range, many consumers are looking for ways to save bucks at the pump. In fact, although the quest for petroleum won't die out, most consumers seem eager to embrace mainstream alternatives, while the global auto industry works feverishly to meet that demand.

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ETO Automation Transforms the Business Process

As engineer-to-order product designers face challenges to provide "mass customization" of their products faster, cheaper and better than their competitors, manufacturing marketing firm TR Cutler, Inc. President and CEO Thomas Cutler argues that ETO automation can help to provide quicker turnaround, lower engineering costs and consistent adherence to product rules and standards.

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Recommended Reading

Released this year, "The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology" compares and contrasts Toyota's world-class product development process with that of a U.S. competitor, using extensive examples from both to demonstrate value stream mapping as an extraordinarily powerful tool for continuous improvement.

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November 3, 2006

Light Friday: Laser-Equipped 747s, Annoy your Coworkers, Scariest Tech of 2006...

...Top Gun to Upgrade Hubble, Pink Flamingos Go the Way of the Dodo, Killer Robots and MORE!

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November 2, 2006

U.S. Manufacturing October Report: the Good and the Bad

Manufacturing in the U.S. grew last month at the slowest pace since June 2003 as factories struggled against the headwinds of declining auto production and a deteriorating housing market.

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November 1, 2006

Hide the Carbon!

The idea of carbon capture and sequestration, a promising avenue for reducing existing emissions, has been around for years. The process consists of capturing industrial CO2 emissions and burying them deep below the ground. Now several large-scale carbon dioxide sequestration tests are about to begin in the U.S.

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October 31, 2006

Just in Time for Halloween: Biz, Tech, Science, Design and Web

Halloween is no longer just about costumes and candy. It's now the second-biggest decorating holiday of the year — right behind Christmas. Let's check in on the ghoulish holiday's business impact, related consumer spending, some kids learning to sew and manufacture DIY costumes, a bit of Halloween-applied technology, and some newly found bones.

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October 30, 2006

Bringing Home the U.S. Bacon

At IMT, we've discussed the impact that outsourcing and offshoring activity has on the U.S. economy. Well, truth be told, there are some pretty strong indicators that operations are expanding in the U.S. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change of pace?

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October 27, 2006

Light Friday: Thanks for Ruining Halloween, Fluke Scrabble Champ, Real-World Invisibility Cloak...

...iPod Birthday, Kid and the Claw (Pt. 2), Shape-Shifting Rovers and More!

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October 26, 2006

At the Heart of a Design-Centric Strategy

Competing on price alone is rarely a viable option for today's businesses. Now companies are creating products and services that thrill customers with graceful form and exacting performance. That in turn gives companies the ability to set themselves apart in increasingly tough markets — and set the pace rather than simply respond to the competition.

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CAD/CAM Fulfills the Need For Speed

A robust CAD/CAM engine is capable not only of developing cutting-edge products for the future, but in some cases, re-creating a beloved product from the past. Recent indications show CAD/CAM functionality gaining incredible traction in the automotive sector, helping develop various products capable of ushering in a new era of safety and performance.

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U.S. Design Next in Line to Go East?

The U.S. tec