Joe Kannapell

Sixty Years of Machines, Part XIII: What’s Next in Truss Assembly

Joe Kannapell

Even with laser projection and auto-jigging, assembly can still be expedited by good material handling and plating. The former can be optimized at reasonable expense, while to improve the latter will require a substantial investment. To calculate the potential impact, we can use data recorded in...

#12257 Cover image
December 2020
Issue #12257
Page 10
Joe Kannapell

60 Years of Machines, Part XII: Best of Both

Joe Kannapell

Once auto-jigging enabled 4-minute truss setups, some thought we could go no further. Not so, said our Canadian compadres. Their claim was hard to fathom, since our last Benchmark Test results seemed unbeatable. But it was worth investigation, even if the plant involved was 2500 miles away. So,...

#12256 Cover image
November 2020
Issue #12256
Page 10
Joe Kannapell

Sixty Years of Machines, Part X: Lasers Shine

Joe Kannapell

CMs are still debating lasers vs. auto-jigging, 30 years after their introduction. While both have been continually enhanced, their relative performance has remained consistent. However, lasers gained traction much faster, especially after one of the most productive plants, Ron Bergeron’s...

#12254 Cover image
September 2020
Issue #12254
Page 10
Todd Drummond

Oakland Athletics Baseball and Component Manufacturing?

Todd Drummond

Anyone who knows me to any degree will tell you I am not a sports fan. I do not follow any professional sports or know much about the players and culture. So it may surprise you to have me compare component manufacturing (CM) to baseball. To be honest, I mean to compare the management practices...

#12249 Cover image
April 2020
Issue #12249
Page 53
Ben Hershey

Measure the Tempo of Your Operation

Ben Hershey

My wife Dianne and I were recently going through some of our old family photos and I came across this photo of Dianne’s Dad, Jack Hendershot, as a teenager on his bike delivering ice in the early ’50s. For those who may not know, before the advent of refrigeration and freezing...

#11240 Cover image
July 2019
Issue #11240
Page 22
Todd Drummond

The Drummond Short Schedule Time-Standard System

Todd Drummond

Using Man-Minutes to Manage Your Labor Industrial engineering – “The branch of engineering that is concerned with the production of industrial goods, especially by the design of efficient plants and procedures and the management of materials, energy, and labor.” (Source:...

#11236 Cover image
March 2019
Issue #11236
Page 39
Todd Drummond

When Your Company’s Manufacturing Labor Pay Rate is Causing Labor Shortages

Todd Drummond

“Good judgement comes from experience. And experience? Well that comes from poor judgement.” Some of us are old enough to remember Dean Martin. Whether he stated this quotation about experience and poor judgment, I will never know. But let’s face facts—it has...

#10232 Cover image
November 2018
Issue #10232
Page 22
Ben Hershey

Constructing a Roadmap to Operational Excellence

Ben Hershey

Part 1: Beginning a Journey of 7 Steps We all aspire to have a state of operational excellence in our organizations, but it is often much easier said than done. Although it’s often conceptualized as merely tweaking the current way of doing things, operational excel­lence is about...

#10230 Cover image
September 2018
Issue #10230
Page 36
Ben Hershey

The Relationship Between Lean and Safety

Ben Hershey

In my experience and with the work I do with hundreds of component manufacturers, I find that many companies will tell me Safety is important, but, in practice, safety is treated as a burden on the company. Good managers will always have an attitude that they want all of their employees to be...

#10229 Cover image
August 2018
Issue #10229
Page 24
Ben Hershey

How Does Your Company Performance Measure Up? The Importance of Benchmarking

Ben Hershey

I read a book recently that discussed the term “benchmark” and its origins as relates to business. Surprisingly, the term originates within the history of guns and ammunition. In fact, with the same aim we use it today—comparison and improved performance. The book talked...

#10228 Cover image
July 2018
Issue #10228
Page 34
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