30ways

to be a

Bette
By Jane Gaboury
You can start by lacing up your
dancing shoes, slipping on your
safety goggles, and putting on
your thinking cap

28 January 1999 ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ http://solutions.iienet.org

erIE
The magazine that serves
the IIE membership has had many incarnations over the course
of its history Ñ and you can see examples of most versions
on this monthÕs cover and throughout the issue Ñ but one
thing has remained constant. For 30 continuous years,
IIE Solutions has delivered news, advice, insight, and lead-
ing-edge technical features that industrial engineers the world
over have relied upon to be better in their work.
In celebration of this achievement, we asked members, via
an e-mail to 10,000 individuals, to share their advice for
how to be a better industrial engineer. The response
was overwhelming, as was the quality of the sug-
gestions themselves. Following are the gems
of wisdom your peers have offered.

http://solutions.iienet.org ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ January 1999 29

COVER STORY

1. Get out from behind your desk

ÒThe research I do, the books I read, the meetings I attend are all invaluable sources for knowledge, but nothing com-
pares to being on the shop floor.Ó Mike Fitzgerald, Manufacturing Engineer, NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc.
ÒWorking on a production line is a humbling experience that helps to keep oneÕs ego in line.Ó Cheryl A. Baran,
Engineering Staff, Plastics Department, Honda of America Manufacturing
ÒIn order for IEs to be as effective as they can be, they have to be grounded in the real world. They have to
learn that they cannot be effective IEs from behind their desks. The people who live with the processes on a
daily basis know more about them than the IE can ever hope to know. Learn from them.Ó Paul A. Hencoski,
Manager, Business Process/ Industrial Engineering, Automatic Data Processing
ÒThe passion I have for getting things done is derived from my interactions with our front-line operations.Ó Michael
Huttenlocker, United Parcel Service Airlines

2. Remember the
human element
ÒMaintain integrity, be honest and cour-
teous, and do nothing that might cause
another person to lose his dignity.Ó Michael
D. Parker, Vice President, Sales Admini-
stration, Citation Corp.
ÒAppreciate that your job exists only
because a lot of people work very hard doing
jobs that you would not want to do.Ó Jon
Loshbaugh, Senior Consultant, The Health-
care Management Council Inc.
3. Communicate well
and often
ÒAn IE must be able to communicate by
any appropriate medium the nature of the
problem and its solution.
IEs must be able to
communicate clearly,
concisely, and persua-
sively to both the chief
executives and those in
the trenches.Ó Jim Treharne, LTC, U.S. Army,
and Ph.D. candidate, Auburn University
ÒSurveys of our graduates continue to tell
us that the two most important courses they
took at Georgia Tech were public speaking
and technical writing.Ó Jerry Banks,
Professor, School of Industrial and Systems
Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
ÒYou canÕt just know how to do your job,
you need to be able to communicate.Ó Dean
Fullerton, Industrial Engineer Supervisor,
United Parcel Service
4. Think business
ÒOnce a day, every IE should ask,
ÔHow does my current project sup-
port corporate strategy and goals?Õ
If the answer is unknown, that is a clear sig-
nal that more information and thought are
needed prior to plunging forward. If the
answer is ÔIt doesnÕt,Ó thatÕs a clear signal that
priorities are skewed.Ó David G. Rush,
Director, Supply Chain Services, Kurt Salmon
Associates
ÒLook at your project from the total busi-
ness perspective.Ó Gary A. Smith, Manager,
Logistics Consulting Practice, KPMG Peat
Marwick
ÒAn IE can no longer concentrate solely
on the performance of the day-to-day oper-
ations but must also insist that strategies for
increased sales and marketing be part of the
solutions since processing, responsiveness
to customer needs, and market share are all
vital to the performance of the organization.
A holistic organizational view of performance
is needed to succeed.Ó Alexander B. Rebello,
Ph.D., Systems Engineer, General Electric
Corporate R&D
5. Listen
ÒTo be effective all of our roles, IEs must
be able to listen actively and empathetically.Ó
Terry Dunn, Director, Operations Support,
Premier Inc.
ÒListening seems to be a lost art these days
because we are so anxious to prove to every-
one what we know. Since IEs are often prob-
lem solvers, it is important to remember that
you can learn a lot about a problem by lis-
tening and not jumping to conclusions.Ó D.
Edward Parsons, P.E., President,
QEM Systems Inc.
ÒListen to the per-
son performing the
job. The person work-
ing the problem gen-
erally knows what
can be done to improve the process but
doesnÕt know how to make the change. The
IE is the facilitator to get the change made.
We have to quit thinking that we have all the
answers.Ó Dana Burk, Warehouse Services
Manager, Lamb-Weston Inc.
6. Live in the larger
community
ÒVolunteer to
practice industrial
engineering in an
environment
where you can
help people with-
out charging for it. In order to be a better
person you need to practice service: to give
without expecting a reward, to share what
you have or know without expecting to
receive something tangible.Ó Daniel Villarrel,
Director, Decisiones Inteligentes, SA CV
ÒMy company has selected Junior
Achievement as a group to work with. JA is
an organization that pairs community pro-
fessionals with school students; the profes-
sionals partner with classroom teachers to
teach subjects like personal economics and
the global economy to middle and high school
students. The effort is only a couple of hours
per week and the reward cannot be put into
words. At the end of a semester, you will be
a teacher, mentor, advisor, and friend to a
special group of students.Ó Brad Humphries,
Manager, Kurt Salmon Associates
7. Look at technology
with a skeptical eye
ÒDeploying technology is like eating
peanuts: It gets hard to stop after a little while.
One must catch oneself from deploying new

30 January 1999 ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ http://solutions.iienet.org


technology just because itÕs neat and slick and
do-able. Does the technological change truly
help costs or the customer? If not, set it aside
for another day. Revisit the potential after
watching the early jumpers and learning from
their mistakes and successes.Ó Ray Boy,
Assistant General Manager, National Fuel Gas
ÒIEs should not be afraid to try the sim-
ple things because, usually, no one else will
go to the trouble. We may be more valuable
to our companies if we pick the low-
hanging fruit first instead of jumping
to the technological fix. In the end,
the improvements are what matter,
not the sophistication of the methods.Ó
Pamela Young, Senior Industrial
Engineer, Motorola
8. Implement the plan
ÒMany IEs like to create solutions and turn
them over to someone else for implemen-
tation. We like to give advice. Think of the
CEOÕs needs. If you only develop a project
plan, the CEO still needs someone to accom-
plish the project. Too many of us provide
only half the solution by providing just the
advice. Prepare yourself to complete pro-
jects and run departments.Ó Richard Nolan,
P.E., Consultant, Southern California Edison
9. Learn
ÒAfter 20 years in industry working for a
Fortune 50 firm, I thought we IEs were pretty
smart and using the latest, best, smartest
approaches. When I went back to school to
get my Ph.D., I found that my industry was
not current in many areas, and worse still, I
had been one of the managers responsible for
that situation. Over the last several years, I
have worked with a broad spectrum of indus-
tries and found that my former employer is
not unique. My advice is that industrial engi-
neers need to keep themselves current. This
is particularly true for managers, who are the
technology leaders. One way to do this is to
build partnerships with local and regional aca-
demic institutions and their faculty. Another
way is to encourage continuing education and
discuss ways to examine what has been learned
in these courses that may be implemented to
benefit and improve the organization.Ó Paul
Kauffmann, Ph.D., P.E., Assistant Professor,
Department of Engineering Management, Old
Dominion University
COVER STORY
ÒWith 30 years of els, IEs need to promote
work experience under change. The approaches
my belt, IÕd like to sug- we use have to be varied
gest that all IEs consider depending on the orga-
taking graduate-level nizational hierarchy of the
courses in corporate group we attempt to lead.
finance, managerial The worst part is that a
finance, and managerial lot of good ideas will not
accounting. Too many be implemented because
times, IEs are called upon of our lack of experience
to provide financial fig- in the field of leadership.Ó
ures for major capital Ricardo Martinez,
projects. Without a solid understanding of Industrial Engineer, TCOA-Transmissions
accounting and finance principles, the task Division, Eaton Corp.
is very difficult.Ó Geary V. Soska, Consultant
Engineer, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 11. Touch the
customer
10. Lead ÒPrior to beginning an analysis of a process
ÒLead your subordinates with more ques- or system, ask to spend some time with your
tions than directions. It will stimulate them client as he or she performs his or her job.
to think and make them active participants Putting yourself inside the process is an
in the process. Lead by example. ItÕs easy to invaluable way to better understand the chal-
say and very difficult to do. Look at yourself lenges that operators face on a daily basis and
every day as you looked at your superior 10 is key to the foundation of the solution.Ó
years ago. Do you like what you see?Ó Randy William J. Lynch, Magic Kingdom Industrial
Ledbetter, Supervisor, Documentation/ Engineer, Walt Disney World
Configuration Control, AdTran Inc. ÒA good IE must anticipate the needs of
ÒIEs need to be better leaders and need internal and external customers. Wayne Gretsky
to be taught how to lead. We need to learn attributes his success to always knowing where
how to promote change in all directions of the puck as going. Like Wayne, a good IE needs
the organizational scale. IEs will find them- to be able to anticipate what the organization
selves as technical staff, supervisors, man- requires.Ó John Ferreira, Vice President of
agers, VPs, and CEOs. At all of these lev- Enginering, United Parcel Service Canada Ltd.
12. Dance (or if you have two left feet,
write poetry)
ÒParticipate in an activity that allows you to exercise the creative and artistic part
of your mind. This is a key element for IEs, especially since they are engineers who
work toward finding alternative solutions to various types of problems. I perform bharat
natyam, a classical dance form of India. I enjoy choreographing, allowing me to develop
my own dance, just as IEs design and redesign a process.Ó Mona Bapat, Student, Arizona
State University
ÒTo be better at their work, industrial engineers should learn to write poetry because a
great industrial engineering project is very
much like a great poem. A great poem has a
clear, succinct message, stimulates the senses,
and has a lasting impact on the reader.
Similarly, a great industrial engineering pro-
ject has a clear, well-defined goal, stimulates
the companyÕs bottom line, and has lasting
impact on the companyÕs competitiveness.Ó
Athol Williams, Business Development
Executive, Rio Tinto plc London
http://solutions.iienet.org ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ January 1999 31
COVER STORY
13. Give respect
ÒAs a young engineer, I almost always have
to tell people twice my age and many times
my experience what to do. I find that when
I give them respect, people do not feel threat-
ened and they even accept the changes I sug-
gest.Ó Elzanne Gerrtsema, Project Engineer,
Assembly Plant, BMW SA (Pty) Ltd.
ÒAct like you work for the
people who are affected by
your decisions.Ó Bruce
Dunsmore, Manufacturing
Engineer, Medtronic InStent
14. Join a handbell
choir
ÒA typical handbell choir is composed of
13 individuals who must be able to play their
individual parts well while striving to become
one Ôinstrument.Õ One learns to be respon-
sible (for oneÕs own four notes), cooperative
(in assisting to turn pages),
one of many (by not playing
too loudly or softly), sup-
portive (by assisting with
set-up, transportation,
and the like), and per-
petually learning (new
techniques and songs). While
all this is occurring, each member is striving
to be an effective representative of the whole
group.Ó Charles W. White, Ph.D., Associates
Professor, Information Systems, Business
and Industrial Management, Kettering
University
15. Teach
ÒOften, taking an extra minute or two to
explain the reason for an action will help
someone else apply the same method.
Depending on your client, your reports may
need to instructive rather than factual pre-
sentations. Work to be in the position of
a mentor to selected individuals as an oblig-
ation to your companyÕs future.Ó
Steven W. Bradley, Senior Process
Engineer, Fluor Daniel Inc.
ÒBecome a teacher of simple
concepts. Take the concepts of
identifying value-added activities,
eliminating waste, and driving con-
tinuous improvement, and
become an evangelist for the
cause. The more you teach, the
32 January 1999 ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ http://solutions.iienet.org
16. Master Microsoft
Excel
ÒYouÕd be surprised how many different
tasks can be completed with Excel. A strong
knowledge of Excel combined with no fear
of Visual Basic macros can take you very far
when it comes to model and interface devel-
opment, data processing, and overall office
productivity. I have completed numerous
class projects, industrial capacity models,
and other consulting jobs using Excel, includ-
ing hands-on training, and I have found that
it is by far one of the most important skills
that an IE can have.Ó Scott Mason, Principal,
Mason Consulting, and Ph.D. Student,
Arizona State University
17. Participate in IIE
ÒMy advice is to read IIE Solutions for enter-
tainment and to keep current in the field of
industrial engineering.Ó John Basel, Graduate
student, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
ÒI would suggest that all IEs support
their local IIE chapter. ItÕs great if you
can volunteer to be an officer or help plan
a meeting, but if not, then try to attend one
or two local chapter meetings a year. ItÕs a
great way to promote the profession, meet
other IEs from the region, and support the
community.Ó Beth Kelley, Manufacturing
Engineer, Hallmark Cards Inc.
ÒIndustrial engineers can do a lot to be bet-
ter at their work. Being active in IIE is an obvi-
ous way.Ó Aloysius A. Attah, P.E., 747 and
767 Program Coordinator, Boeing-Irving Co.
more you will ingrain the message into your
daily life. The more you teach, the more your
audience will understand and, hopefully,
adopt the message.Ó Patrick Slay, Senior
Manager, Implementation, Nortel
18. Avoid compromise
ÒOperations research teaches us how to
optimize our position between two con-
flicting demands. But if you believe in con-
tinuous improvement, youÕre stuck. How
can you improve if you are already at the
optimum point? The answer is to avoid com-
promise. Rather than accepting an optimum,
examine the underlying assumptions behind
the necessary conditions. Challenging these
traditionally accepted assumptions breaks
the old paradigm and moves us into a new
world.Ó James R. Holt, Ph.D., P.E., Associate
Professor of Engineering Management,
Washington State University-Vancouver
ÒDo the best quality work that can be done
in the shortest period of time for the lowest
possible cost and ensure that the problem
never returns. It will be up to the IE to help
ensure that the company can adapt, change
with the market, and respond with quality
products that will be needed in a timely man-
ner.Ó Tom Doyle, Safety/Environment/
Facility Coordinator, Trane
19. Take a tip from
tots
ÒLearn from your kids. IEs make processes
productive, but in looking for solu-
tions, we carry baggage with us in
the form of preformed ideas. Why
do we fear asking Why? Are we
afraid that people may think we
donÕt have all the answers? Kids
donÕt; they question everything.Ó
Richard Burke, Industrial
Engineer, Hasbro Ireland
ÒIndustrial engineers should
exert themselves to change the
ÔgivensÕ to be better at their work.
Givens can be defined as the para-
meters that have been traditionally
treated as fixed, for example, set-
up times and costs, lead times,
and production rates. If indus-
 COVER STORY

trial engineers try to change the givens by
changing their traditional thinking, I am sure
that enormous savings will be achieved and
thus, IEs will be recognized as key elements
in the organization.Ó Ilkyeong Moon, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, Department of Industrial
Engineering, Pusan National University
20. Make the holiday
meal (or if you can’t
cook, plan the
company outing)
ÒFor an IE to hone in on line balanc-
ing and rate disbursement, I suggest fixing
a holiday meal. It takes a special talent to
serve the entire meal hot. Balancing how
long it takes to prepare and cook every por-
tion of the meal is a difficult task.Ó Emily
Adams, Industrial Engineer, Siemens
Energy and Automation
ÒPlanning the company golf outing pre-
sents a chance for IEs to exhibit their supe-
rior logistics skills and their ability to marry
people to the process. Balance the teams
(much like line balancing)
and ensure that everyone
is included in the fun.
Ensure that there is a
valid process to measure
the ball thatÕs clos-
est to the pin and
the longest drive.Ó
Brett Frankenbert,
Manufacturing
Training Manager,
Snyder Production
Center, Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. Consolidated
22. Recognize the
experts
ÒThe people on the manufacturing floor
almost always know what works and what
doesnÕt, and they usually have very good
ideas about how to fix whatÕs broken.Ó
Steve Dunn, Senior Project Engineer,
Manufacturing Systems Engineering and
Projects, Corning Inc.
ÒWe need to objectively observe what peo-
ple are performing, listen to what they say,
and go easy with the task of making their jobs
easier. Keep in mind that when it comes right
down to it, they make the money and we
spend it.Ó Michael S. Bird, Manager of
Material Flow, Data Collection Division,
Welche Allyn Inc.
23. Stick your
nose into
everything
ÒIEs have the best opportu-
nity to understand the complete
business due to their diverse
education. Take advantage of
that by moving into various jobs
early in your career.Ó Larry
Wasser, Americas Supplier
Relations, AMP Inc.
ÒBe as well-rounded as pos-
sible. That way, you can have
a little something in common
with just about everybody.Ó Emily Elizabeth
Davis, Student, Tennessee Tech University
ÒWork with as wide a variety of disciplines
as possible. It allows the IE, who is trained
to evaluate processes for improvement, to
gain a better understanding of client perspec-
tives.Ó Dennis J. McGee, Senior Consultant,
Ernst & Young LLP
24. Revere the details
Ò ÔThe owner of a lumber company had
to fill a top executive position. Two of his
managers with equal experience were con-
sidered, but the choice went to the man who
had fewer years with the company. Upon
learning of the promotion, the other man
asked the CEO why he wasnÕt the one
selected. Instead of answering him, the CEO
asked if any lumber had come in that day.
The man said he would check, and a few
minutes later reported that a carload had
arrived that morning. The CEO then wanted
to know the type of lumber. After again
checking, the manager told him it was No.
6 pine. The CEO asked how many board feet
were in the order. Again leaving the room to
check, the manager returned with the answer
of 3,500 board feet. This questioning went
on for several minutes and then the CEO
asked the man to go into the next room, leav-
ing the door ajar so he could hear. The CEO
called in the manager who had been pro-
moted and asked him if any lumber had
arrived that day. The manager said he would
check, and in few minutes he returned with
the following answer: A carload of No. 6 pine
had come in on track three at 9:30 a.m. and
totaled 3,500 board feet. The lumber was
unloaded by 2:00 p.m. and stored in ware-
house No. 18. It was order No. 65-03 for
the Williams Co. and its total value was
$16,352. The CEO thanked the man and
said he could go. The CEO then called in the
first manager, who had heard the entire con-

21. Leave your comfortable rut

ÒItÕs easy to operate in a professional rut and not challenge yourself with less-familiar methodologies as possible approaches to a
problem. Yet, both the practicing IE and the employer would be better served by consideration of alternative, albeit less-familiar, tech-
niques. For example, while discrete-event simulation is a very comfortable environment that IÕve employed for many years, I also have
ongoing projects that utilize regression techniques, heuristic-based solvers, and constraint programming. Clearly, IÕm a better IE as
a result of this experience.Ó Mark Brazier, Director, Operations Research,
CSX Transportation
ÒBy never accepting the status quo and always asking What if?, IEs are truly
able to impact an organization.Ó Douglas R. Rabeneck, Account Manager,
H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc.
ÒIf we ever believe that we have the definitive best way to perform a spe-
cific task, we have not been looking, researching, or using our entrepre-
neurial mindset hard enough.Ó Paul V. Ancona, Engineering Manager, U.S.
Distribution R&D, Allegiance Healthcare

http://solutions.iienet.org ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ January 1999 33

COVER STORY
30 IE Lessons Learned
By Richard J. Nolan
1. Activity is not work. This simple concept
is a foundation of IE.
2. Moving stuff around does not add value.
3. Important process information is written
in procedures and kept current.
4. Everything can be improved. Believe in
continuous improvement.
5. The laws of physics, chemistry, and indus-
trial engineering are subservient to good
leadership. Many leaders do not appear
on the company’s organization chart.
6. Design everything for growth and expan-
sion or you will build future obstacles.
7. Overall effectiveness is more important
than isolated areas of efficiency.
8. Each job has a right tool and best method.
9. Use visual techniques whenever possi-
ble. Detailed work planning and line bal-
ancing techniques are like a football
coach’s chalkboard drawings to explain
plays to the team.
10. For every job, task, and work assignment,
safety is always the first consideration.
Quality is second. The removal of con-
straints to productivity is third.
11. Do not underestimate the brilliance of
some workers or the self-interest of some
managers.
12. There is no such thing as actual cost.
Overhead factors are gross averages.
13. Recognize how others think: When faced
with the same problems, IEs want to opti-
mize the process, MBAs want to down-
size, CPAs want to improve cost report-
ing, and too many supervisors want to
find someone to blame.
14. When dealing with process statistics,
track the median. It provides a valid index
of both normal and skewed distributions.
15. Separate performance reporting from cost
accounting. Too many departments will
report labor and material in ways that make
budget and job estimates come true.
16. Design and fix all processes in this order:
purpose, sequence, timing, effort. (This
also works for your golf swing.)
17. Cause and effect can be separated by
immense space and time.
18. If incoming workload is fixed, improved
efficiency can only mean a reduction in
workers. Show employees how you will
34 January 1999 ◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ http://solutions.iienet.org
use the extra people or you will fail.
19. You can’t see what’s happening by sit-
ting behind a desk.
20. Unstated assumptions can cause major
communication problems. You can’t get
from B to C if you don’t agree where A is.
21. Seek underlying motive. Some managers
don’t really want IEs to optimize their
operations, they want IEs to justify the
current staff and budget. If that’s the
case, find another job.
22. Every activity has a learning curve, and
each person is at a different point.
23. Lawyers and doctors represent two of
the largest political action groups in the
United States. Engineers don’t under-
stand the advantages of group effort and
image. Join IIE.
24. Do not reject flawed plans presented by
enthusiastic workers. Offer support, alter-
natives, and praise. Teach them IE skills
to analyze and improve their plans.
25. In college, 70 percent correct is pass-
ing. In engineering, 70 percent correct
is failure.
26. Anyone can spend $15 for business
cards to be a consultant. Instead, get
your P.E. license and use the title
Professional Engineer.
27. Understand negotiating techniques; they
will be used against you.
28. Quality is defined by the customer.
29. Image is powerful in positive and nega-
tive ways. The public’s image of indus-
trial engineers is affected by what each
of us do every day.
30. Common sense is uncommon. And it will
never win your argument.
31. Industrial engineers must understand the
integration of quality, cost, schedule, job
layout, worker skills, tooling, information
systems, work instructions, ergonomics,
material handling, status reporting, and
dynamics of the work process better than
anyone else. The IE’s job is to make
companies competitive. ◆
Richard J. Nolan, P.E., is a consultant with
Southern California Edison. He is a senior
IIE member and serves as Region 12 vice
president.
25. Network
ÒKeep in touch with the IEs you meet.
There is a wealth of knowledge out there and
you may have to tap into it. Go to IIE chap-
ter meetings, attend the Solutions
Conference. Meet people. IEs are probably
the most diverse group of engineers there
are. The broader your network, the easier
your problems will be to solve.Ó Andy Kaski,
Corporate Industrial Engineer, Elkay
Manufacturing Co.
ÒNetwork! Talk to as many people from
different types of work as you can. Ask
about the problems they encounter and
what they are doing or have done to solve
them. Every contact is a learning opportu-
nity.Ó Jeanne Coates, President, Prime
Consulting Services Inc.
26. Help raise the
next generation
ÒBe a better IE by volunteering some of
your time to work with the next generation
of engineers. Start small: Do a Discover E
activity during National Engineers Week at
your childÕs school. Or volunteer to help at
one of the regional Future City Competition
sites. They always can use more engineers to
help out. Most of the competition sites have
more than a hundreds kids Ñ make that
future engineers Ñ who are excited and need
some guidance.Ó Ken Golkin, Manager,
Operations Planning and Control, GE Capital
Mortgage Services Inc.
ÒSupport university co-op programs for
IE undergraduates because these programs
are the ultimate win-win. There is no better
way to prepare a soon-to-be-IE professional
for the real world than to let him or her live
in the real world for six months prior to get-
ting a sheepskin. The student learns that real
jobs are as much about common sense as they
are about textbook solutions.Ó Jim Robbins,
Director, Logistics Alliances, AlliedSignal
Aerospace

versation. He had to admit that he knew why
the other man had been promoted instead
of himself.Õ This story was told to me at my
first job at UPS by Josie Matusek. It reminds
me every day to get the complete picture the
first time. IEs should always give as
much information as possible.Ó
David Geszler, Manufacturing
Engineer, Cleveland Range Inc.
27. Think green
ÒTodayÕs manufacturing is
facing profound issues not
only related to achieving
better productivity and com-
petitiveness in permanently changing mar-
ket environments, but also pertaining to
sustainable manufacturing as a basic means
of human existence. We should recognize
that social responsibility in manufacturing
activities, product design, and production
will preserve the environment.Ó Sang-Jae
Song, Associate Professor, Department of
Industrial Engineering, Hiroshima Institute
of Technology
ÒI find that contemplating the world as
a system and noticing how smoothly it runs
helps me appreciate system thinking better.
Go to a park with a river and contemplate
where the water comes from, where it goes,
and what impact it has on its surrounding.
YouÕll appreciate nature, your role in the
world, and how many things you affect by
doing things well.Ó Yaron Daniel Derman,
Student, University of Toronto
28. Value feedback
ÒOne of the most overlooked steps in the
design and integration of systems is gath-
ering feedback from those who will interact
with the finished systems. There is no bet-
ter way to mistake-proof a process than by
viewing it from the userÕs perspective. Users
often have unique ideas that can be used to
enhance an already well-designed system and
customize it to fit a specific environment.Ó
Ken Gaines Jr., P.E., Senior Industrial
Engineer, Remington Arms Co. Inc.
ÒActively seek feedback from people. Ask
them for insights as to how you can be more
effective. Keep a log of what you hear, and
work on the recurring themes.Ó Scott Sink,
Ph.D., President, World Confederation of
Productivity Science
29. Take TOC to heart
ÒI am heavily involved in helping small to
mid-sized companies improve their perfor-
mance. One the methods that we use is con-
straint management. As a production indus-
trial engineer in my past life, I wish I had
been exposed to the theory of constraints
earlier. My advice it to learn as much as
possible about TOC.Ó Larry Jolly,
Manufacturing Specialist, South
Carolina Manufacturing Extension
Partnership
ÒA better IE brings value to his
or her organization by not
wasting time and attention
strengthening already-strong links.
A better IE instead uses a generalist or whole-
system viewpoint, an ability to step back and
analyze the bigger picture, and a valid phi-
losophy of improvement (like TOC) to advise
management and teams on where the weak
link is and what to do about it.Ó Francis S.
Patrick, Consultant, Focused Performance
30. Master simulation
ÒRealize that simulation is a framework for
better understanding your system and, as
such, is never easy, no matter what software
you have. Get out the software and begin
learning how to use simulation to improve
the companyÕs processes.Ó Dan Brunner,
President, Systemflow Simulations Inc.
ÒMaster the tools of the trade, such as
simulation, to aid in the development of rec-
ommendations.Ó Mark A. Jannone, Senior
Industrial Engineer, Atlantic Health System
31. Deliver more than
you promise
ÒItÕs not always possi-
ble, and itÕs particular-
ily difficult for optimists,
but delivering more than
you promise is a habit
worth striving for.
Cliff Cary, Publisher, IIE Solutions. ◆
http://solutions.iienet.org
COVER STORY
The following books were cited by
IIE Solutions readers as excellent IE
improvement resources.
◆ Breaking the Constraints to World Class
Performance, H. William Dettmer,
American Society for Quality, 1999.
◆ Breakthrough Thinking: The Seven
Principles of Creative Problem Solving,
Gerald Nadler and Shozo Habino, Prima
Publishing, 1998.
◆ The Deming Management Method, Mary
Walton, Perigee, 1988.
◆ The Goal, Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff
Cox, North River Press, 1994.
◆ The Great Transition: Using the Seven
Disciplines of Enterprise Engineering to
Align People, Technology, and Strategy,
James Martin, Amacom, 1995.
◆ Improving Performance , Geary A.
Rummler and Alan P. Brache, Jossey-
Bass Publishers, 1995.
◆ It’s Not Luck, Eliyahu M. Goldratt, North
River Press, 1994.
◆ Lean Thinking, James P. Womack and
Daniel T. Jones, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
◆ The Machine that Changed the World:
The Story of Lean Production, James P.
Womack, Harper Perennial Library, 1991.
◆ The Mars Pathfinder Approach to
‘Faster-Better-Cheaper,’ Pritchett
Publishing Co., 1998.
◆ Out of the Crisis, W. Edwards Deming,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
1986.
◆ The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People, Stephen R. Covey, Simon &
Schuster Trade, 1990.
◆ Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer
Johnson, 1998.
To order any of these books, call (800)
266-5766 (code #1582) or (801) 261-
1187 (code #1582); or order online at
http://www.booksnow.com/iiesolutions.
htm. Books with an can be ordered
directly from IIE at discounted IIE mem-
ber rates by calling (800) 494-0460 or
(770) 449-0460.
Recommended
Readings
◆ IIE SOLUTIONS ◆ January 1999 35