Monday, April 28, 2008

Hospital Industrial Engineering

I came across the book with this title by Harold E Smalley and John R Freeman published by Reinhold Publishing Company, New York in 1966.

The series editor was R.N. Lehrer.

I came to know from this book that R.N. Lehrer published a book with the title The Managment of Improvement: Concepts, Organization and Strategy.

The book has chapters on

Facilities Design and Space Utilization
Improving Work Methods
Measuring Human Work
Applying Time Standards
Sampling Hospital Activities
Job Analysis and Evaluation
Employee Motivation and Compensation
Dealing with Variability
Resource Allocation

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Industrial Engineering and Management - A Distinction

In the second edition of Maynard's Handbook of Industrial Engineering, Lyndall Urwick stated emphatically that industrial engineering is not synonymous with management. Management as a discipline, owes an immense debt to engineering, but industrial engineering is only part of the overall work of managing a business organization.

Engineering as a discipline is concerned with physical forces and physical underlying sciences.Engineering knowledge does not include knowledge of people. But industrial engineers design production systems which are to be operated by people. Hence industrial engineers must add human sciences, the biological and social, to his knowledge base. He must possess knowledge himself and on advanced issues he has to take the help of experts and act as a manager in case of differences of opinion among experts.


In Figure 1-2, Urwick identified four different groups of subjects that have a relation to management

I. Engineering and sciences
II. Human sciences at individual level - Physiology, Biology, Psychology, Medicine,Psychopathology
III. Decision sciences like Economics, Geography, Statistics, Accounting, Law
IV. Human sciences dealing with groups of people - Sociology, Anthropology, Political science, Public Administration

Reference

Lyndall F. Urwick, "Development of INdustrail Engineering," Chapter 1 Maynard, (Ed.) Industrial Engineering Handbook, H.B. Maynard, (Ed.), Second Edition

Friday, April 4, 2008

Concept of Lean Office

Lean Office Simulation Brings Lean Concepts to the Office

Lean implementation is no longer confined to manufacturing. It can be successfully applied to service and administrative processes. That's the word from Willie Carter, a Lean Sensei and expert on implementing Lean in administrative processes.

Northbrook, IL (PRWEB) April 2, 2008 -- Lean goes beyond the shop floor. That's the word from Willie Carter, A Certified Lean Sensei experienced in implementing Lean Office Management Systems.

"For more than 25 years Lean has been successfully implemented on the manufacturing floor to eliminate waste and improve process efficiency, quality, service, and costs. Many of these manufacturing organizations found that their slow office and administrative processes like order processing, quoting, purchasing, and product development prevented them from substantially reducing their lead time in fulfilling the customer order", says Carter.

He goes on to explain that processes like order processing, quoting, planning, purchasing, product development and others are full of waste. "As a matter of fact, 75-90% of the steps in service/administrative processes add no value"--the lean definition of waste. These wasteful steps cause delays and customer dissatisfaction.

Carter says Implementing lean in the office is more of a challenge than in manufacturing and that is why simulating how Lean can be applied to an office environment is important."It was an experience to observe what the Lean Office Simulation gave our staff", says a CFO of a global manufacturing and distribution company, "It took vague concepts of something called lean and made it real"

"The simulation lets office staff experience the potential results Lean can deliver to their own internal and external customers and let them see how Lean can make their jobs less frustrating and more enjoyable", says Carter.

For more information please visit http://www.quantumassocinc.com

Willie L. Carter is the president and principal of Quantum Associates, Inc--Northbrook, Illinois. Carter is a Certified Lean Sensei, Certified Manger of Quality/Organizational Excellence, and a Certified ISO 9000 Lead Assessor. He has helped train companies to implement Lean office environments.

Contact Information
Willie L. Carter
Quantum Associates, Inc
(wcarter @ quantumassocinc.com)
847-919-6127