Monthly Archives: August 2010

Concurrent Engineering – Then and Now

Sitting in a group meeting surrounded by young engineers who wore their hats on backwards and couldn’t be more than 30 years old, who would think that this would be where my initial career choice would have led me. Their whole … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Finance for Non-Financial Managers

I just finished a class about finance.  The quote that struck me was “It’s not the most important thing, it’s the best way to know if what you’re doing is the most important thing”. In other words, it tells you if what you are … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

How to Create Assignments for Your People

I’ve had some difficulty in creating assignments for my people. Is it because I’m female and they’re male or because I’m just not so good at it?  The issue has been that I assign something and then they come back … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Your Employees Want to Be In Charge

Although employees crave guidance and supervision, they also want to see how far they can push you and what they can get away with.  I  have picked up a few tips along the way for managing employees. I started out … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Bottoms up or Top Down

I learned a long, long time ago that you can’t get anything done unless you have management involvement, endorsement and buy-in.  That was a hard fought lesson from my first big job when I was the Youth and Enthusiasm part … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Dysfunctional Manufacturing Organizations

Man, what a range there is in manufacturing organizations.  The days of thinking that there is some consistency to business is long, long gone.  Now it is more about power and gaining it than it is about fixing anything.  Making … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Organizational Structure

Where do you fit in the organizational structure? Right now in the new world order, there are two camps setting up.   There is legacy and there is new.  Usually the legacy is populated with the old timers and the new … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Three Pronged Attack

Manufacturing Engineering has three aspects: Floor support- Sustaining Manufacturing Infrastructure Transitions of New Products into Manufacturing Some of the examples of things that fall into each of these categories are: Floor Support/Sustaining: Tool Management Documentation Guidelines for incorporation and redlines … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Manufacturing Engineering Rules

There are some rules in Manufacturing Engineering in electronics in particular that seem to be unwritten but assumed. Work instructions are required.  The format should be lots of pictures or graphics and writing only to call out what is in … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Who Are Leaders?

Twice last week at work, I heard people say something to the effect “I would follow him anywhere”.  A retired friend of mine was talking about somebody he used to work with.  He said he could see thousands of people … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment