Archive for June, 2010
Commercial Aircraft Competition
Boeing and Airbus have a backlog of around 4,500 orders for 110-180 seat single aisle jets, split more of less equally, stretching to 2015 at current production rates. Neither Boeing nor Airbus has had much interest in offering anything new. But developments beyond their control are now farcing them to rethink.
Two new single aisle jets from China and Russia, both expected to enter service in 2016, are aimed at the two aviation giants.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China is building the 170-190 seat C919 and United Aircraft Corporation of Russia a 150-212 seat Irkut MS-21.
Both claim their planes will consume 15% less fuel than the current A320 and 737, and they will be much cheaper.
Seventh China International Die Casting Congress & Exhibition
| June 16-18/2010 | Seventh China International Die Casting Congress & Exhibition Shanghai, China |
2010 China International Confere
| June 16-18/2010 | 2010 China Internationl Conference For Investment & Development of Die Casting Industry Shanghai, China |
New Extrusion Paper in the Works
In the practical science of light metal extrusion, the single uncontrollable limiting factor in the quest for maximum productivity is the maximum speed at which the metallurgy of the alloy being used will permit it to form saleable product with the required profile. All else in the entire production system is controllable. Maximum saleable product with minimum unscheduled downtime is the goal of every extruder. He is not motivated by perfect product, but by maximum profit.
Improvement in the tooling designed to maximize the extruder’s profit is fuelled by knowledge. Information by itself should not be mistaken for knowledge. Knowledge has been defined as the productive use of information. Several years ago, in our ongoing search for more knowledge of the extrusion process, we learned that what separated the really profitable extruders from the rest, was their obsession with temperature. Their mantra was “measure, record, compare”. We called them “Superextruders”, and continued to monitor their operation.
Later, with the aid of improved measuring, we learned that no single component in the production system that interacted with another, could credibly be evaluated in isolation. All parts work together in common cause. Thus the “Systems” approach to the study of extrusion was born. Continued improvement in measuring devices has resulted in the fairly recent introduction of a number of new or improved tooling components to assist the operator.
Elites
Historically, this was an unearned position, one that’s inherited or acquired in ways that take advantage of others.
In more and more societies, the dividing line has changed. The line is now between people who are actively engaged in new ideas, actively seeking out change, actively engaging–and people who accept what’s given and slog along. It starts in school, of course, and then the difference accelerates as we get older. Some people make the effort to encounter new challenges or to grapple with things they disagree with. They seek out new people and new opportunities and relish the discomfort that comes from being challenged to grow (and challenging others to do the same).
Being an elite today is not because of birth or financial standing, it’s because of a choice, the decision to be aware and engaged, to challenge a status quo of your choice.
The number of self-selected elites is skyrocketing. Part of this is a function of our ability to make a living without working 14 hours a day in a sweatshop, but part of it is the ease with which it’s possible to find and connect with other elites.
The challenge of our time may be to build organizations and platforms that engage and coordinate the elites, wherever they are. After all, this is where change and productivity come from.
If someone doesn’t choose to be part of the elites in your organization, you cannot persuade them to change. If they are in an influential position, you need to let them go, irrelevant of their skills and experience.
The cycle of discovery and engagement and shipping ideas around the globe is going to accelerate over time, and you have all the tools necessary to be part of it or to lead it.
RDX (Remote Die Expediter)
The RDX Process
First, the die man brings the die and places it in an empty cradle. The die will remain in this cradle and be moved robotically until it is placed in the die slide by the operator.
Using a key punch, the operator enters the die number. If there is an existing production formula from the Visual Optimizing System, it will be activated. If not, the operator will prepare an initial formula and activate it.
The die is then automatically moved into the scheduling area by a gantry robot.
The press operator chooses which die is to be placed in an empty die oven. The robot places the die in the oven where it is heated to the temperature required by the formula.
When the operator requests the next die to be run, the robot moves the die from the oven to a heated holding area. Maintaining the temperature of the heated die while waiting to be used is critical. If uncontrolled, die temperature will drop by about 5ºC every 10 minutes in air, and 10ºC every minute in the die slide.
After it leaves the heated holding area, the press operator moves the die from its cradle to the die slide using eye bolt/crane previously employed. The RDX system requires no change to existing handling equipment.
Why sales people fall short!
1) Top revenue producers are confident, have no problem admitting that they are not perfect, and deliberately seek out advisors and mentors. Average revenue producers, on the other hand, are not good at asking for help.
2) Top producers understand that a plan, charting out how they intend to carry out their work, is the key to finding new clients. Mediocre producers do not bother with such plans.
3) Poor producers spend most of their time coming up with excuses that prevent them from making their sales goals. Top producers focus on discussing how to achieve results and how to sell regradless of economic issues.
4) Mediocre performers like to hang out with other mediocre performers. The bar for success is low and membership criteria is easy.
5) Average performers may at one time have been highly successful, but can quickly slide to the bottom, if they succumb to arrogance.
6) Sometimes poor sales performers are actually working hard, but their efforts are poorly focused. Top performers clearly identify their ideal clients, refusing to waste time on poor prospects.
7) Poor performers do not invest in upgrading their skills.
8) Mediocre performers spend too much time trying to finesse sales reports. They never get around ton actually selling.
Pay more for more!
Mac users willingly pay more than PC used!!
The automakers’ success at negotiating suppliers down on price has come with huge costs. It was a great deal in the short run, but in the long run, if suppliers are not able to negotiate a sufficient return, innovation and investment get systematically discouraged. This leads to an even great focus on price above all else.
Scorecards need to be developed that reward suppliers that bring true value and innovation. Suppliers must see it as their role to educate purchasing and other stakeholders about why it makes good business sense to “pay more for more”.
It is not the customers’ responsibility to figure out when it makes sense to pay a higher price for higher value, it’s the suppliers’. Suppliers must document the economic value that their part or service delivers. This can be challenging because it involves quantifying benefit claims, but it can be very rewarding.
Most sales people have learned to translate product features into benefits, but now they must help their customers to understand what the benefits are worth in monetary terms. With their focus on efficiency and cost reduction, plant and general managers (not purchasing) are the audience for this type of detailed and quantitative analysis.
Worker Mobility
Getting fired just might be a good thing.
If you don’t like a job, or if you think your company is not going anywhere, leave. Instead of hanging around the office whining walk out the door and find something better to do.
Worker mobility gives the industry fluidity, velocity, and energy. It creates a culture in which people routinely jump from one job to another, looking to get into the next must-have product or service.
AnnaLee Saxenian puts it this way, “Job hopping rather than climbing the career ladder within a corporation, facilitates flows of information and know-how between individuals, firms and industries. When combined with venture capital, it supports unanticipated recombinations of technologies and skill.”
It’s like biology, where in an ecosystem microbes are promiscuously swapping genes and traits, evolution speeds up.
Receiving a pink slip may not be as bad as you think. Saying you are between opportunities does not get you shunned at parties anymore.
So if you are clinging out of fear to a job you do not want, you are doing yourself and the rest of us a disservice.
Economy (My Opinion)
Fears about the fragility of the global recovery are exaggerated. The world’s output is probably growing at an annual rate of more than 5%, far faster than most expected.
This pace will, and should, slow, not least because the big emerging economies need to tackle rising inflation. But, the world’s largest economy does not seem on the verge of a second recession.
Growth prospects look the grimmest in Europe. But the weaning confidence may be mitigated by the boost exports receive from the plunge in the Euro.
The challenge is for governments to steer between imposing premature austerity and allowing their public finances to deteriorate for too long.
