Forty years ago this month, the Skydeck at the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower) was opened to the public. The observation floor remains one of Chicago’s most famous attractions, drawing nearly 1.3 million visitors annually.
The value of standard work is clear: improved productivity and quality. With standard work, the process is well documented, its yield is high, its cycle time is rock solid, and everyone has been trained to do it. It worked well once, so we do it again and again.
All professors are teachers, but some are also entrepreneurs. Three of note are mechanical engineering professors Stephen L. Dickerson, Wayne Book and Nader Sadegh, who together founded CAMotion Inc. in 1997 while working at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Terneuzen, Holland-based Dethon Industrie specializes in assembling and testing custom PCBs for telecommunications, LED lighting, industrial applications, and ship-navigation and medical systems.
In the world of assembly, ABB is known primarily for its leading-edge industrial robots. But, there’s much more to this multinational corporation, which operates 300 manufacturing plants in 100 countries, has nearly 150,000 employees, and reported global revenue of $42 billion in 2013.
The late novelist John Le Carré once said, “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” As it turns out, what was good advice for spies is equally good for manufacturing and design engineers.
Mentor, OH-based IT Plastics specializes in potting and encapsulation of electronic assemblies, sensitive circuitry and devices for OEMs, engineers and product-design firms. Founded in the late 1980s, the company excels in applications requiring polyurethane materials.
Versatile manufacturing has always been important to RS Coatings Ltd., based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK. Since opening its doors in 1999 as a division of masking-jig specialist RS Composites Ltd., the company has manufactured and coated plastic components in low, medium and high volumes for a wide range of customers.