Tag Archives: engineering

ASQ William Hunter Award 2008: Ronald Does

Posted on November 12, 2008 by John Hunter

The recipient of the 2008 William G. Hunter Award is Ronald Does. The Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) uses the attributes that characterize Bill Hunter’s (my father – John Hunter) career – consultant, educator for practitioners, … Continue reading →

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Lame Move by Google

Posted on November 2, 2008 by John Hunter

Google does great things and makes good decisions most often. However a recent move on their part has ended very lamely. As part of what their 10th anniversary celebration they provided a search of the 2001 index (the oldest index … Continue reading →

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Appropriate Management

Posted on October 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Thinking about why appropriate technology is so effective, but underutilized (though things are much better now than they were several decades ago) can help anyone improve the solutions they adopt. I would especially encourage people to stop looking for the newest management book and actually read and adopt and re-read adopt… the excellent management books from the last 50 years Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Innovation, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Software Engineering Manager’s Lament

Posted on October 23, 2008 by John Hunter

The engineering manager’s lament by Eric Ries: In teams that follow the “pick two” agenda [quality, time or price], which two has to be resolved via a power play. In companies with a strong engineering culture, the engineers pick quality. … Continue reading →

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Does the Data Deluge Make the Scientific Method Obsolete?

Posted on September 29, 2008 by John Hunter

The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete by Chris Anderson “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” So proclaimed statistician George Box 30 years ago, and he was right. But what choice did we … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Innovation, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Webcast on the Toyota Development Process

Posted on September 18, 2008 by John Hunter

Kenji Hiranabe talks about Toyota’s development process (webcast). Kenji shares a presentation he attended earlier this year by Nobuaki Katayama, a former Chief Engineer at Toyota, and the lessons he learned from him. Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Engineering Innovation

Posted on June 3, 2008 by John Hunter

(video link no longer works so it has been removed) In the webcast Dean Kamen discusses his latest innovation: robotic arms for people (amazing stuff). Once again he is doing great stuff. It is great what engineers can do (many … Continue reading →

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Inside Honda’s Brain

Posted on March 7, 2008 by John Hunter

Inside Honda’s brain by Alex Taylor III why is Honda playing with robots? Or, for that matter, airplanes? Honda is building a factory in North Carolina to manufacture the Hondajet, a sporty twin-engine runabout that carries six passengers. Or solar … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Car Powered Using Compressed Air

Posted on February 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car would be powered by compressed air. Certainly seem like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production: Refueling is simple and will … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, India, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Toyota’s Partner Robot

Posted on December 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Latest robot in Toyota’s line showcases violin skills [the broken link was removed] But Toyota’s new robot played a pretty solid “Pomp and Circumstance” on the violin Thursday. The 152-centimetre [about 5 feet] tall white robot used its mechanical fingers … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Fun, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 4 Comments