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(+)+(+) The Lean Changeover e-letter
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### APRIL 2006
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On May 2 I will speak at the “Back to Basics” seminar of the Eastern Packaging Equipment Committee. This will be in Somerset NJ, near Newark. My topic will be, what else? “Quick Changeover Packaging Lines” Complete info is online at http://www.easternequipment.org/program.htm
As I've mentioned in the past, I teach a course in packaging technology in the Industrial Engineering Dept of the Polytechnic University of PR. This semester I am trying something new and have established a blog for all the students at www.packagingtech.blogspot.com Each student is posting information on various aspects, news or problems in packaging. I would like to invite everyone to visit. Comments are enabled on the blog and will be very welcome.
SOME THOUGHTS ON...
IT’S A SMALL, SMALL, WORLD
One of the most amazing powers of the Internet is the ability to for individuals and groups to collaborate around the world, without ever meeting face to face. I have been helped by and have helped people in places as diverse as Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, India, England and many other countries around the world. This kind of thing would have been impossible pre-Internet.
I think that there is potential to take this even further and this month I wanted to talk about some ways to use the internet collaboratively.
The first example is e-mail lists such as this one. These have been around forever. Lists can be many-to-many or one-to-many. In a many-to-many list, all list members may post notes, either starting new threads (ie; topics or subjects) or commenting on existing ones. Some lists may be moderated to assure that they stay on topic and don’t get abused. This means that postings are not automatic but are sent to the moderator who approves them prior to posting. A one-to-many list is like this newsletter. One person or group of persons posts notes which can then be read by a large group.
Lists can be public or open to anyone such as this one. They can be private with only invited members being allowed to participate. In some cases they can be a hybrid with a few people able to post but a larger number able to read.
A list can be put together by simply copying a number of people on regular e-mail. While this may works well with a very small list, it can be hard to keep track of members and to make sure everyone gets everything. It requires manually adding and deleting members. It also makes it hard to keep track of multiple threads. Finally, no readily accessible archive of notes and attachments is maintained. There are a couple of alternatives. One is to set up what is called a list server. This is special software that manages e-mail lists. I have looked into it and it seems a bit more complex than I want to get into. Not difficult but it does require some programming and maintenance.
Fortunately, Yahoo makes it easy and free. To do this visit www.yahoogroups.com and it will walk you through a very simple process of setting up the list. It can be many-to-one or to-many, public or private, moderated or not. There is a lot of ability to customize.
Yahoo also keep searchable archives of all notes and attachments. This makes it easy to find information without having to do anything to keep track of it.
I’ve been using them and their predecessors since about 1998. In addition to this newsletter, I’ve probably set up over 50 groups. I’ve used them in my classes to keep students advised of course info, as discussion groups for my students and as working areas for various projects with clients and colleagues and just for general discussion among friends. (One general discussion list I run is NIOT for Nothing Is Off Topic and you are all welcome to visit or join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NIOT/ )
Blogs are another tool that have a lot of potentialities. As I mentioned above, I am currently using one to foster worldwide discussion in my Packaging Technology course. You can view the blog and comment on entries at www.packagingtech.blogspot.com
A blog might be described as a cross between a mailing list and a website. Many blogs exist mainly to promulgate the blogger’s point of view or to talk about what they find interesting. They tend to be one(or few)-to-many though they do not need to be. Some blogs will allow comments. This allows anyone to comment on blog postings. Sometimes the discussions carried on in comments threads are more interesting than the original note!
In my packaging class, we have set the blog up as few-to-many. Each student is registered as a contributor and can post notes. This blog is set up to be public but it could also be set up to be private so that only invitees could read it. Blogs can be a very useful tool for working collaboratively on pretty much any kind of project.
We are using Blogger which is provided by Google as a free service. Starting a blog is simple and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit www.blogger.com , set up an account and follow the instructions. There are several other free and paid blogging services available as well.
One difference to note between mailing lists and blogs is that lists are “push” and blogs are mostly “pull”. That is, postings on an e-mail list are automatically “pushed” or sent out to all members. In the case of blog postings, members must go to the blog and “pull” the postings. There are some exceptions. RSS feeds can be set up to notify subscribers anytime a new note is posted. In blogger, contributors can set up their account so that any postings are forwarded automatically to their e-mail.
Two final tools are Go To Meeting www.gotomeeting.com and Skype. GTM is a service for holding online meetings. The meeting host needs the GTM software on their computer. When they decide to hold the meeting, they go to the GTM site on the web establish a meeting. They then notify other attendees of the meeting code and they log in using their normal web browser. Once connected, all attendees will see whatever is on the screen of the host’s computer, for example, a PowerPoint slide. Facilities allow text messaging to ask questions add comments and the like within GTM.
Last year I presented a very successful workshop on changeover for the IOPP via GTM and conference calling.
You can try GTM for free for a month but after that there is a charge. The charge seems pretty reasonable for what GTM allows you to do.
In the US, attendees can be voicelinked via a standard conference call. GTM also offers, at additional cost, a conference calling service or it can be set up through ones own telco. This can get pretty expensive when holding an international meeting. Skype (www.skype.com) is a free internet telephony service. It allows 2-5 parties to hold voice conversations over the net from anywhere in the world. All that is required is a microphone, computer speakers and a broadband internet connection.
Imagine the possibilities. No matter where in the world you are, you can be connected in a variety of possible ways to almost anyone else. Break out of your shell. Experiment with some of these things. See what new uses you can discover.
And, as you do, let me know at johnhenry@...
TIP OF THE MONTH...
WI-FI CONTROLLED FASTENERS
This is a bit off the wall but I thought it was cool enough to make it the tip of the month.
TZ Inc makes what they call “Intelligent Fastening Technology”. As they explain it on their website:
“Intelligent Fastening Technology integrates sensors, software control, electronics and energy efficient electronic actuation into fastening and locking devices bringing the power of remote fastening and computing power to the world of component assembly.”
In other words, screws, nuts, bolts clamps and other fasteners than can be controlled remotely via Wi-Fi Internet connections.
They have some very interesting presentations at their site, www.tzinc.com
One potential application that pops into my head would be the ability to lock down machine setup adjustments so that operators cannot change critical settings. This would also allow tracking of just when any adjustments occurred and, by using passwords, by who.
It might also be used to prevent the wrong parts being mounted on a machine during changeover.
I am just blue-skying above but it seems like there might be a number of possible uses of interest here. I will certainly be looking into it more deeply.
If anyone here is using or investigating this technology, I would be interested in hearing about it.
John R Henry CPP
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