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Best Practices

Toyota
How to Develop Products like Toyota
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One conclusion increasingly drawn from Toyota’s system is that many U.S. manufacturers have gone off track with their own development efforts. In fact, some of the processes they’ve adopted in the name of speed and quality have actually had the opposite effect.

Slide acts as “helping hand” - Accuride International

The 3832 Action-Assist slide helps users open and close drawers with ease.

Controlling risk in medical devices
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Applying everyday principles to product development can reduce hazards and increase patient safety

WCBF’s Lean Six Sigma Summit highlights quality

WCBF’s Lean Six Sigma Summit will be held in Chicago, focusing on maximizing quality, minimizing waste, and achieving cost savings.

Manufacturing processes conference

The annual Shingo Prize Annual Conference will be held in Nashville, Tenn., highlighting lean processes, Kaizen, and more.

Career profile: Ames Lab Metallurgist Iver E. Anderson

Iver E. Anderson has spent 26 years in engineering, and says his best career decision was taking the advice of colleague Fred Yost from Sandia Labs. That advice: To work together on developing a lead-free solder.

Industrial Design: What Makes Products Warm?

Warmth is an important sensory attribute in product design and a subtle but integral part of branding.

Vantage Point: Design for costing

Perhaps as much as any discipline, engineering has undergone radical changes in the last century. Design for Costing (DFC) is an example of an extremely effective but underappreciated engineering development.

Industrial Design: Only High-Class Coffee Beans Need Apply

BMW Group DesignworksUSA took two years to develop a high-end espresso machine

Orr on Engineering: Time: The Undiscovered Country

Keep a time log for a day or two. You’ll need a timer that alerts you every so often

Career Profile: Kevin Ryan

Kevin Ryan, rehabilitation engineer, talks about why high-school kids are smarter than college students and helping people with disabilities.

Industrial Design: The Hidden Cost of Standard Parts

While a “breadboard” design may be workable, it may not be possible to actually making standard components fit the required envelope.

The Mathematics Behind Good Looks

Getting a grip on the math behind CAD will help you design visually appealing products.  Understanding mathematical concepts and how they apply to CAD can help you design products with a visual appeal that, although difficult to describe, evokes an emotional response that is impossible to deny.

Industrial Design: Designers, Engineers, and Manufacturers Talk Shape, Surface, and Structure

Industrial designers focus on free thinking. Engineers tend to focus on analytics. The two viewpoints make for diverse approaches to product design. Yet both are crucial to the development of sustainable, high-quality products.

Vantage Point: Patent or Trade Secret?

Patenting demands significant time and typically costs more than maintaining trade secrets. But trade secrets aren’t free. While there are no governmental fees or formal filing processes, there typically are internal costs associated with properly maintaining a trade secret.

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