7.27.2012

A Potpori of Ideas for Your Friday Special

I've been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks so the blog has gone silent. So here are a couple of things that have caught my eye recently.
First lets start out with

Electrochemical flow capacitor: Hybrid battery-supercapacitor design targets grid storage

Pretty interesting technology to help solve the production irregularities from solar and wind without the harmful side effects of batteries. Still in the proving and experimental stages, but I think on the right track.

7.26.2012

Muda Walks in September: Guest Article

Hi everyone,
I've been rushing about the last couple of weeks and part of that was to broaden the writer base for Strings, Connections and Links. One of the really interesting and knowledgeable folks I found was Dennis Sowards. Dennis has been working as a lean practitioner for quite a while now and he has what I think is one of the more refreshing viewpoints on lean. I would encourage you to take him up on his offer to conduct a Muda (that's waste for those not in the know) Walk.

Here's Dennis' invitation. Oh yes, you don't have a lot of time, so sign up by Aug 28th. Take it away Dennis.


Muda Walk 2012
Dennis Sowards
How to improve operations? There are thousands of answers to this question and more are developed every day. One simple way to improve is to follow the Lean approach of “Go & See.” Masaaki Imai, a leading expert on Lean techniques, says that in companies

7.13.2012

Chargers, Leakage, and Dams

Friday Bonus Post

I recently caught a link from one of the LinkedIn which intrigued me. All of us have devices that charge on USB or MicroUSB ports. You know phones, notebooks, tablets, cameras and the like. All of them use those 'wall warts' that not only charge the unit, but continue to drain power, even when not in use. Oh and they take up valuable outlet space as well, very annoying.

7.02.2012

The Top Five Questions to Assure Survival in the AEC Business

Phil Bernstein, FAIA of Autodesk has an interesting article posted today on the Architecture daily news feed. http://goo.gl/yML4A.

Phil, gives you five questions to ask yourself. Strangely enough, these are almost the same five questions I've been challenging firms to ask themselves for the past 10 years. Phil, thanks for giving them the press time they deserve.

The Top Five Questions to Assure Survival in the AEC business
1. Where are you going to be in five years?