Learning Curves – OM in the News

The Post Office Reinvents Itself with Banking and Alcohol Deliveries

Message in a bottle. Money, it’s a hit. Can they save the Post Office?

Loss of revenue from first class mail, competition, and a mandate to prepay retirement benefits 75 years into the future have created a financial crisis for the US Postal Service. Because Congress has shown little appetite to repeal the mandate, many solutions have been proposed to alleviate the financial woes of a well-liked institution. Recently, two proposals have been gaining traction: allow the USPS to deliver alcohol […]

By CMKaruppan|2021-04-04T20:28:10+00:00April 16, 2021|Tags: cost-benefit analysis, mix flexibility, service design, value, work design|

Design Cycle for GM’s Hummer EV Cut by 3 Years

With its Hummer EV, GM has cut 3 years out of its usual 5-year design time.

GM says that the new development process is saving $1.5 billion annually. GM is using new technologies such as virtual product testing and hardware-in-the-loop testing to cut product development time dramatically. It also helps that the Hummer EV is using a battery that was previously developed and has far fewer parts compared to combustion engine technology.

Testing virtual parts saves money since 3-D printed parts can […]

By David Little, Ph.D.|2021-01-20T04:54:33+00:00January 20, 2021|Tags: 3D printing, facility layout, new product development, virtual reality|

Bionic Boost in the Workplace

Robotic shorts offer relief to fatigued workers.

The latest, exciting quest to improve working conditions has produced robotic shorts. Developed by a team of university researchers, the lightweight exosuit and its power system are designed to detect movements and assist their execution, thereby reducing the stress and injury associated with physical demands. The increased strength is expected to boost workers’ productivity.

Video Spotlight: Walking Faster with Robo Shorts

This post is based on the CNBC article,

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2019-09-16T06:12:30+00:00September 20, 2019|Tags: ergonomics, product design, productivity, work measurement|

Revamping Time and Motion Studies

A new survey indicates that humans, not machines, perform 72 percent of manufacturing tasks. However, when companies look at improving efficiency, they often overlook how to make humans more productive and focus instead on how to replace them with automation.

Robots are well suited for some tasks, but many other tasks still require the human touch. In addition, industrial engineers often use time and motion study techniques which, while valuable, have been in use since Henry Ford’s days in the early […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2019-01-31T07:05:03+00:00January 31, 2019|Tags: automation, productivity, work design|