The Value Stream Management System simplifies the planning process for lean implementation, ensuring quick deployment and greater success. It links the metrics and reporting required by management with the lean tools needed on the manufacturing floor. The central feature of this illustrative and engaging book is the value stream management storyboard, a tool representing an eight-step process for lean implementation. The storyboard brings together people, tools, metrics, and reporting into one visual document. The authors stress the importance of reaching beyond single-point kaizens to ensure a sustainable lean implementation process. Many people use the value stream map as an individual tool, but not within the context of a proven overall system. Value Stream Management: Eight Steps to Planning, Mapping, and Sustaining Lean Improvements shows you how to use mapping as part of a complete system for lean implementation. The final outcome of Value Stream Management is the creation of a complete, visual plan for lean transformation - and the mastery of the skills required to implement that plan. Instead of just using Toyota Production System Tools, the authors encourage you to create your own lean production system. Value Stream Management will help you to complete your process and sustain it! Along with this book you receive downloadable resources containing a lean assessment tool, a storyboard template, useful charts, a team charter, forms, reports, and worksheets.

This essential reference acquaints developers of medical devices with the basic concepts and major issues of medical quality assurance and regulatory documents, describes the requirements listed in these documents, and provides strategies for compliance with these requirements. Medical Device Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance summarizes regulation activities of the FDA, the European Economic Community, and the Global Harmonization Task Force shows how to choose a standard from the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series teaches how to prepare your company for auditing, how to choose a notified body, and how to survive the audit reviews standards dealing specifically with medical devices such as EN 46000, ISO 13485, and ISO 13488 discusses the requirements for product submittals prior to product introduction addresses current issues such as third party approvals and more Including numerous key references, tables, and drawings, Medical Device Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance is ideal for biomedical, quality assurance, reliability, software, product design, manufacturing, research and development, and industrial engineers; project managers; biomedical technicians; medical device purchasing personnel; and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.

A must-read for all managers, leaders, and change agents, Performance Hubs: Engaging Teams in Focused Continuous Improvement supplies a proven system for engagement that allows teams to use their own data, understand the need for performance improvement, and drive improvements at their own level. Highlighting common pitfalls in improvement initiatives, it provides the tools to help you avoid the disinterested cultural response to improvement efforts that is all too common in organizations suffering from initiative overload.The book details a comprehensive solution to help all employees visualize operational performance. It explains how to cascade the right metrics across all levels of your business to trigger the appropriate use of Lean/Six Sigma tools and techniques into strategic process areas. Demonstrating how to link all continuous improvement activities to address the key issues affecting performance, the book: Explains what a performance hub is and provides the clarity needed for full organizational deployment Describes the four key headings under which a performance hub is configured Follows the natural implementation sequence of events for successful deployment of Performance Hubs Includes Top Tips in each chapter to aid in smooth implementation and to enable sustained results This book and electronic tool kit available on the book's page at https://www.crcpress.com/9781439861349 provide all the working documents including project management aids, templates, and slides you and your teams will need to get started. Clarifying how to make continuous improvement a daily habit across all segments of your organization, the authoritative advice provided in these pages will help you align all improvement activities with the current and future needs of your business.

An authoritative review of modern sensor technology—essential information for analytical chemists, biochemists, biotechnologists, spectroscopists, and chemical engineers

As sensors begin to realize their commercial and practical potential in fields ranging from the automobile and semiconductor industries to environmental monitoring and clinical diagnostics, this timely work offers an important survey of the principles, construction, and applications of the most popular types of chemical and biological sensors in use today.

Principles of Chemical and Biological Sensors brings together a wealth of valuable material in a single source, providing scientists and researchers with a basic grasp of the latest developments in this area, as well as information on trends and future directions.

Coverage includes:

• Amperometric, modified, potentiometric, and voltammetric electrodes
• Optrodes and direct spectroscopic methods
• Enzyme and antibody based biosensors
• Processing signals from sensors
• Miniaturization of sensors
• Sensor arrays and intelligent sensing systems

Principles of Chemical and Biological Sensors is an essential reference for scientists in research and industry aiming to make optimum use of these cutting-edge devices in their work.

Spurred by a dramatic increase in R&D support over the last twenty years, sensors are poised for a revolution similar to the one seen in microcomputers in the late 1980s. Matching enhanced performance with lower cost, new generations of sensing devices promise to gain a firm footing in many different areas, from environmental regulation to manufacturing and other industries.

Principles of Chemical and Biological Sensors offers a state-of-the-art look at the principles and applications of the most popular sensors available today, coupled with an exploration of potential directions and developments for the future of this dynamic field. From amperometric, potentiometric, and voltammetric electrodes to smart sensors, digital filtering, and more, this useful volume contains essential information across a range of sensor types and functions. Topics covered include:

• Ion-selective electrodes and optrodes
• Amperometric methods of detection
• Biomaterials for biosensors
• Optical chemical sensors
• Miniaturized chemical sensors
• Sensor signal processing

Expertly balancing breadth and depth of coverage within a single, easy-to-use resource, Principles of Chemical and Biological Sensors is essential reading for analytical chemists, biochemists, chemical engineers, and others who will benefit from the tremendous strides being made in sensor research and technology today.

Now in its third edition, the Handbook of Package Engineering is still considered the standard industry reference on packaging materials and engineering. This text is a useful source of information for anyone involved in packaging. Designed as a refresher on packaging fundamentals, this complete guide also provides information on recent changes in the materials and structures of packaging. It reviews the essentials of production - packaging operations, line layout, and the machines that are required in order to perform basic packaging functions. It introduces the increasing web of laws and regulations controlling virtually all packaged products.

Not only is the kitchen the center of the home, it is also a place that encourages great designs and inventions. This is why it is such an exciting field for collectors. Some specialize in gadgets, some in ceramics, plastic, or cast iron. Others seek salt & pepper shakers, electric appliances, or aluminum ware. All will find this new book delightful and fun. Jan Lindenberger has gathered together an eclectic and excellent collection of kitchen objects dating from 1890 to the 1970s. All are illustrated in beautiful full-color photographs with vital information and current market values. This is an convenient and useful field guide that will fit nicely in pocket or purse. It is sure to be loved by all.

Mechanics and Model-Based Control of Advanced Engineering Systems collects 32 contributions presented at the International Workshop on Advanced Dynamics and Model Based Control of Structures and Machines, which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2012. The workshop continued a series of international workshops, which started with a Japan-Austria Joint Workshop on Mechanics and Model Based Control of Smart Materials and Structures and a Russia-Austria Joint Workshop on Advanced Dynamics and Model Based Control of Structures and Machines. In the present volume, 10 full-length papers based on presentations from Russia, 9 from Austria, 8 from Japan, 3 from Italy, one from Germany and one from Taiwan are included, which represent the state of the art in the field of mechanics and model based control, with particular emphasis on the application of advanced structures and machines.

What is Lean? Pure and simple, lean is reducing the time from customer order to manufacturing by eliminating non-value-added waste in the production stream. The ideal of a lean system is one-piece flow, because a lean manufacturer is continuously improving. Most other books on lean management focus on technical methods and offer a picture of how a lean system should look like. Other books provide snapshots of companies before and after lean was implemented. This is the first book to provide technical descriptions of successful solutions and performance improvements. It's also the first book to go beyond snapshots and includes powerful first-hand accounts of the complete process of change; its impact on the entire organization; and the rewards and benefits of becoming lean. At the heart of Becoming Lean are the stories of American manufacturers that have successfully implemented lean methods. The writers offer personalized accounts of their organization's lean transformation. You have a unique opportunity to go inside the implementation process and see what worked, what didn't, and why.

Series Information:
Garland Encyclopedias in the History of Science

She's hit the big time...hasn't she?Personal shopper, Annie Valentine, is presenting her own popular TV fashion series. But despite this being Annie's dream job, success isn't all it's cracked up to be and suddenly Annie is feeling the pressure! Especially as boyfriend Ed is left at home looking after their brand-new twin babies, whilst Annie comes to terms with fame. And as Annie gets more and more sucked into the celebrity showbiz world, she feels like she's losing more and more of who she really is. Could the big break she's always wanted, actually be a big mistake? Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk and Paige Toon will love this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from bestselling author Carmen Reid. What readers are saying! "If you love shopping as much as you love a great read, try this. Wonderful." Bestselling author, Katie Fforde "Annie Valentine is a wonderful character - I want her to burst into my life and sort out my wardrobe for me!" Bestselling author, Jill Mansell "You will enjoy getting to know Annie Valentine; laughing with her and crying with her. You may even fall in love with her . . . I have! A fantastic read!" Reader review "Fantastic read, couldn't put it down" Reader review "Can't wait to read the next one!" Reader review

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Bimetallic nanoparticles, also called nanoalloys, are at the heart of nanoscience because of their ability to tune together composition and size for specific purposes. By approaching both their physical and chemical properties, " Nanoalloys: Synthesis, Structure & Properties" provides a comprehensive reference to this research field in nanoscience by addressing the subject from both experimental and theoretical points of view, providing chapters across three main topics:
Growth and structural properties
Thermodynamics and electronic structure of nanoalloys
Magnetic, optic and catalytic properties

The growth and elaboration processes which are the necessary and crucial part of any experimental approach are detailed in the first chapter. Three chapters are focused on the widely used characterization techniques sensitive to both the structural arrangements and chemistry of nanoalloys. The electronic structure of nanoalloys is described as a guide of useful concepts and theoretical tools. Chapters covering thermodynamics begin with bulk alloys, going to nanoalloys via surfaces in order to describe chemical order/disorder, segregation and phase transitions in reduced dimension. Finally, the optical, magnetic and catalytic properties are discussed by focusing on nanoparticles formed with one element to track the modifications which occur when forming nanoalloys.

The range and detail of "Nanoalloys: Synthesis, Structure & Properties" makes it an ideal resource for postgraduates and researchers working in the field of nanoscience looking to expand and support their knowledge of nanoalloys.
"

For some organizations, Lessons Learned (LL) is an informal process of discussing and recording project experiences during the closure phase. For others, LL is a formal process that occurs at the end of each phase of a project. Regardless of when they are performed, if you are a project team member, chances are you will soon be required to present an evaluation of your project using Lessons Learned. Presenting new information that updates the award-winning first edition, The Basics of Project Evaluation and Lessons Learned, Second Edition supplies practical guidance on conducting project Lessons Learned. The first edition won the Project Management Institute's (PMI (R)) David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award. Following in the footsteps of its popular predecessor, this second edition provides an easy-to-follow, systematic approach to conducting Lessons Learned on a project. Updated to align with the PMBOK (R) Guide, Fifth Edition Includes three new chapters-PRINCE2 (R), Agile Retrospectives, and Knowledge Transfer- in response to information requests from readers of the first edition from around the world Enhanced with valuable new resources in the Project Evaluation Resource Kit (PERK) found on the downloadable resources, including a fully functional MS Access Lessons Learned Database The research in this book is based on four years of doctoral dissertation research and is supported by renowned experts in the field of evaluation. The concepts covered are applicable to all types of organizations that implement projects and need to conduct Lessons Learned. Providing tools and techniques for active engagement, the text is founded on the principles of conducting project evaluations as recommended by the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading not-for-profit membership association for the project management profession, and PRINCE2 (R) (Project in Controlled Environments version 2), a major governing body of project management. Simplifying and formalizing the methodology of conducting LL in projects, the contents of this book will help organizations, large and small, more effectively implement processes and systems to support effective LL. The text is supported by a Project Evaluation Resource Kit (PERK), which is found in the downloadable resources.

The Workforce Engagement Equation is for the hands-on leaders engaged in the frontline of affecting change-those who bear the scars of past failed initiatives yet continue to persevere. Describing the science behind the "Art of Managing" process improvement, it will help you bridge the gap between strategy and tactics and allow you to take concrete action to control ongoing operations sustainably. This step-by-step guide lays out the principles, tools, and techniques that have proven effective in leading and managing the "people side" of process improvement. The book demystifies the complexity of organizational change with easy-to-understand explanations, intuitive graphics, and real-world examples. Filled with helpful practical knowledge, such as the Seven Cardinal Sins of Change Leadership, it will help you assess exactly where your organization is along the change continuum and what actions will help propel your organization to higher levels of organizational effectiveness. Presents methods that can be applied in any organization and situation Supplies guidance on how to build systems and implement performance metrics Offers solutions to real-world problems Integrates powerful concepts from multiple disciplines Aiding your ability to select and apply effective management and leadership techniques that will work best in your situation, The Workforce Engagement Equation provides you with the tools to make a difference in the performance of your organization and the engagement of your workforce. To help you construct your own organizational vessel and navigate the murky waters of organizational change, the text includes downloadable resources with each assessment, form, template, and example project plan contained in the book.

Discusses industrial impact of manufacturing process Provides novel fundamental manufacturing solutions Teaches classical and artificial manufacturing Covers advanced manufacturing of antennas, rectennas, filters, and RF amplifiers

A hands-on guide to adapting Lean principles and the Toyota Production System to high-mix/low-volume environments, Lean Production for the Small Company uses charts, pictures, and easy-to-understand language to describe the methods needed to improve processes and eliminate waste. It walks readers through the correct order of implementation and describes problems and pitfalls along with time-tested solutions. Explaining how to incorporate existing systems into a Lean strategy, the book starts with the fundamentals and builds on them to describe the full range of tools and processes needed to implement Lean. It outlines how to design factories for Lean manufacturing and demonstrates how to remove variations within business and manufacturing processes to achieve a smooth continuous flow of product that delivers your product on time to customers. The tools, methods, and ideals discussed are applicable in any industry and all parts of your business from manufacturing and sales to human resources. The text unveils new methods and tools that can help you reduce inventory, improve inventory turns, and facilitate raw material flow through the factory. It details how to use customer order demands to schedule the production floor, rather than using estimated production schedules. It also considers the accounting process and explains how to improve your cash-to-cash cycle time. Drawing on the author's decades of experience transforming high-mix plants to Lean, the text brings together coverage of the tools and processes that have made Toyota so successful. All the chapters in this book, when implemented, will result in a culture change that will transform your company into a learning organization that continuously eliminates waste and improves its processes.

Bring Lean Improvements to the Administrative Areas of Your Organization! Extending their eight-step process to the realization of a lean office, Tapping and Shuker use a customer service case studyto illustrate the effectiveness of the value stream storyboard.This popular volume provides organizations with a proven system for implementing lean principles in the office. In addition to providing a thorough overview of basic lean concepts, this book details methods for identifying the administrative activities in need of attention. To address these, it applies the eight-step process for removing waste and reorganizing workflow. Accompanying the book are downloadable resources containing a lean assessment tool, a storyboard template, charts, a team charter, and worksheets. Along with this book you receive downloadable resources containing a lean assessment tool, a storyboard template, useful charts, a team charter, forms, reports, and worksheets!

Your customers have become increasingly sophisticated and more connected than ever-broadcasting real-time feedback to a cloud of followers who are watching your every move. As savvy customers continue to demand more for less, organizations that choose to rest on their laurels will quickly see their market share evaporate. Gemba Walks for Service Excellence: The Step-by-Step Guide for Identifying Service Delighters guides readers on a journey towards organizational effectiveness that supports a culture of service excellence. It provides a fresh perspective on how to apply Gemba Walks-visiting the areas where the service provider interacts directly with the customer-to identify new service delighters and make a lasting positive impression on customers.Using an abundance of color pictures and hand-drawn graphics, Robert Petruska builds on his considerable experience implementing Lean and quality systems to demonstrate how to create the infrastructure required for service excellence to flourish. Presented in an easy-to-follow format that anyone in the service industry can enjoy, this workbook: Shares proven techniques used in Lean manufacturing that can easily be applied to the service industry Guides new employees and veterans alike through a journey filled with real-life stories that inspire confidence Contains hands-on exercises that allow you to immediately apply the ideas to your own work Includes downloadable resources with innovative "placemats" designed to provide stepping stones on a development path for your team to achieve a competitive advantage Filled with real-world examples and stories of service excellence, the book will help you develop the counterintuitive thinking needed to discover new sources of customer delight. Designed to be used with your entire team, this workbook will guide your organization, step by step, through a plan for assessing, prioritizing, and implementing innovative ideas that will lead to unprecedented levels of service excellence.

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award! At the heart of Lean and Six Sigma is the same, unique business operating system: hoshin kanri. It is a method of strategic planning and a tool for managing complex projects, a quality operating system geared to ensuring that organizations faithfully translate the voice of the customer into new products, and a business operating system that ensures reliable profit growth. The true power of hoshin kanri, however, is two-fold -- it is a superior organizational learning method as well as a competitive resource development system. Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise, by Tom Jackson, explains how you can implement, identify and manage the critical relationships among your markets, design characteristics, production systems, and personnel to satisfy your customers and beat your competition. This practical workbook provides- A new understanding of hoshin kanri as a grand experimental design implemented through a system of team agreements. Clear explanations of the steps of hoshin kanri. A measure of overall business effectiveness used to determine the focus of corporate strategy. A new, improved X-matrix that incorporates a lean "balanced scorecard" for identifying improvement opportunities and converting them readily into bottom line results as a value stream P&L in terms that financial managers and accountants can understand and support. Downloadable resources containing forms, meeting agendas, and examples of X-matrices that serve marketing and design engineering as well as manufacturing. This workbook will show you the mechanics of implementing hoshin kanri, so that you can systematically improve your brand equity, implement Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma, and integrate your suppliers into a Lean and Six Sigma organization.

While it is a given that most Lean companies adopt methods to standardize cyclical activities, they often fail to apply the same rigor to noncyclical work, believing that it cannot be measured. Standardized Work for Noncyclical Processes cuts to the core of this mistaken belief and shows you how to measure nonrepeating job processes and eliminate waste associated with noncyclical activities. Taking a hands-on approach reflective of his time as an operator on the line, Joseph Niederstadt lays out the methods he has instituted successfully in more than 30 factories around the world. He defines and details a proven process for building consistent quality products at reduced costs, and includes coverage of activities involving multiple machine job setters, maintenance, stockers, and quality auditors. When implemented correctly this method can help you increase utilization to 85 percent through intelligent data collection. Presenting a wealth of process charts and visual reference tools, the book illustrates how to: Identify abnormalities and waste Foster teamwork and knowledge sharing Promote a safe work environment Ensure a balanced workload Establish a baseline for continuous improvements Throughout the text, the author references blank forms and offers numerous examples of what the forms should look like when populated with the proper data. The downloadable resources include e-versions of all the forms, as well as color versions of images found in the text. "Where there is no standard, there is no improvement."-Taichi Ohno, Toyota

In Using Hoshin Kanri to Improve the Value Stream, leading lean and quality expert Elizabeth Cudney constructs a complete how-to guide that any organization can employ to start a Lean effort correctly and keep it on track. Rooted in practical examples garnered over years of hand-on practice, she illustrates the key principles of lean and value, and then shows you how to put them to work. Cudney points out that organizations often fail at improvement because they go after symptomatic problems rather than the faulty system-wide processes at the root of those problems. She shows you how to avoid this common misstep by using value stream mapping to create a current-state map. Done properly, this map will help everyone in your organization come to understand just how they deliver value to customers and where flawed processes cause them to fall short. The next step is to create a future-state map that defines best processes. While that may seem easy, reaching the goals of future-state maps requires a highly disciplined effort. At this point, Hoshin Kanri -- the art of policy deployment can make a crucial impact. Hoshin Kanri encourages a systems approach that focuses on the long-term strategy of an organization. As much as defining a methodology, it inspires a positive mindset within your organization by starting with improvements that affect flow across the entire organization. In addition to improving the delivery of value, changes with broad impact will catch people s attention, encourage their involvement and increase the momentum of improvement. Chapter by chapter, this book defines the key tools, such as Six Sigma, 5S, and mistake proofing, that your organization can employ to initiate needed process improvements.

Dee Hockenberry brings home some of the world's favorite storybook characters and cuddle partners in a pictorial review of teddy bears and dolls. Enjoy Raggedy Ann and Andy, Beatrix Potter's delightful creatures, the Golliwog, all the absurd characters from Alice in Wonderland, and Winnie-the-Pooh and his adventurous pals. Explore the bear's evolution since first made famous, and welcomed indoors, by Teddy Roosevelt. Punkinhead, Paddington, and storybook characters like The Three Bears and The Busy Bears are pictured and described. A collectors guide, this book provides current values for memorabilia about these lovable characters in their many incarnations.

With the increased presence of nanomaterials in commercial products such as cosmetics and sunscreens, fillers in dental fillings, water filtration process, catalysis, photovoltaic cells, bio-detection, a growing public debate is emerging on toxicological and environmental effects of direct and indirect exposure to these materials. Nanomaterials: A Danger or a Promise? forms a balanced overview of the health and environmental issues of nanoscale materials. By considering both the benefits and risks associated with nanomaterials, Nanomaterials: A Danger or a Promise? compiles a complete and detailed image of the many aspects of the interface between nanomaterials and their real-life application. The full cycle of nanomaterials life will be presented and critically assessed to consider and answer questions such as: How are nanomaterials made? What they are used for? What is their environmental fate? Can we make them better? Including coverage of relevant aspects about the toxicity of manufactured nanomaterials, nanomaterials life cycle, exposure issues, Nanomaterials: A Danger or a Promise? provides a comprehensive overview of the actual knowledge in these fields but also presents perspectives for the future development of a safer nanoscience. This comprehensive resource is a key reference for students, researcher, manufacturers and industry professionals alike.

From the Author's Preface
Ceramic sensors have been in use for more than thirty years. Since ceramics exhibit a number of specific characteristics that enable their cost to become lower and their reliability to increase, they have occupied a significant position in sensor technology. This is why many companies and universities have directed their efforts towards investigating and developing new ceramic sensors and expanding their areas of application.
To the best of our knowledge.., there has been] no book treating different sensors on the basis of their common physical and chemical properties, technological principles, and applications. This book is] a detailed survey of ceramic sensors and a generalization of the results achieved in this field so far. Ceramic sensors for different physical quantities are discussed without going too deep into theory...
The concept of ceramic sensors includes all sensors that are produced using ceramic technology. It also covers thick film sensors, since from a structural and technological point of view, they can be regarded as a variety of ceramic sensors. The subject of scientific research in this book is humidity, gas. temperature, and pressure sensors on the basis of semiconductor and dielectric ceramic materials and solid electrolytes.
Special attention is paid to the physical and chemical, as well as the technological, bases of ceramic sensors, their classification, the types of materials used..., the methods of controlling their parameters and characteristics, the areas of application, and the electric circuits for connecting the sensors.

The book contains high quality papers presented in conference Recent Advances in Mechanical Infrastructure (ICRAM-2019) held at IITRAM, Ahmedabad, India from 20-21 April, 2019.The topics covered in this book are recent advances in thermal infrastructure, manufacturing infrastructure and infrastructure planning and design.