The Engineering of Continuous Improvement

[TheBigDog]

As I sit and type this I am in a clown costume. The white gloves, while being critical the the overall look I am trying to acheive, do not help with the use of the keyboard. That is an example of seeing room for improvement, and taking it. If I remove the gloves I will type more accuratly, and thus spend less time making corrections for keying letters incorrectly.

All things that go from theory to application go through this process. Engineers are challenged with Cost, Quality and Efficiency in bringing any item to market. Turning out a product by the same methods that are used in a laboratory are most often so prohibitive in all three of these areas that there is a thought revolution that takes place in the process of actually taking a new invention, and then turning it into a reliable and affordable product. The engineers behind this process often go unheralded, but it is their ingenuity that bridges the gap between cool unafordable idea, and available to the common man. And I would guess that a good chunk of patents are not in the area of new products, but in the area of improved product fabrication techniques and tools.

This thread is dedicated to the discussion of Improvement. And the constant evolution of engineering to make products more affordable, available, reliable and fun.

Feel free to post examples. I will be posting some over the weekend.

Bill

[Sly]

The sounds that noisy products make needs to be reused :/

A quiet, more efficient diesel generator... drool...

[InfiniteNow]

Hmmm... The mouse as an input device for computers is, for sure, a great improvement.

[Jay-qu]

Keg dispensers

[moo]

A lot of heat energy is wasted, with a large portion being from standard (gas/diesel) vehicle exhaust systems.

Some type of heat engine (free piston stirling perhaps?) could use this exhaust heat and probably generate enough electricity to supply all the vehicle's electrical needs, thereby contributing to fuel economy.

moo

[HydrogenBond]

Besides economic motivations for continuous improvement there are also lawful motivations for continuous improvements. For example, if the EPA decided CO2 emissions in cars needed to be lowered, even if it was not initially economically feasible, there would still be a strong arm incentive for creative improvement. These seed ideas, will eventually, lead to spin off ideas that create economic improvements.

Argumentively the biggest source of continuous improvement has been war. When it comes down to life and death, there is no amount of money that is too much to spend. At the same time, engineers become patriots and give it their all for the common good, i.e., Manhattan Project. Much of this technology filters into the private sector during peace time, rebooting the countries depleted coffers. The state of national defense during peacetime, limits the amount of resources and patriotism involved shifting the burden of change onto the miltary subcontractors. This will tend to slow the rate of continuous change.

[akahenaton]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

Besides economic motivations for continuous improvement there are also lawful motivations for continuous improvements. For example, if the EPA decided CO2 emissions in cars needed to be lowered, even if it was not initially economically feasible, there would still be a strong arm incentive for creative improvement. These seed ideas, will eventually, lead to spin off ideas that create economic improvements.

Argumentively the biggest source of continuous improvement has been war. When it comes down to life and death, there is no amount of money that is too much to spend. At the same time, engineers become patriots and give it their all for the common good, i.e., Manhattan Project. Much of this technology filters into the private sector during peace time, rebooting the countries depleted coffers. The state of national defense during peacetime, limits the amount of resources and patriotism involved shifting the burden of change onto the miltary subcontractors. This will tend to slow the rate of continuous change.

Gosh Darn it, This Man is about 99.99% correct, and I love it too!
HAHAHAHAR....