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Editorial
	Editors Column
	Honda and the Toyota shadow
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Editorial|Editors Column
	RP editor Paul V. Arnold believes Honda shouldn't have to reside in Toyota's shadow.

	The Exponent
	Would privatization boost reliability?
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Drew D. Troyer, CRE, CMRP • Editorial|The Exponent
	Drew Troyer inquires if privatizing manufacturing companies is the future for U.S. manufacturing and process industries.

Features
	Advisors
	Teamwork, planning and scheduling
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Tor Idhammar • Features|Advisors
	Tor Idhammar asks, 'Is your plant running you, or are you running the plant?'

	Making sense of wrench time totals
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Doc Palmer • Features|Advisors
	The more we understand how hard it is to believe the wrench time figures, the more we see why the opportunity is hidden.

	How maintainable are your assets?
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Mark Barnes • Features|Advisors
	An effective lubrication maintenance program is built around 'three pillars' and characterized by properly engineered tasks.

	Five types of CBM programs, Part I
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: John Schultz • Features|Advisors
	Few companies are getting the full benefits from CBM. Make it your goal to get better every day in some small way.

	Gain a recruiting advantage
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: John Ha • Features|Advisors
	Your ability to successfully recruit is a major factor in determining whether or not you end up spontaneously exploding on the job.

	The importance of core competencies
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Tim Goshert • Features|Advisors
	If you wish to pursue success, you must surround yourself with others who are the best at what they do.

	Applied Reliability
	The benefits of jaw-in-shear couplings
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Krister K. Meister • Features|Applied Reliability
	These products' pluses are explained in relation to downtime, equipment design and inventory.

	The word on ultrasonic monitoring
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Alan Bandes • Features|Applied Reliability
	Ultrasound condition monitoring can help you improve asset availability, keep production on schedule and save energy.

	None
	CASE STUDY: The Honda way
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Features|None
	Maintenance and plant services 'remove the distractions' at the company's plant in Lincoln, Ala.

	Reliability In Action
	IR inspection helps avoid catastrophe
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Features|Reliability In Action
	An effective infrared inspection program avoided a major situation on a transformer.

Web Exclusives
	None
	Fast tips for high-speed machining
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: David R. Butcher, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	Demands for ever-shorter lead and production times, lower costs and improved quality make high-speed machining as important in today’s machine shops as it was a decade ago. Yet even now, machinists continue to face challenges due to the many factors involved in high-speed machining operations.

	Ford accelerates nanotechnology work into lightweight metals
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Ford Motor Company is using one of the most advanced laboratory devices in North America to accelerate its nanotechnology research into lighter-weight metals and plastics with greater strength, ultimately helping improve the safety and fuel economy of its cars and trucks.

	Indirect procurement: The challenges and how to make it work
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: David R. Butcher, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	More manufacturers are choosing to outsource the procurement of indirect (MRO) materials, and because of that, are experiencing reduced process costs, accelerated sourcing times and an improved ability to manage supplier performance.

	Robots help Toblerone scale new heights of productivity
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	When Kraft Foods launched a new product concept – individually wrapped, bite-size pieces of Toblerone chocolate candy – for the company’s plant in Bern, Switzerland, it chose an innovative robotics packaging solution. Read this interesting case study.

	Maintenance tools: A comprehensive safety guide
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Tools are such a common part of a maintenance technician’s job that it is difficult to remember that they may pose hazards. All tools are manufactured with safety in mind but, tragically, a serious accident often occurs before steps are taken to search out and avoid or eliminate tool-related hazards.

	Management by standing still: Learning to see
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Mike Wroblewski • Web Exclusives|None
	In order to seek understanding, we need to move away from Management By Walking Around and move toward Management By Standing Still. Columnist Mike Wroblewski provides his always insightful viewpoint on the subject of plant-floor lean.

	Bill Gates speaks out on U.S. competitiveness
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Fred White, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	Microsoft’s chairman acknowledges that “many of the most important advances in computing, healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing and many other fields” have originated in the U.S. However, his pride is mixed with deep anxiety.

	ZF finds lean is the path to performance improvement
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	This case study chronicles the implementation of lean at ZF SSO’s facility in Vernon Hills, Ill. As company vice president Tim Corcoran explains it, “We’ve come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Applying lean thinking has changed everything here at ZF SSO. We’re an organization with a shared vision, working within a structure of simple, yet optimized activities and processes. For us, lean is the only game in town.”

	The skinny on lean: Three days of lean learning, best practices
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	An all-star lineup of speakers will present lean manufacturing case studies and research reports at our international conference May 15-17 in Louisville. Check out who will be speaking and read synopses of all of the lean track sessions.

	Manufacturers must be fully connected and integrated
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Fred White, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	Technological advances permit maximum connectedness in manufacturing. If the plant you work at hasn’t integrated all areas, the ability to report for compliance or track for recalls may not be fully realized.

	Hand tools deserve respect for safety sake
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Hand tools are extensions of our hands. When we misuse our hands, we experience pain. When we misuse hand tools, the possibility of injury to ourselves or people working around us increases considerably. Furthermore, using a tool incorrectly can damage the tool or even cause the tool to fail.

	Change management solution helps meet regulatory requirements
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Utilities today must comply with strict security and operational procedures to reduce or eliminate potential for catastrophic mishaps. For Colorado Springs Utilities, complying with these regulations and conducting a critical analysis of its automation control practices and policies was no easy task.

	Facilities manager at power utility derails pigeons
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: R.W. Delaney • Web Exclusives|None
	When you work for a large, publicly owned electric utility, your job and reputation are always on the line. Second-guessing is not uncommon, and managers can take heavy flak for the decisions they make and the actions they take.

	Carver, Ford took early lead in biofuel development
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Though worlds apart, George Washington Carver and Henry Ford shared a vision of a future in which agricultural products would be put to new uses to create products and industries. One idea both men worked on more than 60 years ago – biofuels – is again in vogue as America seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

	Realize the benefits of Design, Operate, Maintain thinking today
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: Christian Klingspoor, IFS AB • Web Exclusives|None
	Industrial facility designers and those who operate and maintain those facilities need to work together closely if plant efficiency and business profitability are to improve over time. Author Christian Klingspoor provides an analysis and solutions.

	Intelligent sensor networks can cut maintenance cost, downtime
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Aircraft and spacecraft are complex vehicles whose maintenance requires time-consuming and expensive manual inspections. But a suite of new technologies, such as sensor-actuator networks, can enable Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), a revolutionary method for automatically assessing the integrity of complex structures.

	Easton engineers are redefining the 'sweet spot'
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	To commemorate the start of spring training, we provide this article, which chronicles the work of folks like Larry Carlson, an engineer at Easton Sports. Carlson’s job is to produce baseball bats with the fewest vibrations and the "sweetest" hitting sensation for the batter.

	Safe use of hand-held tools
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	To avoid accidents in the workplace resulting from the incorrect use of hand tools, it is important that workers understand proper usage guidelines. This handy article also includes a quiz on hand tool safety.

	The full details on OSHA’s new electrical standard
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently published a final rule that outlines safety changes in the design and installation of electric equipment in the workplace. This article includes an opportunity to view a free Webcast on the subject.

	Statistical analysis increases yield, throughput
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	Findus, a leading international frozen food processor, sought to increase yield, decrease weight variation, optimize the use of its equipment and increase productivity.

	Noise reduction system offers quiet ride for automakers
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None

	How to get top shop equipment efficiency
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: David R. Butcher, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	Top shops are twice as likely to use formal continuous improvement programs – 51 percent of the top shops have formal programs in place compared with 27.4 percent of all other shops. Additionally, 88.2 percent of the top shops use lean manufacturing techniques, while half that number (41.1 percent) of all other shops do. Reduced cycle times are a result of those programs.

	Mission and milestone: The Baldrige Award at age 20
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, established in 1987, has come to be recognized as a cornerstone of quality improvement philosophy and practice in the United States and around the world.

	Setup reduction: Quick die change challenges and solutions
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author: David R. Butcher, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives|None
	Quick changeover reduces the time it takes to change a line or machine from running one product to the next. One of the cornerstones of an efficient stamping operation is its ability to perform die changes in less than 10 minutes. Successful implementation of quick changeover is a competitive advantage for any manufacturer that produces, prepares, processes or packages a variety of products.

	Erie Plastics pushes lean, plant efficiency with ERP system
	• Issue: 3/2007 • Author:  • Web Exclusives|None
	A Pennsylvania-based injection molder has advanced the ultra-lean manufacturing agenda of its 465,000-square-foot facility by completing installation of an enterprise resource planning system.