Thanks for this @Chuck! Powerful stuff. I will be using this as a case study in my courses immediately. It contains all of the Systems Thinking concepts applied in a single, well defined situation. We have so many examples of the "functional build" in our culture, that it is difficult to imagine why it is not utilized more in our design and manufacturing community. "The Bad News Bears", "The Dirty Dozen", "Force 10 from Navarone", more recently, "Moneyball", the list continues. The quality and utility of a well designed system far exceeds a loose collection of perfect parts -- which is why the World Series is always more exciting than the All-Star game.
In my particular area of Laser Spectroscopy, several oscillation systems were always required to operate in concert for success. If optimization was approached linearly, step, by step, the system would NEVER work. Either the optimized configuration of the first oscillator was incompatible with the unoptimized configuration of the second oscillator or by the time the second oscillator was optimized, the first oscillator had fallen back out of tolerance. Only by coarsely adjusting all components of the system to get a tiny output could you then go back and optimize in parallel to bring the entire system up in concert -- exactly why it is taking years to bring the LHC up to full design power. Seven years after your awesome article, I don't know if we are any closer.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Labs have observed a reaction in lithium-air batteries that could help improve the design of these cells for electric vehicles and other applications.
Healthcare might seem to be an unlikely target application for the Internet of Things technology, but recent developments show small ways that big-data is going to make an impact on patient care moving into the future.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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