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Designing human-machine interfaces for mobile devices
Joseph Zulick Science & TechnologyWell-designed human-machine interfaces (HMI) reduce operator error, saving companies millions of dollars by reducing down-time and increasing worker safety. HTML5 programming enables the transfer of HMI designs to mobile devices, but programming is just the enabler. Let's learn some best practices for HMI design elements that are specific to mobile devices due to size and interface considerations.
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Welcoming Gen Z into the workplace
Linchi Kwok Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementGen Z, also known as the iGen or post-millennials, has grown up. Born between 1996 and 2010, Gen Z makes up 32 percent of the world's population. They are young, they are energetic, and they are driven. They are now joining other generations in the workplace. As Gen Z is different from the previous generations, their expectations may or may not align with other generations, especially millennials. With what they want in mind, companies must adjust their recruitment strategies in attracting the top talents in Gen Z.
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Employment grows by 201,000 in August; jobless rate stays at 3.9 percent
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementNonfarm payroll jobs increased 201,100 in August vs. 157,000 in July, as the unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent for the second straight month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. With a labor force of over 150 million, job gains occurred in professional and business services, healthcare, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and mining. In August, the number of jobless workers, 6.2 million, was little changed. For major groups of workers, unemployment rates showed scant movement between August and July.
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Is a ‘new’ NAFTA in the cards?
Seth Sandronsky ManufacturingThe U.S. and Mexico have reached an initial agreement to change the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). What we also know is that many eyes are Canada, the third nation in NAFTA, now. "It would surprise me if Canada remained outside the agreement," Martin Hart-Landsberg, an author and economics professor at Lewis and Clark College, told MultiBriefs. While details of the new NAFTA remain largely unknown, it appears that there are some improvements.
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Heads-up: Safety and liability in manufacturing
Delany Martinez ManufacturingInnovation in manufacturing has made for surprisingly even footing among rivals in a variety of industries. The last remaining point of competition for market share, some argue, is found in speed and efficiency: even if two companies are making the same products, the business that gets the products made and shipped more quickly is the ostensible winner in the battle for consumer wallets. That intense focus on speed and volume, however, can come at a high cost for companies that don't tread carefully.
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IoT implementation sails into wind power
Joseph Zulick EngineeringA wind energy structure in the North Sea lost its main turbine housing earlier this year, prompting engineers to determine that all 206 units of this size in the sea might need to be examined and refitted. The North Sea is the most violent wind and current area to have giant turbine farms in trouble like this, but other regions are having maintenance problems as well. The role of predictive maintenance in design engineering for these giant pieces of infrastructure jumps up the importance ladder every time a customer adds megawatts to the overall scheme.
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Can bioplastics help solve the world’s plastic disposal problem?
Bill Becken EngineeringThe world’s conventional polymers, derived from petroleum feedstocks, have outstanding benefits, such as durability, convenience and low costs. But they are largely unsustainable. It has become a consensus: Plastics are having a materially distressing, foreboding impact on the environment. Sustainable polymers (aka bioplastics) address those shortcomings while trying to maintain conventional polymers’ incredible, undeniable virtues. To have newer, sustainable plastics match those traits, at the same cost, will be a tall order. But maybe, just maybe, it can be done.
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How the Internet of Things is expected to influence engineering and manufacturing
Joseph Zulick ManufacturingThe Internet of Things is creating a 3-D map of your workplace, and it knows you have been taking too many coffee breaks. Every 15 minutes? Seriously, stop. In this connected map, devices, machines and business processes are linked. The potential of sensors embedded in new and legacy production equipment to deliver actionable indicators to decision-makers is at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution. Engineers and designers today are now challenged with a new task: how to perceive value and communicate the benefits of tech adoption for consumers and companies alike.
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Nanotechnology: The new frontier for plastics
Don Rosato EngineeringNot since the discovery of the silicon chip has there been this much excitement in the field of physics and material sciences. Innumerable universities have established nanocenters, with many receiving industrial funding and sponsorship, and a large number of these spawning nanomaterial-related entrepreneurial businesses spun out as the fruits of academic research. Private industry and governments around the world are investing billions of dollars, rushing to exploit the small world that has been defined as materials under 100 nanometers in size.
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Dying man awarded $289 million as Monsanto faces more lawsuits
Michelle R. Matisons Science & TechnologyOver the years, more and more people have come to know the name "Monsanto" as synonymous with new industrial agriculture and genetically modified food. As a company, it is responsible for many products perceived as dangerous, including Roundup, the notorious weedkiller. Lawsuits have always grown around Monsanto like untreated weeds, but the courtroom tide is turning in favor of the public. Recently, a 46-year-old California school pest control manager with non-Hodgkin lymphoma won a $289 million settlement against the company.
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