PlantSuccess Newsletter
Volume III, Issue 3
5 February 2003
Dear Subscriber:
I was a teenager when Sputnik I
was launched in October 1957 and beat the US in an important test of power,
commitment and ideology. The space race began in earnest when US plans were
accelerated. Concern was heightened a month later with the launch of Sputnik
2 and even more so in early December when the first US effort exploded on
the launch pad. Finally, Explorer I was launched the last day of January
1958. The next eight months recorded one success and five failures with
launches of the Vanguard Series and only 2 of 4 successes in the Explorer
Series.
Despite these failures or, perhaps
because of them, the seminal event in the US space program for 1958 was the
October announcement of NASA and the man-in-space-program, Project Mercury,
with the following objectives:
In April, 1959, just 18 months after
Sputnik I, NASA introduced one of the worlds greatest collection of heroes:
Mercury Seven -- the first selection of astronauts. I was in college during the
Mercury Program flights -- no class could compete with live TV coverage of the
launch or recovery and, as I recall, the greatest concern was with the return.
Two years later, in a Special Message to the
Congress on Urgent National Needs and what was to become one of his most
famous speeches, President Kennedy proclaimed, I believe that this
nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single
space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more
important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so
difficult or expensive to accomplish.
Of course, we all knew that some of
this expense must be in the loss of human life. The space program has survived
several close calls and, given the high risk and exposure, we should be
grateful that the sacrifice has not been greater. A couple of years ago,
Intergraph treated many of us to a presentation by Gene Kranz, flight
director and head of the tiger team that was responsible in April 1970 for
bringing the three Apollo 13 astronauts back to Earth alive. Kranz book,
Failure Is Not An Option is great reading regardless of your profession.
I shared the gloom and sorrow of so
many as I watched TV coverage of the Columbia space shuttle, an abnormal
fireball in the sky, just 16 minutes before the end of a 16-day mission. Our
prayers and heartfelt thanks go to their families and friends. I believe we
need to heed their words and learn what happened, make sure it cant happen
again, and continue space exploration its what the astronauts would want as
well.
I was fortunate to listen to the
radio broadcast on January 28th, as shuttle commander Rick
Husband participated in a moving tribute to the Challenger crew of
seven who perished just 73 seconds into their launch from Kennedy Space
Center on that fateful morning 17 years earlier. The tribute also was
directed at the crew of three who died January 27, 1967, in a fire on the
launch platform during a test for the first manned Apollo flight.
Saturday ended on a positive note
with a C-SPAN rebroadcast of an interview with the entire Columbia crew on
Wednesday, Mission Day 14. It is obvious that they knew they were special,
their work was important, they had sacrificed and worked incredibly hard to
reach their goal and were living their dream. It is always a pleasure to see a
group of people who enjoys their work as much as the Columbia crew showed.
Ive been to the Houston Space
Center a couple of times and look forward to visiting again when in Houston
for PlantSuccess Gulf Coast 2003, 9-10 April at the Hilton Houston NASA
Clear Lake. I hope you will join us for this conference and with visits to
all of our countrys space centers.
The conference theme is Best
Practices Driving Plant Performance. Join keynoter Doug Walker, an
executive with ExxonMobil, recently retired after an illustrious career
of 34 years, for his presentation The Environment For Competitive Success.
An abstract:
Over the years, there have been many
improvement programs that have come and gone in the chemical manufacturing
theater. All of these programs have targeted to strengthen the capability or
efficiency of the manufacturing facility. Each of these programs has probably
caused the manufacturing plant to be a little stronger. However, the constant
emphasis throughout the years for all successful manufacturers has been an
organizational thrust for cost and productivity improvement.
In this talk, Walker will discuss
the three critical aspects to being a successful chemicals manufacturer. These
three elements are:
There is a synergistic effect when
these elements are properly integrated that will lead to being a low cost
producer.
Visit www.PlantSuccess.com to:
Best regards,
Carl Howk, Chairman
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Steve Banker, service director with ARC
Advisory Group, a leading Boston-based consulting and research
organization, has written a very informative piece on the implementation of Six
Sigma methodologies as a journey to continuous improvement. READ MORE.
Effective leaders know and use a
remarkably small set of fundamental skills. In fact, these skills are so
fundamental that they may be more appropriately referred to as moves as in
dance moves, chess moves or, for that matter, magic moves. The skills they use
are not complete in and of themselves; its only through adroit combination that
they become apparent.
From an article by Robert J Thomas,
currently with Accentures Institute for Strategic Change. Originally published
in March 1996, a good paper on a topic so important doesnt lose its value and
shouldnt lose its appeal. READ
MORE.
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The PlantSuccess Newsletter
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interest and the access to previous issues of the Newsletter which are
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Full links to Volume III, Issue 3
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