PlantSuccess Newsletter
Volume III, Issue 10
30 April 2003
Dear Subscriber:
The uncertainty
of a war in Iraq is obviously history. The triumphal march to Baghdad was accomplished
in less time with fewer casualties to coalition military and civilians than forecast
by even the most optimistic. The pessimistic could be advised to learn more about
the capabilities of their military and country.
Between 1964
and 1975, 2.5 million military personnel fought in Vietnam, 58,000 died; this was
not a good period of time for the US and ruined the political career of two US presidents.
My experience of four deployments to Vietnam and a war where a commitment to win
was largely absent stands in stark contrast to the coordinated highly successful
plan recently implemented in Iraq. I believe the effectiveness of this military
campaign will result in fewer wars – I hope so.
Now that Saddam’s
regime has been torn down, the building process will go on for many years with just
one benefit a new element of stability with oil supplies – an important factor when
assessing the economic strength and future of the chemicals industry.
At the recent
PlantSuccess Gulf Coast conference, innovative managers from leaders in the process
industry presented many examples of the successful implementation of information
technology in engineering that are improving plant performance. Bayer, Black
& Veatch, CDM, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eastman Chemical, Fluor, Intel, SAIC, Shell
and others are taking very aggressive actions to remain competitive and in a
strong position when market demand begins to grow again. At www.PlantSuccess.com, review their presentations
and download those that appeal to you and may contribute to your own “best practices.”
For more on
the very important field of “Knowledge Management,” visit www.PlantSuccess.com to read the review
of Book One from John Voeller’s latest series: Circle of Knowledge,
and buy the inaugural book or the entire series.
Best regards,
Carl Howk, Chairman
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Current Links
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IBM
Procurement Engineers are Involved in the Design Process
A recent article from Reed Business Information US
carries the title/subtitle: No, You Can't Use that Part; Despite benefits of working together,
corporate politics and cultural differences keep many engineers and purchasing managers
at arm's length from each other.
The premise:
The concept of creating teams to bring together design engineering
and procurement isn't exactly new. For the past decade, large companies have tinkered
with the idea. One reason: The potential benefits are so great. Since most of a
product's cost is determined during design, it seems to make sense to have a sourcing
professional involved making sure that the components come from the company's preferred
suppliers and are not near obsolescence.
The pressure to create cross-functional teams has increased through the recent
business downturn. Companies are struggling to increase productivity and become
more efficient, and many have targeted--fairly or not--the design engineering process
as inefficient and risky.
Learn how this level of collaboration is working at IBM, Honeywell, Boeing
and others. READ
MORE.
Market
researcher IDC, predicts IT spending in the US will increase 1.5 percent
this year over last year to $372 billion. During the next five years, it says, spending
is projected to increase at a modest compound annual growth rate of 4.9 percent,
reaching $467 billion by 2007.
Although not
great the numbers aren't bad when compared to the industry's 6.2 percent contraction
over the last two years.
From the Aberdeen
Group, read the synopsis on a wide variety of topics:
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Full links to Volume III, Issue 10 Newsletter articles: