“If you strive for more relevant innovation or want to outpace your competition, this book is for you.” —Roger Johnson, Senior Vice President of Product Design and Engineering, Keurig Dr Pepper When a company can get its best ideas to market faster, its leaders can be confident that their most important strategic decisions will be executed faithfully, and their visions for the company’s future will be realized. They are also able to be agile in response to market changes, pursue new opportunities, and achieve ambitious plans for growth. High Velocity Innovation will show how companies accelerate growth with: The strategic elements that pull innovation from their best people A framework for driving innovation that overcomes roadblocks, cultural barriers, and the pressure to sustain the current business Leadership models and metrics for building high accountability and responsiveness into innovation systems A roadmap for accelerating innovation across your business, no matter where you are now Businesses like yours can establish strategies, systems, processes, and tools that build innovation velocity by addressing the root causes that lead to innovation disappointments. To succeed, your best ideas need solid execution without launch delays, budget overruns, or poor product/market fit. Not every idea will succeed—and not every idea should succeed. But a company’s best ideas can be identified and accelerated with High Velocity Innovation.
Lean is an essential way of working in a world that is accelerating and becoming more complex. It revalues the human dimension in the company by encouraging individual thinking and initiative and gives meaning to teams that are more and more challenged by competitiveness and innovation. This book is designed as a travel guide. The first part includes all the traditional sections from the ‘front end’ of a travel guide, including some basic vocabulary, tips, and a historical section about some of the pioneers of Lean in Engineering. The journey begins in the second part, which explains a number of Lean Engineering practices in some detail and the best itineraries to develop better products, discussing the underlying intentions and offering advice for implementation. Numerous concrete cases illustrate this part with case material drawn from the authors’ own experiences. Part Three is a brief guide to where and how to get started. Currently, there are no books on Lean Engineering written by practising engineers who have themselves experienced the adjustment of Lean principles to the business and challenges of new product development. The authors describe tools and practices that have already been widely tested and improved by many engineers with different cultures and skills in the Thales Group and other companies. Lean Engineering as we describe it has thus been able to demonstrate its effectiveness for several years. In addition, the authors describe new unique practices invented within the framework of their activities and which thus do not exist anywhere else (e.g., causal influence diagram (CID), Pull-Scheduling Board).
“The most thorough, accurate, user-friendly, well-organized and inspiring guide for writers on the market today. Period.”—Richard Carlson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff This expert guide has put the dream of acquiring a publisher within reach for thousands of writers. Whether your book idea is a completed manuscript or still in the planning stages, The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book offers comprehensive, industry-savvy guidance on the steps to take to sell your book to a major publisher. Literary agents often advise their clients to read this book as their first step. Susan Page is the author of several bestselling self-help books, and a veteran of the publishing industry. Here, she’ll guide you step-by-step through the roadblocks that stall other writers and help you toward a publishing strategy that gets results. You’ll find in-depth information on the early steps to take, writing title ideas, developing winning book proposals, finding an agent, understanding publishing contracts, promoting your book, and more. Throughout the process, Page coaches you through both the emotional and practical obstacles you’re likely to face. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in a career as a published author. “Page, as her subtitle claims, really does tell you what you need to know to get happily published. This self-help author (If I’m So Wonderful, Why Am I Still Single?) knows what she’s talking about, whether she’s advising on how to write a book proposal, find an agent or promote one’s book . . . This is one of the more instructive guides to read before writing your book.”—Publishers Weekly
The current chemical engineering curriculum concentrates on process: the efficient manufacturing in quantity of traditional chemical products such as ammonia and benzene. However, many chemical companies now invent and manufacture specialty products with particular properties such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and electronic coatings, and their employees need to know how to design the products as well as manufacture them. James Wei, a famous chemical engineer, is writing this book to provide theories and case studies in product engineering the design of new, useful products with desired properties. The first section relates historical case studies of successful product invention and development by individuals and companies. The second part of the book describes the toolbox of molecular structure-property relations. A desired product needs to have certain properties (for example, phase transition or thermal properties) and the chemist must find or design a molecular structure with the required properties This section will instruct chemists in the analysis of structure and property information. The third section is concerned with the next stage: product research and design. It will discuss improving the desired product by additives and blending, among other strategies. It will also cover future challenges in product engineering.
Why is it executives with great pedigree, great work ethic and great products lead teams that often under perform? Why is it some without the advantages of others seem to outperform the competition, get promoted more rapidly with far greater results? The answer is like most answers, it is right in front of your nose, but from an early age we have been socialized to ignore it to ensure acceptance.Once you have read through this articulate and inviting short work, you will be surprised this has not been driven home before...and once you understand this key piece to success both you and your company will be far more impactful and effective.The authors present, in a very down to earth and compelling manner the insights they have from distinctly different perspectives. One is a leading consultant who brings the unusual combination of a traditional MBA with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. The second is an individual who was promoted through the ranks of one of America's best led Multi-national corporations to the role of president and COO.Any aspiring executive and indeed any current executive looking to hone their route to success will find this delightfully written book with its many examples a refreshing, if counter-intuitive look in the mirror. And if you are like most, will say "I knew that, and it gave me a powerful reminder of a basic principle responsible for many of the issues I face in my business and personal life."
For more than 40 years, Computerworld has been the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (Computerworld.com), twice-monthly publication, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world's largest global IT media network.
For those setting out on a postretirement career as well as those choosing self-employment after job loss, this guide provides targeted information for the legal, financial, administrative, technological, psychological, and family concerns specific to entrepreneurship after the age of 50. With an enlightening combination of real-world advice and...
The classic textbook on comparative biomechanics—revised and expanded Why do you switch from walking to running at a specific speed? Why do tall trees rarely blow over in high winds? And why does a spore ejected into air at seventy miles per hour travel only a fraction of an inch? Comparative Biomechanics is the first and only textbook that takes a comprehensive look at the mechanical aspects of life—covering animals and plants, structure and movement, and solids and fluids. An ideal entry point into the ways living creatures interact with their immediate physical world, this revised and updated edition examines how the forms and activities of animals and plants reflect the materials available to nature, considers rules for fluid flow and structural design, and explores how organisms contend with environmental forces. Drawing on physics and mechanical engineering, Steven Vogel looks at how animals swim and fly, modes of terrestrial locomotion, organism responses to winds and water currents, circulatory and suspension-feeding systems, and the relationship between size and mechanical design. He also investigates links between the properties of biological materials—such as spider silk, jellyfish jelly, and muscle—and their structural and functional roles. Early chapters and appendices introduce relevant physical variables for quantification, and problem sets are provided at the end of each chapter. Comparative Biomechanics is useful for physical scientists and engineers seeking a guide to state-of-the-art biomechanics. For a wider audience, the textbook establishes the basic biological context for applied areas—including ergonomics, orthopedics, mechanical prosthetics, kinesiology, sports medicine, and biomimetics—and provides materials for exhibit designers at science museums. Problem sets at the ends of chapters Appendices cover basic background information Updated and expanded documentation and materials Revised figures and text Increased coverage of friction, viscoelastic materials, surface tension, diverse modes of locomotion, and biomimetics