Liberal Arts Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Liberal Arts Studies - Essay Example It is reasonable to see corporations and communities as benefiting from the struggle and competition that Darwin saw in the animal world and applied to humans as well. With a new job opening, for example, candidates will be determined as qualified or unqualified. The qualified applicants will get the interview for the chance to prove that they are up to the task and capable of doing what is required. Ideally, the best (or strongest) candidate based on the job description will be hired for the job. However, in the business world this is not always the case. Often the person hiring for the job will hire someone based on their personality or if they know them personally. So the most qualified or strongest applicant often does not get the job. However, ideally, a smart business person would hire the strongest and best qualified candidate. In modern society, certain jobs have been reduced or even eliminated. With the growth of technology, many professions were reduced in number while new professions were created. There are numerous examples of people who are professionals making a lot of money who are laid off and find themselves out of work and unable to get another job.

Industrial and Personnel Psychology Essay Example for Free

Industrial and Personnel Psychology Essay 1. Personal biographical characteristics of note are factors that describe an individual. Factors such as age, gender, marital status and tenure. These characteristics have an impact on the attitudes that an individual may have towards work and dependent variable such as productivity, absenteeism, and turnover and job satisfaction. The relationship between age and job performance is of great importance because it is believed that job performance decreases as age increases. Though not all employers have perceptions of older employees. From a positive perspective it is noted that older employees have more experience, judgment, ethics and commitment. In addition, with older employees, labour turnover is reduced. Because of their longer tenure within the organization they tend to enjoy increased wages, pension and many other benefits and are therefore less likely to leave. With regards to absenteeism and older employees, the evidence is however mixed. Although there are decreases in avoidable absenteeism rates compared to younger employees, there is an increase in unavoidable rates due to poor health due to age, and longer recovery periods. However from a negative point it is noted that older employees lack flexibility, there is a decrease in their productivity due to decreased speed, agility, strength and co-ordination and resistance to change in a changing environment. Consequently, organizations are reluctant to hire older employees. In addition, they tend to retrench them first when it comes to downsizing. Gender in job performance has no evidence that it affects job satisfaction. However there is a difference in work schedules because women mostly prefer part time work or work flexibility due to family responsibilities. With regards to absenteeism women usually have a higher rate of absenteeism than men as women traditionally care for the family. For example when children are sick, it is the mothers who tend to take off work in order to take care of such sick children. Married employees generally have a decrease in absenteeism, turnover and an increase in job satisfaction. This may be due to increased responsibilities. With regards to tenure, there is a positive relationship between seniority and job performance and a negative relationship between tenure and absenteeism. That is an increase in tenure and seniority tends to lead to better performance and an increase in tenure to lead to decrease in turnover. People are organization’s most valuable and expensive resource, but they are the most difficult element of an organization to manage. Individuals are almost infinitely different, they act differently in different circumstances and are, in many ways, entirely unpredictable. This means that, unlike machines, they are not interchangeable or able to be easily designed to do the jobs required of them. In terms of the organization, what we are interested in is the way in which people behave at work-that they perform effectively in pursuit of the organisation’s goals. The starting point for this is an understanding of what makes people behave in the way they do. Although psychologists do not agree on a single definition of personality, there is some consensus that it is concerned with characteristics patterns of behavior and modes of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to the environment (Hilgard et al 1979:108). Two features of the above definition are noteworthy. In the first place, the word â€Å"characteristic† suggests a degree of performance in personality. In the second place, â€Å"environment† suggests that personality is displayed in a social and physical context. Beyond this consensus, there is a great deal disagreement over the development, structure and dynamics of personality. The correct interpretation and use of the results of personality measures and tests depends a great deal on the theory or approach on which the instruments are based. Without this knowledge, the description of personality may well be miused. Personality can therefore be referred to a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. It looks at the whole person rather than at the sum of the individual parts. It is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his or her unique adjustments to his or her environment. An altogether different approach to personality concentrates on identifying and classifying those features that individuals may share. The different categories or types serve to emphasise the similarities within each group and the differences between the groups. These attempts to classify personality features are often referred to as the type or trait approach. There are a number of personality determinants, namely, Heredity, the Environment, or the Situation. Heredity is the process of transmitting biological traits from parent to offspring through genes, the basic units of heredity. Heredity also refers to the inherited characteristics of an individual, including traits such as height, eye color, and blood type. Heredity accounts for why offspring look like their parents: when two dogs mate, for example, they have puppies, not kittens. If the parents are both Chihuahuas, the puppies will also be Chihuahuas, not great Danes or Labrador retrievers. The puppies may be a little taller or shorter, a little lighter or a lot heavier than their parents are. Their faces may look a little different, or they may have different talents and temperaments. In all the important characteristics, however—the number of limbs, arrangement of organs, general size, fur type—they will share the traits of their parents. The principles of heredity hold true not only for a puppy but also for a virus, a roundworm, a pansy, or a human. Genetics is the study of how heredity works and, in particular, of genes. A gene is a section of a long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, and it carries information for the construction of a protein or part of a protein. Through the diversity of proteins they code for, genes influence or determine such traits as eye color, the ability of a bacterium to eat a certain sugar, or the number of peas in a pod. A virus has as few as a dozen genes. A simple roundworm has 5000 to 8000 genes, while a corn plant has 60,000. The construction of a human requires an estimated 50,000 genes. Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity however, as otherwise they would remain the same throughout life despite the experiences we have. Environment is referred to all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic factors), such as temperature, rainfall, day length, wind, and ocean currents. The interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic factors form an ecosystem. Even minute changes in any one factor in an ecosystem can influence whether or not a particular plant or animal species will be successful in its environment. Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. Like all other living creatures, humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have all other species. Some of these human-induced changes—such as the destruction of the world’s tropical rain forests to create farms or grazing land for cattle—have led to altered climate patterns. In turn, altered climate patterns have changed the way animals and plants are distributed in different ecosystems. Scientists study the long-term consequences of human actions on the environment, while environmentalists—professionals in various fields, as well as concerned citizens—advocate ways to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world. Situation is one of the determinants of personality which influences the effect of heredity and environment on personality. Personality, which is generally stable, often changes in different situations.  For example, we may behave very differently at a party with our friends as opposed to how we would do at a social gathering of work colleagues and our managers. 2. Attitude refers to an opinion or general feeling about something. Attitudes are, essentially feelings towards people or things. How people feel, what they believe, what they intend to do, and whether and how they do it may all be connected, and may all be related to the process of perception. To try to reduce the confusion in this area over the use of words and concepts such as â€Å"feelings† and â€Å"beliefs†, Fishbein (19670 put forward the following hierarchical model. Beliefs What we think about people, things, relationships etc â€Å"My work provides no challenge† Attitudes Affective responses to those people, things, relationships etc. â€Å"I see work only as a means to getting money† Intentions Congnitive states â€Å"I will look for my challenge in my leisure time† Behavior or Action Observable events â€Å"I take up mountaineering† Attitudes are learned. They derive from our personal reaction to information and events, which manifest themselves as beliefs and feelings about a particular subject. We learn many of our attitudes when we are very young. They are conditioned by those around us and the conditions or situations in which we find ourselves. Some-particularly feelings-are so strong that they stay with stay with us and affect us for the rest of our lives. The range of influences is complex, but it includes the following: * The groups to which we belong-most notably, in early life, the family, but also friendship groups, work groups * Education * Life experiences- particularly the most profound personal ones such as bereavement, etc. but also those experiences which we observe e. g on Tv, or read about. We are aware, too, that our attitudes change over time as a result of the influence of the above factors. For example, it is very often the case that young people have more liberal attitudes than older people, but as they enter work and acquire family and financial commitments and responsibilities they tend to become more â€Å"conservative†. One of the key elemen ts of management in organizations is how to modify or change people’s behaviour. This is central to such features as motivation, securing effective performance, introducing change, etc. whilst as noted above, attitudes do not necessarily condition behaviour, and they are a significant determinant. In organizations, managers use attitude survey to measure and thereby predict behaviour. Managers use information gathered in attitude surveys to guide them in decisions relative to employees. Attitude surveys elicit responses from employees through questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs, work- groups, supervisors and or the organization. Attitude surveys provide managers with valuable feedback on how workers perceive working conditions, and alert them to problems or employee intentions early so that action can be taken in time. Increasingly, attitudinal surveys are being used within organizations to find out about the potential reactions of staff to particular courses of action (for example, organizational change) or to form judgments about their suitability for particular posts (in a similar way to how personality tests are used). Operational methods for attitude surveys generally seek to measure fire components for each belief. Thus, attitudes to work could be measured as follows: * Strength of feeling about the job itself. The strength with which various attitudes are held about different aspects of the job which are listed, measured on perhaps a seven point scale, from â€Å"agree totally† through neutral to â€Å"disagree totally†. * Value of job to self. Evaluating various aspects of the job, again, but in relation to its meaning to the individual. * Social factors. Attitudes and behaviour do not depend on inner perceptions alone, but also upon surrounding social pressures-the person’s perceptions of what others think he/she should do. The social factors must be investigated in order to understand all the factors determining behaviour. * Overall attitude An overall assessment of the respondent’s attitudes to the contex of the job and to work itself, for example, the value and meaning it has in his/ her life. This is a useful measure as it allows more generalized attitudes to the job to be explored. * Intended behaviour Potential reactions to different scenarios about the job or its context. Although hypothetical, this prediction makes an interesting correlation with actual behaviour. Surveys must have a very clear specification of what they are seeking to measure. Just as with personality tests, there is the ever present danger that the way in which questions are phrased, or the underlying assumptions made, will influence the outcome. Job satisfaction and its opposite, job dissatisfaction, refer to the attitudes and feelings job holders have towards their work. Morale can be viewed as a state of mind dependent on the dependent on the degree of job satisfaction experienced by an individual or group. There is general agreement that job dissatisfaction can have harmful effects on both job holders and the organization. Research has associated job dissatisfaction with all the indicators of low morale-high labour turnover, skills wastage, absenteeism, high accident rates, poor timekeeping and a lack of commitment to quality. An individual with low job satisfaction may suffer frustration and stress. Although stress may arise from many quarters, it is the inability to deal with and manage stress that afflicts the individual who suffers job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is determined by a number of factors namely, mentally challenging work, equitable rewards, supportive working conditions, and supportive colleagues. Research has shown that employees prefer jobs that give them opportunities to use their abilities and skills. Characteristics such as freedom, feedback and a variety of tasks make work mentally challenging and allow employees to feel pleasure and satisfaction. On other hand, jobs that are not mentally challenging create boredom, frustration and feelings of failure. Employees want rewards (e. g. pay, promotions) that they perceive as just and in line with their expectations. Satisfaction will occur if pay is seen as based on job demands, skill and community standards. It is not the actual amount of pay that counts, but rather the perception of fairness. Individuals that also perceive promotional decisions as fair will be job satisfied. Employees are concerned with working conditions that are comfortable and that enable one to do an optimal job. Environmental factors such as temperature, light, noise should not be too extreme. Factors such as proximity to home, cleanliness, technology and adequate tools, help increase job satisfaction. As well as tangible achievements, employees also work for social interaction. Therefore having friendly and supportive co-workers and superiors also lead to increased job satisfaction. On many occasions managers’ interest in job satisfaction centers on its effect on employee performance. Therefore studies have been made to identify the relationships between satisfaction and performance. Organized studies in particular have focused on the effect of satisfaction on the dependent variables such as Productivity, Absenteeism and Turnover. There is no real proof that satisfaction leads to productivity. The saying â€Å"a happy worker is a productive worker† is wishful thinking. Often productivity leads to satisfaction and not the other way around. Productivity leads to increase in rewards, recognition, which in turn increases satisfaction. Satisfaction may lead to productivity on an organization level rather than on an individual level. Dissatisfied workers are more likely to be absent. This relationship can be affected however by sick leave benefits which might encourage workers to be absent. While satisfied employees are less likely to leave work. This can however be affected by, labour market conditions, expectations about alternative job offers and length of tenure. Level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for superior employees as more effort is made to keep these individuals. Satisfaction-turnover relationship is also affected by the individuals disposition towards life. If two people are dissatisfied the positive one is more likely to leave.

Design For Manufacturing And Assembly

Design For Manufacturing And Assembly A design process that focuses on meeting customer requirements meanwhile balancing the important aspects such as cost, quality and performance is Dfma. DFMA is an abbreviation for Design for manufacturing and assembly. It a software comprised of various principles or methods when used properly will improve the ability of design to be easily manufactured and assembled thereby decreasing the costs. This system can be divided into three major sections. The first is the raw material. Choosing the right material is the foundation of a good design. Second is the machines and processes used to work the raw material. The right process is essential for creating finished parts that will meet your design requirements. Third is the assembly of the product. It is during the assembly of the finished product that provides the greatest opportunity to apply DFMA principles. The proper use of DFMA principles will allow one to design a quality product. DFMA follows an exacting design review method It identifies the following features: -Optimal part design of the product. -Material choice. -Assembly and fabrication operations to produce an efficient and cost effective product It reveals that initial ideas may not be the most efficient in all the cases. It is a structured catalyst methodology used to analyze a design and generate ideas for further improvement. DFMA encourages concurrent engineering during product design so that product qualities exist in with both the designers and other members of the production team. It is a communication tool for the team. It is a bench marking tool. It defines the design and manufacturing capabilities of self and competitor It provides a non-threatening way to get people talking about a design without feeling like others are encroaching on their territory Einstein said â€Å" the best design is the simplest one that works â€Å". DFMA provides the cheapest way to that goal. Customer requirements and product specifications are useful for guiding the concept phase of product development. But during the later stages product design teams often have difficulty linking needs and specifications to the specific design issues. Due to this, many product design and development teams practice ‘Design for X (DFX) methodologies .The most common of these methodologies is Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA), which is an engineering philosophy used generally by design and manufacturing engineers that promotes simplifying parts and product designs to reduce production costs. Other (DFX) methodologies are DFD Design for Disassembly DFEMC Design for Electro Magnetic Compatibility DFR Design for Recycling DFE Design for the Environment DFS Design for Safety DFT Design for Test DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE: Design for manufacturing software follows a simple rule which states one can improve the efficiency of a product by minimizing the number of parts that have to be assembled so the cost of the product is efficient and easy to manufacture. This manufacturing approach is different from the traditional approach where a huge project is broken down in smaller parts (steps) and then these steps are assigned to various departments. These departments then work independently most of the time. The traditional approach enhances the specialization and functional job focus of the product devolpment. But the main drawback with the traditional approach is the market time plus various difficulties that arise in the manufacturing process. While designing a product lots of parameters have to be kept in mind ot of which that most important one which manufactures ask is can we build the product now that they have the product designed. A way to design a particular product is to make sure that the product maintenance is less, its reliable, time factor, its simple. Maintenance of a particular product shold be less or else it could cost a huge amount for maintenance. Reliability of a product is also a key factor because if the product fails consistently it makes little sense and thereby its a huge money waste to the organization. Speed is the another key factor in designing, if it take too long to make the product then it will have more and more competitors. Competitors control the market by releasing their product faster than fellow counterparts. Using few parts also increase the simplicity and saves money as well, more parts for a product increases the rate of complexity which can lead to malfunctioning of a product. The simpler the product is the fewer are its problems. Over the wall syndrome process was used before the use of DFMA process. Over the wall syndrome is a process where if an idea was generated in a company it would first have to be approved by the president of the company. It would then go then go to the manger of the process deign to be devolved into a product. If any problems would arise it would then be asked to redesign and then brought into the notice of the manager. The resolved problem would then be sent to the engineers where the work would continue where they left from. This process was a huge time consuming process because everyone is not situated in the same location and it would also take a lots of time to solve the problems. The total process sometimes could take year or more. The concept of design for manufacture was used to break these barriers and thereby reducing the time spent on designing the products. DESIGN FOR MANUCTURING has some advantages and disadvantages just like any other software. Firstly dfma tools dont take into consideration many manufacturing capabilities or tolerance. DFM has many computer based tools which nearly complete the design but when we analyze the design finally there are number of barriers which prevent substantial modification of the design.DFM uses too many tools which can increase the manufacturing costs of a product, its also gives very little feedback upon which to base the design modifications. One advantage with DFM it suggests the optimal assembly and the degree of automation. DFM can produce higher products yields through manufacturing. It also increases the performance and the predictability of the product yields.DFM analysis helps us to compare various materials and manufacturing process for the parts of the components. There is an increase in the performance and the cycle time is reduced enormously. DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY SOFTWARE Design for assembly can be defined as a analysis for improving the product design for a simplified and low cast assembly. Design for assembly main aim is to simplify the product so that the cost of assembly is reduced. By applying dfa we can also improve quality, reliability in the production equipment and the part inventory. G. boothroyd was the person who promoted the usage of DFA in the industry. The practice of dfma is a relatively recent development, but many companies have been following this process form a long time. For example, a company called general electric published its own internal manufacturing handbook as a set of guidelines for its engineers to follow. These guidelines had the same set of principle of DFA without actually distinguishing it from the rest of the product development process. Assembly methods can be divided into three different groups Manual assembly Automatic assembly Robotic assembly In manual assembly the work is mainly done manually parts are transferred from one work bench to another. Worker use different types of hand tools. This is one of the most flexible and the adaptable of the assembly methods methods. Automatic assembly follows a process where it consists of a custom built machine that assembles one and only a specific kind of a product. In this assembly large amount of investment is needed and as the production increases the total manufacturing costs decreases. These types of assembly can be only beneficial when a product is produced in bulk. Robotic assembly in this the assembly we use robotic systems. The robotic systems can take the form of a single robot or a multi station robot. Robotic assembly also involves huge capital costs. In robotic assembly the robots are normally controlled by computers, one company can have huge flexibility on different types of products in robot assembly Assembly methods are chosen by a company keeping two important parameters in mind ie time and costs. Relative costs of different assembly methods by type and production volume. Design for Assembly Vincent Chan and Filippo A. Salustri http://deed.ryerson.ca/~fil/t/dfmdfa.html Design for assembly is an experimental way to identify the unnecessary parts in a product and to determine its assembly time and costs. DFA is a software which gives the design engineers more tools to analyse various design concepts and therby creating innovative products with few and simpler parts. Using DFA software helps engineers to assess the costs of each part and then modify the product through part reduction concepts. The outcome of a DFA based design is a much well designed product with fewer parts which is both efficient and also easy to assemble. The benefits of a DFA based design are reduced part costs, improved quality and reliability, and shorter development cycles. DESIGN FOR ENVIORMENT: Design for environment is an idea of implementing various environmental friendly aspects to create a product. Design for environment helps a company to minimize the waste and also decrease the pollution thereby saving some money which can be used for other processes. Design for environment helps engineers at various stages of the manufacturing process. While selecting a manufacturing process for a product an engineer should also keep in mind various aspects such as amount of energy used, amount of energy released, process should be non toxic. These are all the various aspects an engineer also has to keep in mind other than manufacturing and assembly of the product. Dfma 2009 gives the design engineers an extra option in which they could conduct a environmental assessment during the concept stage. The analysis helps the designers to select a suitable material from the DFMA library that they prefer to use. Then the software reveals the various proportions of those materials in a particular product. It also estimates various other proportions like reuse, recycle, end of life destinations and landfill. All these measure help the company meet the requirements set up by ROHS. DESIGN FOR RECYCLING: Design for recycling en-cooperates methods such as recycling and recyclability of products to obtain recyclable products. Recycling is a process where a product or a raw material is recovered from waste stream and is reused as a raw material in the manufacturing process of a new product. When a part is recycled it does not affect or change the properties or the price of a particular product. Design for recyclability helps a manufacturing process to reduce the environmental impact of a material and by following design for recyclability large number of parts can be reused this thereby decrease the cost for raw material and thus decreasing the overall costs for manufacturing a product. DESIGN FOR SAFETY: Many companies use safety standards purely as guidelines. Although some safety equipments are costly the future savings make up for the cost invested. Safety production also helps the company in producing more. Safety also improves the morale of the worker which helps in the increase of production. The main aspects or the principles on which DFMA focus are: Raw materials Minimize the number of parts Minimize the number of fasteners Standardize Avoid difficult components Use modular subassemblies Use multifunctional parts Minimize reorientation Use self-locating features Avoid special tooling/test equipment Eliminate Interfaces Minimize operations process steps Part Interchangeability Design Tolerances to Meet Process Capability Determine Capabilities of each Process Step Design for Ease of Part Orientation for Assembly Eliminate Multiple Solder and Cleaning Steps Eliminate Adjustments DFMA Raw materials: Choosing the best raw material for the design is the first step in designing a world class product. There are many factors that need to be considered when choosing the best material for a design. At first the material must have the correct mechanical and chemical properties to meet the design criteria. Secondly when possible one should choose a standard material that is readily available. Using special materials may increase purchase price and lengthen deliveries. Third use near net parts whenever possible. The raw materials profile should be as close to finished parts as possible to reduce processing. DFMA Minimize the number of parts: Minimizing the number of parts directly affects the final cost of the product. By minimizing the number of parts Product quality, flexibility and reliability of the product is increased. The fewer parts a product has the fewer chances of misalignment. DFMA Minimize the number of fasteners: Fasteners increase the complexity of a particular product, thereby increasing its weight and cost. Dfma main aim is to eliminate the fasteners and include self aligning features into a part. If fasteners are needed in a part then its better off using self tapping screws DFMA standardize: Standardization is a phenomenon which requires increase in communication between different design teams working on a complex product. The more standard products an engineer uses for manufacturing of a product the less number of tools are required and it gradually decreases the cost for production. The best method is to create a list of various standard parts available for each project. In order to smooth the progress of the standard parts, the design and manufacturing team should make the most of the different resources such as trade magazines, various vender catalogs and various part manuals. DFMA modular sub-assemblies: With the help of modular designs, the identification of problems becomes easier by reducing the number of parts. Maintenance and serviceability of a product also increases by using modular assemblies. By designing parts as independent modules times for disassembly are reduced thereby decreasing the overall repair time. DFMA Using stack assemblies: Stack assembly is stacking up the components of an assembly from bottom to top. The main purpose of using stack assemblies is it requires less reorientation of parts which leads to speeding up the assembly process, which thereby decreases the cost for assembly. DFMA self locating features: The use of Self aligning parts speeds up the assembly process. Self aligning parts dont need any kind of adjustment or re-orientation. The more the self aligning parts present in a product assembly the much easier it is for an assembly worker to assemble the product. Different types of self aligning parts are washers, ball bearings, roller bearings. DFMA simplifies and optimizes the manufacturing process : Minimization of manufacturing process reduces the direct and overhead costs. While designing a production process a designers main aim should be on various factors like Smooth flowing of materials. Using various processes than can easily be controlled. Separating different operation (like manual and automated ) DFMA Eliminate Interfaces: Eliminating of interfaces is an important phenomenon while assembling of a product. The amount of interfaces increases the cost of an assembly. Each interface present on the part increases the time for assembly as it requires double the amount of information. DFMA Part Interchangeability: Interchangeability is a phenomenon where similar parts are used for manufacturing of a product that can be interchanged. This phenomenon reduces the number of parts used for an assembly which leads to a decrease in assembly time and costs. While using interchangeability left and right handed parts should be avoided because they create confusion which directly leads to increase in time. DFMA Design Tolerances to Meet Process Capability: Tolerances are such parameters of a part which tend to complicate the design. If a tight tolerance has been specified for a particular part, other process such as inspection or fixturing has to be done. Which gradually increase the overall cost of a product and also time is wasted. They fore a designer during the design process should understand the manufacturing and suppler capacity while specifying different tolerance to make sure that tight tolerances are necessary DFMA Minimizes parts for interconnections: Interconnected parts are flexible parts which are used to connect two parts in an assembly. Interconnected parts are prone to get damaged when compared to other parts. When harnesses are used in an assembly of a product always ensures that we are using distinctive connectors for a simple reason to avoid the connectors being misaligned DFMA Determines Capabilities of each Process Step: Process capability can be defined as an ability of an process to produce within a suitable specification. When the correct process capabilities of a particular deign are determined, it also helps the design team by giving them some valuable information from which they could choose a simple technology and a simple sequence. Which directly decreases the costs for assembly and gradually the time for production is also decreased. Eliminate multiple solder and cleaning steps: The more processes one uses in manufacturing of a product the more are its risks, costs and potential for delays. Production engineers use DFMA to minimize the processing technologies used in the manufacturing process. The more the number of technologies the greater are the chances for various errors and part malfunction. Eliminating adjustments: Minor adjustments only affects the look of the product, but it does not affect the functionally of the product whereas the major adjustments have a major affect on the functioning process of the product. Adjustments are normally complicated process which involves huge costs. Elimination adjustments could also include replacement of parts in the assembly. WHY DFMA Dfma can be used as the basis for engineering studies and thereby provide a guidance for the design team to simplify the existing product, reduce its manufacturing and assembly costs. It can also be used as a benchmarking tool to study competitors and to quantify manufacturing and the difficulties that arise during assemblies One can also use Dfma as it â€Å"should-cost† tool to help validate design concepts, provide cost predictions, and to negotiate suppliers bids and contracts. The main purpose to use dfma is Dfma also helps us to keep various aspects in mind during the manufacturing and assembling a product. Materials Is material that we are going to use available in standard stock configuration. Is material well-suited with the most desirable manufacturing process. Is the material available from reliable sources. Do material prices fluctuate widely over time. Are special alloys and exotic materials used only for environmental or functional demands. Product Assembly Are tolerance dimensions realistic. Is marking and stenciling defined and visible. Are assembly notes complete and definitive. Is internal wiring layout critical? If so, is the location and routing specified? Is harness development required? If so, can the harness be fabricated outside the unit and installed as a subassembly. Does the design lend itself to automated assembly. Are component parts accessible for assembly. Can testing be performed without disassembling the unit. Are standard connectors and assembly hardware used. Are circuit cards, if used, designed to plug in. Has the assembly been analyzed to meet electrical, thermal, vibration, and shock Specifications. Can printed circuit flex cable or moulded ribbon be used in place of hard wiring. Can plastic tie-wraps be used in place of lacing or spot ties. HOW DFMA Designers do not enter a new design situation as newcomers or novices. Through education and practice they have acquired a vast repertoire of design solutions, which they will carry over the design task at hand (PASMAN, 2003).All these experiences are due to the result of several situation mistakes, improvement opportunities or just real good new ideas acquired due to development and research on design area. A good engineer must know what happens in his factory in a detail level that can permit an assembly to be done and an injected part to be extracted and also must know were the assembled parts are and the injected material should be in the correct geometry. These means two different conflicting conditions. The designer cannot stay in his area ignoring what is happening around and the designer must know his tasks perfectly to justify his work position. The question remains, is it possible to be in simultaneously in the factory and in the design office? FERREIRA and TOLEDO (2002) say so and suggested how using the technique of Design for Manufacture and Assembly is possible to â€Å"hear the voice of the production line† and been virtually near to the information. BUSS et al. (2001) agreed with this point of view, saying that the DFMA allows bring to the project area the considerations related to the assembly and manufacturability of the product. Finally FAGADE and KAZMER (1998) defended that the most significant advantage of DFMA is the encouragement of the teamwork between project and production, improving the reliability of the final product and generating the possibility of cost/time to deliver reductions due decreasing in the parts number and/or more productive parts that can accelerate processes. WHAT TO HAVE DFMA: First of all we need to understand the project with DFMA techniques. For this is important to define the product conception as a task of multiple responsibility, from the conceptual sketch to the packed assembly delivered there are many operations and actions that need to be considered. Thus in accordance with the key points the total chain of the process is to be defined in an clear form from one (process) to another to provide or receive services/pre-processes Also is essential to let all teams warned that the project is designed for manufacture and assembly and this means that all attention is focused in a development for that condition and this means that the manufacture must be heard all time. To achieve all this, there should be efficient communication, efficient information, translation of data is the basic requirements on a DFMA driven development. WHEN DFMA: Whats the correct time to carry on a Dfma driven project? CAPUCHO et al. (1997) adopted after observe the behaviour of multidisciplinary teams that the local rework caused by an activity with adverse results is much smaller then a global restructuring of a project also, a global reproject may be impossible due costs (according to HARTLEY and OKAMOTO (1992)) the inclusion of a change in a running project is more expansive as more is close to the project end or due other factors as time and market expectations. So, once the projects main activities are defined the doing them is a good option irrespective of their order of development. Mistakes, adverse results and budget can less compromise the project running timetable. Which technology: According to BOOTHROYD (2001) the rising sophistication in the use of moulded injection plastics. Injection moulding is an important tool to win the battle of reduces parts to save costs and creates an elegant design. Based on the literature present and other articles researched by the groups of teams on plastic injection acquired by work and development in other lines (refrigerators and washing machines), where plastics are used in a very large scale,It was decided to try a solution using injection of thermoplastics. This was a risky decision. First of all the temperature limitations on a plastic material are more severe than in a metal limits also include the possibility of deformations, flowing and resistance downgrade. After that, a running and deployed solution give some comfort to the project designers and all of other teams: the new idea was offering a possibility of assembly improvement and a bundled possibility of fail, this means that for some parts of the workgroup the manufacturability advantages were not good enough to release the change in short words that was to develop a substitute part to improve a good working assembly to give some help to line and to reduce costs, with a low, but existent, possibility of further problem. Case studies of companies that used DFMA software Product: Motorcycles Company: Harley Davidson General goals: Identify the total costs (make design, material, process) and by making some substitutions to have an impact on cost. Improve the overall cost predictability of the product to meet the desired revenue and costs targets Method: Engineers of Harley and the suppliers team up and the cad models of each part are loaded into the dfma software. Dfma software generates cost information that gives rise to various discusiions on cost, labour rate , process materials etc. A motorcycle frame was designed which was to cut down the costs by 70 dollars . before the manufacturing of the new frame Harley Davidson analysed various departments in DFMA like material cost , operating efficiency, plant cost. The software predicted that the current frame costs within 0.5%. Frame of Harley Davidson motorcycle Then the new frame was analysed in DFMA software, the company found out that the new frame would cost 7 dollars more than the old frame (not dollars 70 less as they had anticipated). Harley Davidson was glad to discover this before they went into production and they researched various other areas for cost savings, before the bike was launched. Product: Microwave Company: whirlpool General goals : To reduce the costs inside the plant Generate a good slim design. Simplify or eliminate assembly processes. Method: Teams were developed which consisted of all types of engineers (mechanical, electrical, technicians, air ventilation designers. The teams closely observed all the video tapes of the assembly line of the current microwave to spot the different weak or awkward operations. Teams structured a bill of materials and saw how the product was assembled or in what order it would assemble before crating a prototype of the model. Engineers used DFMA and prepared a performance matrix in which they could evaluate the easiest and the awkward assembly operations. In the original design, the worker had to turn the chassis over to install the door spring, and then turn it back over to do the rest of the operation. With the help of dfma the engineers can to a conclusion to have the spring in the front of the oven, so that there was no need to turn the chassis to install the spring. With the help of DFMA analysis whirlpool had the following results. 29% part reduction was achieved . 106 parts for the new oven, versus 150, this was more than expected. Many of the reduced parts were fasteners, cutting assembly time 26% Standardized cabling across product lines, creating immediate assembly and part savings Payback time was 6 months Product: Gourmet coffeemaker Goals: High standards of coffe tate Uniform coffe saturation Temperature control Weight of the design is less Efficient design for best retail price. Company Access group is one of the leading distributor and manufactures of a comprehensive range of durable products, which include water treatment and air filtration systems and most importantly an award winning coffee maker. Which we are going to discuss in this case study. Two years ago access business group wanted to design an high end coffee maker to support their own line of water filters and gourmet coffees. According to access business group their main was to build a coffee maker which is stream lined and an efficient machine and they achieved their objectives with the help of design for manufacture and assembly software. Using DFMA analysis: The major aim of DFMA analysis was to determine the minimum number of parts for this design. With the help of DFMA the design engineers could reposition the motor much closer to the power and a bit higher on the machine. This phenomenon was achieved due to the reduction in the number of parts. Most companies now a days gives higher priority to the look of a product, designers of gourmet decided to replace the existing motor with a new sleek and a less power motor thereby saving the costs. Manufacturing of the coffe maker using DFMA involves three stage Bill of materials Middle product development Fine tuning of the design Design for assembly consists of an index Colum which shows the results or the rating of the design. As the time taken for assembly, costs for the assembly and when the parts are consolidated or omitted the index number rises. The table present below indicates how DFMA software helped kahve coffee maker to reduce the part count, cost and assembly time. Kahve coffee maker DFMA Round 1 DFMA Round 2 DFMA Round 3

Plath’s Daddy Essay: Father and Husband as Vampires -- Plath Daddy Ess

Father and Husband as Vampires in Plath’s Daddy   Ã‚   The poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath concludes with the symbolic scene of the speaker killing her vampire father.   On an obvious level this represents Plath's struggle to deal with the haunting influence of her own father who died when she was a little girl.   However, as Mary G. DeJong points out, "Now that Plath's work is better known, ‘Daddy' is generally recognized as more than a confession of her personal feelings towards her father" (34-35).   In the context of the poem the scene's symbolism becomes ambiguous because mixed in with descriptions of the poet's father are clear references to her husband, who left her for another woman as "Daddy" was being written.   The problem for the reader is to figure out what Plath is saying about the connection between the figures of father and husband by tying them together in her poem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A clue lies in the final image she uses, the vampire.   In today's movies and books vampires are portrayed as humans who have gained immortality and power in exchange for the need for blood and avoidance of sunlight and crosses.   However, Plath wrote her poem in 1962, and since then our culture's image of the vampire has changed drastically.   Historically, people who were transformed into vampires were no longer the same human beings.   Instead, they became monsters who retained only the physical appearance of their former selves.   Our interpretation of the poem is affected if we assume that when Plath wrote about a vampire she had in mind the older conception of a monster which took over the body of a now dead human.   With this image in mind we will tend to look for ways the duality of father and husband in the poem correspond to the vampire's dual i... ...the memory of her father's equally painful though unintentional abandonment.   Despite the mixing of father and husband in the antagonist of "Daddy" it is obvious which man Sylvia Plath is addressing with the poem's last line, written during the breakup of her marriage and three months before her suicide: "Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through" (80). Works Cited Cam, Heather.   " ‘Daddy': Sylvia Plath's Debt to Anne Sexton."   American Literature 59   (1987): 429-32. DeJong, Mary G.   "Sylvia Plath and Sheila Ballantyne's Imaginary Crimes."   Studies in   American Fiction 16 (1988): 27-38. Ramazani, Jahan. " ‘Daddy I Have Had to Kill You': Plath, Rage, and the Modern Elegy."  Ã‚   Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 108 (1993): 1142-56. Srivastava, K.G.   "Plath's Daddy."   The Explicator 50 (1992): 126-28.               

How does Priestly present Shelia Birling? Essay

In the play â€Å"An Inspector Calls† by J.B.Priestly, Shelia Birling is presented as being honest, perceptive and open to Socialist ideas. Her presentation changes as the play progresses and she changes from naà ¯ve innocence to a more mature and pro-socialist woman with a deep understanding of her capitalistic society’s flaws. At the start of the play, Shelia is portrayed as being naà ¯ve and oblivious to the struggles of the working class, but she shows remorse when her own guilt is exposed. The stage directions tell us that she is â€Å"very pleased with life† and is young, attractive and has just become engaged. However, she does not know about the struggles of the working class and soon expresses horror at her father’s treatment of Eva Smith. Although she has probably never before considered the impact of her decisions on the working class, she shows compassion immediately she hears of Eva Smith’s death. She first exclaims â€Å"How horrible!† and proceeds to tell her father â€Å"But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.† However, when the Inspector reveals Shelia’s role in causing the chain of events that lead to Eva Smith’s suicide, Shelia is horrified by her own part in Eva’s story and is moved to tears. She feels full of guilt for her jealous actions and blames herself as â€Å"really responsible.† Shelia acknowledges her blame and admits to her jealousy actions, marking her as more progressive and open-minded than the older generation consisting of her parents. Shelia is starting to change and becomes increasingly sympathetic and pro-socialist as the play progresses. As the Play continues, Sheila is presented as being increasingly perceptive and we can see this when after her interrogation, she changes and in a sense begins to adopt the Inspector’s character. When the Inspector starts questioning Gerald and Mrs Birling, Shelia not only insists on watching, but also helps the Inspector by filling in minor details and asking questions of her own. We can see this shortly before Gerald’s questioning, Shelia tells the Inspector â€Å"I don’t understand about you† then â€Å"she stares at him [The Inspector] wonderingly and dubiously† and when Mrs Birling enters â€Å"briskly and self-confidently, quite out of touch with the little scene†¦ Shelia feels this at once. † Shelia is also the first one to realise the Inspector’s semi- omniscience, saying that â€Å"No, he’s giving us the rope – so that we’ll hang ourselves.† Shelia insists that Mrs Birling must not â€Å"build a wall between us and the girl† as â€Å"the Inspector will just break it down,† The effect of these stage directions and dialogue, is to emphasise how Shelia is becoming increasingly perceptive and begins to see through her family’s translucency. We can tell that Shelia is becoming increasingly perceptive and can see how the entire family is involved in this scandal. – Sheila acknowledges the Inspector’s. Realises everyone is to blame, and by not accepting the blame they are digging their own graves. Superior to her family in the sense that the knowledge has hit her; she knows that her family have done wrong. You not only knew her but you knew her very well.† – Perceptive; Knows that everyone is to blame; becomes perceptive. already aware of her actions and how they are wrong. She is willing to change her views but there is a sense of holding back throughout the play, like how she feels the need to share the blame. This is her internal conflict between the views she has been brought up with and the views she knows are right. Priestley uses Sheila to show how the younger generation can change views & realise their mistakes. Shelia’s transformation from an immature girl to an emphatic and mature woman during the course of the play is used as evidence that the younger generation can stop and prevent tragedies such as Eva Smith’s death from happening. Priestly uses Shelia to show that people can change from their capitalistic and materialistic society. ways to a more Socialist and equal society. He does this by showing all the disadvantages of following the capitalist ways by using Sheila as an example and by this, it makes the audience realise the way they are living has a serious effect on the working class (the death of eva smith) and that they should change their ways (like Sheila did) and they will have more sense of morality in their conscience. She admits her guilt, saying that â€Å"It was my own fault† and â€Å"I’ll never, never do anything †

Fencing Reflection Paper Essay

Fencing this year is so much more different than last year. We got a new coach this year and also got our old coach back. Their names were Coach Ike and Coach Angelo. I’ve known Coach Angelo a few years back when we had CFDC for fencing lessons. Coach Ike seemed really friendly but at the same time strict. Most of us weren’t that comfortable with him at first because we were scared. After he had this really long and inspiring talk with us during the first day, that’s when real fencing training happened. We were really taught how to have the proper footwork, posture, lunges and etc. I won’t lie and say that it was really tiring but I won’t lie as well when I say that it felt really good. Learning all those things made me a better fencer and a better student. After all those training every Friday, we became more comfortable with both coaches. Coach Ike is really fun and really good at training us younger kids. He might look kind of not fit but he can move so swift and smoothly you wouldn’t really believe it. He wasn’t really like our previous coach, Coach Brian. Coach Brian doesn’t train us that hard because he knows that we might get pissed or something but we would never do that. He was really fun as well. We had those laughing moments that I would never forget because he was my very first coach. I know that throughout this year I will have that with both Coach Ike and Coach Angelo. Coach Angelo on the other hand is very entertaining. He sings aloud during class, during bouts, tournaments or just because he feels like it. He also keeps me hyper in class. He always makes everyone laugh which makes it easier for everyone to concentrate while having fun at the same time. He also has very good tips for us every time were about to go to a bout or when were training. He never changed before which is a really good thing because that’s what makes him different from all the other coaches out there. He has this great connection with everyone which makes it easier for students to approach him when they’re confused or they need help with something. This year’s Founder’s Cup I didn’t get gold and I felt really frustrated because I wanted to really keep my title until I graduate. I got frustrated more afterwards when I lost in foil as well. I couldn’t take it because I was so tired from the epee bouts and I just lost my control with foil later on. I thought I was really bad and I didn’t deserve to play that time but when Coach Ike told me that he sees really good potential in me and that I just needed training because everyone else had so much more training than I did. I really lightened up after what he told me. Although I didn’t get gold at least I got bronze. It wasn’t much but it was something and I’m proud of it because I know both coaches taught me really well, I just didn’t have the energy and focus during the bouts and I’m sorry for that. To sum it up, the year hasn’t ended yet but I know that it is going to be one heck of a year every Friday training with these awesome coaches!