In 1944, during the last days of WWII, Major General Chia-Jen Chu, general manager of China's First Aviation Factory, decided to begin exploring, designing and building helicopters after having witnessed the Sikorsky XR-4 helicopter flying over Kunming's sky in Yunnan Province of Southern China. On June 10, 1953 in Taichung, Taiwan, the first Chinese indigenous tandem configuration helicopter, nicknamed the Banana CJC-3A, took its first initial flight off the ground under the design leadership of Major General Chu. This tandem helicopter was a two-seat lightweight technology demonstrator. The event took place during the unprecedented military conflict era between the Chinese national and communist governments across the Taiwan Strait. The aircraft performance evaluation and design description of the Banana CJC-3A tandem helicopter will be presented. Because of the Chu Family's generosity in sharing Major General Chia-Jen Chu's personal technical notebook with the author, the public can finally rediscover the CJC-3A aircraft sixty three years later after its first flight.

Virasak, Jacques

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: How the Three Revolts Against Igor Bensen's Popular Rotorcraft Association During 1962-1976 Failed to Change the Popular Rotorcraft Movement in America

F-0072-2016-11332

5/17/2016

During the 1962 - 1982 time period there were three distinct revolts against Igor Bensen's Popular Rotorcraft Association: members of the PRA who saw the PRA as an "association of Bensen dealers"; Ken Brock of California whose attempts to standardize and industrialize the Bensen B8M kit, which were not intended as a challenge, ended up forcing Bensen's withdrawal from formal PRA leadership in early 1973; and the International Gyroplane movement of Martin Hollmann of the mid-1970s which boldly challenged the Bensen heritage even after Bensen's presidency. The irony of each of these revolts is to be found in their genesis and eventual impact: the members' revolt was seemingly ineffective, yet analysis reveals it had a long-lasting impact; the Brock revolt appeared to be the most successful, yet it occasioned little change on the American popular rotorcraft movement; while the International Gyroplane Association, correctly perceiving that the PRA under the leadership of Ken Brock was, in many significant ways, actually a continuation of Bensen's PRA, mounted a vigorous challenge that was seemingly the least effective of the three revolts. But historical analysis reveals that the International Gyroplane revolt of Martin Hollmann, while deemed an utter failure, had the real potential of changing the American Popular Rotorcraft. That Hollmann's revolt did not have a significant impact was largely due to his vitriolic personality and animosity towards Bensen and Brock, and the Popular Rotorcraft movement is poorer for it.

Charnov, Bruce

A Robust, Real-Time Collaboration Technology for Decision Support using Common Operating Picture (COP) Environments

TBMG-242724/1/2016

StormCenter Communications, Inc. software takes advantage of cloud computing solutions to solve the growing need for real-time collaboration when accessing a Common Operating Picture (COP) from any device without having to give up all the vital tools and display functionality; all this is performed without disrupting current workflows. A COP is a platform shared by multiple stakeholders to provide a single, identical display of relevant operational information (i.e., mapping information, network operations and cyber security, sensors, weather, critical infrastructure) and tools to mark and manipulate the data. In the era of Big Data and the need for improved decision-making with the presence of multiple stakeholders across different disciplines, collaboration when using a COP is essential to success. This is especially important when dealing with decision-makers who are frequently non-data experts who need to take action immediately based on their situational awareness.

Automotive Engineering: April 7, 2015

15AUTP044/7/2015

GM's CTO driving new paths to technology leadership 'We're making actual production commitments regarding our advanced-technology strategy, rather than just talking about it,' says GM's CTO Jon Lauckner. 'We're absolutely going to be among the leaders, if not the leader, in these areas.' Aluminum prepares for its next big leap Ford's F-Series blockbuster was just the beginning. New micromills now in pilot phase aim to bring vastly stronger and more formable light-alloy materials at higher capacity, says Alcoa's Mike Murphy. Slick solutions for friction reduction From new lubricants to 'smart' oil pumps and clever bearing technologies, engine designers are attacking every potential source of spin losses and internal friction in the quest for more mechanical work out of less fuel. Next-gen NSX: a twin-turbo, multi-material Ferrari-fighter The production NSX made its much-awaited global debut at NAIAS in January. More technical details of Acura's mid-engine AWD hybrid supercar will be shared by Honda R&D experts at the SAE 2015 World Congress.

Women in vehicle engineering

14AUTD09_019/16/2014

Females have made significant progress cracking the predominantly male domain of automotive engineering. They're now chief engineers, VPs, even a CEO. But why are there still so few of them? Cindy Hess rocketed through the Auburn University College of Engineering in just three years. Graduating as an electrical engineer in 1977, she turned down job offers from aerospace giants Boeing and General Dynamics to join Chrysler Electronics as its first-ever female engineer. In 1981, she was assigned to the automaker's Highland Park, MI, complex. “I was the sixth woman within a workforce of about 6000 engineers at Chrysler at the time,” she recalled. “And it's incredible when I think about what we had to endure to do our jobs in those days.”

Brooke, Lindsay

SAE 2014 World Congress Preview special section: ‘Creating New Possibilities’

14AUTP03_033/4/2014

Host company Hyundai and Tier 1 Strategic Partner, Delphi, established “Creating New Possibilities” as the theme for this year's premier engineering event taking place April 8-10 in Detroit's Cobo Center. This special Congress preview section uncovers some of those possibilities, featuring insights from the event's executive leadership; details of a Delphi/Hyundai advanced engine program; highlights from the technical program in the areas of powertrain, materials, testing and simulation, electronics, interiors, and body/chassis; and more. “Whether we're talking about ecofriendly technologies, safety, or the connectivity of vehicles, we can achieve success if we collaborate to create new possibilities,” said Chung Kook Park, Executive Vice President, Performance Development Center, Hyundai Motor Group, and the SAE 2014 World Congress General Chair. The theme for this year's event is “intentionally ambiguous,” Park added, because it applies across the disciplines of the auto industry, including engineering, planning, sales, and administration. Each of these areas has the potential to create new possibilities within companies and industry-wide “each and every day,” he said.

Gehm, Ryan

How to Spread the Lean Mindset in an Effective Way Using Change Agents in Sales and Engineering and Finance at Tenneco

2013-01-13264/8/2013

Tenneco first implemented the lean transactional process ten years ago. One of the key success factors was to ensure that the lean system was sustained within an organization as part of a philosophy of continuous improvement. This has probably been the most challenging part of implementing lean in Tenneco. During the early years of implementation, lean was managed as a top down approach which consisted of: identifying executing and tracking lean projects by the management, a small number of additional people and lean experts. This approach had the advantage of building up critical mass and helped to instill a lean change culture in a reasonable timeframe. But the Tenneco experience showed that even if early results were encouraging, the implementation was not consistent enough to sustain a mindset of continuous improvement. This top down approach needed to be reinforced by a much stronger bottom up approach which consisted of group leaders acting as change agents. Their roles and responsibilities included: designing processes and standards problem solving teaching their people sharing the knowledge captured This paper describes the lessons learnt by lean change agents in Sales & Engineering and Finance departments at Tenneco.

Garcia, Patrick, Orta, Enrique

SAE World Congress Preview “Achieving Efficiency”

TBMG-162534/1/2013

The 2013 SAE World Congress and Exhibition, taking place April 16-18 at Cobo Center in Detroit, represents an unparalleled opportunity to explore new technology through both technical sessions and the Innovators Only Exhibition. This year’s Host Company is Chrysler, and ZF will serve as Tier One Strategic Supplier for the event. Last year, more than 9,000 engineers, engineering managers, auto industry executives, and government officials from 45 different countries attended the SAE World Congress (sae.org/congress).

Crew Management Processes Revitalize Patient Care

TBMG-102266/1/2011

In January 2009, birds struck the engines of US Airways Flight 1549 and forced an emergency landing into the Hudson River. Everyone on board survived, and the crew was lauded for remaining calm under pressure and keeping passengers safe. The pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, is a former U.S. Air Force pilot, trained in Crew (or cockpit) Resource Management (CRM) which originated at NASA in 1979. Even before they knew they had an emergency, the crew was using specific training for safe and effective operations: all parts of key NASA CRM methods required by US Airways since 1995.

Implementation of Lean Transactional at Tenneco Europe

2011-01-12554/12/2011

After having successfully implemented lean manufacturing in the 1990ies and lean engineering since 2004, Tenneco Europe decided to expand Lean to their administrative organizations in October 2009. The implementation approach was directly derived from lean engineering [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. After having defined a vision and a road map, a lean steering committee, composed of senior managers and a lean coordinator, identified and supported the first areas for implementation of lean in their transactional processes. It was decided to challenge the organization by selecting some critical cross functional processes. Transactional workshops were defined and executed according to Tenneco's best practice: a 2-day-training of all the people involved in the workshops an intensive 3-day-workshop to identify: the customer and its needs the current state map and its gaps the future state map and finally an action plan and metrics to track the progress of the project 3 months for the implementation of the action plan 3 months to sustain the new process by monitoring key metrics weekly meetings and monthly reporting-outs to the senior managers. After more than one year of implementation, the results are very encouraging Significant reduction of cross-functional process lead times from 20% to more than 50%. Freed-up time (less effort) due to waste elimination. Redeployment of the freed-up time to high value-added tasks. Improved quality and accuracy of data reports ‘Soft-side’ improvements such as: Improved communication and alignment between departments Employees have a better understanding of how their work. This contributes to the overall value stream to their customers Improved cross-functional team building through activities during the lean training and the workshops Developing a more consistent problem-solving mindset (seeing waste, finding root causes, continuous improvement) Significant improvement in motivation and morale This paper will illustrate, through concrete examples, the afore-mentioned results from the lean workshops.

Garcia PhD, Patrick, Drogosz PhD, John, Younie, David

Followers in the Transportation Industry

2009-01-08884/20/2009

This paper compares the follower profiles of transportation industry personnel with other industry groups, principally engineers and DOD personnel. In compiling the comparison, Chaleff’s courageous follower behaviors are used to identify the profiles and identify similarities and diversities. In addition, the paper reports on comparative analysis for follower behaviors, locus of control and the Big Five personality factors from a pilot study.

Dixon, Gene

Followers: The Rest of the Leadership Process

2008-01-05494/14/2008

For every leader there are many non-leaders-followers-who benefit the organization's competitive position. While leaders seem to dominate management research, management thinking, and management practice, in reality, followers permeate all organizations and make them effective. While the many are ignored, the few receive attention. Chaleff has developed a model describing key behaviors of effective followers in an organizational setting. This paper describes refinement of a survey instrument developed to assess Chaleff's model as a measuring tool for the follower behaviors within organizations. The results indicate that the instrument, The Follower Profile, is robust across populations in discriminating follower behaviors. The paper also recommends some innovative leadership development implications and concludes by introducing a new paradigm for thinking about the leadership process.

Dixon, Gene

Eye On Innovation

TBMG-231910/1/2007

By Mike Santori National Instruments Business & Technology Fellow National Instruments Austin, TX

LEAN MANUFACTURING AND 6 SIGMA: THE ROLE OF TOP MANAGEMENT

2005-01-410211/22/2005

da Graça Júnior, João Câncio

Navy Command Culture Assessments and Error Reduction in Aviation and Aviation Maintenance

2005-01-325610/3/2005

In 1996 a series of costly and preventable mishaps in Naval Aviation were determined to be the cause of dysfunctional cultures that existed within the mishap squadrons. Soon after, the Navy implemented a two-part process to root out dysfunctional cultures before they could cause further mishaps. The first step is for the squadron to complete a Climate Survey. The Climate Survey is an indicator of potential problems. The next step is for a trained Senior Naval Aviator to conduct a Culture Assessment of the squadron to accurately define the current culture of safety as well as any dysfunctional subcultures. Over the last five years, the Navy has saved $1.1 billion from the implementation of this program.1

Garcia, Tom

Analysis Tool Automates Drug Discovery Data Acquisition and Management

TBMG-2666/1/2005

In the race to deliver drugs to market more quickly, biopharmaceutical companies need to classify and interpret data at unprecedented rates with tools that eliminate redundant analysis tasks and promote collaboration among scientists.

Tomatosphere - Mission to Mars An Educational Outreach Project for Primary and Secondary Schools

2004-01-24237/19/2004

The concept for Tomatosphere originated in late 1999 and the project held its first formal meeting on February 7, 2000. The project was formally activated when 200,000 Heinz tomato seeds went into space on November 30, 2000, with Canadian astronaut, Dr. Marc Garneau. The seeds were part of an experiment designed to test the effects of short- term space travel on seed germination and interaction with new techniques designed to enhance germination rates. An equal number of seeds stayed behind on Earth and the two lots, space-flown and Earth-bound, were further sub-divided into two treatments using new Infra Red and Red light technology developed at the University of Guelph. The resulting four treatments were packaged and sent to almost 2700 classrooms across Canada, along with posters and a teacher's guide matched to the Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum, a framework of Science Learning Outcomes developed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. The emphasis for the curriculum connections was from grade 3 (plants and soil) to grade six (space). The project met with an overwhelming response from educators and students. As such, in 2003, the project expanded to involve more than 5 000 classrooms across Canada; the scope of the project was also expanded from the original grade 3 - 6 focus to include grades 8 - 10. The scope of the curriculum in grades 8 - 10 allows for the incorporation of several objectives relative to the ISS mission objectives, the overall concept of humans in space, and the application of knowledge from space programs to the well-being of humankind on Earth.

Vuk, Theresa Rondeau, Dixon, Michael, Morrow, Robert

Design for the Workplace: A Manager's Guide

1999-01-04193/1/1999

Engineering productivity and customer-focused outcomes are ongoing concerns for managers. In order to be effective, engineering departments need to be challenging, satisfying, and productive places to work. Attracting and keeping talented engineers are constant worries in an era of uncertainty caused by competitiveness, downsizing, and restructuring. Design for the Workplace: A Manager's Guide focuses on providing maximum management support and encouragement. Engineering managers can use several strategies to create an effective workplace, including temporary job assignments, work teams, communication, training and career development, and motivation. Thoughtful planning and careful implementation are necessary for any strategy to be viable.

Doyle, Thomas R., Van Tiem, Darlene M.

Innovative Total Waste Management Program: Aligning Environmental, Manufacturing, and Corporate Citizenship Objectives

1999-01-03573/1/1999

Establishing manufacturing environmental leadership while maintaining overall cost competitiveness is a difficult challenge facing the auto industry. In many cases, environmental initiatives are thought to increase cost and/or restrict manufacturing flexibility. The Commodity Management Supplier Program for Total Waste Management (TWM) implemented globally throughout Ford Motor Company facilities aligns environmental, manufacturing, and corporate citizenship objectives by encouraging supplier-driven continuous process improvement. By creating appropriate TWM contractor waste minimization incentives and utilizing contractor core-business knowledge, the desired effects of reducing total costs while institutionalizing and advancing pollution prevention successes are ultimately realized.

Merritt, Lawrence H., Ducato, Michael F., Meese, Mark, Wyrsta, Daniel, Bryant, Barry J., Czich, Jeffery C.

Implementing a New CAD System in a Large Corporation: Experiences

9521199/1/1995

Ingredients for the successful implementation of a new CAD system are explained. Special considerations for large installations are the primary emphasis. Selecting the right software and hardware, providing appropriate and timely training, assisting users with one-on-one technical help, continuously monitoring the progress, and promptly addressing all issues and concerns are the keys to implementation. Strong management leadership, competent implementation team, and strategic partnership with the CAD software vendor are vital to the execution of the implementation program and realization of healthy returns on the investment. Case Corporation has recently implemented Pro/ENGINEER® to impact the product development process. Some experiences from this implementation have been incorporated in the discussions.

Somayajula, Gopi, Shenoy, Gopal, Hockett, Joe, Sankaran, Sam, Kadakia, Bhavin, Wielgos, Glen

Dual Use Technologies: Collaborative R & D Agreements with the Federal Government

9411984/1/1994

This paper examines NASA's and other federal agencies' increasingly use of cost-shared research and development agreements to produce or improve “dual-use” technologies. Agency regulations implementing these programs, and agreements governing R&D collaborations, are significantly more flexible than those affecting standard agency procurements of goods and services, including SBIR contracts. These collaborations allow leveraging of limited resources to produce mutually beneficial advances in technology, including navigation technology to meet agency needs and provide benefits to the U.S. economy.

Bierbower, William J.

HOMEOSTAT - A Bioengineering System

9320687/1/1993

The results of a study of interaction effectiveness in the crew under isolation in the ESA EXEMSI 92 campaign are presented. The complexity and original character of the group structure was investigated using the bioengineering system known as the Homeostat apparatus. Even though the crew exhibited complex interaction, it is shown that the Homeostat is suitable for on-line inferring of the crew interaction effectiveness in simulation experiments.

Novikov, M. A., Bystritskaya, A. F., Eskov, K. N., Vasilyiev, V. K., Vinokhodova, A. G.

Total Quality Leadership: Beyond a Commitment

9217139/1/1992

The purpose of this paper is to describe two management phases required to drive quality planning and implementation. The Customer Analysis and Planning phase involves managers who lead quantitative goal-setting processes, document business agreements to establish goals, and personally teach the expected organizational changes aimed at business excellence. Critical to the second phase, Implementation, are three fundamentals: 1.) a quality system for functions beyond manufacturing; 2. ) attainment of functional skills for each employee; 3. ) utilization of a common improvement language across the organization. Although this paper focuses on general management, engineering functions are challenged to determine their role in the establishment of business goals and plans. They are to think of their own functions as a work flow with specific customers. Engineers should document their customer needs and determine how engineering work delights the customer eventually leading to delighted external customers, profits, and a growing business.

Banks, Kathaleen M.

Behavioral Characteristics of Effective Crew Leaders *

89260212/1/1989

Some crews perform remarkably well while others leave much to be desired--and often cause accidents. The difference between these types of crews is repeatedly credited to the captain but often without operational definitions of his or her behavior. This research examined the behaviors of effective vs. less effective captains as they formed and led their crews in line operations. Common characteristics of the effective leaders as well as the deviations of the less effective are described. Organizational implications are noted.

Ginnett, Robert C.

American Airlines' Pilot Hiring Criteria

89260912/1/1989

Since 1964, American Airlines' pilot hiring criteria have evolved from a subjective estimate of the applicant's flying and technical skills to include personality characteristics which predict the ability of the applicant to perform effectively as pilot-in-command. Although the application of these criteria appears to have produced desirable results, specific training must be done to maximize the CRM aspects of pilot performance and the avoidance of human error. A concern for future pilot selection is associated with the introduction of advanced technology flight deck components, which may require a higher level of intellectual skill than previous generations of transport aircraft.

James, William A.

Fitness to Lead

8922949/1/1989

The dysfunctional aspects of the first-line leadership provided to airline pilots is discussed. The reasons for ineffective supervisors and leaders are analyzed. The corporate policies and practices which limit the effectiveness of flight department leaders and supervisors are considered. Recommendations are made to develop an improved system of leadership selection, development, and support by the airlines. The benefits of improved leadership practices are reviewed for their impact on the long term profitability, growth, and survival of an airline.

Besco, Robert O.

Achieving Quality Control Throughout the Factory

851121

11/1/1985

The need to use statistical methods to compete successfully in today's marketplace is gaining recognition around the world. What is not always understood is how to start. This paper will provide information on how to design the implementation program) the role of management, a plan for achieving self-sufficiency and avoidance of pitfalls. The problem facing United States industry today is not so much the quality of products as it is quality of processes. All work, whether it be production or administration, can be broken down into processes. When each of those processes is examined, simplified, made consistent (brought under statistical control) and then relentlessly improved, waste and rework are eliminated, quality increases, productivity improves, costs go down, and the company's competitive position increases dramatically. Management must understand this relationship and labor must also understand that improved competitive position will mean more jobs. Mutual trust and respect are required of all employees.

Schuitz, Louis E.