RESEARCH NOTES
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CEOs and the 21st Century
Changes ahead mean new practices must be adopted. Smart manufacturing CEOs will avoid letting the 21st century just
"happen" to them — they are preparing their companies in advance,
says Dr. Ned Ellington of the Georgia Institute of Technology's
Economic
Development Institute (EDI).
To help companies prepare, EDI developed a list of the top ten things CEOs are doing to prepare for the next century. The list, (see below) was developed from a survey of manufacturers; EDI's experience with its nationally known industrial extension efforts; and research done in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). "Manufacturing companies that have been successful in the 1980s and 1990s must aggressively manage change if they wish to be leaders in the 21st century," says Ellington, a senior researcher on loan to NIST's MEP to lead its strategic planning effort. An explosion of information technology, increasing openness of global markets, changing markets and the growing importance of energy and environmental concerns are a few of the many factors that will continue to challenge manufacturing companies. Managers will have to re-examine all their practices if they want to compete successfully. "This will make manufacturing in the next century not only incredibly dynamic and challenging, but also very profitable to the winners!" |
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Aggressively and continually managing change
Materials Science and Technology Research
GTRI programs, ranging from polymers to materials analysis, are among the U.S.'s most advanced.
Major activities include:
Phosphor Research — The Phosphor Technology Center of Excellence, a
research consortium including four additional universities, the David Sarnoff
Research Center and the American Display Consortium, develops new phosphor
materials and better techniques for thin film deposition of color phosphors to
aid in the development of improved flat panel displays.
Georgia Tech photo
A GTRI researcher performs spectroscopic studies on new phosphors for advanced flat panel displays.
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Polymers — Research focuses on developing non-ozone depleting technologies
and researching solid waste recycling technology.
High Temperature Materials — Materials synthesis and processing, coatings
and films, and materials characterization are explored via chemical vapor
deposition and ceramic matrix composite technology.
Metallurgy — Work focuses on several topics, such as the fabrication of
metal wires and welding steel alloys and lightweight aluminum-scandium alloys
for transportation. A variety of metal processing concerns are addressed.
Catalysis — GTRI offers one of the nation's leading research and
development programs in the field of molecular sieves, zeolites and clay
catalysts. The program also is active in catalysis and adsorption studies.
Sensors — Research focuses on developing thin-film sensors to monitor the
presence and concentration of materials on different surfaces. Researchers also
are producing improved planar optical waveguides for environmental sensors.
Materials Analysis — The Materials Analysis Center conducts specialized
analysis and characterization of materials and material processes for Georgia
industry. It also conducts independent research and development in partnership
with industry and government.
Further information is available from Dr. Henry Paris, Electro-Optics,
Environment and Materials Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0826.
World Wide Web Worries
Users support privacy of information, voluntary spam control.
Users of the World Wide Web support government efforts aimed at protecting the
privacy of confidential information, but believe the problem of unsolicited
electronic mail — known as "spam" — can be solved by voluntary efforts similar to
those used by traditional marketers.
These conclusions result from the analysis of comments made by more than 19,970 Web users responding to an on-line survey conducted in April and May 1997 by researchers in Georgia Tech's Graphics, Visualization and Usability (GVU) Center.
While few respondents said they liked to receive unsolicited e-mail, the survey found little support for laws against it. The solution favored by 38 percent of respondents was creation of an "opt-out" list of persons who do not want to receive the mailings. This would be similar to the process now used by telephone and direct mail marketers to avoid contacting persons who have indicated they do not wish to receive solicitations.
Just 8 percent of the respondents supported legislation to ban the unsolicited e-mail, while 14 percent suggested some type of "impact fee" be levied on those sending the spam.
While the respondents looked to non-government remedies for junk e-mail, they agreed that government legislation should protect the privacy of information on the Internet, says Colleen Kehoe, one of the researchers who conducted the 7th GVU World Wide Web Survey.
"When you give people a general concern about protecting their confidential information, which is an unknown risk that people can't assess, they choose government protection," she says. "When you talk about the specific issue of unsolicited e-mail, people know what that is and they can assess how much of a problem it is."
The survey also found a growing number of users who admitted to falsifying information provided at Web sites, Kehoe notes.
"People say they falsify information because they don't trust the entity collecting it and they are not provided with a statement explaining how the information is going to be used," she explains.
Among the survey respondents, only 60 percent said they had never provided false information while registering at a Web site — meaning 40 percent had given false information on at least one occasion. Nearly 15 percent of the users admitted to providing false information at least a quarter of the time while registering.
Though lacking the validity of a true scientifically-selected random survey, the GVU survey of Web users has provided an interesting and widely- respected "snapshot" of who's using the giant computer network. Data was first gathered on-line in January 1994 when the project was begun by researcher Jim Pitkow.
The results of this and earlier Web surveys may be purchased from Georgia Tech's Office of Technology Licensing (404/894- 6900) and are available at http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/survey-1997-04/.
Commercial Acoustics
GTRI researchers have expertise, equipment to study diverse, varied sounds.
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) conducts commercial acoustics research that draws on the international expertise of its staff, state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation, and advanced signal processing techniques.
Georgia Tech photo
GTRI researchers have
developed a unique facility to measure sound absorption
properties.
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Whether studying the sounds produced by automobiles and jet engines, the noises generated by hair dryers and refrigerators, or the way in which people react to them, GTRI offers experience, innovative ideas and cutting-edge test facilities.
Among GTRI's specialties are:
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aerospace acoustics
active cancellation
field measurements
automobile noise control
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acoustic liners
industrial noise control
noise simulation.
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Researchers also perform work in underwater acoustics and psychoacoustics, atmospheric acoustics and radio acoustic sensing. They look at optical and biomedical applications, as well, and teach short courses in noise measurement methodologies and noise control.
Facilities include two wind tunnels, several anechoic chambers, a large vacuum chamber, an electrically driven tiltrotor, a sonic boom simulator, and test facilities for high-temperature jet flow, high-temperature acoustic liner flow and flow visualization.
Further information is available from Dr. Krishan Ahuja, Aerospace and
Transportation Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0844.
Renowned Researchers
Tech scientists and engineers honored in recent awards.
Dr. Michael Lacey is one of two researchers awarded the 1996 Prix Salem. Lacey, a professor in the School of Mathematics, and Dr. Christoph Thiele of the University of Kiel, Germany, were recognized for their exceptional work on Calderon's bilinear Hilbert transform and the development of a new method of phase space analysis. Their method brings to the study of functions a sensitivity to their spatial and oscillatory behavior.
The Salem prize has been awarded since 1968 to young mathematicians performing exceptional work in areas of interest to the late Raphael Salem, who studied and applied the Fourier series. The Prix Salem selection committee was made up of six top mathematicians from France and the United States.
Dr. W. Steven Johnson is a 1997 recipient of the American Society for Testing and Materials' Award of Merit, and also was named a Fellow of the organization. Johnson, a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, has a joint appointment in the School of Mechanical Engineering, and was recently named director of Georgia Tech's Composites Education and Research Center.
Dr. Raymond Vito, professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Dr. David McDowell, a Regents' professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, received the Nadai Award from the materials division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The award is ASME's highest honor given for materials research. He was recognized for "outstanding contributions to the experimental study and development of constitutive equations for the rate and temperature-dependent inelastic flow and damage to solids, including cyclic and large strain phenomena, and to the basic understanding and modeling of combined stress state fatigue and fracture processes." McDowell has a joint appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, is director of the Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory, and serves as chairperson of Georgia Tech's Materials Council. He will deliver the Nadai Lecture at the ASME Winter meeting in Dallas in November.
Georgia Tech recently became the only institution to employ three winners of the Henry R. Lissner Award, the most prestigious bioengineering award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Dr. Ajit Yoganathan has been named the 1997 award winner, continuing a tradition begun by Dr. Robert Nerem, director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, who was selected in 1989; and Dr. Don Giddens, professor in the Petit Institute, who was honored in 1993 while dean of engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Yoganathan is associate director of the Petit Institute, director of the Bioengineering Center and Regents professor in the School of Chemical Engineering. His research addresses cardiovascular fluid mechanics, cardiovascular devices and biomedical engineering. He has conducted pioneering fundamental research on the fluid mechanics of heart valves.
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Last updated: Dec. 3, 1997