Spring 2001

President's Message - March 2001

The chapter is well along in the 2001 year, and we hope to continue to build on our initial momentum. We have had two chapter meetings at the time of this writing, and our last meeting (a plant tour) resulted in not only significant attendance, but some great feedback from our the attendees.

Some of the results of the survey shows us that our future meetings should focus on:

Lean manufacturing topics
Plant Tours
Six Sigma

I am pleased that our meetings for the rest of the year will cover all of these identified topics. Six Sigma will be covered in June, another plant tour and lean manufacturing in September.

And of course its springtime, and a time of new beginnings, and the opportunity to improve ourselves. The IIE Annual Conference and the Engineering Research Conference will be held on May 20-23 at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Dallas Texas. This is the premier event for industrial engineers to interact and receive training on methods, workplaces, and career development. The conference will include events such as:

A career fair
Sessions on Lean Manufacturing
Sessions on Quality
Sessions on Simulation
and others sessions and topics too . . . .

Combining the two events, they will include over 175 sessions, and over 350 presenters, keynote speakers, company tours, and other non-IE events for spouses and significant others. Please notify me via email on the website if you will be attending, and perhaps we can organize a Detroit Chapter gathering down in Texas.

Lastly, I want to let everyone know of Professor Ad Aswad’s retirement from the University of Michigan - Dearborn. On April 6, 2001 Rich Anderson and I attended a retirement party for Dr. Aswad. Many graduates from the UM-D know of his significant accomplishments in developing Industrial Engineering at the University and in the Detroit area; and many of these same graduates are members of our chapter – and if you have a chance, please wish him well.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or input on the chapter website www.iiedetroit.org, via email on the website directly to me.