What is this Principle about?
10% of life is made up of what happens to you...90% of life is decided by how you react !! What does this mean ?? We really do not have control over 10% of what happens to us, in other words, we do not have control over this 10%. However, the other 90% is different which means that you can determine this reaction. But how ?? Simply, by how you react. We cannot control a red light, but we can control our reaction. Do not allow people to fool you, you can control how you react :)
Consider for example, you are having breakfast with your family. Your daughter [or your little sister] knocks over a cup of coffee onto your suit. For sure, you donot have control over what just happened.. but what happens next will be determined by how you react [ you curse ] you harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over and she breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your wife and you criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table [A short verbal battle follows..ok !!]
You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish her breakfast and getting ready to go to school [ BTW she misses the bus :S ] Your spouse must leave immediately for work, in the mean time, you rush to the car and drive your daughter to school [ and because you are late, you drive 40 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed limit zone]. Unfortunately, after a 20 minutes delay, you arrive to school [ your daughter runs into the building without even saying Goodbye !! ]
After arriving at the office 30 minutes late, you realize you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse [ You look forward to coming home ] When you come back home, you find a wedge in your family, but why ?? Simply, because of how you reacted in the morning !!
[Author: Steven Covey]
You had no control over what happened to the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your so called BAD day. It only takes willpower to give ourselves permission to make the experience.
This is a great principle that we often forget about .. It's really simple and profound if you follow it. We as individual, decide what will happen to us in every situation in the way we react to it. And as these situations keep changing and happen to any person, at the end the success of a person depends on how he reacts.
Now, you know about the 90/10 principle.. Apply it !!
[ZeWeX]
Monday, 22 February 2010
Friday, 19 February 2010
Design for Six Sigma
Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is the application of Six Sigma principles to the design of products and their manufacturing and support processes. Whereas Six Sigma by definition focuses on the production phase of a product, DFSS focuses on research, design, and development phases. DFSS combines many of the tools that are used to improve existing products or services and integrates the voice of the customer and simulation methods to predict new process and product performance.
DFSS can be compared to DMAIC (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and often the acronym DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) is used to describe the strategy of DFSS. The precise phases or steps of a DFSS methodology are not universally defined. Most organizations will implement DFSS to suit their business, industry, and culture. DFSS methodology, instead of the DMAIC methodology, should be used when:
* A product or process is not in existence at your company and one needs to be developed
* The existing product or process exists and has been optimized (using either DMAIC or not) and still doesn’t meet the level of customer specification or six sigma level
DFSS is a way to implement the Six Sigma methodology as early in the product or service life cycle as possible. It is a strategy toward extraordinary ROI by designing to meet customer needs and process capability. DFSS can produce the same order of magnitude in financial benefits as DMAIC. But it also greatly helps an organization innovate, exceed customer expectations, and become a market leader.
DFSS is the Six Sigma approach to product design’namely, designing products that are resistant to variation in the manufacturing process. Using DFSS means designing quality into the product from the start. You are preventing wasteful variation before it happens, thus being able to identify and correct problems early when the solution costs are less. A successful DFSS implementation requires the same ingredients as any other Six Sigma project: a significant commitment and leadership from the top, planning that identifies and establishes measurable program goals and timeline, and the training and involvement of everyone.
Planning for DFSS requires collecting the necessary information that will allow for error free production of defect-free products and processes that satisfy the customer profitably. DFSS attempts to predict how the designs under consideration will behave and to correct for variation prior to it occurring. That means understanding the real needs of your customers and translating those needs into vital technical characteristics of the product and ultimately into critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the product and process. You can then use design of experiments (DOE) to develop a robust design that optimizes efficiency and reduces defects.
Valid and reliable metrics to monitor the progress of the project are established early in the project, during the Measure phase if using DMADV. Key inputs are prioritized to establish a short list to study in more detail. With a prioritized list of inputs in hand, the DFSS team will determine the potential ways the process could go wrong and take preemptive action to mitigate or prevent those failures. Through analysis, the DFSS team can determine the causes of the problem that needs improvement and how to eliminate the gap between existing performance and the desired level of performance. This involves discovering why defects are generated by identifying the key variables that are most likely to create process variation. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) can be used for both the design of the product and the design of the process.
DFSS provides a structured way to constructively use the information learned from these analyses. Armed with real data produced by the DFSS process, you can develop competent manufacturing processes and choose processes that are capable of meeting the design requirements. Further analysis can verify and validate that the product design will meet the quality targets. This can be accomplished through peer reviews, design reviews, simulation and analysis, qualification testing, or production validation testing.
The benefits of DFSS are more difficult to quantify and are more long-term. It can take over six months after the launch of the new product before you will begin to see the true measure of the project improvements. However, the eventual return on investment can be profound. This is especially true when the organization can use the DFSS project as a template for fundamental changes in the way it develops new products and processes across the organization.
DFSS can be compared to DMAIC (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and often the acronym DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) is used to describe the strategy of DFSS. The precise phases or steps of a DFSS methodology are not universally defined. Most organizations will implement DFSS to suit their business, industry, and culture. DFSS methodology, instead of the DMAIC methodology, should be used when:
* A product or process is not in existence at your company and one needs to be developed
* The existing product or process exists and has been optimized (using either DMAIC or not) and still doesn’t meet the level of customer specification or six sigma level
DFSS is a way to implement the Six Sigma methodology as early in the product or service life cycle as possible. It is a strategy toward extraordinary ROI by designing to meet customer needs and process capability. DFSS can produce the same order of magnitude in financial benefits as DMAIC. But it also greatly helps an organization innovate, exceed customer expectations, and become a market leader.
DFSS is the Six Sigma approach to product design’namely, designing products that are resistant to variation in the manufacturing process. Using DFSS means designing quality into the product from the start. You are preventing wasteful variation before it happens, thus being able to identify and correct problems early when the solution costs are less. A successful DFSS implementation requires the same ingredients as any other Six Sigma project: a significant commitment and leadership from the top, planning that identifies and establishes measurable program goals and timeline, and the training and involvement of everyone.
Planning for DFSS requires collecting the necessary information that will allow for error free production of defect-free products and processes that satisfy the customer profitably. DFSS attempts to predict how the designs under consideration will behave and to correct for variation prior to it occurring. That means understanding the real needs of your customers and translating those needs into vital technical characteristics of the product and ultimately into critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the product and process. You can then use design of experiments (DOE) to develop a robust design that optimizes efficiency and reduces defects.
Valid and reliable metrics to monitor the progress of the project are established early in the project, during the Measure phase if using DMADV. Key inputs are prioritized to establish a short list to study in more detail. With a prioritized list of inputs in hand, the DFSS team will determine the potential ways the process could go wrong and take preemptive action to mitigate or prevent those failures. Through analysis, the DFSS team can determine the causes of the problem that needs improvement and how to eliminate the gap between existing performance and the desired level of performance. This involves discovering why defects are generated by identifying the key variables that are most likely to create process variation. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) can be used for both the design of the product and the design of the process.
DFSS provides a structured way to constructively use the information learned from these analyses. Armed with real data produced by the DFSS process, you can develop competent manufacturing processes and choose processes that are capable of meeting the design requirements. Further analysis can verify and validate that the product design will meet the quality targets. This can be accomplished through peer reviews, design reviews, simulation and analysis, qualification testing, or production validation testing.
The benefits of DFSS are more difficult to quantify and are more long-term. It can take over six months after the launch of the new product before you will begin to see the true measure of the project improvements. However, the eventual return on investment can be profound. This is especially true when the organization can use the DFSS project as a template for fundamental changes in the way it develops new products and processes across the organization.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Top 25 Universities Of The World (2009)
25. Kyoto University , Japan
24. University of Hong Kong
23. Kings College London
22. University of Tokyo
21. University of Edinburgh
20. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
19. University of Michigan , United States
18. Mcgill University , Canada
17. Australian National University
16. Stanford University , United States
15. Cornell University , United States
14. Duke University , United States
13. Johns Hopkins University , United States
12. University of Pennsylvania , United States
11. Columbia University , United States
10. California Institute of Technology (caltech)
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit), United States
8. PRINCETON University , United States
7. University of CHICAGO , United States
6. University of OXFORD , United Kingdom
5. IMPERIAL College London
4. UCL ( University College London )
3. Yale University , United States
2. University of Cambridge , United Kingdom
1. Harvard University , United States
24. University of Hong Kong
23. Kings College London
22. University of Tokyo
21. University of Edinburgh
20. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
19. University of Michigan , United States
18. Mcgill University , Canada
17. Australian National University
16. Stanford University , United States
15. Cornell University , United States
14. Duke University , United States
13. Johns Hopkins University , United States
12. University of Pennsylvania , United States
11. Columbia University , United States
10. California Institute of Technology (caltech)
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit), United States
8. PRINCETON University , United States
7. University of CHICAGO , United States
6. University of OXFORD , United Kingdom
5. IMPERIAL College London
4. UCL ( University College London )
3. Yale University , United States
2. University of Cambridge , United Kingdom
1. Harvard University , United States
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Snail Shell Could make Body Armur
A deep-sea snail wears a multi-layered suit of armor, complete with iron, new research shows. Dissecting details of the shell’s structure could inspire tough new materials for use in everything from body armor to scratch-free paint.
sciencenews“If you look at the individual properties of the bits and pieces that go into making this shell, they’re not very impressive,” comments Robert Ritchie of the University of California, Berkeley. “But the overall thing is.”
The snail, called the scaly-foot gastropod, was discovered nearly a decade ago living in a hydrothermal vent field in the Indian Ocean. In its daily life, the snail encounters extreme temperatures, high pressures and high acidity levels that threaten to dissolve its protective shell. Worse, it is hunted by crabs that try to crush the mollusk between strong claws.
To understand how the valiant gastropod holds up to these trials, Christine Ortiz of MIT and her colleagues used nanoscale experiments and computer simulations to dig in to the shell’s structure. Many other species’ shells exhibit what Ortiz calls “mechanical property amplification,” in which the whole material is hundreds of times stronger than the sum of its parts.
snail_shell_bsarThe scaly-foot snail’s shell employs a structure “unlike any other known mollusk or any other known natural armor,” the researchers report January 19 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ortiz and her colleagues found that the shell consists of a 250-micrometer-thick inner layer of aragonite, a common shell material, sheathed in a 150-micrometer-thick layer of squishy organic materials. The organic layer is encased in a thin, stiff outer layer (about 30 micrometers thick) made of hard iron sulfide–based scales. The gastropod wears larger versions of the scales on its exposed foot.
“Most mollusks only have a relatively thin outer organic layer followed by inner calcified layers,” Ortiz says. But the snail’s organic layer is surprisingly thick, and no other gastropod has ever been shown to use iron sulfide in its shell.
Each of the shell’s layers plays a unique role in protecting the snail from crab attacks, Ortiz found. The researchers measured material properties like stiffness and fracture resistance, and fed them into a computational model of a predator penetrating the armor.
The model showed that the outer layer, the shell’s “first line of defense,” sacrificed itself by cracking slightly under pressure. But the cracks were branched and jagged, dissipating energy widely through the shell and keeping any one crack from spreading too far. The iron-based scales could shift and roughen the shell’s surface during a crab attack, which in turn would grind down the attacking claw, the researchers suggest.
The soft organic middle layer changed shape in response to pressure, keeping the brittle inner layer from feeling too much of the pinch. Organic material could also insert itself in any cracks that formed in either sandwiching layer and keep the crack from spreading. Plus, the middle layer together with the outer layer protects against acidic waters and may also help shield the snail from high temperatures.
The shell’s curvature also helped reduce stress on the calcified inner layer. The inner layer’s rigidity provided structural support, to keep the whole shell from caving in.
“It shows that by changing the geometry of the materials … you can improve their properties quite significantly,” comments Markus Buehler of MIT, who was not involved in the research.
Ortiz hopes that studying the snail’s shell could one day lead to improved materials for armor or helmets for people. Studying organisms that have been optimized for extreme environments through millions of years of evolution could offer ideas that engineers would never think of on their own, she says.
But it will probably be a while, Ritchie cautions. His lab built a ceramic material based on mother-of-pearl in 2008.
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