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Crowd Engineering

By Steve Mulaik published in UK’s Chartered Institute of Logistics monthly magazine

‘Ask a hundred people to run a 100m race and then average their times. The average will not be better than the fastest member… ask a 100 people to make a decision and the average decision will be at least as good as the most [intelligent] person. We are programmed to be ‘collectively smart.’
James Surowiecki,
The Wisdom of Crowds, 2008

For the past two years, the author has been exploring the use of Surowiecki’s premise in manufacturing and distribution sites. Our experience seems to reinforce Surowiecki’s ideas and point to an entirely new way for companies to noticeably reduce operating costs using a new technique we call ‘crowd engineering’. The article further investigates a new mechanism for discovering these techniques that uses digital video, the internet, and collective intelligence.
Click here to read the author’s discussion on how firms can study the good and the not-so-good in fine detail to develop a process that is more efficient than any single engineer's work. 

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

It’s show time! ProMat 2007 is here. Whenever I visit the show, I am embarrassed to be reminded about how many things I have forgotten.
Making my rounds at the show, I always see something that I have never seen before that has the possibility of being incorporated into the concept design of a current project. But what really troubles me is that without exception, as I walk through the show I see equipment and concepts that I have seen before – and forgotten! Many of these also have potential within current projects. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

Is 2007 your year to plan for a new facility – or revisit the processes in the current one? If so, how high will you set your goals?
Will you just try to achieve a specific capacity based on business projections? Or, will you strive to raise productivity by15-20%? more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

Sometimes, as we are working hard to develop the very best layout and process for a distribution center, we get trumped by the team that is focusing on transportation. There seems to be bigger fish to catch in that pond!
In fact, with fuel costs rapidly rising and drivers’ work rules tightening, looking for ways to reduce transportation costs is becoming even more important. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

The recent NCAA basketball tournament caused me think about the value of momentum and its relationship to manufacturing and distribution operations.
Clearly, in sports, we think of momentum in a positive way. For example, ”We’ve got momentum going into this game.” Without that momentum, no team will make it all the way to the finals. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

Long ago, a wise and profound person coined the phrase you can't manage what you don't measure.  Although I suspect I heard that phrase even before I studied work measurement at Georgia Tech, I think about this simple principle now more than ever. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

I am not normally one to be fanatical about order and cleanliness. But, during this past month I had the experience of visiting two of the cleanest warehouses that I have ever been in – and, two of the dirtiest. The contrasts were stark. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

I have often reminded students and colleagues that, as we diagram the flow of products and orders through manufacturing and warehousing processes, it is important to capture the reverse flow of empty containers. In handling units moved, this flow can be as great as the forward flow. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

Sadly, there is no panacea to make case picking as easy as rolling off a log. But, there are a few tricks that can help make life a little easier for the picker and a little more productive for the warehouse.
During the last few weeks, I’ve had opportunities to work in several D.C.s that have case picking operations with significantly different characteristics. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

I originally planned for this column to be about workplace handling. But, as I began to organize it, I realized that the first important steps to efficient workplace handling begin with process planning that has the workplace in mind. more...

By James M. Apple, Jr. and published in Modern Materials Handling Magazine.

Somewhere along the line we became convinced that the only way to get the lowest possible picking cost was to pick very large batches of product to satisfy the needs of a large number of orders, and then sort them using a high-speed tilt-tray or cross-belt sorter. more...