Deep Space Station (DSS-13) automation demonstration

The data base collected during a six month demonstration of an automated Deep Space Station (DSS 13) run unattended and remotely controlled is summarized. During this period, DSS 13 received spacecraft telemetry data from Voyager, Pioneers 10 and 11, and Helios projects. Corrective and preventive maintenance are reported by subsystem including the traditional subsystems and those subsystems added for the automation demonstration. Operations and maintenance data for a comparable manned Deep Space Station (DSS 11) are also presented for comparison. The data suggests that unattended operations may reduce maintenance manhours in addition to reducing operator manhours. Corrective maintenance for the unmanned station was about one third of the manned station, and preventive maintenance was about one half

A model for the cost of doing a cost estimate

A model for estimating the cost required to do a cost estimate for Deep Space Network (DSN) projects that range from $0.1 to$100 million is presented. The cost of the cost estimate in thousands of dollars, C(sub E), is found to be approximately given by C(sub E) = K((C(sub p))(sup 0.35)) where C(sub p) is the cost of the project being estimated in millions of dollars and K is a constant depending on the accuracy of the estimate. For an order-of-magnitude estimate, K = 24; for a budget estimate, K = 60; and for a definitive estimate, K = 115. That is, for a specific project, the cost of doing a budget estimate is about 2.5 times as much as that for an order-of-magnitude estimate, and a definitive estimate costs about twice as much as a budget estimate. Use of this model should help provide the level of resources required for doing cost estimates and, as a result, provide insights towards more accurate estimates with less potential for cost overruns

New Perspectives on the Materials Interface with the Three E\u27s -- Energy, Environment and Economics

New perspectives are presented on the material interface with the three E\u27s -- Energy, Environment, and Economics. The past, present, and future energy picture is described from 1850 through the year 2030. The major energy sources such as oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, and several new emerging energy options are compared and contrasted. The lead time, capital, and materials required for bringing on-stream new energy sources is described. Previous U.S. energy forecasts are reviewed and are found to be too optimistic. The U.S. materials situation is outlined with an emphasis on per capita materials use and the critical role that foreign sources play in our materials supply. The interrelationship between energy and materials production is considered for three areas: (1) industrial processing, (2) construction and buildings, and (3) the automobile

A New Experiential Course in Engineering Management

Institutions with undergraduate programs of the engineering management type often find their introductory courses to be popular electives for students in more traditional engineering disciplines, while in other cases specific courses from business management or industrial engineering departments are elected. Where none of these options are available or suitable, engineering schools are well advised to provide one or two key courses to provide at least an introduction to the management problems their graduates will face. At Brown University, according to Prof. Barrett Hazeltine, a series of two courses in engineering management serve this function; more than half of Brown\u27s undergraduate engineers select at least one of these courses. At Harvey Mudd, this function is served by the innovative course discussed in this article

A Life Cycle Cost Economics Model for Automation Projects with Uniformly Varying Operating Costs

The described mathematical model calculates life-cycle costs for projects with operating costs increasing or decreasing linearly with time. The cost factors involved in the life-cycle cost are considered, and the errors resulting from the assumption of constant rather than uniformly varying operating costs are examined. Parameters in the study range from 2 to 30 years, for project life; 0 to 15% per year, for interest rate; and 5 to 90% of the initial operating cost, for the operating cost gradient. A numerical example is presented

Culture and its perception in strategic alliances, does it affect the performance? An exploratory study into Dutch-German ventures

culture, strategic alliances, performance

An Approximation Method of Calculating the Present Worth of Nonintegrable Cash Flow Patterns

An approximation method is provided for calculating the present worth of nonintegrable continuous cash flows that have common industrial economic applications. Two limiting cases of particular use in engineering screening analyses are given for each model. Practical examples are presented to illustrate the application of the cash flow models to manpower reductions due to computerized process control and to cash flows for a pollution-abatement facility

Measuring R and D Productivity

Measuring the productivity of an R&D organization is extremely tricky. Productivity is usually defined as a ratio of an output, like number of cars produced on an assembly line, to an input, like the wages paid the workers. While R&D may have a measurable input, the output is often intangible and difficult to quantify. This is further complicated because the return from an R&D department may not be realized for one or two decades,which means the time lag is much higher than in factory measurements. Furthermore, many researchers believe that this kind of measurement may be counterproductive,since the mere act of measurement could reduce R&D productivity. Nevertheless, companies continue to evaluate R&D with the crude methods available as they desperately look for more effective, quantitative methods