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Industries that have experienced mass hirings and subsequent layoffs are taking a closer look at balancing workforces with temporary contract employees. That idea is not new. Some Large companies have [...]

Newspapers give all industries look at future Want to know how technology will impact your industry and its workforce? Take a look at automation changes well underway in newspaper publishing, [...]

A physicians' diagnosis Is cost cutting a long-term problem? Efforts by health-care payers to cut medical costs swiftly will likely result in increased morbidity and mortality two to five years [...]

United eyes Orient Pan Am acquisition could be a plum. If you want something, sometimes you can get it just by asking. UAL Inc.'s United Air Lines did that and [...]

Conditions for producers of solid wood products and primary aluminum in the Northwest look even worse than in the bleak years of 1981 and 1982. Domestic overcapacity and less expensive [...]

The space program is changing from management by government to management by industry, and some milestone changes may occur in coming weeks. One development that would excite industry the most [...]

Some U.S. corporations may regain market leadership from their Japanese rivals in a few years, but for most of them it will be a long uphill battle. 'It will take [...]

In the early 1930s when aluminum started winning the materials battle for aircraft applications, wood didn't have much of a chance. But now, as nonmetallic composites--mostly graphite-fiber-reinforced plastics--gain market strength, [...]

It's possible that one day film will no longer be needed to project movies at theaters-the picture will be electronically generated. Hughes Aircraft Co., Los Angeles, claims it is approaching [...]

Electronic mail's surge Jim LaGoullon gets downright philosophical when he talks about electronic mail. 'The phenomenon of electronic mail is that once it comes in, it becomes a part of [...]

A new chore for Charles Lynch Charles Lynch has worked--and prospered --in a variety of industries. Just the same, he is tackling something new: managing the American unit of DHL [...]

Transactions in factory rendered more easily Probably the most abused and maligned words in the computer industry are 'user friendly.' To overcome the fear of keyboards, hefty manuals, and hours [...]

Builders eye new models, markets The Western World's three commercial-aircraft builders sense all sorts of demand for new planes. Boeing is convinced there is a huge market for a 150-passenger [...]

An initial success for Safi Qureshey Many companies that rely primarily on selling IBM add-on products have wound up in the boneyard or not far away from it. But five-year-old [...]

David Ferguson outdoes Big Blue David Ferguson has made a career out of making IBM machines do things even IBM never thought were possible. But unlike most people in that [...]

The right touch: a better keyboard finally arrives New technology is coming to the rescue of an old technology that dramatically increases typing productivity. The old technology is called the [...]

Boeing favored to regain lead An unfolding international dogfight among commercial aircraft manufacturers will likely see Boeing Co. reclaim a lead it lost a few years ago. The Seattle-based producer [...]

If, in the next few years, portions of your automobile engine contain plastics, the chemical industry will be overjoyed. Already, in fact, plastic timing gears, tappets, piston pins, and connecting [...]

This year will confirm what 1984 began to bear out in the health-care industry: competition is bringing prices down. With the completion of the first year of the government's Medicare [...]

For the first time in a decade there are positive signs that businessmen are convinced that the processing of materials in space has a firm foundation. Not only are would-be [...]

Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co., Burbank, Calif., believes its Engineering Design Graphics (EDG) system, developed inhouse, may be the most advanced engineering-design software system yet. 'EDG is in a state of [...]

When the Komatsu Ltd. forklift-frame manufacturing plant in Buena Park, Calif., goes through its motions, it does so in style. instead of sounding off with buzzers or whistles, the system [...]

Protection standards called inadequate. Deployment of industrial robots is outpacing the development of safety standards to protect human co-workers. Robots are expected to involve half of the final assembly of [...]

Weirton Steel claims its data-collection technique will be the best in the industr Weirton Steel Corp., Weirton, W. Va., should begin operating in September a datacollection system it claims will [...]

By LAD KUZELA/Control Data Corp. (CDC) is developing a computer-based system to train management and administrative personnel in statistical ministrative personnel in statistical quality control, potentially leading to profound changes [...]

Environmentalist urges swift solutions. Industry needs to develop an integrated-management approach to the manufacturing and disposal of composite materials. Problems have already surfaced at a number of aerospace firms. At [...]

Although they boost productivity and accuracy, computeraided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) could be impeding the imaginations of engineers. 'We must rethink CAD/CAM,' asserts Ben Rich, vice president advanced [...]

By LAD KUZELA/ Operations management, once considered a tactical discipline of scant importance for corporate executives, has taken on new strategic proportions. Companies that are competitive worldwide have reconsidered not [...]

Completing the loop in employee teams. By LAD KUZELA/ After years of working with a version of quality circles, Rockwell International Corp. felt the approach didn't have quite the ring [...]

A videoconference at your desk? The transmission between corporate studios over phone lines of pictures, voice, and data is flourishing, but an explosion of person-to-person videoconferencing systems appears at hand. [...]

Humanizing automation What really happens to workers when management decides to automate and some employees have less to do? In the 1700s, economist Adam Smith wrote that 'specialization of labor' [...]