...Great American Innovators America has gone through great change from its foundation to present day. Many people have helped to shape the great country in which we proudly call home. Our nation has produced some of the great innovators who shaped the industrial revolution, modern day communications and the use of electric light bulb. The simplest things that we take for granted once were the greatest innovations of their time. Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford are three of the greatest men that have contributed directly to a many things that we use in our day to day lives and without these men we would not be the advanced society that we are today. Reaching for a light switch is something we do every day. This is possible due to the contribution of Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio (Frith 5). He did not attain a formal education due to the poor family in which he was raised instead he started working on the railroad at age 12(Frith 14). Although Edison did not complete school, he continued to learn and experiment. Edison set up a printing press in the baggage car on the train and sold his own newspaper to the passengers (Frith 17). He retold the news from one end of the rail line to the other end of the rail line, allowing the people to be better informed of their neighboring towns. He was also able to have a small lab to perform scientific experiments, at least until his chemicals...
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...1. How long will you take to fill a rush order? Creating a Gantt Chart (used in our group discussion) we can easily see that the following orders (of the same type cookie can be done as follows: 1 Dozen = 26 minutes 2 Dozen = 36 minutes 3 Dozen = 46 minutes 2. How many orders can you fill in a night, assuming you are open four hours each night? In order to find out how many orders we can fill in a specific period of time we need to understand the bottleneck step and calculate the cycle time. In our process the bottleneck is the oven with a total cycle time of 10 minutes. The capacity of this process is 6 trays per hour. So in 4 hours we would have ( 6 x 4 ) 24 trays of cookies. *This assumes that the after baking activities could be completed after store closing. If we take into consideration the open hours only, the real capacity would be ((60 x 4)-8 / 60) or 3.73 hours and be able to produce only 22.38 trays. 3. How much of your own and your roommate's valuable time will it take to fill each order? Looking at labor time we see the following: Resource | Activity | Time | You | Wash & Mix + Spoon | 6 + 2 = 8 minutes | Roommate | Prepare Oven + Pack + Payment | 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 minutes | Total Resource time for 1 batch = 12 minutes Total Resource time for 1 batch = 17 minutes Total Resource time for 1 batch = 22 minutes *For up to 3 orders the first operation only counts once Idle time = 10 minutes! 4. For Kristen Cookies, develop...
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...Patrick Henry is not a very well know man today. When you ask people about him no one even knows who he was or what he did for America. In this parer hopefully you will learn more about who Patrick Henry was and see the important that he played in America history. Patrick Henry was born in Hanover Country, Virginia on May 29, 1736. He was born to John and Sarah Winston Henry. He was a figure of American’s struggles for liberty and self-government. Henry was a lawyer, planter, speaker, and willing participant in virtually every aspect of the founding of America. He was married two times to Sarah Shelton, with which he had six kids and Dorothea Dandridge who had eleven kids. Henry served in the Virginia House of Burgesses; he was a member of the Virginia committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Virginia Convention and a delegated to the Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention. He played a protuberant part in the May 6, 1776, convention and became the first governor of the commonwealth under its new constitution. Patrick Henry served five terms as governor of Virginia from 1776-1779 and then again 1784-1786. Henry was most known for his speech “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” (Henry, P. 1775) which he gave on March 23, 1775. Unfortunately the text of this speech like most of his speech he gave was not documented until years after his death. This speech did not first appear in print until William Wirt published it in 1816 in “Life and Character of Patrick Henry”. Wirt...
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...“Ford Motor Company” Barbara Wilson Professor Andrea Dennis Business 302 February 7, 2011 Discuss at least three criteria the company should use to decide which of the four listed options is best and the reasons why each criterion should be used. “Steps to Rational Decision Making” Define the problems: Ford Motor has been losing money for years, particularly in its North American operations. Option one is to close down older plants in an effort to realign production and sales. The best criteria decision to use should be “Steps to Rational Decision Making”. The first step in decision making is to identify and define the problem. Identify Decision Criteria are the standards used to guide judgments and decisions. Weight the Criteria. After identifying decision criteria, the next step is deciding which criteria are more or less important. Some companies use mathematical models for weighting decision criteria, all require the decision maker to provide an initial ranking of the criteria. Some use absolute comparisons, in which each criterion is compared to a standard or ranked on its own merits. Another method uses relative comparisons, in which each criterion is compared directly to every other criterion. Some criteria weight that guided decision maker’s judgment to close or not close the company included the cost of present inventory sales. Also cost to buying out the workers, shuttering the plants, setting up a new business and selecting a new location for...
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...Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison is the quintessential American inventor. Before he died, he gave us the phonograph, the transmitter for the telephone speaker, an improved light bulb, and key elements of motion-picture apparatus, as well as other bright inventions. He also created the world's first industrial research laboratory. Edison died on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey. CONTENTS Synopsis Younger Years Early Career Becoming an Inventor Edison Illuminating Company Industrialist and Business Manager Final Years QUOTES "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." – Thomas Edison « prev1 / 2next » Younger Years Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Alva Edison was the last of the seven children of Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas's father was an exiled political activist from Canada. His mother, an accomplished school teacher, was a major influence in Thomas’ early life. An early bout with scarlet fever left him with hearing difficulties in both ears, a malady that would eventually leave him nearly deaf as an adult. In 1854, the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, where Edison attended public school for a total of 12 weeks. A hyperactive child, prone to distraction, he was deemed “difficult” by his teacher. His mother quickly pulled him from school and taught him at home. At age 11, he showed a voracious appetite for knowledge, reading books on a wide...
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...Introduction: Nowadays Western New Yorkers are occupied trying to find a solution to an important problem that has “unexpectedly” knocked them out and they are quickly running out of time. The truth is that there has been found of huge gap in the Erie County’s budget. The truth is that now everyone is blaming the shortage on anything they can think of, but the solution is not being approached by such behavior. The 2005 budget shortage in the amount of 130 million dollars is a hard hit. Local legislators are trying to try to persuade the masses that the only way to restore the loss is by getting it from other budget components, and raising taxes. It is obvious that the inability to manage money that they showed, inability to come to a firm conclusion have influenced the lives of ordinary American people and its economy. The important issue that is being discussed now is the proposal to save budget founds by closing libraries, therefore cutting the expenses in the sphere of education. This does not seem a suitable runout for any New York resident. The motivation of this decision presented by Joel Giambra and local legislators is connected with the necessity to revise cost of Medicaid and other gaps that need to be filled in. After this unprofessional work they performed how do they expect New Yorkers to believe that they will direct tax dollars right this time? And the other truth is that their professionalism is under a big question mark. Closing libraries means prevent people...
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...This essay is about how John Steinbeck represents human nature and the nice and unfavourable qualities people had during the American depression in the 1930s where the story ‘Of Mice and Men’ took place. The story shows the way different people will react diversely to various situations. In this case, living with the trouble of having to travel to faraway places to search for jobs. It shows how some people can behave overly difficult while others can be calm, friendly and easy to live with. The many characters in the story represent the many different combinations of worthy and unworthy qualities but this essay shall concentrate on three characters Slim, Curley and Crooks. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, John Steinbeck uses the character Slim to represent a man who has only the admirable qualities of human nature and seems to possess absolutely no unworthy traits whatsoever. John Steinbeck shows the ideal man who respects and is respected greatly in return. He is known as ‘the prince of the ranch’ suggesting that he has skill above all the other men in the ranch and able to do things others could not. He can ‘kill a fly on the wheeler’s butt with a bull whip without touching the mule.’ This shows his precision and skill on the ranch supporting his title as the ‘prince of the ranch’. Furthermore, John Steinbeck shows how Slim is a born leader. His ‘godlike manner’ implies that he is like god, kind, respected and always listened to. Everything he does is done with ‘dignity’. People respect...
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...Are Science and Religion in Conflict? Name PHI 103 Instructor Date The economic crisis that struck the world between 2008 to 2009 had such resounding adverse impacts that brought even the mightiest economies to its knees. Even at present, the far-reaching effects of the crisis remain almost palpable and may be seen in high unemployment rates, economies still in recession and seemingly insurmountable national deficits. The United States, where the crisis had its beginnings continues to suffer from the recession even if it is gradually recovering. The present problems in the Euro zone may be partly attributed to the recession of 2008. Because of these, many scholars, economic analysts, researchers and businessmen continue to endeavor up to now to discern what the real cause of the economic crisis was in the hopes that it will not happen again. Many people attribute the global economic meltdown to the collapse of the subprime sector in the United States. To put it simply, the mortgage sector was blamed for the crisis because of how many financial instruments were collateralized by mortgages of people who had bad credit histories. When too many of them failed to meet their obligations, it began a series of defaults that ultimately collapsed not only the mortgage industry but the financial industry as well. All those that have investments in both sectors, local and foreign entities, also became affected as they lost what they have invested...
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...Goldman accused of subprime fraud By Francesco Guerrera and Henny Sender in New York Published: April 16 2010 16:11 | Last updated: April 17 2010 00:56 US authorities on Friday accused Goldman Sachs of securities fraud that caused investor losses of more than $1bn, in the toughest regulatory crackdown so far on the excesses of the credit-bubble era. News of the civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission wiped more than $12bn off the market value business model, and rocked other banks. The SEC move came as President Barack Obama made a final push for financial reform in the Senate Goldman and one of its vice-presidents of failing to disclose that in 2007 the hedge fund Paulson & Co had a major role in creating a collaterised debt obligation, a security backed by subprime mortgages, so that it could bet against it. d the firm and its position of Lloyd Blankfein CDO but did not name any executives. Goldman shares closed nearly 13 per cent lower to $160.70. The civil complaint alleges that Goldman and Fabrice Tourre, one of its vice-presidents, hid from investors the fact that Paulson & Co, which has not been charged, had a heavy hand in influencing the composition of loans that made up the CDO. Mr Tourre could not be reached for comment. - Within nine months of the creation of the CDO, 99 per cent of its loans had been downgraded, yielding Paulson & Co a profit of $1bn. Investors around the globe including IKB, the German bank which became the first casualty...
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...Chapter 7: The Rise of Manufacturing and the Age of Jackson (1820–1845) THE GROWTH OF THE FACTORY Economic growth was a key component of Henry Clay’s American System, and in the aftermath of the War of 1812, measures were taken to expand American industry. American industries were protected by the Tariff of 1816, which raised import tariffs by 25 percent. At the same time state governments began improving road, river, and canal transportation systems. Before 1820 almost all products made in America were completed using a system borrowed from Europe called the putting-out system. Under this system merchants would buy the raw materials, recruit dozens, or in some case hundreds, of farm families to do the work, and then sell the finished product. Many shoes in New England were made in this manner; women and children would make part of the shoe, which would be finished by experienced shoemakers. Beginning in the late 1780s the textile industry started to use power-driven machines and interchangeable parts. All power in these early factories came from water, so the early factories all were located along rivers. Most were located in New England or the Middle states. In the 1790s factories like those in Lowell, Massachusetts, began to weave cotton imported from the south. With the introduction of the cotton gin in the same decade, more cotton became available, and production boomed. By 1840 the textile industry employed nearly 75,000 workers, with almost half of...
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...Goldman Sach vs. SEC By: Lemar Clayton The Goldman Sachs situation presents a leadership ethics dilemma. Is it okay for banks to bet against their customers to manage risk and hedge their bets? In fact, I’m willing to bet that opposing sides in the argument don’t even see this as a dilemma. “The senate subcommittee grilled Goldman executives for 11 hours because they clearly think that what Goldman did was morally wrong, if not illegal.” ("Sec charges goldman," 2010) Contrast that with Goldman’s shareholders, who probably think it’s unethical for Goldman’s executives not to hedge against a mortgage collapse. There is a middle position that says the hedging itself wasn’t wrong, it was how Goldman did it that was questionable. Goldman should have disclosed its short position and possibly even details about the origins of those CDOs to customers. Let me begin by explaining what is a CDO, Goldman takes a reference portfolio, or a bunch of bonds. A bond is a formal contract to repay borrowed money with interest at fixed intervals. Each set of bonds is senior to all the bonds below it, and they pay principle in order of their seniority. You can view it as a pyramid with different slices. The portfolio is giving a rating by Wall Street. Each slice has a different maturity and risk associated with it. The higher the risk, the more the CDO pays. Level E will take losses before D, and level C will take losses before B. It’s important to note the bonds don’t have...
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...Applied Ergonomics 34 (2003) 23–28 Technical note Corporate ergonomics programme at Ford Motor Company Bradley S. Joseph* Ford Motor Company, Health Protection Services, WHQ 532-B6, P.O. Box 1899, Dearborn, MI 48120-1899, USA Abstract The use of ergonomic principles in automobile assembly and manufacturing operations has become an important part of a comprehensive health and safety process as well as an integral part of the engineering systems. Ford Motor Company has developed an ergonomics process to manage issues related to injury and illness (e.g., musculoskeletal diseases) and to ensure the appropriate use of human resources on the plant floor. The ergonomics programme uses joint labour and management teams to identify and evaluate jobs and develop and implement solutions. This paper summarises the efforts of the Ford Motor Company in implementing and maintaining the programme. Key strategies are outlined that provide important links to internal organisational units that are critical to fully utilise the ergonomics process. In addition, the paper outlines differences between proactive and reactive efforts and shows the importance of using the information generated by the initiatives for process improvement. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ergonomics process; Proactive; Reactive; International 1. Background Ford Motor Company is the largest producer of trucks and second largest producer of vehicles in the world. They produce 70 different...
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...The film Inside Job offers in-depth evidence of the complex relationship between government and business by showing how business under the auspice of capitalism and government under the mantle of democracy is collusive and incestuous in their ultimate pursuit of profit and power. The film clearly captures the systemic corruption of the United States by greedy and morally unbalanced industry leaders and their cohorts who engineered a financial catastrophe in 2008 not seen since the great depression. The film’s writer and director Charles Ferguson contends that the collapse of the financial industry could have been prevented had there been more regulation of Wall Street. He clearly establishes his line of reasoning through a series of interviews with many of the major players in government and the financial industry who indirectly and in some cases directly contributed to the financial fiasco of 2008. The financial collapse was caused by three main contributing factors; first, a toxic sub-prime mortgage market engineered by the financial industry; second, government’s failure of regulatory enforcement of the financial industry and Wall Street; and third, a collusive relationship between business leaders and government officials elected to curtail the same crisis they helped create. The financial collapse of 2008 resulted from a toxic sub-prime mortgage market engineered by an out-of-control industry that led to its inevitable implosion. In September 2008, the global financial...
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...You hear the comment all the time, from people on both sides of the political fence, that it seems as if the United States' basic structure and service capability has declined - that "things are going to hell in a handbasket." They'll make vague complaints that "nothing works anymore," or that things have degraded to a "Third World level" (meaning the level of a country that lacks the resources to maintain its basic functionality.) Well, it turns out that they're right: The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem. The results include leaking pipelines, failed air traffic control systems in major metropolitan areas, and - in an eye-opener - a power failure that paralyzed the NSA. American citizens are at risk for bridge failures and other life-threatening disasters. The Society's director adds: "I thought [Hurricane] Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm." Another analyst observes: "If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating. And yet we've essentially let these things happen — or almost happen — to ourselves." One function of government is to ensure that its citizens have a safe and functional physical environment...
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...and had only two forward speeds with no reverse. Although Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine, he was, however, one of several automotive pioneers who helped this country become a nation of motorists. After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer. The infant company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford realized his dream of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908. This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, immediately becoming a huge success. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts. To meet the growing demand for the Model T, the company opened a large factory at Highland Park, Michigan, in 1910. Here, Henry Ford combined precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor, and, in 1913, a continuous moving assembly line. Workers remained in place, adding one component to each automobile as...
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