2017-04-09

Notes.
This week, at Lux Research's Executive summit, I had a conversation with someone who works in government relations at a major auto equipment manufacturer. The conversation began with high level business strategy - specifically, the trend from companies pursuing supply chain innovation (finding cheaper places to make stuff) to pursuing manufacturing process innovation (so that your products can be differentiated and/or cheaper). But then we shifted to policy, and to auto & truck manufacturers' opinions of CAFE standards and CO2 emissions.

Off the bat, this person pointed out how important heavy vehicles - trucks and buses - are to US CO2 emissions. Moreover, they're owned by people (truckers) whose bottom line is *hugely* impacted by fuel costs - meaning that they're very excited about improvements in fuel efficiency (and hence, reductions in CO2 emissions). The consumer market is a bit messier, but from the automakers' point of view we are *definitely* heading towards lower emissions and better fuel economy. And any hiccup on that path - say, a four to eight year period wherein the EPA is systematically dismantled - only serves to make them less competitive.

I mention this just to remind you there are still a lot of non-crazy people out there. Moreover, some of them even work at well-funded businesses who take lobbying the EPA and White House seriously. Do with that what you will; I know it was something of a comfort to me.

Beyond that: I've been spending a lot of time in Abaqus recently, and jotted down some thoughts about the role of optimization in engineering.

Planning & Strategy.

• The principles that made Xerox PARC tick. "It’s 'baseball' not 'golf' — batting .350 is very good in a high aspiration high risk area. Not getting a hit is not failure but the overhead for getting hits."
• A company called Garadget, which makes an IOT garage door opener, blacklisted a customer's device after they criticized the company on Amazon and Garadget's site. They later reversed the decision, admitting that it had not been "the slickest PR move."
• Trump's budget blueprint cuts New Starts grants, which could have huge, negative impacts on a new Hudson River train tunnel and SAS Phase 2.

Making & Manufacturing.

• A video of a massive overhead gantry machining center making an enormous helical gear.
• Some nice (and very convenient looking) tool-free snap connectors for splicing wire.
• Bertha, the huge tunneling machine that was stuck under Seattle a few summers ago, finally completed its digging.
• Sandvik Coromant is apparently working on printing milling cutters with internal lattices. The mostly hollow parts would be lighter than their solid counterparts, and could probably be tuned to dampen vibration & reduce chatter - reducing per-part costs and improving spindle lifespan.

Maintenance, Repair & Operations.

• TC Electric and Judlau Contracting, a company with a mixed record on construction projects in NYC, were awarded the contract to repair the Canarsie Tunnel. Interestingly, the project is now set to take 15 months (down from 18), and the $492MM contract is structured to include penalties of $410K for each day past that deadline.
• A section of I-85 in Atlanta collapsed after someone (who may have been smoking crack) allegedly set a chair on fire underneath an overpass. Somewhat incredibly, construction has already begun on the replacement span, and it's scheduled to reopen in mid June.

Distribution & Logistics.

• Jonas' twitter report (with videos) from Automate Show.
• Audi put in a bid to acquire Silvercar, the hip rental car company.
• The Utah Supreme Court upheld a decision barring Tesla from owning car dealerships through a subsidiary.
• On the back-and-forth nature of today's NAFTA-enabled supply chain.
• China is investing in *big* high voltage DC infrastructure to bring electricity from low population/energy rich areas in the north and west down to coastal population centers.

Inspection & Testing.

• Intellectual Ventures, Nathan Myhrvold's complicated IP & R&D company, can tell the difference between male and female mosquitoes by shining a laser at their wings. I actually saw this machine in operation when I visited IV a year or two ago; it's pretty wild.
• A good explainer on Trump's EO on climate change, which withdrew the Obama Administration's "social cost of carbon" of $36 per ton. Note that government agencies are still required to use a social cost of carbon in their cost calculations, but now they're free to use any number they want - and can base that number on domestic, rather than global, impact.
• Tesla sold 4000 vehicles last month; GM and Ford sold about a quarter million each. Nevertheless, the market values Tesla.

Tangents.

• Pills dissolving in water.
• Snuggies are officially *not* clothes, making their tax burden significantly lower than if they were.
• There are now more Mets fans than Yankees fans in NYC. Heck yeah!

Thanks as always to our recurring donors for supporting The Prepared. Credit also to Andreas for sending links.
A photo essay on shipbreaking yards in South Asia, which dismantle old ships for scrap.