Today, I received a wonderful reminder as to why I do STEM outreach. I opened an interoffice mail envelope to find a clasp envelope filled with thank you notes. Last week, I had participated in a middle school career day. I had three rotations of students in 25-minute blocks of time, hoping I could make…

At lunch today, I sat down with my good friend Chris to talk about his volunteer work with a FIRST® Robotics Competition team. He talks about it constantly and is always trying to get me to jump on board as a mentor. I always laugh and tell him that I promise to look into it…

Happy Friday! My last couple of posts have gotten us through five of the eight common wastes. Seven of the eight were originally defined by the Toyota Production System with the additional waste being Non-Utilized Talent (which we covered yesterday) So far, we have covered the following: Defects Overproduction Waiting Non-Utilized Talent Transportation Inventory Motion…

In my last post, I introduced the acronym you can use to remember the eight common wastes, DOWNTIME. Seven of these eight wastes were formally defined in the Toyota Production System. Non-Utilized Talent is the eighth waste that was not originally introduced through the Toyota Production System. Defects Overproduction Waiting Non-Utilized Talent Transportation Inventory Motion Extra-Processing…

I had the opportunity to speak to a group of 7th graders today about what I do as a Manufacturing Engineer. I asked them if they knew what “Lean” meant, and after a few blank stares I got my favorite response: “Lean, like meat?” I chuckled and said, “Actually, that is a great example that…

In my last post, I introduced you to Mark Ochs. Mark is a middle school STEM teacher who transformed an outdated and underutilized technology elective classroom into an advanced middle school STEM lab. Mark’s class is a 7th and 8th grade STEM lab that is considered an elective class that is 50 minutes in length,…

I’ve mentioned that my husband is a middle school STEM teacher and figured it was time to finally introduce him to you. He is phenomenal teacher with a passion (and patience) for teaching middle school students. He started out as a music teacher, teaching drumline while he was in college, and his love for teaching…

In my last post, I shared a write up I drafted for AIA (Aerospace Industries Association) with the intent of reaching students and encouraging them to investigate STEM careers in Aerospace Manufacturing. Below is the short questionnaire I answered as well, which was featured on the front page of AIA’s website during National Engineers Week….

Recently, I was provided the opportunity to write about Lean in Aerospace Manufacturing in a way that could be understood and engaging to grade school students. I also answered a short questionnaire on STEM careers that ended up being featured on AIA’s website during National Engineering Week. My write up below was written with the notion…