Wohlers Talk

In January 2008, Tata Motors of India unveiled its $2,500 automobile. It is believed to be the least expensive production car anywhere. The car is expected to reach Indian consumers in October. Click here to see the interior and exterior of this small, no-frills car. According to Wikipedia, the car has a 623 cc rear engine with fuel economy of 22 km per liter (52 mpg) in the city and 26 km per liter (61 mpg) on highways.

Tata Motors announced in March an agreement with Ford Motor Company for the purchase of Jaguar Land Rover. The transfer of ownership is supposed to occur by the end of Q2. At that point, Tata will offer the lowest and some of the highest-priced production cars on the market. The Jaguar XJ series list for $65,000 to $95,000. Click here to see the interior and exterior of this luxury automobile.

It will be interesting to see whether a car company, such as Tata, can handle such breadth in automotive products. The Jaguar Ford “marriage” did not work out, so maybe Tata can do better.

I’ve listed my favorite products and services in the past and it’s time to do it again. Some companies provide good quality, but many do not. The following, listed at random, are a few of those that have met or exceeded my expectations over the past year or so.

1) PdaNet. This is an excellent application that runs on Palm Treo handheld devices. A one-time cost of $34 turns your Treo into a broadband modem for your laptop or desktop computer. Read about it in an April 2007 Wohlers Talk blog commentary.

2) tryda. This free “directory assistant” operates on a Treo running the Palm OS. (A Windows Mobile version is coming soon.) The application permits you to quickly search for names, addresses, and phone numbers of companies and individuals nationwide. Looking for a pizza restaurant? Just enter “pizza” and a zip code or city and tryda will list pizza restaurants in the area. What’s more, it links to Google Maps and displays locations and directions. Did I say that it’s free?

3) OnlyMyEmail. I’ve tried many spam filtering programs and services and this one is the best, especially for small companies and individuals. At $4 per month, it’s a bargain.

4) Shure Sound Isolating Earphones. This $150 product (Model SE210) is worth every penny, if you’re looking for compact, in-the-ear quality sound. The product dramatically reduces the ambient noise when on a plane or in other noisy environments. It’s easy to fit the earphones to your ear canals because they come with many types and sizes of rubber and foam sleeves. I prefer earbuds over bulky headsets, but most do not stay securely in my ears. These do and they are comfortable.

5) Panasonic Plasma Television. In high definition (HD), this 50-inch screen (Model TH-50PX75U) is the next best thing to being there. You will see detail that you’ve never seen before on a television. The price continues to drop, making it affordable to a broader range of customers.

6) Philips Home Theater System. This $200 product (Model HTS3544/37) is near the low-end of the home theater system-in-a-box price range, but you wouldn’t know it when hearing its 1,000 watts of power.  In fact, I would bet that most blindfolded listeners would guess that it’s priced 3-5x higher. A DVD player with HDMI upconversion is built in.

These products and services from six companies stood out from the pack. Check back at this time next year to see what makes the list.

In early November, my wife and I stayed three nights in a rustic lodge outside of Livingston, Zambia, Africa. We discovered that a group of kids from a small village nearby wanted a soccer ball, but could not afford one. So, we went looking for a soccer ball in downtown Livingstone. After visiting at least a half dozen shops, and asking where we might find one, we stumbled across a very small place that sold everything from notebook paper and inkjet cartridges to snacks and soccer balls.

Three teenage foster boys that lived at the lodge took us to the village. It was a 10-minute walk along a narrow footpath through the brush. Upon arriving, we quickly saw that the standard of living at the village was very basic, as expected. Most of the homes were a single room constructed of mud/clay walls and thatched roofs. The death rate there is high, with malaria being the primary cause and AIDS being the second. Every day, 3,000 children in Africa die from malaria. One of the boys told us that the village was given mosquito bed nets from the government.

I later learned that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supplied mosquito nets for all of Zambia. The foundation has teamed with the Nothing But Nets campaign initiated by Sport Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly. One insecticide-coated net costs $10 and can last a family for four years. As of mid-September, the campaign had raised $16 million to purchase mosquito nets for Africa, with the Gates Foundation matching it dollar for dollar.

When we arrived at the school, we were overwhelmed by the excitement of the children. They treated us like rock stars and we had never experienced anything quite like it. We presented the schoolmaster and children with the new ball on behalf of our daughter’s soccer team. It was our understanding that he would share it with a local church and they will use it as an incentive to get the kids to come to school and church.

The next day, we summarized our experience in an email to our daughter’s team, parents, coaches, and managers and sent pictures. When talking with the three boys, we discovered an interest in team uniforms, but we knew it was not an option for them. We passed this along to the team and they decided to send uniforms from a Fort Collins high school, additional balls, and soccer shoes to the foster boys and village. Two boxes of gear was shipped to them on December 1. What started with a single ball snowballed into equipping the boys at the lodge and many children at the nearby village with a lot of gear. We hope this holiday season is a special one for them.

During a recent trip to Africa, professor Deon de Beer of Central University of Technology, Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and I spoke to a group of nearly 100 kids. Most were high school age, along with a number of parents and teachers, all from a township called Soshanguve, located about 45 km (28 miles) north of Pretoria. The group convened that day to learn about opportunities and careers in engineering and manufacturing, and the vast potential of additive fabrication (AF) technology.

The two-hour youth awareness program was held at one of seven Fab Labs in South Africa. A Fab Lab is a hands-on prototyping facility targeted at young people in under-served communities. The concept grew out of the Center for Bits and Atoms at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to MIT, Fab Labs offer innovative solutions to common problems and provide thriving incubators for local micro-businesses. The local communities themselves foster innovation that can lead to sustainable solutions. My experience with Fab Labs and developing communities is limited, yet I could immediately see the positive impact that they could have.

I really did not know what to expect going into the presentation. The local area experienced a power outage just before we arrived, so we were unable to use the data projector and microphone/speaker system. The program was delayed as we waited for the power to return, but it did not and the “show” had to go on. Dr. de Beer and I had prepared many images and animations to explain the benefits and applications of AF, so we were faced with using whatever we could quickly grab to explain advanced methods of rapid product development and why they might be important to the group.

Our presentations generated more than an hour of questions, many of them stimulating. A young woman asked, “I want to start a business. What advice do you have for me?” I asked what she liked to do and where she saw herself in the future. She responded by saying, “I’d like to be an engineer.” I explained that after formal education, she may want to consider contract engineering as a career and could potentially serve a wide range of companies in South Africa. I said that with some creativity and ambition, it’s possible to rise to surprising heights. It may take some time to get started, but once you do—and if you deliver quality work—jobs will come to you by word of mouth.

Another question, this time from a young man: “What are the secrets to success?” I explained that I’ve observed many successful people and their success is not a secret. You’ve got to work hard, get a good education, make many friends, and help others in need. It is important that you are honest in everything you do, have integrity, be open to new ideas, and take risks, but don’t gamble. And, if you really enjoy what you do, you won’t view it as work.

A pediatrician in the audience, who I later met, asked an interesting and challenging question. She explained that most people go through school in route to securing a job to earn money so that they can buy products, most of which are produced outside of South Africa. She asked, “What can be done in schools to change this mindset so that teachers and students consider how they might create products for themselves?” I really had not given it much thought until then and responded by saying that it begins at an early age. I believe it’s important to give kids the opportunity to be inventive by letting them play with modeling clay, 3D puzzles, Lego products, building blocks, and so on. As they get older, encourage them to use 3D content creation software, such as Cosmic Blobs and SketchUp.

The questions continued, but time ran out. I could tell that many of these kids were motivated and hungry for ideas and information. Given a little guidance, some encouragement, and access to tools, I’m certain that they will produce some impressive and unexpected results. They are the future of South Africa and I felt lucky to be a part of this special day.

I’m not a big baseball fan, but it was impossible to ignore the Colorado Rockies this October. No one expected the team to go nearly as far as it did. My family and I got caught up in it all and wanted to attend a World Series game, so we did. The Rockies did not do well in the series, but they did almost everything to perfection to get there. In the end, the team was outmatched by the Red Sox, a ball club that has been playing the sport for 106 years, compared to 16 years for the Rockies.

The “World Series” name has bothered me for some time and it was even on my mind when we attended Game 4 Sunday night. I’ve often wondered how the rest of the world feels about the name, given that it doesn’t involve any teams outside North America. What right do we have calling it a world event when only our small corner of the world is involved? To answer the question, you need to do a little research, which I did.

The World Series was launched in 1903 and has been an annual event ever since, except for 1904 and 1994, according to Wikipedia. Near the beginning, North America—particularly the U.S. —was the only region of the world where highly skilled baseball was played. In fact, professional baseball was found only in the U.S. for decades into the 20th century. The World Series name, more or less, accurately reflected the championship playoff and it became deeply engrained over time.

Should the name be changed because other countries now play the sport at the professional level? That’s not for me to argue. I do know that changing a name of this magnitude is not likely to happen. In fact, I’ve never heard it discussed in any public forum. So, for those of you outside North America, I hope you can tolerate this grandiose name that we fling around. And, I hope you now better understand why we call it the World Series. I certainly do.

Fall is in the air and football season has arrived. I’ve been anxiously waiting for months. American football is arguably the most exciting sport on the planet, although some outside the U.S. may disagree. It’s college football that really gets my blood pumping. Life doesn’t get much better than watching an in-state rivalry such as the Colorado State University Rams and the University of Colorado Buffalos go head to head. Kick off between the two is tomorrow at 10:00.

Professional football can be thrilling to watch too, but some of the players take the fun out of it. Michael Vick is one of them. Another is Travis Henry of the Denver Broncos. Henry is listed as the starting running back ahead of Cecil Sapp, a standout from Colorado State.

Henry has reportedly fathered nine children by nine women in at least four states, including Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Can you believe it? I didn’t, until I did some research. What’s more, he is unwilling to support them without a court order. Yet, he spent $100,000 on a new Mercedes and $146,000 on gold jewelry. Henry has a $25 million contract with Denver and a base salary of $50,000 per month.

Highly visible players, such as Henry and Vick, are often “worshipped” by kids of all ages, which is horribly sad. These athletes are not setting the kind of example that I want my kids, or other kids, to follow. The majority of pro players are likely fine people, but it’s the “sour grapes” that leave such a bad taste in my mouth. And, that’s a big reason why I prefer college football over the pro version of the game.

I first wrote about LASIK surgery one year ago after I had it done. My one-year eye exam was last week and I’m seeing about the same as I did the day after I had the surgery. My vision is 20/15* in my left eye and about 20/25 in my right. With both eyes open, I’m seeing 20/15, which is better than 20/20. The slightly underpowered right eye was not planned, but it has come with a benefit: It provides a small amount of monovision, if you’re familiar with it, that enables me to see well when reading. I’m 49 and I’ve never used a pair of reading glasses. At some point, I will need them, but I’m fine for now.

If I had it to do over, would I have the surgery? Absolutely! For me, the results could not have been much better. Objects at a distance are crystal clear. I do not experience halos or starburst effects at night. I’m completely lenses-free for the first time in decades. People often say that it’s nice for outdoor activities, such as swimming or scuba diving, which is true. I find the convenience of not having to hassle with lenses every morning and night to be worth the time and money invested in the surgery. Also, I no longer have to carry lenses, solutions, etc., when traveling.

Over the past year, I’ve experienced some minor eye irritation from time to time, especially when my eyes are dry or tired from a short night’s sleep. They are somewhat sensitive to dust particles, but it’s no worse than when I wore contact lenses. The eye doctor said that this is normal and that some people have more sensitive eyes than others. Surprisingly, my eyes are now less sensitive to bright sun light than before.

Is LASIK surgery something you should consider if you are nearsighted? Possibly. I recommend that you talk with others who have had the surgery, interview eye care professionals, and read the commentary I wrote one year ago. Consider it only if it’s right for you, not because someone else experienced success. I’ve heard a few horror stories, so you need to know the risks and possible complications associated with the surgery.

* What exactly does 20/15 mean? The system of measuring eyesight was created long ago and it was explained to me like this: Letters 15 units in height were fastened to the side of a building. If you could read them at a distance of 20 feet, you were seeing 20/15. The next larger size letters were 20 units in size, the next 25 units, and so on. Your vision is 20/30 if the smallest letters that you can read are 30 units in size.

This was the title of an article authored by Guy Sorman and published in the April 20, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal. Sorman lived in China in 2005 and part of 2006. He spent time not only in the cities where striking expansion is underway, but also in the countryside and small villages where few Westerners go. He spoke with countless Communist Party officials, dissidents, and ordinary people. His conclusion: the 21st century will not belong to the Chinese.

Sorman stated that an estimated 200 million in China are increasingly enjoying a middle-class standard of living. The remaining one billion, though, are among the most underprivileged and oppressed in the world. The Party is no longer totalitarian, but it remains cruel and unfair.

Sorman goes on to discuss China’s many problems, including hundreds of thousands dying from AIDS. Meanwhile, an explosion of revolts is occurring in the vast countryside. The government estimates 60,000 of them per year, but some experts believe that it’s closer to 150,000 and rising. Moving to a city is a possible way out for some Chinese, but finding a permanent job can be difficult. The government requires many types of permits and the only way to obtain them is to bribe the bureaucrats.

Other problems: China’s one-child policy subjects women to shocking brutality. Unemployment may be closer to 20% than the officially recognized 3.5%.

China’s challenges are much deeper and wider than what many of us are led to believe, according to Sorman. Notable economic growth is underway in China, but it may pale in comparison to the overwhelming difficulties faced by this developing country.

Last Monday, I received word that Larry Rhoades, founder and CEO of The Ex One Company, had died two days earlier while vacationing in Hawaii. I was shocked. Larry was a creative genius and an enthusiastic supporter of manufacturing technology. He was the CEO of Extrude Hone Corp. for 35 years where he launched ProMetal, which is currently a division of Ex One.

Larry was a strong supporter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and SME’s RAPID Conference & Exposition, which is this week in Detroit, Michigan. Larry was an SME Fellow, a distinction granted to less than one percent of the SME membership, making it one of the most prestigious honors presented by the Society.

“Larry touched you personally, he had a love and lust for life, and he had an intense intellectual curiosity,” said David Burns, president of Ex One. “Larry never found a problem that he didn’t want to solve.”

Larry had a very inventive mind, even at a young age. Burns explained to me that he and a good friend co-founded nine companies while attending Brown University. Larry holds patents on more than 25 inventions on nontraditional manufacturing processes for machining, finishing, forming, and measurement. This work has led to protective gear used in NASCAR, the NFL, NHL, NBA, and professional baseball.

I received pages full of honors and awards that Larry received. He was generous with his time and resources and contributed tremendously to the future of manufacturing, science, and business. He served on the boards of many corporate and non-profit organizations and was a part of U.S. government advisory groups.

I had the privilege of working with Larry over the years and it was honor to know him. A few month ago, I read an article written by him titled The Transformation of Manufacturing in the 21st Century and published in The Bridge, a publication by the National Academy of Engineering. As I read through it, I began to highlight interesting comments. By the time I was finished, it was mostly yellow. It turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking and well-researched articles I had read in a very long time. What’s more, it really captured what Larry was all about. The article is available at nae.edu/thebridge. Click Archives, 2005, and Vol. 35 and No. 1. See pages 13–20 after downloading it.

Larry is survived by his three children and one grandchild. He was 62.

1. Dorothy Lynch, creator of the popular French salad dressing, is my grandfather’s first cousin. At age 4, I would watch her mix the ingredients and bottle the product in a one-room building no larger than an average American family room. It sat across the street from our home in St. Paul, Nebraska. Today, the building bears her name and is used as a hair salon by her daughter.

2. I started a fire in our home (the one mentioned above) by sticking a hairbrush in a small electric space heater. I can remember smoke and a big red fire truck, but that’s all. I was around 3 at the time. To this day, my parents remind me of this “terrible” incident. No one was injured, but the house suffered some damage.

3. My father was a building contractor when I grew up, so I was introduced to making things when I was young. At age 5, I was on the roof of a single-story house installing asphalt shingles. No kidding, … I really was. Maybe my dad was just letting me play (and not in the safest place), but I remember it as serious business.

4. Many years ago, I sat beside the late Alan Shepard on a flight from Denver to San Francisco. It was a year or so after the movie Apollo 13 came out, so I asked whether the movie was realistic. He said it was. We talked for much of the flight about missions to the moon, parabolic flights, scuba diving, and garbage in New York City. He was an investor in a garbage company that serviced a suburb of NYC and was returning from a business trip. We also shared a flight from SF to Monterey where he and his wife lived. Mr. Shepard was the nicest and most humble guy you’d ever meet and a true legend, as the first American in space.

5. I’m a big fan of classic rock. Some of my favorites: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull, Bob Seger, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Queen, Steve Miller Band, Allan Parson’s Project, and Al Stewart. Over the years, I’ve grown to like some country rock (my wife and I saw Willie Nelson last Monday night), pop, classical, and other types of music with good vocals, acoustic guitar, and piano. If you have a surround sound system and want to watch a great music DVD, get Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles. Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy Schmit, Randy Mesner, and Don Felder perform some of the best music you’ll ever hear.