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consulting
details
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I
like to be involved
in product design
from
the get-go.
When I am,
product users get
what
they need,
the way they want.
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Sample projects:
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 Process
control displays for a juice processing plant
The challenge:
A
Citrus World juice processing plant was renovated during which
time the labor-intensive, mechanical control system was upgraded to a
computerized operation. Because the operators of the "old" system were
also to be the operators of the "new" system, it was critical to get
their input as to control actions and display formatting.
The solution:
Through open-group, criteria definition reviews and structured,
one-on-one interviews with the operators, a control and display protocol
was developed. And because the "squeezing season" began immediately
following equipment installation, the operational protocol had to be—and
was—instantly adopted by the operators.
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Input
and display parameters for an engine analyzer
The challenge:
An automotive engine analyzer being developed by Computer Aided
Services was an early and quite noble attempt to marry automotive
engine diagnoses with manufacturer specifications. There were three
human factors challenges here: first, to provide a simple means to input
vehicle specification data; second, to provide a consistent display of
diagnostic information across vehicle lines; and third, to provide
appropriate prompts for use by apprentice mechanics.
The solution:
The first two challenges were met and accomplished in a fairly
straightforward manner using textbook human factors standards. The last
one was accomplished though made difficult by being denied access
(that's another story) to other than master mechanics.
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Operator
console for a ground support vehicle
The challenge:
A vehicle to load/unload baggage from airplanes was designed for
Delta Air Lines. The concept of a belt loader had been around for
years, yet no study of how baggage handlers actually used the equipment
was ever undertaken.
The solution:
To demonstrate to the project design engineers that the actual use of
the equipment may be quite different than the intended use, a weekend
was spent at a busy international airport with a camera crew in tow. The
resulting video showed how belt loaders were really used in the
service of varied aircraft configurations and under a variety of weather
conditions. As a result, several changes—most dealing with operator
safety—were made to the final design.
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Process
control system for chemical manufacturing
The challenge:
Much like the citrus juice processing plant above, an upgraded control
and display system for an FMC agricultural chemical plant
producing pyrethroid pesticide was undertaken. Unlike the juice
processing plant, however, human factors considerations were introduced
only after the controls and displays had been preliminarily designed by
process engineers, who solicited little if any input from the plant
operators. In short, the displays were a mess, with way more engineering
detail than was needed to efficiently and safely operate the plant.
The solution:
By bringing together the operators and engineers, a "dual" display
system that satisfied the needs of both groups was implemented.
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Managing
disruptive airline passengers
The challenge:
Like many air carriers, ATA Airlines was experiencing a number of
incidents in which passengers became disruptive, creating potentially
dangerous situations in the air as well as on the ground.
The solution:
A
passenger behavior management training program was developed for
airline employees. The training program
taught customer service agents and in-flight crewmembers how to predict, how to defuse, and—if that
doesn't work—how to manage unruly passengers on the ground and in the
air. [Note: ATA discontinued operations on April 2, 2008. This probably
did little to appease its passengers.]
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Interactive
displays for a newspaper handling system
The challenge:
The
Fort Worth Star Telegram was building a new press room in which a
robotic system was being installed to automate the paper roll handling
task. At the time, paper roll handling was an entirely manual process so
there was a need to incorporate the knowledge of how the current system
worked with the new technology to be employed.
The solution:
Through directed questioning of both current paper roll handlers and the
pressmen, whose job it was to keep paper passing through the presses,
interactive displays were developed that kept the presses rolling with
significantly less down-time and using fewer workers than in the old
press room.
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Operator
displays for automotive service equipment
The challenge:
A laser-based, automotive wheel aligner was developed for Sears.
It was determined to use interactive displays to assist mechanics in
setting alignment limits and tolerances. How that interaction was to
occur was at issue.
The solution:
Through several iterations of human factors requirements reviews with
design engineers, operators and owners of alignment businesses, a design
that incorporated near fool-proof, error-free protocols to input
manufacturers' specifications was developed. At the same time many
nagging operational problems of current models were eliminated.
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Display
criteria for a large facility surveillance
The challenge:
A large office complex to house the treasury department of the United
Arab Emirates was under design. It needed an efficient way for a
small staff of security officers to monitor the comings and goings of
building personnel as well as to detect intruders.
The solution:
Lengthy, continuous security observations by humans can be unreliable so
electronic motion detectors integrated into switchable television
monitors were arranged to optimize officer alertness as well as to
rapidly acquire their attention as needed.
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Perceptual
criteria for advanced fighter applications
The challenge:
As the
U.S. Air Force moved toward the replacement of cathode ray tubes
with flat panel, discrete element technology in the cockpits of advanced
fighter aircraft, two important questions about the ability to read
information from these displays needed answers: (1) what dot-matrix font
was least susceptible to discrete element failure (a common problem with
the technology) and (2) what were the effects of multiple imaging during
conditions of cockpit vibration?
The solution:
The first question was answered using tachistoscopic methodology to
develop a degradation-resistance font. The second question was answered
by lashing a pilot and display to a vibration table and shaking the
bejeebers out of them.
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Passive
methods of identifying terrorists
The challenge:
The
U.S. Defense Special Weapons Agency is responsible for the
storage and control of nuclear material for the U.S. Department of
Defense. Some of the facilities in which that material is stored are
adjacent to public lands with unrestricted access. For that reason, it
is useful for agency personnel to be aware of the motives of people near
those facilities.
The solution:
Several methods of applying covert stimuli to persons outside the
perimeter of the facilities were suggested. Measuring the responses to
those stimuli could reasonably reveal the intentions of persons with
hostile intent.
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Non-transferable
behaviors for personnel identification
The challenge:
The
U.S. Navy wanted a system to assure that sailors and marines
returning to their ships following shore duty or shore leave were indeed
the same personnel who had earlier disembarked.
The solution:
A study was undertaken to match identifiable, individual, behavioral
characteristics with current or near-future technologies to rapidly and
discreetly measure those characteristics. As a result, a number of
easily, reliably and quickly measured behavioral characteristics that
are difficult to be replicated by confederates were recommended.
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Displays
for a weather forecasting system
The challenge:
The U.S. Air Force was updating its weather information and
forecasting capabilities and needed new ways to display data that could
assist forecasters in their predictions.
The solution:
A system using similar data formatting techniques had been deployed in
support of a classified military mission. Although the applications were
different, the need to present the data in a similar manner was relevant
enough to undertake extended, ethnographic study of that installation's
operators. Adapting the results of that research saved much up-front
work in designing the displays for the weather forecasting system.
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Feasibility study to
reduce tank crew size
The challenge:
As
weapon systems were becoming more automated, the U.S. Army was
interested in reducing the size of the crew of the M1A1/2 Abrams main
battle tank.
The solution:
By studying the operational requirements of the vehicle/weapon system,
a reclassification of the jobs as well as cross training the crew and
reassigning their duties as a function of situational circumstances
showed that crew size could be reduced with no sacrifice to efficiency or compromise to safety.
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Back
pain disability prevention for a manufacturing facility
The challenge:
An FMC chemical manufacturing plant needed help to control healthcare costs
due to back pain disability.
The solution:
Using NIOSH guidelines an ergonomics program was developed to minimize
back pain disability risk. The program included supervisory training in
job analysis, employee selection, worker assessment, lifting/carrying
techniques and container and workplace design.
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Note: Some of the above photos are from projects other than those
described.
They are included for illustration purposes only.
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Commercial website design and
publication
The challenge:
An Internet presence was needed for the various enterprises of Applied
Psychology.
The solution:
Websites were designed and published using a combination of HTML coding
and commercial editing software applications. Besides the website you
are viewing now, examples can be found at:
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