Moran Surveying Drone Exemption 1jz-8lid-llx0, review process

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, DC

 

Regulatory Document No.1jz-8lid-llx0

 

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR EXEMPTION OF:

MORAN SURVEYING INCORPORATED

FOR AN EXEMPTION SEEKING RELIEF FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF

TITLE 14 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS

SECTIONS 61.113 (a) & (b), 91.7 (a), 91.121, 91.151 (b), 91.405 (a), 91.407 (a) (1), 91.409 (a) (1) & (a) (2), and 91.417 (a) & (b)
CONCERNING COMMERCIAL OPERATION OF THE 3DR X8-M UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM
PURSUANT TO SECTION 333 OF
THE FAA MODERNIZATION AND REFORM ACT OF 2012 (PUBLIC LAW 112–95)

 

Submitted on 5 October 2015
Stephen F. Moran, PLS, MBA
Moran Surveying Incorporated
14 William Ave
Pembroke, MA 02359
Tel: 781–293–5601
Fax: 781–293–1952
Professional Land Surveyors
www.moransurveying.com sfmoran@moransurveying.com
sfmoran62@gmail.com

SUMMARY

Moran Surveying Incorporated (MSI) seeks exemption from the requirements of 14 CFR section 61.113(a) & (b), 91.7(a), 91.121, 91.151(b), 91.407(a)(1), 91.409(a)(1) & (a)(2), and 91.417(a) & (b), to operate an unmanned aircraft system pursuant to section 333 of the FAA modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA). Obtaining this exemption will permit Moran Surveying Incorporated to operate an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for the commercial purpose of conducting aerial acquisitions within the National Airspace System (NAS).

 

INTRODUCTION AND INTERESTS OF THE PETITIONER

Moran Surveying Incorporated (hereafter referred to as “MSI”) is a registered professional land surveying business located in Pembroke, Massachusetts. MSI is an MBE veteran owned and operated small business that serves the communities surrounding Pembroke, including Boston, southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands. It is owned and operated by Stephen F. Moran, a registered Professional Land Surveyor and veteran rotary and fixed wing pilot. Moran has been engaged in the practice of land surveying since the 1980s and has held a license (MA registration #41611) in this practice since 2000. In addition, Mr. Moran is a veteran rotary wing pilot with over 4100 hours of time in the national airspace and five other countries. In addition to Moran's surveying license, he also holds a commercial rotary wing license with a fixed wing rating. Moran is also a military qualified instructor pilot and instrument flight examiner. This makes Mr. Moran uniquely qualified for a UAS exemption for commercial applications in conjunction with professional land surveying.

BACKGROUND

Unmanned Aircraft System: 3DR X8-M (UAS)

MSI seeks exemption to operate the 3DR X8-M for compensation or hire within the NAS. The 3DR X8-M and is comprised of a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aircraft (UA) and a transportable Ground Control Station (GCS). The 3DR X8-M has a maximum gross weight of approximately 7.3 pounds; measures approximately 20 inches in length, 13 inches in width, and 11.8 inches in height and has a recommended speed of approximately 11 mph. The 3DR X8-M is equipped with eight rotors arranged in 4 quadrants each quadrant having two motors and two rotor blades. Each motor is being driven by a lithium polymer battery powered electric motor.

Aerial Survey Done By Moran Surveying

The survey below was done utilizing tradition aerial methods. These types of surveys can now be done faster and more efficiently with a unmanned aerial system. A capability Moran Surveying is currently refining.









 

 

 

 





It's really 5.2 degrees of separation

I'm taking a data science class to break up the monotony and learned the process used to determine the social phenomena known as "six degrees of separation." It's from a study done by Jeffrey Travers of Harvard and Stanley Milgram of City College of NY. The results were published in December of 1969. The original study question was, given the size of the U.S. what is the probability that 2 randomly chosen individuals know each other. If they don't then what is the minimum number of intermediaries needed to link them. The professors sent letters to 269 random people and asked them to forward the letters to 269 randomly chosen individuals. For example I send you a letter and ask you to send it to John Smith in Atumwa, Iowa. If you know John Smith of Atumwa, Iowa then boom task complete, if you don't please forward the letter to somebody you do know in the area and ask them to push it forward. 269 letters were sent out and 69 made it to there appointed person. On average for those 69 letters that made it, it took 5.2 intermediaries to get the letter to the final destination. In 2008 a similar experiment was done using social media and a sample size around 30 million. The number of intermediaries grew to 8.0 but I think that experiment might have included individuals in other countries. Anyway, now you know. A bit of useless trivia to pass on at the water cooler or the coffee pot.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Business Trivia

"GE CF-34 engine, the best-selling engine in regional jet history, has surpassed over 5000 engines in over 170 operators"

"Every eight seconds a CF-34 powered regional jet aircraft takes off from somewhere in the world and CF-34 engines travel the equivalent of 210 times around the planet each day carrying 500,000 passengers to thier destinations"

Chandrakanth R. "Powering Regional Avaition" AIRBUZ June-July 2014: 14 V7:33

Expanded Survey Capabilities

I have expanded the capabilities of my survey company. Moran Surveying   purchased two Trimble 4700 GPS base stations and a rover unit. The 4700  will reduce the amount of time needed to perform field work.
  

For example, let's say you are trying to refinance your home.  Unbeknownst to you the  banker says they require an elevation  certificate because your home or  property is shown in a flood zone. An  elevation certificate requires a survey to establish an elevation congruent  with those shown on the local  FEMA Flood rate maps. This  elevation is  rarely close to your house.  That means it takes an inordinate amount of  field time which translate  into a higher costs. This is not the case  anymore.
  
With the Trimble GPS units,  I can set an elevation close to your home   thus reducing the time in the field and saving you money. 
 
If you have any survey questions call or email us.

Steve Moran PLS
sfmoran@moransurveying.com
www.moransurveying.com

781-293-5601

Super Bowl Jet Traffic

Due to the luxurious nature of private air charter and jet ownership, tracking trends in private air travel can be fascinating. For example, more spectators arrive at the Super Bowl in private jets than at any other regular event. And Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles has seen more than 250,000 private jet landings and takeoffs in each of the past several years, making it by far the busiest airport.(1) Speaking of the Super Bowl and private jets, Newburgh International (KSWF) is one of the destination airports for this years Super Bowl. This information was gleaned from one of my many stops there. When I travel to Harrisburg PA I usually stop for gas at KSWF. The employees at Atlantic Air the FBO (Fixed base operator) have been preparing for Super Bowl jet traffic since the 2013 season began. (2)

Reference:

1) Wings Air Helicopters

2) Interaction with FBO Persons

Politics and Game Theory

For the last two weeks the entire country has been focused on the political games being played in Washington. The burning question being, why can't all sides come to some sort of compromise. Justin Fox in an article written for the Harvard Review uses the concepts of Game Theory to offer some explanation. 

Fox suggests that  the current impasses is similar to game theory whereby it is an     "interaction among “agents” who “base their decisions on limited information about actions of other agents in the recent past, and they do not always optimize.” 

The recent past being the passing of the Affordable Care Act. It is obvious that this decision did not optimize for both parties. The liberals see it as a win for the uninsured and the president sees it as his signature piece of legislation. The conservatives see it as another Big Goverment program destined to destroy the fledgling economic recovery by draining the already overburdened taxpayer. The limited information being, nobody can predict the future, hence we really don't know how the new legislation will effect the economy. 

For all anybody knows Big business might realize great savings by dropping health care coverage, preferring the less costly penalty. United Parcel Service (UPS) has choosen this option. What if they were to utilize the saving to hire more people and buy more trucks. Then everybody wins. But, as I mentioned above nobody can predict the future.

So how does this impasse end?

The answer lies in the reason for the divided. Game Theory goes on to suggest that, "Excessively polarized behavior may be the unhappy result of dependence on tacit coordination and maneuver.” 

This is where we enter into the game. The electorate needs to verify any tacit  or unspoken belief. Call your representative and let him know how you feel. If the elected official is assured of his political future he may decide to further is career by being the one to step into the political devide. Alternatively he or she may decide to end their political career by doing the same. So keep up the pressure. 

References to game theory taken from an article written by Justin Fox. This article titled "understanding the game being played in Washington" was written for the Harvard Business Review, October 4, 2013.

Today Financial Headlines

Considering today's financial headlines this headstone seemed appropriate (according to CNBC)

"...Gold's decline is feeding on itself" ...now at a three year low

GDP growth down to 1.8%...

"Cramer: Wind Now 'Out Of The Sails' for Housing

1.2 million in U.S. Currency missing. A U.S. bank was repatriating cash from it's 

Swiss branch office when it discovered 12 packets of $100.00 dollar bills missing. Each packet contianed $100,000.00. Bummer

"Dish network withdraws offer to buy Clearwire." Now I have to unload my rsther large position I had in Clearwire. So much for insider information. Just kidding

如果你有耐心的愤怒在那一刻，你会逃脱悲伤百天，

如果你有耐心的愤怒在那一刻，你会逃脱悲伤百天，

A Chinese proverb that is relevant to any numbers of life’s daily situations, from waiting in long lines to dealing with business associates. Loosely translated it means,"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape one hundred days of sorrow."

Reference:

DeVos, D. (April 2013). How I Did It. Harvard Business Review. p. 42.

McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit, page two

Most people have the wrong impression of the McDonald's hotcoffee lawsuit.

The headline reads, “Little old lady is awarded millions by burning herself with a cup of coffee”. That statement is true but in typical Paul Harvey style, there is a page two. After reading that proverbial page two, you realize this case is the perfect example of the legal system PROTECTING the consumer from a corporate Goliath. Unfortunately, many do not read page two, and incorrectly use it to describe a subculture of opportunists who will sue if the opportunity presents itself.

I recently read an article by a strength and conditioning coach subtitled, "... safety first rules are making society fat and weak". Among other things the coach talked about, schools removing climbing ropes from gymnasiums because little Johnny might burn his hands on the hemp or nylon rope. The author implies that this was done because schools are afraid little Johnny's parents will sue if he comes home with burns on his hands. The coach is well credentialed and hence very believable that is until the closing paragraphs. In closing the coach emphasizes his point by exclaiming, "We live in a world where people want to cash in and sue someone because they spilled a cup of coffee on them at McDonald's". (Kerns, April 2013) I am in agreement with this premise but the coach could not be more wrong citing the McDonald's coffee case as an example.

As a matter of fact one juror in this case stated,” the case was about callous disregard for the safety of the people.”(Know the Facts, 2013) That statement is the opposite of what the coach was trying to convey.   Some of the other facts of the case that do not support the coach's argument include:

• ·         a corporate attitude that proclaimed, “the number of burn complaints are negligible when compared to the billions of cups of coffee served each day”
• ·         franchises being required to brew coffee between 180 and 190°F (temperatures known to cause third-degree burns)
• ·         700 previous third-degree burn complaints

To be fair the coach is not the first one to use this case as a negative reference. Furthermore, I agree wholeheartedly with his idea that society is slowly becoming wussificated. I just wish he had not fallen victim to the grade school whisper game. You know the one I'm talking about. The teacher whispers a fact to the first person in the first row and by the time it reaches the last person in the last row it has become completely distorted.

References:

Kearns, K (April 2013) “Over Protection Is ’Not Recommended’ “, Train Hard Fight Easy, pg. 32

"Know the Facts:" Resources for Consumers , “The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case “ http://www.caoc.org/index.cfm?pg=facts, retrieved, 29 March 2013

Planning v. Action

Planning, the buzz word of the modern era. Unfortunately this word is a bit nebulous. Be it Republican , Democrat, Tea Partier, independent or liberal the meaning implies a result sympathetic to their respective desires. The military uses this word but we prefer the word action. Action ensures that results, be they good or bad are achieved now not later. The the difference between those choosing between the two verbs is that some are willing to be accountable for their actions others would rather change the plan.

Steve Moran is a frequent contributor to Palpable Business Cognizance. He is a pilot in the Rhode Island Army National Guard who owns and operates a Land Surveying Business (www.moransurveying.com) with what little spare time he has not devoted to his family. He received his MBA from the University Of Maryland University College.

Affordable Health Care Act?

taken from the Cape & Plymouth Business magazine

Study: Obamacare tax to hit middle class in Mass.
Published on Thursday, October 11, 2012

STATE HOUSE (MA) NEWS SERVICE

While the Affordable Care Act might have taken its inspiration and ideas from the groundbreaking 2006 health care reform law in Massachusetts, the Bay State will not be exempt from some of the costs associated with the federal law.

An excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans is set to take effect in 2018 and could wind up costing middle class workers, such as small business owners, police officers and teachers, according to a study released by the Pioneer Institute on Wednesday.

"[What] ended up in the final law is less of a 'Cadillac tax' and more of a 'Ford tax,'" wrote the study's author, Josh Archambault. The federal law passed in 2010 levies a tax on sponsors of self-funded group health insurance plans and health insurance issuers that would kick in for individual plans exceeding $10,200 and family plans exceeding $27,500, the study said.

According to Pioneer, that could translate to costs of $86,905 over 10 years for a small business owner with three or more full-time employees, $53,907 for a police officer over that same time period, and $20,807 for a teacher over that period.

The Congressional Budget Office has also looked into the implications of the so-called "Cadillac" health plan tax, and estimated the federal government would collect $11 billion in revenue from the tax in 2018.

Pioneer's data on the potential costs to the insured is in contrast to data released in a recent Families USA study that found the ACA, or Obamacare, will provide more subsidies to help families buy insurance and will cap out of pocket spending.

Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman acknowledged that his members are not happy about the upcoming tax but said the benefits of Obamacare outweigh the trade-offs.

"It is one of the compromises that they had to make in order to get the good parts of the bill," Tolman said. He said, "We recognize the importance of compromise; we're not happy about it."

Other elements of the omnibus federal health care law make the new tax worth it, Tolman said.

"The most important part of Obamacare is the preexisting conditions. The fact that an insurance company can no longer deny you coverage, that outweighs everything in my book," Tolman said. He said the ability for children to stay on family plans until they turn 26 was also a benefit that outweighs the tax.

According to Archambault, the Cadillac tax could affect more than people with luxury plans because health insurance costs in Massachusetts are already higher than most other states.

"Over time, if insurance costs are not significantly contained, most of the working population in Massachusetts will pay this tax," the study says. The state is aiming to reduce the rate of health insurance increases with this summer's passage of an omnibus health care law some dubbed "health care 2.0."

While he acknowledged that there was displeasure felt toward the tax, Tolman also called it a "wedge issue" and pointed out that it would not go into effect for another six years.

Pioneer cited a Sept. 13 Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority presentation, which he said shows the state will need to make at least 124 steps to have the already existing connector approved by the federal government.

"Conventional wisdom is that healthcare in Massachusetts will not change significantly under the federal Patient Protection Affordable Care Act," Archambault wrote, continuing, "However, a careful review of the law reveals that many big changes are ahead for the Commonwealth."

When did the digital age begin?

Did you ever wonder when the digital age actually begun. Well according to Martin Hilbert and Priscila Lopez it began in the year 2002.
Hilbert and Lopez did a study which they published in the August 2012 issue of "Signifigance, statistics making sence".
Over the course of five years they inventoried analog mediums like paper, vinyl and digital storage products. After completing their research they determined that in 2002 more data was stored in digital format than any other analog form.
I hope they got paid well for that study. Seems a bit bit boring to me.

Ref: Hilbert, M & Lopez, P. (August 2012) "How Much Information is there in the information society", Signifigance, statistics making sence, August 2012 volume 9, issue 4, pg.8

Value Added

My daughters orthodontist office is a model of efficiency and value added. When we walked into the office Samantha checked herself in at a computer kiosk dedicated to the clientele. Before I sat down to contemplate the empending cost I made myself a cup of Green Mountain coffee from the well stocked Keurig coffee maker. I published this Blog via the guest WiFi provided for those in the waiting room. My youngest, Sarina kept herself busy alternating between watching the 50 inch LCD TV or playing with the computer games provided for the waiting siblings. All of these features enclosed in a modern decorum awash in natural lighting.
The value added to waiting parents make the wait a bit more pleasent and reinforce the decision to use this orthodontist.The doctor must have taken business electives while attending dental school. Nice job doc.

Economic food for thought

A few facts pieced together from reliable sources. Noted economist Milton Friedman said,

"All economic actors seek the most beneficial opportunities, and in doing so , help move the economy toward maximum prosperity. The role of the state in the economy is thus reduced to that of a "night watchman", playing a very minor role in facilitating this activity-protecting private property rights, maintaining law an order, and defending the system from external aggression".(reference, "30-Second Economics, edited by Donald Marron, copy write 2010)

If only it were that simple. The government now has to manage healthcare, social security, wealth fare and Medicaid.

The trustees of the Social Security & Medicare system report that,"Social Security and Medicare are the two largest federal programs, accounting for 36 percent of federal expenditures in fiscal year 2011. Both programs will experience cost growth substantially in excess of GDP growth in the coming decades due to aging of the population and, in the case of Medicare, growth in expenditures per beneficiary exceeding growth in per capita GDP. Through the mid-2030s, population aging caused by the large baby-boom generation entering retirement and lower-birth-rate generations entering employment will be the largest single factor causing costs to grow more rapidly than GDP. Thereafter, the primary factors will be population aging caused by increasing longevity and health care cost growth somewhat more rapid than GDP growth.
(Reference: www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum)

Dear Barnes and Noble Customer Service

The following rebuke has the potential of being quite a marketing annoyance for your Nook Color. When it comes to moderately advanced technical issues with the Nook Color your technical support staff adds no value to owners of these devices.  They in fact can cost owners of these device hundreds of dollars in lost opportunity cost and money. My recent experience with BN’s technical help is proof of this statement.

This admonition stems from the inability of the BN technical staff to deduce and subsequently solve a Nook Colors WiFi connection problem. Although the staff members are very personable they do not possess the core knowledge base to solve this type of Nook Color problem. This lack of knowledge cost the author of this article $199.00 in service fees and over ten hours of lost opportunity cost. Instances like these do not bode well for the Nook given its competition and the competitors associated services.  

My odyssey began when my device would not connect to my home Wifi network I took it to one of the local BN stores knowing there would be a Nook kiosk in the store that might be able to solve my problem.  After several failed attempts the staff member helping me spoke with somebody on the phone who suggested de-registering the device. After verifying the software version the technician did that. The de-registering and subsequent re-registering worked. However it wiped out all of my book data. Before leaving the store I spent some time retrieving all of my books and magazine subscriptions. I was not able to finish given the fact that I had other appointments that day. I intended to finish the process once I got home.

Once I got home I again tried to connect the Nook to my network. The Nook exhibited the same problem; it received a WiFi signal but would not connect to the internet.  I contacted the BN technical support via live chat and explained the situation and the previous attempts at fixing this problem. They told me to power off the Nook then restart it. We went through the exact same procedures that were completed previously. The BN technician alluded to the fact that it might be a router problem. I told them that all of my other WiFi devices worked fine in my home. The BN technician responded by suggesting I disable the security settings on the router. At this point I needed to call a representative of the router company.

The router manufacturer required a $199.00 service contract to turn off the security and then reset it. I agreed to do this because the BN technician emphasized the point that all BN store Wi-Fi signals are not secure and the problem may lie in this area. Furthermore the router technician agreed to try and help solve the Nook connectivity problem. After giving control of my computer to the router company they spent four hours checking every setting possible to make sure the problem was not in the router.  The router staff verified that the Nook was indeed receiving a signal by having me cross check the MAC address registering on the Nook to the devices registering on the router.  While the router technicians were checking my devices I used another family lap top computer to “live chat” with a BN technical support staff member. My intent was to update the BN staff and make any additional changes they might suggest while I was connected to the router staff via phone line. The router staff willingly agreed to check anything the BN staff suggested. The BN staff member suggested that I power down the router again. It was at this point I realized the limit of the BN technical support staff knowledge base.  However the BN staff did make one new suggestion. He told me that I should call my internet provider (Comcast) and inquire about additional security settings that they might be broadcasting. He also said to go back to the BN store and check again to see if the WiFi was working there.

I queried the internet provider and found out that there are no additional security signals broadcast via the router. Frustrated I typed the phrase “Nook Color WiFi problems” in a Google search engine. To my complete surprise the solution popped up in the BN support page. Can you imagine how frustrated I was when I saw that? The problem lie in the fact that the router was sending out data faster than the Nook could read it (150Mps v. 54Mps (Nook)). The solution was written by somebody not in the employ of BN. It also lambasted the BN technical support people for not being aware of this problem. Adding to my frustration was the fact that I asked the Nook technicians to think of any other differences in WiFi networks that might be checked. None of the BN technicians thought to check download and upload signal speeds. I finally called the router people back to change the settings to those recommended in the lambasting article. The changes worked but I spent another 70 minutes on the phone with the router technician. My Nook immediately received a signal, connected to the internet and I was able to complete my book down load.

To conclude it is very hard for me to believe that your support staff was not able to discern the WiFi problem. The solutions they suggested were no profounder than those listed in the owner’s manual. It would seem to the common person that upload and download speed issues are something support staff should be aware of. The inability of BN staff to properly address this issue amounted to me spending $199.00 and losing over ten hours of economic opportunity. When you consider the fact that somebody other than BN’s support staff  derived a solution to this problem it becomes evident that my case is not isolated. It would follow that other Nook owners have also lost opportunities and money stemming from this technical issue. Having established the likely hood that other owners have experienced the same problem it would also follow that this issue has the potential of being a marketing nightmare to distributers of this device given the options in the e-pad market.

Steve Moran

Toyota’s influences on Commercial Aviation

Stephen F. Moran MBA
sfmoran62@gmail.com
www.moransurveying.com

Your thinking, “what has Toyota got to do with my airline travel”. It’s not the airplane ride as much as it is the processes the planes use to fly from here to there. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) relies on a crucial component of the Toyota Production System (TSP) to efficiently move airplanes across the U.S. and abroad. It’s called a Kanban. The best way to grasp this concept is by example.

You are a successful business executive preparing for a flight from Boston to California for a number of excruciating sales meetings.  Seated comfortably in first class you are franticly making last minute changes to your power point presentation on the previous month’s sales. While you’re doing that the captain and first office are busy receiving their departure Kanban from the FAA. It sounds something like this,

First Officer , “Boston Departure, American 727 Heavy, IFR to Los Angeles, Flight plan on request, We are ready to copy”
      Boston departures response, “American 747 Heavy, Boston departure, you are cleared to Los Angeles airport Via radar vectors, Boston VOR, Putnum VOR, then as filed. Climb and maintain 5,500 expect, Flight level 25 thousand 10 minutes after, Squawk 4562, departure frequency 125.350. Call ground point 95 when ready for pushback”

The above dialog is called a clearance. In it the FAA issues the flight a Kanban. In this instance Squawk 4562 is what I am referring to. This will make a bit more sense when you consider the formal definition of the term Kanban.

Kanban is a Japanese word for signboard or billboard. It is a signal that indicates the rate  inventory is being consumed verses the demand for the finished product. Optimizing this match leads to less waste and inventory space. Accomplishment of that goal frees up capital that was earmarked for inventory and materials. Toyota motors corporation has refined the technique to the point where they constantly via for first place in the American car industry.  So what has all of this got to do with airplanes?

Picture a number of planes at all the gates (refer to the airport diagram below) at Boston’s Logan Airport. The production goal is to move the planes from the gates to the runways via the taxiways and then through the national airspace all the while adhering to the strictest of timelines. The longer the planes wait the less profitable the aviation industry is as a whole (see end note on economic impact of aviation).

The diagram reveals the complexity of the production process of moving planes on the ground. The arrows in the diagram depict movement of a plane from Terminal E to Runway 33L to prepare for takeoff. Once the plane is given permission to leave the terminal it has to travel along taxiway’s B & C, across runways 4L & 4R, back along taxiway C, across runway 27 then to the departure end of runway 33L were it waits for permission to “take” the runway for takeoff. When you consider the number of planes that want to leave at or around the same time, you can see that the process would be much more difficult without the effective use of some sort of  Kanban.

(Portion of production goal depicted by red arrows)

The Kanban in this example, squawk 4562,  is an electronic code that the pilot enters into a radio transponder which emits a signal that allows FAA radar observers to follow the planes progress on the ground and in the air. Once the plane becomes airborne the Kanban helps sequence arrivals.

Consider the following diagram which depicts flights throughout the United States. This particular snapshot depicts flights that occurred at noon on 29 August 2001. It is not too hard to imagine more than one airplane arriving at Boston at the same time. Let’s assume for argument’s sake that a 350 passenger jumbo jet is arriving at about

(Obtained from National Air Traffic Controllers Association Website)

the same time a nimble ten passenger corporate jet is approaching.  The FAA sees occurrence which is depicted on their radar as unique transponder squawks. An analysis of the transponders reveals the fact that the smaller plane can land on a shorter runway.  With this information the FAA can maximize the runway inventory by utilizing runway 33R (see airport diagram above) for the nimble jet and 33L for the jumbo allowing both planes landing simultaneously.

You might be thinking this sort of signal is great for airplanes but of no use in your industry. If you are thinking that then you would be wrong. Remember a Kanban is any signal that helps you reduce inventory by matching it to demand. The diagram below is an example of a simple yet very efficient Kanban. It is a whiteboard with sticky notes attached. Let’s imagine this Kanban is being utilized in an environment that develops medical equipment. Project managers might use columns to designate the stages of development for a new device, the requirement for technicians and professionals to develop the product and the projected demand for the product. In this example the inventory is the human capital needed to develop a new piece of equipment. For the company to maximize money it must allocate human inventory as a production company would allocate raw materials.  The white board indicates at a glance the disposition of inventory verses demand. If there are numerous Kanbans associated with a low demand column, managers can redirect resources to where they are better served.

(Reference: (Skarin, 2009))

To conclude a Kanban or signboard can be a very effective method in matching inventory to demand for that inventory. The thing to remember when developing a Kanban system is it must relate inventory to demand somehow. In our airplane example the FAA observes the transponder Kanbans on radar scopes that plot them relative to the airports, runways, taxiways and gates. When a radar operator sees to many Kanbans forming in a given location as was the case with the 350 passenger jumbo and the nimble corporate jet, he manipulates the process to maximize the inventory. In the jumbo and nimble jet example the FAA directed the planes to parallel runways and allowed them to land simultaneously which maximized the use of runway space available. Kanban can also be as simple as a white board and sticky notes as detailed in our medical development example (See endnotes for other examples).  As you can see a Kanban can be very useful no matter what the industry. The requirements are simple. You need some sort of visual signaling device. Once you have determined the signaling device, determine your inventory requirement and list your demand for finished product. Then show the relationship between the two verses the time required to complete the process. Who knows, maybe your mastery of the Kanban system will give you the business advantage you need to withstand the onslaught of competitors in your industry.

References:

Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Flight Information. Retrieved August 2011, from Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/

H, K. (2009, November 18). Kanban kick-start example. http://www.crisp.se/kanban/example.

Sabre Inc. (2011, August 29). Flight Explorer - United States. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from NATCA: http://www.natca.org/flight-explorer/united-states.aspx

Toyoda, E. (n.d.). Eiji Toyoda on the Roots of TPS. Art of Lean, Inc., www.ArtofLean.com, pg 1-7.

Endnote:The economic output of civil aviation in 2009 was $1.225 trillion. This amounted to 5.2% of the GDP and contributed 10.9 million jobs to the U.S. economy. (Source: FAA Air Traffic Organization, The Economic Impact of Civil Aviation on the U.S. Economy, December 2009)

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Web Traffic & Gobsmacked Entrepreneurs
by Stephen Moran, PLS, MBA
http://www.moransurveying.com/
http://pbc62.blogspot.com/

Location, location, location is an often used phrase in business. Unless you're opening a Starbuck's, MacDonald's or Wal-Mart you have very limited say in where to locate your business. If you're entrepreneur like me you care very much about your business location but are limited because you used a lot of your capital to acquire the tools needed to compete in your industry. Fortunately, I am able to set up my office in a small building located on the same piece of property as my home. The rent is affordable but the location is not highly visible given that I live off "the beaten path". The opposite is true for an Architect friend of mine, Bill. His office is located on a busy main street of America's hometown, Plymouth, MA. Literally hundreds of thousands of people pass by it every year. So, how do I get the same sort of visibility yet keep my rent at the status quo? A snappy web site! Thousands of electronic visitors will view my business through the median of the World Wide Web.

Sadly, this has yet to be the case. Gobsmacked by the lack of hits and determined to learn the reasons why I did extensive research into the matter. I learned that there are a number of reasons for the scarcity of visitors to my site. The first thing I learned was that keywords are crucial to your websites language. Despite the professionalism, creativity, promptness of service and affordability of Web Whizards, creators and maintainers of Moran Surveying, they are limited in the design my site, to the wording and attachments I provided. During my sites conception I was not aware that certain keywords particular to the surveying industry receive more hits than others. The following chart is a list of terms particular to the surveying industry:

Land	surveying			global monthly hits: 49,500
Residential	surveys			global monthly hits: 480
commercial	surveys			global monthly hits: 590
plot	plans			global monthly hits: 5,400
property	lines			global monthly hits: 22,200
property	corners			global monthly hits: 480
fences				global monthly hits: 3,350,000
property	monuments			global monthly hits:  0
abutters				global monthly hits: 720
neighbors				global monthly hits: 673,000
Surveying				global monthly hits: 368,000
Surveyors				global monthly hits: 301,000

                                       (Global monthly hits obtained utilizing Goggles keyword tool)

Had I been savvier at the time I would have used fence, neighbors and Surveying more often on the main page of my Web Site. By simply inserting the following language into my website I increase the probability of hits during a goggle search.

"Moran Land Surveying (368,000) is often asked to determine the location of a common property lines (22,200) to insure that the placement of fences (3,350,000), pools, sheds and additions to homes do not encroach on a neighbors (673,000) property."

Keywords should also be utilized with any pictures that accompany your site. Consider the following picture of an instrument operator employed by Moran Surveying. This picture would be useful in a portfolio of past and present jobs. The caption incorporates the highly searched keywords, fence and neighbor.

A concrete monument (orange stake) set alongside the neighbors' fence is indicative of a break in the property line

Some might be tempted to Goggle the most searched worlds on the web and use them over and over in their web sites. Be careful, relevancy is the key, irrelevant terms may do more harm than good. I'll illustrate what I mean.

According to the web site, Most Popular Internet Search Words (Stewart, n.d.), the following words are among the most commonly searched:

# Monthly Hits		# Monthly Hits		# Monthly Hits
Google	506,000,000	Games	277,000,000	Lyrics	277,000,000
Yahoo	506,000,000	eBay	185,000,000	Mapquest	24,900,000

(#Monthly hits obtained using Google's keyword search tool)

Although the following description incorporates the most searched words on the web it screams unprofessional.

"The Jack Casey survey company specializes in determining the proper location for your proposed fence. Our firm will ensure you stay on good terms with your neighbor even if they are not the founders of Goggle. If you were to encroach on the Google founder's property they might scream Yahoo and denigrate you by picturing your home in some new game."

 

Obviously this goes a bit over the top, but you get the idea. Matthew MacDonald points out another pitfall of using irrelevant terms in his book Attract Visitors to Your Site, "search engines learn about these tricks almost as fast as Web developers invent them. If a search engine catches you using these tricks it may ban you completely relegating you to the dustbin of the Web (MacDonald, 2010, p. 13)." Furthermore, you also run the risk of being labeled a spammer by some vindictive web searcher with a large Twitter or Facebook following.

Now that you have determined the relevant wording the next challenge is to get your site ranked high with the major search engines. This is a bit trickier but still doable. There are a few techniques that will help you in this regard. Some are free others are not.

Like location, location, location one of the keys to higher site ranking is linking, linking, linking. Links are part of the ranking algorithm search engines use when preparing the final ordered list of relevant web sites. There are a number of mechanisms you can use to increase the number of and quality of links to your site.

Word of mouth is one way. Ask your friends, associates and clients to add your link to their site. Take my architect friend Bill mentioned above. He might consider linking me to his site if I reciprocate and link him to mine. However, this reciprocal linking can be bit tricky. Most professionals prefer to stick to advising clients on matters relating to their given field. They would rather not get caught up in tenuous negotiations between their clients and other professions associated with one of their projects. Don't become despondent over this fact you can link via social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Another option is for you to make a list of the sites that relate directly to your industry. I'll use Moran Surveying again as an example. The following links are absolutely essential for my firm to accomplish an accurate survey of a parcel of land in and around the Boston, MA area. This list is by no means exhaustive.

Plymouth County registry of deeds

Duxbury Assessors

Pembroke Assessors

Hingham Assessors

MA. Board of Professional registration - Navigate to this site enter Land Surveyor into the top box and 41611 into the bottom box. The result will be verification of my professional license in the state of MA.

Yet, another way to increase your web sites links is to start a blog or a community. This has a number of advantages. Adam Singer lists a few of these advantages on his Top Rank blog. They include, becoming the go to subject matter expert and consolidating your professional presence (Singer, 2007). Building your community can be as simple as adding a page to your web site.

The above mentioned techniques are all relatively inexpensive or free depending on your present web presence. However, if your marketing budget will permit it, for a fee, search engines like Goggle and private Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies will maximize your sites presence for you. They way Google enhances your web sites visibility is by advertising it in the margins once the keywords are detected in their search engine. They also scan the subject lines in their e-mail server and when one of your key words is discovered they again will post your website in the margins of the web mail page. SEO's use some of these techniques as well. The advantage of an SEO is that it is not particularly loyal to a specific search engine as Goggle obviously is.

To conclude, the location and hence the visibility of your web site is very important in generating leads for your new business. Realize that you can have the most attractive website on the World Wide Web but if it is not visible to the public it does you no good. Also realize this can be only a temporary situation and you have the power to rectify it. The first rectifying procedure should be the determination of the correct key words. Then spread the word about your site, tell all of your friends utilizing all available means like social networks and e-mailing. Add a page to your web site dedicated to blogging or community discussions. Lastly, if your budget allows seek a dedicated professional. You had the gumption to start your own firm, now it's time to grow it.

SFM

References:

Goldford, J. (2011, May 11). 4 Things You Wish You Knew About Google. Retrieved May 15,    2011, from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/4-things-you-wish-you-knew-about-google-2011-5

HSE. (n.d.). Health and Safety at Work. Retrieved May 24, 2011, from http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutyou/webcom.htm

MacDonald, M. (2010). Attract Visitors to Your Site, the mini missing manual. North Sebastopol, CA 95472: O'Reilly Media.

Marckini, F. (2001). Search Engine Positioning . Wordware Publishing.

Singer, A. (2007, July). Web Community Building: Making It Thrive. Retrieved May 25, 2011, from Top Rank: http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/07/web-community-building

Stewart, D. (n.d.). Most Popular Internet Search Words. Retrieved May 5, 2011, from Most Popular Internet Search Words: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Miscellaneous/most_popular.htm

Top ranked Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Web Sites:

Google AdWords

crexendo

Submit Serve

enettech

A note about these TOP RANKED sites. I use the term to mean sites that show up in the margines of an individuals Google search. These adds may or may not appear as time goes on. Their appearance on the fringe of the web search is extremely dependent on the fee they pay Google. This ranking was done in May 2011.