From ASME San Francisco Section May/June 1997 Newsletter:

Small Business Report: May/June 1997
by Eric E. Worrell, P.E., Small Business Committee Chair, ASME Region IX and San Francisco Section

This column, past editions, upcoming small business events, The Small Business and Consultants Referral List and more are on the web at http://www.ccnet.com/~eew/asmesfsb/.

To provide timely information, first class mailing of San Francisco Section' s May/June newsletter is sponsored by the following small business members:

Tamin Enterprises
As we develop a series of 0.5 - 15 kW Stirling engines, we pay the bills by providing machine design, tool design, and prototype fabrication services along with metal sculpture and counted cross stitch designs. Contact:
Donald Isaac, Jr., at 311 Grove Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019-2005; (415) 726-2338, Fax 726-7342; E-mail: don@tamin.com; on the website http://www.tamin.com.

Material Integrity Solutions Inc. As a leading engineeering mechanics company, MIS helps you keep your mechanical systems running reliably, safely and economically. Our team draws on a broad range of analytic tools and expertise to assess the design integrity and condition of plant equipment and to guide your product development and run/repair/replace/revise decisions.
Contact Manuchehr Shirmohamadi, Ph.D., P.E., President, or EricE. Worrell, P.E., Consulting Associate, at 3254 Adeline St., Suite 200, Berkeley, CA 94703; (510) 594-0300; Fax 594-0330; e-mail info@MISolution.com; on the web at http://www.MISolution.com.

The Ergonomic Energy Works providing mechanical engineering and organizational consulting and dedicated to drawing the best from human energy and natural resources through creative consulting, writing, and product development. Contact Eric E. Worrell, P.E., President, at P.O. Box 271923, Concord, CA 94527-1923, Phone/Fax 689-4579; e-mail eew@eew.com (San Francisco Section Small Business Chair, 1997-98 Region IX Small Business Chair, webmaster and sponsor of this web site, and recipient, on April 27, 1997, of the "ASME Dedicated Service Award" for Region IX for 1996 -- Region IX highly values members in small business!! We are the growing wave of ASME's future.).

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For a year-end wrap-up, I'll dedicate this month's column to the many San Francisco Section small business members who have made this program year enjoyable and rewarding. In addition to attending section meetings in large numbers, our small business membership provided two speakers and several executive committee members.

I'll first write a few well deserved words of recognition for Richard Myrhe, P.E. Vice President and one of four ASME members at Bevilaqua-Knight, Inc. in Oakland. Working with clients in the energy and transportation fields, BKI provides program management, technical and market evaluations, and communications materials needed to commercialize new products. Contact BKI at 501 14th St., Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94612; (510) 444-8707 Fax (510) 444-2072; E-mail: rmyhre@bki.com; on the web at http://www.bki.com

I first met Rich when he volunteered to speak, and then landed two more speakers, for the 1990 ASME Bay Area Technical Conference on Technology Transfer that I chaired. After doing a great job as Program Chair during my term as Section Chair the following year, Rich went on to serve two terms as San Francisco Section Chair and more than his share in other offices. **** Hot news: for his second term as San Francisco Chair, Rich walked away from the April 24-27, 1997 Regional Administrative Conference with ASME Region IX's "Frank Von Flue Outstanding Section Award" for the 1995 to 1996 program year. **** While retaining section office, Rich now is also the ASME Region IX Publicity Chair and Chief Trainer. Only the active members of the section executive committee know just how much BKI has contributed to San Francisco Section, hosting our monthly executive committee meetings (and the parking tab) in addition to supporting Rich's activities.

Our speaker for May, Manuchehr Shirmohamadi. PhD, P.E., President of Material Integrity Solutions, Inc. in Berkeley, shared the trials and tribulations of heading a small consulting firm during our January 1996, "The Mechanical Engineer as Consultant" panel discussion. Manuchehr now presents technical lessons from his business. My recently signed contract to provide marketing and project services to build the MIS client base in petroleum refining is one example of value derived from ASME participition.

ApexUSA includes another business relationship grown from ASME activity. San Francisco Section Chair Roy Morgan and Newsletter Editor/Webmaster (for three years!!!) Johnny Wu have joined with several other young engineers in a spare-time business with a budget-concious focus. ApexUSA builds and hosts web sites and provides related services. The next time you see these guys, thank them for their great work to keep section programs and publicity coming to you. Amazingly, Roy still found time to hold a regular job and to work on plans for his upcoming wedding. Johnny's finishing his doctorate and will depart for Intel in Oregon after his satellite flies at the end of the summer. Look them up at http://www.apexusa.com or check the officers listings. (Attention closet writers, editors and webmasters -- we know you're out there! Please call us and help fill the void when Johnny moves on.)

Coming to the rescue with the newsletter deadline imminent has been a welcome trait of our small business members. Michael Parker, P.E., of Redwood Ergonomics, had less than a week to provide topic and bio information for his February presentation, "Design for Ergonomics: Preventing Occupational Injury through Integrating Ergonomics into Product and Process Designs". With a lively small business discussion, this meeting was so much fun that it's hard to regret the low attendance. Still, I'll now slip in my "soap box" comments that didn't fit last month:

It is my opinion that awareness and use of ergonomic principles is very important for all engineers and businesses but even more so for the small business engineer than for the larger business. At least three of the members attending had personally felt the effects and/or had loved ones suffer the effects of cumulative trauma disorders. For a large business, an employee lost to a CTD or a judgement paid because of injury caused by a poor ergonomic design may be just a modest cost of doing business. As a small business owner, such a loss can cost you the company and your life's dreams.

If the Oakland City Center venue kept you away, you may be missing some of the best office space and entertainment values in the bay area. The City Center Complex at 12th Street BART is new, well maintained, and architecturally and artistically interesting. Traffic is light and Oakland's China Town and Jack London Square are not far away. I have yet to see a San Francisco theater as strikingly beautiful inside as Oakland's Paramount and you can't beat the $5 classic movies with cartoons on the big screen. Lake Merritt has beautiful old buildings, abundant waterfowl, boat rentals, sunshine when San Francisco is fogged in, and a great view of the hills. For late night exercise, Lake Merritt's "Ring of Lights" illuminates a paved circuit of about 2-1/2 to 3 miles.

Enough said, back to kudos: Thanks also to SF Section small business members who have shared their experiences in Member-of-the-Month features. On short notice, Angela Faulkener, of Faulkner Consulting Services, drafted and e-mailed some fun, enlightening and inspiring reading for our February Newsletter. When I called, on imminent deadline, Sam Burd, of Burd Consulting, gave me his words of wisdom for the March Newsletter. For the April/May newsletter, and with one week notice before he flew overseas on business, Walt Mikesell of Mikesell and Boyak Associates e-mailed some thoughts on ASME, its value to him and his desires for ASME in his role as a member of the Board of Governors.

Thank-you to other members who have shared their experiences at small business meetings and in our Small Business and Consultants Referral List. A partial listing includeds: Carl H. Jordan, P.E. (Berkeley), Erland Persson of Security by Design in Concord, Douglas B. Jung, P.E. and Daniel Fisher, Ph.D. of Two-Phase Engineering in Santa Rosa, Peter Wolton of Grant Engineering and Manufacturing in Richmond, Richard R. Grey, P.E.(San Rafael), Manual Almojuela of Christian Engineering in San Francisco, Don Isaac, Jr. of Tamin Enterprises in Half Moon Bay, Leonard E. Schwer, Ph.D., of Schwer Engineering & Consulting Services in Windsor, Robert G. Whirley, Ph.D. of TransMotive Technologies, Inc., in Santa Rosa.

I'll round out this feature with two members who have made many contributions to ASME over the years.

After retiring from BART, Joseph P. Van Overveen. P.E. has hung out his shingle to share his expertise in railway engineering, rapid transit, light rail, fluid flow and bulk storage of hazardous liquids. Joe's ASME service ranges from San Francisco Section Chair through all levels of ASME's History and Heritage organization and beyond. Along with lending his advice to the current executive committee, Joe is the driving force behind the upcoming Mechanical Engineering Landmark dedication for BART. Contact Joe at 1057 Dolores Drive, Lafeyette, CA 94549, (510) 283-3650.

Recently retired from Southern Califoria Edison, ASME Region IX Vice President Elect Alex Maar now runs his own small business and is a major champion of ASME efforts to better serve the small business owners and employees amongst us. Engineering Resources Associates (ERA) provides engineering consulting service to industry, utilities, and government agencies in the areas of energy and environment. Consultants affiliated with ERA cover a wide spectrum of engineering fields. Contact Alexander Marr, P.E., Principal Consultant, Engineering Resource Associates, 2396 Via La Mesa, Chino Hills, CA 91709-5025: (909) 597-5720, Fax: (909) 597-5720, e-mail: marra@asme.org.

One final note: The ASME Accessing Technology Briefing, held February 22 in Pasadena, provided a wealth of information on issues and sources of funding and technology that can help a small technology-based business gain a competitive edge. Hopefully, my report on the briefing will be on the ASME SF Small Biz website when you get this newsletter. For a free copy of the published proceedings, contact ASME Government Relations at 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 906, Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 785-3756; grdept@asme.org.

As always, if you have comments or input for small business activities, this column or the small business web site, please contact me at: Eric E. Worrell, P.E., The Ergonomic Energy Works, PO Box 271923, Concord, CA 94527-1923, Phone/Fax (510) 689-4579, eew@eew.com.

This just in from from Dr. Wade Troxell, ASME Region XII Vice President and one of the leaders of the Colorado Manufacturing Extension Center and Manufacturing Excellence Center (http://cmec.colostate.edu) at Colorado State University: "check out http://www.manex.org to learn more about MANEX...." From their Web Page: "The Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence (Manex) works with small and medium sized manufacturers to increase their competitiveness. Manex focuses on improving productivity and quality, increasing profitability, and providing workforce training. Manex serves the 10,000 manufacturers in the nine counties of the (San Francisco) Bay Area." If you would like updates like this on a timely basis and during San Francisco Section's newsletter time-off during the summer, please forward your e-mail address to eew@eew.com (SF Section and Region IX small biz mailing list) and info@sf.asme.org (San Francisco Section general mailing list)

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