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A monthly publication from the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers
October 3, 2007 Edition
WSPE's President's Corner |
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As the year continues to fly by, I bring you some good news. The State Board appointed Mike Lefebvre, P.E., as WSPE President Elect for the remainder of the term at the September meeting. Mike is the Vice President and Office Manager of the Green Bay office of Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates, Inc. He has been a member of WSPE for many years and has been very active at the Chapter level, including serving as President of the Fox River Valley Chapter. He is also an active member and Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and has served in various roles, including President of the Fox Valley Branch and President of the Wisconsin Section. Because President Elect is normally an elected position, Mike will also appear on the ballot for next year’s officers to ensure he is duly elected to the President position by the WSPE membership. We are excited to have someone of Mike’s experience step into this important position and we look forward to working with him! On a related note, Mark Davy has indicated he will not be able to continue serving as the Young Engineer Representative on the State Board due to other commitments. I want to thank Mark for all of his efforts on behalf of WSPE. He has been a tireless advocate of WSPE and its values for many years and I am sure he will continue to serve the organization as time permits. His departure from the Board means there is a great opportunity for one of our young engineer members. This position will be responsible for keeping tabs on topics related to engineers at the start of their career and reporting to the State Board and Executive Committee on these matters (obtaining licensure, leadership development, etc.). This individual will be a member of the Executive Committee and will have the opportunity to observe and participate in the leadership of the State Society. This is a great opportunity for young engineers who are interested in learning leadership skills in a non-work environment. The applicant should be under the age of 35. Please contact me (james.buggs@ch2m.com) or Nancy Short (n.short@wspe.org) for more information if you are interested. We are also still in need of a Treasurer for the State Board. For the time being, I am continuing to perform the duties, but I could sure use someone to step up and take over this important role. We continue to gear up for upcoming events and, as always, we have many opportunities for our members to get involved. We are currently looking for people who are interested in getting involved at their local schools to talk to kids about engineering. This is an ongoing endeavor, so it is very flexible. We have some materials, including PowerPoint® presentations, to get people started and we welcome any resources you might like to share. This is a fun way to reach out to future generations and show them the wonders and joys of engineering. We are also looking for ideas for Engineers Week next February. As the premier engineering organization in the state, we want to be at the forefront of Engineers Week activities, but we need your help. Please contact Chad O’Donnell, P.E., at 414-278-3347 or codonnell@hga.com when you are ready to help or to share your ideas. Membership is another ongoing initiative. Did you know the number one reason people say they haven’t joined a professional society is because nobody has asked them? Please take a moment today to ask your colleagues if they belong to NSPE/WSPE and, if not, encourage them to join. Invite them to a Chapter meeting or other society activity to help them get involved. Remember to tell them the first six months are free! It’s easy to join by visiting www.nspe.org. We will also be implementing a calling campaign to reach recently dropped or delinquent members to encourage them to renew their memberships. Local chapters will be asked to assist in this effort. The more members we have, the more we can accomplish. The solicitation for the new Supporting Organizations program has gone out to potential sponsors across the state. This program will be key to funding the wide variety of WSPE activities, so please encourage your organization to participate. The program provides a credit toward sponsorship levels based on the number of WSPE members employed by an organization. Please contact me if you have any questions about the program. The Southwest Chapter has begun planning for next year’s Discovery Conference, which will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2008, at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. Great room rates will be available, so start making plans to attend now. The basic theme is “Preventing Disasters” and the committee has a long list of potential topics they are already considering. If you have any ideas or thoughts you would like to share regarding the conference, including anything you think might make it a more valuable event for you, please contact the conference chairperson, Dave McDermid, P.E., at 608-242-6652 or dmcdermid@msa-ps.com. The Discovery Conference is for the benefit of our members and we want to make it valuable for as many members as possible, so your input is extremely important. Our Legislative Committee continues to follow the bills in the state legislature regarding changes to licensure requirements and the implementation of continuing professional competency requirements. Please voice your opinions on these important bills at http://wiab69/blogspot.com and http://wiab181.blogspot.com. As you can see, there is a lot going on, so please consider getting involved. With your help, we can make this one of the best years in the history of WSPE. Please make sure you’re a part of it! Thanks! James Buggs, P.E. |
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Volunteers Wanted to Represent WSPE: Serve on an Advisory Council and Update the Provisions of Chapter Comm 34 |
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| The Division of Safety and Buildings within the Department of Commerce has the responsibility for protecting the safety and health of the public by establishing safety standards in the Wisconsin Administrative Code. Chapter Comm 34 of this code contains rules for the safe design, construction, operation, repair, inspection, assembly and disassembly of amusement rides and attractions. The Division is currently re-forming an advisory council to assist in updating the provisions of Chapter Comm 34 and is asking for the name of a person who would be willing to represent WSPE on this council. It is anticipated that the council's work would initially involve about 6 months' time, with one meeting held per month. The Division is unable to reimburse you for the time and expense incurred while serving on this council. Hopefully though, the knowledge and experience gained will at least partially offset the commitment. The first council meeting is expected to be held in November. Please forward a brief summary of your background NO LATER THAN October 5th to Christopher Roper at c.roper@wspe.org. Should you have any questions regarding this council, please contact Jim Quast at 608-266-9292. Citizen participation and input is the key to keeping the Wisconsin Administrative Code current, viable and reasonable. Thank you for your consideration of this opportunity. |
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Take Advantage of the WSPE Job Board |
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| Looking for a new job? Curious what kind of engineering jobs are out there on the market today? Don't forget - WSPE has a job board. Go to: http://www.wspe.org/jobboard.html to check it out. |
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Help Keep Your Information Current |
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| Members, we need your help. The accuracy of your information is important to the success of NSPE and WSPE. Please check and update your information at www.nspe.org by clicking on the "Members Only" link at the top of the NSPE web page. It is critical that we have current information, as it keeps our members informed about events and activities. |
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UW-Platteville Women in Engineering Program Happy to Announce Two Exciting Events |
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Fall Career Day The activities and discussions of the day are designed to introduce young women in grades 8 - 12 to the engineering profession. The program is facilitated by professional women engineers and current UW-Platteville engineering faculty and students. The Sky's the Limit This event, presented by the Girls Scouts of Green Hills Council and the UW-Platteville Women in Engineering Program with a grant from Lockheed Martin, will introduce high school girls to careers in engineering and technology. Throughout the weekend girls will work in teams to create a balsa wood tower that will be tested on an earthquake simulator. Girls will have to do research to determine how to build their tower and will have to work as a team to create the tower. They also will prepare a presentation to be given on the single day in December explaining the design of their tower. The weekend will also include presentations from professional engineers and engineering societies on campus and other engineering activities. The full weekend events will be held at the Pioneer Farm, with girls staying in the Cooper Living and Learning Center. The single day in December will be spent on the campus of UW-Platteville and presentations will be given there. |
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Public Highways Aren't a Substitute for Private Easements By Attorney Robert J. Kay |
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| Those professional engineers who are engaged in real estate subdivision development and highway engineering will be interested in a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court case, AKG Real Estate, LLC v. Patrick Kosterman, et al., decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July of 2006. In that case, a subdivision developer brought an action against the holder of an easement seeking a declaratory judgment that the developer had the right to terminate private road easements upon providing public road access. The dominant estate owner, which held the easement, brought a counterclaim for a declaration that the easements remained in full force and effect and could not be substituted or terminated by public access. In a published decision, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held that the servient estate owner upon whose land the easement was located could unilaterally terminate an express right-of-way easement once the servient estate provided an alternate public route of ingress and egress to the dominant estate. The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, concluding that the owner of a servient estate cannot unilaterally relocate or terminate an express easement with a public road. The facts in this case involved the creation of the easements when the dominant and servient estates were under common ownership consisting of 84 acres of vacant land along Highway 31 in Racine County. The owners deeded a 4-acre parcel, which became the dominant estate, to their son and daughter-in-law and created easements because the dominant estate lacked access to a public road. The easements were expanded to a 66' width, which would permit the creation of a public road. Eventually, the servient estate was purchased by AKG Real Estate, LLC, a developer, which planned two public roads connecting with Highway 31 from the subdivision. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) would not consent to a public road along the easements because of an insufficient minimum distance from other roads connecting to the state highway. Therefore, in order to develop the subdivision as planned, AKG needed to relocate the easements, but the dominant estate owners refused to consent to the relocation. AKG then sought a declaratory judgment from the courts holding that the easements terminated once AKG provided alternative public road access to the dominant estate. The circuit court initially held that the easements were terminated once AKG provided public road access and the Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court. The Court of Appeals concluded that the intent of the easements was to provide public road access and that the refusal of the dominant estate to consent was unreasonable and would impose costs far in excess of the benefits to the concerned parties. Upon review by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals was reversed. The Supreme Court held that the express easements were not subject to the recognized rule that an easement for a particular purpose terminates when it becomes impossible to use the easement as originally intended. The court held that the primary purpose of the easement was not to become a public road, but rather to provide ingress and egress to the dominant estate over a described route. The court held that purpose was not frustrated by DOT regulations making it impossible to construct a public road along that route. The court also rejected AKG's argument that the easement would not be necessary to provide access once a public road was built, holding that it is longstanding Wisconsin easement law that an express easement does not terminate even when the necessity or purpose of the easement ceases. The Wisconsin Supreme Court was not persuaded that express easements should be unilaterally modified because of a change of economic circumstances. While two concurring justices on the Supreme Court were of the opinion that Wisconsin law permitted the termination of express easements when conditions changed to the extent that the purpose of the easement could no longer be accomplished, they joined the majority of the court because they did not believe there had been changed conditions established in the case. This case evidences the protection the courts will accord to express easements once they are granted and that public access is not necessarily a sufficient substitute for a private easement. |
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Congratulations to Tarun Naik, "Environmentalist of the Year" |
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| Wisconsin Builder magazine has named Tarun Naik, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, "Environmentalist of the Year" because of his research involving green technologies and the production and breaking down of concrete. He will be honored, along with other winners, at a banquet held on Oct. 24, 2007 at the WE Energies building in Milwaukee, WI. Naik is an expert on the use of fly ash to reduce the amount of cement needed in concrete. Fly ash is a waste product of coal-burning power plants, and it usually winds up in landfills. Naik has been a registered engineer in the state of Wisconsin since 1969. He served WSPE as past president. Tarun, WSPE is proud of your accomplishments and your phenomenal dedication to the field of engineering. |
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Transforming the Market Opportunity into a Product By Marc Annacchino, P.E. |
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| I. TOOLS IN THE ARSENAL Speed, accuracy and agility How does your company win the competitive game? Everyone seems to be pursuing the same business that you are. How can you differentiate your company from all the others? The perspectives in answering these questions lie in your company’s ability and desire to demonstrate speed and agility to the changing market conditions. Conditions of advantage and marketability do not remain fixed. Responding to these changing conditions in a timely manner will ensure success. It would seem that winning in the new product arena is a formidable, almost impossible task. It could be, for firms that do not continually strive to improve their products, their marketability, and their position in the marketplace. If, however, your company does execute these continual steps in new product and market development, you will be well positioned to compete. If you have a strong foothold among the customer base, it will be that much easier to defend and grow. Consultative selling “Our customers come to us because they view us as the leaders and trust our expertise to resolve their needs.” This statement exemplifies the result of continued consultative selling. The company has positioned itself as the resource that the customer will use as a normal course of their business. It also creates a dependence on the company that results in a competitive advantage. In addition to the normal advantage in a bidding or competitive situation, it also positions the company to be on the customer’s cutting edge of new developments. This type of selling allows the customer to become a partner in their future success. Such a relationship requires mutual trust and involvement. Facilitating the customer’s dependence How can you create this dependence between your company and the customer? Your solution needs to provide features and benefit services that the customer would ordinarily need to provide. Inherent in the solution you are providing them, you can offload the customer having to provide this service themselves. If they re-deploy or reduce headcount, then you have created a certain dependence. You need to be selective in this area, because if not, you run the risk of attempting to be all things to all people. Create the dependence, where it does not cost your company too much in time and effort, or better yet, do this in an area where you are exceptionally proficient. This type of selling, although very successful in the long run, does require a significant amount of energy and funds to develop and cultivate. Your company itself needs to make a commitment to select a customer and see it through to completion. By effective partnering with the customer’s future plans, links between the two companies can be cemented, which will help transcend competitive thrusts. Identify opportunities in which small incremental changes mean big advantages If you loosely define the competition of new product development as a game, then consider it to be in the organization’s best interest to learn to play the game well. It has been previously discussed to become proficient at incremental changes. An adjunctive activity is to become proficient at identifying those items that are small and can be accomplished with a minimum of effort, and execute them for incremental gains. A series of these will mean big payoffs in the near and long term. They serve as practice for larger programs and also keep competition at bay, by constantly raising the barrier to expectation level in the specific marketplace. Determine latent opportunities for competitive advantage and incorporate them Here is where the “engagement” of the customer becomes so important. It is at this interface, that if you listen carefully, the latent needs of the customer will become evident. It is in that latent need that the identification of the product features and/or configuration will be defined and value posted by the customer. By incorporating these features, the company can gain a competitive advantage with small, incremental effort and protect the margin against erosion as a result of competitive pricing actions. II. THE NEW PRODUCT IS THE COMPETITIVE WEAPON Here are some of the tools used to create the competitive weapon….New product development is the survival means in a market Most companies cannot compete on price and delivery alone. In fact, it is quite a dangerous pathway. New product development is often used as a competitive weapon in the marketplace. With most companies, customers and competitors know their history, patterns, and areas of comfort. New product development is a means for a company to gain advantage, secure a position, or win a new customer. It is the ultimate weapon in changing the playing field and should be used as such. Leapfrogging the account and the industry Examine the industry and the marketplace. Determine the products and the technology employed to solve customer problems. Cite advantages and disadvantages of each of these implementations, then forecast the future of each of these technologies. This is where the competition will be at your next product introduction. Will you exceed customer requirements, or be at parity with your competitor? Your program needs to leap ahead of where the others will be at that future point. Aim further as a starting point so that at the time of introduction, you will be in a superior position. Attacking your own entrenched position So things are going fairly well. No major problems, volume is reasonable, quality is acceptable, and costs permit a good margin. Time harvest the benefit of all the work right? Wrong. Now is the time to begin to “attack yourself”. Do the proper amount of introspection to determine how long you will have the advantage, what the vulnerable points of the business are, what steps need to be taken to secure the future business levels and more. The competition will be doing this, so it is in the company’s best interest to do the same, and to do it before anyone else. This activity is healthy, as it reduces complacency and rekindles a sense of urgency in continually improving the processes, the products, and the relationships with customers. Now is a good time to revisit that loyal customer and solicit their feedback. The latent opportunity Are there latent opportunities among your customer base? What are the specific requirements that they need to compete better? Find that specific requirement and seize the opportunity to capitalize on it. These are the actions that bind you to a loyal customer. The difficulty is in finding out what the latency is, as it is not always readily obvious. Often the customer needs to be led through the discussion to obtain this information. This skill may not be readily available through most sales channels and requires personnel who can communicate effectively and solicit information in an unbiased fashion. However, since it is somewhat difficult to obtain for your company, it will be difficult for your competitor also. Raising the barrier to entry In any situation, it benefits the company to keep the barriers to market entry as high as possible. Surround and imbue the company with expertise and equipment that gives specific market advantage. Investing in capital equipment financed from profits raises the barrier, thus discouraging ill-equipped start-ups from encroaching on your territory. Investment in the business will not only raise the barrier, but will also lower costs and improve repeatability and quality. These have a disproportionate effect in terms of competitive advantage and position. It makes someone chasing your business accounts all that much more difficult to capture. Raise the customer expectations beyond competition’s ability to deliver Your company’s actions should continually raise the customer’s expectations of provided products and services. By setting the standard for performance in your marketplace, you make the competition dance to the defacto standards you set, not visa versa. This continual resetting of the customer’s expectation level will also raise the barrier to entry from a features and business services perspective, another difficult target to reach for others. This can also catch others off guard because they won’t understand the schedules that the partnership establishes for implementation. Your schedules will chart the pathway and will be known only to you and the customer/partner, making it a guessing game for anyone else to intercept. III. ENGAGING THE MARKET/CUSTOMER In this section we will examine the issues on engaging the market and the customer. In the Business Development Process there are no absolutes and no one remains at rest. When your company launches a product or readjusts a price, the competition may take some action, the customer may take some action, and you must anticipate these actions. To better position your firm to win at this, consider the following process: The embodiment of this value generally can fall into one of 3 categories:
Each of these methods enhances the firm’s ability to secure the business and provide a better situation for the customer. It starts with truly listening to the customer. We must listen, however, in a completely different way than we have traditionally done. We must disconnect from our role in the corporation and place ourselves in the frame of reference of the customer and evaluate matters from a wider perspective:
The best evaluation of your competitive standing is to remove yourself from the sales arena and place yourself at the customer’s perspective. When you create it, the value-engineered solution addresses direct and latent customer issues. You must use the process of discovery: a customer interaction is a dialog and the interchange is a process of discovery where the seller probes for conditions, customer alternatives, and market situation. Discovery should produce the customers and hidden opportunities, competitive situation and threats to securing the business. The firm in total must understand and frame the customer's business, alternatives, decision breakpoints and product pathways, then use this understanding to synthesize the better situation for the customer: Some additional steps are to:
Your sales focus should then guide the transaction down the planned pathway and take action to accommodate changing competitive conditions the value-engineered solution is the better deal for the customer. IV. CONCLUSION There are many ways to win at the Business Development Game. The sustainable way is to define the product opportunity in a manner that addresses market needs and also facilitates the manufacturer’s requirements. A method in common use today is through the use of platform management. This will be discussed in the November 2007 article. Portions excerpted from Marc A. Annacchino’s book The Pursuit of New Product Development, ISBN-10: 0-7506-7993-X, http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/709057/description#description. Marc Annacchino, P.E., is owner of Marconi Product Development Institute, Inc., a company providing consulting services, contract development, seminars, and other services. He can be reached at Marconi@execpc.com. |
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Welcome New WSPE Members! |
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| Welcome New WSPE Members! The WSPE Board of Directors would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to the following new WSPE members: Trevor L. Morrison, P.E. Jim Beier, P.E. J. Brian Harris, P.E., Ph.D. Daniel W. Murphy, P.E. Ian C. Bagley, P.E. Richard Edward Korinek, P.E. Scott A. Adler, P.E. New members contribute to the growth, strength and leadership of the WSPE in enhancing its recognition as a leading voice for Professional Engineers throughout Wisconsin and promoting excellence in engineering. |
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