Overrides Come Standard

PHOTO: James Archer/AnatomyBlue

In “The Hunt for the Kill Switch” [May], Sally Adee describes the threat of outside forces taking control of deployed chips away from military users via remote “kill switches.” But that’s exactly the purpose of the digital-rights management systems designed to block copyrighted content from playing on unauthorized hardware: publishers want to take control of deployed chips away from media users. When we have an entire industry working hard to build external overrides into ­electronics, it’s no ­wonder we end up with external overrides built into electronics.

Matthew Skala, IEEE Member, Waterloo, Ont., Canada

It’s Just Common Sense

The article by Christensen, King, Verlinden, and Yang, “The New Economics of Semiconductor Manufacturing” [May], implies that the Toyota Production System (TPS) has not been applied outside the auto­motive industries and that its application to semi­conductor manufacturing is novel. The article provides an interesting account of its effectiveness in the case described.

TPS was first described for Western readers by Womack, Jones, and Roos in their book, The Machine That Changed the World, published in 1990 (the article claimed by the authors as the first description appeared nine years later). I described it, and explained how its principles could be applied to any engineering manufacturing operation, in my books The Practice of Engineering Management in 1994 and The New Management of Engineering in 2005.

TPS is really commonsense management, following the principles taught by Peter Drucker and W.E. Deming in the 1950s but applied effectively and uniquely by Japanese industry long before their competitors woke up to the realities. Since the 1980s these principles have been widely applied in other countries and industries. However, the article should stimulate further uptake, particularly by electronics companies.

Patrick O’Connor, IEEE Member, Stevenage, England

How Green Are These Machines?

PHOTO: Venturi Automobiles

“Top 10 Tech Cars” by John Voelcker [April] is not ­acceptable. The article was ­supposed to value “green” machines’ being high-tech. Good idea. So how can you continue to value machines like the Corvette, big sedans, and some SUVs? These cars are ethically ­unacceptable when you consider that they ­consume immense amounts of fuel and are driven at speeds that far exceed the limits of most highways. Even valuing biofuel is very controversial—it impoverishes developing countries, and the true energy cost of biofuel is not worth it. Where are the true electric cars? Why not show the serious green cars: ZAP-X, MVS Venturi Fetish, Tesla, SVE Cleanova, or Peugeot’s hybrid car with diesel?

Finally, this ­article values only cars you can find in North America. Here in the United Kingdom, I can see the superiority of French and Italian cars.

Luc Rolland, Preston, England

The author responds: This annual feature appeals to our ­readers as users of interesting and commercially available technology. It is not intended to be an uncritical look at ­technologies unlikely to penetrate the ­mainstream market within three to five years. For this article, we define automotive ­technology broadly and include developments to conventional, combustion-engined cars because that’s what almost all our readers are buying.

To address some of Rolland’s specific points: we covered the Tesla Roadster in last year’s Top 10 and the Venturi Fetish back in 2005. As for the ZAP company, it seems unlikely to ever ­produce and sell ­vehicles. Rolland’s assertion that our list is U.S.-­centric is ­simply incorrect. Of the eight production cars on the list, three cannot be purchased in North America (they are the Tata Nano, Mazda2/Demio, and VW Polo BlueMotion), four more are ­globally available (Jaguar XF, Nissan GT‑R, BMW X6, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1), and only one (Lincoln MKS) is ­specific to North America. We will ­probably include Peugeot’s diesel hybrid in our Top 10 if it becomes commercially available.

Finally, we cover green machines regularly. Our May issue, for example, featured a Toyota Prius that had been converted into a plug-in hybrid electric ­vehicle with a 48-­kilometer electric range.