Jeff Rummel Class Website

Interesting article on the reason for the tremendous difference in the poll results going into the primaries:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/1640 

Here's a key observation:

Add to this uncertainty the fact that 14 percent of Americans now only use cellphones. Pollsters haven’t figured out how to factor in cellphones, so that’s 14 percent of the potential electorate missing from their sample to begin with. Add further the fact that many people — no one has a number, but it is significant — now hang up on people they don’t know or don’t answer the phone when their Caller ID offers an unknown phone number, and you have another segment of the population that is offline.

Posted by Jeff at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This does not answer the question specifically, but here's more information on sports drug testing in the Wall Street Journal

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The file storage problem has been resolved, and the podcasts for all the classes are available through HuskyCT.  I have heard that there are problems with some files and I am checking on them -- I will let you know when they are fixed.

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When I'm not teaching stats or doing research at UConn, one of the places you can find me is at St. Paul's Collegiate Church.  It is located on 195, between campus and I-84.  The church has a very busy website, and starting on October 5th, the church will be breaking up into small groups to study the book by Rick Warren, A Purpose Driven Life.  Here is more information about how the study will work. 

One of the study groups will meet on Thursday nights and will be hosted by me and my wife, Beth, at the church.  If you'd be interested, please let me know (email would be great).

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This is a blog I use for my different classes, so you may see posts for other things -- like all the Italy posts below.  I will use the category "MBA" for what you will want to read, so you can filter out the other posts if you want to.  Or enjoy the pictures.

Here is a link to the lecture note on case teaching.  For Thursday, some study questions to get you started are

• How is the Fruitvale branch doing?  What evidence would you use to make that judgement?
• What are the likely causes for the performance of the branch?
• Manzana has a careful formula for calculating turnaround time (TAT) in Exhibit 3.  How does the formula work?  Is it an accurate predictor of when a policy will be complete?
• If you were Bill Pippen, what are the first changes that you would recommend for the Fruitvale branch?

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Here are some of the pictures Beth and I took at Fonterutoli.  Let me know if you want higher quality jpg files of any of the pictures.

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I hope everyone is returning from your weekend travels safely.  We will meet on Monday at 10am in our room in the new part of the school.  I'll see about getting the A/C going -- it is going to be hot on Monday.

Wednesday we'll also meet at 10am and wrap up the class.

Those of you who missed trips and want to make them up can do so by visiting a craftman business here in Florence.  Most are located south of the Arno (Oltrarno).  At the tourist info places, ask for the brochure titled "Craftsmen of the Oltrarno" and follow the instructions there to set things up.  You may have better luck trying to do one of the itineraries if you go as a group, but there is also a list of businesses that have independent visits (listed on the back, with phone numbers).  Last year we visited these

• Chilleri Factory (Goldsmith)
• Alfonso Bini (Hat blocks)
• Mannina (shoes, but I don't see them on the list for this year)

You'll probably need to work on this Monday afternoon in order to get things scheduled for later in the week. 

I would also suggest going to the info shop next to Palazzo Medici, rather than the one by Santa Maria Novella.  Because there are so many people coming off the trains, it is much busier than the one on via Cavour (extending from via dei Martelli at the Duomo)

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I got hrough everyone's journal over the weekend and leave comments about how they look so far.  Go to the website and take a look: you should see sections set off with horizontal lines with some comments from me about each section. 

I will also add comments to the company visits on Tuesday. 

At the bottom, in the comments, are overall comments about how the journal looks so far.  Please post a "reply" comment here if you have a question, or send me an email.

Sorry to have forgotten to announce this on the bus this morning -- I knew I had forgotten something after we arrived back in Florence... 

Posted by Jeff at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday we will make our last site visit, to a winery.  There are links and reading material on the website.  The bus will leave SMN at 8:30 (sharp), change in plans, the winery is closer and should have no traffic, so we will meet at 9:30, and you should probably know that there are no straight, flat roads in Chianti, so if you have trouble with motion sickness, please make some preparations.  We will tour the facility in the morning and talk with some of the managers about their export business after lunch, so we will probably be back to Florence late in the afternoon.  I have not been to this winery, so I am not sure about the exact agenda for the trip.

Make sure you see the posts about the last week of classes.

Posted by Jeff at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think we have made enough trips in five weeks, so for the last week of classes, we will meet in our classroom at Palazzo Rucellai.  I don't think we will need the entire three hours for class, so instead of having a long break in the middle of class, we will just meet from 10:00-12:00 on Monday and Wednesday, the 25th and the 27th.

On the 25th, we will discuss any of the company visits you want to talk about.  That will give you some time later in the week to make any final contributions to the company visit part of the website.  Final postings should be completed by Thursday, as I will finish grades for the class on Friday.

On the 27th, we will discuss the individual journals that you've written, and people can answer questions about some of the things they wrote about that others did not see.  I will also try to spend some time talking with you about ways you think the class could be improved for next year.

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Since illnesses (and other things) have meant that some people have missed one of the trips, I will allow people to make up for one absence in the following way:

There are Tourist Information centers run by the city of Florence.  One is on the back of Santa Maria Novella church (across from the train station) and another is just north of the Medici palace (between the Duomo and San Marco).  They offer many services, and one of them is that they will organize tours of artisan businesses in Florence.  They have a list of the kinds of businesses, and last year (with a smaller group) we visited a shoe company, a gold smith and a hat maker.

You should go to one of the centers and arrange a tour, and then report on the business and the operations in your journal.  Please make sure to mark it so that I know it is intended to make up for the missed company visit.

Let me know if you have any questions about this.

Posted by Jeff at 04:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some pictures from our visit to Lamborghini and Ducati.  The website is set up for you to add your analysis (sorry, I forgot to include that link before).  Let me know if you have any questions.

Our Monday trip to Lucart paper mill in Lucca will leave SMN at the bus area at 8:00, so you have an extra half hour to sleep on Monday.  There are some links on the class website that you can look at prior to the visit, and comfortable athletic/walking shoes are probably a good idea.  But because we will be in a manufacturing plant, the shoes must be closed.

Lucca is not that far, so the nap on the bus will be short.  Then we should be done at the plant before lunch, and I will arrange to have lunch in Lucca.  Then people who want to return can do so on the bus, and those who want to remain in Lucca and see the sights there, can stay and then come back to Florence by train. 

Posted by Jeff at 04:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The trip on Wednesday is an early departure -- 7:30 at SMN.  We will pick up the tour guide in Bologna and then visit Lamborghini in the morning and Ducati in the afternoon.  Lunch will be between the two visits, and the schedule has us dropping the guide off at around 4:00.  That should put us back in Florence around 5:30, depending on traffic.

Come ready to ask lots of questions.  There are some links to readings on the class website.

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Here are some of the pictures I took while we visited Barsanti, in Pietrasanta.

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We will try to leave SMN train station right at 1:00, so try to arrive between 12:45 and 1:00.  The ride to the plant is not long, but can have much traffic, so we will arrive between 1:30 and 1:45, and then be met by plant escorts before 2:00.  In the last email from GE, there was nothing about bringing identification, but bring something just to be on the safe side.

Here are the safety regulations that they sent to me:

As requested, during the visit in the Shop, we need to observe the following EHS and Security rules:

1) Visitors to production areas must always use the designated pathways marked by yellow lines and watch for moving vehicles and equipment and suspended loads

2) Visitors must use safety glasses (we will provide to you) and proper shoes (no heels, closed) must be worn when accessing productive areas

3) It is forbidden to bring cameras, video cameras and bags inside the Plant

So if you have heels or shoes that do not cover your feet, opt for athletic/walking shoes.  People in the plant in the manufacturing area will be dressed informally.

I will be at the school on Monday morning, in the faculty lounge, if you have questions.  Please take a look at the reading material on the website before the trip.

(reminder:  Lamborghini and Ducati on Wednesday)
 

Posted by Jeff at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Monday we will visit Nuovo Pignone (part of GE) and the trip will be in the afternoon.  We are going to be met at the plant at 2:00 for a presentation about GE, then a 3:00 tour of the manufacturing facility, and then a 4:00 discussion with some engineering people about the product and customers.  I am still working on the final details for transportation, etc, but you can be pretty sure that we will meet in the usual place (SMN train station by the coach buses).  Then we will either have a bus, or we will use a regular city bus, or we'll get a few taxis.  I'm figuring we'll meet around 12:30 or 1:00, but I will post another note with the exact time.

Two important details for the trip:  bring "safe" and comfortable shoes and some identification (they wanted to keep this last year when they issued a visitor's badge).  A copy of your passport or your drivers license will be fine (don't bring your actual passport). 

Also, we will be going into the manufacturing plant where they will be cutting metal and other messy things, so while we still want to be "business casual," you should wear something that will be easy to clean later (if necessary).  So a little more informal is okay. 

I am going with my family to Venice on Thursday, but should be back and able to check email on Thursday night, if you need anything.  I will finalize the details for Monday on Friday and add a post to the blog.  You can also find my phone number on the home page of the other website.

I will also get the pictures from Barsanti posted. 

Posted by Jeff at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are the three class pictures from Marini Industrie SpA.

People have asked about grading for the journals and the company visits.  I will add some comments to your journals, but it will take me a little time to get to everyone.  I added a general note on the "Journals" page and you can take a look.  I started some comments on the Textile production page, so you can take a look at that.  Different people can take the lead on different visits, so if you posted many comments on Carrara, you can let others do the long posts for Prato.

We can talk more about this at lunch on Wednesday -- I will see if we can find a place big enough for all of us.

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