John Gyorki ::
Editorial Director :: John has extensive experience in both design engineering and professional writing. He has contributed technical articles to magazines since 1962. Gyorki received a BSEE degree from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield Detroit, Michigan. During his 30-year career in engineering, he was employed as a design engineer, engineering manager, and VP of engineering within several companies.
John Gyorki
August 01st, 2007.
As an editor and writer, I have the opportunity to interview many engineers in a wide variety of engineering disciplines. I usually make an appointment a few days ahead to set up an interview date and time. But over the past two years or so, I have noticed that more technologists have less time in their schedules for interviews, even when I promise to take less than 20 minutes. In fact, one engineer recently told me that he would “love” to talk to me, but he had no less than 45 items on his to-do list that he deemed were more important. Often, I have to reschedule interviews several times; some never happen. (more…)
John Gyorki
June 01st, 2007.
Are you surprised that Toyota sales for the first quarter of 2007 surpassed GM’s? I’m not. In fact, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. The reason I say this comes from my own experience of owning dozens of vehicles since my first car in 1950, a 1937 Chevrolet my grandfather gave me when I was only 12 years old. As a youngster, my automotive engineering uncle and mechanic father taught me how cars were designed, built, and maintained. Later, I became an engineer myself and worked for an automotive component manufacturer that supplied parts to numerous companies around the world. (more…)
John Gyorki
May 01st, 2007.
A friend was shopping for a new desktop computer recently and asked me to recommend a brand she might consider. Of course, I suggested purchasing one of the two computer makers that I use. Then she asked whether she should get the extended warranty plan. I don’t usually pay much attention to warranties, so I wasn’t sure what to tell her. Also, I didn’t know what the original warranty might be on the computer she was considering. So, we went to several stores and various Web sites to look at warranties. I was shocked at what I found. (more…)
John Gyorki
April 01st, 2007.
About 90% of the press releases and many of the articles I read are written by authors who do not know how to express quantities in percentages. I know of two cases in engineering where percentage is a valid unit for measuring quality or quantity: efficiency and duty cycle. Both parameters range from 0 to 100%. You just can’t get more than 100% efficiency or 100% duty cycle; 100% is the whole enchilada. (more…)
John Gyorki
March 01st, 2007.
Numerous books and courses are available that systematically cover Project and Product Design Procedures, so I expect every engineer to know how to attack a new consumer or industrial product design and carry it through to successful completion. But with countless new products I have studied and purchased recently,
I find that most contain one or more obvious, serious defects. Moreover, the defects do not always come from Accounting’s attempt to cut costs. (more…)
