BENSENVILLE, IL--We're privileged to welcome Andrew Magee, senior consultant with the Bourton Group, to the Uncommon Sense column inASSEMBLY. Andy, along with several of his colleagues, will be writing Uncommon Sense in the months ahead. You can expect them to continue the close scrutiny of "generally accepted" manufacturing theories and tactics that Don Ewaldz, who is retiring, has been doing so well.

Andy Magee has more than 10 years of engineering and manufacturing experience. He has developed flexible manufacturing cells for a flexible circuits manufacturer, designed contact reliability test circuits for computer docking station connectors, and helped a manufacturer of electronic interconnect components and products cut costs by $600,000 per year through process materials and labor savings.

Andy holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and an M.S. degree in metallurgy from the University of Connecticut. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society for Metals, and the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers Society. He has published numerous technical articles and papers.

All of us at ASSEMBLY want to thank Don Ewaldz for his insightful contributions, and to welcome Andy and Don's other colleagues at the Bourton Group to Uncommon Sense.