Word: snafus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Snafus in the field are exacerbated by overlays of bureaucracy, charged Goldwater. When the Marines landed in Beirut in 1982, their orders sifted through no fewer than eight levels of command. The Marines' failure to dig in properly against terrorist attack--at the cost of 241 lives--was attributed partly to signals lost or mixed up in the endless command chain. Bureaucracies inevitably breed officers who have little better to do than trip over one another. The U.S. fought World War II with 101 three-star generals and admirals; now there are 118. Observed Nunn: "It takes more admirals...
...looking for additional capital. Convergent Technologies has also stumbled over its portable. The Santa Clara firm introduced its lap-size WorkSlate a year ago to enthusiastic reviews. But the company could not make enough of these computers to satisfy the initial demand, and then ran into production snafus. After losing $6.5 million in the second quarter, it announced that it would stop making the WorkSlate and concentrate on its original line of products: desktop office computers...
...energy independence and national security. For developing countries, the sight of a mammoth reactor going up can also be a sign of industrial maturity and a source of national pride. To be sure, nuclear power faces the same obstacles abroad that it does in the U.S.: surging costs, construction snafus, protests from environmental groups, public jitters about safety, and problems with waste disposal. Moreover, the world economy is only beginning to recover from a recession that slashed demand for electricity and thus reduced the immediate need for atomic power. As a result, many countries have postponed nuclear projects or stretched...
...senior military adviser to Secretaries of Defense over the years, Army General John A. Wickham Jr. learned much about the ways of Washington. For example: there are times when the military is expected to shoulder full responsibility for its snafus, and there are other times when it makes sense to spread the blame around. Last week, in his first meeting with reporters since being made Army Chief of Staff in June, Wickham deemed the climate right for straight talk. In any fair-minded parceling out of responsibility for the military's mounting problems with weapons systems that cost shockingly...
...production snafus and bottlenecks. In 1979 Dover Elevator Co. formed quality circles at its Horn Lake, Miss., plant. Says Robert Scott, Dover's quality-circle coordinator: "It has done so many good things you can't even count them. I suppose if it were to be put in dollar terms, we have had a $12 to $15 payback on each dollar invested in the program." One quality circle suggested a way to install elevators in shafts more economically; the improvement will save Dover $2.5 million over the next five years. Westinghouse Electric Corp., with more than...