A quality management system is a framework of processes and procedures that are used to ensure that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its goals, strategies, and objectives. ... [Read More]

Story update 10/22/2009: We added a reference to Toyota Kata in the first paragraph.   The tools and techniques of what is commonly called “lean manufacturing” have their origin ... [Read More]

I'm not saying that the following apply to you... really. But, you might be a Black Belt if... You test your co-workers for normality – and find some of them to be non-normal and a little ... [Read More]

Isn't it the economy that's on everyone's minds? When will the economy pick up? Will we be able to survive until then or will we too become another company that used to exist? How do we ensure a ... [Read More]

The balanced scorecard is a commonly used vehicle that is to align organizational-chart work efforts to executive-determined strategies and goals.  With this approach, strategic planning could be ... [Read More]

On June 29, 1863, a 23-year-old First Lieutenant received an unexpected promotion. The freckle-faced, strawberry blonde, who graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point, was elevated ... [Read More]

Regular readers of my column know that I abhor surveys that don’t provide some type of incentive or discount on a future purchase for completing the survey. I realize that I may have discussed ... [Read More]

This is the final column in the debate between Donald Wheeler and Forrest Breyfogle on whether or not to transform data prior to analysis. Because the debate started with Wheeler's article "Do ... [Read More]

Two months ago my column “Are Quality Methodologies All Smoke and Mirrors? Part One” was a review of my interview in 1988 with F. James Mc Donald, the CEO of General Motors Corp. at that time. ... [Read More]

It was the great W. Edwards Deming who first applied this tenet, “Drive out fear,” to quality management in his book Out of the Crisis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982) It’s one ... [Read More]