Quality Digest

Mammoet USA Inc., the United States division of Netherlands-based Mammoet, a worldwide leader in heavy lifting and transport, brought a challenging problem to P Squared Consulting of The Woodlands, Texas. A new management team, in place about a year, had set a very aggressive goal to triple the size of the division within three years through acquisitions and organic growth. However, with the ... [Read More]

Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, Ph.D., is an educator, implementer, and a researcher with more than 25 years in the field of workplace visuality. Considered by many a leading visual expert, Galsworth is the author of a number of books on organizational improvement and workplace visuality, including Visual Workplace, Visual Thinking (Visual-Lean Enterprise Press, 2005), recipient of the Shingo ... [Read More]

Take a look at the control chart in figure 1. There are no observations outside the common-cause limits, but there are five special-cause flags: • Observation 5: Two out of three consecutive points greater than two standard deviations away from the mean • Observations 21 and 30-32: Four out of five consecutive points greater than one standard deviation away from the mean ... [Read More]

A Different Side to Risk Management A s a result of the ongoing credit crisis, senior managers in financial services firms are reassessing their risk management processes. This is leading to a greater emphasis on enterprise risk management (ERM) or firmwide risk management, according to “The Bigger Picture: Enterprise Risk Management in Financial Services Organisations,” an Economist ... [Read More]

Curmudgeonly Customer Service I often agree with Scott Paton’s columns bemoaning the state of customer service in America (“Customer Service?” “Quality Curmudgeon,” October 2008) Then there are times when something happens that gives you hope. Our 10-year-old daughter has several American Girl dolls. One of these dolls had a problem--her eyelash had come off. However, for a ... [Read More]

It’s almost like some retailers finally read the memo. They seem to now understand that customer service is the new differentiator. With quality levels and prices across almost all product categories nearly at par, it’s service that sets retailers apart--and smaller retailers have taken note. I was recently at a new Safeway supermarket looking for dried currants. I asked the nearest ... [Read More]

Gems Sensors & Controls, of Plainville, Connecticut, designs and manufactures a broad portfolio of liquid level, flow, and pressure sensors, miniature solenoid valves, and pre- assembled fluidic systems to exact customer requirements. The large number of configurable products, and the company’s high production volumes, create complex testing requirements. For example, many AC and DC ... [Read More]

Cequent Transportation Accessories, a division of TriMas Corp., located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, designs and manufactures a broad range of accessories for light trucks, SUVs, recreational vehicles, passenger cars, and trailers. The company has a long history of using enterprise quality management to drive market success. Three years ago, Chinese supplier error levels were ... [Read More]

Suppose you had 16 months of data on an important process (as plotted on the run chart seen in figure 1). For improvement purposes, an intervention was made after the sixth observation to lower this key process indicator. This intervention is equivalent to creating a special cause for a desired effect. There is no trend as defined statistically (despite the trend downward of length ... [Read More]

IMTS Posts Biggest Attendance in Years The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2008, held in Chicago, Illinois, September 8-13, posted its largest attendance since the year 2000. Total registration for the six-day event was 92,450, with 1,803 exhibiting companies. “We are ecstatic that IMTS 2008 not only achieved but exceeded expectations and objectives,” states Peter ... [Read More]