Customer Care
A recent company meeting revealed what management called a “handoff problem.” The sales team would close deals, then toss them over the wall to the service team, which would promptly fumble the relationship because they didn’t understand what had been promised or why the customer bought in the…
Your market is shifting, your competitor just pulled ahead, and the one person who could execute the next move has resigned. You can’t get more data fast enough, yet the window to act is closing. In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, this is the moment that defines…
Small to midsize manufacturers are facing mounting pressure from unpredictable supply chain disruptions. From fluctuating customer demand to reshoring operations and diversifying suppliers, maintaining efficiency and protecting cash flow have never been more critical.
Global…
Software selection, implementation, and ongoing maintenance are critical stages in the life cycle of biomedical software systems such as asset and calibration management platforms. Yet few industry resources provide detailed, practical guidance for managing these processes effectively.
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Nano Tools for Leaders, a collaboration between Wharton Executive Education and Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, are fast, effective tools that you can learn and start using in less than 15 minutes, with the potential to significantly affect your success and the engagement…
What if your quality system could detect and initiate corrective actions for equipment deviations before they affect product quality?
It’s a compelling vision—and one that’s becoming increasingly achievable through AI-enabled automation. But let’s be clear: We’re not there yet.…
In July 2024, CrowdStrike rolled out a software update that crashed more than 8 million Windows systems worldwide. The faulty release disrupted hospitals, grounded flights, halted banking operations, and affected government services. Comparable to a major cyberattack, the incident caused more…
A vital concept from the chemical process industry, management of change (MOC) relates primarily to safety. It means that whenever we change a factor in a cause-and-effect diagram (e.g., machine, material, manpower, method, measurement, environment, or any other factor), we create risks of…
Manufacturers are making more types of products than ever before. According to Deloitte’s Consumer Products Industry Outlook, 95% of consumer product executives report that launching new products is a top priority this year, and 67% are allocating more resources to developing truly novel…
Take two aspirin and call me in the morning: If only prescribing medications were as simple as that.
In reality, the prescription process involves many players and steps. Details must be accurately spelled out, interpreted, and double-checked to ensure patients get the correct…
C hallenges abound for today’s manufacturers. Labor shortages and rising labor costs require innovative solutions to maintain productivity with fewer staff. Inflation continues to exert pressure on raw material costs, squeezing margins. Manufacturers are also racing against tight production…
Productivity looks good on paper. It’s measurable, visible, and in many organizations, it’s worshipped. But here’s the problem: Productivity isn’t the same as progress.
Many cultures confuse motion with momentum. Leaders celebrate packed calendars, rapid responses, and efficiency…
The dental industry is seeing a surge in 3D printing, with the technology enabling a growing number of dentists to rapidly create custom implants in clinics around the world.
When it comes to customizing implants like dental crowns, bridges, guides, and aligners, 3D printing is…
In medical technology, safety is paramount. Every step in the manufacturing process must meet the highest standards, from patient protection to regulatory compliance. Because direct part marking plays a key role in ensuring traceability and unique device identification (UDI) conformity, it’s…
A rapidly growing category of drugs called protein-based biotherapeutics can be used to treat cancers and genetic and autoimmune disorders. These drugs, which usually take the form of large protein molecules, are manufactured by growing living cells that are genetically engineered to produce the…
The Bott Group designs vehicle and operating equipment as well as workplace systems. From its headquarters in Gaildorf, Germany, and two production sites in Bude, England, and Tárnazsadány, Hungary, Bott Group designs and manufactures work environments for mobile and stationary manual work…
I recently needed to have a hot water expansion tank installed in my house. The first plumber who came to mind is widely advertised on local radio. The company’s online reviews suggest that they do good work, but one added that they are expensive—and it’s probably because they have radio ads…
Pharmaceutical serialization practices are on the rise and have progressively become a worldwide standard as a result of stringent regulations in various of markets, including the United States, European Union, China, and Argentina. Recent estimations found that by 2022 serialization practices…
A new security screener that people can simply walk past may soon be coming to an airport near you. Last year, U.S. airports nationwide began adopting HEXWAVE, a commercialized system based on microwave imaging technology developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. HEXWAVE addresses a new…
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and JuggerBot 3D, an industrial 3D-printer equipment manufacturer, have launched their second research and development collaboration through the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) Technical Collaboration Program.
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Complacency won’t show up on a control chart. But its damage is real. Can AI and systems thinking help us detect it and respond before trust is lost?
As customer expectations evolve, one question remains: Are customers still at the core of your company’s operations?
Back in…
The precise recording of passenger numbers is essential for transport companies—it helps optimize timetables, make better use of capacities, and organize local public transport more efficiently.
A modern solution for this is camera-based passenger-counting. Intelligent image…
The digital revolution has transformed healthcare along with virtually every other industry. From telemedicine to digital health data, providers now have access to innovative solutions that have the potential to make healthcare more accessible and effective for all.
In some…
Why do customers patronize one company over another? Many of you might say that the quality and price of the products or services are key factors. But while those things might play into a purchasing decision, they aren’t the most important consideration.
So, what is? Customer…
Most days we walk through life unaware of the conversations occurring around us. And then there are those times you overhear a conversation that stops you dead in your tracks. You have to hit rewind in your brain and ask, “Did they actually just say that?”
Ever have one of those…
Many companies are still clinging to paper-based and unconnected electronic processes, despite the clear disadvantages. Without modern tools like QMS software, these organizations risk compromising product quality, falling behind in compliance, and ultimately losing competitive ground.
…
A global food safety and quality certification, BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards) initially focused on food safety but now comprises various sectors such as packaging, consumer products, and retail. It aims to ensure that businesses maintain high standards of safety and quality…
On April 8, 2025, a driverless Zoox robotaxi misjudged an approaching vehicle, braked too late, and sideswiped it at 43 mph on the Las Vegas Strip.
One month later, the Amazon subsidiary issued a software recall on 270 autonomous vehicles and suspended operations while regulators…
The Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center (MAMC) is a leading-edge resource facility dedicated to driving innovation and advancing manufacturing technologies.
Operating from West Virginia facilities in Huntington, South Charleston, and Point Pleasant, the MAMC is at the heart of…
You know that friend who’s always there when you’re in need? The one who shows up on time, follows through on promises, and genuinely cares about what’s going on in your life? That’s exactly what your business needs to be for your customers.
Sure, those splashy marketing campaigns…
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, trade with our three largest partners—Canada, China, and Mexico—accounted for more than $1.32 trillion in imports and $0.82 trillion in exports in calendar year 2024. This represented 40% of the total trade between the…
For a robot, the real world is a lot to take in. Making sense of every data point in a scene can take a huge amount of computational effort and time. Using that information to then decide how to best help a human is an even thornier exercise.
Now, MIT roboticists have a way to cut…
A few months ago I visited a potential customer, a high-tech startup, which like many Boston-area tech companies is developing astounding products that would have been considered science fiction only 10 years ago. The parking lot was half full at 8 a.m., but the entrance was locked to visitors,…
Every day, quality leaders face a variety of production and process issues. Although some problems are easy to fix, others require deeper investigation, such as using a 5 Whys analysis or fishbone diagram. But then there are the stubborn, recurring issues that can lead to quality issues,…
When we step into a complex organization—whether in manufacturing, healthcare, or finance—we often find ourselves navigating a sea of competing truths. Everyone seems certain they see the problem clearly. Yet somehow, solving it feels harder than it should.
Why?
Often, it’s…
Salespeople are getting older. Buyers are getting younger. You have a disconnect.
In raw terms, the average age of a professional business-to-business (B2B) salesperson in the United States is 47.1 years old. Fifteen years ago that number was 42. So, the sales profession is…
Nobody likes change. I know if you do anything that changes my routine in the morning, my whole day is whacked. We all hate change. Heck, most of us hate getting change at the grocery store because of all those coins.
As a leader, though, your job is to get others to want to…
Keeping quality high in today’s fast-moving production world is a big challenge. Traditional quality checks have worked well, but they can be slow, require a lot of work, and are prone to mistakes.
AI could change this by making quality control faster, more accurate, and easier to…
What happens when workplace colleagues land on opposing sides of an external competition? Henning Piezunka, an associate professor of management at Wharton, tackles this question in a recent study, using sports data to shed light on how outside rivalries can shape collaboration within the…
The medical device industry is growing. Data from KPMG predict that global annual sales will rise by 5% per year to reach just under $800 billion by 2030. New technology, new opportunities, and, as always, the promise of improving patient outcomes around the world are major drivers of growth…
I ’ve been skiing in Vail, Colorado, one of the best skiing areas in the world, for more than 50 years. George Gillett Jr. acquired the resort in 1985. But when I first met him in 1978 and asked him what he does, he said, “I am in customer service.”
Gillett is out of that business…
My story begins with Hurricane Milton, one of two tragic hurricanes to hit the west coast of Florida last year. Milton went right over Sarasota, where I live part of the year. It was a devastating storm; tree and plant debris still remain on the sides of many roads. Big root balls are still…
Cash is king for manufacturers, from the owner down to the machine operators. If you visit any manufacturer, you’ll see that most have a keen eye on how everything is being used. Machines are generally only running if they are making parts; employees are typically only working if orders are…
Since the early 1980s, the automotive industry has used hydraulically actuated (servo-hydraulic) test systems to simulate operating speeds and road conditions for testing OEM components and fully assembled vehicles. These systems have helped unlock vast improvements in the quality, safety, and…
A September 2024 Gallup poll revealed that nearly 30% of U.S. adults have little to no confidence in the safety of U.S. foods at the grocery store. Considering recent recalls, is it any wonder? What good is a quality control program if it doesn’t include food safety?
Boar’s Head’s…
It creates a warm and inviting atmosphere. Its natural grain and color tones have a lively effect and add character to a room. We are talking about classic wood flooring—usually laminate, and optionally with a click system for easy installation.
Scheucher Holzindustrie GmbH, from…
In April 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic system, a software program used to detect diabetes-related vision loss.
Since then, the industry has seen explosive growth of AI in medical device manufacturing…
In the world of operations and quality management, the pressure to act quickly can feel overwhelming. Senior executives are constantly racing against time to meet customer demands, solve problems, and keep shareholders satisfied. In the rush to address immediate challenges, “Ready, aim, fire!”…
In today’s highly competitive global markets, lean manufacturing is no longer something that’s nice to have—it’s a way of life. You can either reduce costs, simplify operations, and improve productivity on a continual basis—or you can lose business to competitors that do.
Lean…
It’s 2024, and the age of automation has largely taken over our phones, computers, and businesses. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, you understand. It gives us the ability to spend time and money elsewhere—from investing in staff to spending more time on innovating technology rather than…
The ongoing relevance of the quality profession requires evolution and adaptation to meet the needs of the 21st century. Remember, the quality profession originated with the need for inspection to prevent poor quality from reaching customers; this was before it evolved to include metrology,…
Compliance with industry regulations and standards is a fundamental part of medtech. Without proper medical device compliance, companies risk patient harm, litigation, and reputational damage.
Fortunately, compliance with medical device regulations and standards is not an…
Everyone has goals these days. The one that causes more disconnects than any other is a sales goal. It’s a number to hit (either units or dollars or both—the better ones are actually measured in profit dollars rather than revenue dollars). They’re problematic because by their very nature they…
In regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food manufacturing, compliance is crucial for operational excellence. A validated quality management system (QMS) is key to maintaining this compliance. Let’s explore how QMS software streamlines validation and ensures regulatory…
A quality management system (QMS) is at the heart of every successful medtech company. A QMS comprises all the policies, processes, and procedures that ensure the production of safe and effective medical devices—which means that problems with your QMS can quickly become problems with your…
Is your organization about fun? How often do your customers giggle? How much of your business strategy is about funniness—not just entertainment, but customer experiences made joyful by design? What are your customers’ principal memories of their encounters with your organization?
…
In the ever-changing world of quality management, the intersection of innovation and standardization offers both exciting opportunities and tough challenges. Maria, a dedicated and certified quality professional, struggled with the concept of “standardizing innovation”—something that seemed like…
Struggling with underperforming team members while trying to maintain a positive work environment? To help navigate this delicate situation, we’ve turned to insights from CEOs and human resources managers.
We’ll explore six effective strategies HR leaders use to support and guide…
Whether you’re a small machine shop or a large multimillion-dollar manufacturing giant, there’s no doubt you use dimensional gauges to maintain the standards for quality in your production.
The accuracy of these dimensional measuring instruments must be periodically checked to…
Data breaches and cyberattacks are things that small to medium-size manufacturers think won’t happen to them. Yet, according to the Verizon 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 43% of all cyberattacks are conducted against small businesses.
If that doesn’t grab your attention,…
While clinical trials are the gold standard for generating clinical data to use as evidence of your medical device’s safety and effectiveness, they are by no means the only way to gather clinical evidence.
Real-world data (RWD), which typically come from routine healthcare…
Leadership is perilous territory. People’s lives are at stake (sometimes literally). Although avoiding the following seven deadly sins won’t guarantee you’ll be a great leader, succumbing to them will guarantee you’ll have a significant learning moment. (Translation: You’ll fail miserably, but…
Speed is one of the most strategic elements a company can use to attract and retain customers and drive its revenues.
What do I mean when I talk about speed? In this context, speed means dramatically reducing the amount of time needed to complete a task by altering factors such as…
Despite their impressive capabilities, large language models (LLMs) are far from perfect. These artificial intelligence models sometimes “hallucinate” by generating incorrect or unsupported information in response to a query.
Due to this hallucination problem, an LLM’s responses…
(CIMdata: Ann Arbor, MI) -- CIMdata, a global PLM strategic management consulting and research firm, announces the release of a new white paper, “SSI Shipbuilding PLM: PLM Tailored to Unlock Shipbuilding Transformation.” The paper describes the evolving capabilities of SSI’s Shipbuilding PLM as…
Everyone has their own favorite graph type or visual tool. I’m not ready to declare this my favorite yet, but this oldie but goodie has got to get more time and attention. That’s right: I’m talking about control charts with stages, also sometimes called before/after control charts.
…
We’ve already talked about what a strategic plan is (and isn’t) in our discussion: “Strategic Planning Isn’t ‘Budget +10%.’” Hopefully, you’ve now got a direction mapped out and a list of initiatives to pursue, and you’re ready for a little tactical strategic advice. (Yes, that phrase is…
I once transformed my face to look like Ron Swanson—for science.
I never thought disguising myself with wigs and makeup would be part of my job, but as a NIST facial recognition researcher I sometimes do just that. To make myself look like the gruff character from the show Parks…
Most doctors go into medicine because they want to help patients. But today’s healthcare system requires that they spend hours each day on other work—searching through electronic health records (EHRs), documenting, coding and billing, gaining prior authorization, and evaluating services—that…
If you’re reading this, you probably read a lot. You’ve made your way through all our industry news, keeping tabs on trends in our feature stories and gleaning a greater understanding of your own business—at least we hope so.
And if you read this much, it may be that you do a fair…
How do you treat signs when you’re driving your car? Are you a strict rule follower? Does a stop sign cause you to come to a full stop, or a rolling stop, or no stop at all if you see no traffic? What about that intersection you go through every day, where you never see a car approaching from…
Modern-day security breaches, such as the SolarWinds or T-Mobile attacks, aren’t one-off events; they are prime examples of how someone can steal your organization’s credentials and use them to gain illegitimate privileged access to sensitive assets. Data breaches happen daily, and in too many…
More and more companies in the manufacturing industry admit that providing great customer experience is vital to their business success. 41% of respondents to the “2024 State of Manufacturing Report” by Fictiv consider enhancing customer experience (CX) one of their top three priorities for this…
‘Clinician burnout is a critical issue to understand and address,” says Mohsen Bayati, a professor of operations, information, and technology at Stanford Graduate School of Business. The condition is thought to affect nearly half of all U.S. doctors, at a cost of about $4.6 billion annually due…
Cybersecurity has become increasingly critical in the digital age as organizations across all sectors face growing threats from cybercriminals.
Imagine that hackers breached a small healthcare practice through “phishing”—sending a scam email and gaining access to sensitive patient…
I’ve been speaking and writing about customer service since January 1980, and there is only a handful of companies that have been relentless and kept their focus on incredible customer service. The pandemic gave most firms an excuse to say, “To hell with the customer.”
Costco is…
The Madison, a historic hotel overlooking the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee, was rebranded into a modern hotel. It was, in some ways, a sad event. Memphis is the birthplace of the blues, and the Madison was my introduction to the powerful music of helping customers co-create their own…
Reaume Bros. Racing is an American professional stock-car racing team that competes full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by Josh Reaume, the team fields the No. 22 Ford F-150 full time for multiple drivers, the No. 27 part time for Keith McGee, and the No. 33 full time for…
With its roots in compassion and humanity, the healthcare sector might seem an unlikely place for artificial intelligence (AI) to play a big role. Yet as we look deeper into the complex processes that build our medical systems, we uncover a multitude of ways that AI could revolutionize patient…
I once attended a presentation that Eli Goldratt gave for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. We were seated in an auditorium, listening as Goldratt paced back and forth on the stage, puffing on his cigar, gesturing for effect, and occasionally cursing for emphasis. The author of The Goal (…
The diner scene from the 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces appeared in many customer service training classes. Do you recall Bobby Dupea (played by Jack Nicholson) trying to order a plain omelet with a side order of wheat toast? He ran straight into: “No side orders, only what’s on the menu,” “No…
I find that most CEOs and top management believe their organization delivers awesome customer service. But if you asked all 330 million people in the U.S. to identify five customer service leaders, most would not be able to come up with them.
I started developing Feelings, the…
When you think of good customer service—particularly the barriers to it—two factors generally come to mind: timing and wording. Imagine walking into a store that sells soap and bodywash products and immediately being bombarded with, “May I help you?” “Looking for anything today?” or the dreaded…
I hate the use of the word just in front of anyone’s title, as in, “He’s just an analyst,” or, “She’s just a cafeteria worker,” or, “I’m just an administrative assistant.”
No one is just anything. The word is demeaning and pejorative. We’re all people—we happen to have different…
Are your employees empowered to make decisions on the spot in favor of the customer? Your single goal should be to have overly happy customers. Too many things go wrong each day. You want your employees to understand they are in customer service, and their No. 1 responsibility is to take care of…
Reading the news (or even your email) can be distressing to the point of despondency. It can also be fun. It’s especially fun when people say or write silly stuff, and the reporter or editor has to write [sic] after a misspelling or a stupid comment in the original transcript. Sic, usually…
In food processing, bulk-bag discharge systems are used to transfer food ingredients such as flour, sugar, and spices from bulk bags to mixing and blending equipment. However, when not designed or installed properly, bulk discharge systems can become a production bottleneck.
…
The WAB-GROUP is where innovation and tradition come together to provide customers with world-class solutions in the areas of wet grinding technology, three-dimensional-shaking mixing technology, and flow chemistry.
Present in 42 countries worldwide and anchored since 2008 in its…
‘T ake out the papers and the trash.” That was the opening line of the song “Yakety Yak” by The Coasters. It spent weeks as the No. 1 hit in 1958. Teenagers everywhere wore out their shoes dancing to the hot song. The lyrics hold a strong message about delivering a superior customer experience…
Everyone makes mistakes. When you screw up and say, “I’m sorry. That’s our mistake,” it’s good customer service, but not service recovery. Most organizations never admit mistakes, and fewer than 1% practice service recovery.
Keeping customers is critical to your growth. Gaining a…
Ensuring the accuracy and security of clinical data, as well as compliance with good clinical practice (GCP), will in large part determine the success of your study and regulatory submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Data management and reporting are essential practices…
Historically, the sensitive nature of personal and company proprietary information held in life sciences quality management systems (QMS) has been a factor for quality management teams’ reluctance to adopt AI. Add to that the complex global regulatory environment and the penalties of…
These days, incessant pings and buzzes from your workspace’s preferred team management software may seem like a fact of life. But not too long ago, the idea of having software beyond emailing to manage teams was beyond imagination. Then one of the market’s leaders stumbled into creating the…
All publicly traded companies in the United States are legally required to have their financial statements vetted by independent auditors. And plenty of other firms hire external auditors to enhance their credibility in the eyes of investors and other stakeholders. But what about the ESG reports…
When a patient comes into a clinic or hospital, healthcare practitioners have all the tools at their disposal to conduct thorough examinations. However, when they see a patient online, they may lack the necessary equipment to conduct the visit properly. One reason for this is that virtual care…
The cost of acquiring a new customer can be five to 10 times the cost of keeping an existing customer, depending on the industry. You already knew that. But while most organizations know why their customers opened the exit door, they devote little effort to understanding what prompted customers…
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is now so widespread that it’s rare to come across a company that isn’t using it in some capacity. While many clients look on the technology favorably, in a recent survey 14% of people still reported that they were unlikely to trust a company that uses AI…
Disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be a car review. This is an article on brand authenticity.
Back in 2021, when Ford was promoting the Mustang Mach-E GT, its high-performance electric vehicle, the company found a way to appeal to potential buyers who somehow missed the sensory…
It’s all well and good to pontificate about “the customer comes first” or “deliver outstanding service,” but often it’s hard for your team members to wrap their heads around what that really means. You can say these things until your jaw muscles are sore, and post all the customer service rules…
Customer complaints are a fact of life in any industry. Even though manufacturers would prefer not to receive complaints, they do come with a silver lining. Managed effectively, they play an important role in improving your products and processes over time—that is, for companies that take a…
When it comes to aircraft, poorly documented dents can lead to more significant problems, potentially compromising structural integrity or performance. Dents can trap moisture and lead to corrosion. The stress they generate can initiate fatigue cracks. Their effects on the structure can also…
Here are just a few potential advantages of 3D drug printing—a new system for manufacturing drugs and treatments onsite at pharmacies, healthcare facilities, and other remote locations: chocolate-flavored pills for children who hate taking medicine; several drugs combined into one daily pill for…
Are you giving your lowest-level employees the power to make crucial customer-relations decisions without supervision? If not, you’re making a huge mistake.
Within a four-hour period on Friday I witnessed both excellent leadership and an abject failure of it. These experiences…
As years roll on, I’m noticing more parts of me breaking down: Teeth, eyes, knees, cardiovascular, stomach—the list keeps getting longer, as does the list of docs I see. I’m blessed to be living in an area with the world’s finest medical care and lucky that healthcare innovation (and Medicare)…
Look through even a few FDA warning letters and you’re likely to find violations related to change management.
For instance, a recent warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cited a pharmaceutical manager for changing drug components without justification.…
Endurance racing is one of the oldest and toughest pastimes in motorsports. It is a true test of performance. Not only is a driver’s stamina on display, but vehicle durability as well.
Based in Indianapolis, Wayne Taylor Racing With Andretti (WTRAndretti) is a world-renowned…
Health connects each one of us to one another. No matter where we are in the world, who we are, or what we do, the state of our health is a key determinant in our quality of life. Simply put, it’s our most valuable asset.
Individual health crises can be disastrously grim, and if…
Integrated quality, when done correctly, plays a vital and pivotal role in enhancing any business, especially manufacturing operations. But, in fear of sounding like the archetypal head of quality, I say it shouldn’t be seen solely as something you do in manufacturing operations. In fact,…
When was the last time you asked your clients for genuine feedback on working together, beyond just revisions on projects and deliverables?
Over the years, I’ve found it incredibly beneficial to do quarterly check-ins with every client to get a sense of how things are going.
…
Many consumers across the United States are increasingly aware of the decreasing quantity for many of the products that they regularly purchase and consume. This concept is know as product downsizing or shrinkflation, a term used to describe how a consumer product is sold at the same price, but…
They’re called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of thousands of compounds that contain a chemical bond between fluorine and carbon. That bond has proved to be one of the most stable and unbreakable known to chemistry—a fact baked into the common nickname “forever chemicals…
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of drivers deliver packages and parcels to customers and companies each day, with many click-to-door times averaging only a few days. Coordinating a supply chain feat of this magnitude in a predictable and timely way is a longstanding problem of…
I’m fortunate enough to travel to some great places to serve my clients. During those travels, I can’t help but have many customer service interactions from which to draw lessons.
Here, I’ll share how barbecue, airplanes, and coffee can teach you a few things to do (or not do) to…
In today’s marketplace, where products and services proliferate and competition intensifies, businesses are realizing that they must offer more than just commodities to thrive. Enter the experience economy—a paradigm shift where companies are no longer just selling goods or services but crafting…
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal agency tasked with regulating the medical device market and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of all devices for patients.
The FDA classifies medical devices by risk into three categories: Class I,…
An analysis of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning letters by the Food and Drug Law Institute reveals a perhaps not-so-surprising link between training gaps and FDA violations.
It’s one of several factors motivating companies to switch to automated training management…
I was asked to lead a workshop in the sales order department of a manufacturer that we had helped with process improvement on the factory floor. Those efforts had positively reverberated across the company in the form of fewer late and expedited orders. Still, sales order employees were…
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), a 2019 Baldrige Award recipient, is a nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) in Pittsburgh with a federally designated service area encompassing a population of 5.5 million in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and one county in New…
Everyone knows customer service is increasingly automated and impersonal—that’s a “dog bites man” story. It’s not news because it happens all the time. When a man bites a dog, that’s news.
But what if you’re bitten by a chatbot or AI? Aside from newsworthiness, is the owner…
If you have kids, you know the nauseating feeling of one of them going down for the count and having to rush them to the emergency room. I had that grim experience recently. What I learned from that ER visit is businesses can make very strong statements about how little they care about…
It’s important to have customer-friendly policies if you want to have a great customer service culture. Your policies drive team behaviors, so be sure they’re consistent with the brand you want to put forward.
I’m going to hark back to my recent post, “$325 Equals $210? The Math…
Michele Gelfand finds inspiration for new projects all around her: taking in the banter in a boardroom, speaking with taxi drivers when traveling, observing the interactions between physicians and nurses during an unexpected trip to the doctor. The idea for one of her most recent papers was…
Stain-resistant clothing, fast-food wrappers, and extreme weather gear such as certain jackets and pants—these products get many of their desirable features from a class of manufactured chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But there’s a major downside: Researchers have…
Many people proclaim they are gurus, ninjas, and other silly titles. Giving yourself such a title can cause people to lose respect for you, and it can cost you credibility.
Titles matter. A lot. So do email addresses and signature blocks. As unfortunate and as shallow as it is, people…
Formal complaint management is a requirement in regulated industries such as medical device and pharmaceuticals under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other international regulations.
The FDA mandates that medical device companies, for example, designate a formal unit for…
As a manufacturer, you understand that supply chain disruptions happen all the time. What you don’t know is when or how they will affect your operation and business. But assessing your supply chain risks and implementing good supply chain management practices can be daunting. This is especially…
In the ever-evolving life-sciences industry, market share is fiercely contested and companies must continuously optimize their operations to maintain their competitive edge.
Modern technologies and intelligence-driven solutions are revolutionizing how organizations work, empowering them…
At Qualio, our mission is to help life science companies embed robust digitized quality to get their critical products to market at rapid speed and keep them there. And because the Qualio+ team combines over a century of collective quality and regulatory experience from within the life science…
Is the customer really always right? We throw that comment around haphazardly without truly considering the ramifications of such an approach. I’d submit that they’re not. There are plenty of times the customer is wrong (and sometimes, very much so).
First, let’s explore the implications…
Inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are on the rise after the nation has recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. Domestic inspections showed a drop in 2020 due to state health guidelines around quarantine.
The rise has more than doubled within three years of post-…
If you have a new business idea, I’m excited for you. If you ever want to get it off the ground, however, be sure you have a problem. A real problem. I know that sounds cryptic. Allow me to explain.
When I hear a new pitch, the first question I ask is, “What’s the problem?”
You…
Since generative AI went mainstream in 2023, it has inspired an equal measure of hype and fear. Boosters of tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E predict that they will transform our economy, while skeptics worry about their potential to produce inaccurate or harmful results and ultimately replace…
Quality consistently ranks among organizations’ foremost competitive priorities; it’s a prerequisite for success in the global marketplace. Firms that want a competitive edge do it by delivering products that meet customer needs and function as intended.
Despite the long-standing…
By eliminating low-value work from your life, you can focus on more important things. Get rid of difficult customers and focus on driving your business instead.
To get your new year started right, I’d like to share with you what I’ve been taught by homemade bread, lawn mowers, and cheap…
Today’s quality leaders in the life sciences industry have nearly impossible charters. Long-term trends and sudden black swan events in combination can hinder an organization’s ability to exert control over product quality. Globalization, labor shortages and strikes, outsourcing, just-in-time…
Unlike the traditional engineering process of designing a part, product, or component from the ground up, many times in life we need to start with an existing item and work backward to solve a problem. It’s a process known as reverse engineering, and it begins by obtaining accurate data about…
Your legal department is screwing up. Royally.
You work hard to build relationships with other businesses. How many hours do you invest getting closer to partners, customers, and suppliers? And then that wonderful handshake happens, and it’s time to hammer out the agreements. That’s when…
Cars are no longer just a means of transportation. They have become rolling hubs of data communication. Modern vehicles regularly transmit information wirelessly to their manufacturers.
However, as cars grow “smarter,” the right to repair them is under siege.
As legal scholars, we…
Amazon’s incredible growth over the years has made it a textbook example of what it means for a business to scale, going from a scrappy startup in Jeff Bezos’ garage to a multinational corporation with more than 1.5 million employees.
The retailer recently announced it’s hiring 250,000…
Healthcare administrators find themselves at the fore of a demanding and transformative field, where the pursuit of excellence in patient care is nonnegotiable. In a health industry landscape facing evolving regulations, escalating costs, and an increasing emphasis on patient outcomes, the need…
I’m going to take over the world! It’s really fun to say that. It’s even more fun to take action toward that goal.
Our world has gotten smaller. Way smaller. Globalization is an unstoppable trend. But as they say, the trend is your friend, so why not take advantage of it? I don’t care…
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, medical device supply chains are one of the top priorities for health system leaders. Amid supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, hospitals scrambled to find enough devices to keep up with unprecedented demand. The global crisis revealed gaps in…
Supply chain management is crucial to any medtech company’s ability to deliver safe, effective, and high-quality devices to their customers.
But as anyone in the industry can tell you, consistently getting the products and services you need to manufacture your devices is harder than it…
Getting blood test results can take anywhere from a day to a week, depending on what a test is targeting. The same goes for tests of water pollution and food contamination. And in most cases, the wait time has to do with time-consuming steps in sample processing and analysis.
Now, MIT…
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines can clearly view non-bony parts of the body—soft tissue such as the brain, muscles, and ligaments—as well as detect tumors, making it possible to diagnose many diseases and other conditions. However, the powerful magnets in conventional MRI machines make…
As an organizational leader, you’ll be very familiar with your company’s key financial statements and monthly management reports. But what do you really know about the people who pull out their wallets and pay for your products and services? In The Customer-Base Audit: The First Step on the…
Imagine purchasing a robot to perform household tasks. This robot was built and trained in a factory on a certain set of tasks and has never seen the items in your home. When you ask it to pick up a mug from your kitchen table, it might not recognize your mug (perhaps because this mug is painted…
On Feb. 23, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its proposed rule for the new Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR). The proposed QMSR will be the result of aligning the current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) requirements of the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (…
Your company probably has an internal process for a large purchase like an eQMS. In midsize-to-large medtech companies, you’ll likely find this process in the finance department, or perhaps in a dedicated purchasing department operating under finance’s umbrella.
1.…
Manufacturers understand that their businesses won’t grow if their workforces don’t grow along with them. That’s why the talent shortage in the metal fabrication industry continues to be a pressing concern—and three-quarters of respondents in the National Association of Manufacturers’ 2023 First…
Design controls are a frequent citation in 483 observations and warning letters from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, the agency has noted a large proportion of past recalls that could have been prevented with design controls.
FDA guidance also makes an explicit link…
The unemployment rate is surprisingly low, at 3.7%, shocking economists who expected a slowdown in hiring and rising unemployment rate. Frontline work, such as healthcare, led job growth. Frontline workers are in high demand, and the competition for their services is fierce. Yet wage growth…
The goal of your MedTech company’s supplier management process should be to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality parts and components that conform to your specifications.
But achieving that goal is easier said than done, and it depends heavily on whether you take a risk-based…
In today’s highly competitive business environment, a trusted supply chain that functions seamlessly is essential. Even small errors can affect the entire supply chain, resulting in lost revenue, unsatisfied customers, and irreparable damage to your brand.
Now more than ever, companies…
Effective complaint handling is fundamental to life-sciences quality management, with implications for operations, product design, risk management, and more.
It’s also critical to ISO 9001, FDA Quality System Regulation (QSR), and EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) compliance.
…
Have you ever had one of those career moments where you felt like you’d made it? A moment of proof that you’d finally earned a spot at the cool or important table?
I remember mine vividly.
I was invited to a leadership awards event to accept an honor alongside many strong…
In his 2022 letter to CEOs, BlackRock founder Larry Fink called on companies to articulate their core values during this era of stakeholder capitalism and eroded consumer trust.
“It’s never been more essential for CEOs to have a consistent voice, a clear purpose, a coherent strategy, and…
The levels of contaminants in our food supply are, generally, decreasing. That’s the good news.
But we still need to measure those contaminants and make sure our food is safe. And measuring tiny things (and big things) is what we do best here at NIST.
In our food safety program,…
Despite rigorous vehicle safety testing, current evaluations fail to adequately protect women in the case of an accident. In 2021, a study published by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety found that women have a mortality rate 20% to 28% higher than men during road accidents. Women are…
Enterprise resource planning (ERP), product life cycle management (PLM), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems were transformative when they were first developed. They made it possible for businesses to establish centralized data repositories for customer, product, or financial…
Industry stands at a new frontier of how organizations will be structured. With rapid advancements in technology, changing consumer behaviors, and the emergence of new business models, businesses are being forced to adapt and evolve to remain competitive. Businesses are also focusing more on…
As I sat with my 7-year-old son for more than an hour in front of an abstract painting, I saw what appeared to be black paint thrown onto a white canvas.
My son loves abstract paintings. He was explaining to me how much I was missing by just looking at the paint color. I hadn’t seen the…
From the health histories of patients to the effectiveness of different healthcare services, hospitals are sitting on a treasure trove of historical data. Unfortunately, most of these data go unused, often because they are so difficult to store or format for actionable use.
Due to…
It’s tempting to attribute the increased profile now given to occupational health and safety (OH&S) to the Covid-19 pandemic. But while in many organizations the pandemic shone a spotlight on OH&S management, there are other issues that will keep OH&S at the fore throughout the next…
‘I write children’s books because there are no unicorns in adult literature, and today’s world needs unicorns.” The quote came from renowned children’s book author Jackson Pearce at a weekend writers retreat sponsored by Georgia Writers Museum. The sentiment could be equally applied to a great…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the healthcare industry by enhancing decision-making capabilities, improving quality of care, and reducing costs. In the age of supercomputers and technological advancement, the health sector generates vast amounts of data, which AI can process and…
Digitalization is transforming all areas of life as well as existing business models. It’s enabling the manufacturing industry to implement its product ideas by taking advantage of technology trends such as generative design and intelligent models. Production has become more innovative through…
Quality management and environmental health and safety (EHS) have traditionally existed as siloed processes and roles in most organizations. It’s easy to see why, given the forces that have shaped quality and safety during their history.
Modern quality management was born from the post-…
(EstateSpace: Great Falls, VA) -- In uncertain economic times, finding ways to save money is more important than ever. When you think of your valuable assets, you may think of investments, such as stocks, bonds, or trusts. But there is another type of asset to consider: nonfinancial assets such…
Optimizing inventory, like most problem-solving, requires a thoughtful process and a few steps. Naturally, the easiest way to prevent back orders is to always have a lot of inventory on hand. There are ramifications for not optimizing inventory, though. Overproducing and maintaining high…
Does this sound familiar? “Welcome to [insert company name here], the [corporate slogan or superlative]. All of our agents are busy serving other customers. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available agent. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was…
A couple of years ago, my wife decided to surprise me by taking me over to our local Tesla dealership so I could test drive a Tesla. We put a deposit down to hold our place in line, and two months later took delivery of a Model Y Performance. I loved everything about it, took everyone who asked…
When it comes to maintaining the critical infrastructure and machinery of your facility, choosing the right maintenance contractor can make all the difference. It's essential to find a contractor who not only has the knowledge and skills to keep a maintenance program running smoothly, but also…
On Dec. 9, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a new draft guidance, “Content of Human Factors Information in Medical Device Marketing Submissions,” that provides recommendations for the inclusion of human-factors information in marketing submissions.
The drafted…
‘They’re hit or miss: Sometimes the service is marvelous. Other times it’s simply meh. I’m afraid to recommend the place because I can’t trust them to deliver.”
“Maybe I’m just boring, but I don’t like surprises. They’re great one day and disappointing the next. I don’t need to be…
The healthcare industry is known for rapidly adopting advanced technologies that offer improved treatment for various diseases. Consequently, digital twin technology in healthcare has gained popularity during the past few years, owing to the range of advantages it offers.
Digital twin…
Customer loyalty and lifetime value are highly prized in today’s competitive environment. Smart businesses know that a major point of competitive advantage (or failure) can be the type of customer experience they provide.
The need to balance what customers want with what the business…
When choosing to spend money, customers will likely investigate the brand behind the name to get an idea of whom they’re building ties with as well as an impression of service quality. Customer reviews must point to a genuine interaction with the company to be valuable and influence purchasing…
A not-so-surprising fact, according to HubSpot: 65 percent of consumers state that the experience they encounter on a website is a “very important” factor in recommending a brand. If that statistic’s not enough, HubSpot also reported that 75 percent of consumers expect new technologies to be…
Consumers who have a personality that scores high in terms of openness—such as being open to new adventures and intellectually curious—have better success at spotting fake reviews than other personality types, according to our recently published research. Extroverted people, on the other hand,…
Imagine messaging an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot about a missing package and getting the response that it would be “delighted” to help. Once the bot creates the new order, it says it’s “happy” to resolve the issue. Afterward, you receive a survey about your interaction. But would you be…
Nearly a quarter of surveyed healthcare cyberattack victims experienced increased mortality rates following a data breach, and more than half reported poorer patient outcomes due to longer hospital stays and delayed procedures. Healthcare has faced the highest average data breach cost—more than…
Listening to customers is critical for healthcare organizations to ensure they’re delivering high-quality care to their patients. Sure, the traditional methodology of doing so via surveys can increase customer retention and profitability. But much like evolving from analog to digital, there’s a…
One of the key stakeholders in stakeholder capitalism is the employee. You could argue that the employee is the key stakeholder, because without employees you’d have no stakeholders at all. This is why employers need to stay aware of today’s health environment and its effect on their employees.…
We’re told the cardinal rule of the internet is, “Never read the comments.” This catchphrase is used to warn users of the toxic parts of the internet. One minute you’re sharing an article, photo, or video that you’re proud of. The next moment, dozens or even hundreds of comments snowball into a…
The saying is nothing new: The customer is always right. Customers come first. We’ve heard these adages for a long time. And we’ve questioned them for almost as long. Those of you who know me know that I’ve certainly been doing that for a long time!
Two recent experiences brought this…
In the age of mass production, the demand for customization is increasing. Customers prefer products catered to their individual needs and preferences over standard items—albeit at a cost.
Fortunately, recent advances in information technology, logistics, and advanced manufacturing…
The phrase “supply chain” became part of the everyday vernacular during the pandemic, as supply chain issues seemed to affect everyone's life—from toilet paper to automotive components. Supply chain problems are well known to cause disruptions with product delivery, particularly in the…
In September 2022, Boeing agreed to pay $200 million for charges that it misled investors about two crashes of its 737 Max aircraft that killed 346 people. The penalty imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is small change compared to the $2.5 billion shelled out by the plane…
Customer experience, or “CX,” is all the rage in marketing circles nationally. Customer experience refers to how a customer experiences your company at every point of their buying journey—from marketing to sales to customer service, and everywhere in between. It can be tangible actions, such as…
Like most of us, lawyers think they can be impartial when they rate other people’s work. “They say, ‘Who writes a brief doesn’t matter. A brief is a brief; it stands on its own merit,’” explains Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, the lead strategist for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Stanford…
Amidst the rise of conscious consumerism, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are fast becoming an essential part of any business. With about $20 billion spent every year by Fortune 500 companies alone, businesses around the world are working to integrate CSR programs into their…
The ISO Foresight Trend Report highlights global trends across multiple industries that will shape strategic decision making for a better future. Drawing upon these insights, ISO reflects on some of the potential areas for standardization work. In a series of feature articles, we unpack some of…
I know what you’re thinking. You’ve got a medical device prototype that the FDA has categorized as Class I. You’re ready to push forward to manufacturing or marketing the device, since there are no formal requirements for design controls. “So why would I waste time on design controls?”
…
Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, there would be no profits to distribute, no people to serve, and no reason to continue operating. To keep your business running on a path to growing success, you need to offer a customer experience that will make customers choose your…
If you’ve ever played Wordle, learned a new language on Duolingo, or worked out with Peloton, you may be familiar with daily app notifications that nudge you to keep at it—or risk breaking a streak of consecutive efforts. Do you or don’t you heed the clarion call?
If you do, you’re in…
The conditions that led to a shortage of baby formula were set in motion long before the February 2022 closure of the Similac factory tipped the U.S. into a crisis.
Retailers nationwide reported supplies of baby formula were out of stock at a rate of 43 percent during the week ended May 8…
Ever found yourself hitting the wrong button and then flipping through the manual in a frenzy, trying to figure out how to get that thing to stop doing what it’s doing? If your answer is yes, you’ve been an unfortunate victim of bad user experience (UX).
UX is defined as all aspects of a…
More than a half-million healthcare workers in the United States have quit their jobs in recent months, driven to the breaking point by the Covid-19 pandemic. But greater use of technology could help save jobs by reducing the kinds of inefficiency and stress that lead to burnout for many…
By 2035, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to increase business productivity by up to 40 percent. It’s already a part of people’s daily lives and its use is only expected to increase to solve more critical problems that assail our world.
Businesses are looking at AI to achieve…
As a step toward improving our ability to identify and manage the harmful effects of bias in artificial intelligence (AI) systems, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommend widening the scope of where we look for the source of these biases—beyond the…
Whether it’s bananas, olives, potato salad, or cereal, many products are priced according to their weight. That weight is likely determined on a scale tested and certified by a specially trained state or local inspector. Weights and measures underpin approximately half of the United States gross…
Multiple programs running on the same computer may not be able to directly access each other’s hidden information. But because they share the same memory hardware, their secrets could be stolen by a malicious program through a “memory timing side-channel attack.”
This malicious program…
If there’s anything the last decade has taught us—and the Covid-19 pandemic has punctuated in grand fashion—it’s that businesses must get digital or they may become invisible. Branding, formerly an exercise that involved plastic signs, billboards, and newspaper print ads, has now firmly taken up…
The ISO 9001 standard talks about the relationship between the company and the customer in a couple of places. First is management’s responsibility to make sure that customers’ needs are a top consideration, and that their requirements are met. Then that customer satisfaction is improving, and…
As customer demands for more customization and choice increase, the complexity of products and associated product design, manufacturing, and sales processes also increase. Product life cycles are also getting shorter, requiring a constant flow of new products with high-value features and…
Getting your product into customers’ hands is often an undervalued—and under-engineered—part of your organization’s value chain. If the pandemic’s effect on our supply chains has taught us anything, it’s this: Diligent reevaluation of our modus operandi is a must for success.
When the…
Some are calling it, “The Great Resignation.” Others are calling it “The Great Reshuffle.” After spending the past year as executive director of America Works, I’ve talked with more than 250 manufacturing workforce development professionals throughout the MEP National Network and our partners.…
Consumers who see a product on sale being virtually touched are more engaged and willing to pay more than if the item is displayed on its own, according to a recent research paper I co-authored.
Behavioral economists have previously shown that people value objects more highly if they own…
China’s dominance in manufacturing has made it the factory for the world. The subsequent economic growth enriched an ever-expanding middle class, and the country’s retail industry has quickly adapted to supply a growing appetite for consumption.
Some of these developments in the way…
There are many endangered industries today, and publishing is certainly among them. In 2009 we didn’t know if we would survive the monumental changes that had torn through all areas of the publishing world.
…
It seems like yesterday that I walked into 1425 Vista Way in Red Bluff, California, to begin what I thought was a part-time data-entry job that was supposed to last just a few weeks. Instead, I ended up working for Quality Digest for 21 years; made lifelong friends; became a journalist, writer,…
In publishing, anniversary issues sit in the ambiguous space between news and marketing. News because, at 40 years and counting, it’s not every magazine that makes it to middle age in these times. Marketing because it’s all a bit brash, like asking for presents on your birthday.
However,…
As part of QD’s 40th anniversary hoopla, we wanted to hear from those in the quality field. Tribal knowledge is real and valuable. What you’ve learned as a quality professional can help others starting out in the field. Here are words of wisdom from readers respresenting a diverse array of…
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
The way the United States typically finances hospitals isn’t working. The coronavirus laid this bare, along with many other long-standing societal problems.
Before Covid-19, most hospitals were operating on a standard “fee-…
When the City of Germantown, Tennessee, was named a Baldrige Award recipient in 2019, the small suburb of Memphis (just 20 square miles in size) became only the fourth city to earn the prestigious, presidential award for organizational excellence.
During the Baldrige program’s 32nd Quest…
More and more people are doing their shopping from home these days, and whether they’re ordering groceries, home office equipment, or Covid-19 tests, they increasingly expect their deliveries to be fast and on time.
Companies have struggled to keep up with the rise in orders and…
‘We didn’t get here on our own,” said Brian Dieter, president and CEO of Baldrige Award-recipient Mary Greeley Medical Center (MGMC), speaking at the 32nd Baldrige Quest for Excellence Conference. “We think we are very much better as a result of having learned from [other Baldrige Award…
Labor demand is continuing to outstrip labor supply by a wider margin despite record job openings. The hospitality industry is just one industry taking hard hits, with some restaurants reporting temporarily closing or cutting hours due to the labor shortage. But just as restaurants look to…
You may work in a state-of-the-art lab, but do your ergonomic practices still linger in the 19th century? If you spend more than five hours a day at a microscope, leave work with blurred vision and a persistent downward tilt to your neck, then the answer is, sadly, yes. In that case it’s time…
Remember the days when large paper maps filled the car, and holidays were booked by a travel agent? Neither do most people. Technology had already revolutionized the world of travel before Covid-19, and the trend has been catapulted as many more things move to digital. From virtual-reality tours…
In 2011, we started talking with top B2B executives about their engagement with their firm’s major customers in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The vast majority told us that they were very involved, to great effect. However, when we interviewed their sales account managers, we heard a…
‘What would be important to you in the care of your daughter?” John Chessare, president and CEO of Baldrige Award-recipient GBMC HealthCare (GBMC), asked a virtual Quest for Excellence conference audience.
“The No. 1 answer is always that people want the best possible health outcome for…
The spirit of service—for a small clinic started in 1913 to provide free care to Los Angeles (LA)—lives today in the servant-leader aspirations of 2019 Baldrige Award recipient Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM), a 353-bed, safety-net hospital.
The community of two million people…
There’s more than one path to service management. It refers to all the activities, policies, and processes that organizations use for deploying, managing, and improving IT service provision. In today’s technology-driven corporate landscape, the two leading methodologies come from the world of…
It’s a commonly held belief, one that gets played out daily in organizations around the world: Employees who receive performance feedback are much more likely to improve their performance than those who don’t get feedback. But research tells us that it’s simply not true.
Typically,…
Like business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce allows customers to purchase parts and supplies via an online portal. The difference is that in B2B e-commerce, both the customers and suppliers are businesses, and the customers may or may not be the end users of…
Stakeholder engagement is one of the more critical aspects of leadership, whether you’re a team leader or a member of a cross-functional team trying to lead team members to focus on quality. Stakeholders can be anyone from your colleagues to suppliers to business partners, and your relationship…
A new digital era of business-to-business (B2B) sales and marketing is upon us. It’s driven by corporate customer demand for online access to their suppliers’ offerings and expertise. Taking advantage of this shift is challenging because it requires moving from deeply embedded B2B sales and…
From a customer perspective, the only thing more frustrating than being denied a product or service is when that denial comes without a satisfactory explanation. As humans, our ability to deal with disappointment depends on understanding why it happened. Without an acceptable rationale, we’re…
T his year’s unprecedented lockdown happened just as we started moving forward with our 2020 goals. There has been a lot of speculation about Covid-19 and its consequences, much of it dire, but there has also been something that has kept us all rolling: the human mindset. With constraints come…
In order to best illustrate how enterprisewide SPC software can help address shop-floor problems and then funnel the captured data to the corporate level where strategic issues can be analyzed, here is a case study of a hypothetical manufacturing facility. In it, the company makes effective use…
Manufacturers know the value of automation on the plant floor. The world is more interconnected, with more competitors, and consumers are more informed and thus more selective with purchasing decisions. With increased competition and disruption, manufacturers must leverage automation to achieve…
In today’s coronavirus environment, governments at all levels are under greater fiscal pressure. For instance, Oregon’s governor has told state departments to prepare for a 12-percent reduction in their budgets. Given this environment, perhaps it is time to reexamine an established approach to…
Each article in this series presents new tools for increasing return on investment (ROI), enhancing customer satisfaction, creating process excellence, and driving risk from an ISO 9001:2015-based quality management system (QMS). They will help implementers evolve quality management to overall…
The ongoing pandemic will likely change, if not completely alter, many aspects of our daily lives. One facet that will significantly change is the way we work. After months of being in lockdown, the massive shift to working from home has proven to be effective in helping employees stay…
Job satisfaction is important to most people, and yet this can be a fairly nebulous concept that is tricky to achieve and also tough to measure in a meaningful way.
Luckily a number of software platforms designed to manage employee recognition have emerged in recent years, as outlined in…
Since Covid-19’s arrival, digital resilience increasingly refers to the strategic use of digital technologies in delivering customer value and business growth despite adversities. Indeed, some industries—such as hospitality, higher education, or traditional retail—were hit more than others…
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
In February 2020, the month before Covid-19 hit Boston, Partners Healthcare, the huge health system that includes Massachusetts General Hospital, treated 1,600 patients via video visits. By April, the number of patients seeking…
Each article in this series presents new tools for increasing return on investment (ROI), enhancing customer satisfaction, creating process excellence, and driving risk from an ISO 9001:2015-based quality management system (QMS). They will help implementers evolve quality management to overall…
Dang robots are crummy at so many jobs, and they tell lousy jokes to boot. In two new studies, these were common biases human participants held toward robots.
The studies were originally intended to test for gender bias, that is, if people thought a robot believed to be female may be…
Each article in this series presents new tools for increasing return on investment (ROI), enhancing customer satisfaction, creating process excellence, and driving risk from an ISO 9001:2015-based quality management system (QMS). They will help implementers evolve quality management to overall…
It’s easy to assume that something as simple as a mask wouldn’t pose much of a risk. Essentially, it’s just a covering that goes over your nose and mouth.
But masks are more than just stitched-together cloth. Medical-grade masks use multiple layers of nonwoven material, usually…
Crossing the street or stepping backward when you encounter another person has already become a habit, as has a routine elbow bump, instead of a handshake.
And that is definitely what is needed during a health crisis. But when the time is right, as a society we must bounce back to social…
So many companies are shifting their employees to working from home to address the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Yet they’re not considering the potential quality disasters that can occur as a result of this transition.
An example of this is what one of my coaching clients experienced…
Each day we receive data that seek to quantify the Covid-19 pandemic. These daily values tell us how things have changed from yesterday, and give us the current totals, but they are difficult to understand simply because they are only a small piece of the puzzle. And like pieces of a puzzle,…
Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a video of himself on March 15, 2020, saying: “No more restaurants.” Seated in his palatial kitchen with two miniature horses, Whiskey and Lulu, beside him, the former California governor pronounced: “We don’t go out; we don’t go to restaurants. We don’t do anything…
This is supposed to be trade-show season. The time when companies send their employees to industry tech shows and user-group meetings to see and experience the latest offerings in their field. A time when companies expend a…
We are currently living in the digital age and are drowning in an ocean of data. Organizations have a large number of data entities and data elements, and a large volume of data corresponding to the same, and they continue to amass more and more data with each passing day. With the large amount…
‘It’s the shoes!” Spike Lee yelled into the camera on the Air Jordan ads.
But it was never the shoes. Michael, Magic, and LeBron would have outplayed their leagues in golf cleats.
It was never the shoes.
But it was us, the salespeople. In our case, the intelligencia…
You would expect a building where vinegar is made to have a sour smell, highly pungent, perhaps with a whiff of apple. World Technology Ingredients (WTI) smells nothing like this. Their manufacturing facility, off a county two-lane in Jefferson, Georgia, has a vaguely mineral aroma. More dry…
Have you heard of a media company called T-Series? Chances are, you probably haven’t. Gulshan Kumar, whose résumé up to 1983 read, “Fruit juice seller, streets of New Delhi,” founded it that year. Since its inception, T-Series has become an unlikely media powerhouse—its YouTube channel has 119…
Legislative support is growing for the reimbursement of care delivery via telemedicine. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Inspector General have recently made final and proposed rule changes to stimulate greater use and access for telemedicine delivery. These…
According to the Journal of Consumer Research, a high price indicates either bad value or good quality, whereas a low price indicates either good value or poor quality.
At the heart of this dichotomy is the role that quality plays in both the actual and perceived price of the product. To…
As usual with Quality Digest’s diverse audience, this year’s top stories covered a wide range of topics applicable to quality professionals. From hardware to software, from standards to risk management, from China trade to FDA regulations. It’s always fun to see what readers gravitate to, and…
How will the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement affect greenhouse gas emissions? Quality Digest editor in chief Dirk Dusharme and Mike Richman, principal at Richman Business Media Consulting, point out that most manufacturers already recognize that waste, including waste of…
Good salespersonship is a species of street smarts. It’s about quickly sizing up your customers and pitching your wares in terms that reverberate with their unspoken needs and desires. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning increasingly intersect with e-commerce, these priceless…
The food industry is evolving rapidly, with consumers demanding quality, authenticity, and transparency from food manufacturers. And they’re not just demanding it; they’re “voting with their dollars,” supporting companies that align with their personal beliefs. To keep up with consumer demand—…
Manufacturers face constant challenges of rising expectations as customers and regulators demand better quality and greater traceability throughout the supply chain. Exacerbating matters are unpredictable tariffs, which necessitate faster responses to changing trade barriers and regulatory…
Put in the terms of this article’s title, most of us would run a mile, whatever the proposition. But the popularity of online reviews, and the trust we place in persons unknown when making major decisions about where to stay, what to eat, and how to get the most from a trip, tells a different…
A recent family biking vacation in the Dolomites region of Italy had my family and I all swept up in the charms of Northern Italy. Snow-capped peaks near the Austrian border, endless apple orchards, award-winning Chenin Blanc, and quaint Italian villages with healthy doses of affogato (strong…
Faced with a growing range of tech solutions in marketing, from AI to big data to blockchain, business-to-business (B2B) companies too often choose the status quo. Recent evidence suggests the divide between success and failure is not about how much companies spend, but how well they integrate…
Do you know what a retailer and a tightrope walker have in common? They both have to balance. For the tightrope walker, the logic is clear. But what’s the balance that a retailer is looking for?
A typical dilemma of shortages vs. storage costsAlthough the dilemma of shortages vs.…
Operations management plays an important role in the manufacturing process, but similar to a stage crew at a theater, operations managers do all their best work behind the scenes. The best operations managers strive to go unnoticed, and why shouldn’t they? A seamless supply-chain process should…
Once students learn how to sound out words, reading is easy. They can speak the words they see. But whether they understand them is a different question entirely. Reading comprehension is complicated. Teachers, though, can help students learn concrete skills to become better readers. One way is…
Parking lot. We use it in the meeting-management world to mean agenda items that are tabled for later discussion. These are generally posted on a sheet of flip-chart paper, taped on the meeting wall, and then placed on the agenda of the next meeting so they are not forgotten as topics for…
Whether you love or hate his work, Andy Warhol eating a Whopper for 45 seconds during one of the most expensive ad slots in television this year was astonishing.
Super Bowl Sunday—the most macho of American sporting events—coupled with the quintessential pop artist had people talking the…
For centuries, medical procedures, prescriptions, and other medical interventions have been based largely on experience—what is known about a set of symptoms. The doctor looks at those symptoms, tests you in various ways (blood tests, X-rays, MRIs), and interprets the results based on experience…
In 2013, thousands of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland bought, prepared—and ate—beef lasagna, hamburgers, and frozen dinners. What they didn’t know is what they were actually putting in their mouths.
Although a burger is only required by law in that region to contain 47-…
All day every day, throughout the United States, people push buttons—on coffee makers, TV remote controls, and even social media posts they “like.” For more than seven years, I’ve been trying to understand why, looking into where buttons came from, why people love them—and why people loathe them…
The role of quality starts with product design and moves rapidly across the supply chain to the selling and buying experience, which includes the bidding process. When operating a formal continuous process improvement program, nearly all manufacturing engineers are tasked with some level of…
In this episode we look at bioethics, next-gen manufacturing employees, and the death of Le Grand K.
What happens if customers want designer babies? We discuss the latest news about a Chinese researcher who claims to have edited the genes of two babies. Should society draw a line in the…
To most of us, the phrase “work that matters” infers job satisfaction. The outcome is lower stress, lower turnover, and higher productivity—in business, a win-win for employees, customers, and shareholders. The logic is infallible. So, I ask you, why is there such a gap between the theory and…
In this episode we look at a history of quality, how you serve your customer in the housing industry, and what makes a good review.
“Young couples ‘trapped in car dependency’”
Building entry-level housing along highways may give couples the chance to buy a home, but at what cost…
Whether you are booking a hotel room, choosing a restaurant, deciding on what movie to see, or buying any number of things, it is likely you have read online reviews before making your decision.
What makes a consumer review persuasive, though? No matter how short, it tells a story in…
In this episode we look at data, data, more data, and then... engineering the perfect human?
“Your Data Are Your Most Valuable Assets”
Just what the heck is Quality 4.0? Remember this acronym: CIA. No, not that CIA. Nicole Radziwill explains.
“Applying Smart…
With more than 110,000 expected attendees, IMTS is Chicago’s hottest suburb this week. (I like to refer to it as “Manufactureville.”) Here’s what we covered during our second show of the week, from the booth of today’s sponsor, Q-Mark Manufacturing:
“Tapping Your Employee’s…
As a consumer, it’s nearly impossible to get away from videos, advertising or otherwise. To give you a numeric sense of our collective obsession with online moving images: Since last year, YouTube has started registering more than a billion hours of video viewing every single day.
We all…
Editor’s note: This story is part of Map to the Middle Class, a Hechinger Report series looking at the good middle-class jobs of the future and how schools are preparing young people for them.
The program had to be a scam. Why would anyone, she wondered, pay her to go to college?
…
Some of the most celebrated education reform efforts today serve to make instruction more difficult. Personalized learning, project-based learning, mastery-based learning—they all require more work of teachers and more work of students.
But several speakers at the LearnLaunch…
Does your organization benefit from lessons learned? Does it learn from previous quality issues? A vast amount of learning takes place every day in every manufacturing facility. Do global manufacturing companies share experiences gained from resolving quality issues between overseas plants? And…
In our July 6, 2018, episode of QDL, we discuss distributed manufacturing, and distributed management.
“Brother Moonshine, Sister Solution”
If want to spur innovation, try moonshine.
“3D Printing Finds a Custom Foothold in Manufacturing”
3D printing is…
The new healthcare venture formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced June 20, 2018, that Harvard professor and well-known author Atul Gawande would be the company’s CEO. The idea for the new company is to innovate by cutting costs from the healthcare system, starting…
In April, Ford announced that it will be phasing out nearly all of its passenger cars in the United States. If all goes according to plan, 90 percent of Ford’s portfolio in North America will be trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. Its F-150—the most popular vehicle in America—is now poised to…
Iran across the book, Successful Human Relations: Principles and practice in business, in the home, in government (Harpercollins, 1952) while browsing older books about relationship development from William J. Reilly, who also wrote The Law of Intelligent Action (Joanna Cotler Books,…
The importance of supply chain solutions relative to a company’s efforts to maintain and improve quality are almost impossible to underplay. When enacting quality improvement programs, any company would do well to examine its supply chain model and processes as a fundamental means of improving…
In business-to-business (B2B) direct marketing, I’m often asked about what kind of response rates to expect about the most productive media channels, the best lists, the best time to conduct a campaign, the most effective qualification questions. I always answer the same way, much to the…
The rise of neuromarketing has already begun to provide companies and researchers with greater insight into consumer behavior than consumers themselves are capable of giving. Neuromarketing tools such as facial-affective recognition, eye tracking, and fMRI technology can illuminate the…
Carrying your smartphone around everywhere has become a way of life. In doing so, you produce a surprising amount of data about your role in the economy—where you shop, work, travel, and generally hang out.
Thasos Group, founded at MIT in 2011, has developed a platform that…
In our April 13, 2018, episode of QDL, we talked about anti-hacker robots, data privacy, and new product introduction.
“HoneyBot Lures in Digital Troublemakers”
MIT nerds come up with a tasty target for IoT hackers. But this one fights back.
“We Don’t Care…
Cost of quality (CoQ) is certainly not a new topic. It was first described in 1956 by American quality control expert Armand V. Feigenbaum in a Harvard Business Review article. As you likely already know, CoQ consists of four categories: internal and external failures, and appraisal and…
When Tide and other detergent manufacturers developed colorful, convenient pods designed to be tossed into washing machines and dishwashers, they never expected teenagers would try to eat them. But what was dubbed the “Tide pod challenge” quickly went viral, with teens posting videos of…
I have written more than a 100 blog posts about leadership, strategy, and culture. Within that portfolio are several accounts of business reinvention and transformation. Yet it was only a few months ago that I composed my first post on another type of reinvention: personal reinvention.…
Retailers and brands convened in New York recently to experience the National Retail Federation’s Retail’s Big Show, and one of the biggest topics on attendees’ minds was technology. From automation to personalization to social marketing, the growing importance of technology in the…
Some journalists and other social commentators have in recent years called for the abolition of restaurant tipping, primarily because they argue that it hurts workers. Several restaurateurs have even replaced tipping at their restaurants with automatic service charges or inclusive…
How does one define quality in the context of a warehouse? The perfect warehouse is clean, has everything in its place, and is easy to access. Your warehouse looks like the one below, right?
You have a perfectly accurate database table that tells you exactly where everything is,…
The recent revelation that a major steel maker falsified test data,1 and similar scandals at other companies,2 underscores the menace of counterfeit parts, or what a 1987 Senate hearing called COME UPS: COunterfeit MatErials and Unauthorized Product Substitutions. The history of COME UPS…
Our Nov. 17, 2017, episode of QDL looked at factories controlled by large-volume 3D metrology, the value (or not) of four-year degrees, and creepy Christmas.
“Developing the Light-Controlled Factory”
A UK development project directed by the University of Bath and…
The food labeling craze coupled with banner headlines about the dangers of gluten, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and hormones are leading to increasingly absurd results.
For example, you can now buy “premium” water that’s not only free of GMOs and gluten but certified…
Nearly two decades ago, rising from the ashes of the once-giant video game hardware manufacturer Sega, Microsoft debuted the Xbox and entered into the video game market with the intent of competing directly with Sony’s PlayStation brand. By 2006, Microsoft’s launch of the second-…
Our most recent episode of QDL from Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. featured news, technology, and two great interviews. Let’s have a closer look:
“Domestic Cars Fail to Keep Up With International Competition”
The most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) survey took…
Do all employees in healthcare understand how their jobs link to patients in some way? If they do, then they are more likely to know the importance of service excellence.
Does every leader, physician, and employee know the statistic that preventable medical errors are the…
Customer satisfaction with automobiles and light vehicles slips 1.2 percent to a score of 81 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s (ACSI) scale of 0 to 100. A year ago, the industry improved driver satisfaction, and sales were at record highs. This year, demand seems somewhat…
Our Sept. 22, 2017, episode of QDL was decidely techie, covering artifical intelligence, the internet of things, Manufacturing Day, and a cool color-matching tool that uses your smart phone.
Manufacturing Day preview
There is a lot happening on Manufacturing Day, which…
User-centric firms should identify and track the core actions that can make or break their businesses.
Traditionally, executives have used standard metrics, such as cash flow, inventory turns, and operating income, to get a broad sense of the health of their firm. However…
QDL from Fri., Sept. 15, 2017, demonstrated that everywhere you look, you’ll find the positive effect of better quality. Here’s what we chatted about:
““U.S. Business Sectors Gain or Hold Steady in Public Esteem”
According to a recent Gallup survey, U.S. citizens’ outlook…
On Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, QDL included news about the disaster in Texas and no apocalypse in retail, an interview covering a different approach to failure modes and effects analyses, a feature article on consumer views about for-profit social-benefit enterprises, and a great new Tech…
Flawless order fulfillment from a distribution center or warehouse to the customer’s door is the neglected leg of the supply chain. Ironically, without careful attention to the last mile, e-commerce customers are disappointed with the quality, accuracy, and condition of the products…
Our August 11, 2017, episode of QDL looked at the role of technology in after-market service, stairs that help you up, Fidget Cubes, and more.
“Climbing Stairs Just Got Easier With Energy-Recycling Steps”
These stairs actually help you go up.
“The Curious Case…
With the durable goods markets in flux—new orders rose 0.7 percent in March 2017, after declining as low as 4.7 percent just a few months prior—manufacturers are seeking alternate sources of revenue and profit. After-sales service, or the service delivered after the initial sale of a new product…
As marketing advances, most professionals are well aware by now of the importance of retention and reactivation in optimizing the value of the customer base. The facts are clear: We know that it costs far less to reactivate a dormant customer than to acquire an entirely new one; we know…
The digital revolution is transforming the relationship between consumers and companies. Nearly all business functions are feeling the effects, but conventional marketing sits squarely on the fault lines of disruption. Brand-authorized messages increasingly can’t compete with online…
Customer satisfaction with subscription television is down 1.5 percent to a score of 64 (on a 1–100 scale), tied with internet service providers for last place among 43 industries tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). New ACSI results show that wireless service is the only…
People have touted the potential of big data and computation in medicine for what feels like decades, promising more effective and personalized treatments, new research discoveries, and smarter clinical predictions. But only recently have these technologies made it to the clinic, where…
Passenger satisfaction is up compared to a year ago, but airlines remain in the bottom third of industries tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). As the largest airlines lower their ticket prices to compete with discount carriers, the industry gains 4.2 percent to 75…
On April 9, 2017, a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight from Chicago O’Hare to Louisville after the carrier was unable to find volunteers to accommodate four of its employees on standby. Many articles have reported that airlines routinely overbook their flights,…
The mismanagement of bet-the-company business crises has become pandemic. Consider just the most recent examples.
In December 2016, Yahoo disclosed that three years earlier hackers had stolen confidential information from more than 1 billion accounts, including users’…
Restaurant reservations systems such as OpenTable and Yelp Reservations may be one of the biggest areas where technology is working to help restaurants win new customers and build a bigger roster of loyal regulars. The services offer tools that help eateries customize the experience and…
If there’s one thing that separates those who do things in an average way and those who do those same things in an extraordinary way, it’s passion. This sense of intense interest, excitement, and focus drives the authentic pursuit of excellence, even (or perhaps, especially) in the…
Business marketers have much to gain from retention marketing. Business customers tend to be fewer in number, and each is more valuable—meaning you can’t afford to lose even one. But how do you keep your customers active and buying from you, vs. the competition? How do you prevent…
Two words no manufacturing organization wants to hear: product recalls. By their very nature, product recalls are unpredictable events.
The cost to a company transcends potentially expensive litigation and settlements. Product recalls and the effects that product failures have on…
The many “truisms” of customer loyalty lore are mostly a set of mythologies to deceive the gullible and exploit the innocent. Let us explore these mythologies and then talk about best practices for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty research.
The mythologiesRising customer…
Change is inevitable in every organization. Planned or not, forces inside and outside the enterprise can sometimes encumber a workforce and lead to nonvalue-added processes. Growing spurts, major technology implementations, or even small supply-chain organizational projects can present…
Care.com co-founder Donna Levin played a key part in that company’s growth, and the passion was personal. Levin’s work plans were curtailed when her son was 11 weeks old and had a seizure following a difficult pregnancy. Tests were inconclusive. Her daycare situation evaporated; she and…
(ACSI: Colorado Springs, CO) -- Customer satisfaction with banks is up, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Its recent report covers the finance and insurance sector, which includes retail banks, credit unions, health insurance, property and casualty insurance,…
In today’s global supply chain, shipping a product across the world isn’t as simple as loading it onto a truck, train, or boat and signing a few papers. International shipments often involve coordination between counterparts in the countries of origin and destination, complete and…
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When flood waters ravaged portions of Colorado in September 2013—killing crops, inundating homes, and buckling many miles of roadways—countless federal, state, and municipal government workers sprang into action helping citizens. State…
Industrial companies are facing critical challenges rooted in slow growth, globalization, the effect of disruptive technologies, and unforeseen competitive threats. A new report from global management consulting firm, L.E.K. Consulting, reveals how those companies are responding—and what…
Digital technologies have reached a tipping point. Enterprises are moving from a focus on process automation to entire business models built on and driven by digital technologies. The development and convergence of myriad digital technologies such as the internet, cloud, mobile, big data…
Every year a new cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows gains intensive knowledge about leading organizations to excellence through cross-sector, peer-to-peer learning hosted at the sites of Baldrige Award recipients. Every Baldrige Fellow completes a capstone project as part of the…
The proliferation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), spurred by the healthcare industry’s shift from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance, has focused healthcare executives’ attention on clinical outcome metrics. Yet the greatest barriers—individual clinician practices—remain…
(ASCI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Customer satisfaction with personal computers halts a three-year slide, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Report 2016 includes desktops, laptops, and tablet computers, as well…
While commanding four vessels sailing between England and India in 1601, Capt. James Lancaster performed one of the great experiments in medical history. Each of the seamen on just one ship—his own, of course—was required to sip three teaspoons of lemon juice per day. By the midpoint of…
Steve Klasko, president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health, is the co-author of We Can Fix Healthcare (Mary Ann Lieber Inc., 2016) with Wharton adjunct professor Gregory P.…
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If NASCAR teams had to choose a capitol city, Charlotte, North Carolina, would be the most likely. With so many teams clustered around this city and its celebrated racetrack, savvy specialty suppliers have moved to the region to help…
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In today's hyper-competitive, fast-paced manufacturing world, there is rarely anything like a "routine" day at the office—especially when you're a tier-one supplier for some of the largest aerospace companies in the…
In 2014, the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) reported that the automotive industry wouldn’t upgrade the ISO/TS 16949 standard to ISO 9001:2015, much to the dismay of Tier One suppliers. In a survey that same year, Tier One suppliers related their desire to update their…
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s the document and imaging industry evolves, imaging workflows become more sophisticated, and products increase in complexity. But with innovation, the industry has faced a new problem: customer confusion. Workflow management now involves both traditional end users in the office…
The global food industry has never faced more challenges. From tainted dairy products to contaminated beef, high-profile cases crop up regularly to dent consumer confidence, while leading companies work hard to reclaim lost faith. So how trustworthy is your food?
Food safety is…
I t wasn’t that long ago that GM ran commercials advertising that its Oldsmobile division didn’t just produce cars for your grandfather, but also for everyone else. It was an attempt to reinvent the brand’s staid image—and it didn’t work.
Now, the Oldsmobile division and its…
As the initial wild enthusiasm for customer relationship management (CRM) begins to plateau, and companies become increasingly skeptical of inflated claims for success, it’s time to take a hard look at how CRM projects should be measured. What is “successful” CRM, anyway? How will you…
They sound like words and have a mysterious dignity rolling off the tongue. Their meanings seem both apparent and elusive. If an alien delegation landed on Earth, words like these might feature in their formal greetings. They are the most expensively researched neologisms in use around the…
According to the recently released J.D. Power 2016 Member Health Plan Study, critical factors of health plan member satisfaction are highest in areas of the country that have more competition between different health plans.
On a nationwide basis, member satisfaction with their…
Today, design has a seat at the table. With the success of products like the iPod and the iPhone, businesses have realized that a good user experience is key for improving the bottom line. Yet even with this determined focus on design, most digital experiences fall short of user…
Two years removed from its all-time high, customer satisfaction with the retail trade sector fell for a second consecutive year, sliding 2.6 percent to an ACSI score of 74.8. Despite the decline for 2015, the overall score for retail stands almost exactly at its long-term average (74.6…
I’ve noticed that many companies are using the trendy term “digital transformation” without fully understanding what it means. Leveraging digital technology to make organizational processes and offerings more efficient may increase profit margins in the short term. But a true digital…
Ask how you can help, always keep a smile, respond to requests promptly... the list goes on. You’ve probably been exposed to an abundance of tips and tricks about how to become more customer-friendly.
That kind of advice can definitely be valuable, but what you likely don’t hear—…
Customer satisfaction with personal computers is down for a third straight year, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Report 2015 includes desktops, laptops, and tablet computers, as well as household…
Many organizations talk about understanding customers and their needs, but few truly understand what customers value most. As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to reflect back on this year’s customer experiences and consider the following aspects of understanding your…
The difference between a good product and a great solution isn’t just the quality of the technology but how the solution is presented and marketed internally. We all have personal technology devices that we love. Whether it’s a Microsoft Surface, iPhone, or Bose noise-cancelling phone,…
Now let’s be real here and take a big-picture look at your company’s knowledge about its customers. For instance, when my firm reviews how a client uses its customer relationship management (CRM) system, invariably we find knowledge gaps in the operational processes it follows.
…
Increasing product recalls, regulatory fines, and penalties have made product-safety compliance a top priority for many manufacturers. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and other global and regional product-quality regulations have subjected consumer-product companies…
The national customer satisfaction benchmark improved during the fourth quarter of 2012, rising 0.5 percent to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score of 76.3 on a scale of 0 to 100. Although most of the gain is due to improvements in the public sector—satisfaction rose for…
In a world of endless information sharing, consumers have become the product. Platforms such as Google, Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter are the new factory floor, and online users who leave digital crumbs as they browse the web and tap into social networks generate data that can be bought…
There is a strong recognition that customer service is especially important in the branded experience. Service is one of the few times that companies will personally interact with their customers. This interaction helps the company understand customers’ needs while, at the same time, it…
The word “advocate” has French and Latin origins. It has multiple applications, including legal, political, social care, and marketplace. It is the marketplace applications where the business, academic marketing, and management consulting communities have focused. Essentially, advocacy can…