Mon, 10/30/2017 - 12:03
Today I will look at epistemology at the gemba. Epistemology is the part of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge. It tries to answer the questions, “How do we know things, and what are the limits of our knowledge?” I have been…Wed, 08/23/2017 - 12:03
It’s been a while since I’ve written about statistics. So in this column, I will be looking at the rules of three and five. These are heuristics, or rules of thumb, that can help us out. They are associated with sample sizes.
Rule of three
Let’s…Tue, 07/11/2017 - 12:02
There is a great Greek paradox/puzzle called the Ship of Theseus. There are multiple versions and derivations to it. My favorite version is as follows (highly watered down).
Theseus bought a new ship. Each day he replaced one part of the ship.…Tue, 07/11/2017 - 12:02
In today’s column, I will be looking at process validation and the problem of induction. Yesterday, I looked at process validation through another philosophical angle by using the lesson of the Ship of Theseus.
The U.S. Food and Drug…Tue, 05/09/2017 - 12:03
I have been reading a lot these days about Western philosophy. The most recent book, All Life is Problem Solving (Routledge, 2001), is by Karl Popper, one of the great philosophers of the 20th century. This is a collection of Popper’s writings. One…Entropy in the Manufacturing WorldComplexity lies between low entropy and high entropy
Mon, 04/10/2017 - 12:02
In this article, I will be looking at entropy in the manufacturing world. Entropy is generally defined as a measure of disorder. This general definition can sometimes be inadequate.
Let’s look at the example of a desk in an office. One could say…The Incomplete SolutionSomewhere between wrong and useful
Wed, 02/22/2017 - 12:03
The world of systems is very wide and deep, and this column can’t be perfect and all-encompassing. My goal here is to emphasize that solutions based on incomplete models lead to incomplete solutions. I’m not calling them incorrect solutions, just…Wed, 01/25/2017 - 12:03
As our new year unfolds, I wanted to write an article to remind myself of three pieces of advice. They are from Epictetus (55–135 AD), Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD), and George Pólya (1887–1985). Epictetus and Aurelius are two famous Stoic…The Forth Bridge PrincipleA living design process
Thu, 12/15/2016 - 16:19
The Forth Bridge is a famous railroad bridge in Scotland and is more than 125 years old. It needs painting to fend off rust. Albert Cherns, the late famous social scientist who founded the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University,…<em>Shitsu</em> vs. <em>Shitsu</em>In-the-customer’s-shoes quality
Thu, 11/03/2016 - 13:22
I had a conversation recently with a quality professional from another organization. The topic somehow drifted to the strict quality standards in Japan. The person talked about how his product is rejected by his Japanese counterparts for “defects”…