Content by William A. Levinson
Mon, 01/20/2025 - 00:03
Recent labor relations controversies and ongoing arguments about the minimum wage have raised questions as to how a supply chain should share the utility it produces.
If we ask the wrong question, however, we’ll get the wrong answer. “What is a…
Mon, 12/23/2024 - 12:03
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…
Tue, 10/15/2024 - 12:03
The Associated Press, reporting on the strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association, noted, “Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesn’t allow automation of their jobs.” The report added, “The union had…
Wed, 08/28/2024 - 12:03
Most quality practitioners are familiar with the Taguchi loss function, which contends that the cost of any deviation from the nominal follows a quadratic model. This is in contrast to the traditional goalpost model, where anything inside the…
Wed, 06/19/2024 - 12:03
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and ISO have published a joint communiqué to require organizations to “consider” climate change in the context of risks and opportunities relevant to the management system.
Although this is pursuant to…
Mon, 06/10/2024 - 12:03
Although quality management has been around in some form or another for thousands of years—a cover of Joseph Juran’s Quality Handbook depicted Egyptians making very precise measurements for the construction of pyramids—this article will show that…
Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:03
The famous football coach Vince Lombardi purportedly said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” (According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, in a 1962 interview Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”)
In…
Wed, 05/01/2024 - 12:03
The current alleged quality problems with the Boeing 737 underscore the importance of zero tolerance for poor quality. No manufacturing or quality professional should ever compromise on this issue. Most importantly, the potential consequences to…
Wed, 03/27/2024 - 12:03
What do quality and productivity have to do with World War III, which we all hope will never happen? The answer is everything. A massive loss of American manufacturing capability between 1945 and 2024 has conceded enormous advantages to aggressor…
Mon, 03/18/2024 - 00:03
In his Quality Digest article published in February 2023, Michael Mills1 reported that the next version of ISO 9001 will add to clause 4.1, “Understanding the organization and its context” the words, “the organization shall determine whether climate…
