All Features
Christopher Martin
Recently, during one of my many adventures across the internet, I stumbled across a photo that struck me. It depicts an aisle of a U.S. drugstore, where nearly every single product facing has a tag on it announcing a price and a limited-time promotion. The entire row is covered with bright yellow…
Jean-Noel Barrot
Operating a small business, the backbone of the U.S. economy, has always been tough. But small businesses have been disproportionately hurt by the Great Recession, losing 40 percent more jobs than the rest of the private sector combined. Interestingly, as my research with Harvard’s Ramana Nanda…
Speak With a Geek
(Speak With a Geek: San Francisco) -- Technical recruiter Speak With a Geek (SWAG) is using its voice in the industry to raise awareness about the unique challenges faced by women in technology. The Bay Area agency hopes to educate and provide a deeper analysis into the topic of a lack of female…
Mark Whitworth
Layered process auditing (LPA) is a quality management approach increasingly used by manufacturing and service companies alike to address a gap in traditional product-oriented approaches. When properly implemented, layered auditing is the most effective way to ensure that processes consistently…
Eston Martz
The language of statistics is a funny thing, but there usually isn’t much to laugh at in the consequences that can follow when misunderstandings occur between statisticians and nonstatisticians. We see these consequences frequently in the media, when new studies—that usually contradict previous…
Paul Blanchard
Cars, buildings, computer chips, you and me, and the air we breathe—everything is made of atoms. We learn this in elementary school, because, well, it’s an elementary fact. But for most of our history, we humans have been pretty much clueless as to what’s going on at the scale of individual atoms…
Verisurf Software Inc.
(Verisurf: Anaheim, CA) -- Verisurf Software is pleased to announce the public release and immediate availability of Verisurf 2017—a major product update featuring a host of exciting new capabilities and improvements carefully crafted to boost productivity, streamline workflows, and promote…
Quality Digest
(Quality Digest: Chico, CA) -- Here is your chance to listen to and learn from someone who helped develop, improve, and expand Toyota’s production system!
This is a rare opportunity to learn genba kaizen from Chihiro Nakao at the 2017 Shingijutsu Super Kaizen, held May 1–5, 2017, on site at…
Metrologic Group
(Metrologic: Wixom, MI) -- Metrologic Group, the leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, is launching its Version 7 built on the latest X4 architecture. This version includes enhanced new capabilities and performance improvements that further set apart its universal 3D…
Stefan Geib
While the fallout of the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the European Union has sent shockwaves throughout the political and economic world, Brexit is merely a footnote in the global supply chain risk story. According to the latest risk index from the Chartered Institute of Procurement &…
Greg Anderson
Like it or not, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is here. MACRA created the new Quality Payment Program, comprised of two pathways to higher quality: the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs). MACRA…
Michelle LaBrosse
Jane is an amazing photographer, but her family feels her photography skills aren’t going to help her earn a living. Consequently, she was offered a job in her sister-in-law Kerry’s company calling clients to collect on invoices. After several months, both Jane and Kerry realized they’d had enough…
NSF International
(NSF International: Ann Arbor, MI) -- NSF International and ISMS Solutions are expanding their partnership to help organizations successfully attain the requirements of multiple information security standards through a single service. This partnership offers organizations full-service information…
Annette Franz
Do you know what it takes to stay ahead of the competition? Is that one of your business goals? Recently I was interviewed by someone for an article she was writing, and one of the questions was about competition and the best ways to research the competition. Other questions on the topic revolved…
Chip Bell
When the circus ringmaster wails, “...and children of all ages,” he is speaking to me. I love the circus. When it came to my rural hometown when I was a boy, it was an all-consuming experience that embedded “circus” in my heart before it appeared and well beyond its departure.
Long before the…
Catherine Beare
Sponsored Content
Although efforts have been made to create policies that support a bias-free workplace, there is still a considerable way to go toward achieving the gender equality that organizations are striving for. Due in part to a lack of clear measurement and transparency, many companies and…
Mike Richman
The first QDL episode of February was filled to the brim with timely news items, thought-provoking articles, and a great interview with Pam Bethune of DEKRA, who chatted with us about the meaning of “context of the organization” within ISO 9001:2015.
In case you missed it, on the show we took a…
Donald J. Wheeler
Good measurements are like apple pie and motherhood. Who could ever be against having good measurements? Since we all want good measurements, it sounds reasonable when people are told to check out the quality of their measurement system before putting their data on a process behavior chart.…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In case you missed it, last week’s Quality Digest Live contained some great articles and discussion between myself and my co-host, Quality Digest publisher in chief Mike Richman. In the show, we covered:
“Manufacturing Trends to Watch in 2017”
In this run-down of technologies to watch, of…
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest
Automakers, suppliers, and tech companies are in a flurry to transform vehicles into connected devices and distribute the content to drivers and passengers. Corning Inc.’s transformation plans include using its Gorilla Glass to turn windshields into billboards.
What better way to tout Gorilla…
Bruce Hamilton
Here is an article I wrote 10 years ago, recently resurrected from the lost letter file. I can’t remember why I wrote it or for whom. Originally titled, “What is Kaizen?” the article still resonates with me as I hope it will with you.
My study of TPS has been guided by book learning, tacit…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
My wife, Carole, just gave me a shirt emblazoned with, “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” It reminded me of an important phenomenon that has been lately grabbing my attention.
Oxford Dictionaries, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has…
Pam Bethune
One of the newest parts of ISO 9001:2015 and related management standards are the concepts of context and interested parties. What do these mean, and how can you apply them to your organization?
What the standard says
When making sense of Clause 4.1—“Understanding the organization and its context…
Daniel Blake, Caterina Moschieri
Pulling out of a country is an expensive proposition for a multinational firm, but it is sometimes required for the corporate bottom line. If the host country changes laws or even expropriates a subsidiary, it is often time to leave or divest.
Divestiture—pulling out assets or closing down part…
Mary McAtee
Sponsored Content
Technical and commercial media sources are constantly discussing how design safety and security has not kept pace with quickly evolving technologies. Pundits are pointing to issues with everything from self-driving cars to new holiday toys that latch on to your home Wi-Fi and…
