All Features
Aarcher Institute
(Aarcher   Institute: Annapolis, MD) -- Environmental compliance and management   requirements create constant business and regulatory pressures. In September   2011, the Aarcher Institute of Environmental Training is offering a wide range   of courses addressing multiple compliance and management…
Simpler Consulting LP
(Simpler  Consulting: Pittsburgh) -- Simpler Consulting L.P., a global  management consulting firm that helps companies improve processes to stimulate  business-impacting results, has announced that its vice president, Chris  Cooper, has published The Little Book of Lean (Simpler  Consulting, 2011…
J.D. Power and Associates
(J.D. Power & Associates:  Westlake Village, CA) -- Website appearance, including design elements and  color schemes, is driving many brand-level increases and decreases in shopper  satisfaction with automotive manufacturer websites, according to the J. D.  Power and Associates 2011…
ASQ
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ)—a global community of people passionate about quality, who use their tools, ideas, and expertise to make our world work better—and BSR—a global network of member companies working to develop sustainable business strategies and solutions…
CMSC
(CMSC: Benbrook, TX) -- The  Coordinate Metrology Society announced that its annual Coordinate Metrology  Systems Conference (CMSC) 2011 attracted more than 400 professionals in the  precision 3-D measurement and inspection field. Manufacturers, engineers,  scientists, quality control specialists,…
American Express
Americans are placing an  even greater premium on quality customer service this year. Results from an  American Express survey indicate that seven in 10 Americans (70%) are  willing to spend an average of 13-percent more with companies they believe  provide excellent customer service. This is up…
Akhilesh Gulati
Cooking is not my forte, but I try. I  intended my latest concoction to be interesting, new, and easy. It was a soup,  made with nontraditional ingredients, and it won rave reviews at a neighborhood  potluck. No one could guess all the ingredients, so it won the “unique” dish  award. When asked…
In part one of this two-part article, we looked at the  history of management system standards. Part two details some of the evidence  that supports the assertion that these standards add value to organizations.
A 2008 detailed study published by the Harvard Business School provides real data,…
Society for Protective Coatings SSPC
(SSPC: Pittsburgh, PA) -- The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC)  has announced the release of the next level of its game-changing Protective  Coatings Inspector (PCI) program, PCI Level 3.
The PCI inspector certification  was first introduced to the coatings industry in 2007. Since then, it's…
Renishaw
(Renishaw: New Mills, UK) --  Renishaw has added the SFP1, a new probe option, to its REVO five-axis measurement system, which for  the first time allows surface-finish inspection to be fully integrated within coordinate measuring machine (CMM) measurement routines.
With a measurement capability…
CRAIC Technologies
(Craic Technologies: San Dimas, CA) -- The  CRAIC Apollo Raman spectrometer—developed and manufactured by Craic Technologies Inc., designer and manufacturer of scientific instruments—is designed for fast, easy micro-Raman spectroscopy. As such, it is perfect for research, metrology, and inspection…
ASQ
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ) invites you to help demonstrate the impact  quality can have on 
health care. Share your best practices, successes, and  proven techniques
 with an audience representing diverse backgrounds, countries,  and 
industries at the Quality…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Las Vegas) -- An  unprecedented manufacturing event this September will examine and offer  solutions to the critical shortage of skilled workers threatening the future of  manufacturing in the United States. Experts cite rapidly changing industrial  technology and the pending retirement of…
Pinpoint Laser Systems
(Pinpoint  Laser Systems: Peabody, MA) -- Pinpoint Laser Systems has introduced the Proline Alignment Kit, a visual laser  system for checking and measuring straightness, flatness, squareness,  parallelism, leveling, and many other tasks. This kit combines the features of  a transit, an infinitely…
Dave Anderson
Every leader tells a white lie  every now and then, right? Perhaps—but that doesn’t make it OK. White lies can  do serious damage to your reputation and can lead to much bigger issues down  the road. Read on to see why cleaning up your act can help save your business.
Picture this: It’s 4:30 p.m.…
The QA Pharm
The truism, “Quality, cost, and speed—pick  two,” was often quoted throughout my career: meaning a production company could not achieve all three ideals and therefore must choose which two out of three ideals to concentrate on;
  • Sacrifice quality with low cost  and high speed
  • Sacrifice cost…
When the Japanese word kaizen entered the language of quality improvement via Masaaki Imai’s seminal book, Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 1986), the author defined kaizen as “ongoing improvement involving everyone.” In a 2011 video posted on YouTube, Imai…
IBM
(IBM: Armonk, NY) -- IBM has created the  Services Innovation Lab (SIL), a new global lab that will initially comprise  about 200 technology experts hand-picked from around the company. The lab will accelerate the expansion of real-time analytics and software automation in both  IBM’s technology…
Bill Kalmar
Most of us, I’m confident, have some rather significant events in our  lives that bring joy and excitement. It could be marriage, the birth of a  child, perhaps a first grandchild, a new home, or retirement. Somewhere in all  those events many of us will celebrate our 50th high-school reunion. That…
InfinityQS
(InfinityQS: Chantilly, VA) --  InfinityQS International, a provider of real-time quality control  software solutions, has announced that Steve Wise, vice president of  statistical methods and Six Sigma Black Belt, will host a live webinar,  “Box Plots and Pareto Charts for Quality Control,”…
(Banner Engineering: Minneapolis,  MN) -- Banner Engineering Corp. has introduced a new version of its TM18 EZ-BEAM  compact photoelectric sensor for use in heavy-duty environments. The TM18  offers nickel-plated, die-cast zinc metal housing, as well as completely epoxy-encapsulated electronics.…
NSF International
(NSF: Ann Arbor, MI)  -- NSF International, a global independent 
public-health organization with 66  years of experience, including 25 
years of pharmaceutical expertise through its  NSF Health Sciences 
Division, is launching NSF Reference Standards, which will  produce 
reference standards that…
Taylor and Francis Group
(Taylor and Francis: New York) --  Whether it’s because of a lack of understanding, poor planning, or myriad other things, 50 to 60 percent of the IT effort in most companies can be  considered waste. Explaining how to introduce lean principles to your IT  functions to reduce and even eliminate…
Duke University
Duke University electrical engineers have developed a man-made material that they say literally allows them to manipulate light at will.
They say that the results of their latest proof-of-concept experiments could lead to the replacement of electrical components with those based on optical…
Fischer Technology
(Fischer Technology: Windsor, CT)  -- Fischer Technology’s DUALSCOPE FMP100 touch-screen coating-thickness  measurement instrument harmonizes the flexibility and capabilities of PC-based  lab instruments with the manageability of compact portable units. The unit has a  Windows CE operating system…