All Features
Ngoc Le
Manufacturers love to hear the word “in control” when talking about processes. From a statistical process control (SPC) point of view, an in-control process means that a process is stable or predictable. After putting in the work to get a process controlled, how do you make sure it stays in control…
Timothy F. Bednarz
Effective leaders manage by keeping their finger on the pulse of their employees’ key activities. When tasks and assignments are delegated, leaders must take the time to review each employee’s progress against goals to determine what, if any, additional training and coaching is needed to…
Josh Cable
Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part series. In part two, former manufacturing managers will offer tips and best practices on how to transition from manufacturing to consulting.
In early 1990, when Chevron Corp. told Lonnie Wilson that he was being transferred from El Paso, Texas—where…
Alan Nicol
So, we have a process improvement program installed. Our people are trained or are getting trained. We have a list of prioritized improvement efforts, and we are attacking that list concertedly. We are tracking our improvement benefits, and the numbers are good. What could possibly be wrong?…
Georgia Institute of Technology
Using a novel method of integrating video technology and familiar control devices, a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology is developing a technique to simplify remote control of robotic devices.
The researchers’ goal is to enhance a human operator’s ability to perform precise…
Tim Lozier
Editor’s note: In an upcoming webinar presented by EtQ and moderated by Quality Digest, we will consider the elements of risk management and what to look for in an effective software solution. For a preview of the webinar, please tune in to the Fri., Oct. 5, 2012, episode of Quality Digest Live,…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Looking for an event to attend where you get up-to-date information on the latest hardware and software? Try attending a user conference of a prospective vendor. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much you learn. Although typically set up for existing users of a company’s products, these…
Pivot Management Consultants
(PIVOT Mgmt Consultants) -- TRIZ is a systematic method for innovation that greatly amplifies your creativity to solve problems by efficiently drawing upon the inventive principles and processes used by thousands of inventors across all disciplines. Companies that have used TRIZ report…
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
On those sweltering summer days—when it’s too hot to play at the playground, it seems like you could fry an egg on the pavement, and your car feels like an oven after a couple hours parked at the mall—it’s not just the beating sun that’s driving up the temperature. It’s our very urban environment,…
Paul Naysmith
Let me give you my definition of “PowerPointing”: To provide a presentation of slides so crammed with text that the background no longer shows, and that are read aloud, line by line, by someone staring at a screen rather than the audience. Many of you have experienced this; often the presenter will…
Donald J. Wheeler
I n my September column, I showed how the normal distribution is the distribution of maximum uncertainty. Now I will expand on that theme and answer the questions generated by that column.
Last month I demonstrated that the middle 91 percent of the normal distribution is spread out to the maximum…
LNS Research
(LNS: Cambridge, MA) -- LNS Research’s latest report, “Measuring Cost of Quality as a Holistic Business Metric” provides executives and plant managers with a strong understanding of the cost of quality’s strengths as well as how companies can implement it into their operational excellence…
Rip Stauffer
Editor’s note: In response to Kyle Toppazzini’s article, “Lean Without Six Sigma May Be a Failing Proposition,” published in the Sept. 27, 2012, issue of Quality Digest Daily, Rip Stauffer left the following observant comment.
I started my career in quality when the consulting world hadn’t yet…
Advancing the organization and achieving business success require developing new products, finding new markets, and building enabling systems and infrastructure. Keeping execution aligned with the strategy to accomplish these objectives has always been a difficult challenge in running a business.…
Nanovea
Electronic applications typically have challenging surfaces, angles, steps, and structures that must be measured during development. Whether it is circuit-board flatness or microstructures on the board itself, precise measurement is crucial. Components continue to shrink in size, and surfaces…
Arun Hariharan
I’m a customer. One morning last week, I visited my bank for a small requirement that should have taken about two minutes. However, there was a big line and 27 people were ahead of me. This was my fourth visit to this bank for the same requirement. My work remained on hold until I could resolve…
Patrick Runkel
You know the famous proverb: "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." It's especially true when you're casting your line for statistics.
When I first started using Minitab Statistical Software, it was daunting trying to learn all of its…
eQuality Tech
(eQuality Tech: Shelby Township, MI) -- eQuality Tech, the exclusive distributor for Solutionix in the Americas, announces the immediate availability of Rexcan CS+, the first fully automated 3D scanner to integrate a turntable with four degrees of freedom for simpler setup and more comprehensive…
Timothy F. Bednarz
The overarching principle behind organizational development is that all employees have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be harnessed and tapped into, which enables the organization to grow. Managers are the organization’s primary facilitators of knowledge and experience at their…
Visual Workplace Inc.
(Visual Workplace: Byron Center, MI) -- Visual Workplace Inc. introduces Gauge Marking Label—a simple and cost-effective means for machine operators to quickly identify gauge and inspection parameters and specifications.
Gauge Marking Label is perfect for error-proofing Go-No-Go gauges, pressure/…
Akhilesh Gulati
Terry had been using lean techniques to improve his company for quite a while now. He’d held kaizen events, reduced inventory, provided training for his employees, and was quite pleased with the progress his organization had made.
However, he felt it was time move beyond this type of…
Ron Kaufman
When an organization’s employees aren’t happy, it’s unlikely they’ll be providing the kind of quality service that leads to happy customers. One of the fastest ways to create internal strife is to let “difficult” people go unchecked. The best way to handle these personalities is to help resolve the…
Jossey-Bass
(Jossey-Bass: San Francisco) -- Rapid and disruptive change threatens the adaptive capacity of organizations, along with the individuals and teams leading them. Based on more than a decade of global research and consulting, Joseph E. McCann and John W. Selsky outline five capabilities highly agile…
Christina Tangora Schlachter, Terry Hildebrandt
The global economy has turned the rules of leadership upside down and shaken them vigorously for good measure. Where there was once a fairly defined hierarchy—Boss A tells Worker B what to do, and Worker B does it—there’s now a flat landscape where everyone is expected to take the reins as needed.…
Mark R. Hamel
We’ve all heard the flight attendant’s compulsory safety announcement regarding oxygen masks. Personally, I’ve grown pretty numb to the whole safety monologue. Not a good thing.
During a relatively recent trip on a Southwest flight there was a refreshing twist to the typically sober announcement.…
