All Features
Laurel Thoennes @ QD
While other authors have written about Toyota’s manufacturing principles and the company’s approach to efficiency, Mike Rother is the first to devote six years of study to Toyota’s actual management behavior—revealing the essential kata—in his book, Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement,…
Emil Venere
(Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN) -- Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago, paving the way for a host of innovations, including superfast computers that use light instead of electrons to process information, advanced sensors and imaging.…
Mark Graban
A couple of Sundays ago, I read this New York Times article about Apple's "App Store" for the iPhone and iPod Touch (I've been a pretty happy iPhone user for the past three months after switching over from BlackBerry).
I'm going to try to use this example to teach about two concepts that can be…
General Electric GE
(GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies: Billerica, MA) -- Weighing only 2.2 pounds, the USM Go is the lightest and most portable ultrasonic flaw detector available from GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies. The USM Go is designed for ease of prolonged operation in the harshest inspection…
Automation Trainer
(Automation Trainer: Westbrook, ME) -- Automated liquid handling equipment is an increasingly essential component of life science laboratories. Used to boost the productivity and repeatability of volume transfers, automated liquid handlers must be optimized to achieve precision and accuracy in…
Laurel Thoennes @ QD
Gemba is a Japanese term that has been translated as: place, real place, actual place. Westerners have further defined gemba to include: where the action is, the go-and-see place, where the work is done, the place to go for improvement, and the place where value is added, and more.
The environment…
Fluke Corp.
(Fluke Corp.: Everett, WA) -- Fluke Corp., the global leader in hand-held electronic test and measurement technology, has announced a Cash for Clunkers rebate program to encourage thermographers to trade their old infrared cameras for new Fluke instruments.
The Fluke Cash for Clunkers program…
H. James Harrington
In Miguel de Cervantes' The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, Don Quixote dreams of being a brave knight who rides a great steed to fight for what is right. That dream turned into a vision where he and his squire, Sancho Panza, were fighting dragons and saving fair damsels in distress.…
Active Communications International Inc.
(Active Communications International: Chicago) -- Join Active Communications International, November 12–13, 2009, in Boston, Massachusetts, for an interactive, executive symposium of hospitals and health care facilities. Learn from the hospitals and health care facilities that have been profiting…
David Parks
What seemed to be a lucrative as well as a burgeoning market in the European Union (EU) for textile and apparel manufacturers will not be the same again. This is because of the EU's imposition of tougher laws on chemicals and their safe use, many of which are used in apparel printing and design…
If ever there was an industry in which time compression is the name of the game, it’s Formula 1 Grand Prix motor racing.
Scuderia Toro Rosso, owned by the Red Bull Co., is among the Formula 1 teams looking for new and better ways to compress development and production times, while increasing…
Norbar Torque Tools
(Norbar Torque Tools Ltd.: Oxfordshire, UK) -- Norbar, a global specialist manufacturer of torque tools, has launched the ultimate torque measurement, calibration, and data archiving system. The T-Box, together with the Torque Data Management System software, allow the simple processing of data…
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF: Princeton, NJ) -- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recently announced the selection of 15 hospitals to participate in two new quality improvement programs as part of its ambitious Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative. The AF4Q is the foundation’s signature program to lift…
Nikon Instruments Inc.
(Nikon Instruments Inc.: Melville, NY) -- The new series of Nikon LSI inspection microscopes, Eclipse L200N and L200ND, is now available. Building on the high resolution and precision of the Eclipse L200 and L200D series, the L200N and L200ND offer improved observation and operating performance,…
ASME
(ASME: New York) -- A seminar on the newly revised Y14.5 standard from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) will take place on Oct. 8, at the Sheraton Salt Lake City in Salt Lake City.
The ASME-sponsored seminar will provide…
Q-PLUS Labs
(Q-PLUS Labs: Irvine, CA) -- There’s a technology sea change underway in metrology and dimensional measurement, a change that promises significant improvements in efficiency and precision that will shape the future of testing and quality programs worldwide.
“There are exciting developments…
Bill Kalmar
The band “Chicago” sang those words about "time" decades ago. The second line “Does anybody really care?” seems to sum up what is still in vogue today, especially in the workplace. Just as with vacations where workers are reluctant to leave for fear that someone will discover that their job is…
Developing and refining the advanced processes for its manufacturing and assembly operation is no small task for Irvine, California-based Coast Composites Inc. The company makes large, precise tooling for the aerospace industry. The scale and accuracy requirements of their product creates quality…
Instantis
(Instantis: Santa Clara, CA) -- Instantis, the premier provider of on-demand project portfolio management software used by business-process and IT leaders to improve strategy execution and financial performance, has announced the availability of EnterpriseTrack Green Edition.
Instantis…
Advanced Test Equipment Rentals
(Advanced Test Equipment Rentals: San Diego) -- The Rohde & Schwarz SMIQ06B is a vector signal generator with a frequency range of 300 kHz to 6.4 GHz. The high-grade I/Q modulator ensures minimum error vector magnitude and high intermodulation suppression. Using modern digital signal…
American National Standards Institute ANSI
(ANSI: Washington) -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has announced dates for its first-ever workshop on accreditation of certificate-issuing bodies. The Feb. 11–12, 2010 event will introduce interested stakeholders to the American National Standard ASTM E2659-09—"Standard…
ASQ Silicon Valley
(ASQ Silicon Valley: Santa Clara, CA) -- Come join your colleagues and other members of the Bay Area quality and business community for a full day of learning and networking at the Silicon Valley ASQ Quality Conference "Road to Excellence: Best Practice Trails," Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 in Santa…
Thomas J. Duesterberg Ph.D.
In the worst economic climate since the 1930s, and at a time of intensified political change, manufacturers are experiencing difficulties in articulating a clear and strong message about the health of their sector and how policy change might affect it. What follows are 10 summary points intended…
Fluke Corp.
(Fluke Corp.: Everett, WA) -- Instructors have just weeks to apply for $100,000 worth of infrared thermal imagers from Fluke Corp., the world’s leading supplier of hand-held test and measurement equipment. Fluke is donating the equipment to schools and training programs for use in teaching…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD ) -- Airline travelers are used to being instructed to turn off computers and cell phones during takeoffs and landings as a precaution against interfering with the plane’s navigational equipment, but outside sources of high-energy interference can be even more dangerous.…
