All Features
Geomagic
(Geomagic: Research Triangle Park, NC) -- Cathy Hofknecht, vice president of marketing for Geomagic, has received a Women in Business 2009 Award in the Inspiration category from the Triangle Business Journal.
According to the Triangle Business Journal web site, the Inspiration category “honors…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
As the U.S. automotive industry struggles to get back on its feet, automotive industry suppliers are finding new markets for their manufacturing skills. The burgeoning medical device field is one industry ideally suited to support that industry. Precision machining, automation, expertise in…
Miriam Boudreaux
Story update 8/21/2009: We corrected an error regarding the function of the accreditation body.
I’ve worked with several companies over the years and dealt with different individuals, different processes, and different levels of ISO 9001 understanding. However, when an organization is…
David C. Crosby
If you are not actively selling quality, you’re missing the boat. Quality (both goodness and conformance), should be sold inside and outside of your company. A song from an old Broadway musical says, “How are you going to conquer the world if nobody knows you’re there?” Good question.
Selling…
(W. Edwards Deming Institute: Palos Verdes Estates, CA) -- The 2009 Fall Conference of The W. Edwards Deming Institute, is designed to foster a better understanding of the Deming System of Profound Knowledge and its applications. In keeping with this aim, the 2009 conference planning team is…
(New Mexico MEP: Albuquerque, NM) -- Sagebrush Technology production manager Vaughn Halford knows a lot of military secrets. But the secrets he eagerly spills are the ones that New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP) helped him uncover.
Ask the heads of any small or…
E Instruments
(E Instruments: Langhorne, PA) -- The SignalCal 2 T/C from E Instruments simulates voltage and thermocouple readings for calibration purposes. The device is rugged and easy to use, measures eight types of thermocouples (R, S, B, E, K, J, T, and N), and has an accuracy of ±0.05 percent. The…
Raissa Carey
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach that requires quality in all phases of the company’s operations, by doing things right the first time. All waste and defects must also be eliminated.
As a long-term methodology, TQM has customer satisfaction as its final goal, and…
Business901
(Business901: Fort Wayne, IN) -- Joe Dager, owner of Business901 has just included a comprehensive series of spreadsheet templates that are intended to help users perform process analysis associated with lean and Six Sigma initiatives. The templates are part of the software packages offered by…
IBS America
Madico, the world’s preeminent manufacturer of metalized, coated, and laminated films, has been producing high quality manufactured film systems since 1903. Located in Woburn, Massachusetts, the hi-tech ISO 9001-certified firm has more than 170 employees.
A quality and compliance management…
Stewart Anderson
Today, more than ever, the quest for productivity, quality, and speed has spawned a significant number of techniques and tools: lean manufacturing or service, business process improvement; Six Sigma, total quality management, and so forth. Although the operational improvements resulting from these…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Taxpayers are getting a first hint of potential returns on their investment in the U.S. automobile industry: Detroit is doing a much better job satisfying their customers, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). After having trailed competition for a…
Brittany Vogel
The “Patient-Centered Medical Home” (PCMH) is the latest in health care quality initiatives. In a PCMH, a medical team—led by a patient’s primary physician—continuously coordinates and manages the patient’s health care throughout their life. The transition is being led by the promise of paying…
Transcat Inc.
(Transcat: Rochester, NY) -- Transcat Inc., a global distributor of professional grade test, measurement, and calibration instruments, and accredited provider of calibration, parts inspection, production model engineering and repair services, has partnered with FLIR Systems Inc., a global provider…
Pinpoint Laser Systems
(Pinpoint Laser Systems: Peabody, MA) -- Pinpoint Laser Systems announces a new storage system to be used with the Pinpoint Laser Microgage 2-D family of products. The new Microgage 2-D Display will be fully compatible with our existing 2-D measuring systems and enables the operator to record…
National Association for Healthcare Quality
(NAHQ: Glenview, IL) -- Healthcare Quality Week (HQW) features the work of health care quality professionals and highlights their influence on improved patient care outcomes and health care delivery systems.
NAHQ members are encouraged to alert administrators, allied health professionals, and…
Teledyne DALSA
(DALSA: Waterloo, ON, Canada) -- DALSA Corp., a provider of machine vision technology, recently introduced a new member to its line of affordable and easy-to-use GigE Vision-compliant cameras with the release of the Genie HM1400-XDR camera, a model with extended dynamic range (XDR). The Genie…
Fluke Corp.
(Fluke Corp.: Everett: WA) -- Fluke Corp., a global provider of handheld electronic test and measurement technology, has introduced test probes with built-in fuses for additional measurement protection.
Fluke FTP Fused Test Probes comply with recommendations of the Electrical Safety Authority (…
Geoff Bilau
Mario Angeles was stuck. His family-operated machine shop, Angeles Precision Engineering LLC, was busy enough with work farmed out to it by larger shops, but Angeles had been repeatedly rebuffed in his attempts to secure a long-term contract on his own; especially one from the “Big Four” aerospace…
(Lattice Technology: San Francisco, CA) -- Lattice Technology, developers of digital manufacturing applications using the XVL format, today released chapters 7 and 8 of the new book, “Improving Lean Manufacturing Through 3D Data” by Dr. Hiroshi Toriya.
First published in Japan in late 2008,…
Barry Johnson
You see it all the time. After an initial flurry of excitement and support, an organization’s operational excellence effort bogs down. Regardless of the tools or methodologies used, passion dies down and focus gets diverted to other issues. It doesn’t matter if a company utilizes lean, Six Sigma,…
ASTM International
(ASTM: West Conshohocken, PA) -- The ASTM International Proficiency Testing Center is pleased to offer a 2010 proficiency testing program on thermal analyses of plastics (TAP) to laboratories who need a statistical quality assurance tool that will enable them to improve and maintain a high level…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- As a result of a major interlaboratory study, the standards body ASTM International has been able to update its guidelines for a commonly used technique for measuring the size of nanoparticles in solutions. The study, which was organized principally by researchers from…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new calibration technique that will improve the reliability and stability of one of NIST’s most versatile technologies, the microhotplate. The novel NIST device is being developed…
Raissa Carey
Hoshin kanri, or hoshin for short, refers to policy deployment. It is the method used to deploy the overall control system and total quality management (TQM). Roughly translated, hoshin kanri means “management and control of the organization's focus.”
Companies need to create a policy deployment…
