All Features
Laurel Thoennes @ QD
Q
uestion: What’s the difference between a satisfied customer and a devoted follower?
Answer: Seventy-five percent of satisfied customers abandon a company for its competitor. A devoted follower is a customer who takes your brand to heart. Authors Chip Bell and John Patterson give you the…
(Apriso Inc.: Long Beach, CA) --Manufacturers embracing lean as a corporate philosophy understand that business processes must be steadily improved to gain efficiency, improve quality, cut waste, and enhance your value stream. However, achieving visibility and control to evaluate, measure, and…
MAMTC
The 5S System is one of the most powerful activities of lean manufacturing. The 5S philosophy focuses on simplifying the work environment, reducing waste, and improving quality and safety.
It's the natural place to start your lean effort because lean is all about eliminating nonvalue-added…
CMSC
(CMS: Issaquah, WA) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) announced today it is conducting an online industry survey for experts and novices working in the field of metrology. The CMS ( www.cmsc.org ) is currently working to establish a 3-D Coordinate Metrology Certification Program, and seeks…
Scott Alamanach
Don’t miss the author’s follow-up to this article, “Going Low Profile in Afghanistan.”
--Editor
Profitable manufacturing requires efficiency, and this principle guides most (if not all) of our quality management systems (QMS). We’ve learned there’s little gain in correcting a production error…
FARO
Laser line scanning is ideal for non-contact measurement applications - including inspection, cloud- to-CAD comparison, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, and 3-D modeling. Laser line probes use a triangulation process to find the position of objects in space. A high performance laser diode…
(UL: Northbrook, Illinois) -- Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a provider of product safety testing and certification, recently launched its new Power Quality Study service offering. This new service, available to customers of data acceptance programs (DAP) and manufacturer test laboratories (MTLs…
(EtQ: Farmingdale, New York) -- The EtQ decision tree allows users to create a web-based list of related questions that are dependant on each other, so that the results of the questions will impact the business process and produce quantitative results such as a risk ranking, subsequent questions,…
(Keyence: Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey) -- The new Keyence VW-6000 Series motion analysis microscope is the world’s first microscope with high-speed magnified video capture capabilities. High-speed motion recording of up to 24,000 fps enables accurate filming of failures in moving targets that…
(Keyence: Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey) -- The new Keyence VW-6000 Series motion analysis microscope is the world’s first microscope with high-speed magnified video capture capabilities. High-speed motion recording of up to 24,000 fps enables accurate filming of failures in moving targets that…
(MoreSteam: Lewis Center, Ohio) -- MoreSteam.com announce the release of French and German versions of its Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course. These newest additions to MoreSteam’s e-Learning catalog are the first complete Lean Six Sigma Green Belt courses presented in French and German by any…
Raissa Carey
The innovative voice of the customer (VOC) data approach that HD Supply Facilities Maintenance uses to drive customer loyalty, continuous improvement, and operational excellence earned the company the top award at the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) 24th International Team Excellence Awards…
(MFGWatch: Atlanta) -- Results of a survey recently conducted by MFGWatch give a snapshot on the state of sourcing, sourcing preferences, company growth projections, and reactions to economic conditions. More than 200 purchasing professionals and engineers from the manufacturing industry…
MAMTC
A kaizen event is a cost-effective method for creating dramatic improvements in processes. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means “to make people’s jobs easier by taking them apart, studying them, and making improvements.”
The intent of a kaizen event is to make people more productive by improving…
David Millar
The moment for action in the United States on climate change has arrived in earnest. With the election of President Obama and increased majorities of Democrats in Congress, there is unprecedented momentum to pass comprehensive climate legislation that caps the aggregate amount of greenhouse gases…
H. James Harrington
During the 1980s using flowcharts was the “in thing” to do. Today, technology has provided us with a much more effective and useful tool: simulation modeling. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then one that logically simulates tasks and collects data has to be worth a million. Simulation…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, Rhode Island) -- Tapers play an important role in orthopaedic devices. Most hip and knee implants use tapers because they provide good alignment and can be "locked" into position. In manufacturing these devices, the control of taper and size determines how well an…
FDA
(FDA: Silver Spring, Maryland) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the formation of a task force to develop recommendations for enhancing the transparency of the agency’s operations and decision-making process.
To support the efforts of the task force, the FDA…
American National Standards Institute ANSI
(ANSI: New York) -- June 9 marked the worldwide celebration of International Accreditation Day (IAD), an event launched in 2008 by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
Each year on June 9, IAF and ILAC invite their national…
Jeff Bibee
(Werth Messtechnik: Old Saybrook, Connecticut) -- The Werth Inspector FQ is an extremely fast measuring machine with linear drives. Positioning speed is up to 1,000 meters/second with acceleration speed of 10 meters/second2. It comes standard with zoom optics and can be outfitted with additional…
(LRQA: Houston) -- A leading online source of information, resources, and opinion on the specific issues that organizations are facing, www.businessassurance.com, has launched a 10-part audio and video podcast series, "Trust and Transparency." The series is a result of the launch event for the…
Brittany Vogel
The European Union is working to make products safer for consumers and manufacturers alike. Its new regulations concerning chemicals used in product makeup, REACH, will extend across the pond to affect chemical standards in the United States. The new legislation will make everything from the…
(Cargill: Washington, D.C.) -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, has named Cargill corporate vice president, Jerry Rose, to chair the Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The board advises the Commerce Department on all aspects of the Baldrige National Quality…
Arshad Hafeez
Whenever the economic climate freezes assets and sends investors scurrying for cover, businesses must find new ways to grow and stand out from the competition. Cost-cutting is the obvious, and usual, course of action. But in troubled times, isn’t it better to do something proactive and positive,…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
(Quality Digest: Chico, California) -- Nikon Corp. has announced an offer to purchase Belgium-based metrology company, Metris N.V., for €5.50 per share. This represents an 107-percent premium to Metris's closing price on NYSE Euronext Brussels as of May 26, 2009, according to Metris. The buyout…
