All Features
Mariah Hauck
The latest Thomas Industrial Survey revealed the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 on North American manufacturing. Unsurprisingly, 89 percent of the 1,000+ North American manufacturers surveyed reported being affected by Covid-19. Business impacts include decreased demand, staffing issues, and…
Sarah Simon
Throughout my career, I’ve enjoyed the thrill of several transitions between parallel (related but different) professional camps. In each case, there was some level of misalignment between professional villages, ranging from misunderstanding to distrust and even acrimony.
Three major transitions I…
Maggie Pavlick
Masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) are essential for protecting healthcare workers. However, the textiles and materials used to make such items can absorb and carry viruses and bacteria, inadvertently spreading the disease the wearer sought to contain.
When the coronavirus…
Ken Levine
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) professionals have an enormous opportunity to add value to organizations and to our communities during this coronavirus pandemic. We have the objective orientation, methods, and tools to help. Process improvement is currently more important than ever in this “new normal”…
Thomas Hellwig
The Covid-19 world is marked by a high degree of uncertainty and existential fear, a dearth of social interaction, the convergence of professional and personal space, a lack of physical activity, and an obsessive focus on hygiene and social distancing. For professionals, this amounts to a toxic…
Jim Benson
Stop asking, “Which tool should I use?” and start asking, “How can I work smarter?”
When I was a young coder, I asked my mother, “What will I be?” Will I be Jira, Will I be Asana? Here’s what she said to me....“Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. Your app is not a ticket to be free. Que…
Jessica Reiner
For more than 20 years, a class of man-made, potentially cancer-causing chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has commonly been found in humans and the environment. These chemicals are used in a variety of industries and can be found in many consumer products, such as food…
Jeff Dewar
‘We shouldn’t be calling some jobs essential.”
That line got me into a lot of trouble the other day when chatting with friends about how the term “essential worker” degrades the stature of all the “nonessentials,” when, in fact, we all play an essential role in the millions of supply chains across…
Puerto Rico Manufacturing Extension
El-Com Systems Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of El-COM Systems Solutions based in California. The local company has been in Puerto Rico since 2016 operating in Caguas. The company is dedicated to manufacturing complex electromechanical subsystems and assemblies for the global aerospace and…
Paul Laughlin
One of the most practical data visualization books for my clients is Storytelling With Data (Wiley, 2015). So, this is a longer-than-usual book review of this modern classic.
I say that because it is not just accessible for those with no background in data visualization. The book also focuses on…
Dawn Bailey
In this article series, we explain some of the successful strategies and programs shared by Baldrige Award recipients to highlight categories of the Baldrige Criteria and how your organization might consider using them as inspiration.
Part of the purpose of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality…
Maria Watson
The U.S. government has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic. But early reports suggested larger companies were gobbling up much of the aid, while many of the neediest ones—particularly those with only a few dozen employees—weren’t…
Peter Dizikes
With 20.5 million jobs slashed from U.S. payrolls in April, and a 14.7 percent unemployment rate, the Covid-19 pandemic has created workforce problems unseen since the Great Depression. These dynamics are being closely observed by MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future, which released a high-…
Vandana Suresh
Plastics are a popular 3D printing material, allowing users to create a variety of objects, from simple toys to custom prosthetic parts. But these printed parts are mechanically weak—a flaw caused by the imperfect bonding between the individual printed layers that make up the 3D part.
Now,…
Lloyd Instruments Ltd.
(Lloyd Instruments: West Sussex, UK) -- A new single-column universal testing machine from Lloyd Instruments provides ultrahigh-speed testing along with flexibility, reliability, and high-accuracy test results for all materials testing applications up to 5 kN supporting test types such as tensile,…
Davis Balestracci
What is the Vasa? It was a Swedish warship built in 1628. It was supposed to be the grandest, largest, and most powerful warship of its time. King Gustavus Adolphus himself took a keen personal interest and insisted on an entire extra deck above the waterline to add to the majesty and comfort of…
Dave Cook
We are experiencing the biggest remote-work experiment in history—but many are beginning to imagine life after lockdown. Amid unprecedented global job losses, concerns about transport infrastructure, and the continuing need for workplace social distancing, governments are launching back-to-work…
Marposs
(Marposs: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Marposs, a world leader in measurement, inspection and test technologies, introduces Aeroel Wirelab.XY, a table-top laser micrometer designed for off-line checking of drawn or extruded products that demand high accuracy. It is an ideal solution for measuring diameter…
John Smits, Gary Confalone, Tom Kinnare
Confusion between the two terms “RADAR” and “LIDAR” is understandable. Their names are nearly synonymous, and the terms are often used interchangeably. The acronyms are RADAR, which stands for RAdio Detection And Ranging; and LIDAR, which stands for LIght Detection And Ranging. The major difference…
Mary Ann Pacelli
Last year’s Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) was an enormous success for U.S. manufacturers looking to engage the next generation of manufacturers. But how can you ensure the spark you kindled in the next generation finds fuel? Now more than ever, it’s critical to inform students and potential young…
Exact Metrology
(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- Exact Metrology, a comprehensive metrology service provider, is offering free training videos on the company’s YouTube channel. During these trying times, the company has started creating a series of training, tips and tricks, unboxing and product videos to provide…
Raghu Kalé
The mental makeup of the human mind is an enigma. Understanding reality has a bearing in comprehension. As a communications professional, I have grappled with what provokes audiences into believing a proposition, and what douses their suspicions and doubts. Emotion has a vital role in decision-…
David Braun
No matter how well designed, there are no running shoes that allow runners to keep up with cyclists. The bicycle was a key invention that doubled human-powered speed. But what if a new kind of shoe could allow people to run faster by mimicking cycling mechanics?
This is the question my students in…
Anne Trafton
When MIT announced in March 2020 that most research labs on campus would need to ramp down to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, Canan Dagdeviren’s lab was ready.
For the past two years, Dagdeviren and her lab manager, David Sadat, have run the Conformable Decoders Group using “lean lab”…
Ryan E. Day
The Covid-19 pandemic is disrupting business across the globe, and supply chains are being stressed to their limits by sudden and drastic increases in online commerce. As organizations strive to continue delivering physical product, the industrial internet of things (IIoT) is being considered as a…
