All Features
Davis Balestracci
This article is based on some ideas from my respected colleague Mark Hamel. Despite the lean framework, these ideas apply to any improvement approach—all of which come from the same theory, lean included.
During the past 35 years, quality has evolved from the necessary evil of quality control to…
Jim Benson
When you are a consultant, or worse yet, seen as a thought leader, people hire you expecting that you’ll know “the answers.” At best, what you actually know are paths to make sense of problems, communicate them, and then solve them. No consultant should ever arrive knowing the answers. If they do…
AIMS Metrology
(AIMS: Dayton, OH) -- AIMS Metrology, an OEM for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), will host its first educational event, Advancing Quality In Manufacturing, May 10–12, 2016, at its newly expanded facility in Dayton, Ohio.
In addition to plant tours and new equipment demonstrations, AIMS is…
NIST
NIST scientists have devised and improved a prototype instrument the size of a loaf of bread that can substantially increase the accuracy of length measurements in commerce. Perhaps surprisingly, it does so by achieving the most accurate measure of the refractive index of air reported to date.
An…
Knowledge at Wharton
Today, design has a seat at the table. With the success of products like the iPod and the iPhone, businesses have realized that a good user experience is key for improving the bottom line. Yet even with this determined focus on design, most digital experiences fall short of user expectations.
Of…
(Keytroller: Tampa, FL) -- Keytroller has set a new standard in forklift weighing with the introduction of the most accurate hydraulic scale on the market. The PRECISE Hi-Accuracy forklift scale offers weighing precision nearly as accurate as carriage or fork load cell scales, but at half the cost…
Elisabet Lagerstedt
A few years back, a searing pain in my elbow sent me to the doctor, who diagnosed me with olecranon bursitis. Apparently, all that time spent leaning forward on hard desks in different meeting rooms during my team’s frequent marathon strategic planning sessions was putting too much stress on my…
Bill Kalmar
Isn’t caller ID wonderful?! Every day we get calls that are listed as “unavailable,” “out of area,” “name not found,” “anonymous,” and “toll-free caller.” Most of the calls are scams and generally we don’t answer. But on occasion, when I want to have some fun, I relent and pick up the phone.…
Bruce Hamilton
Here’s a personal reflection from my distant past that might describe a current state for some of you.
When I began working in manufacturing during the pre-lean era, the quoted lead time for my company’s products averaged 12 to 16 weeks. By the 1980s, however, many customers began to routinely…
Humantech
(Humantech: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Humantech has announced the 2016 schedule of its popular series of ergonomics seminars with three different course offerings located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Applied Industrial Ergonomics, a two-day seminar, focuses on practical approaches to improving problem jobs,…
Manufacturing Extension Partnership MEP
Whether it’s for performance management or for risk, it’s important to know who your suppliers are and have a close business relationship with them.
It’s a given you should already have a strong relationship with your key suppliers, but how often does your supplier request the following items? •…
Peter Dizikes
Want to encourage innovation? A new study co-authored by an MIT professor finds that little-known state laws called “constituency statutes” have significant effects on the quantity and quality of innovative business actions.
The statutes, which allow companies to prioritize the interests of “…
Sensor Products Inc.
(Sensor Products Inc.: Madison, NJ) -- National Engineers Week, which was held Feb. 16–22, 2015, was the perfect time to excite a child’s interest in engineering and science. Jeffrey Stark, CEO of Sensor Products Inc., has written a brief, colorful book called Pressureman, which is primarily…
Evan Hackel
I had a call from one of my clients, a franchise brand. I can’t mention the company’s name here, but you know them. They have branded walk-in locations in hundreds of cities and towns across America—probably near where you live.
The call explained that the company had a very specific problem it…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) --The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) at NIST released data this week that document the scope of services provided to U.S. organizations in every sector and nearly every state through the national network of Baldrige-based nonprofit programs that form the…
Paula Oddy
Sponsored Content
As an auditor of quality management systems, I can tell you from firsthand experience that most auditees dislike corrective actions. Corrections are tied to findings of nonconformance; understandably, people generally want to emerge from an audit without any significant findings…
Annette Franz
When I go to customer experience conferences, B2B companies are underrepresented, both in attendees and speakers. When clients look for benchmark data, B2B reports are few and far between.
These are just two examples of why I want to revisit a question I posed in a post I wrote two years ago: If…
Exact Metrology
(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- On Jan. 28, 2016, Exact Metrology achieved AS9100 certification for its Cincinnati facility, where 3D and CT scanning services and equipment sales are provided to industries across North America.
“In achieving this prestigious certification, our team has great…
SUHNER
(SUHNER: Rome, GA) -- With a redesigned pneumatic drive, the LRC 20 from SUHNER now offers a set of hand tools that can grind, mill, and polish places that previously could be accessed only with great difficulty (e.g., leading edges and corners of impellers, insides of narrow pipes). This new…
Donald J. Wheeler
Here we look at a simple example to discover the commonalties of various data analysis techniques widely used in industry today. Careful consideration of the following may result in insights that were not part of your introductory class in statistics.
Our example uses the gate oxide thicknesses…
Diane Lee
Like many of you, I venture out on Saturday mornings to get groceries and gas. Until my college years, I never thought much about whether or not I paid the right amount at the pump, if the supermarket scale was correct, or if packaged foods actually contained the amount of product stated on the…
Mario Moussa, Derek Newberry, Madeline Boyer
Twisting your features into a mask of pain, you dig your heels into the soft grass. A rope tears into your palms. A clear, tiny voice speaks to you amid the many confused thoughts swirling in your head: “So-o-o-o... what am I learning from this experience?”
Well, if you’re like many who have done…
Joel Smith
For the majority of my career with Minitab, I’ve had the opportunity to speak somewhat regularly at conferences and other events. I thought some of my talks were pretty good, and some were not so good (based on ratings, audiences didn't always agree with my opinion at either extreme—but that's a…
Gilles Hilary
In 2013, the U.S. Air Force realized that more than 20 percent of the nuclear officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base had cheated on their certification exam. Many other officers knew about the problem but didn’t report it. The root cause for this dangerous behavior was a culture of fear that led…
CRC Press
(CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL) -- Case Studies in Strategic Planning shows you how to do systematic strategic planning in real-life cases, regardless of your level of expertise. The simplified version of this methodology and its analysis tools, based on fundamentals, is easily understood and…
