All Features
Tim Lozier
In our last episode, we looked at how the crew of the USS Enterprise might have employed quality management systems (QMS) to help streamline their processes, mitigate risks, and foster continuous improvement throughout the galaxy. Now we will continue our “trek” and look at some of the other areas…
Tim Lozier
I am by no means a Trekkie. I don’t go to conventions, nor do I have all the episodes memorized and cataloged. I don’t even try and weigh in on Picard vs. Kirk (although I do have some valid points in that debate—another time). What I do know is I tend to see things in terms of quality management…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Editor’s note: In the current, sometimes heated, discussion about the relevance of unions, David Schwinn takes a look at their role and the responsibilities of both union members and managers.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in a gridlock on a four-block stretch of Grand Ave. in downtown Lansing,…
Jim Clifton
Please don’t tell me that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction, however slowly. I hear this from politicians and commentators all the time. It isn’t. Not even close. Key economic metrics offer no encouragement at all.
The two big ones, gross domestic product (GDP) and unemployment,…
Jack Dunigan
I want a staff entirely populated by trusted associates; everyone does. But hardly anyone has a staff who functions at that level all the time. At some time, somewhere, someone is unaware—that is to say, they are unconsciously incompetent.
Louis the intern functioned at that level more than any…
Creaform Inc.
(Creaform: Lévis, Québec, Canada) -- How often do engineers get the chance to make their most cherished yet craziest project a reality?
It’s exactly this opportunity Creaform is putting forward through the 2013 edition of its “Put us to the test!” contest.
By entering this competition, engineers…
James Hartford
Editor’s note: This topic will be covered at greater length in an IBS-Quality Digest webinar on Tues. Jan. 29, 2013, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern. Click here to register for this event.
Labels are a primary way to share product information in a manufacturing organization. They identify items…
Reverseengineering.com
(ReverseEngineering.com: La Jolla, CA) -- ReverseEngineering.com, a leader in advanced reverse engineering and 3D scanning software, will debut the next major release of ReverseEngineering.com for SolidWorks 2013 at SolidWorks World 2013, which will take place Jan. 20-23, 2013, in Orlando, Florida…
Association for Advancing Automation A3
The Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the global advocate for the automation industry, is disappointed in how 60 Minutes portrayed the industry in “March of the Machines” that aired Jan. 13, 2013.
“[Although] the 60 Minutes depiction of how technological advances in automation and…
John Flaig
You may have noticed that there is a huge amount of confusion with regards to the process capability indices Cp’s and Pp’s (see the iSixSigma website). Specifically, the confusion centers around when to use which one and what they mean. I would say that a large proportion of the engineering…
Arun Hariharan
If that title caught your attention, it was meant to. Let me begin by saying I am not advocating that businesses do away with measurements, especially customer- and quality-related measurements. However, drowning in data, as illustrated by the following story, is counterproductive.
Some months ago…
Mike Micklewright
Got your attention by what seems a bizarre claim? Yes, you can significantly reduce the number of procedures you maintain by converting your ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) to one that is also certified to the medical device standard ISO 13485 and the aerospace standard AS9100.
I am…
MIT News
When you get a cut, blood starts to flow from the wound. But very quickly, complex biochemical processes spring into action, creating a scaffolding of molecules to block the hole, and then building up an impervious clot to staunch the flow.
That process relies on a set of molecules that constantly…
Johns Hopkins University
Harmony in the workplace is highly desirable, but what happens when some workers depend on biological brains, while others need computers to guide their behavior? With an eye toward enhanced safety and greater productivity, Johns Hopkins engineers have joined colleagues at four other universities…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
Recently I was asked by the sales manager of a company if I could reach his staff with a message he had been trying to “beat into their heads for months” (his words, not mine).
He wanted me to accomplish what he failed to do: inspire his sales people to spend more time pursuing smaller accounts.…
MIT News
Prizes have long been used to induce solutions to national challenges. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, prizes yielded vaccine inoculation, lifeboats, a method of calculating longitude at sea, new food-preservation techniques, and more. But by the late 19th century, prizes had largely been…
Umberto Tunesi
I first came across this notion of the invisibility of good leadership back in 1969. I had just started working in the laboratory of a chemical company based in Hamburg, and I was given the task of learning how to glue things together. To glue my mind together, too; I was 19 years old, on my own…
Grant Ramaley
Some European Commission notified bodies have been forcing a position that a medical device must conform to the latest technical standards to meet the European legal requirement for “state of the art.” As a result, some manufacturers have been pressed into paying tens of thousands of dollars to…
Kari Miller
Most people in industry are familiar with W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, James Harrington, and others whose ideas are usually grouped under the term total quality management (TQM). However, the practices they embrace aren’t just about TQM; they are about management best practices that embrace a…
ETM Manufacturing
ETM Manufacturing, a fast-growing sheet metal manufacturer, will join with customer, HTP Inc. and supplier, Ryerson, to test the effect of lean manufacturing strategies and practices on the extended supply chain. The company, which has used lean manufacturing principles to streamline its own…
Giuseppe Pagnoni
In early 2010, I decided to take a step forward in my personal development and prepared for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) exam. Considering the complexity of the exam and my limited spare time, this was really a challenge. But I worked hard and achieved the…
NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) wants to help turn manufacturing robots into dexterous, nimble-fingered machines—affordable mechanical helpers that can easily handle different types of objects and flexibly assist human workers at even small U.S. factories.
At a January 24…
FDA
Last December, Sunland Inc. entered into a court-ordered agreement imposing requirements that must be complied with if the company is to operate. This consent decree follows the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) suspension of Sunland’s food facility registration in November 2012. The suspension…
Patrick Runkel
In this multi-part transcript from a hypothetical trial, we find Lionel Loosefit standing before a court and facing charges of gross statistical misconduct when performing a regression analysis. Day one featured testimony by the prosecutor; during day two, the evidence is put to the test during…
Patrick Runkel
In this three-part transcript from a hypothetical trial, we find Lionel Loosefit standing before a court and facing charges of gross statistical misconduct when performing a regression analysis. Day one features testimony by the prosecutor; during day two, the evidence is put to the test during…
