All Features
Georgia Institute of Technology
Unique three-dimensional solar cells that capture nearly all of the light that strikes them could boost the efficiency of photovoltaic systems while reducing their size, weight, and mechanical complexity. The new 3-D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower”…
Quality Digest
(CSPI: Washington) -- On several Web sites, the Sara Lee Corp. muses about how consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that many “whole grain” breads are actually more like whole wheat bread than white bread, and chides its competitors for not being “100-percent whole-grain.” Sara Lee helps…
Quality Digest
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- A team of computer scientists and mathematicians from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Texas, Arlington, is developing an open-source tool that catches programming errors by using an emerging approach called “combinatorial…
Quality Digest
(Best Practices: Chapel Hill, North Carolina) -- Many companies believe that they deliver superior customer experience, but far fewer customers agree with this assessment. Because the many elements that add up to the customer experience can have such a profound effect on business performance and…
Bill Kalmar
Now that I have your attention, let me explain. This year I will enter a very special age group, namely, those people eligible for Medicare. The magical age of 65 provides one with certain mystical rights—Medicare benefits, of course, which means we’ll be swimming in extra disposable income. Yeah…
Quality Digest
(The Center for Business Intelligence: Woburn, Massachusetts) – CBI will host the conference with the theme, “Implement a Strategy for Continuous Quality Systems Improvement in Accordance with ICH Q10 Guidelines,” January 24–25, 2008, in Philadelphia.ICH Q10 describes one comprehensive approach…
Quality Digest
(AHRQ: Rockville, Maryland) -- An array of toolkits designed to help doctors, nurses, hospital managers, patients, and others reduce medical errors was recently released by the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.The 17 toolkits, developed by AHRQ-funded…
Georgia Institute of Technology
Research reported recently in the journal Advanced Materials describes a potentially promising strategy for encouraging the regeneration of damaged central nervous system cells known as neurons.The technique would use a biodegradable polymer containing a chemical group that mimics the…
Quality Digest
From left, Col. Michael Pelletier, 555th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron commander; Col. James Fulton, 727th Aircraft Sustainment Group commander; DeLana Aylor, 448th Combat Sustainment Wing financial management; and Ernie Guttery, 76th Maintenance Support Group, discuss their…
Quality Digest
Guest speaker Julie Rushin, director at Internal Revenue Service’s strategy and finance division (ASQ: Milwaukee) -- Lean Six Sigma experts from around the world will gather at the 8th Annual American Society for Quality Lean Six Sigma Conference Feb. 11-12…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality’s 2008 World Conference on Quality and Improvement, May 5-7, 2008 in Houston, Texas, will provide attendees with a myriad of improvement opportunities. More than 90 breakout sessions are planned ranging from topics on business excellence,…
Forrest Breyfogle—New Paradigms
Editor’s note:This short story is part of a three-volume series—Integrated Enterprise Excellence: Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard, by Forrest Breyfogle. Within the context of this fictional story the author discusses the attributes of an integrated training program that he…
Steven Ouellette
As I’m writing this, our first big snowfall of the year is piling up outside and it is –10°C (15°F). This brings to mind the many times my grandfather told me of how he walked to school in winter uphill (both ways) with no shoes. So I wondered, will I be able to spin the same yarn for my girls and…
Quality Digest
(Paton Professional: Chico, California) -- Santa Claus became aware of the ISO 9001 standard several years ago and immediately recognized the value it could bring to his North Pole operation. The ever-generous Claus now offers gratis his quality manual as a PDF download from which all can benefit.…
Quality Digest
(CSPI: Washington) -- In a report released in mid-November, the Food and Drug Administration claimed a new report prepared by the Eastern Research Group showed it would be difficult to create advisory committees free from conflicts of interest and that advisers granted conflict-of-interest waivers…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- The American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) board of directors recently appointed its new members and officers for the term beginning January 1, 2008.Robert W. Noth, manager of engineering standards for Deere & Co., was reappointed for a third one-year term as ANSI’s…
Douglas C. Fair
I don’t believe in ghosts. Yet quality professionals chase them every day. Why? Because erroneous control limits tell them to. Control limits should be statistically based, 100-percent reliable, and reveal natural process variability. Hence, they should help to uncover unnatural events. Yet when I…
William Tandler
Our original plan for workshop No. 3 was to discuss what are generally referred to as material condition modifiers, namely the encircled letters “M,” “L,” and “S” which sometimes follow tolerance values and sometimes follow datum-feature labels in feature-control frames. The idea was to explain…
Quality Digest
(Agilent Technologies Inc.: Santa Clara, California) --Agilent Technologies Inc. and Multiprobe Inc. will expand the their strategic partnership. As a result, Multiprobe’s Multiscan Atomic Force Prober (AFP), the world’s highest-resolution nanoprober, will be sold and supported by Agilent to…
Quality Digest
(Lockheed Martin: Herndon, Virginia) -- The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Lockheed Martin are working to streamline and speed the delivery of critical maps, imagery and other geospatial data to users worldwide. The Demand-Based Geospatial Intelligence (DBGI) program is an…
Fred Mason
During this annual holiday shopping melee, economists project the implications of our spending for the country’s overall economic health in the coming year. That can be like claiming a warm December day proves global warming. What does this have to do with measurement? Quite a bit, actually,…
Quality Digest
(Artel: Los Angeles) -- At Death Valley for Mission No.3 of the Extreme Pipetting Expedition, Artel found that pipettes underdeliver by up to 35 percent in dry and hot environments. While volume delivery errors were partially reduced by prewetting pipette tips, underdelivery still persisted…
Denise Robitaille
Many of us quality professionals have been teased by our families on more than one occasion for applying quality principles to everyday life. “I know you said you did your homework, but I’d like to see the evidence.” Admit it; many of you have been caught using quality speak around the house.…
Quality Digest
(ASTM International: West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania) -- Chemical plants and contract and research laboratories will all be likely users of a new ASTM International standard, D 7183—“Test Method for Determination of Total Sulfur in Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Related Chemicals by Ultraviolet…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- National governments and companies around the world have recognized the strategic and economic value of a workforce that is well-versed on standardization principles. Many industry sectors, associations, and countries have already begun to introduce standards and conformity…
