All Features
Sheronda Jeffries
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, UK officials have seized millions of substandard face masks at Heathrow Airport. These masks could have put millions at risk for contracting or spreading the Covid-19 virus.
Industry and governmental organizations including the Therapeutic Goods…
Philippe Aghion
Imagine a ship at sea, at risk of sinking in a tempest. Is it better to empower the crew to do whatever it takes to save the ship, or should every decision be made by the captain and top officers? Similarly, what should the optimal form of firm organization be during a severe downturn? The need to…
Corey Brown
Lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures are common in industrial and manufacturing environments. Despite this, failure to adequately train employees on LOTO procedures continues to be one of the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) top 10 most frequently cited violations during…
Stephen M. Hahn, Amy P. Abernethy
During a short period of time, our society has seen a rapid increase in the interest and availability of cannabidiol (CBD) products and other products derived from cannabis. However, we still have a limited understanding of the safety profile of CBD and many other cannabis-derived compounds,…
The ROI Alliance
(The ROI Alliance: Longmont, CO) -- After more than 24 years of consulting, one consultant says he knows why everyone in a business thinks that everyone else is working on the wrong things, and what to do to fix it.
In his new book, Galileo’s Telescope, author Steven Ouellette presents a…
Jay Arthur—The KnowWare Man
There are two ways to increase profits: increase sales or reduce costs. Although most data analysis seeks to find more ways to sell more stuff to more people, addressing preventable problems is an often overlooked opportunity. Preventable problems consume a third or more of corporate expenses and…
Michelle LaBrosse
Do you find the idea of having to do project management almost as much fun as getting a root canal? If so, you’re not alone. But it doesn’t have to be as bad as a painful dental procedure to adopt more effective ways of managing your projects.
Nor does it have to be extremely boring or some type…
Chris Fox
To many, the world of production and manufacturing is a mystery. The general public often simply picks up their goods from the store or orders them online with little thought given to what engineering efforts went into developing those products, or what it takes to create them.
The realization of…
Grant Ramaley
As the 2020 pandemic threatened world health, a large number of unscrupulous companies began generating fake International Organization for Standardization (ISO) quality management system (QMS) certificates in an attempt to fool governments into buying personal protective equipment (PPE),…
Drew Calvert
For the past decade, policymakers and nongovernmental organizations have pushed for greater transparency in supply chains, with the goal of encouraging more responsible sourcing practices. The Dodd-Frank Act, for example, required firms to disclose their suppliers’ involvement with any “conflict…
Chip Bell
All my life, I thought leaves departed trees in the fall because they got too old to hang onto the branch and gravity bested their grasp. It does not work that way. Trees literally release their leaves from the limb. Here is how a leaf becomes the prey of gravity.
As days get colder and shorter,…
MIT News
Buildings account for about 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption, and are responsible for one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions. Making buildings more energy-efficient is not only a cost-saving measure, but also a crucial climate-change mitigation strategy. Hence the rise of “smart”…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon MI: North Kingstown, RI) -- Precision aerospace part manufacturer Alloy Specialties has become one of the first adopters of a new robotic quality inspection technology, Tempo, from Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. Tempo has enabled the company to increase its production…
Matthew Bundy
Untitled Document
Burning plastic cart carrying a fax machine, a laptop computer, and a three-ring binder. Click here for larger image. Credit: FCD/NIST
Several centuries ago, scientists discovered oxygen while experimenting with combustion and flames. One scientist called it “fire air.” Today,…
Zach Winn
This story was originally published by MIT News.
These days businesses have enough to worry about without thinking about their insurance. Unfortunately, tasks like managing insurance claims and completing annual renewals require a lot of thinking.
The startup Newfront Insurance is seeking to…
L.S. Starrett Co.
(L.S. Starrett Co.: Athol, MA) -- The L.S. Starrett Co., a leading global manufacturer of precision measuring tools and gages, metrology systems and more, has announced the introduction of DataSure 4.0, an advanced wireless data collection system for acquiring precision measurement data. With…
(MSI Data: Milwaukee) -- MSI Data today introduced advanced inspection reporting and analytics to their leading field service management software, Service Pro. These new features make the powerful insights available in field inspection results simpler to access, review, analyze, and share.
Service…
Gleb Tsipursky
Should quality professionals be worried about the new Covid strains originating in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and elsewhere, and recently identified in the United States?
Authorities have focused on downplaying concerns about vaccine effectiveness against these new variants. While some…
Annette Franz
I’ll keep today’s article simple—and fun. Bob Farrell, founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, shared the secret to a great customer experience in 1973 (yes, almost 50 years ago!), when he developed a motivational speech for new employees called “Give ’em the pickle!” It was based on a letter he…
Michigan Metrology
(Michigan Metrology: Livonia, MI) -- Michigan Metrology, experts in solving problems related to surface texture, wear, finish, and friction, announce an online, two-day class in surface texture, friction, and wear. The class, which will be held online March 10–11, 2021, is part of a suite of online…
ASQ
The leading global association for quality professionals, ASQ, announces that Ann Jordan has been confirmed as the society’s CEO, effective immediately. Jordan has served as interim CEO since January 2020. She joined ASQ in 2017 as general counsel and has worked extensively with the board of…
Loretta Marie Perera
Recently, the team at 4C Creative Cad CAM Consultants in Emmen, Netherlands, was given a unique task: How to get a vintage Harley Davidson motorcycle back on the road again.
What was fun about this project wasn’t how challenging it was, or how much expertise it required. The joy was in the end…
Kate Saenko
Last month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search and other text analysis products.…
DP Technology
(ESPRIT: Camarillo, CA) -- ESPRIT, the industry’s most trusted CAM software for CNC programming, optimization, and simulation, announces the debut release of its on-demand training platform, ESPRIT Learning Center, to the general public.
Traditionally, ESPRIT’s applications engineers lead in-…
James J. Kline
Ever since the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) included risk-based thinking in ISO 9001:2015, an idea has arisen among some in the quality profession that quality managers can move into the risk management arena without any competition from other professions. This article looks…
