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Olympus
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Coatings play an essential role in the product development cycle, whether for corrosion resistance, protection against moisture intrusion, or simply to beautify a product. Since over- or under-application can lead to poor performance or product failure, thickness measurement is…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Our Sept. 8, 2017, episode of QDL examined a different way to conduct clinical trials, discussed fixing problems before they occur, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey looked at resources for building a more resilient and sustainable infrastructure.
“A Better Way to Design Clinical Trials”
A…
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest
There’s nothing like a splash of cold water to wake you up. Imagine what a 33-trillion-gallon splash would do. Maybe 24 hours of wind at 185 miles per hour would sweep you onto your feet. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma said, “Wakey wakey,” and we can’t afford to nod off.
How do you recover from…
Arun Hariharan
In the last week of August 2017, two extreme weather events occurred on opposite sides of the world. Hurricane Harvey brought record-breaking rain and catastrophic flooding to Houston, Texas, causing loss of life, mass evacuation of people, and damage estimated to be in billions of dollars. Around…
Greg Hutchins
I live in the Northwest of the United States. We are now the small business and startup mecca of the country. Why? San Francisco and Silicon Valley are too expensive. So, folks are moving in droves to Portland and Seattle; one-third of the license plates in my hood are out of state.
But there are…
Greg Anderson
In part one of this series, I described the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center and its mission to test innovative payment and delivery models, and to implement the Medicare Access and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act (MACRA) Quality…
Eston Martz
The Six Sigma quality improvement methodology has lasted for decades because it gets results. Companies in every country around the world, and in every industry, have used this logical, step-by-step method to improve the quality of their processes, products, and services. And they’ve saved…
DNV GL
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A new report by Jupiter Research says $8 trillion will be the price tag—within the next five years—of cyber attacks against businesses around the world. Hacks and other forms of digital theft are accelerating despite what would seem to be nonstop efforts by corporations to harden…
Donald J. Wheeler, James Beagle III
Sometimes we use a chart for individual values and a moving range (an XmR chart) to assess the homogeneity of a finite data set. Since this is an "off-label" use for the XmR chart, we first consider the drawbacks associated with using a sequential technique as a one-time test, and then present an…
Eston Martz
Six Sigma is a quality improvement method that businesses have used for decades—because it gets results. A Six Sigma project follows a clearly defined series of steps, and companies in every industry in every country around the world have used this method to resolve problems. Along the way, they’…
Stephen Chick
Value has found a place at the heart of healthcare innovation. For money-conscious governments and other actors in the system, it’s not enough that a new treatment be beneficial and safe. It also needs to be cost effective.
This emphasis on value is even changing the profile of the pharmaceutical…
Mike Richman
On Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, QDL included news about the disaster in Texas and no apocalypse in retail, an interview covering a different approach to failure modes and effects analyses, a feature article on consumer views about for-profit social-benefit enterprises, and a great new Tech Corner demo.…
Mike Richman
Last week, my friend and colleague, QD editor in chief Dirk Dusharme, wrote an uplifting and important column in this space. Titled “The Day We All Looked for the Same Thing,” Dirk’s article used last week’s solar eclipse, seen in its totality in so many places around the United States, as a motif…
Thomas Cronin
We humans are uncommonly visual creatures. And those of us endowed with normal sight are used to thinking of our eyes as vital to how we experience the world.
Vision is an advanced form of photoreception—that is, light sensing. But we also experience other more rudimentary forms of photoreception…
Jesse Lyn Stoner
Are you ready to be a first-time manager? Perhaps you’ve had some bad managers in the past, and you think this is your chance to do it right. Well, it is your chance to do it right. But you can’t wing it.
Research reveals that nearly 60 percent of first-time managers underperform and often end up…
Gwendolyn Galsworth
What's the big difference between visual and lean? Answering that question brings us closer to understanding our premise for the short series I began in issue 23 of The Visual Thinker (May 27, 2017), with the article, “Lean Alone Is Not Enough.” But first we must raise the question under the one I…
John Hayes
Reports that small, low-profile, single-bin automated guided vehicles (AGV) capable of light load, small-bin pickup and transport will soon take over warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants are exaggerated. Sure, when Amazon bought Kiva years ago for a little less than a…
Steven Brand
The evolution from manual methods to advanced techniques for creating goods and services has become a complex process, giving rise to a host of HR challenges in manufacturing.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) paints a positive outlook for the U.S. manufacturing industry. NAM’s most…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence North America hosted an exclusive celebratory event and book signing last night to recognize the nearly 185years of Rhode Island's rich industrial history. The event showcased Gerald Carbone’s new book…
Jon Speer
Medical device startups tend to share many common issues. They are usually striving for better resources (such as people and capital) as well as the knowledge and expertise required to deal with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and successfully bring a product to market.
For many…
Saerom Lee, Karen Winterich, Lisa E. Bolton
Have you ever wondered who collects the clothes you stuff into that donation drop box in your neighborhood? Chances are, you assumed it was a nonprofit, but that box actually may instead belong to a for-profit social venture. If you don’t know what that means, you’re not alone.
Years ago, just…
Automated Precision Inc.
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Scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) are working on research projects that aim to answer fundamental physics questions. How did the universe begin? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is the mass hierarchy of neutrinos? Are there other…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Our Aug. 25, 2017, episode of QDL looked at how technology can bring us together physically; an incredible new power source from the U.S. Army; an interview with Thomas Publishing president and CEO, Tony Uphoff, on U.S. manufacturing apprenticeship programs; and a whole lot more.
“Army Discovery…
Anthony D. Burns
I had humble, that is, poor, beginnings. I didn’t even know the taste of real ice cream until later in life. One of the first impacts I felt of the luxury that technology brings was the diode my father bought for me to replace the cat’s whisker on my crystal radio. My high school was lovingly…
Doug Bulla
Being a numbers-driven manufacturing CFO is a good thing—in fact, it’s essential. But as a CFO, you probably know finance and operations more than you know the ins and outs of manufacturing, which can lead you to measuring the wrong key performance metrics.
Here are five costly manufacturing…
