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InnovMetric Software
(InnovMetric: Quebec, QC, Canada) -- InnovMetric Software Inc., the leading provider of universal 3D metrology solutions, has announced the launch of PolyWorks 2016, the latest release of the company’s universal 3D metrology software platform. PolyWorks 2016 fully supports probing and laser…
J.D. Power and Associates
According to the recently released J.D. Power 2016 Member Health Plan Study, critical factors of health plan member satisfaction are highest in areas of the country that have more competition between different health plans.
On a nationwide basis, member satisfaction with their health plans has…
Matthew Barsalou
The start of a failure investigation may involve brainstorming, but empirical methods will be required to actually identify a problem's cause. Implementing an improvement action without a confirmed root cause risks a reoccurrence of the issue because the true root cause has yet to be addressed.…
Richard Wilkinson
During the course of its 100-plus year history, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has had some researchers and scientists known to be colorful characters who were also pioneers in their fields. For computer scientist Karen Olsen, one scientist who stands out was Ethel…
Mike Micklewright
When considering any effort toward performance improvement, you should always start by looking at the organization’s principles and culture, and making sure these are aligned so they not only permit positive changes to occur, but also ensure that the changes will be sustained over the long run. By…
Kevin Meyer
Those of us in the lean world are accustomed to discussing "flow"—where work is performed in an even manner to reduce mura or lack of regularity, one of the three forms of waste. Activities are synchronized, layouts are optimized, resources are available exactly where and when they are needed, and…
Patrick Runkel
I live with a German national, who often tells me that we Americans spend way too much of our lives at work. He also frequently comments that we work much less efficiently than Germans do, during the increased time we’re at work.
Which reminds me—I need to pay my water bill online....
OK, I’m…
In the race to design smaller handheld devices and smartphones, a key factor is decreasing the sizes of components. As the demand for thinner and lighter microelectronic devices increases, manufacturers often are limited by how oddly shaped the energy sources must become to make them conform to…
marcus evans
(marcus evans: London) -- The focus of pharmaceutical quality systems have shifted in recent years from a traditional model to a more global, dynamic, and risk-based approach, enhanced especially by regulatory authorities and economic environment. marcus evans is organizing “Quality Excellence:…
Zvonimir Kotnik
Sponsored Content
When engineers at Pratt & Whitney’s assembly operations in Middletown, Connecticut, set out to determine the final tolerances between a massive Airbus engine and its enclosing nacelle, they face the intersection of thousands of precisely designed dimensions.
Although most of…
Phillips Precision Inc.
(Phillips Precision: Boylston, MA) -- The popular Inspection Arsenal Loc-N-Load quick-swap fixture system can now be ordered with air assist. Let your CMM and fixture plates do the heavy work. With a flip of a switch and one pinky finger, inspectors can easily glide the weight of an anvil across…
Barbara A. Cleary
When giant companies known for the quality of their products and services find themselves suddenly in the news due to massive recalls—think Volkswagen, Toyota, John Deere, Craftsman, or Chipotle—the first question to emerge often is: What went wrong?
Before jumping to the conclusion that quality…
John Elliott
Fly-fishing, one of my favorite hobbies, is a lot like process improvement. Here’s how: Fly-fishing seems very simple—you throw a line in the water and wait for dinner. Of course, it’s much more complicated than that because rainbow trout are clever; they won’t bite just anything.
You have to…
Hilke Plassmann
The holy grail of marketing—a universal predictor of customer behavior—may be closer than ever, thanks to recent advances in the field of neuromarketing.
Even at its best, traditional market research has built-in limitations. First of all, consumers may be biased or unwilling to reveal their true…
Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia’s Engineering Sciences Center helped mark National Engineers Week with a contest, asking Sandians to complete the following sentence: “You know you’re an engineer when… .” The contest drew dozens of endings for the sentence, and Sandians voted on which they liked best.
Barbara Lewis won…
Mike Figliuolo
Finding the right balance between how you handle success and failure makes a tremendous difference in the motivation level of your team members. There are some simple techniques for celebrating success and dealing with failure. Apply them and you’ll find your team is happier and more effective.…
CMSC
(CMS: Weatherford, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) has announced that Ed Morse, Ph.D., professor at UNC Charlotte, will present the keynote address at the 32th annual Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC), July 25–29, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Murfreesboro, TN.…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence has launched their latest system software release and a new Ethernet Real Time Feature Pack (RTFP) for the Leica Absolute Tracker AT960 and AT930. This groundbreaking combination delivers the industry's first 7DOF measurement…
Eston Martz
There’s plenty of noisy disagreement about the state of healthcare, but when you look beyond the controversies, a great deal of common ground exists.
Many agree that the way we’ve been doing things is wasteful and inefficient, when healthcare should be delivered as efficiently and effectively as…
Sandy Ressler
Happy belated Pi Day! No, not pie day, Pi Day, which was last week. Pi is that Greek character you’ve heard of but aren’t quite sure what the big deal is. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. As yawn-inducing as that may sound, it’s an important ratio because pi is the same…
Thomas R. Cutler
It’s no surprise that multinational companies have complex global supply chains. What’s less obvious is how to simplify supply-chain processes and arrive at a lean, consistent, reliable, and cost-effective solution. One global leader, ITT Corp., has taken on this challenge with the help of Ultriva…
Theorem Solutions
(Theorem Solutions: Tamworth, UK) -- When designing and manufacturing complex products that contain hundreds or thousands of components, there will inevitably be a large supply chain involved. And when design data need to be exchanged during the design process, chances are different CAD software…
NIST
Medical implants and spacecraft can suddenly go dead, often for the same reason: cracks in ceramic capacitors, which are devices that store electric charge in electronic circuits. These cracks, at first harmless and often hidden, can start conducting electricity, depleting batteries or shorting…
Meredith Griffith
Sponsored Content
Most of us have heard of a backward way of completing a task, or doing something in the conventionally wrong order, described as “putting the cart before the horse.” That’s because a horse pulling a cart is much more efficient than a horse pushing a cart. This saying may be…
Kelly Graves
An overwhelming majority of organizations have inadvertently created an “us vs. them” culture. They turn much of their focus and many of their resources away from serving the customer and instead direct them toward fighting one another and vying for power. Or they have given up and are just “doing…
