All Features
Annette Franz
When a colleague asks you why you do things a certain way, do you find yourself responding, “I don't know. Because we’ve always done it that way?” Many years ago, I worked for a couple companies where that was the stock answer, and it was so frustrating. It’s hard to believe that no one ever…
Arun Hariharan
On a recent visit to Japan, I had an opportunity to visit Toyota’s headquarters. During a meeting with some of its top executives, I asked one of them what role the senior leadership played in Toyota’s much-admired quality philosophy. The reply I received was, like many things about Toyota and…
Tab Wilkins
What’s still based on centuries-old technology but is experiencing a renaissance of growth and entrepreneurship today? Brewing beer—that frothy, cold beverage that millions enjoy responsibly each day. You’ve probably seen a new local brewery open, literally in a garage, based on someone’s home-…
L.S. Starrett Co.
(The L.S. Starrett Co.: Athol, MA) -- The L.S. Starrett Co. announced that in addition to exhibiting at various trade shows, it will host its first virtual exhibition in September 2014.
“Traditional tradeshows have limitations,” says Hardy Hamann, vice president of marketing and business…
Joel Smith
Learning to ride a bike is a rite of passage for any kid, so much so that we even use the expression “taking the training wheels off” for all kinds of situations. We say it to mean that we are going to let someone perform an activity on his own after removing some safeguard, even though we know he…
Jeff Freeman
You’re about to head off to IMTS next week in search of a solution for your latest manufacturing challenge. With myriad technologies available, it is likely you will find one or more possible solutions. Maybe you have a budget in mind to help you reach the next level of productivity, or maybe you’…
Mike Micklewright
According to a new study from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, “The best bosses are humble bosses, those who empower and appreciate their employees, are open to feedback, and care about the greater good.” And yet, bosses who yell, threaten, and micromanage their way…
Donald J. Wheeler
Outlier tests such as the W-ratio test and Dixon’s outlier test suffer from a problem that can mislead the user. This article will outline the problem and provide guidelines for the appropriate use of these tests.
Dixon’s outlier test
In 1953, W. J. Dixon proposed a test for detecting outliers…
Taha A. Kass-Hout, Jeffrey Shuren
In addition to food and drugs, the FDA has regulatory oversight of tens of thousands of medical devices ranging from bandages and prosthetics to heart valves and robotics. These products are used by millions of Americans, and they are essential, well-performing tools of modern healthcare, but…
Q1 Productions
(Q1 Productions: Chicago) -- The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management Conference is back with the biggest names from all corners of the industry presenting valuable information on the most time-sensitive topics. This year, more than a dozen experts from small, midsize, and large companies will…
Jeff Hajek
In any field, there are a handful of common mistakes. Continuous improvement is no different. Some of these errors come as a result of ignorance about the proper way of doing things. Some are the result of habit. And a handful come as a function of taking the path of least resistance.
Regardless…
Q1 Productions
(Q1 Productions: Chicago) -- Across the medical device industry, from corporations preparing to launch a first product, to those with thousands of products being manufactured across disparate global sites, executives are constantly working to update, maintain and evolve quality systems to ensure…
Michael Causey
Medical device manufacturers would be well-advised to address any risk with potential home-use products during their design phase, according to an August 2014 guidance from the FDA.
As the agency notes, “Failure to adequately consider potentially hazardous situations during the design of home-use…
Ryan E. Day
'Pssst! Hey kid, ya wanna be a metrologist?"..."Uh, what's a metrologist?"... "Ya get paid to measure stuff."..."Sounds kinda boring." So it goes at colleges and universities all across the United States.
The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—collectively known as STEM—…
NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking an organization to support its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awardees by providing technical and business expertise and resources to promote commercialization of the technologies developed through the SBIR program.…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
Albert Einstein once said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
On September 4 in 1957, amid great fanfare, Ford Motor Co. introduced the Edsel line of automobiles to the American public. It immediately stalled.…
Mike Richman
Anyone, in any business, wants to have a culture of quality, and everyone, in a sense, does. But is that quality good or bad? Even more to the point, especially for top managers trying to inculcate excellence within the organization, how do you know the difference? How have leading quality-centric…
ETEL
(ETEL: Schaumburg, IL) -- ETEL has announced that the XYZT Planar Platform is now available in North America through HEIDENHAIN Corporation. The XYZT Planar Platform is a proven, reliable stage with more than 100 units currently in the field worldwide. This system provides excellent dynamic…
MIT News
In the age of big data, visualization tools are vital. With a single glance at a graphic display, a human can recognize patterns that a computer might fail to find even after hours of analysis.
But what if there are aberrations in the patterns? Or what if there’s just a suggestion of a visual…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Last evening my wife, Carole, and I attended a celebratory dinner for the family of one of my former students. Luca, my student, originally from Italy, brought his wife, Olivia, and his young daughter, Kendra.
Olivia, originally from Uganda, is a family physician working primarily with…
Rick Gehrke
The International Labour Organization estimates that more than 2 million deaths every year can be attributed to work activities. This single statistic clearly indicates the pressing need for occupational health and safety regulations, and the importance of a single standard to help organizations…
Lean Math With Mark Hamel
In the words of my friend and colleague Larry Loucka, “Graphs are math.”
Graphs often serve as effective visual process performance tools. Typically, these types of graphs fall into the metric category. As reflected in the supporting concepts of the fourth dimension of the Shingo Prize model,…
Carl Zeiss Microscopy
(Carl Zeiss Microscopy: Thornwood, NY) -- Carl Zeiss Microscopy, a leading provider of microscopy products for life sciences and materials research, highlights the benefits of its new server-based image databasing software, ZEN browser. The ZEN browser technology aids users in storage, filing and…
William A. Levinson
Can something as simple as a toilet support LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)? We take this basic sanitation device for granted, and while it makes the obvious wastes disappear very cleanly, another form of waste hides in plain view.
LEED already promotes the use of greywater,…
Jim Clifton
The Middle East has collapsed into a state of chaos, conflict, and suffering that was unimaginable and unforeseen just four years ago. Hardly any experts or institutions predicted the wars and revolutions that have engulfed the region, and those same experts who missed the coming catastrophe…