All Features
Thwing-Albert Instrument Company
(Thwing-Albert: West Berlin, NJ) -- Thwing-Albert Instrument Co., manufacturer of advanced testing instrumentation, has redesigned its Vapometer Cup for easier sample setup in the lab. No more individual screws to tighten: The original Vapometer Cup used six knurled-head screws to secure the flange…
Bill Kalmar
From the Broadway play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum comes a delightful song titled Comedy Tonight. In the song are phrases such as “something familiar—something peculiar” and “something appealing—something appalling.” As a follow-up to those words, each day we read or hear about…
CyArk
The National Park Service and CyArk have started the new year with the launch of the much anticipated Mount Rushmore website, a new way to virtually visit the National Memorial near Keystone, South Dakota. This web portal is part of an ongoing partnership between the National Park Service (NPS) and…
ASQ
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ), the world’s largest network of quality resources and experts, was recently awarded Mastery Level recognition of the Wisconsin Forward Award program, which is administered by the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence and is modeled…
Patrick Runkel
Meet Betty and Bart Bickerson, husband-and-wife quality analysts who work at different companies. Betty and Bart argue about everything. They argue whether grey is a color. They argue whether tomato is a fruit. They argue whether the chicken came before the egg, and whether the egg tastes better…
Thomson Reuters
(Thomson Reuters: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Thomson Reuters has released its fourth annual study identifying the top U.S. health systems based on balanced, systemwide clinical performance.
The study culled data from more than 300 organizations and singled out 15 hospital systems that achieved superior…
STEMMER IMAGING
(STEMMER IMAGING: Puchheim, Germany) -- STEMMER IMAGING will be hosting a 3-D Machine Vision Technology Day Feb, 29, 2012, at Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom, as part of its European Imaging Academy Program. The full-day event provides a comprehensive overview of the current…
Konica Minolta Sensing Americas Inc.
(Konica Minolta: Ramsey, NJ) -- Konica Minolta 3D Scanning Labs now offers a rapid prototyping service, using 3D Systems’ Projet HD 3000 3D Production System. The Projet is ideal for a wide range of applications, including concept development, design validation, form and fit analysis, molding and…
The Pyzdek Institute
(The Pyzdek Institute: Tucson, AZ) -- The Pyzdek Institute is making its entire lean Six Sigma training site available via low-cost monthly and yearly subscriptions. Included with the subscriptions are all 70+ modules, with reading assignments, storyboards, video lessons, online interactive…
H. James Harrington
In October 2011, I attended the 3rd Business Excellence Global Conference and the 17th Asia Pacific Quality Conference held at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. One of the highlights of the conference was the awards banquet held on October 17, where the Global Performance Excellence Awards (…
MIT News
When Microsoft’s Kinect—a device that lets Xbox users control games with physical gestures—hit the market, computer scientists immediately began hacking it. At MIT alone, researchers have used the Kinect to create a Minority Report-style computer interface, a navigation system for miniature robotic…
Matthew Littlefield
Manufacturing is now a global game. The United States is still the world’s largest manufacturer but is no longer the engine for growth it once was. China, Brazil, Australia, India, Singapore, and other countries are building new facilities at a breakneck pace.
This growth is also no longer limited…
Cognex Corp.
(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp. announces the DataMan 300, its most advanced fixed-mount industrial ID reader ever created. The DataMan 300 is designed to handle the most difficult ID code-reading applications on even the highest speed lines. These new readers dramatically increase bar code…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
During a recent holiday debriefing with a friend, I learned that a colleague of hers was feeling guilty because she and her husband were unable to afford an iPad for their daughter. Nodding and sipping tea, I was vaguely sympathizing while trying on the idea of buying a macaroon from the bakery…
Teledyne DALSA
(Teledyne DALSA: Billerica, MA) -- Active Inspection (AI), based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designs vision systems for machine builders to incorporate into printing presses, packaging machines, and other web and sheet-fed or form machines. Whether the goal is to reduce waste, ensure consistency,…
Bruce Hamilton
Some time ago, while speaking at a conference in the land down under, I was taken to task by a participant for suggesting, “5S is usually the first improvement” in lean implementation. I had carelessly adopted this posture because, as a consultant, I had found that workplace organization was…
Newport Corp.
(Newport: Irvine, CA) -- Newport Corp., a global leader in lasers and photonics solutions that make, manage, and measure light, has developed the OptoFlash, a miniature, multichannel, spectrometer engine for applications requiring the detection of light energy at multiple wavelengths.
This…
NSF International
(NSF: Ann Arbor, MI) -- NSF-DBA, an NSF International Health Sciences company providing training, consulting, and auditing for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, has acquired UK-based medical-device training and consulting company, Pink Associates, with the company’s managing…
Gartner
(Gartner: Stamford, CT) -- By 2014, fewer than 30 percent of business intelligence (BI) initiatives will align analytics completely with enterprise business drivers, despite alignment being the foremost BI challenge, according to Gartner Inc. Cloud offerings will account for just 3 percent of BI…
Thomson Reuters
(Thomson Reuters: New York) -- In recognition of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, Thomson Reuters published a research report analyzing The Changing Role of Chemistry in Drug Discovery. By tracking pharmaceutical industry data during the last decade along with insights from industry…
ISO
(ISO: Geneva) -- As vehicles become more complex, with new features like driver assistance systems or electronic-based functions, it is more important than ever to identify potential risks of software and hardware failures whose consequences could be fatal. For this purpose, the International…
The QA Pharm
Like anyone else, when I plan for the new year, I need to set aside time for reflection and anticipation. I look back and ask, “Have I made a difference in anyone’s life?” I look forward and ask, “What do I want to change that I either have control over or can influence?” For people working in the…
Laser Design Inc.
Inspired by the popularity of up-close recreational experiences in the land of 10,000 lakes, a Minnesota company has figured out how to design and manufacture a unique line of small, electrically powered watercraft. However, the company had a manufacturing problem: The small fiberglass boat was…
William A. Levinson
I recently returned a pair of $28 (suggested retail price) Chinese-made gloves I bought for $7.97 the day after Christmas, which is when I do all my Christmas shopping. The reason I returned the gloves was because a seam had begun to come apart less than three weeks after I bought them. This…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- WESTEC, the premiere manufacturing biennial event for the Western United States, has announced that renowned innovation expert and business leader Tom Kelley will deliver the keynote on March 27, 2012.
Kelley is the general manager of IDEO, the design and development firm…
