All Features
Christian Wolcott
T he following is for mature quality audiences only. Is it unwise to take people who are new to lean on a tour of a Toyota facility running at top efficiency? Is the sight of a glossy, mature lean factory a kind of pornography for young engineers, new leaders, and even seasoned managers seeking to…
Michael Causey
It’s time to get your compliance programs in order to meet some looming international regulatory compliance demands, experts including former Food and Drug Administration officials say. Having a firm grip on quality management processes—especially document management and change control—will be…
Paula Oddy
Changes to the global economy during the last two decades have dramatically altered the landscape of business and industry. Globalization has enabled an ever-lengthening supply chain, which confers greater complexity and risk to every step of the process, whether for material goods or for services…
As I noted in the first article in this series, organizational agility is becoming more important as organizations have to deal with more turbulence in their business environment than they did three years ago due to disruptive technologies, the internet of things, more demanding customers, and …
Harish Jose
I had a conversation recently with a quality professional from another organization. The topic somehow drifted to the strict quality standards in Japan. The person talked about how his product is rejected by his Japanese counterparts for “defects” such as small blemishes and debris. The defects…
The business environment is fraught with more threats and opportunities than three years ago, due to disruptive technologies, the internet of things, more demanding customers, and increasing regulations. Organizations, which must keep pace with these developments, are concerned with their ability…
One of the most important roles for a leader is making sure that all your staff are being managed properly, and an area that can be particularly difficult is how to manage entry-level employees. This could be one of the biggest problems facing older managers, as Millennials (aka Generation Y) are…
Kevin Meyer
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Like most people, I maintain a fairly long to-do list of personal and professional projects. It’s a few pages long—especially the honey-do portion. Because the list can be intimidating,…
Barbara A. Cleary
Among the “10 top business trends that will drive success in 2016,” reported in an end-of-2015 Forbes article by author and consultant Ian Altman, was the point that “Top performing companies will focus on connecting customers.”
Citing examples that include Uber, AirBnB, Kickstarter, and others,…
Lolly Daskal
Two men—one old, one young, both reading newspapers—were sharing a park bench on a lovely afternoon. The younger man asked his seatmate for the time, but the old man said, “No,” and went back to reading his newspaper. The young man asked, “I’m sorry, have I offended you in some way?”
The old man…
Marci Crane
Of the myriad ways in which the Earth’s inhabitants could potentially be destroyed, a zombie apocalypse is undoubtedly one of the least impressive. Though a zombie apocalypse is decidedly scary, unpleasant, and would “get the job done” as the unromantic expression goes, it tends to lack the…
Joby George
Having difficulty managing quality and quality-related data? You’re not alone. Many manufacturers struggle with this these issues due to paper-based or other disparate systems being used to track, manage, and report on quality events. Walk about a production room floor, and there’s a good chance…
Roger Lehman, Erik Van de Loo
Making decisions about mergers, change processes, or even hiring can be nerve racking. Leaders or managers need to consider whether they’ve covered every angle and every option. This includes exploring feelings or biases about a problem and possible obstacles to decision-making. If something doesn…
Timothy Woodcome
An integrated management system (IMS) combines multiple management system standards to which an organization is registered. The management systems are developed, implemented, and maintained via one system with processes that cover each standard’s requirements.
For example, the processes required…
Eston Martz
At last month’s Minitab Insights conference, experts from a wide range of industries offered some great lessons about how they use data analysis to improve business practices and solve a variety of problems. I shared five tips from quality leaders in yesterday’s column; here are five more.…
Harry Hertz
Yes, it’s time for the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to pay attention! Having recently seen an article in The Guardian about the new additions to the OED, it seemed a good time to take a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the 10 words I would propose for inclusion in that venerable reference for…
Eston Martz
If you were among the 300 people who attended the first-ever Minitab Insights conference last month, you already know how powerful it was. Attendees learned how practitioners from a wide range of industries use data analysis to address a variety of problems, find solutions, and improve business…
Jason Furness
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from Manufacturing Money (Amazon Digital Services, 2015) by Jason Furness and Michael McLean. See the article on the Manufacturship blog.
I n martial arts, the level of skill of the practitioner is recognized by the use of different colored belts to be worn with…
Industrial companies are facing critical challenges rooted in slow growth, globalization, the effect of disruptive technologies, and unforeseen competitive threats. A new report from global management consulting firm, L.E.K. Consulting, reveals how those companies are responding—and what the…
Jesse Lyn Stoner
Larry was clearly angry. Carl had used his tools (again) without asking, and even worse, hadn’t returned them (again). Larry told me he had given Carl some “tough feedback.”
He told Carl that he was self-centered and insensitive, and in the future he needed to ask for permission before borrowing…
Michelle LaBrosse
Let’s say you’ve found the perfect mix of people to staff your new project. They get along great together. They’re all top performers in their respective fields. They’re all gung-ho to get going. But then something happens.
First, one starts showing up late to meetings. Then, someone else plans a…
Christine Schaefer
To entertain you, to grab your attention, and (of course) to advance your understanding of the Baldrige Excellence Framework, staff members who contribute to this blog have occasionally written some odd posts—or, at least, given them curious titles.
In case you’ve missed one or more of these, I’m…
During the past year, my email inbox has been consistently pinged by law firms advertising seminars and workshops that promise to help medical professionals understand what is noteworthy for 3D-printed medical products, ranging from regulatory to IP concerns. Some of these have been quite alarming…
Brian Lagas
Embracing sustainable and green principles is more than simply “a good thing to do.” Manufacturers are realizing the many practical short- and long-term financial benefits to implementing environmentally conscious improvements. Such practices helps organizations become more efficient, competitive…
Dave Page
Digital technologies have reached a tipping point. Enterprises are moving from a focus on process automation to entire business models built on and driven by digital technologies. The development and convergence of myriad digital technologies such as the internet, cloud, mobile, big data,…