All Features
Leif Nyström
Management by objectives isn’t just a way to set direction for an organization. It’s a prerequisite for creating sustainable development and a culture of continuous improvement.
True success, however, comes not just from setting goals, but from ensuring they are actually achieved. Or, to…
Gleb Tsipursky
The conversation about generative AI (gen AI) is unavoidable in today’s business landscape. It’s disruptive, transformative, and packed with potential—both thrilling and intimidating.
As organizations adopt gen AI to streamline operations, develop products, or enhance customer interactions, the…
Harish Jose
In this article I’m looking at a question that’s rarely asked in management: What if the most responsible course of action isn’t to maximize benefit, but to minimize harm? In decision theory, this is expressed as the minimax principle. The idea is that one should minimize the worst possible outcome…
ETQ—Part of Hexagon
Even the smallest manufacturer would never consider using a typewriter to develop an invoice, or manage a sales prospect list from a Rolodex. So why, when it comes to quality management, are they often still using manual methods or home-brewed software that was never intended for today’s quality…
Rick Herman
Amidst uncertainty in manufacturing, AI adoption, labor market fluctuations, and salary disparities across industries and geographic regions, quality professional compensation can be difficult to navigate.
Without current job-level salary benchmarks, quality professionals from technicians to…
Donald J. Wheeler
One of the principles for understanding data is that while some data contain signals, all data contain noise. Therefore, before you can detect the signals you’ll have to filter out the noise. This act of filtration is the essence of all data analysis techniques. It’s the foundation for our use of…
Mike Figliuolo
Staff meetings can be incredibly productive. Or unproductive—and more often the latter. If your staff meetings are terrible, it’s your fault because you’re not structuring them well.
One of the most surreal business experiences I’ve ever had relates to a staff meeting. I’d joined a new team, and…
Bryan Christiansen
From manufacturing and mining to hospitality and healthcare, computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) have become all but essential. Wherever there are assets to maintain, a CMMS plays a critical role in reducing downtime, controlling costs, and keeping operations running smoothly.
But…
Harish Jose
In this article, I want to explore an idea that often is framed in moral terms but is actually a cybernetic imperative: the necessity of diversity for viable systems. Whether we’re talking about societies, organizations, or even artificial intelligence systems, the principle remains consistent. A…
Erdem Dogukan Yilmaz, Tim Meyer
From the internet and smartphones to 3D printing, recent decades have ushered in general-purpose technology that increases efficiency and collapses the cost of routine tasks. The latest general-purpose technology—you guessed it, generative AI (gen AI)—has the potential to also extend the frontiers…
Robert Turner
Your social media profile headline is nothing more than a phrase on a screen—a concise summary of your skills and expertise. But although that blurb gets you noticed, the real headline for executives is in how they lead.
What story is your leadership telling? As an executive, you know that staying…
ISO
In 2021, container ships idled for weeks outside the Port of Los Angeles, a stark visual reminder of just how fragile modern supply-chain reliability had become. The backlog sent shockwaves across industries. Factories stalled, shelves emptied, and businesses scrambled for alternatives. It was a…
Elizabeth Weddle
The quality systems most medtech teams are stuck with aren’t built for how they work today. 21 CFR Part 820 was authorized by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1978, long before the software industry even existed. And while the regulations themselves aren’t going anywhere, the world they…
Manfred Kets de Vries
A young manager told me about the day she nearly quit her job. A major restructuring had left her team reeling. As targets shifted overnight, colleagues departed and rumors spread faster than facts. “I felt like I was living in a storm without a compass,” she said.
What changed her mind wasn’t a…
Adam Zewe
What can we learn about human intelligence by studying how machines “think?” Can we better understand ourselves if we better understand the artificial intelligence systems that are becoming a more significant part of our everyday lives?
These questions may be deeply philosophical, but for Phillip…
Stephanie Ojeda
Implementing a new quality management system (QMS) is no small task, especially for life science companies faced with stringent regulatory requirements and a high validation burden. Entrenched legacy systems compound the problem as organizational inertia and complacency lead companies to make do…
David Schwinn
I’ve been in and around the quality profession for decades. When I first started, we were most concerned about products failing in our customers’ hands... too often and too soon. I worked at General Motors in those days, in the Frigidaire division when Frigidaire was part of General Motors. We made…
Mike Figliuolo
Have you ever been in line for a promotion or a transfer to a new role only to find out your boss was quashing your efforts to make that leap? Here are some tips on how to deal with a boss sabotaging your career.
Many of us have been there—you hear about a cool new role somewhere else in the…
Creaform
Your company works hard to bring quality products to market, but your current inefficient development process slows you down. Your engineers rely on traditional tools like measuring tapes, calipers, verniers, or photos to gather dimensions and document how to shorten time to market and lower…
James Glover
Your facility has detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs), ISO certifications, and quality management systems that would impress any auditor. But operators still skip calibration checks when production is behind, modify machine settings without authorization during shift changes, and forget…
Nimax
The global coding- and marking-equipment market is on a clear growth path. As shown in a recent Grand View Research report, the market was worth $17,528 million worldwide by the end of 2024.
Furthermore, GVR’s projections estimate the market value will reach $24,927 million by 2030, with a…
David Matalon
The term return to office (RTO) has dominated headlines for the past year. But despite the noise, data tell a different story: Full-time office life isn’t coming back—at least not in the same way.
According to 2025 research, 85% of organizations now stipulate an attendance policy, but only 37%…
Adam Grabowski
To stay profitable as a manufacturer, you have to run a tight ship. I’ve been lucky enough to visit with owners and key people at thousands of manufacturers all over the world. My main goal during these visits is to listen and learn what makes them so good at what they do.
It turns out that the…
Gleb Tsipursky
Reshaping industries, automating routine tasks, and unlocking new realms of creativity—welcome to the world of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI).
However, the technology’s potential can only be fully realized when employees actively engage in learning how to use it effectively.…
Akhilesh Gulati
Meritocracy—the idea that individuals should advance based on their talent and hard work—appeals to our sense of fairness. However, despite its noble intentions, meritocracy often fails in practice.
Emilio J. Castilla’s The Meritocracy Paradox (Columbia University Press, 2025) highlights how…