All Features
Oscar Combs
ISO 9001:2015, clause 6.1 requires an organization to identify its risks and take actions to address identified risks. It is very tempting to start with a huge list of potential risks for the organization, but is the organization focusing on the actual risks that have an effect on its operations?…
Ruth P. Stevens
Lead generation is a major preoccupation of the typical B2B marketing department. Indeed, most B2B marketers report that leads—with an emphasis on quality leads—are their primary goal. So, let’s review the top prospecting tools and techniques that are working for B2B marketers today. And if you…
Katie Takacs
As a consumer, it’s nearly impossible to get away from videos, advertising or otherwise. To give you a numeric sense of our collective obsession with online moving images: Since last year, YouTube has started registering more than a billion hours of video viewing every single day.
We all know the…
Mark Rosenthal
During a TED talk, Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, talks about “How to turn a group of strangers into a team.” Although long-standing teams are able to perform, our workplaces today require ad-hoc collaboration between diverse groups.…
Michael Jarrett
Transformational leaders are the exception, not the rule.
A consistent picture emerges from lists of top CEOs. In Harvard Business Review’s Best-Performing CEOs ranking, Pablo Isla of Inditex, the parent company of Zara; Ajay Banga of Mastercard; and Bernard Arnault of LVMH stand out for both…
Willie Davis
Congratulations: You’re new to your organization, and the obligatory “meet and greets” are complete. You have met your team, your supervisor has conveyed expectations, your office is organized and—most important—you now know how to get to and from the coffee machine. The euphoria of getting the new…
Jared Evans
Implementing 6S, the lean strategy for reducing waste and optimizing efficiency in a manufacturing environment, is more than just creating work protocols that people must follow. Because that’s the thing about people: If they don’t know the “why,” they are less likely to buy in to any initiative,…
NIST
Organizations worldwide stand to lose an estimated $9 billion in 2018 to employees clicking on phishing emails. We hear about new phishing attacks regularly from the news and from our friends. So why do so many people still click? NIST research has uncovered one reason, and the findings could help…
Jama Software
Requirements are the information that best communicates to an engineer what to build, and to a quality-assurance manager what to test.
A requirement has three functions: • Defines what you are planning to create • Identifies what a product needs to do and what it should look like • Describes the…
Mike Richman
‘Culture” is one of those business-speak words that’s used a lot, but for a good reason—having the right one is the key to unlocking your company’s quality potential. On the other hand, nothing will overcome a poor culture. Do you know which you have? We explored these issues during the Aug. 10,…
Hélène Horent
Founded in 1947, in Veles, Macedonia, BRAKO produces parts and components used in medical devices, road sweeper trucks, airport ground equipment, forklift accessories, metal-welded constructions, small hydro plants, telecommunications shelters, and antenna towers.
The company also makes various…
Ryan E. Day
As manufacturing finds its way through the 21st century, there’s a groundswell change emerging. Organizations are jockeying for competitive position as they endeavor to describe this phenomenon. Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, and the industrial internet of things (IIoT) are a few…
Morgan Ryan Frank, Iyad Rahwan
How do workers move up the corporate ladder, and how can they maximize their career mobility? Increased wealth disparity, increased job polarization, and decreases in absolute income mobility (i.e., the fraction of children who earn more than their parents) all suggest that upward mobility is…
Chad Kymal
There is a proliferation of management system standards and requirements globally. These management system standards are either customer or industry mandated. Many standards are becoming a requirement for doing business.
For example, ISO 9001 is a quality management system (QMS) standard with…
Ryan E. Day
‘In God we trust; all others bring data.” “Follow the data.” “Let the data talk.” Nice clichés, but there’s one problem... data can’t talk. In fact, data don’t say a darn thing. Data are bits of raw information. If you want to reduce product variation, improve your manufacturing processes, and…
Ryan E. Day
Factory and industrial inspections are the backbones of robust quality assurance programs. Inspection is also an integral part of machine system installation and maintenance, as well as in-situ repairs and retrofits. This is why highly competent individuals who understand the metrology methods of…
Mark Miller, Lucas Conley
Recently, General Electric—the last remaining member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s original 1896 index—was removed from the world’s most prestigious equity benchmark. News of the venerable brand’s dismissal from the Dow, the index of 30 large, publicly traded U.S. brands reflecting the…
Quy Huy
Innovation is the No. 1 priority of today’s CEOs. They correctly perceive that the fast-turning treadmill of disruption topples organizations that stand still. The only sure-fire way to stay on top is to consistently introduce products and services that provide unique, superior value and defy…
AssurX
Proposed in 2012 and now in effect, the general data protection regulation (GDPR) is the newest landmark of data protection legislation. GDPR compliance legislation is designed to better protect personal data of individuals in the European Union (EU) by making companies more accountable for how…
Marc Le Menestrel
Let’s say a store has been selling large snow shovels for $15. The morning after a major snowstorm, the store raises its price to $20. Is this acceptable?
A large majority of business people in my seminars answer that yes, it is acceptable to raise the price of shovels after a storm. They invoke…
Nikon Metrology Inc.
A recent interview with Tadashi Nakayama, Nikon’s corporate vice president, provides insight into the strategy of the firm’s Industrial Metrology Business Unit, of which he is deputy general manager. In particular, he explained the company’s strategic focus on Quality 4.0, where digital, automated…
Jane Stull
As companies seek to gain efficiencies in the workplace, provide choice for employees, and attract and retain talent, strategies involving agile working and free-address have gained traction. When our Gensler La Crosse office relocated last year, we leveraged the opportunity to support an agile…
Thomas R. Cutler
Although automation has been successful in replacing repetitive, simple tasks, the human workforce still plays a critical role in manufacturing. Even the most sophisticated and automated manufacturing operations rely on human operators to configure, run, and properly maintain production equipment…
Chris Jones, Jake Herway
Studies show that decisions made during the first few months of a CEO’s tenure are disproportionately important in determining his success. However, several issues—unique to CEOs and often overlooked—complicate or even cloud good decision making.
First, new CEOs often spread themselves thin in an…
Rick Barker
Return on investment (ROI) is the subject of many discussions about ergonomics, and rightfully so. Musculoskeletal disorders are an expensive and preventable workplace injury, with total costs averaging nearly $30,000 per case, according to data from the Occupational Safety and Health…
