All Features
Douglas C. Fair
A few months back, I was reading a really good article from The Wall Street Journal, titled “Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs.” Even though it was geared toward accounting and corporate operations, the message of the article struck home: Excel shouldn’t be used as an enterprisewide…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In our July 6, 2018, episode of QDL, we discuss distributed manufacturing, and distributed management.
“Brother Moonshine, Sister Solution”
If want to spur innovation, try moonshine.
“3D Printing Finds a Custom Foothold in Manufacturing”
3D printing is leading to some pretty interesting…
J. B. Silvers, Mark Votruba
The new healthcare venture formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced June 20, 2018, that Harvard professor and well-known author Atul Gawande would be the company’s CEO. The idea for the new company is to innovate by cutting costs from the healthcare system, starting with…
Stephen Salata
It’s an open secret that many automotive and aerospace manufacturers have unacceptably high defects and costs. And where defects are on the rise, quality costs aren’t far behind.
Even one defect could mean recalling an entire batch, a problem that can cost thousands of dollars per minute if it…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In our June 29, 2018, episode of QDL, we discuss AR, VR, and innovation.
“Experience Augmented Reality Gauging With Marposs at IMTS 2018”
Augmented reality and virtual reality are fast becoming a part of test and assembly.
“Three Teams Named Grand-Prize Winners at ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW…
Bill Snyder
David Petraeus is arguably the best known U.S. general of the post-Vietnam era. He gained fame after leading the surge in Iraq, a controversial buildup of U.S. forces that was credited with a sharp reduction of violence during the U.S. occupation. After retiring from the Army, he headed the CIA…
Matthew M. Lowe
The medical marijuana industry is being heralded as the new frontier in the life sciences, thanks to the potential of cannabis-derived products in treating ailments that range from chemotherapy-induced nausea to epilepsy and neuropathic pain. If you’re a startup in the industry, what does this mean…
Steven Brand
Many consider 2017 the “worst year ever” for data breaches and cyber attacks, largely due to the rise in ransomware, and IT experts predict it’s only going to get worse. According to the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), a nonprofit that works to develop tools and best practices that enhance internet…
M. Berk Talay
In April, Ford announced that it will be phasing out nearly all of its passenger cars in the United States. If all goes according to plan, 90 percent of Ford’s portfolio in North America will be trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. Its F-150—the most popular vehicle in America—is now poised to…
Jon Speer
We raise the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) topic often because it is still something that companies tend to struggle with and find themselves in hot water over, particularly when it comes to regulatory audits or inspections.
There’s often a sense that CAPA is another inconvenient process…
Megan Ray Nichols
Manufacturing is in the middle of a new industrial revolution that requires skilled laborers. However, by most reports, many manufacturers lack enough of these well-trained employees, creating a worker shortage due to the skills gap—the difference between the skills manufacturers need and the…
Russell Fedun
Cogeco’s technical distribution center in Burlington, Ontario, is one of Canada’s drop-off points for internet modem and cable device repair. In 2011, the company’s management carried out a kaizen blitz to improve the efficiency of its device repair process. The process was indeed challenging but…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In our June 15, 2018, episode of QDL, we get a field report from the HxGN LIVE user conference, examine the “story of quality,” and consider the importance of experience.
HxGN Live recap
Mike Richman went to HxGN LIVE... but I didn’t. I relive it vicariously through Mike’s field report.
“A…
Maria Guadalupe
Making mistakes and learning from them is par for the course for companies. But years of bad decisions could lead to the downfall of conglomerates.
In the case of General Electric, a major engine of America’s economy for more than a century, the firm shook investor confidence when it announced…
Nick Castellina
It is a great time to be a small business in manufacturing. Today’s digital disruption is about ideas, not major capital investments or facilities with sprawling footprints. Although it’s true that larger companies possess more resources, yet with the right technology, small companies can behave…
Guy Courtin
The digital age is well underway, and that accounts for every aspect of business. A 2016 Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey says that companies that digitally transform their supply chains will be leaders in their industries.
With 10-percent better product availability and 24-percent faster…
Naphtali Hoff
A story is told about a reporter who was interviewing a successful bank president. He wanted to know the secret of the man’s success. “Two words: right decisions,” the banker told him.
“And how do you make right decisions?” asked the reporter.
“One word: experience,” was the banker’s reply.
The…
Mike Richman
There’s a big problem for companies within industry these days: the inability to monitor statistical process control (SPC) in real time. This issue manifests itself in several ways, and its effects are filled with risk for enterprises of all shapes and sizes. However, practical solutions are…
Ryan E. Day
Advanced Integration Technology (AIT) serves the world’s largest and most technologically advanced aerospace OEMs and tier one suppliers, including Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE, Embraer, Spirit AeroSystems, Triumph, and Bombardier. AIT has facilities in the United States,…
Dick Wooden
Iran across the book, Successful Human Relations: Principles and practice in business, in the home, in government (Harpercollins, 1952) while browsing older books about relationship development from William J. Reilly, who also wrote The Law of Intelligent Action (Joanna Cotler Books, 1945). His…
Jim Benson
Human beings are good at placing roadblocks to success and building plans that can’t be followed. We tend to fall back on our “common sense” or “snap judgement” which often makes us feel like our cavalier decisions were actually thought out. Yet, time and again, we find ourselves in deadline…
Jeff Dewar
What a week. On April 30, 2018, there were top-level delegations from two disciplines: In Beijing the Chinese hosted a cabinet-level delegation of U.S. trade representatives; and in Seattle, the ASQ hosted the Sino-U.S. Quality Summit, the first of its global summit series as part of its annual…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In part one we saw that China has made great strides in terms of product quality, notably in the tech sector. But it still has a long way to go in other products. Driven by the growing middle class, who like all middle class buyers want value for their money, and by the Chinese government’s desire…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese products were synonymous with cheaply made. Anyone over the age of 50 probably remembers cheap Japanese transistor radios when they were a kid. We all believed, in the day, that the more transistors a radio had, the better. That wasn’t necessarily true, but try…
William A. Levinson
A job safety analysis (JSA) worksheet is almost identical in organization to a job breakdown sheet and standard work, all of which assess a job (or process) on a step-by-step basis. This suggests combining standard work with job safety analysis to support ISO 45001.
The concept can be carried even…
