All Features
Saerom Lee, Karen Winterich, Lisa E. Bolton
Have you ever wondered who collects the clothes you stuff into that donation drop box in your neighborhood? Chances are, you assumed it was a nonprofit, but that box actually may instead belong to a for-profit social venture. If you don’t know what that means, you’re not alone.
Years ago, just…
Automated Precision Inc.
Sponsored Content
Scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) are working on research projects that aim to answer fundamental physics questions. How did the universe begin? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is the mass hierarchy of neutrinos? Are there other…
Michelle LaBrosse
It’s summertime. You’ve saved up your time off and planned a great vacation for yourself and your family. How, as a project manager, do you make sure your vacation just has those fun “risks,” that everything runs smoothly while you’re away, and you’re able to enjoy your vacation uninterrupted?…
Ryan E. Day
What do cocoa, socks, and smartphones have in common? If you guessed risk of slavery in the manufacturing supply chain, you are correct. Does your organization have an international supply chain? Then it’s at risk. What are you doing to address the risks associated with modern slavery in your…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Our August 11, 2017, episode of QDL looked at the role of technology in after-market service, stairs that help you up, Fidget Cubes, and more.
“Climbing Stairs Just Got Easier With Energy-Recycling Steps”
These stairs actually help you go up.
“The Curious Case of the Fidget Cube”
How a product…
Phil Klotzbach, Michael M. Bell
June 1 marked the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through the end of November. It’s a busy time for us at the Tropical Meteorology Project in Colorado State University’s (CSU) Department of Atmospheric Science, where we are issuing our 34th annual Atlantic basin…
Mike Richman
The dog days of summer are here, but the Aug. 4, 2017, episode of QDL offered lots of cool content. Let’s take a closer look:
“What Went Wrong With the F-35?” One expert calls the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet an “inherently terrible airplane.” So why does the Air Force consider it warfighter…
Bruce Weinberg
Science funding is intended to support the production of new knowledge and ideas that develop new technologies, improve medical treatments, and strengthen the economy. The idea goes back to influential engineer Vannevar Bush, who headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during…
Michael Hughes
The F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired, serving the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy—and even Britain’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy—all in one aircraft design. It’s supposed to replace and improve upon several current—and aging—aircraft…
AssurX
Three recent warning letters from the Center for Device and Radiological Health (CDRH) offer a glimpse into ongoing medical-device inspection investigative focus. CAPA noncompliance is a top concern.
Inadequate corrective actions
An FDA investigation was conducted from January to February 2017 at…
Loic Sadoulet, Giovanni Tassini
Making the most of its position as an important seaport, Venice’s remarkable economic development during the Middle Ages relied on network effects, contractual innovation, and coordination among the players involved in long-distance trade. Companies today still exploit these mechanisms to succeed…
Katina Sawyer, Christian Thoroughgood
In times of organizational crisis, some companies are able to right the ship, while others sink under the pressure.
Recently, Uber has been under fire for a bad corporate culture, which promoted, among other things, sexism and other forms of toxic behavior. This led to a four-month investigation…
Pam Bethune
Every company is in business to take risks.
Every action or failure to take action by that company naturally has some form of risk inherent in the process. To survive, a company needs to identify opportunities and take them when beneficial, but the amount of risk must be understood. Whether it’s…
Mike Richman
The July 17, 2017, episode of QDL focused on some of the nitty-gritty of quality improvement, from the value of personal certifications to the opportunities of disruptive innovation, and to the fundamentals of risk management to the challenges of customer service. In case you missed it, here’s a…
Rick Barker
Operations and safety don’t always speak the same language, not because operations isn’t committed to keeping people safe at work or safety isn’t concerned with meeting operational goals, but rather because each area has its own methods, processes, and measures. This communication gap can increase…
Pat Toth
Recently a segment on my favorite morning news program stopped me in my tracks. The young and attractive hosts (why are they always so young and attractive?) were demonstrating new appliances, among them a smart refrigerator. The fridge was equipped with all kinds of high-tech features including…
Amie Whittington
Is your governmental hospital exempt under Section 501(c)3? If you have a 403(b) plan, the answer is yes, but even if you don’t, you need to check.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is ramping up compliance audits of governmental hospitals that are exempt under 501(c)3 (dual status). The…
Tim Lozier
The dynamic of risk management and compliance seems to be experiencing a shift toward risk management in operations, and learning to pay attention to detail in order to leverage it.
The biggest question often asked is, “I’m aware my company needs to pay great attention to the detail of risk, but…
Erin Connelly
For a long time, medieval medicine has been dismissed as irrelevant. This time period is popularly referred to as the “Dark Ages,” which erroneously suggests that it was unenlightened by science or reason. However, some medievalists and scientists are now looking back to history for clues to…
Roger Lehman, Julius Koh
Lucy felt hollow and dissatisfied. She was a star performer and had just helped her team clinch a large government deal that they had been working on for months. At the celebration that evening, Lucy was forced to put on a smile and a dynamic front. She had good relationships with her team members…
William A. Levinson
‘We’ve always done it that way” explains why many suboptimal and even obsolete methods are taken for granted. The range chart for statistical process control (SPC) is, for example, somewhat inferior to the sample standard deviation chart, and it is almost certainly a holdover from when all…
Cassandra Burke Robertson, Irina Manta
Recent reports suggest that terrorists can now create bombs so thin that they cannot be detected by the current X-ray screening that our carry-on bags undergo.
In an effort to protect against such threats, the United States is considering banning laptops and other large electronic devices in the…
Wesley McGrew
Last month, the WannaCry ransomware attack hit more than150 countries and infected tens of thousands of systems worldwide. Among those victimized were England’s National Health Service, automobile manufacturers, and government systems. The worm’s ominous red ransom screen, informing the user that…
Iffet Turken
The world faces a new crisis situation more or less every day—be it political, economic, or humanitarian. Wherever a crisis is experienced, echoes are felt around the globe. In the digital age, social media conveys crises in real time, resulting in rich portfolios of pictures, videos, written…
Ryan E. Day
I remember my first trip to Michigan in 2012. I was covering the Ford Motor Co.’s annual Trend Conference and had the opportunity to meet Alan Mulally, who gave a compelling presentation explaining the vision, strategy, and implementation of the One Ford plan. I was impressed more with the man…
