All Features
Brian Hughes
We live in a world where problems aren’t just growing—they’re evolving into ever-more complex challenges. During the 20th century, we pushed the boundaries of innovation, creating complicated systems that demanded structured problem-solving approaches. Techniques like 5 Whys and the Ishikawa…
Ariana Tantillo
On June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible was about 90 minutes into its two-hour descent to the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean when it lost contact with its support ship. This break in communication set off a frantic search for the tourist submersible and five passengers on…
Ayush Soni
Audits and inspections are critical components of industrial safety management. These processes help organizations ensure compliance with legal requirements, identify risks, and improve workplace safety and operational efficiencies. Conducting regular audits and inspections is not just a regulatory…
Akhilesh Gulati
In the world of operations and quality management, the pressure to act quickly can feel overwhelming. Senior executives are constantly racing against time to meet customer demands, solve problems, and keep shareholders satisfied. In the rush to address immediate challenges, “Ready, aim, fire!” gets…
Gleb Tsipursky
In the rapidly evolving business landscape, the momentum toward policies mandating a return to the office (RTO) is gaining traction. However, this shift risks overlooking critical segments of the workforce, particularly older employees, individuals with disabilities, and women, whose participation…
William A. Levinson
Recent labor relations controversies and ongoing arguments about the minimum wage have raised questions as to how a supply chain should share the utility it produces.
If we ask the wrong question, however, we’ll get the wrong answer. “What is a fair share?” asks how a supply chain should divide a…
Malcolm Chisholm
Data are the fuel of the Information Age, and all organizations acknowledge the value of well-managed corporate data assets. The problems start when we begin to ask just exactly how the data assets are to be well managed.
In response, many organizations have put data governance departments in…
Harry Hertz
A recent Inc.com blog post by Jessica Stillman discusses Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Revenge of the Tipping Point (Little, Brown and Co., 2024). The theme in both works is that you can’t create a high-performing team simply by bringing together individual high performers. They need to gel as a…
Jennifer Chu
The electronics industry is approaching a limit to the number of transistors that can be packed onto the surface of a computer chip. So chip manufacturers are looking to build up, rather than out.
Instead of squeezing ever-smaller transistors onto a single surface, the industry is aiming to stack…
Ben P. Stein
NIST is unique as the national measurement science institute. We are the U.S. agency responsible for maintaining measurement standards, from the second to the kilogram.
We help ensure that these units of measure are consistent across our watches and our grocery scales. But this isn’t as…
Mike Figliuolo
Every day there’s a new pile of “experts” cropping up on every subject imaginable. The key to differentiating genuine experts from frauds is to ask the right questions.
Warning: This post is a bit of a rant (but it does have a story and some practical advice). How many new experts are there today…
Gleb Tsipursky
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, a subtle yet profound shift is taking place in office dynamics, particularly as we welcome back teams that have been dispersed by the necessity of remote work.
Managers find themselves at the helm of this transformation, charged with the critical…
Prashant Kondle
Unplanned equipment downtime costs manufacturers an estimated $50 billion annually, according to a study by Deloitte. It is estimated that unplanned downtime costs more than $100,000 per hour. Traditional maintenance approaches—whether reactive or scheduled—are not sufficient to address these…
Mike Figliuolo
When it comes to networking, are you a squirrel or a grasshopper? From what I can tell, there are loads of grasshoppers out there but very few squirrels.
You folks know that fable about the squirrel and the grasshopper, right?
The squirrel works his butt off all summer fortifying his little tree…
AMETEK
From electric vehicles (EVs) to renewable energy storage to consumer electronics, lithium-ion batteries are powering the world around us. Over the next decade, the market for these batteries is expected to grow more than five times from what it is today.
Rugged field testing meets real-time…
4C Consulting
ISO 27001 is a globally recognized standard for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system (ISMS). Successfully implementing ISO 27001 can provide tremendous benefits, such as ensuring data security, building trust with customers, and meeting…
Herman Tang
In manufacturing, especially in assembly systems, every operation plays a role in shaping the quality of the final product. The influence of these operations can carry through each stage, ultimately affecting the quality of the finished products delivered to customers. Understanding how these…
Silas Fulsom
In today’s highly competitive global markets, lean manufacturing is no longer something that’s nice to have—it’s a way of life. You can either reduce costs, simplify operations, and improve productivity on a continual basis—or you can lose business to competitors that do.
Lean manufacturing starts…
George Schuetz
The need for long-range height measurements has been around since the principles of layout work became a fundamental requirement in machine shops.
The first step in the manufacturing process is to lay out a piece by transferring a design or pattern to a workpiece. This is performed in almost all…
Horacio Falcão
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could outsource to technology the complex, laborious, and often emotionally intense process of negotiating? Until recently, the idea of merging negotiation and AI was only a dream. However, the launch of more sophisticated AI systems has changed how we approach the…
Gleb Tsipursky
Generative AI is revolutionizing industries, from drafting legal contracts to crafting personalized marketing campaigns with unmatched speed and precision. Yet this transformative power comes with challenges: fears of job loss, concerns about algorithmic bias, and the phenomenon of “hallucinations…
William A. Levinson
The ongoing relevance of the quality profession requires evolution and adaptation to meet the needs of the 21st century. Remember, the quality profession originated with the need for inspection to prevent poor quality from reaching customers; this was before it evolved to include metrology,…
Silke von Gemmingen
Our solar system has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. Astronomical research is looking for answers to the big questions of human existence. How big is the universe? How did it come into being? Astronomers all over the world use telescopes to cast their gaze into space.
However, it’s not…
Quality Digest, Ryan Pembroke
Hexagon is frequently at the fore of innovation. Like many in its industry, part of the company’s initiative to succeed is rooted in the constant push to automate tedious processes that take up valuable time, eat up resources and personnel, and delay production and delivery of products. Tools like…
Erin Vogen
For many maintenance teams, the story is all too familiar: Limited resources make it difficult to anticipate equipment failures, which leads to frequent, costly breakdowns. During these moments of crisis, miscommunication and disorganization only amplify the problem. This perpetuates the perception…
