All Features
Jim Steventon
Integrated quality, when done correctly, plays a vital and pivotal role in enhancing any business, especially manufacturing operations. But, in fear of sounding like the archetypal head of quality, I say it shouldn’t be seen solely as something you do in manufacturing operations. In fact,…
Gabriel Popkin
They’re called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of thousands of compounds that contain a chemical bond between fluorine and carbon. That bond has proved to be one of the most stable and unbreakable known to chemistry—a fact baked into the common nickname “forever chemicals,”…
Elizabeth Norwood
In manufacturing, selecting the right cleaning fluids is a critical determinant of product quality, reliability, and environmental impact. As industries increasingly prioritize sustainability, the transition to environmentally friendly cleaning fluids is imperative. This article delves into…
Gleb Tsipursky
In the evolving landscape of work, the push for federal employees to return to office spaces has sparked a complex dialogue about productivity, workplace culture, and the very nature of work itself. The forced shift back to office environments under the Biden administration—under pressure from…
William A. Levinson
The famous football coach Vince Lombardi purportedly said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” (According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, in a 1962 interview Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”)
In light of numerous corporate disasters related to…
James Morton Turner
Panasonic’s new $4 billion battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, is designed to be a model of sustainability—it’s an all-electric factory with no smokestack. When finished, it will cover the size of 48 football fields, employ 4,000 people, and produce enough advanced batteries to supply half a…
Lauren Hinkel
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of drivers deliver packages and parcels to customers and companies each day, with many click-to-door times averaging only a few days. Coordinating a supply chain feat of this magnitude in a predictable and timely way is a longstanding problem of operations…
Roy Arguelles
In today’s marketplace, where products and services proliferate and competition intensifies, businesses are realizing that they must offer more than just commodities to thrive. Enter the experience economy—a paradigm shift where companies are no longer just selling goods or services but crafting…
Zach Winn
In a large, open space on the first floor of 750 Main St. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a carbon-capture company is heating up molten salts to 600°C right next to a quantum computing company’s device for supercooling qubits. The difference is about 900° across 15 feet.
It doesn’t take long during a…
George Caceres
Because I’m a microplastics researcher, my friends sometimes jokingly ask me, “How many microplastics do you think I consumed this week?”
I can’t give an exact answer. Unfortunately, it’s not zero.
Microplastics—the tiny plastic particles that break down from plastic products—are everywhere. And…
Bruce Hamilton
I was asked to lead a workshop in the sales order department of a manufacturer that we had helped with process improvement on the factory floor. Those efforts had positively reverberated across the company in the form of fewer late and expedited orders. Still, sales order employees were wondering…
William A. Levinson
What do quality and productivity have to do with World War III, which we all hope will never happen? The answer is everything. A massive loss of American manufacturing capability between 1945 and 2024 has conceded enormous advantages to aggressor nations that might be inclined to break the peace.…
David L. Chandler
In the predawn hours of Sept. 5, 2021, engineers achieved a major milestone in the labs of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) when a new type of magnet, made from high-temperature superconducting material, achieved a world-record magnetic field strength of 20 tesla for a large-scale…
William A. Levinson
In his Quality Digest article published in February 2023, Michael Mills1 reported that the next version of ISO 9001 will add to clause 4.1, “Understanding the organization and its context” the words, “the organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue.”
Although nothing in…
Roman Davydov
In 2024, operating in the automotive market has become increasingly difficult. Global and local supply chain disruptions, product quality issues, and ongoing talent shortages are some of the greatest challenges automotive businesses face globally.
The majority of automotive companies already…
NIST
Stain-resistant clothing, fast-food wrappers, and extreme weather gear such as certain jackets and pants—these products get many of their desirable features from a class of manufactured chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But there’s a major downside: Researchers have found…
Jennifer King
Route optimization algorithms transform last-mile logistics by improving efficiency, cost-effectiveness, delivery accuracy, sustainability, and customer satisfaction, ultimately reshaping the landscape of modern supply chain management. Route optimization algorithms use advanced computational…
Melissa Burant, Marc Schneider
As a manufacturer, you understand that supply chain disruptions happen all the time. What you don’t know is when or how they will affect your operation and business. But assessing your supply chain risks and implementing good supply chain management practices can be daunting. This is especially…
Jamie Fernandes-ETQ
Generative AI took the world by storm in 2023, from the classroom to the film studio, and the writer’s bench to the White House. Enterprises and creative industries worked to figure out how to leverage it in their operations, while classrooms and government entities struggled to govern its use.
In…
The MEP National Network
Building a supply chain network strategy does not have to be complicated. Ultimately, whether you are looking at your supply chain, back office functions, or fill rates, improving your business is about reducing dependencies and avoiding variation.
5 Steps to Building a Supply Chain Network…
Pierre-Nicolas Disser
With concerns for an economic downturn constantly looming, the global manufacturing industry finds itself navigating through a sensitive time. Once bustling factories, go-to for the world’s largest brands, are experiencing an unexpected lull attributed to multiple factors, including inflation and…
Michael Mills
Superficially, ISO 9001 and climate change sound different: ISO 9001 is about how to do things well so your organization satisfies its customers; climate change is about physical and chemical interactions in the atmosphere, and the consequences for our lives in the future.
But ISO is adding…
Zach Grey
There is something wonderfully simple about a wind turbine gently turning in the breeze.
As the wind flows by the blades of the turbine, a rotating force is created that spins the giant assembly. The rotation is then converted into electricity, just like conventional power generation.
A wind…
Silke von Gemmingen
Smart waste management is one of the core tasks within smart cities, i.e., those urban areas in which innovative technologies and data-driven solutions are used. They aim to improve residents’ quality of life, minimize environmental impact, and use resources more efficiently. Conserving resources…
Industrial Inspection and Analysis
Unlike the traditional engineering process of designing a part, product, or component from the ground up, many times in life we need to start with an existing item and work backward to solve a problem. It’s a process known as reverse engineering, and it begins by obtaining accurate data about the…