All Features
Leonard L. Berry, D. Kirk Hamilton
We spend much of our time in buildings, and they can have a profound effect on our well-being, for better or for worse. As long ago as 1943, Winston Churchill told Britain’s House of Commons that “we shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
Research is showing that effective…
Jeffrey Phillips
Ihave been thinking a lot lately about innovation and how we may have emphasized one component at the expense of another. Here I’m talking about something that should appear obvious—the focus of innovation in building new things. We are constantly reminded that innovation is about building new…
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…
Aiman Sakr
Does your organization benefit from lessons learned? Does it learn from previous quality issues? A vast amount of learning takes place every day in every manufacturing facility. Do global manufacturing companies share experiences gained from resolving quality issues between overseas plants? And…
Rob Matheson
Medical image registration is a common technique that involves overlaying two images, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, to compare and analyze anatomical differences in great detail. If a patient has a brain tumor, for instance, doctors can overlap a brain scan from several months ago…
Richard Wilson
According to the Verdantix global survey of 382 EHS decision-makers, 57 percent expect to use mobile apps in 2018 either widely across all their facilities, at multiple facilities, or as a pilot project at one facility. Mobile has become a game changer for modern quality management systems (QMS).…
Manufacturing Extension Partnership MEP
Many people have ideas for inventions, but only a few act on them. Doug Gaus of Innovation in Mind quietly produces numerous inventions from his home in Boise, Idaho, taking the steps needed to turn his ideas into marketable products.
He has several licensed products, including a new handheld…
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…
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…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
We are here, and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine. —H. L. Mencken
I ran across the term “moonshine shop” while reading about a kaizen blitz at Ontario-based communications firm Cogeco. “Brad, [Cogeco’s] maintenance leader, coordinates all projects relating to modifying…
Mike Richman
Manufacturing is an eternally forward-looking sector. From the First Industrial Revolution about 250 years ago right up until the remarkable advances in connectivity and information analysis that form the heart of Industry 4.0, scientists, engineers, managers, marketers, and quality professionals…
M. Mitchell Waldrop, Knowable Magazine
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine. Part one looked at the innovative possibilities inherent in 3D printing; here we consider some of its shortcomings and the solutions that companies are finding.
A few years into this century, the industry reached a tipping point, as sales of…
M. Mitchell Waldrop, Knowable Magazine
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
Since May 2015, in a section of its WorldPort distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky, United Parcel Service (UPS) has been operating a spare parts warehouse with no spare parts. Instead, the facility is stocked with ultrafast 3D…
Ryan E. Day
Henry Ford is credited with the cheeky quote, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said, ‘A faster horse.’” But, people didn’t get a faster horse (which may indeed have been what they wanted). What we did get was a machine that literally—and irrevocably—changed the entire world…
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…
Andrew Maynard
In case you missed it, Elon Musk recently called BS on the field of nanotechnology. The ensuing Twitter spat was admittedly rather small on the grand scale of things, but it did throw up an important question: Just what is nanotech, and where does the BS end and the science begin?
I suspect that…
Eryn Brown, Knowable Magazine
In ancient times, the story goes, cooks in the city of Sybaris were granted yearlong monopolies for the sale of unique dishes they created. Since then, generations of inventors have relied on patents to discourage copycats from stealing their best ideas. Economists, in turn, have tallied up patents…
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…
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…
Rob Matheson
The future of transportation in waterway-rich cities such as Amsterdam, Bangkok, and Venice—where canals run alongside and under bustling streets and bridges—may include autonomous boats that ferry goods and people, helping clear up road congestion.
Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and…
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…
Chip Bell
The 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia, won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 35th Academy Awards. Given the current conflicts in the Middle East, I recently watched the four-hour movie to learn more about the cultural history of the area.
Thomas Edward Lawrence (played by Peter O’Toole) was a British…
Laurel Thoennes @ QD
In May 2015, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his cabinet issued a strategic industrial plan; its title translates to “Made in China 2025.” The plan took more than two and a half years to draft and included the input of 150 experts from the China Academy of Engineering. Made in China 2025 was…
Maria Guadalupe
Your competition is no longer what it used to be. In this age of information at our fingertips, same-day delivery, and seamless payment options, customers now expect more from business than ever before. Companies must adapt to thrive.
Agile, the flexible way of working, has spread from software…
