All Features
James Chan
Maintenance teams operate in challenging environments that can often produce workplace mishaps, near misses, and other potential hazards. That’s where maintenance incident reports come in. Not only do these reports help team members isolate and problem-solve safety concerns, leading to a safer…
John Tschohl
Why do people leave their jobs? Even if they’re well paid and have good benefits, many will wave goodbye as they walk out the door, never to return.
They don’t leave because they want more money or better benefits. They don’t leave because they don’t like their jobs or their co-workers. They leave…
Natalie King
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is now so widespread that it’s rare to come across a company that isn’t using it in some capacity. While many clients look on the technology favorably, in a recent survey 14% of people still reported that they were unlikely to trust a company that uses AI.…
Megan Wallin-Kerth
As the July 22–25, 2024, Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) rapidly approaches, quality professionals anticipate opportunities to explore and showcase various products and ideas from some of the biggest names and organizations. InnovMetric, Hexagon, Renishaw, Nikon, and many others will…
Andrey Solin
Disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be a car review. This is an article on brand authenticity.
Back in 2021, when Ford was promoting the Mustang Mach-E GT, its high-performance electric vehicle, the company found a way to appeal to potential buyers who somehow missed the sensory appeal of gasoline-…
Annette Franz
Years ago—actually nine years ago, in February 2015—I wrote about “The 7 Deadly Sins of Customer Experience.”
I shared that article on LinkedIn recently and recognized that the sins may need some updating. I don’t disagree with the sins I originally wrote about, but I’m OK with consolidating,…
Artyom Yukhin
Artec 3D has begun working with Handicap International to manufacture custom prosthetic devices for beneficiaries in refugee camps and their host communities in Rwanda.
According to the United Nations, in Rwanda more than 51,000 people need prostheses. Many suffered loss of limbs during the 1994…
Lindsey Walker
Powered through artificial intelligence (AI), the use of AI algorithms for manufacturing has transformed company operations and led to vast improvements in productivity, higher quality, and lower costs. The piecemeal deployments we still see today will eventually give way to the agility and…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s all well and good to pontificate about “the customer comes first” or “deliver outstanding service,” but often it’s hard for your team members to wrap their heads around what that really means. You can say these things until your jaw muscles are sore, and post all the customer service rules you…
Luk Van Wassenhove
In today’s business environment, where the insatiable desire to grow profits overshadows environmental and social interests, it’s easy to overlook how the actions of economic actors can shape corporate—and environmental—outcomes.
In the accounting profession, practitioners exercise skepticism…
Del Williams
Various industries, including wastewater treatment, power generation, food processing, and chemical manufacturing, depend on industrial strainers to separate unwanted suspended solids from liquids and slurries. However, conventional strainer methods can be unreliable and lead to extensive…
Gleb Tsipursky
Many employees are unaware that they can leverage the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to request work-from-home (WFH) accommodations based on mental health conditions. This knowledge gap has the potential to reshape the “return to office” (RTO) landscape, creating both opportunities and…
Georgia Tech News Center
When people think of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, what often comes to mind are airplanes and land vehicles like cars or trucks. But as efforts to slow climate change are ramping up, the spotlight is on another form of transport: ships.
The United Nations’ International Maritime…
Stephanie Ojeda
Customer complaints are a fact of life in any industry. Even though manufacturers would prefer not to receive complaints, they do come with a silver lining. Managed effectively, they play an important role in improving your products and processes over time—that is, for companies that take a…
Andreas Janz, Horacio Falcão
Failing to identify faults seems to be a prevalent issue nowadays, considering recent reports of quality control problems at Boeing and numerous recalls by car manufacturers, to name a few. Yet, excessive fault-finding occurs when the ability to pinpoint faults—a beneficial behavior—is taken too…
Jones Loflin
I was driving along listening to the audio book Trust, by Henry Cloud (Faith Words, 2023). When the person reading the book made the comment, “Trustworthy leaders make their teams care less,” I almost had to pull over. Hearing that made me question exactly what they were talking about.
However,…
Mike Figliuolo
Congratulations! You’ve arrived. You’ve earned that nice cushy office where you can shut the door and no one can hear you listening to the greatest American Idol video ever on YouTube (or looking for a video card to send to your mom on Mother’s Day).
Yep, the office is fantastic. But if you want…
Creaform
When it comes to aircraft, poorly documented dents can lead to more significant problems, potentially compromising structural integrity or performance. Dents can trap moisture and lead to corrosion. The stress they generate can initiate fatigue cracks. Their effects on the structure can also affect…
James Chan
Thoughtful planning is the cornerstone of an effective preventive maintenance program. Your maintenance plan is the framework for everything from building a maintenance schedule and automating inventory management to streamlining work order management and improving interdepartmental communication…
Lawrence Goodman
Here are just a few potential advantages of 3D drug printing—a new system for manufacturing drugs and treatments onsite at pharmacies, healthcare facilities, and other remote locations: chocolate-flavored pills for children who hate taking medicine; several drugs combined into one daily pill for…
Donald J. Wheeler
The four common capability and performance indexes collectively contain all of the summary information about process predictability, process conformity, and process aim that can be expressed numerically. As a result, any additional capability measures that your software may provide can only…
Adam Zewe
Someday, you may want your home robot to carry a load of dirty clothes downstairs and deposit them in the washing machine in the far-left corner of the basement. The robot will need to combine your instructions with its visual observations to determine what it should do to complete this task.
For…
Kate Zabriskie
‘I don’t like confrontation, but I’m tired of his abuse. He signed me up for another committee without asking.”
“I know I need to say something about her taking credit for my work, but how to start?”
“Another joy of adulting, I’ve got to have one of those thorny conversations. Not fun.”
Difficult…
Harish Jose
I have always been interested in the idea of autonomy in a social setting. In this article, I’m looking at autonomy in a social setting—such as an organization—from a cybernetics viewpoint. I’ll lean on the ideas of Heinz von Foerster and Stafford Beer.
Von Foerster came up with the notion of…
Mike Figliuolo
Are you giving your lowest-level employees the power to make crucial customer-relations decisions without supervision? If not, you’re making a huge mistake.
Within a four-hour period on Friday I witnessed both excellent leadership and an abject failure of it. These experiences occurred with the…
