All Features
Kyle Toppazzini
Allow me to introduce you to FUSE, a value-based lean Six Sigma model that enables organizations to maximize enterprise performance with the least friction. FUSE embodies three core Chinese concepts of trust (shin), relationships (gunaxi), and knowledge (zhi), or more specifically, reflective…
Tripp Babbitt
The recent NFL brouhaha over pay for performance (Saints style) has seen a lot of media coverage. An ESPN fan poll finds coaches more to blame (by a large margin) than the players. In the business world, this is the equivalent of workers “accepting” practices put in by management—as if they had a…
Alan’s Apothegms with Alan L. Austin
Forgive me, but what does it even mean to “take it to the next level?” What is the next level, and is it “better” than the current level? How do we know? Is it higher or lower than where I currently stand? I guess higher is better if I’m on a sinking ship, but if I’m in a building whose upper…
John Ferreira
The need for low-cost temperature logging devices in the cold-chain industry has led to the development of silicon-based instruments that do not need calibration. Traditional temperature monitoring devices (using thermistors or thermocouples) must be calibrated during final production and assembly…
Michelle LaBrosse
Everyone reading this is a capable, smart, and skilled project manager, proud of managing the key stakeholders in each project with professionalism and finesse. Do you bring this same care to managing the stakeholders in your personal life? Can you imagine how much smoother things would be if you…
Matthew E. May
In 1996, James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones popularized the term “lean thinking.” It was their expression for what they observed studying Toyota’s manufacturing operations: an absence of waste. Today, lean concepts have moved beyond the factory floor to become an organizing set of principles and…
Davis Balestracci
The 24th Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Annual Forum took place on Dec. 9–12, 2012. It is probably the leading health care improvement event in the world. I have presented there for 20 consecutive years and watched it evolve from barely 1,000 attendees to well over 5,000. What’s changed…
Jim Frost
In my last article, “Understanding and Using Discrete Distribution,” we looked at different discrete distributions and how you can use them. This time, I’ll show you how to determine whether your data follow a specific discrete distribution. (Read here to see how to identify the distribution of…
University at Buffalo
Management efforts to reduce cynicism and enhance employee empowerment can have a large effect on employee engagement, according to a study from the University at Buffalo School of Management.
The study, recently published in Organization Science, investigated officer attitudes and organizational…
Paul Naysmith
This is a true exposé from Santa’s mega-factory at the North Pole. The information, apparently smuggled out in a series of notes rolled into scrolls and tucked deep inside elf shoes, was found floating in the open stretches of water known as the North Pole Passage. You may not be aware that elf…
Matthew E. May
All I want for Christmas is a meaningful measurement. I’m tired of “technical specifications” that have no real-world application. I’m fatigued by acronyms and jargon that I can only imagine have evil engineers and masochistic technical writers in dark rooms giggling with glee (mwah-ha-ha-ha style…
Minitab LLC
If you’re in line for a coffee at the local Starbucks, analysis conducted by graduate students at Rutgers University suggests that the probability of waiting more than five minutes for your tall, hot, three-pump, sugar-free vanilla, one-pump mocha, half-soy, half-nonfat latte with whip is very high…
Davis Balestracci
Previously I discussed three common cause strategies (links below) that help to expose all existing, underlying special causes of variation. They also provide necessary insight into how the current process came to be and allow construction of a baseline for assessing the effects of an intervention…
Carl Zeiss Microscopy
Much has been said about American students falling behind in science; minority students in particular are under-represented and tend to choose other career options. One doctor and research scientist with a longstanding interest in education and training was determined to change this pattern. He has…
Bill Kalmar
Over the Thanksgiving holiday the Microsoft Word program on my laptop went kaput. I was unable to open any previous columns I had written, so I couldn’t write any new scintillating, informative columns for Quality Digest Daily that readers have become accustomed to. (OK, the laughing can stop now…
William A. Levinson
Henry Ford would have fired for incompetence any manager who tried to move jobs offshore for cheap labor. He believed—and more important, proved—that intelligent management can make most jobs sufficiently value-adding to justify high wages for American workers. If he was alive today, however,…
FDA
An important message came through loud and clear during the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) whirlwind visit to China this month: China is determined to strengthen its food safety system.
I had not visited China in nearly 10 years and I was struck by the extraordinary progress in the cities we…
Jim Clifton
The four following anecdotes carry a similar message. They should seriously alarm city, state, and country leaders everywhere.
A CEO of a multibillion-dollar California company, and lifelong resident of the Golden State, told me at a dinner that he was moving his business from California to the…
Joel Smith
I have a birthday coming up and wanted to share a wealth of statistics about birthdays that you may find entertaining. First is the “birthday problem.” Some of you probably encountered this one in a statistics class at some point.
The birthday problem is: How many people would need to be in a room…
Matthew Littlefield
Although best practices and management systems behind quality management have remained consistent for decades, the systems and solutions used to ensure the production and delivery of high-quality products and processes have changed drastically. Systems that once seemed ideal have become obsolete…
George Anastasopoulos
In July 2008, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed to provide a legal framework that creates one monopoly in each member state of the European Union (EU) for the provision of accreditation services across Europe.
This action could be understood (but even then that’s…
Mike Roberts
Many companies struggle with the best way to think about and incorporate the cost of quality into operations. In this post we’ll examine some recent research highlighting how many companies fail to use reductions in the cost of quality as a driver for competitive advantage and revenue growth.…
Umberto Tunesi
Despite the efforts and misfortunes of Copernicus, Galileo, and other famous astronomers to convince us that the world is not the center of the universe, the quality “solar system” remains stubbornly geocentric—that is, top-management-centric.
I don’t mean this is necessarily bad, but it does…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Ron Behrens, an old friend and colleague, recently replied to my invitation to share examples of the intelligent use of statistics, such as that used in our Six Sigma projects. I asked for stories, some data, and some statistical analyses. With his response, he noted that I had probably already…
Alan’s Apothegms with Alan L. Austin
I’ve had a varied and interesting career, having lived and worked in the Middle East and West Africa. Specifically, we were in northern Nigeria, a region that suffers from corruption and poverty and the ever-present threat of violence from criminals and terrorists alike. I still check the online…