All Features
Thomas R. Cutler
Manufacturing products produces waste that ranges from overproduction, waiting time, and transportation costs to overprocessing, excess inventory, unnecessary motion and scrap. By eliminating these wastes, production time and cost of goods sold (COGS) are reduced, and quality is improved. COGS…
According to the Institute of Medicine, there are approximately 100,000 people per year killed in the Unites States because of medical errors. There are 100,000 families in despair because they have lost a loved one too soon. This also means that 100,000 medical professionals are losing…
John Geary
The challenge of responding to the threat of cheap offshore labor isn’t new to North American businesses. Nearly a hundred years ago, Henry Towne wrote about the need for increased efficiency and productivity in a foreword to Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 paper, “Shop Management”:
"We are justly…
Dr T Burns
In 1633, opposition to the common viewpoint could mean death. This was the case with Galileo when he proposed that the Earth revolved around the sun. He was tried for heresy. Of course things are different today. People who question dogma are no longer burnt at the stake. Instead, they’re branded…
David C. Crosby
Zero defects is an idea that was discovered in the early 1960s. It was articulated by Phil Crosby and first implemented at the Martin company in Orlando, Florida. Zero defects enjoyed widespread popularity until the mid 1970s, and almost every major company and their suppliers had a zero-defects…
Craig Cochran
Last year I had the good fortune of doing some consulting with B&C Specialty Products in Hopeulikit, Georgia. B&C does light manufacturing, primarily plastic molding and assembly, and they also distribute imported products produced by companies in the Far East. They have about 150 employees…
Frank Powell
Machine tool and manufacturing system builders have been producing increasingly intelligent equipment for more than 50 years, and today’s computer numeric controlled (CNC) machines and systems are marvels of technology. However, they still need intensive human supervision and…
Denise Robitaille
As an auditor, I have a hard time maintaining my composure when individuals tell me they’re unhappy with their registrar and yet have taken no action to address the matter. If clients are dissatisfied with the conduct of an auditor or service they’re getting from their certification…
Denis Leonard
I developed and validated quality management diagnostic profiles through research conducted on 77 companies. These profiles are just one in a suite of strategic and dynamic tools that recognize that quality management is dynamic, complex in nature and can’t be easily represented in a sequential or…
Praveen Gupta
I’ve been reading about the 1.5 sigma shift for some time. Several different interpretations have been published and people are losing sleep over this matter. Some have even driven a stake into the ground to fervidly defend their position. My intent in writing this column is to simplify…
Thomas R. Cutler
Kanban, e-kanban and digital kanban aren’t the same. Kanban is a Japanese term that means "signal." It’s one of the primary tools of just-in-time (JIT) systems. It signals a cycle of replenishment for production and materials, and it should maintain an orderly and efficient flow of materials…
Mike Micklewright
Our company’s quality manual must mirror the ISO standard, must be between 25 and 40 pages in length and must be customized to our business. After the initial approval of the quality manual, no one within the company ever reads it again. The manual is a nonvalue-added element and it flies in the…
Avoiding blood trauma is a concern when pumping cardiac patients’ blood during surgery. With this in mind, a medical-device manufacturer decided to reuse the flow-path geometry of an existing arterial filter that had been proven safe and effective in many patients. The problem was…
Question: Who has mountains of data needing to be tamed into information? Answer: Nearly everyone in health care, manufacturing, education, basic research, and service industries, including Six Sigma and ISO 9001 organizations and anyone who needs to demonstrate conformance to standards. (…
Craig Cochran
Customer feedback is the single most important type of communication an organization can receive. It is confirmation of the organization’s purpose in life and its ability to deliver on this purpose. Feedback can ultimately determine whether the organization lives or dies. Despite the highly…
The need to measure things inspired some of the earliest tools invented by man. Basic measurements were needed for constructing dwellings of an appropriate size and shape, fashioning clothing, or bartering food or raw materials. Understandably, early man turned first to parts of his…
Denise Robitaille
It’s the week after the huge annual trade show—the opportunity for you and the rest of your industry to showcase your companies and to rollout your latest, greatest blow-the-competition-out-of-the-water product offerings. Unfortunately, instead of having a working model to demonstrate—…
Thomas R. Cutler
Is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helping or hindering quality? Many companies that purchased their first ERP package years ago now find that the system is hindering their efforts to adopt new quality initiatives, including lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. Since the purchase several…
Praveen Gupta
Many people believe that they can buy Six Sigma certification and get some marketing advantage. By documenting a few more procedures, they can achieve Six Sigma recognition. For some, Six Sigma is a fact-based methodology made of fancy statistical tools that solve all business problems.…
Mike Micklewright
Why don’t registrar auditors audit clause 7.4 Purchasing of ISO 9001 when it comes to purchasing their services? After all, they’re providing a service that affects the quality of your operations, processes, and eventually, products.ISO 9001 states that your company “Shall evaluate and select…
William L. Roper
A revolution is working its way through America’s health care systems. Like many great revolutions, it’s about empowerment and the creation of a new paradigm. It won’t happen overnight, but the forces at work are irresistible and will bring new hope and new responsibilities. The agent…
Bill Kalmar
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. This elliptical sphere the size of a basketball took 98 minutes to encircle the earth and emitted a faint beep as it made its momentous trip. It provided no information back to mother Earth and yet it…
Gregory Roth II
I, for one, am tired of the quality flavor of the month. It isn’t quite that bad but it seems like it at times. Have you been through statistical quality control, TQM, total quality speed, re-engineering, zero defects, quality circles, SPC, Motorola Six Sigma, AlliedSignal Six Sigma, GE…
David Zatz
Chrysler is stepping up their use of team-based manufacturing, moving away from the “Fordist” approach that’s been continually embraced and rejected by global automakers. Their approach brings up memories of the many other companies that have gone to teams, including some that were successful and…
Thomas M. Findlan
When purchasing material test equipment for tensile, fatigue or other test modes, managers of test labs may want to compare new and used test equipment due to budget constraints or other factors. The problem is that there’s currently no easy way to determine if a particular used test…