James Odom
Charles Kettering, the famous inventor, once said: “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” This implies that a good portion of problem solving should be devoted to a thorough understanding...
Scott Alamanach
Don’t miss the author’s follow-up to this article, “Going Low Profile in Afghanistan.”
--Editor
Profitable manufacturing requires efficiency, and this principle guides most (if not all) of our...
FARO
Laser line scanning is ideal for non-contact measurement applications - including inspection, cloud- to-CAD comparison, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, and 3-D modeling. Laser line probes...
David Millar
The moment for action in the United States on climate change has arrived in earnest. With the election of President Obama and increased majorities of Democrats in Congress, there is unprecedented...
H. James Harrington
During the 1980s using flowcharts was the “in thing” to do. Today, technology has provided us with a much more effective and useful tool: simulation modeling. If a picture is worth a thousand words...
Mahr Federal
(Mahr Federal: Providence, Rhode Island) -- Tapers play an important role in orthopaedic devices. Most hip and knee implants use tapers because they provide good alignment and can be "locked...
Arshad Hafeez
Whenever the economic climate freezes assets and sends investors scurrying for cover, businesses must find new ways to grow and stand out from the competition. Cost-cutting is the obvious, and usual...
Akhilesh Gulati
Recently a strategy consultant was overheard saying she writes romantic novels. Look into many organizations and, although said in jest, it has more than a modicum of truth to it.
Don’t get me...
Gretchen Hancock
These days blogs and newspapers seem to make a daily reference to climate change, resource scarcity and security, the environment and the economy. It's overwhelming … and with the legions of experts...
Stanley Cherkasky
At the beginning of this year, the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) released revision C to AS9100, the quality management system (QMS) standard for the aviation, space, and defense...
John Bruman
Editors note: The author submitted this just days before he lost his job. What is ironic about this "rant," as Bruman puts it, is that it was written seven years ago. Do we never learn...
Russ Russo
The original title for this article was “How to Win the Baldrige.” But of course, no one can give you some secret on how to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award. Instead, this article...
Chet Kagel
Command Medical Products of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a medical-device manufacturer that designs, manufactures, assembles, and packages disposable medical devices such as intravenous tubing, blood...
Bill Kalmar
None of us, I suspect, are fond of visiting our physician, making an unexpected trip to the hospital emergency room, or undergoing an operation. From time to time, we hear about the unanticipated...
Donald J. Wheeler
Last month we showed the X chart in figure 1. The four lowest values and the three highest values were seen to be “outliers” when we looked at the histogram. When we fitted a bell-shaped curve to...
Dan Seal
Many of us in the aerospace community have come to know the value of data in the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS), a reliable resource for aerospace supplier certification and...
Here’s a story that proves once again that exciting quality applications can occur anywhere in the world.
BHP Billiton operates the EKATI Diamond Mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories,...
Walter Pastorius
Assemblers of large objects, such as automotive bodies, have strongly recognized the need to continually improve processes to enhance dimensional integrity of assemblies, maximize customer aesthetic...
Mike Micklewright
Question: How do Somalian pirates differ from some Wall Street CEOs?
Answer: A Somalian pirate takes hostages and demands money. A Wall Street CEO takes money and demands hostages.
Without the...
John W. Stoneback
Is your toolholder showing wear in the areas indicated on the toolholder shown?
We’ve been asking this question for some time now, and we know the answer. Normally, close inspection of the tapered...
