Adam Pintar
Now, if you’re familiar with either statistics or J.R.R. Tolkien, I know the title grabbed your attention. And if not, don’t worry; all will become clear in time, but I’ve always wanted to reference...
Matthew M. Lowe
Despite the life science industry’s infatuation with modernity and trend chasing, even its most forward-thinking organizations have struggled to fully digitize and integrate their operations.
Yet,...
Brian S. Smith
Throughout my career, I have been a member of several trade organizations. I believe that standards have meaning, in every field. When I become a member of an organization, I endeavor to learn as...
Ryan E. Day
Most of us have heard of kaizen—continuous improvement of philosophy and methodology. In business, this involves all employees working to improve a company's processes to lean it out, to run with...
Donald J. Wheeler
Last month we provided an operational definition of when measurement systems are equivalent in terms of bias. Here we will look at comparing the within-instrument measurement error between two or...
Jim Benson
We need to hold people accountable. I invite you to just look at that sentence for a minute. I hear it in every organization we work with. Every. Single. Time.
Look at the sentence. Now, consider...
Terry Onica
Since the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and Odette International introduced the Materials Management Operations Guideline/Logistics Evaluation (MMOG/LE) more than 16 years ago, it has...
Tara García Mathewson
Once students learn how to sound out words, reading is easy. They can speak the words they see. But whether they understand them is a different question entirely. Reading comprehension is complicated...
Ryan E. Day
More and more, manufacturers are becoming the target of hackers, but what can they do about it, if anything? It seems every month, maybe even every week, we hear about some sort of data breach or...
Harish Jose
Today I’m looking at Factory Physics and the Toyota Production System (TPS). My main references for the post are the 1977 paper co-authored by ex-Toyota president Fujio Cho and key ideas from Factory...
Beth Humberd
Walmart recently announced it plans to deploy robots to scan shelves, scrub floors, and perform other mundane tasks in its stores as the retail giant seeks to lower labor costs.
Although the retail...
Marlene Chism
In a world where speed is valued, we all waste a lot of time and resources with two unconscious patterns: Chasing opportunity and avoiding important conversations. This article is about two mindsets...
Jesse Lyn Stoner
Back in the good old days, if you were in a position of authority, you could just announce what needed to be done and assume it would be carried out. But times have changed.
As companies expand and...
Paul Foster
When you look at standards like IATF 16949 or ISO 9001, the requirements boil down to two essential elements: improving customer satisfaction and reducing risk.
They go hand in hand because effective...
Jeffrey Phillips
One of my favorite quotes comes from George Bernard Shaw, who said that all change in life originates from unreasonable people. Reasonable people, he said, will accept the status quo and change their...
Robyn Metcalf
In an outbreak that has now run for more than 28 months, at least 279 people across 41 states have fallen ill with multidrug-resistant Salmonella infections linked to raw turkey products. Federal...
Mike Micklewright
Knowledge of kaizen theory, principles, tools, and experience in application are of course very important in leading successful kaizen events that drive real bottom-line results. However, equally...
Morgan Sliff
Boeing has been rife with issues lately. While the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash has dominated headlines and elicited an FBI investigation into the company, another federal body has stated it will...
Matthew M. Lowe
It’s human nature to resist change, and the life sciences industry is not exempt from a change-averse mindset. The proof: Life science organizations (LSOs) lag far behind counterparts in other...
Dan Gardner
Established businesses rely on so-called best practices to retain their market share by limiting risk, but what happens when an established practice isn’t actually the best way to solve a...
