All Features
Greg Hutchins
This is the first of a new QualityInsider column that will discuss new practices, processes, tools, and lessons learned in what I think is the future of quality—risk management. I’ll feature quality and other professionals who use quality and risk in supply management, auditing, health care,…
Mike Staver
It’s an election year in the United States, and if there ever was a need for clarity in communication, it’s now. Yet no matter how specific the question or how many times it’s asked, the candidates from both parties just seem to drone on and on. If you think you don’t suffer from the same problems…
Bill Kalmar
Starbucks’ announcement that it would close for three hours on February 26 to retrain about 135,000 in-store employees sent shudders through the thousands of coffee fanatics in the nation. Would java aficionados have to forego their venti-decaf-no foam-double vanilla-light whip-extra caramel-…
America needs you to get your act together. This isn’t just about jobs, although many people are getting hurt because of your mismanagement of three of the most important name brands in America. You’re a symbol of what used to be the strength of America, and you have lost your way. Two of you have…
Mike Micklewright
Question:What do you call it when a quality manager is caught cheating on a quality exam?
Answer:Benchmarking
Several months ago, I taught a three-day internal-audit class to about 15 people. On the morning of the first day, Joe, the quality manager, gave me an Excel spreadsheet of the lunch orders…
Mike Thelen
As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.
The…
Mike Thelen
As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.
The…
Akhilesh Gulati
As a manager, one might imagine being a rider atop a horse. You cannot expect to force the horse to win by constantly pulling the reins, neither can you expect to win the race consistently by pushing the horse beyond its capability. The rider needs to influence its performance to win the race;…
Thomas R. Cutler
Powerful brands can drive success in competitive markets and become the organization’s most valuable assets. Wikipedia suggests that, “Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, and symbol.” Today, how brands reflect and engage people and how they define people’s…
Thomas R. Cutler
Powerful brands can drive success in competitive markets and become the organization’s most valuable assets. Wikipedia suggests that, “Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, and symbol.” Today, how brands reflect and engage people and how they define people’s…
Knowledge at Wharton
Accounting techniques such as budgeting, sales projections, and financial reporting are supposed to help prevent business failures by giving managers realistic plans to guide their actions and feedback on their progress. In other words, they’re supposed to leaven entrepreneurial optimism with green…
Bill Kalmar
Each year at this time a momentous event is announced in the pages of a prominent magazine. No, I’m not talking about the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, although thoughts of that warm me up on frigid evenings in Michigan (sorry if that’s sexist). I’m referring to Fortune Magazine’s…
Douglas C. Fair
I was hiking in the Smoky Mountains National Park with a colleague, and we happened upon fellow hikers. Being the friendly sorts that we are, we stopped to take a breather and chat with our new female friends. We enjoyed resting and speaking with the women until my friend Bob smiled and asked one…
Thomas R. Cutler
In the first quarter of 2007, my company conducted a complex-manufacturing research survey of 1,473 senior management level executives (CEO, COO, CFO, vice-president of operations). Complex manufacturers were defined as those employing “other than exclusively repetitive manufacturing processes”…
Thomas R. Cutler
In the first quarter of 2007, my company conducted a complex-manufacturing research survey of 1,473 senior management level executives (CEO, COO, CFO, vice-president of operations). Complex manufacturers were defined as those employing “other than exclusively repetitive manufacturing processes”…
Mike Thelen
As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.
The…
Mike Thelen
As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.The…
Bill Kalmar
When finalizing my plans for a new year, it’s always gratifying to realize that all previous plans have been completed. As I recently went through this annual process, I noticed several issues affecting customer service and quality that I’d inadvertently left on the back burner. Consider this an…
Mike Micklewright
Question:How did the quality consultant always exceed the expectations of his customers?
Answer:By exceeding the number of invoiced days quoted on his proposal.
¯ I’m so excited! ¯ And I just can’t hide it! ¯
Many of us still refer to ISO 9001:2000 as the “new” standard. Also, many of us know that…
Thomas R. Cutler
Industrial-marketing programs must encompass the full range of activities needed to grow a business profitably, and often these programs neglect to cover the retention and expansion of a business with existing profitable customers.
In a global competitive environment, a lean industrial-marketing…
Thomas R. Cutler
Industrial-marketing programs must encompass the full range of activities needed to grow a business profitably, and often these programs neglect to cover the retention and expansion of a business with existing profitable customers.
In a global competitive environment, a lean industrial-marketing…
Knowledge at Wharton
Former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca once noted, “You can have brilliant ideas; but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” In their new book, The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas,Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor G. Richard Shell…
If you work in a project-based environment, you may feel like one of those juggling clowns at the circus, trying to keep your ball, your baton, and your flaming torch in the air at the same time, all while maneuvering your unicycle around the ring. Focus too much on one object and you risk dropping…
Richard Lepsinger
Companies frequently develop vision and mission statements about being No. 1 in their industry, the great service they provide to customers, and their rewarding work environment. More often than not, these statements are so far from reality that they become joke fodder for customers and…
Bill Kalmar
In the last couple of months, two topics have become particularly vexing to me. First, how can we be environmentally responsible by purchasing E85 fuel when there are few service stations that provide this new elixir? Second—even more difficult to comprehend—why do companies eliminate products and…
