All Features
Michael Sharp
American manufacturing is associated with high-quality standards that are meant to ensure both the reliability and longevity of the products produced. Manufacturers across all industries are looking for technological solutions and enhancements to continue to meet these high-bar standards and to…
Elizabeth Norwood
In manufacturing, selecting the right cleaning fluids is a critical determinant of product quality, reliability, and environmental impact. As industries increasingly prioritize sustainability, the transition to environmentally friendly cleaning fluids is imperative. This article delves into…
Donald J. Wheeler
One hundred years ago this month, Walter Shewhart wrote a memo that contained the first process behavior chart. In recognition of this centennial, this column reviews four different applications of the techniques that grew out of that memo.
The first principle for interpreting data is that no data…
Etienne Nichols
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal agency tasked with regulating the medical device market and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of all devices for patients.
The FDA classifies medical devices by risk into three categories: Class I, Class II, and Class…
Stephanie Ojeda
An analysis of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning letters by the Food and Drug Law Institute reveals a perhaps not-so-surprising link between training gaps and FDA violations.
It’s one of several factors motivating companies to switch to automated training management software. The…
Morehouse Instrument Co.
In the healthcare sector, precision isn’t just a requirement. It’s a necessity where the margins for error are perilously thin, and the consequences of inaccuracy can be grave. At the heart of this precision lies the unassuming yet critical load cell, a device whose reliability is foundational to…
Dawn Bailey
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), a 2019 Baldrige Award recipient, is a nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) in Pittsburgh with a federally designated service area encompassing a population of 5.5 million in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and one county in New…
ISO
Trust makes the world go ’round. Without it, democracies crumble and relationships suffer. The same goes for organizations and businesses: Without the trust of their customer base, they simply can’t succeed.
Trust, however, is never a given. Like respect, it must be won. In an ever-evolving…
Douglas C. Fair, Scott A. Hindle
In less than two months we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the control chart, a tool most often associated with statistical process control (SPC). Considering SPC from our modern perspective made us ask, “Is SPC still relevant?”
It’s a question asked within the purview of…
Denise Robitaille
The buzz has begun. ISO 9001 is being revised. There hasn’t been a revision in about 10 years, so it’s due—if not overdue. Still, there are individuals who don’t understand the justification or the purpose of the revision. After all, it’s a perfectly good standard. So, what’s up?
It’s worth…
William A. Levinson
In his Quality Digest article published in February 2023, Michael Mills1 reported that the next version of ISO 9001 will add to clause 4.1, “Understanding the organization and its context” the words, “the organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue.”
Although nothing in…
Grant Ramaley
When it comes to protecting anyone or anything from harm caused by something manufactured, grown on a farm, or rolling down a highway or a runway, quality is of utmost importance. Our trust forms the backbone of what we expect from our food, cars, planes, medical devices, and protection of the…
Denise Robitaille
ISO 9001 has begun its revision process. In the next few months, all eyes will be riveted on that arena as everyone seeks to anticipate the changes and what they’ll augur for their own quality management systems. The attention is not undeserved.
Equally important but with considerably less…
Matthew Barsalou
The FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis) turned 75 years old in 2024. However, a look at the literature may paint a different picture. Both the origin year of FMEAs and the name of the organization that developed FMEAs seem to vary among authors. Much of the literature on FMEAs is inconsistent…
Meg Sinclair
At Qualio, our mission is to help life science companies embed robust digitized quality to get their critical products to market at rapid speed and keep them there. And because the Qualio+ team combines over a century of collective quality and regulatory experience from within the life science…
Michael Mills
Superficially, ISO 9001 and climate change sound different: ISO 9001 is about how to do things well so your organization satisfies its customers; climate change is about physical and chemical interactions in the atmosphere, and the consequences for our lives in the future.
But ISO is adding…
Alonso Diaz, Maria DiBari
Inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are on the rise after the nation has recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. Domestic inspections showed a drop in 2020 due to state health guidelines around quarantine.
The rise has more than doubled within three years of post-pandemic…
Master Gage and Tool Co.
Calibration is essential in almost every facet of industrial processes. The calibration process verifies test instrument accuracy by comparison with recognized standards, and measurement validity hinges on one crucial concept: traceability.
Traceability adherence ensures a continuous link between…
Etienne Nichols
At one point in my career, after managing design controls and risk management documentation, I decided to move on.
When the day came to put in my two-week notice, I walked over to another engineer’s cubicle with the news. “From now on,” I said, “design controls are yours.”
I’ll never forget the…
Jón Bergsteinsson
Clinical investigations play an important role in your journey of bringing a medical device to market. While the relevant standards are often perceived as difficult and complex, having a good grasp of them makes the process less confusing.
Understanding ISO 14155:2020 is essential. It’s a guide to…
Stephanie Ojeda
In December 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expects to issue its long-awaited overhaul of its Quality System Regulation (QSR). The biggest change is that the new Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR) will harmonize with ISO 13485 for medical device quality management. With…
Aymen Saidane
As the manufacturing world pushes toward the goal of zero-defect production, part inspection is critical. Sheet metal’s thinness, coupled with its susceptibility to warping, demands precision inspection—even the most minor deviations have significant implications down the line. This underscores the…
Steve Thompson
If you’ve ever enjoyed the experience of an audit or inspection, then you know it’s about as much fun as having your wisdom teeth extracted. As painful as audits and inspections may be, they are necessary to bring needed medical products to market and monitor them to protect consumers and patients…
ISO
Healthcare administrators find themselves at the fore of a demanding and transformative field, where the pursuit of excellence in patient care is nonnegotiable. In a health industry landscape facing evolving regulations, escalating costs, and an increasing emphasis on patient outcomes, the need for…
Wael William Diab
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere—and that’s something to marvel at. AI is powering everything from advanced web searches to social media recommendations and video game design. But it could do infinitely more.
AI has the potential to revolutionize our societies and economies. Discussions…
