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Automation in the fresh produce sector is standard fare these days. What may not be so standard are the containers that get the produce from farm to market. The quality of produce containers has a direct impact on the quality of the produce—and maximizing profit margins for produce distributors and…
To date, this series focused on relatively simple data analyses, such as learning one summary statistic about our data at a time. In reality, we’re often interested in a slightly more sophisticated analysis, so we can learn multiple trends and takeaways at once and paint a richer picture of our…
(Marposs: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Marposs, a world leader in measurement, inspection, and test technologies, has announced the availability of its Tecna T2 leak tester and AV10 test fixture solution developed specifically for verifying the integrity of medical blood lines. Featuring the reliable Tecna…
Iwas talking to a friend recently, and the subject of organizational health came up. With my quality background my ears perked up, and I asked him to explain what he thought organizational health meant.
The friend went on for several minutes explaining that organizational health was all about six…
We live in an era of statue removal. Meanwhile the largest mountain carving in the world is under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota just 17 miles from Mount Rushmore. The final carving will be 640 feet long and more than 50 stories high. The subject of that carving? Crazy Horse.…
(Rigaku Analytical Devices: Wilmington, MA) -- Rigaku Analytical Devices, a leading pioneer of handheld spectroscopic analyzers, has launched the KT-500—a new, handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analyzer.
The Rigaku KT-500 features carbon-capable, miniaturized, high-resolution…
This series is about planning for the worst that can face us.
It’s jumping-off point is the National Institute of Standards and Technology publication, “A Case Study of the Camp Fire—Fire Progression Timeline,” an epic and thorough study about the wildfire that changed the lives of my family,…
When the Covid pandemic swept through the country last year, companies rapidly transitioned employees to working from home (WFH). However, this shift led to growing challenges of WFH burnout and Zoom fatigue.
Unfortunately, organizations treat these issues as day-to-day challenges, instead of…
(AW-Lake: Oak Creek, WI) -- AW-Lake Process Flow Measurement introduces its Next-Generation Gear Meter Series that offers greater efficiencies in operation with tighter tolerances, higher resolutions, higher standard pressure ratings (6000 psi), improved accuracy, wider turndowns (100:1), and a new…
In a customer-centered world, meeting customers’ needs is more demanding and business-critical than ever. Simultaneously, manufacturers struggle to reduce operating costs as margins compress and the competitive landscape intensifies. This dichotomy and a pressure to “choose” between reducing costs…
No matter who you are or what you do, you create systems and live in the systems of others every day. But for some reason, we’re never actually taught lean systems thinking. We think it is natural, that we just sort of “get it.”
On a personal level, we are most often governed by cognitive biases…
Demonstrating identification and traceability in all quality system processes is a must for medical device companies to comply with FDA regulations. To satisfy this compliance need, companies will need to connect related processes within their quality system to close the loop between related pre-…
For more than 40 years it has been common to use the precision to tolerance ratio (P/T ratio) to compare the standard deviation of measurement error with the specified tolerance for a particular product. The purpose of this comparison being an assessment of the utility of the measurement process.…
With big data and artificial intelligence (AI) transforming business, it’s almost certain that every executive will need to leverage these technologies at some point to advance their organization—and their career. However, doing so carries a heavy intimidation factor for most leaders, and this is…
(Allied: Fort Worth, TX) -- Schneider Electric and Allied Electronics & Automation are offering a new limited-feature set of high-quality motor control and protection products priced right for smaller panel builders, OEMs, system integrators, industrial contractors, and more.
The Easy TeSys…
Medical-device usability testing and validation are critical tasks leading up to a medical device’s debut on the market. “Usability” looks at how the user interacts with your device and forms a key component of overall risk management and safety.
If there’s any “spoiler alert” to this article, it’…
Plastics are a part of nearly every product we use on a daily basis. The average person in the United States generates about 100 kg of plastic waste per year, most of which goes straight to a landfill. A team led by Corinne Scown, Brett Helms, Jay Keasling, and Kristin Persson at Lawrence Berkeley…
A challenge that occurs with the latest generation of electric motors is optimization of the component manufacturing in terms of efficiency, quality, and costs.
Electric motors are a critical factor in the unprecedented global growth trend toward e-mobility. This fast diffusion of electric…
Suddenly, supply chains are in the spotlight. The practical details of how products arrive on supermarket shelves, for example, gained unwelcome relevance amid last year’s wave of panic buying caused by Covid-19 disruption. At the same time, the environmental damage wrought by wasteful industrial…
In many ways, being an effective leader boils down to your ability to influence people—a proficiency that is driven by one’s emotional intelligence (EQ). Leadership is more about soft skills—the ability to inspire, persuade, guide, sway, and communicate in a way that’s “heard” rather than just “…
(Freedom: Cincinnati) -- Freedom IoT’s latest shop floor software release brings new voice-of-the-customer features and enhancements, including new artificial intelligence (AI) functionality and a self-help video library.
The AI feature notifies users and other systems of adverse machine and…
Manufacturing Expert Predicts Manufacturing as a Service to Emerge From Manufacturing Transformation
(LMA Consulting: Claremont, CA) -- Manufacturing and supply chain expert, Lisa Anderson, president of LMA Consulting Group Inc., predicts manufacturing as a service (MaaS) will emerge as a result of that manufacturing transformation that is replacing the more traditional manufacturing model. LMA…
I was talking recently with a friend who runs an academic program at a major U.S. university. She was telling me about solving a problem in her department and how the solution was obvious so she just did it. She then related how one of her colleagues protested that she should have used some Six…
This story was originally published by MIT News.
Blade Kotelly is a senior lecturer at MIT on design thinking, user interfaces, and innovation. His enthusiasm for cars is intertwined with his passion for innovative design. But despite Kotelly’s love affair with the internal combustion engine, he…
By 6:25 a.m., my fate was sealed.
That morning, 10 miles from my front door in Paradise, California, a poorly maintained power line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric arced, dropping molten metal into the brush at its base and starting a fire.
At the time, I was rousing myself and my high-school-…
