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(MOCON: Minneapolis) -- Cleanroom operators will now be able to detect the presence of extremely low levels of microbial cells on surfaces much faster than with traditional solutions. This cleanroom testing capability is a result of a global marketing agreement between MOCON Inc. and Particle…
The healthcare industry is under pressure to improve performance across strategic measures of performance, including delivery cost, operating revenue, employee engagement, patient safety, patient experience, and patient outcomes. A growing number of organizations turn to innovation as a way to…
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal detailing how Boeing is facing up to 24 million dollars in FAA penalties over quality control going back several years across a number of locations shows how even the biggest manufacturers need to close the loop on quality control (QC). Closing the QC…
Concurrent engineering is a common approach that pairs developing the product design and its supporting manufacturing processes through the development process. There are several reasons why this is a good idea.
Design engineers may require the creation of new manufacturing processes to achieve…
Marketers are relentless in their efforts to seduce you with fancy tools, acronyms, Japanese terminology—and promises—about their versions of formal improvement structures such as Six Sigma, lean, lean Six Sigma, or the Toyota Production System, each with its own unique toolbox.
In my last column…
Mel Brooks fans will remember Spaceballs, his jocular jibe at the Star Wars franchise. In pursuit of a rebel ship, evil Lord Dark Helmet (played by Rick Moranis) orders his crew to accelerate their craft beyond the speed of light to “ludicrous speed.”
Although time travel remains within the…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- An internationally renowned CEO and author on strategic business growth joins an award-winning supply chain practitioner and an experienced innovation expert as keynote speakers at the ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference, Feb. 29–March 1, 2016, in Phoenix.
Keynote speakers are…
Let’s say you’re a biotechnologist working to develop new medicines or a better test for forensic analysis. You might find yourself frequently using absorbance spectroscopy, a technique that allows researchers to identify even small amounts of a substance (such as DNA) or an antibody based on how…
Have you ever noticed someone struggling with a problem because he didn’t know the “trick” to solving it? Have you ever wrestled with a problem, only to discover that it actually wasn’t a problem; you were simply approaching it improperly? In these cases, the way forward is usually apparent after…
Maintaining a social media account involves keeping track of the many random celebrations that can provide an excuse to post a story that otherwise might not have a timely hook. National Peanut Butter Day (Jan. 24 for the uninitiated) is just such a day.
While NIST chemist Carolyn Burdette spent…
(Thermonics, Mansfield, MA) -- Thermonics, a new family of ultra-low temperature air- and water-cooled chillers, suitable for labs and plants, has been introduced by Thermonics Corp. These portable two-stage, cascade refrigeration chillers are capable of reaching –80°C. Recirculating heat-transfer…
A s the market gradually moves toward value-based reimbursement, hospital payments to physicians have also been in transition from purely productivity-based pay to incentives based in part on quality, patient experience, and efficiency of care. This shift has taken place in employment,…
Physicists at NIST’s Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) have been working on a new class of chip-based photonic thermometers that measure temperature with light. Now the team has reached another key milestone with the creation of a system that tests and packages their photonic thermometers…
Reputation is fast becoming one of the most important risks to manage. Build quantifiable arguments to get boards on board.
Corporate reputation, the close cousin of a firm’s brand, is one of the most intangible assets a company has. If a brand is the inside-out perception of a firm, reputation…
(Frost & Sullivan: Mountain View, CA) -- Frost & Sullivan recognizes GE with the 2015 Global Frost & Sullivan Growth Excellence Award for Application Convergence. GE has demonstrated impressive foresight in introducing Predix, a disruptive software platform that captures and analyzes…
Not long ago a new client asked our team to lead an innovation project to create a product. As always with a new client, we did a quick survey. It’s important to understand what the client knows and has attempted in the name of innovation.
In this case the client had adopted another consulting…
It’s shaping up to be an interesting year. The U.S. presidential campaign looks to be outrageous and entertaining, stocks started the year with a nasty hangover, and ranchers turned militant in Oregon. Although the outlook for quality management isn’t quite as exciting, there are a number of…
Every day, thousands of people confuse lean management with “Taylorism,” properly known as scientific management. The negative association brings out the lean bigwigs and others who work hard to create a great separation between lean and Frederick Winslow Taylor. This is an ill-informed and…
(FFD Inc.: Knoxville, TN) -- Steel Tool & Engineering, based in Trenton, Michigan, manufactures jet engine parts for the U.S. government and international aviation companies. Founded more than 60 years ago, the company and its 130 employees have built a solid reputation for delivering world-…
Walking the snowy streets of the small Swiss town of Davos, it was impressive to know that 40 heads of state and 2,500 leaders from business and society were there to talk about some of the most important global challenges facing us today.
In the main congress hall, I saw and met leading…
How often have you heard people say, “Our strategy is to become the biggest and the best?” This isn’t strategy. Strategy is not the what. Strategy is the how: How will you become the biggest and the best?
Of course, within that definition, there are good strategies and bad ones. Good strategies…
For those awake enough to respond, please supply the Jeopardy question to this answer: “A computer system that won a million dollars in 2011 with access to 200 million pages of content, including the full text of Wikipedia.”
If you thought, “What is Watson?” you’d be correct as far as the…
(OSHA: Washington) -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is extending the public comment period on an updated version of its voluntary Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines.
The current comment period was announced on Nov. 16, 2015, and…
During the past several years, the FDA has been more aggressive and active in performing medical device company inspections. This has led to a far greater number of companies receiving Form 483 warning letters and citations. FDA Form 483s are a good way for your medical device company to flush $…
ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2015 establish clear expectations for top management. Not only are executives accountable for the effectiveness of these respective systems, they also have specific tasks ranging from establishing objectives to supporting relevant managers in their…
