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Last weekend, as I was clearing clutter, I found a copy of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine. As I thumbed through it, I recalled that Wells, in his future world, describes man’s descendants as evolving into two distinct species: the Eloi and the Morlock. The Eloi live in an Eden-like setting where…
Sometimes when authors try to make a technical concept more understandable, it’s simplified but unfortunately, less accurate.
For example, when the developers of Six Sigma wanted to explain control charts and process capability analysis, they needed to include how the signal can be separated from…
If you are going to be a leader or hold a leadership position, there’s one quality you absolutely require to be successful. You need to be a seeker.
A seeker is someone who is always searching. Seekers bypass mediocrity and are not content to settle for the status quo. They search for excellence…
(Phillips Precision: Boylston, MA) -- Phillips Precision Inc. and Fowler High Precision each offer products that are fundamentally changing the way manufacturers inspect parts. By design, they create opportunities for a leaner process that before now did not exist in the industry.
The popular…
As happened with most every metrologist I know, I fell into metrology (the science of measurement) quite by accident. My degree was in chemical engineering, and I was probing the world around me to see what kind of work was out there for someone with my skills and interests. I learned of an…
Detroit recently hosted The North American International Auto Show. It’s an exciting event for consumers who want a sneak peek at what’s on the horizon in the automotive industry: energy efficiency, new gadgets, enhanced comfort, and of course, the latest paint colors and special-effect finishes…
One of the more enjoyable discussions I’ve seen on the Internet recently has to be about what to do with the quality manual. A common question is, “So what do I call this thing I put all the procedures in, now that we can’t have a quality manual?” It’s part of the panic brewing among quality…
(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence announced the release of the TESA TWIN-T10, a portable display for inductive probes that offers ease of operation for its users, as well as a clear and immediate graphical display of data. The TESA TWIN…
Bundled payments. Volume-to-value. Cost accounting. Process improvement. Patient engagement. Population health. Organizational leadership. These are more than just the newest industry buzzwords: They’re the trends that will compel the healthcare industry to transform its business model. They will…
(Ford Motor Co.: Dearborn, MI) -- Ford is using mobile climate and road simulators to minimize squeaks and rattles in its yet-to-be released 2017 F-Series Super Duty.
Rigorous testing with this equipment includes some of the most extreme conditions imaginable. The simulators are known as…
Out-of-control gas prices reported in the news have our attention. Nearly every media outlet, from the small-town daily news to The Wall Street Journal, has a gas price story on a weekly basis: “Gas Prices Are Plunging,” and “How Low Will Gas Prices Go?” It’s news when they rise and news when they…
The other day, I visited a retail outlet of a wireless services provider to get information about its international roaming packages. The company has a few thousand outlets nationwide; they’re called “relationship centers” staffed with half a dozen employees who try to up-sell products and…
Objective auditing has always been a challenge, and this is especially true now for ISO 9001:2015 audits. To better meet customer expectations, fundamental changes have been introduced to the standard to address current business realities and advancements in technology. Much of the responsibility…
(InnovMetric: Quebec, QC, Canada) -- InnovMetric Software, a leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, will hold the 2016 Annual PolyWorks Conference USA from March 30–31, 2016, at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan. At this year’s conference, metrology…
Mind the gap. It’s is an important concept to bear in mind when traveling on the Tube in London, the T in Boston, the Metro in Washington, D.C., and other subways. But how many of us remember to mind the gap when we create an interval plot in Minitab Statistical Software? Not too many of us, I’d…
Your project teams seem to have all the right pieces—team members with technical proficiency, good internal communication, an organized project manager—but something still isn’t quite right. Your team still struggles to get projects done on time and isn’t as productive as it could be. What’s going…
This article is based on some ideas from my respected colleague Mark Hamel. Despite the lean framework, these ideas apply to any improvement approach—all of which come from the same theory, lean included.
During the past 35 years, quality has evolved from the necessary evil of quality control to…
When you are a consultant, or worse yet, seen as a thought leader, people hire you expecting that you’ll know “the answers.” At best, what you actually know are paths to make sense of problems, communicate them, and then solve them. No consultant should ever arrive knowing the answers. If they do…
(AIMS: Dayton, OH) -- AIMS Metrology, an OEM for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), will host its first educational event, Advancing Quality In Manufacturing, May 10–12, 2016, at its newly expanded facility in Dayton, Ohio.
In addition to plant tours and new equipment demonstrations, AIMS is…
NIST scientists have devised and improved a prototype instrument the size of a loaf of bread that can substantially increase the accuracy of length measurements in commerce. Perhaps surprisingly, it does so by achieving the most accurate measure of the refractive index of air reported to date.
An…
Today, design has a seat at the table. With the success of products like the iPod and the iPhone, businesses have realized that a good user experience is key for improving the bottom line. Yet even with this determined focus on design, most digital experiences fall short of user expectations.
Of…
(Keytroller: Tampa, FL) -- Keytroller has set a new standard in forklift weighing with the introduction of the most accurate hydraulic scale on the market. The PRECISE Hi-Accuracy forklift scale offers weighing precision nearly as accurate as carriage or fork load cell scales, but at half the cost…
A few years back, a searing pain in my elbow sent me to the doctor, who diagnosed me with olecranon bursitis. Apparently, all that time spent leaning forward on hard desks in different meeting rooms during my team’s frequent marathon strategic planning sessions was putting too much stress on my…
Isn’t caller ID wonderful?! Every day we get calls that are listed as “unavailable,” “out of area,” “name not found,” “anonymous,” and “toll-free caller.” Most of the calls are scams and generally we don’t answer. But on occasion, when I want to have some fun, I relent and pick up the phone.…
Here’s a personal reflection from my distant past that might describe a current state for some of you.
When I began working in manufacturing during the pre-lean era, the quoted lead time for my company’s products averaged 12 to 16 weeks. By the 1980s, however, many customers began to routinely…
