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Company managers have a lot on their plates. It’s a tall order to handle daily operations, inventory, staffing needs, training, deadline and quota expectations, and a bevy of other duties. The best managers know enough to delegate certain responsibilities which can help maintain…
Whenever I hire a new employee, as part of his orientation I am always careful to emphasize that it would be wrong to mistake my forbearance for indifference, that while I am long-suffering and will give him time to learn the ropes, there are standards to be reached and maintained.
One of the…
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been pioneering antenna measurement methods for decades, but a new robot may be the ultimate innovation, extending measurements to higher frequencies while characterizing antennas faster and more easily than previous NIST facilities.…
Eric (not his real name) was under pressure from his sales department. He was hesitant to close a large financing deal with a Chinese corporation but had little beyond his intuition to back up his position.
The company’s stock price had gained a whopping 600 percent in one year. Nevertheless,…
Eric (not his real name) was under pressure from his sales department. He was hesitant to close a large financing deal with a Chinese corporation but had little beyond his intuition to back up his position.
The company’s stock price had gained a whopping 600 percent in one year. Nevertheless,…
(Global Innovation Forum) -- In November 2015, the Global Innovation Forum, chaired by Brand Genetics, brought together speakers and attendees from some of the world’s most innovative businesses. Over the course of two days we all shared innovation experiences, challenges, anecdotes, and learnings…
Game No. 1: A Scramble for Quality 1. MROHE NOASSARH = Homer Sarasohn 2. IRFKEECRD NOWLISW ATORLY = Frederick Winslow Taylor 3. LCOMAML BEGARIDL = Malcolm Baldrige 4. LRWAET HWASHRET = Water Shewhart 5. OGIESH NHOSIG = Shigeo Shingo 6. DRAAMN MEFGAEIBUN = Armand Feigenbaum 7. ITIHICA NOOH =…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, WI) -- In a recent marketing piece emailed out to the Quality Digest audience, the American Society for Quality (ASQ) compared its CQE Study Guide to Quality Council of Indiana’s CQE Primer. The features of these products are different and do not support direct comparison. ASQ…
Dealing with individuals is one important aspect of culture change. I addressed this in “How Does Your Organization Define Accountability?” Every organization has many tribes (i.e., departments or specific groups of individuals) that make up its culture. When changes affect departments, the issue…
Losing can actually have its benefits. For Baldrige users, however, it’s a common saying that everyone is a winner who takes that first step.
The most important reason for using the Baldrige Excellence Framework is not to win an award but to improve financial and business performance, says Joseph…
A piece of popular lore, provided by Shigeo Shingo, is that the original name for mistake-proofing (poka-yoke) was actually fool-proofing (baka-yoke). Shingo chided managers at Panasonic for using the latter term, as it disrespected workers by essentially calling them fools.
Shingo substituted…
In today’s hyper-competitive global economy, customer satisfaction is increasingly being driven by software. Software is the primary controller of the human interface with electronic devices and substantial parts of the core functionality. For many companies building devices, software is the brand…
Being a Baldrige examiner: What is the experience like? Some have compared the work—especially during the final phase of an evaluation—to being in a rigorous MBA program. Others may find it’s like being part of a dispersed but highly engaged task force, as teams collaborate online and on the phone…
The auditing profession is changing. Auditors are getting older. Technology is changing the way auditors work. Companies now work 24/7 around the globe, speaking different languages and integrating different cultures, forcing auditors to adapt to a new work reality. How is all this affecting the…
(Shingo Institute: Logan, UT) -- The Shingo Institute, part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, will hold its 28th International Shingo Conference on April 25–29, 2016, in Washington, DC at the Renaissance Washington Downtown Hotel and Convention Center.
Past…
Below are the scrambled names of 10 notable figures in the history of the quality profession. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decode each of these names. Send your answers to us at qdcontest1@qualitydigest.com. Of those submitting correct answers, one name will be chosen at…
(Ideagen: Reston, VA) -- Information management software vendor, Ideagen, has launched the latest version of its quality, safety, and compliance management product, Q-Pulse.
Q-Pulse 6.1 comes with a notable enhancement to the Document Management module that includes PDF conversion and tighter…
No, they don't manufacture faucets, they don't run a major American airline, and they are not an elite special ops military unit. Headquartered in Taiwan, Delta Products Corp. is a global leader in switching power supply solutions, thermal management solutions, and DC brushless fans. Delta also…
Leading a business is only getting harder, recent research found. In the Robert Half Management Resources survey, 66 percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) said it is more challenging to be a company leader today than it was five years ago. Just 4 percent of executives said the challenges have…
I teach management and leadership. Recently, the topic in one of my classes was change and stress. I asked my students, who are nearly all employed and range in age from 19 to 55, what caused them the greatest stress in the workplace. Among the various responses were several related to how they…
The planning of environmental or reliability testing becomes a question of sample size at some point. It’s probably the most common question I hear as a reliability engineer: How many samples do we need?
Also, when evaluating supplier-run test results, we need to understand the implications of…
All machine tools need maintenance, adjustment, and calibration over time. For precision multi-axis machines, scheduled service including machine conditions, performance, and calibration are necessary to maintain machine performance, thereby reducing scrap or rework. Regular calibration is also a…
Having recently bought some furniture at a big box store, I couldn’t help seeing these three dreaded words were boldly printed on the outside of the carton: “Some Assembly Required.”
As I opened the box, I wondered what I’d find. Would there be lengthy assembly instructions and lots of different…
There’s a well-known quote by Henry Ford that goes like this, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” It’s fair to note that some don’t believe he actually said that, but let’s go with it.
Ford is often cited when naysayers tell us that customers don’t know…
(PQ Systems: Dayton, OH) -- PQ Systems announces the release of SQCpack 7, a comprehensive update to their best-selling statistical process control (SPC) solution that helps organizations utilize the power of data analysis to improve quality. New Six-Way Analysis presents an at-a-glance overview…
