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A collaboration between NIST researchers and a private-sector firm has led to the development of a commercial device to fill a critical need in industry: calibration of laser tracking systems.
Laser trackers are state-of-the-art instruments capable of measuring the dimensions of objects as large…
I don’t claim to be qualified to advise other quality professionals. However, having had an opportunity to work for many years in this field with reasonable results and also having made my share of mistakes, I’ve observed that certain qualities help make a successful quality professional. I didn’t…
A study conducted by the Laboratory Accreditation Bureau of noncompliances during accreditation assessments to ISO/IEC 17025—“General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” found that the most cited clauses were found in section 5.4—“Methods and method validation…
My article, “Change and Risk-Based Thinking” describes management of change (MOC) as a safety-related phrase from the chemical process industry. MOC says that anything new, different, or nonroutine (such as repairs, equipment replacement, and process startups) creates a safety risk, but the same…
You import promotional goods from China. You're sitting at your desk, staring down at the balance sheet, burning the midnight oil again. You have an order of 20,000 pens currently in production and scheduled to leave the factory in less than a week. You have a choice to make.
Do you save some…
(Fowler: Newton, MA) -- Fowler High Precision has announced the launch of its mobile tech centers (MTCs) and 3D mobile tech vans, which will travel across the United States, equipped with the newest, most popular, and technologically advanced products in measurement and inspection. These mobile…
Medical care and biomedical research are in the midst of a data revolution. Put together, networked systems, electronic health records, electronic insurance claims databases, social media, patient registries, and personal devices comprise an immense new set of sources for data about health and…
Medical care and biomedical research are in the midst of a data revolution. Put together, networked systems, electronic health records, electronic insurance claims databases, social media, patient registries, and personal devices comprise an immense new set of sources for data about health and…
You’re only as strong as your weakest link. Although trite, the phrase embodies what manufacturing plants and processing facilities have worked to overcome for years: How do you plan for and prevent broken equipment in your lean production culture?
Another trite phrase hints at the answer: The…
Today, five years after the U.S. economy stumbled and nearly collapsed, American manufacturing continues to usher new products and innovations into the marketplace. From February of 2010 to now, 865,000 new manufacturing jobs have been added—the first sustained job growth in the sector since the…
Creating a great culture is a key responsibility of leadership. When you invest in building a strong culture, the business and financial results follow. Fail to do so and your business will end up in unpleasant situations.
Great leaders drive excellence in their organizations. They lay the…
(Upland: Austin, TX): -- Kanbanversation is a new episodic video program sponsored by Ultriva by Upland Software. The program examines all aspects of the demand-driven supply chain. During each episode industry experts and thought leaders are interviewed by manufacturing journalist Thomas R.…
In part one of this three-part series, we looked at the first two layers of resistance to change. Part two looked at the second two layers. Here we look at the final two layers, obstacles to implementing the proposed solution, and unverbalized fear. We are close to achieving true buy-in, but…
Not long ago, I couldn’t abide statistics. I respected the field, in much the same way a gazelle respects a lion. Most of my early experiences with statistics indicated that close encounters resulted in pain, so I avoided further contact whenever possible.
So how is it that today I write about…
(Quality Digest: Chico, CA) -- The IoT just took a giant leap forward. Ford Motor Co. has announced that the first wave of automakers and industry suppliers will adopt SmartDeviceLink (SDL), Ford’s open-source smartphone app interface software that allows smartphone apps like Spotify, Glympse,…
Establishing a clear and consistent focus, and knowing when to change it, is the essence of manufacturing agility. Factories don’t just make things. Viewed properly, they are where the rubber of corporate strategy meets the road of the marketplace.
Ideally, then, a factory should operate in…
In part one of this three-part series, we moved through the initial and often overlooked layers of resistance: first, why change; and second, how to overcome disagreement on the nature of the problem. Here we move on to the next two layers, namely, disagreeing on the solution and undesirable side…
(SAE: Warrendale, PA) -- Effective Training Inc. (ETI), an SAE International company and global leader in standards training, has released its newest reference publication, the ISO Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) Ultimate Pocket Guide.
The ISO GPS guide is the newest installment in ETI’s…
Leadership may be complex, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. We can always simplify. Often our greatest hardships are those we impose upon ourselves.
There are some who think that in order to be a great leader, we must allow life to teach us the hard way. But in truth, if we are open to…
One computation that modern software offers to unsuspecting users is the statistical tolerance interval. Since this sounds very much like limits for individual values, some have been tempted to use them on process behavior charts in place of the traditional three-sigma limits for individual values…
Although there is no bad time to improve quality management maturity, an optimal time is during fiscal planning for a new year. Executives and quality professionals who are affected by the quality of products or services should ask two questions: “Just how mature is my company’s quality program?”…
This is the first part of a three-part series on the “six layers of resistance.” It’s based on the work of Eliyahu Goldratt, who has now passed away. Goldratt was the originator of a body of work known as the “theory of constraints.” His bestselling novel, The Goal (North River Press, 2014 reprint…
What habits do you need to develop to become a more effective project manager? Maybe you need to get more organized with your paperwork, or change how you spend your time each day to stay on track with your projects, or shift how you respond to stressful situations.
Regardless of the kind of…
“I will take time to be alone today. I will take time to be quiet. In this silence I will listen... and I will hear my answers.” —Ruth Fishel
One of my great pleasures is going for a walk on the beach a couple blocks from my house. Contrary to the popular perception of California as a land of…
Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have said, in reference to 13 separate American colonies then in rebellion against England, “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang apart.” After the Revolutionary War, and following the conclusion of the endless debates that eventually lead to the…