All News
The Cp and Cpk are well-known capability indices commonly used to ensure that a process spread is as small as possible compared to the tolerance interval (Cp), or that it stays well within specifications (Cpk). Yet another type of capability index exists: the Cpm, which is much less known and used…
Risk mitigation, risk assessment, risk management: We insure ourselves against risk, put buffers in our estimates to compensate for risk, and we make decisions based on risk. Or do we?
We think risk is a thing. It’s rarely a thing. Risk is part of the system we’re creating. It’s the variation,…
When I previously wrote about earning trust with co-workers, a friend, a true leader in the public policy field, called to suggest that a closely related and equally important subject is restoring corporate trust.
I immediately went to sit on my front porch and think about his observation. I…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- Mahr Federal has issued a new catalog in print, pdf and online editions, covering the full range of its dimensional metrology products and systems. The full-color print edition contains 612 pages, while the Mahr Digital Catalog is in an easily navigated digital…
Let’s begin with yet another example of a lack of understanding of the Perversity Principle, this one from a recent The Times of India report.
“Authorities in India have reportedly arrested some 300 people and expelled 600 students in connection with a massive cheating scandal in the northeastern…
(InnovMetric: Quebec, QC, Canada) -- InnovMetric Software Inc. is proud to announce that its annual 2015 release of the PolyWorks universal 3D metrology software platform is focused on enhancing measurement quality, repeatability, and productivity. Key new functionalities of PolyWorks 2015 include…
(Perceptron: Plymouth, MI) -- When Robert Howard formed Carolina Metrology in Duncan, South Carolina, he knew the level of core measuring capability that was required to compete as a contract dimensional metrology service. Howard has spent more than 15 years in the metrology, quality, and…
Erin joined your team about a year ago. She came in with many other candidates for a job opening, and she impressed you during the interview. She was far and away the best candidate.
She has lived up to the high expectations she set in her interviews. She reduced the time it takes to deliver her…
During the recent leadership plenary of the Baldrige Program’s Quest for Excellence Conference, senior leaders of the 2014 Baldrige Award recipients shared their insights and lessons learned.
Scott McIntyre, the U.S. leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Public Sector Practice, said, “If we’re…
All the technical journals are abuzz with the changes to ISO 9001:2015. One significant paradigm shift is to a risk-based management approach. Most companies already apply risk-based thinking in their planning process for organizational management. This article will take a narrowly focused…
Spring has always been my favorite time of year. The flowers are out again in full bloom, it’s time to plant the garden, and baseball season is here again. Go Nationals!
My absolute favorite thing to do is spring cleaning, which provides the perfect opportunity to address all of the chores punted…
Leaders who empower their team members get better results. They make faster decisions, have the ability to act, and create dramatically better experiences for customers. Read on to learn how you can empower your teams.
“Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way…
(Dynapar: Gurnee, Illinois) -- Announced today and effective immediately, Dynapar is offering a free 30-day beta test trial to all interested and qualified parties, for its key product families of incremental and absolute encoders, with thousands of configurations available. According to North…
Years ago, while in a traveling sales job that I hated, I stopped at a gas station and used the restroom. Someone, annoyed by the wet floors, had scrawled above the urinal, “We aim to please. You aim too, please.”
It was a classic bit of latrinalia that I’d seen a dozen times before. Written…
Welcome to baseball season! I always do a baseball-themed article around this time, and I found my topic after stumbling on this article recently: How accurate are umpires when calling balls and strikes?
From what I understand, since 2008, home plate umpires have been electronically monitored…
Informed consent (IC) is more than getting a quick signature from a clinical trial participant, the FDA gently reminds industry in a new guidance addressing increasingly complicated electronic IC (eIC) issues. Issued almost simultaneously with Apple’s new ResearchKit tool, which promises faster,…
(Quality Digest -- Chico, CA) Quality Digest, for more than 30 years the leading source for quality news and resources, is now available on mobile devices. Check out our website on your smartphone or tablet for exclusive content, in-depth articles and columns, industry news, webinars, and more.…
We all face adversity in our lives. The difference is in how you approach it. If you’re willing to look past the challenge and have the determination to overcome it, you can achieve more than you ever dreamed was possible.
In 1986 I lost my vision due to a pediatric brain tumor. I lost my vision…
Reducing waste, implementing efficiency-promoting practices, and continuously improving operations are the main goals of lean manufacturing ideology. These tasks may seem daunting for a manufacturer at the start of an improvement program, but there are many concrete steps that can be taken to…
As a project manager, you’re most likely familiar with the five project phases outlined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMI, 2013): initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. However, do you know the 47 project management “processes” that these five…
(Frost & Sullivan: London) -- Increasing procedure volumes have been fuelling the adoption of custom procedure trays and packs (CPTP) in Western and Eastern Europe. In part, the expanding aging population, which is more likely to develop chronic wounds as they have more medical issues…
When people talk about U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) design controls, they often place a lot of emphasis on inputs and outputs, verification, transfer, and the design history file. All good things, of course; without them, you won’t meet FDA requirements for your design controls. The…
(METTLER-TOLEDO: Columbus, Ohio) -- The latest addition to the METTLER TOLEDO CI-Vision portfolio is the newly developed Label Check Station (LCS), which prints and verifies labels automatically. Food manufacturers can use the LCS to print high-quality, product-specific labels at a rate of up to…
Sometimes we receive unreasonable and confusing directions, and sometimes we give them.
As in the short video clip below, even if the systems behind this confusion are sound and the motivations reasonable, when you put them together they can create a frustrating no-win situation:
Here are a few…
Business runs on estimates. “How long do you think that might take?” we naively ask. Then when someone tells us how long they think something might take, we write that down and hold them to it.
Merriam-Webster’s says the very word “estimate” means to roughly calculate or judge the value, number,…
