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It’s rare to find a company where the lean manufacturing culture is companywide, ingrained in every employee. But such is the case of Jonesboro, Arkansas-based Hytrol Conveyors, a designer and manufacturer of advanced conveyor systems. As a longtime contributor to Quality Digest Daily, I wanted to…
During annual strategic planning meetings, the temptation is always to spend most of the time working on the business, discussing the big-picture strategic plans and breakthrough developments that are critical to the future of the company. But just looking at long-term plans ignores a critical…
My son, a member of the optimization generation, where pretty much every aspect of his life will be tracked, measured, and ultimately ruled by the Alg, posed a fascinating question to me the other day. He simply asked, “How much should I work?”
Now, the context for the question is that he’s…
Today I read something that reinforced what I have come to understand at some level but now I’m able to make a deeper connection.
Shigeo Shingo taught that it is not enough just to teach people “how” to do something; they must also be taught “why” they are doing it. This allows them to think…
(Mahr Federal: Providence RI) -- Mahr Federal has introduced MarVision QM 300, a new video measuring microscope with image processing capability, the flagship product for a new line of Mahr optical measuring instruments.
Designed for the measurement or dimensioning of geometric elements, the…
Today I would like to offer a brief tip of the hat to Larry Keeley and his team at Doblin Group, for their concept of the “Ten Types of Innovation.” Keeley and his team created a nice graphic that captures many of the different types of potential outcomes of an innovation activity. That is,…
A typical home improvement store here in the United States is more than 100,000 sq ft in size, and costs almost $20 million to build and $5 million to stock. Other big box stores would be similarly equipped and valued.
With shelves fully stocked, all well-managed businesses conduct periodic…
Two of the more interesting Internet-driven companies these days are Airbnb and Uber. They call themselves part of the “sharing economy.” But let’s take a look at the word “share.” From the MacMillan dictionary, share is “to allow someone to have something you own.” Is that what’s happening here?…
(NIST) -- Time is not your friend when your information systems are under cyber attack, but sharing threat information before, during, and after an attack with a trusted group of peers can help. Not only does it alert the other members of your community to a potential attack, it can provide…
In today’s world, it’s almost expected that product or service innovation will yield competitive advantage. So how does one innovate? One approach is to hire genius employees and to combine the attributes of a number of tools (e.g., theory of constraints or experimentation), or use specific…
A 49-year-old father of two hits his alarm clock at 6:30 a.m., starts a pot of coffee, and prepares for his daily commute. For the past three years, Bill Lewis has worked for a large company based in the heart of New York, and even though his home in Texas is nearly 2,000 miles from the office,…
A 49-year-old father of two hits his alarm clock at 6:30 a.m., starts a pot of coffee, and prepares for his daily commute. For the past three years, Bill Lewis has worked for a large company based in the heart of New York, and even though his home in Texas is nearly 2,000 miles from the office,…
This is the final installment in our six-part series on common business challenges and the quality management system (QMS) tools that can help alleviate those challenges. Previous installments have reviewed how QMS tools help simplify your common business processes and change the way you handle…
(ISO: Geneva) -- As a food manufacturer or a regulator, safety is one of your biggest concerns. But how can you make sure that your food safety management system (FSMS) follows global best practice? If you are looking for advice to ensure your FSMS is up to standard, then ISO 22004 can help you…
I recently finished reading the book Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Ed Catmull (Random House, 2014). On the book jacket, Catmull, who is president of Pixar Anitmation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, provides six great ideas…
A couple weeks ago, SDL shared a post that included 25 facts about customer experience, including a variation of this one published by Havas Media: Most people worldwide wouldn’t care if more than 73 percent of brands disappeared tomorrow.
The question I ask is, “Why?” Is this even a thing?…
The decades-old stereotype about “visually challenged” referees was reinforced during the recent game between Ohio State and Penn State, when a referee awarded OSU an interception after the ball had clearly—as shown by a subsequent video—touched the ground. Calls of this nature evoke foul language…
During my recent travels speaking at conferences and consulting, root cause analysis (RCA) seems to have taken on a life of its own and is now a well-established subindustry in any organization, regardless of its chosen approach to improvement.
There are many things that “shouldn’t” happen. Why…
(FARO: Lake Mary, FL) -- FARO Technologies Inc., developer and manufacturer of 3D measurement, imaging, and realization technology, has released FARO CAM2 SmartInspect 1.2, the industry’s first full-featured portable software for basic geometric measurements, without CAD, for laser trackers and…
After years of decline, medical device approvals by the FDA have finally begun to hit the gas pedal, according to an interesting report from the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
In hindsight, it appears the FDA hit bottom in 2010 when approval times…
When, nearly 20 years ago, I started Familiar it was with a very clear and declared purpose: To allow people to come together and discover what “fulfillment” means for each of them as individuals.
At the time, few working with us understood the importance of that purpose, and for those observing…
Editor’s note: This article discusses topics covered at greater length in episodes 19–23 of a new streaming video training series, Creating and Sustaining Lean Improvements—Integrating Principles, Culture, and Tools by the author and 360 Performance Circle, a sister company to Quality Digest.…
Penny Pritzker, the U.S. commerce secretary, has announced that four U.S. organizations are recipients of the 2014 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement, and visionary leadership.
The 2014…
Judging by articles from The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Forbes, it seems the lion's share of coverage of the 2014 midterm election results concerned how the results will affect Wall Street, the Fed, and Fortune 500 companies. There's nothing wrong with that, but there is another story. A…
Several years back, I was asked this question: Does measurement software have the ability to determine scale without the use of scale bars? On numerous occasions in a variety of ambient conditions, I have tested and compared the results of initially setting up a system using temperature/material…