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I named my blog CX Journey for a reason: to convey that the customer experience is just that, a journey.
What does that mean? It means that, although it’s important to look at the individual touchpoints, moments of truth, interactions, and channels, it’s more important to remember the whole…
It’s Saturday morning and Mrs. N. has a project for me: assembling her new bicycle. It has arrived in an imposing brown box, and I’m attempting to interpret the instructions. Looking over the variety of nuts, bolts, screws, and connectors in a little plastic bag, I’m performing a mental inventory…
(inTEST Thermal: Mansfield, MA) -- A temperature control system for high-speed and high-temperature testing of components, sensors, and PCBs has been introduced by inTEST Thermal. The Thermostream ATS-750 delivers clean dry air from -90 to 300°C to support growing demands for testing electronics…
As an engineer, my natural tendency is to look at things from the perspective of how something failed rather than why it worked (though in my writings about lean, I do both). However, the factors that cause failure are merely the antithesis of why things worked.
With that in mind, I offer you…
Students typically encounter many obstacles while learning statistics. In 44 years of teaching I have discovered some distinctions that help students overcome these obstacles. This article will remove some sources of confusion concerning the relationship between statistical process control (SPC)…
I was reminded recently of the passing of Thomas Berry, one of the most eminent cultural historians of our time. His work and insight have been touchstones for me for the last 30 years.
For me, the story starts in 1993 when my wife, Carole, and I were invited to help the folks in the North Simcoe…
From friendly Wall-E and helpful R2-D2 to the dystopian worlds of The Matrix and The Terminator, robots have captured our imagination and visions of the future for generations. But the time is fast approaching where interactions between humans and artificial intelligence become part and parcel of…
I continued to pantomime my intent as the Italian grocery clerk looked at me in complete confusion. My inability to communicate with this person was beginning to frustrate me. I mean, this is me, the person who was voted Queen of Charades by friends and family alike. How could he not understand I…
I continued to pantomime my intent as the Italian grocery clerk looked at me in complete confusion. My inability to communicate with this person was beginning to frustrate me. I mean, this is me, the person who was voted Queen of Charades by friends and family alike. How could he not understand I…
Yes, finishing feels good. When we complete tasks, we feel better than when we have a pile of incompletes just lying around. Incompletion creeps up on us, overloads us, and crushes us. The more we fail to complete our work or realize our goals, the more susceptible we are to hopelessness, doubt,…
Let’s face it: Everyone isn’t cut out to be a belted Six Sigma guru, but everyone should know how to use key tools in the right order to solve the problems facing businesses. And they can’t wait months or years to get results; the marketplace moves too quickly.
During the early 1990s, I attended…
Larry Loucka, a close friend and colleague, recently pointed me to a Feb. 16, 2014, article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Now, before you roll your eyes and give me the WSJ-isn’t known-for-getting-the-lean-thing-right look, hear me out. What the journal published is really, really good stuff—…
Last year, as organizations grappled with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule, they focused on risks associated with supply-chain governance, big data and social media, and the costly due diligence required to ensure compliance with the rule. This year the focus will…
Many of us, I’m sure, have subscribed to the National Do Not Call Registry. Having done so we’re not supposed to receive calls from telemarketers. Unfortunately, the registry still allows calls from politicians, charities, survey companies, and organizations we may have done business with in the…
Let’s get rid of value stream maps. I can hear it now: “Why would you say such a thing? Value stream maps are great. We can’t see waste without them.”
Precisely.
Value stream maps have developed an outsized importance in relation to other types of basic information that one gathers when trying to…
We all know that just as every person is different, so too is every disease and every drug. And so we weren’t surprised by the results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study found that the FDA used a range of clinical trial evidence when approving…
Large corporations, as a general rule, have significant budgets available for their quality departments. Therefore, the decision to implement a quality management system (QMS) is usually a sure one—it’s available, it’s effective, so it’s done. These corporations use QMS tools to properly reap the…
Every year, we hear scattered stories of inaccurate measures. Gas pumps, grocery scales, grocery scanners, incorrectly labeled products. Considering the many thousands of devices in the average inspector's jurisdiction, it's a testament to the tenacity of the weights and measures officials that we…
On June 23, 2013, Simon Feary, executive director of the Chartered Quality Institute, delivered the welcome speech at the International Register of Certificated Auditors’ (IRCA) 12th annual forum held in Japan. Feary made several bold statements, including, “Something isn’t working when auditors…
(Hexagon Metrology: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Metrology has released the m&h IRP40.50 infrared touch probe for the North American market. The IRP40.50 is ideal for inspection in tight spaces and was designed to address the needs of miniature machining centers. The m&h IRP40.50 is the…
I didn’t expect that our family trip to Florida would end with me driving a plane load of passengers nearly 200 miles to their homes, but it did.
Yes, it was a long and strange journey home. A journey that started in the tropical warmth of southern Florida and ended the next morning in central…
From the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, works to keep citizens informed about the changing environment around them. Its vast network of radars, satellites, buoys, ships,…
During the early 2000s, Allan Goldman, M.D., a chief physician at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children’s hospital in London, observed that too many mistakes were being made when patients were transferred from surgery to ICU. It seemed that no one person was specifically in charge of a…
As we settle into a new year, it’s a good time to take stock of last year and look on the horizon at what’s ahead. I want to focus on what’s really important: U.S. manufacturing.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for U.S. manufacturers so far. We hit some great momentum in 2013, and we…
Editor’s note: Mike Micklewright will be a guest on Quality Digest Live, on Feb. 28, 2014, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern. Micklewright will also present a webinar, “Sustaining Lean Improvements While Adding Spark to Your QMS,” on March 6, 2014, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern.
Many years ago…
