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Detroit has become the largest city ever to go broke in the United States. Why? Because its industrial base withered in the face of global competition, and as the number of jobs dwindled, so did the city’s population.
This column isn’t about the specifics of the Detroit problem but about the role…
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of North Carolina have demonstrated a new design for an instrument, a “instrumented nanoscale indenter,” that makes sensitive measurements of the mechanical properties of thin films—ranging from auto body…
Some folks may wonder what the heck I mean by “two types.” Within the context of a lean management system, we can make a distinction between visual process performance (VPP) and visual process adherence (VPA).
Visual process performance (VPP). These are typically metric-based visuals that provide…
It’s hard to limit your work in progress (WIP) when your boss count exceeds your WIP limit.
If you have a WIP limit of three and 12 bosses, you may as well have one card permanently in your personal kanban that says, “Negotiate with bosses.” That sounds funny, but it’s true. Your bosses will…
Most people are surprised to learn that more than half of small medical practices are still using handwritten paper charts to collect and store demographic and clinical information about patients. Although every medical office has computers, many doctors never touch them.
Other professions have…
You might be in an organization that is all about the tactical. It’s a “what’s next?”, action-oriented, go-go-go culture. There are certainly benefits to this kind of environment. Inaction is avoided, and things get done. Your organization is generally pretty focused and performance-oriented.…
Today’s true tale was told to me by a close friend, and it contains at least two very important messages from which we can learn if we choose. Let me retell my friend’s experience this week, and then we can dig into what we might learn.
My friend’s employer was recently acquired by a large,…
My Uncle Joe is always fantasizing about ways to outsmart Father Time. “Suppose you could reverse your aging process at some fixed point in your life,” he says to me, a crazed gleam in his eye. “So you could pick any age to turn the clock backwards and start aging in reverse. What age would you…
It’s been said that supply chain risk today is riskier than ever before. Why? Well, there are several reasons.
Supply chains are lengthier. Almost everyone manufacturing anything today must deal with a wild proliferation of suppliers, many of which reside in nations scattered across the globe. Of…
While the world was waiting out the Great Recession, managers and executives in the United States were gunning their engines. More than one-third (36%) of them were engaged in their jobs in 2012, up 10 percentage points from 2009. There’s no one right way to engage everyone—no one-size-fits-all…
Global companies struggle with decisions about how much to outsource. Too little means an organization may lose the pricing advantages that can come with using competitive providers worldwide. Too much—or the wrong kind of outsourcing—and quality and knowledge management can suffer.
A panel at a…
What’s Happening With ISO 9001? Stakeholders have offered suggestions for the upcoming revision
Committee Draft of ISO 9001 Is OutChanges include genuine improvement; some will make implementation more difficult
Microsoft’s recent reorganization of its operating structure is a big move. CEO Steve Ballmer says he wants to make the company more nimble and collaborative, and make it function as a single, cohesive entity rather than a collection of fragmented divisions.
Although Wharton experts acknowledge…
Editor’s note: This continues Jack Dunigan’s series about unsung heroes in the workplace, and the 16 traits they all share.
Life teaches us a lot of lessons. Some people learn slowly. Some not at all. It’s a sad fact that most of us never learn much of anything new after leaving the structure of…
Too often when corrective action is taken, the communication loop is not closed, turning containment into a frustrating, permanent practice.
Here are a few examples: • A production employee demonstrated for me how he searched for burrs on a ceramic bushing. “The part drawing had a note that we…
Editor’s note: Denise Robitaille is a member of the U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 176, the committee responsible for updating the ISO 9000 family of standards. She will be reporting on the revision progress to ISO 9001, which will be completed in 2015. Read other articles in the series here.
The first…
I’m in the middle of a hot, humid stretch of weather, as are many of the U.S. readers. I can hardly think straight, so I’ve decided to lighten things up a bit today.
Many of you have seen me present and know that I try to inject healthy doses of humor to make key points. As my mentor and dear…
Every time a missile misses its target, a train derails, or a faulty airbag fails to save a life, we wonder whether these failures, which can sometimes reach catastrophic proportions, are caused by a counterfeit part that may have infiltrated the supply chain.
Every time we buy a fake Rolex watch…
Every time a missile misses its target, a train derails, or a faulty airbag fails to save a life, we wonder whether these failures, which can sometimes reach catastrophic proportions, are caused by a counterfeit part that may have infiltrated the supply chain.
Every time we buy a fake Rolex watch…
Editor's note: This is the first in a five-part series exploring issues that affect management’s ability to detect the warning signals of current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliance problems in the pharmaceutical industry.
Compliance to current good manufacturing practice (cGMP)…
It’s time to clear out some thoughts on an eclectic mix of articles I've been reading, so please pardon the potential mental whiplash. What does your company do to keep an eye on competitors? Perhaps it’s an informal process handled by the sales department, or perhaps there’s a database of some…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) authors and CRC Press have arranged to give all attendees at the 2013 North American Coordinate Metrology Association (NACMA) conference a 20-percent discount on the definitive coordinate metrology book, Coordinate…
New products and new processes do not appear full-grown. They are founded on new principles, which in turn are painstakingly developed by research in the realms of science.
—Vannevar Bush
In 1945, Vannevar Bush, the head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, laid out his vision for…
There’s no such a thing as a linear decision-making process. Some so-called quality gurus will pretend there is a one-to-one relationship between a decision and the time needed to make it. I mean no criticism to them, although I think they pay scant attention to the reality of human cognitive…
How often do we see Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) violations issued because a regulated entity did not secure the electronic records at the hospital and small clinics? Large-scale security breaches and, sometimes, reports of illegal sales of electronic medical records by…