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The vital supply chain networks used by companies are expanding and evolving at an unprecedented pace. At the same time, companies face enormous pressures to improve supply chain efficiency, reduce costs, and mitigate the risks involved in supplier compliance with organizational policies, codes of…
Great leaders are passionate. They possess an absolute love for what they do. In an April 2010 interview with Stephen Fry of Time magazine, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, observed, “I don’t think of my life as a career... I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That’s not a career—it’s a life!”
Starbucks’ CEO…
More than 30 years ago, I became aware of the power of statistical process control (SPC) and what we used to call control charts (now called process behavior charts). As technical director of the company where I was employed at the time, I promoted the idea of SPC, got upper management “support,”…
CEOs and managing directors worldwide are increasingly recognizing the link between certified management systems and the success and survival of organizations. This senior engagement is not only unlocking the intrinsic value of certified management systems but is delivering a clear return on…
The New York metropolitan area took longer than other regions to recover from Hurricane Sandy, due largely to the logistical difficulty of getting things into and out of cities in general. Problems included, for example, gasoline rationing because of delivery interruptions. Intelligent businesses…
The first public workshop devoted to reviewing and refining the suggested design for a new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), an initiative proposed by President Obama, will be held Jan. 16, 2013, at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama.
“Blueprint…
(LNS: Cambridge, MA) -- LNS Research, a technology research firm, has launched its inaugural Global Quality Advisory Council (GQAC). The council aims to help executives overcome challenges associated with harmonizing quality across cultures, management systems, and technology.
Managing a global…
Greater demands on resources and tighter controls on cost affect more than just manufacturing processes. Management is under greater pressure to deliver better margins, greater revenue, and increased cash flow to support product research and improve shareholder value.
These demands affect all…
Ford Motor Co. has 65 major plants and facilities on six continents. How does a big company like Ford ensure all the stakeholders are invested in making sure excellence is a habit, not a series of one-off events? Achieving excellence is not something we do once and then pat ourselves on the back;…
(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- Designed for multifaceted and complex microimaging applications, Olympus Stream Image-Analysis software v. 1.8 makes it easy to achieve unprecedented levels of accuracy, repeatability, and reliability. Just released to U.S. customers, the next evolution of Stream…
The three value concepts of my new lean Six Sigma model are based on the Chinese terms shin, gunaxi, and zhi. The third term, zhi, means to know or understand. Confucius believed that for most people, learning was ongoing. One of the philosophies of Confucianism is that everything a person learns…
Whenever something suddenly fell apart, my grandfather used to exclaim, “Down goes the meathouse!” I don’t know where that expression came from—as a child I often pictured a flabby house of raw meat caving in on itself. This was decades before Lady Gaga made wearing raw meat dresses... uh...…
The device doesn’t look like much: a caterpillar-sized assembly of metal rings and strips resembling something you might find buried in a home-workshop drawer. But the technology behind it, and the long-range possibilities it represents, are quite remarkable.
The little device is called a “milli-…
(Mettler Toledo: Columbus, OH) -- METTLER TOLEDO is offering five new scale models in the ICS family: ICS425, ICS435, ICS445, ICS465 and ICS685. The new ICS5 models feature user menus, flexible software and configurable components, ensuring easy integration into even the most complex industrial…
If you work for an organization involved with meeting the requirements of a quality system standard, specification, or government regulation, sooner or later you will be on the receiving end of a quality system audit.
The auditor might be one who works for: • Your organization (an internal auditor…
(Meggitt: San Juan Capistrano, CA) -- Meggitt Sensing Systems, a Meggitt group division, has announced the successful application of Endevco 8507C rugged, miniature piezoresistive pressure transducers, as well as its full range of acoustic microphones, to support the requirements of hypersonic,…
Every year, millions of products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flood into the United States from 150 countries. Ensuring these products are safe and effective can be daunting task. It was heartening for me to sign two cooperative arrangements with some of our international…
Previously, I’ve written about how to use Minitab to identify the distribution of your continuous data. That post prompted several questions about how to use and identify discrete distributions. If you are a quality improvement analyst who works with counts of defects or pass/fail inspections, you…
I remember when I first discovered the work of Mark Graban. The year was 2008, and I was preparing to speak to the Massachusetts Hospital Association, an audience of about 400 hospital CEOs and administrators. They wanted me to tie my work with Toyota to healthcare, which I had no firsthand…
Masaaki Imai is a consultant, author, and founder of the Kaizen Institute. The second edition of his book, Gemba Kaizen (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2012), was published in May. He agreed to an interview with The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog.
The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog (TDI): Did you…
(Sunnen Products: St. Louis) -- From Sunnen Products Co., manufacturer and distributor of bore sizing machines and engine-building products, the PG bore gauge takes an intuitive approach to hole gauging with a mechanical design and speedometer-type scale for quick visual confirmation of inside…
(CMS: Benbrook, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) has announced its call for papers is now open for the 29th annual Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC), to be held July 22–26, 2013, in San Diego, California. The CMS is the eminent membership association for measurement…
(Methods: Sudbury, MA) -- Methods Machine Tools, a leading supplier of innovative machine tools, automation, and machine tool accessories, has introduced hardware and software enhancements to the VisionGauge digital optical comparators, developed by VISIONx. These upgrades are included on both…
(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- Designed to provide customers with an effective and streamlined solution for quantifying microscopic residue, defects, and foreign particles, the newly released OLYMPUS Inspector Series 5.2 delivers accurate and reproducible data required to determine if manufactured…
There are two basic ideas or principles that need to be respected when creating a chart for individual values and a moving range (an XmR chart). This column will explain and illustrate these two principles for effective XmR charts.
The first principle for an effective XmR chart is that successive…
