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(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- Olympus has premiered its IX3 line of inverted research microscopes, three systems that offer researchers flexibility to customize their microscopes. The systems offer precision, stability, and optical performance to meet challenging quantitative measurement…
(Build!IT: Montreal, Quebac, Canada) -- Build!IT Desktop is a CAD-to-part inspection software that enables quick and easy dimensional verification of manufactured parts and assemblies. Build!IT’s advanced analysis and reporting capabilities combine measurement data from multiple sources to produce…
(Productivity Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Traditional accounting systems have become inadequate for today’s global manufacturing environment. They are too complex and too focused on past performance. As manufacturing techniques change and become less labor intensive, accounting methods must also…
(VIEW Micro-Metrology: Phoenix) -- VIEW Micro-Metrology, a division of Quality Vision International (QVI), announces a new benchtop measurement system, the Benchmark 250-S. Benchmark 250-S delivers high performance and reliability to satisfy the unique demands of in-process micro-measurements.
The…
(KOTEM: Rochester, NY) -- KOTEM, a developer of data-fitting and GD&T evaluation software for industrial measurement, has released SmartProfile 2.0, the all-new version of its popular geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) evaluation software.
SmartProfile provides fast, accurate…
(RAM: Rochester, NY) -- RAM Optical Instrumentation, a designer and manufacturer of video inspection solutions and a division of Quality Vision International Inc. (QVI), has developed a full-function benchtop digital measuring machine, the QVI SNAP. The SNAP represents a breakthrough in ease of use…
(Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare: Oakbrook Terrace, IL) -- An estimated 80 percent of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers when patients are transferred or handed off. In addition to patient harm, defective hand-offs can lead to delays in treatment…
(AIAG: Southfield, MI) -- AIAG, a nonprofit, member-supported organization focused on collaboration with a wide range of manufacturing companies and service providers, has joined the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as an Organizational Stakeholder, formalizing its commitment to promoting…
(Jossey-Bass: Hoboken, NJ) -- In fast-changing business environments, firms must adapt their strategies and innovate to remain at the top. But many successful firms fail to do so. Instead, they succumb to inertia, hesitate, or stick blindly to their old strategies, until it is too late. Strategic…
(LEI: Cambridge, MA) -- The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute is offering a comprehensive series of lean management workshops for Sept. 18–20, 2012, in Indianapolis. The sessions will address the technical as well as the “people” or social aspects of lean manufacturing and lean service…
This is the time of year for graduations, weddings, and outdoor musical concerts. And of course, tomorrow many of us will be at a local park, picnic dinners spread out on a blanket beneath the stars waiting for the July 4th fireworks.
Now I realize I will not be endearing myself to all the dog…
It’s been a grueling five years with the bailouts, rampant unemployment, declining home values, and rising prices, which have manifested as insecurity, fear, and stress, and for those who are employed—overwork. Employees have been harassed into productivity for so long they’re either running on…
The question, “Why do you ask?” is typically posed in response to an inquiry that is deemed a bit nosey. It’s actually more of a statement... along the lines of, “Mind your own business!”
But for the purpose of this article, it really is a question—one of, and for, the lean leader’s self-…
Imagine smart tools or robotic delivery systems that instantaneously know where they are on an ever-changing shop floor, a system that could automatically orient a CAD model of an object on the shop floor to the local coordinate system without the use of targets or human intervention. Such tools…
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) will offer a two-day, instructor-led workshop on design for manufacturing and design for assembly. The course will be held Oct. 4–5, 2012, in Glendale, California, at the Embassy Suites. Virtual attendance will be available via…
(Fabricating Partners: Hoboken, NJ) -- Fabricating Partners Inc. has launched Fabricating.com, an online request for quote (RFQ) marketplace designed to help U.S. buyers build U.S. supplier networks and manufacture made-to-order parts. The site’s SourceNow platform presents easy-to-use…
(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- For years, engineers have anticipated the day when a full-color 3-D scanner can be picked up, plugged into a laptop computer, and ready to use. The Eva 3D Scanner from Artec now offers this.
Because Eva eliminates any need for marking or calibration, you’ve got a…
(Konica Minolta: Ramsey, NJ) -- We eat first with our eyes, as the saying goes. It’s no surprise, then, that the food industry spends countless hours creating the ideal shades that we will see when we open a package.
Everyone from the chefs to the marketing department want the food to look…
(Creaform: Lévis, Québec, Canada) -- Creaform, a leader in portable 3-D optical measurement technologies and 3-D engineering services, and Faurecia Autositze GmbH are working together on a software solution for the measurements and positioning of dummies. In the future, this software solution…
Patrice Boutier and Conrad Soltero wrote The Seven Kata: Toyota Kata, TWI, and Lean Training, (Productivity Press, 2012), to show how Training Within Industry (TWI) modules and kata skills together make a great application plan for sustaining change in a corporation.
The Japanese term, kata, has…
Residents in the Pacific, Mountain, and West North Central regions of the United States are the most likely to say they learned something new yesterday and that their supervisor, if they work, acts more like a partner than a boss. Their strong performance in these areas helps these regions rise to…
When I was in production, we used the term “waves” to describe the ebb and flow of work to the factory. Some days there would be very little, and others a big heaping pile. When the waves came, we worked overtime, bumped queues, and sometimes used less experienced workers to fill in gaps. So-called…
I love product development and quality engineering. There are days when I can’t believe that I actually get paid to do this. Between you and me, I’d do this work for a lot less money. In fact, even on the days that I hate the particular circumstances of my job, I still love my job. If that makes…
(Smarter Solutions: Austin, TX) -- Smarter Solutions has come out with a new blended learning, lean Six Sigma training method that overcomes the issues with online and nontraditional training. The method allows self-paced training for individuals, or groups to take the course as a team, but…
(Harrington Group: Orlando, FL) -- Harrington Group has announced the release of Calibration Recall 4 software. Equipment calibration is a necessary part of any production line. However, calibration can be painless with proper planning and tracking provided by calibration software.
Reduce downtime…