All News
(Modus Cooperandi: Seattle) -- Personal Kanban is an effectiveness system built for our frenetic 21st century lives. More than ever it seems, we have more work than we can handle, more goals we never get around to realizing... and more sleepless nights because of it. Too often our mission-critical…
(H.C. Starck: Newton, MA) -- For the second year running, H.C. Starck, a global manufacturer and supplier of refractory metals and technical ceramics, was among 11 companies honored at the 2012 Northeast Ohio Evolution of Manufacturing Awards sponsored by Smart Business magazine. Recognized for its…
(ADCOLE: Marlborough, MA) -- ADCOLE Corp., designer and manufacturer of high-accuracy measurement machines and components, has upgraded its automatic surface finish gauge for crankshafts and camshafts. This high-precision surface roughness measuring machine provides rapid operation with fully…
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Organizations of all sizes and types are facing a duel threat and opportunity. At the very moment when global markets are becoming available, these organizations are losing valuable people resources due to “boomer” retirements and downsizing strategies. As the…
You’ve heard the phrase, “Get it off your plate—delegate!” It’s a nice phrase for those of us to justify passing off work, isn’t it? However, in an organization, delegation is a much more serious challenge. Market demand dictates that no deadlines can be missed; you miss a deadline, and it may…
(InSite Solutions: Wake Forest, NC) -- One of the key objectives of lean initiatives is to identify waste, or muda, and it can be found in almost any action that takes place in a facility. Every employee should be educated about identifying muda in their daily workflow, to maximize improvements in…
I think there are no new airplane stories left for those of us who take to the not-always-friendly skies, but having been on one of those super delay specials recently and coincidentally not caring especially about being hours late (I had booked a full day of buffer as a hedge against possible…
You are a hard worker. But oftentimes at day’s end, it seems you haven’t accomplished much. You want what you do to really count. Here are ways to consistently and incrementally improve performance.
Don’t overwrite e-mail. Much of your time—probably too much—gets eaten up by e-mail. There’s no…
Olympus NDT: Waltham, MA) -- Olympus NDT has announceds the launch of its instrument rental program in the United States. Olympus NDT, a major world leader in the manufacture of nondestructive testing equipment, now has available an extensive inventory of rental equipment that includes flaw…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- In conjunction with the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), the kelvin, the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature, is currently being newly defined at the Physikalisch-Technischen Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig, Germany, which is the…
(Meggitt: San Juan Capistrano, CA) -- Meggitt Sensing Systems, designer and manufacturer of high-performance sensing and monitoring systems for air and land-based machinery in extreme environments, has introduced the Endevco model 2224C series of piezoelectric accelerometers. These devices are …
(Minitab: State College, PA) -- Minitab, a leading provider of software for quality improvement, is offering at no cost, an online preview training session on value-stream mapping, a technique used to analyze the flow of information and materials needed to bring products to customers.
The hour-…
For the second straight month, fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the United States is at its highest level, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).
Average fuel economy of cars, light trucks, minivans, and SUVs purchased in February was 23.7…
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- Structured Decision Making (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) is an easy-to-read book about an often conflicting and difficult topic. This book is about the creative and messy process of making environmental management decisions.
The approach described is called Structured Decision…
Recently, fellow-blogger David Kasprzak, introduced me to the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) strategy. ROWE, created at Best Buy’s Minneapolis headquarters, espouses a philosophy under which employees can work where they want, when they want, and how they want—as long as the work gets done.…
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence defines innovation as “making meaningful change to improve products, processes, or organizational effectiveness and creating new value for stakeholders.”
Innovation involves the adoption of an idea, process, technology, product, or business model…
Story update 3/19/2012: We corrected an error in a model number listed in the second paragraph. 1969-R was changed to 1916-R.
(Newport: Irvine, CA) -- Newport Corp., a global supplier of lasers and photonics solutions that make, manage, and measure light, introduces the new family of 818-ST2 and…
(ISPE: Tampa, FL) -- The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), a society for professionals involved in the engineering and manufacture of pharmaceuticals and related products, has issued industry guidance to advise clinical trials on comparator management activities. The ISPE…
(SPECTRO: Kleve, Germany) -- SPECTRO Analytical Instruments, a manufacturer of elemental analyzers using optical emission spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, has introduced the latest generation of SPECTROTEST mobile metal analyzers. In addition to the instrument’s excellent…
(Olympus NDT: Waltham, MA) -- Olympus has introduce the palm-sized IPLEX UltraLite videoscope, designed for remote visual inspection in tough environments and confined spaces. The IPLEX UltraLite weighs 700 g (1.5 lb) and has a compact body for easy transport, making it the ideal choice for…
(VITRONIC: Wiesbaden, Germany) -- VITRONIC, developer, manufacturer, and distributor of machine vision systems, presents VIPAC D2, a laser-based volume measurement system which simultaneously captures carton surfaces in a reliable way and recognizes deformations for trouble-free storage processes…
(Jossey-Bass: Hoboken NJ) -- Drawing on the knowledge and experience of working with hundreds the world’s top social change leaders in all fields, in Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Throughout the World (Jossey-Bass 2012), Beverly Schwartz presents a model for change based on…
Organizations understand the importance of measuring and tracking quality, particularly in product manufacturing. However, applying rigorous quality measurement on an enterprisewide scale, beyond manufacturing and service levels, is relatively new. Nonetheless, some organizations have made strides…
Lately, much has been discussed and written about buying products made only in America. ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer has been touting the quality of American-made products for several months and encouraging viewers to “Buy only American!” But I think The Oakridge Boys express it best singing…
I have a 12-year-old son. This is not a unique condition. And you might think that I would be well prepared for the associated challenges, having been a 12-year-old son myself at one time. But you’d be wrong.
Regular readers of my blog posts might recall that my family and I recently moved from…
