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(Siemens: Plano, TX) -- Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a developer of product life-cycle management (PLM) software and services, has announced a new product in the Teamcenter software portfolio called Active Workspace, an intuitive, highly…
Last month in “Exact Answers to the Wrong Questions” we looked at how we can compute useful limits with as few as six to 10 values. In this column I would like to consider the question of how to use the limits on a process behavior chart to understand the underlying process. In order to do this, we…
(IHI: Cambridge, MA) -- The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an independent organization that cultivates concepts and knowledge sharing for improving health care worldwide, and the BMJ Group, an organization committed to improving quality and safety in health care, are hosting the 17th…
(MoreSteam.com: Columbus, OH) -- On April 18, 2012, MoreSteam.com, a global provider of online lean Six Sigma training and blended learning technology, will sponsor a one-day continuous improvement conference in Seeheim, Germany for education and networking. This no-cost event is open to process…
(Jossey-Bass: San Francisco) -- Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of overcoming the challenges that today’s companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small…
In a busy laboratory at the Fuller E. Callaway Jr. Manufacturing Research Center, a researcher from the Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering is using a novel digital technology to cast complex metal parts directly from computer designs, dramatically reducing both development and…
(NTOCC: Washington, D.C.) -- The National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), an organization dedicated to improving patient transitions through the health care system—i.e., when the patient leaves one care setting and moves to another care setting—has launched a new tool to facilitate the…
Lean transformations might be easier if we possessed some measure of the sixth sense—extrasensory perception (ESP).
Sort of like in the 1999 psychological thriller film, The Sixth Sense, we might be inclined to whisper repeatedly that, “We see concrete heads.” You know, that lean euphemism for…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- Mahr Federal, designer and manufacturer of production dimensional measuring technology, will be featuring the addition of an economical and powerful new skidless surface evaluation system to its MarSurf line of mobile surface metrology systems at Manufacturing 4…
(IBM: New York) -- Small businesses, which are catalysts for the U.S. economy, have been given access to the supply chains of 15 large corporations through a free website called Supplier Connection. This portal is similar to the Universal College Application, where a potential vendor need only fill…
(Reuters: New York) -- A program to pay hospitals bonuses for hitting key performance measures, or dock them if they miss, failed to improve the health outcomes of patients, according to a large, long-term study.
The study could lead to a reexamination of financial incentives in health care, as…
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- Have you thought about using lean in your business or organization, but are not really sure how to implement it? Or perhaps you’re already using lean, but you need to get up to speed. Lean for Dummies, Second Edition, by Natalie J. Sayer and Bruce Williams (Wiley, 2012)…
(Booz & Co.: New York) -- Confirming pessimism about the state of the pharmaceutical industry, a recent survey of U.S.- and European Union-based pharmaceutical sales and marketing executives reveals that 68 percent believe “the current business model is broken.” The survey, conducted jointly by…
By now, the story is familiar: On Aug. 5, 2010, 33 miners were trapped 2,000 feet below ground at the San Jose mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert. During their first 17 days without contact with the surface and for weeks thereafter, the miners organized themselves for survival under the leadership of…
(NSF: Ann Arbor, MI) -- All major plumbing codes are now requiring that plastic piping products comply with NSF/ANSI Standard 14—“Plastics piping system components and related materials,” including the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC). The International Plumbing Code, International Residential Code, and…
To remain the valuable business system that it currently is, ISO 9001 needs to continue to evolve, ensuring that organizations of all sizes, complexities, and locations see a clear connection between their strategic objectives and their quality management system (QMS). It is not just about meeting…
A new book on strategy recently crossed my desk, and I have to say it is an excellent read. It’s called Understanding Michael Porter, by Joan Magretta (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011). Porter’s ideas and concepts are foundational to the subject of competitive strategy, and it is always good to…
(ANSI: New York) -- On April 25, 2012, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the private-sector-led U.S. voluntary standardization system, will host an exploratory meeting to examine the need for an Energy Efficiency Standards Panel (EESP) to develop a standardization…
(ISSISSIPPI: Columbus, OH) -- On April 1, 2012, International Six Sigma Institute and Secret Society for Imperious Professionals of Process Improvement (ISSISSIPPI) has announced its new Less-Than-Free MBB, a breakthrough online certification program for the process improvement marketplace.
Buoyed…
Banner Medical is committed to an ambitious approach to quality assurance, one developed specifically for the evolving, critical needs of the medical device industry. The company believes this investment achieves multiple payoffs—in relationship-building with customers, in risk mitigation, and in…
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Oh, it’s new! I want it now. Ho-hum... what’s next? Consumers’ ever-growing appetite to acquire new products, and their short courtship with them, has kept manufacturers busy not only expending resources at an alarming rate, but also depleting these resources and…
(ISO: Geneva) -- The international standard, ISO 14051:2011—“Environmental management—Material flow cost accounting—General framework,” assists organizations to better understand the environmental and financial consequences of their material and energy use practices, so that they can identify…
(AIAG: Southfield, MI) -- The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), which develops and promotes solutions to help manufacturing and service providers operate at peak performance, has partnered with VDA, the German association of the automotive industry, to offer VDA’s quality training programs…
Predicting things on Capitol Hill is never easy, especially as the election campaign “silly season” enters the picture, but it’s beginning to look like medical device companies should expect heavier regulation in 2012, and that will only increase if President Obama is reelected in November.
The…
I’ve been baptized; I do believe in religion. But I really can’t stand the fact that the Ten Commandments had to be set in stone. The human brain is capable of effectively remembering some 100 words—and much, much more.
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I don’t object to documents as such. I love books; my…