All Features
Donald J. Wheeler
When the data come along one value at a time, we tend to put them on a chart for individual values (an XmR chart). Since virtually all business and managerial data occur one value at a time, the primary chart for service-sector data is the XmR chart. Yet the original process behavior chart was the…
Jeff Dewar
Editor’s note: This is the third of a four-part video interview with Juran Institute’s CEO, Joseph DeFeo, and hosted by Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar. View part one here, and part two here.
Imagine this conversation....
Mary: “You still have to listen to the customer.”
Bob: “But we’re certified…
Jaynie L. Smith
What customers value most changes constantly, and the pace of change has increased exponentially with the economic recession.
One year ago people were looking at the financial stability of a company before purchasing its products, according to surveys conducted by my company, Smart Advantage. No…
MIT News
Innovations in software and technology are creating increasingly complex systems: cars that park themselves; medical devices that automatically deliver drugs; and smartphones with the computing power of desktop computers, to name a few. Such complex systems allow us to do things that seemed…
Jim Benson
OK, so there’s nothing about this video that isn’t cute. And that’s fine. But what does it have to do with lean? One of the most important lessons that lean can teach us is how to appreciate variation and make the most of it.
When Jim Henson and this little girl went on set, it was to create a…
Mark R. Hamel
Leonardo da Vinci’s comment, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” could easily serve as a lean tag line.
Surely, lean tools, like standard work, visual controls, and mistake proofing devices, are only truly effective if they are easily explained, understood, deployed, maintained, and…
Alberto Gutierrez
During the next few months, manufacturers of certain in vitro diagnostic and radiology products may start to notice they are getting decisions on their premarket notification submissions, aka 510(k), sooner than expected. This will be due to a six-month pilot program called Triage, launched…
Mark Graban
As the Supreme Court debates the fate of “Obama Care,” we should recall the formal name of the law: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Most of the public debate has been about the cost of health care, losing sight of the urgent need to fix the ongoing crisis of quality and…
Bruce Hamilton
3P, or “Production Preparation Process,” is a method introduced to the United States during the mid-1980s by Chihiro Nakao, a contemporary of Taiichi Ohno, and a founder of the consulting firm Shingijutsu Ltd. I recall the method was called “New Production Preparation” (NPP) early along, but…
Umberto Tunesi
Just a few reminders to start with: In the automotive supply chain, process failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) must be based on—or at least must take into consideration—design FMEA. This is the case whether a given supplier is responsible for the design or not.
During an FMEA, severity (S)…
Andrew Sobel
Has this ever happened to you? You’re talking to a client, or perhaps your boss, and you realize the conversation has gotten off on absolutely the wrong foot. You may have learned new and unexpected information from the other person that renders everything you’ve said irrelevant. You may have…
Jeff Dewar
Editor’s note: This is the second of a four-part video interview with Juran Institute’s CEO, Joseph DeFeo, and hosted by Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar. View part one here.
In this part of my video interview with Juran Institute president and executive coach, Joseph De Feo, we discussed where the…
Tim Lozier
Everyone seeks out value. Whether you’re a coupon clipper, a sale shopper, or a garage-sale stalker, people look to get some sort of value out of their buying experience. And if the product is purchased at a retailer, you look for ways to get the most out of the product you purchased. The software…
Gallup
Companies that lead the world in growth have something in common: a relentless focus on talent. They are very intentional about this. The executives who lead these companies have created high-performing operating systems.
From decades of work with companies to implement these systems, Gallup has…
NIST
Two new advanced laboratory buildings for high-precision science and measurements have officially opened in Boulder, Colorado, providing upgraded facilities to support technology innovation and economic growth as well as the training of future scientists.
Federal, state, and local government…
Jay Arthur—The KnowWare Man
There’s a lot of buzz about “data analytics”—mining huge data sets to discover invisible patterns of customer behavior that can be leveraged to maximize sales. But I’ve found that few people know how to mine the hidden improvement projects from existing “small data” using Excel’s PivotTables.
Over…
Michael Causey
While calling it one of the more “egregious” examples he’s seen or heard about, Fisher Wallace Labs (FWL) CEO Chip Fisher said the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) attempt to “force its own agenda” over dissenting science or how its own advisory boards vote on medical device classification is…
Akhilesh Gulati
Given the current dynamic business environment, there is a tremendous need for operational agility and the ability to quickly respond to changing market forces. Time to value (TtV) is an important metric that can be used to manage such environmental conditions. It can drive the development of…
William A. Levinson
Loss of American manufacturing capability to low-wage countries is but one part of the overall problem with the U.S. economy. The other part consists of a shortage of skilled workers, given that a high school diploma is no longer adequate for many manufacturing jobs. Brooklyn’s Pathways in…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
Twelve years ago, I phoned a prospective client I’d been courting for months. The last time we’d spoken, only a few weeks earlier, she expressed interest in my conducting a seminar for her company. This time she said, “I was in the audience at the Fox theater last week; we won’t be needing your…
Arun Hariharan
Close your eyes and make a mental list of companies worldwide that use quality as their strategic weapon for achieving value for shareholders. Chances are you have some great examples, but most likely it’s a small list. Given the huge number of companies in every industry that aren’t on your list,…
The QA Pharm
The high layoff numbers in the pharmaceutical industry and poor job prospects in a weak economy have flooded the market with would-be consultants to pharma companies that need extra help. Here are my suggestions for hiring and working with an experienced good manufacturing practices (GMP)…
Georgia Institute of Technology
Taking advantage of the force generated by magnetic repulsion, researchers have developed a new technique for measuring the adhesion strength between thin films of materials used in microelectronic devices, photovoltaic cells, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
The fixtureless and…
Knowledge at Wharton
Bucking the decades-old wave of offshoring manufacturing jobs to China, other parts of Asia, and Mexico, GE said it would move jobs back from these countries to the United States, where it will build water heaters.
Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s chairman and CEO, notes that his decision to invest $1 billion…
Jeff Dewar
Editor’s note: This four-part video interview with Juran Institute CEO Joseph DeFeo is hosted by Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar. The series will run weekly beginning with today’s segment.
You can’t have a conversation about quality management without soon invoking the name “Dr. Juran.” The man…
