All Features
Steven Ouellette
Although we may use the define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) mnemonic to help guide us through our problem solving, that doesn’t really give us a lot of specific direction (as I bemoan in my Top 10 Stupid Six Sigma Tricks No. 4). Good experimental design technique is critical to being…
Michelle LaBrosse
I sat in a window seat on the plane with my nose stuck in my newly purchased book. It was one of those books that suck you right in, leaving you completely unaware of your surrounding, which is exactly what I needed to save me from what otherwise would have been a monotonous travel day, full of…
FARO
Ariel Corp. is an innovative manufacturer of gas compression equipment. Based in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Ariel has been at the forefront of modern compression technology with market-driven innovation. The company takes pride in its manufacturing processes and product designs. Quality is the foundation…
Robert Parsons
The aerospace standard, AS9100C—“Quality management systems—Requirements for aviation, space and defense organizations,” (aka AS9100:2009 Revision C) has been released for some time now, and the early results are in. For the most part, our customers, those of National Quality Assurance (NQA), that…
It seemed like a good idea at the time to Jon Shupenus, U.S. Army Forces Command’s process improvement specialist and lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Shupenus was attending a Department of Defense performance management seminar in 2010 when Kirk Nicholas, director of the Army’s continuous process…
Bruce Hamilton
The following is a true story that occurred during a nine-month period.Paul had been with a machine shop for 32 years. At the time he held the position of a shift supervisor, and keeping the work schedules was his job. His manager, Bob, related this to me: “Paul is a hard worker who has held…
Georgia Institute of Technology
When working with others in the office, most know it is better to approach a colleague who is relaxed and drinking a cup of coffee versus a frazzled co-worker buried under a pile of paperwork.
Unfortunately, e-mail doesn’t offer users the same social cues—until now.
Eric Gilbert, an assistant…
Jack Thornton
Just What Is Immersive Engineering, Anyway?
Immersive engineering is a digital technology, engineering practice, and methodology, all in one, for solving multifaceted engineering problems in the design, assembly, and maintenance of large, complicated structures (e.g., automobiles…
Matthew R. Philip and Lori Cross
A whole-team approach is an agile practice in which an entire team works as a unit of generalists to share the responsibility for producing high-quality deliverables. It’s a kind of “glue” that holds a lot of other agile practices together. Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, co-authors of Agile…
James Robertson
Delivering high-value decision support information is the reason why decision makers implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. In fact, precision configuration to support the delivery of decision support information is critical to a successful ERP. There are numerous reasons why.…
Tracker Handbook by Art Kietlinski
Back in the early 1990s, before the laser tracker—the portable measurement system that relies on a laser beam to measure and inspect—had the reputation it has now, it was viewed simply as an inspection tool. As part of a quality control group, I would check dimensional and geometrical accuracies…
Edward D. Hess
For many, achieving the American Dream means taking control of their destiny, quitting their 9 to 5, and opening the doors to their very own business. These brave entrepreneurial souls have shaped American enterprise, and today, they're playing the critical role of helping to drive…
Stewart Anderson
Not all customers are equally profitable. Different customers have different needs, and hence different costs to serve. The overall profitability of a business is a function of the profitability of individual customers and customer groups.
Many businesses measure customer satisfaction but they…
British Assessment Bureau BAB
According to data from The British Assessment Bureau’s (BAB) independent 2011 Client Satisfaction Survey, 44 percent of respondents said that they had won business as a result of becoming certified to ISO 9001, the quality management system standard from the International…
The QA Pharm
Once upon a time I asked, “What does it mean to operate in a state of control?” at an off-site “strategy” meeting of a senior management group. You know the kind of meeting that I'm talking about—one in which a working breakfast was followed by a day of golf, and I was the one doing the working.…
Kimberly Egan
I don’t know how I missed this gem, but on March 24, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a Warning Letter to Jonathan’s Sprouts Inc. informing the company that it was (among other things) marketing its organic mung bean, alfalfa, and broccoli sprouts as drugs. The FDA said it has…
Paul Naysmith
I greatly believe in training. I have been fortunate to work in businesses that also believed in having trained and qualified professionals in their organization. I have personally and professionally benefited from that philosophy, and I have gained new knowledge as a result.
Since graduating from…
William A. Levinson
Many appliance, big box, and other stores recommend the purchase of extended warranties to go with consumer electronics. They are available for automobiles as well, but they are rarely if ever cost effective. The bathtub curve (figure 1), a model for failure or hazard rates in reliability…
Stewart Anderson
Often a firm is confronted with the key question of whether the quality of its products and services should be improved. For many readers, the question may even seem illogical: How could it not be beneficial for a firm to improve the quality of its products and services?
On closer analysis, however…
Bill Kalmar
Have you ever had one of those days where confusion reigns and as each hour ensues, you find something new to dwell on that absolutely drives you nuts? Well, I just had one of those days. It started this morning as I was out for my daily five-mile run. As is my custom, I have my cell phone strapped…
Donald J. Wheeler
Whenever we present capability indexes the almost inevitable follow-up question is, “What is the fraction nonconforming?” What this question usually means is, “Tell me what these capability indexes mean in terms that I can understand.” These questions have resulted in multiple approaches to…
NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a suite of green tea reference materials to help manufacturers evaluate the composition of their products and assure researchers of the accuracy of analytical methods for studying the human health effects of this popular…
Mayo Clinic
“We can do better” was the underlying takeaway message from the 15th annual Mayo Clinic Quality Conference. This year’s theme was “Creating and Paying for Value in Health Care.”
The conference, held May 3–4, 2011, in Rochester, Minnesota, drew about 1,000 people to hear national leaders in…
Mike Richman
Last month I wrote an article entitled “Being Comfortable in a World of Never-Ending Change.” Editor in Chief Dirk Dusharme and I also covered this story on the April 29th edition of Quality Digest Live (QDL). QDL, by the way, is our live video show wrap-up of the week’s top industry news and…
David L. Chandler
Photo: Greg Hren/RLE
Researchers at MIT have succeeded in making a fine thread that functions as a diode, a device at the heart of modern electronics. This feat—made possible by a new approach to a type of fiber manufacturing known as fiber drawing—could open up possibilities…
