All Features
Jon Miller
The Toyota Production System (TPS) house diagram is often drawn with a triangular roof, a rectangular foundation, and two rectangular columns between the foundation and roof. The space between the columns is filled with one’s choice of the systems, tools, and principles to suit the lean enterprise…
Barbara A. Cleary
Signs in factories or on the back of long-range trucking rigs sometimes proclaim “X days since our last accident” or “No on-the-job injuries since 1964.” Extending the stretch between such accidents may be motivated by this announcement alone, but there are better ways to diminish or prevent…
David Smithstein
I recently read an article on the Quality Digest website titled, “Deming, Systems Thinking, and the Future,” by Tripp Babbitt, who specializes in systems thinking. His article starts with, “W. Edwards Deming did a great disservice. He left a prescription for what the United States should do to…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Recently, Industry Week (IW) announced the 10 inductees to its 2010 Manufacturing Hall of Fame, a “lineup of industrial superstars whose collective careers have had an immeasurable impact and influence on U.S. manufacturing.”
Included in the list of IW’s manufacturing “dream team,” alongside…
Bill Kalmar
Lately, the airwaves have been bristling with news of increased airport security screenings. What used to be a relatively easy process to board a plane has become an ordeal that every day brings forth a cacophony of complaints from passengers and even pilots. The new check-in rules, wherein…
Maribeth Kuzmeski
Consider the following scenario: It’s 8 a.m. and you’re in an upscale hotel in Times Square—part of a well-known chain you regularly frequent—getting ready for a crucial business meeting. As you turn on your hairdryer, the power goes out. A bit nervous but not yet panicked (it’s just a blown fuse…
100 Customer Service Tips by Larry Williams
There are leaders and there are followers. There is nothing wrong with following the lead of someone, especially when that person is knowledgeable and imparts wisdom. Leaders often say they hope their instruction inspires people to help others someday. The following tips will bring you closer to…
Peter Dizikes
Nearly 6 percent of greenhouse gases generated by humans are due to the flow of products to consumers. David Simchi-Levi, a professor in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Engineering Systems Division and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, suggests that corporations…
Joseph A. DeFeo
The growth of commerce, science, and technology has greatly expanded the extent and variety of goods and services, helping many to lead longer, safer lives. However, this has also created a new dependency, with new risks that must be mitigated to prevent financial and cultural loss.
High…
Robert Kaphengst
Effective communication and consistent measurement across all engineering disciplines and processes are essential to the design and manufacture of the highest quality products. Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) is key to achieving these goals.
GD&T defined
GD&T is a…
Davis Balestracci
You know what the third-quarter review meeting means: a packet will be handed out with bar graphs and, no doubt, trend lines on each of about a zillion “key performance indicators” that show:
• This month vs. last month vs. 12 months ago (maybe year-to-date as well)
• The three months’…
David C. Crosby
Publisher's note: It is with great sadness that I must report that David Crosby passed away on Monday, November 15. This article nicely embodies and encapsulates David's life work, in which he always pressed for personal accountability through a creative yet realistic approach to process…
David C. Crosby
Publisher's note: It is with great sadness that I must report that David Crosby passed away on Monday, November 15. This article nicely embodies and encapsulates David's life work, in which he always pressed for personal accountability through a creative yet realistic approach to process…
100 Customer Service Tips by Larry Williams
Telephone communication is thought of as the greatest technological advancement of the 20th century. It can certainly be credited with nearly every facet of progress that commerce has ever enjoyed. What’s not to like? We are all addicted to this user-friendly medium. However, there are times when…
Bill Kalmar
Buying a car used to be a relatively easy process. But now that the government and various consumer protection organizations have become involved in the transaction, it has become mind-numbing. Car dealerships must now comply with myriad rules and regulations that have escalated a simple purchase…
Jeffrey G. Stark is president of Sensor Products Inc.
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odern microprocessor-controlled electronics and high-power LED lighting operate at elevated temperatures due to Joule heating. As a result, heat sinks, to dissipate temperature, have become important in electronic system designs.…
Mike Micklewright
Just imagine for a moment that you are a major league baseball player in 1990. If you wish, you can even choose your name and position. Perhaps you would like to be a pitcher, let’s say, Dodger Lemens, or a hitter, perhaps Marcus McWired or Al Roidriguez. You want to improve your performance…
Environmental Quality Corner with Ken Appel
Ken Appel is the manager of regulated industries for Veriteq.
In part 1 of this article, we discussed the pros and cons of various systems for stand-alone monitoring instruments (e.g., chart recorders and data loggers) and wired networks, with and without power over Ethernet (POE). In the…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
The boys slumped against the wall of the dugout; you could read the despair on their faces. “What’s the point?” mumbled the right fielder. “We’re just going to lose again.” The team was on an eight-game losing streak, with a record of three wins and eight losses, and five games left to play.…
Environmental Quality Corner with Ken Appel
Ken Appel is the manager of regulated industries for Veriteq.
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he U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its European Union counterparts recently agreed to cooperate on pharmaceutical plant inspections to enable stepped-up enforcement of safety guidelines. These agreements will help…
Minitab LLC
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efore Michael Mercer established his consulting company, he accumulated more than 30 years of quality improvement experience at 3M. That experience led him to develop a deep trust in the power of Minitab Statistical Software. He began using one of the earliest mainframe computer versions to…
Thomas R. Cutler
Food safety standards are becoming increasingly stringent. Although government legislation has long been implemented, your customers may be driving an even higher standard of food safety through the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) or Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, which require third-…
Bob Kill is president and CEO of Enterprise Minnesota.
For manufacturers that watched their businesses decline as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) opted to transfer their supplier relationships to cheap-labor countries such as China and India, there is now solid evidence that those…
Michelle LaBrosse
Michelle LaBrosse is the founder of Cheetah Learning
There’s a reason that top-performing executives all over the world have coaches. It’s because good coaching dramatically improves performance.
A study by Metrix Global showed coaching produced a 529-percent return on investment (ROI).…
Xing-Fei He is senior product manager at DALSA Corp.
Flawless brake operation is so essential to the safety of a vehicle that all brake systems have passed some type of safety testing before a driver ever gets behind the wheel. But how much better would you, as a driver, feel knowing that the…
