All Features
Scott Ginsberg
Manufacturing is undergoing two significant transformations: a workforce shift and a work method shift.
The manufacturing sector faces a 37% annual labor turnover rate (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), indicating a substantial challenge in retaining employees. Also, 54% of leaders report that…
The MEP National Network
The personalized nature of coaching makes it a powerful force for manufacturers. You can employ coaching to improve leadership, enhance performance and teamwork, or address personal and organizational development.
With as many as five generations in the workplace at the same time, and constant…
Industrial Inspection and Analysis
Unlike the traditional engineering process of designing a part, product, or component from the ground up, many times in life we need to start with an existing item and work backward to solve a problem. It’s a process known as reverse engineering, and it begins by obtaining accurate data about the…
Mike Figliuolo
Your legal department is screwing up. Royally.
You work hard to build relationships with other businesses. How many hours do you invest getting closer to partners, customers, and suppliers? And then that wonderful handshake happens, and it’s time to hammer out the agreements. That’s when Larry the…
Christine McLear
The current talent pipeline for manufacturing isn’t adequate to fill existing job openings, let alone provide the number of skilled workers that will be needed in the future. Emerging demand for data analysts and semiconductor technicians will require a more collaborative approach to expand…
Mark Hembree
Without raising false alarms, it’s fair to say that password insecurity is a problem that lives near you and is worthy of your attention.
In its article, “139 password statistics to help you stay safe in 2023,” digital security firm Norton cites a report by password manager LastPass that more than…
Chris Caldwell
The quest to optimize equipment efficiency, ensure consistent quality, and lower operational costs while empowering a stronger workforce continues to permeate the industrial landscape. While challenges persist, the transformative potential that high-performance robotic automation is bringing to…
Donald J. Wheeler
When do we need to fit a lognormal distribution to our skewed histograms? This article considers the basic properties of the lognormal family of distributions and reveals some interesting and time-saving characteristics that are useful when analyzing data.
The lognormal family of distributions…
Divina Bisuelan
With remote work on the rise, more companies are facing the operational challenges that come with remote teams. According to one U.K. study, for instance, 67% of respondents aged 18–34 expressed difficulty building relationships with colleagues since they began working remotely.
In my experience,…
Kari Miller
Traditionally, quality management in the pharmaceutical industry has strayed away from artificial intelligence (AI) for fear of setting it loose with such sensitive information. They have been cautious of implementing an additional element of intelligence into their process. But will organizations…
Greg MacDonald
As we launch into Industry 4.0, the need for advanced automation and high-performance connectivity solutions intensifies, requiring protocols like Industrial Ethernet for maximum efficiency and productivity. Products like ix Industrial and Single Pair Ethernet are ideal new interconnects, offering…
Scott A. Hindle, Douglas C. Fair
You are assigned a new task to demonstrate that an existing process will have the capability to meet newer and tighter specifications. The change in specifications for critical-to-quality characteristic P is due to new regulatory requirements; hence, the specifications must be met. The task is…
Phil Geldart
When it comes to customer service, few companies do it better than the UPS Store, Chick-fil-A, and REI.
That’s not according to me. That’s according to a recently published Best Customer Service list, which was compiled in a partnership between Forbes and HundredX, a data analytics company focused…
University of Vienna
In the field of high-performance mirrors, everyone chases the impossible: coatings with perfect reflectivity. In the visible range of wavelengths (i.e., between 380 nm and 700 nm), advanced metallic mirrors achieve reflectivities as high as 99%, which means 1 photon is lost for every 99 reflected.…
Mike Figliuolo
My favorite time of year is rolling around (and no, it’s not the holidays with their nauseatingly excessive tinsel-before-turkey consumerism). I’m talking about the time for end-of-year progress reviews. They’re those agonizing, mandatory, and often confusing reams of paper we’re forced to suffer…
Rina Hoffman
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a provisional agreement last month on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
“The first element that makes a product green is the brain that designs it,” Spanish Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, says. “…
Russell Riddiford
Whether you use a lot of cutting tools or sometimes find yourself desperately lacking the right tool, you’ve probably considered making your own—or at least sharpening your worn tools. But how do you decide if taking tool grinding in-house is the smart decision? It’s a question GKN Aerospace Engine…
Kelly Nault, Andy J. Yap
Nothing is more annoying than someone bragging about their success. Right? Not necessarily, it turns out. When bosses brag, it can inspire employees to put more effort into their own work. Specifically, when bosses who are regarded as role models by their employees brag about their work…
Douglas C. Fair, Scott A. Hindle
Just a few decades ago, today’s personal technology was a science fiction pipe dream. Powerful computers (smart phones) that fit in our pockets; global positioning satellites for our traveling convenience; and homes where lights, security systems, and locks can be controlled remotely. It’s all just…
Del Williams
To provide food processors with insight into the industry’s current challenges and opportunities, Cablevey Conveyors, a global specialty conveyor manufacturer, and Automated Handling Solutions, a service-focused subsidiary of Cablevey, have released results from an annual proprietary survey…
NIST
From monitoring concentrations of greenhouse gases to detecting Covid in the breath, laser systems known as frequency combs can identify specific molecules as simple as carbon dioxide and as complex as monoclonal antibodies with unprecedented accuracy and sensitivity. Amazing as they are, however,…
Gleb Tsipursky
Are employers walking into a legal storm by enforcing rigid return-to-office (RTO) mandates? The post-pandemic era presents a unique challenge as employers grapple with shifting workforce dynamics. The insistence on a full return to the office without considering individual circumstances could lead…
Kate Zabriskie
Although a fix-it-the-first-time approach may be the gold standard of customer service, addressing potential issues before they materialize is the true mark of an exemplary user experience.
Consider the pace of our modern world: Customers today want instant solutions, and any hurdle might be a…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s hard asking for help. Getting rejected stings. But by not asking, you’re probably missing out on some great opportunities.
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up I was a little bit of a dork. OK, OK... a huge dork. I sold comic books (and incidentally made 100 times what my…
Stephanie Ojeda
There’s an old saying in regulated industries: If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
In the past, maintaining fully compliant documentation meant handling a mountain of paper, which created extra work—and hidden risks—from a quality perspective.
Today, document management has become the…
