All Features
Jack Dunigan
“Well, you have your degree. Now you’re going to get an education.” One of my professors said that to me the night I graduated. She was correct.
A few weeks later I had moved with my new bride (who is now my not-so-new bride but exciting nonetheless) to Northern Arizona for our first post-…
Steve Wise
Determining an effective in-process sampling strategy can be a tricky business. What should you measure? What should your sample size be? What are the pitfalls? Your approach can be the determining factor to whether you will ever attain true understanding of process performance or see any…
Donald J. Wheeler
What happens when we measure the same thing and get different values? How can we ever use such a measurement system to measure different things? By thinking of measurements as the product and the measurement procedure as the process we can use the techniques of statistical process control (SPC)…
Michael Causey
The giant sequoia trees on the Pacific Coast are breathtaking. Majestic and seemingly indestructible, they stand tall as a reminder that slow and steady sometimes does win the race. But what’s great in a forest isn’t always so great elsewhere.
Let’s push the metaphor a bit more, and say there’s…
Matthew E. May
When I speak to groups or meet with prospective clients, one of the most frequently asked questions I field is: “What’s my first step in creating a culture of companywide innovation?” I love the question because I believe that innovation must occur at every level of the company.
Now, that doesn’t…
Robert A. Brown
Chances are you are not fully satisfied with the results of your lean initiatives. It’s also likely that lean thinking is not used to improve your employees’ skills in working together. That’s because you are using only half, probably less, of the power of lean thinking.
In 2001, Toyota declared…
Eston Martz
When I talk to quality professionals about how they use statistics, one tool they mention again and again is design of experiments, or DOE. I’d never even heard the term before I started getting involved in quality improvement efforts, but now that I’ve learned how it works, I wonder why I didn’t…
MIT News
Today, information overwhelms everyone. But how can people learn to make sense of it? One intensive economics course at MIT is built around doing just that, by getting undergraduate students to produce research papers while working closely with faculty.
Floods of data exist on scores of subjects…
Jim Clifton
Here’s something they’ll probably never teach you in business school: The most consequential decision you make in your job—more important than all the rest—is who you name manager. When you name the right people to manage your company’s
When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that…
Paul Naysmith
Story update 4/3/2013: The author replaced his earlier chart example with an explanation of how to set up an Xbar chart.
Unlike the difficult "third album," the one that is supposed to be a real challenge following the first two musical productions, my third album in the Seven Quality Tools suite…
Margaret A. Hamburg
The deadly outbreak, in October 2012, of fungal meningitis associated with a compounded medication was a horrible tragedy. I’ve asked myself many times if and how it could have been prevented. I speak for everyone at the FDA when I say that our hearts go out to the many victims, including those…
Bruce Piasecki
Here, I share a blueprint of what a well-run team looks like and explain why the power of teams trump the appeal of the rugged individualist.
America loves a fierce individualist. Yes, there is something inspiring about an enterprising loner or an executive of a large corporation blazing a path…
A smart phone that can perform an electrocardiogram (ECG)—measuring the electrical activity of a person’s heart to determine whether he is having a heart attack—is in my opinion an extremely smart phone. That is just one example of how mobile medical applications are transforming healthcare.
As…
Alan Nicol
Are there any of us who haven’t been assigned to the “undead” project? You know, those projects that seem to go on forever without ever possessing the priority or proper resources to finally launch. Or the ones that are constantly redirected or defined so that we never make meaningful progress. Or…
Umberto Tunesi
We were all quietly and happily dozing on the sofa labeled “quality equals conformity to requirements,” when someone in Geneva, quite likely so he could keep pace with his counterpart in Detroit, abruptly awakened us with the continuous, and continual, improvement bell.
Now, maybe this guy just…
Matthew Barsalou
Genichi Taguchi passed away in Tokyo on June 2, 2012, at the age of 88. He started his career by studying textile engineering with the expectation of entering his family’s kimono business, but was drafted into Japan’s Imperial Navy during World War II. He became interested in statistics after the…
Patrick Runkel
Has this happened to you? You organize a brainstorming session to analyze your process. At the kick-off meeting, several people sit with arms crossed, lips pursed, eyes cast downward. Frequently, they’re the ones who’ve worked at the process for
“Here we go again. Wasting time to prove the…
Timothy F. Bednarz
The leader’s role is to create a smooth operating organization without barriers that may inhibit employees from improving their personal productivity. The presence of harassing behaviors and those who would use them against their co-workers destroys any empowerment and organizational cohesiveness…
Jim Benson
Four hours ago, I walked up to a big pad of paper and started mind-mapping the types of interruptions we might face while trying to get our work done. During that time, the following events took place.
While I was working, Tonianne, who was on Skype, wanted to do a microphone test. Then I…
Mike Richman
We created a video honoring the role of the quality manager in today’s organizations, based on Paul Harvey’s timeless tribute to the farmer, which debuted at the 2013 Super Bowl.
Today’s quality professionals hold a special place in the hearts of the Quality Digest team, not only for the support…
Vickie L. Milazzo
The release of Lean In (Knopf, 2013), the new book by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, has grabbed the attention of media and people around conference room tables. Sandberg’s assertion that women in business should “lean in” and make more of an effort to lead has garnered both nods of agreement and…
Jack Dunigan
Motivation is a very personal thing, so when you find it alive and well within a co-worker, it’s in your best interest (and theirs) to do everything you can to keep it vibrant. The challenge with those who would be motivators is they easily disconnect themselves from others’ perspectives.
Being…
Mehul Shah
Q uality management has gone through considerable change in a relatively short period. The transition from paper and manual processes to point solutions was revolutionary in and of itself. Using software to automate processes that were once done by hand has increased efficiency, reduced…
Matthew Littlefield
We’ve established that executives who focus on aligning and then optimizing people, processes, and technology in operational excellence models will position their organizations for success. This is true in quality, manufacturing, energy management, and other critical operational focal points.
For…
Tripp Babbitt
The focus for management and support staff when diagnosing problems with customers is squarely on the front line. Many times the failure is diagnosed with the phrase, “If they would just follow the procedure, none of these problems would ever have happened.” If only resolving customer issues were…
