All Features
Tom Pyzdek
In this four-part series, we take an in-depth look at how to design an effective work environment. Part one discusses the elements of continuous-flow work cells. Part two considers how to enhance the efficiency of such work cells. Part three explores the 5S methodology. In part four of the series…
GKS Global Services
A major manufacturer of high-tech bicycles with a worldwide distributorship and many professional endorsements to its name used 3-D laser scanning to maintain its competitive edge. Its mission is to promote bike riding through innovative products, and exceptional care for its dealers and…
What can you do when your organization has a critical mission—e.g., to help more transplant patients live longer, healthier lives—and you know your processes desperately need improvement?
This was the dilemma faced by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR).…
Pierre Gouvin
Moles are invading Seattle. Not the small, furry mammals often reviled for destroying lawns, but the specialized boring machines used to excavate tunnels in urban environments. As part of its long-range capital investment plan, Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, known simply as “Sound…
Xia Enyu
Industrial organizations face numerous compliance regulations such as management system certification, information security, corporate social responsibility compliance, and limiting the content of hazardous substances in products. Now they can add carbon management to the list. This task is one…
Willie L. Carter
Higher customer expectations, cost-cutting pressures, thinner margins, and shorter lead times are some of the daily challenges that organizations face. A management system built around lean processes enables companies to achieve operational excellence, while providing flexibility in the way…
David L. Westphal
Ideas for quality and continuous improvement can come from the most unconventional sources. As an automotive supplier, improving competitiveness, quality, and productivity are always top of mind. Put simply, in this industry, companies live and die by continuous improvement. As the only tier-one…
Scott Paton
You’ve just been to a big conference (or small one, more likely these days) and you’re psyched. You’ve heard a couple of great keynotes, sat in on some terrific sessions, and maybe spent a day in a workshop that really got your juices flowing. These people were speaking to you. They understand how…
Jon Miller
When we say that a task is Herculean, it means it is extremely difficult. Heracles was a Greek hero (Hercules in the Roman version) who got into some trouble for killing a member of his family in a fit of madness and was assigned a series of challenging tasks as penance. Sometimes we face…
Denise Robitaille
As the universe of quality management systems expands, it’s interesting to observe the increasing variables that constitute the concept of applicability. Let’s take maintenance of records as an example.
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Twenty years ago, the records that were kept and the method of keeping…
Value stream or other lean analysis helps identify the main obstacles to flow in a process. Improvement projects using lean tools in a transactional environment (i.e., office) are often confronted with the following problem: Lean teams lack a methodology to consistently problem-solve how to…
Laser Design Inc.
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are indispensable parts of life for people in more than 150 countries. Every day, 1.3 billion people—nearly a quarter of the world’s population—trust Kimberly-Clark brands (e.g., Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, and Depend) and the solutions…
Sal Lucido
In Part I, “Savvy Compliance Strategy Can Improve GMP,” we took a high-level look at a process for automating regulatory compliance management. The closed-loop process starts with documenting your processes, followed by monitoring or checking that the processes are being followed. Next, you…
Steven Ouellette
So I thought I was done with measurement system analysis after my last column, but I just finished reading Don Wheeler’s June 1 column, “Is the Part in Spec?” and the first thing I thought was, “Well, that was… complicated and ultimately unhelpful in answering the article’s title question.” I like…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
During the 1996 Summer Olympics, I saw a young athlete with his brand-new silver medal around his neck and a massive smile on his face. He was so thrilled with his achievement that he was mixing and mingling with everyone he met on the sidewalk. Perfect strangers were shaking his hand, slapping…
Tripp Babbitt
The worst man-made environmental disaster in history is a tough pill to swallow for everyone, but especially for those responsible for it. Overnight, BP’s name and reputation has turned from a respected energy company with a predictable dividend to the company that should not be named…
Bruce Ballinger
A recent article published in Quality Digest Daily pointed out that to foster a problem-solving culture, managers must serve as mentors and cultural leaders—building the systems and atmosphere that support and encourage team members at all levels to problem solve effectively.
That is…
Standards Council of Canada
The Bre-X gold scandal that rocked the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) during the late 1990s forever changed the Canadian mining sector. When millions in pension dollars were lost due to fraudulent and falsified test data, investors around the world were outraged.
It remains one of the most…
Bill Kalmar
Permit me to take a break from all things quality- and customer service-oriented and talk about what’s really important.
Baseball.
That’s right; I feel the need to respond to the “perfect game” controversy from a Detroiter’s point of view. We in the Motor City regularly get criticized and…
Emil Venere
This image shows a new “hybrid optoelectric” device, developed by researchers at Purdue. The device uses a combination of light and electric fields to position droplets and tiny particles, such as bacteria, viruses, and DNA, representing a potential new tool for…
Thomas R. Cutler
There is no shortage of standards. There are standards that define how something should be made vs. those related to processes, such as ISO 9001. According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), standards that provide requirements or give guidance on good management practice…
Michelle LaBrosse
When the summer sun beats down, there’s always someone in the family who reminds you to put on your sunscreen. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to easily avoid getting burned at work? There is. It’s called project management.
Grab a bottle of water, put on your baseball cap, and think…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
For more than 20 years, Toyota’s methods, known as “lean,” have made headlines. And that’s how long engineer, researcher, and author Mike Rother has been involved with the subject. Like many others, Rother began with Toyota’s production tools. And like many others, he found that these are…
Gene Rider
Approximately three-fourths of product safety recalls in the United States are the result of some design flaw in the product rather than a manufacturing or other defect. Most violations of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) “small parts” standard, for example, are the result of…
Criterion NDT
(Criterion NDT: Auburn, WA) -- Doctors, hospitals, and individuals depend on the highest quality hypodermic needles to administer medicines and draw fluids. Unfortunately, 100-percent visual and/or water-leak test inspection of the needle tubing or finished product for microscopic cracks or…