All Features
Megan Wallin-Kerth
The ability to observe relationships, patterns, and environment may be deemed a “soft” skill, but there’s plenty of hard data supporting the power of observation in the workplace. After all, observation is the sometimes overlooked first step in the scientific method: Make an observation, and from…
Scott Knoche
A very popular version of the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is the portable CMM “arm,” not to be confused with the “robotic arm” or simply, robot—as it is called in the factory automation world. Robots are motorized, machine-driven devices that have tube segments connected by articulating…
Sharon McDougall
Although the coronavirus pandemic changed the working lives of employees around the world, closing workplaces and transforming dining tables into professional workstations, it also gave employees a chance to time out and recharge from the hustle and bustle associated with office working.
The…
Tami Trout
It’s time for a digital workforce transformation. Modern manufacturers must juggle evolving expectations for workplace flexibility, pay, career paths, and benefits. They also have to take into account the changes in the ways employees learn and access information. The most obvious example of this…
Mark Hembree
Now that AI is an acronym that doesn’t really need to be spelled out (artificial intelligence, just in case you’ve been off the planet the last couple of years), we are hearing and understanding more about its various applications and capabilities.
I’m not an early adapter, but I do recall midway…
Bryan Christiansen
Benjamin Franklin said, “... in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” If you work in maintenance, you know that equipment failure is also on that list.
As inevitable as equipment failures are, by paying close attention to mean time to recovery (MTTR), you can make…
Verdi Ogewell
Which product life cycle management systems lead the market in terms of discrete manufacturing? As always, this question is as topical as it is controversial—but that doesn’t stop industry analysts from trying to position these developers against each other.
One of the more prominent and ambitious…
Matthew M. Lowe
Change of any kind often requires a catalyst. This is particularly true in a business environment where the rule of thumb is to do things the way they’ve always been done. And when you’re working in a regulated industry, processes tend to get more locked in because compliance is at stake.
That was…
Chip Bell
‘I write children’s books because there are no unicorns in adult literature, and today’s world needs unicorns.” The quote came from renowned children’s book author Jackson Pearce at a weekend writers retreat sponsored by Georgia Writers Museum. The sentiment could be equally applied to a great…
Ken Chapman, Tony Orlowski
‘Turning to the men around him, Dodge shouted, ‘Up this way!’ but the men ignored him. Dodge later stated that someone responded, ‘To hell with that, I’m getting out of here.’ The team raced past Dodge up the slope toward the ridge. Four men reached the crest, but only two, Bob Sallee and Walter…
Adam Zewe
Mass spectrometers are extremely precise chemical analyzers that have many applications, from evaluating the safety of drinking water to detecting toxins in a patient’s blood. But building an inexpensive, portable mass spectrometer that could be deployed in remote locations remains a challenge,…
Michael Glickman
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the healthcare industry by enhancing decision-making capabilities, improving quality of care, and reducing costs. In the age of supercomputers and technological advancement, the health sector generates vast amounts of data, which AI can process and…
Peter Büscher
Over the past few months, I’ve covered the common sampling techniques used in technical cleanliness inspections. So far, I’ve taken a closer look at the washing method, direct liquid filtration, and tape lift sampling. Now I’ll discuss the particle trap method.
What is the particle trap method?…
Gleb Tsipursky
With 74 percent of U.S. companies transitioning to a permanent hybrid work model, leaders are turning their attention to measuring the success of their return-to-office and hybrid work policies. That’s because, in the United States, there’s only one traditional office-centric model of M–F/9–5, but…
Bryan Christiansen
With so many assets and projects to think about, facilities management is a huge and complex field. It’s easy to lose focus.
Luckily, there’s a simple and easy fix for this problem—facility management KPIs (key performance indicators). Outlining and tracking the most important ones will help you…
Winnie Jiang, Claire Harbour, Antoine Tirard
A simultaneous surge of mass layoffs and unprecedented job growth in the United States has created a confusing, complex climate for companies. In such a paradoxical environment, organizations should seize the opportunity to retain talent instead of falling into a cycle of continuous turnover. By…
Rajas Sukthankar
Digitalization is transforming all areas of life as well as existing business models. It’s enabling the manufacturing industry to implement its product ideas by taking advantage of technology trends such as generative design and intelligent models. Production has become more innovative through…
Kate Zabriskie
She has three supervisors, and he has six. She works on five projects, and he has four. Although their paths rarely cross, they have something in common—they’re both part of a matrix organization.
Unlike a traditional workplace where employees have one boss and a chain of supervision, matrix…
Harry Hertz
On two prior occasions, I was motivated by additions to the Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to create and update the Hertz Lexicon of Creative Leadership Terminology.
As luck would have it, in late 2022, Merriam-Webster added another 370 words to its dictionary. With…
NIST
Researchers have yet to get the additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, of metals completely down to a science. Gaps in our understanding of what happens within metal during the process have made results inconsistent. But a new breakthrough could grant an unprecedented level of mastery over metal…
Kari Miller
Life science organizations depend on quality management systems (QMS) to improve products, minimize risks, ensure patient safety, and support regulatory compliance. When companies use a horizontal QMS that is not purpose-built for the life science industry, they must execute additional steps to…
Silke von Gemmingen
Preventive conservation plays an important role in preserving art and cultural assets. To preserve their condition for as long as possible, it’s essential to slow down and evaluate aging processes and other factors that alter materials. To do this, it’s necessary to gain a holistic understanding of…
Gleb Tsipursky
A ccording to a recent Monmouth University poll, 55 percent of Americans are worried by the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) to the future of humanity. In an era where technological advancements are accelerating at breakneck speed, it’s crucial to ensure that AI development is appropriately…
Del Williams
In industry, fossil fuel-fired boilers are commonly used to produce steam or hot water for space and process heating. However, traditional boilers might not be flexible enough to respond quickly to demand surges during peak periods.
To compensate, processors and manufacturers often keep more than…
Henning Piezunka, Oliver Schilke
Top management teams often find it difficult to agree on a course of action for their firm. Whenever we participate in firm strategy retreats, we see managers grappling with collective decisions. After weeding out inferior strategic alternatives, they are left with a set of promising but mutually…
