All Features
Kate Zabriskie
‘I don’t like confrontation, but I’m tired of his abuse. He signed me up for another committee without asking.”
“I know I need to say something about her taking credit for my work, but how to start?”
“Another joy of adulting, I’ve got to have one of those thorny conversations. Not fun.”
Difficult…
Harish Jose
I have always been interested in the idea of autonomy in a social setting. In this article, I’m looking at autonomy in a social setting—such as an organization—from a cybernetics viewpoint. I’ll lean on the ideas of Heinz von Foerster and Stafford Beer.
Von Foerster came up with the notion of…
Mike Figliuolo
Are you giving your lowest-level employees the power to make crucial customer-relations decisions without supervision? If not, you’re making a huge mistake.
Within a four-hour period on Friday I witnessed both excellent leadership and an abject failure of it. These experiences occurred with the…
Jones Loflin
I love gardening and growing fresh vegetables. Recently I had checked in on my Brussels sprouts seedlings and, well, they looked awful! The reason quickly became obvious to me: I had overwatered them.
I was so excited about growing Brussels sprouts this year, I didn’t want anything to happen to…
Harry Hertz
The Baldrige Executive Fellows is an annual cohort of executives learning about leading their organizations using the Baldrige Excellence Framework as a guide. As part of the collaborative experience, each executive fellow undertakes a capstone project of strategic significance to their…
NIST
Bringing its cutting-edge invention to the larger world for the first time, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has delivered a portable and super accurate tabletop instrument for measuring mass to the U.S. Army. This could revolutionize critical measurements in a variety of…
Matt Fieldman
If you look around your plant floor, I’m sure the layout, equipment, and technologies are different today from what they were 10—or even five—years ago. You’ve put time, effort, and money into improving every aspect of your operations. You’ve cut costs and made investments where they were necessary…
Jennifer Chu
Boosting the performance of solar cells, transistors, LEDs, and batteries will require better electronic materials made from novel compositions that have yet to be discovered.
To speed up the search for advanced functional materials, scientists are using AI tools to identify promising materials…
Del Williams
In food processing, bulk-bag discharge systems are used to transfer food ingredients such as flour, sugar, and spices from bulk bags to mixing and blending equipment. However, when not designed or installed properly, bulk discharge systems can become a production bottleneck.
Complicating the issue…
Mark Schmit, Joe Edmondson, Nathan Ginty
When a foreign company wants to manufacture goods in the United States, it needs new domestic suppliers for just about everything. When such an initiative involves new technology, it creates even more opportunities for a regional ecosystem and associated supply chains.
Topsoe is a Danish energy…
Silke von Gemmingen
Indexable inserts are interchangeable cutting tools that are indispensable in various industrial applications, especially in metalworking. They are used as cutting material carriers for machining metals, plastics, or wood.
Manufacturing indexable inserts requires high-precision production…
Bruce Hamilton
As years roll on, I’m noticing more parts of me breaking down: Teeth, eyes, knees, cardiovascular, stomach—the list keeps getting longer, as does the list of docs I see. I’m blessed to be living in an area with the world’s finest medical care and lucky that healthcare innovation (and Medicare) have…
Merilee Kern
Amid numerous product recalls and reports warning consumers about breaches in safety, efficiency, and cleanliness in food and beverage processing, manufacturers must be more proactive than ever to implement safer and more efficient processing solutions. These must be specifically engineered to…
Pirmin Bitzi
Data are at the core of smart manufacturing; they’re pivotal to innovation and agility. At the same time, the vast amounts of new data captured daily in manufacturing present substantial challenges—no more so than within quality control, where this significant data load can lead to data analysis…
David Isaacson
For any manufacturer, ensuring well-run, successful processes and protocols is the backbone of a successful and profitable operation. Yet, despite the most well-laid plans, circumstances can change and manufacturers may sidestep best practices in the race to meet demand. Still, ensuring quality,…
William A. Levinson
The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and ISO have published a joint communiqué to require organizations to “consider” climate change in the context of risks and opportunities relevant to the management system.
Although this is pursuant to the London Declaration, which has goals for…
Stephanie Ojeda
Look through even a few FDA warning letters and you’re likely to find violations related to change management.
For instance, a recent warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cited a pharmaceutical manager for changing drug components without justification. Another noted a lack of…
Adam Zewe
Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. This tiny device could enable you to rapidly create customized, low-cost objects on the go, like a fastener to repair a wobbly bicycle wheel or a component for a critical medical operation.
Researchers from MIT and the…
Mike Figliuolo
You can learn a lot about leadership from Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda. He emphasizes leading today rather than worrying about yesterday or tomorrow.
My expectations for the movie were quite low. I mean, a panda that does kung fu? A jackrabbit I could buy. But a panda? Then again, I’m a huge…
Daniel Marzullo
Be honest: How satisfied are you with your work right now?
When was the last time you took a step back to assess your level of job satisfaction?
Whether you’re self-employed or work full time, it’s essential to regularly check in with yourself to measure your well-being at work.
Over time, roles…
Jennifer King
During the global health challenges faced over the last few years, one thing changed forever—the way many of us worked. According to USA Today, a third of work-from-home (WFH) employees in America now work remotely full time, and by 2025 they expect one in five workers nationwide to be joining the…
Stefano Puntoni, Bart De Langhe
Most businesses rightly see data as a source for making better decisions. But the conventional data-driven approach often falls short because of common errors made by the decision-makers. Many leaders rely excessively on existing data that might not always address the issue at hand, or they pass…
Megan Wallin-Kerth
Born in 1929, H. James “Jim” Harrington was a phenomenal influence in the world of quality. And for many here at Quality Digest, he was a memorable, kind, and invested colleague as well—not to mention a wealth of knowledge, with seemingly endless energy and dedication to innovation in quality.
On…
James Chan
Work instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are job aids that ensure business processes are carried out correctly. Whether for new employee training, working with new equipment, or standardizing current procedures, these job aids help create a safer and more productive workplace.…
AMETEK
Endurance racing is one of the oldest and toughest pastimes in motorsports. It is a true test of performance. Not only is a driver’s stamina on display, but vehicle durability as well.
Based in Indianapolis, Wayne Taylor Racing With Andretti (WTRAndretti) is a world-renowned global motorsports…
