From metal-fitting factories that keep machinery calibrated manually to high-tech companies whose production systems use self-diagnosing analytics, every manufacturer is continually working to improve shop-floor performance using analytics.

Scene: corporate retreat for senior leaders of a Fortune 100 company. Theme: creativity. Agenda item: purpose. I have placed a solitary Zen stone in the center of each table.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a novel method for measuring laser power by reflecting the light off a mirrored scale, which behaves as a force detector.

I

met with a client yesterday who had an all-too-common complaint. She asked for Gallup’s ideas on creating a stronger leadership development program, and we obliged by sharing some practices we’ve seen work well in other organizations.

There is no substitute for knowledge...
—W. Edwards Deming

During Manufacturing Day on Oct. 4, 2013, our Evanston, Illinois, legislators endorsed the theory that there are many good factory jobs left unfilled for want of qualified applicants.