With apologies to Tolstoy: All successful project certification reviews are alike; every unsuccessful project certification review is unsuccessful in its

My last column about superficial improvement may have implied that the condition

This article is about accreditation of conformity assessment bodies. Before proceeding further, however, it is important to provide some definitions in order for all of us to have the same understanding of key terms.

In our last episode, we looked at how the crew of the USS Enterprise might have employed quality management systems (QMS) to help streamline their processes

I am by no means a Trekkie. I don’t go to conventions, nor do I have all the episodes memorized and cataloged. I don’t even try and weigh in on Picard vs. Kirk (although I do have some valid points in that debate—another time).

Editor’s note: In the current, sometimes heated, discussion about the relevance of unions, David Schwinn takes a look at their role and the responsibilities of both union members and managers.

Please don’t tell me that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction, however slowly. I hear this from politicians and commentators all the time. It isn’t. Not even close. Key economic metrics offer no encouragement at all.

I want a staff entirely populated by trusted associates; everyone does. But hardly anyone has a staff who functions at that level all the time. At some time, somewhere, someone is unaware—that is to say, they are unconsciously incompetent.