(Lattice Technology: San Francisco, CA) -- Lattice Technology, developers of digital manufacturing applications using the XVL format, today released chapters 7 and 8 of the new book, “Improving Lean Manufacturing Through 3D Data” by Dr. Hiroshi Toriya.

You see it all the time. After an initial flurry of excitement and support, an organization’s operational excellence effort bogs down. Regardless of the tools or methodologies used, passion dies down and focus gets diverted to other issues.

(ASTM: West Conshohocken, PA) -- The ASTM International Proficiency Testing Center is pleased to offer a 2010 proficiency testing program on thermal analyses of plastics (TAP) to laboratories who need a statistical quality assurance tool that will enable them to improve and maintain a high level

(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- As a result of a major interlaboratory study, the standards body ASTM International has been able to update its guidelines for a commonly used technique for measuring the size of nanoparticles in solutions.

(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new calibration technique that will improve the reliability and stability of one of NIST’s most versatile technologies, the microhotplate.

Hoshin kanri, or hoshin for short, refers to policy deployment. It is the method used to deploy the overall control system and total quality management (TQM).

(IBS AG: Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany) -- IBS AG has successfully implemented its new Tool Assistance System (TAS) at BMW’s production plant in Regensburg, Germany.

(Metris: Leuven, Belgium) --  Metris, market-leading supplier of X-ray and industrial computed tomography (CT) systems, launches Inspect-X 1.6 software that boosts throughput by increasing CT reconstruction speed and improving general system control.

(BLS: Washington) -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported preliminary productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the second quarter of 2009.

W. Edwards Deming has been dead for almost 16 years. In my opinion, he and Joseph Juran were the true quality giants of the 20th century.