Content By Quality Digest

Liza Dzhezhora’s picture

Top Five Challenges for Medical Device Integration
By: Liza Dzhezhora 02/09/2023

Having appeared in the early 2000s, connected health technologies have gradually become a game changer in the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers that have embraced smart medical IoT solutions reduce costs, improve patient experience, and ensure preventive care.

The trend is not fading away. According to Research and Markets, the global health and wellness device market will grow threefold and reach around $152 billion in 2027.

The internet of medical things (IoMT) includes many tools, from blood pressure monitors and pulse oximeters to smart pill dispensers. Nevertheless, implementing medical devices and related software has specific challenges.

How do you ensure the integration of IoMT devices in your practice? We consider the four barriers and see how developers can help to overcome them.

Rupa Mahanti’s picture

Data Profiling: The First Step in Climbing the Data Quality Ladder
By: Rupa Mahanti 02/08/2023

Data are an organization’s most valuable asset. However, too much data are inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, obsolete, not well defined, or otherwise not fit for use. Bad quality data can lead to operational inefficiencies, poor decision making, non-compliance issues, and lost revenue.

According to Gartner’s research, the average financial impact of bad data quality on organizations is $9.7 million per year. Hence, it is imperative for organizations to manage their data efficiently, and ensure that their data are of high quality.

Data profiling is about discovering and thoroughly reviewing the underlying data available to ascertain the characteristics, the data patterns, and essential statistics about the data1. It is essentially the first step in climbing the ladder of data quality, and it provides a proactive approach to understanding an organization’s data. In this article, we discuss the different data profiling methodologies that can be used to assess the quality of data in an organization.

Quality Digest’s picture

Kivnon to Introduce Versatile Forklift Pallet Stacker at ProMat 2023
By: Quality Digest 02/06/2023

(Kivnon: Barcelona, Spain) -- At this year’s ProMat, March 20-23 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Kivnon will showcase the latest addition to its AGV portfolio, its Forklift Pallet Stacker. Kivnon AGVs/AMRs are heavy-duty vehicles that improve safety and process efficiency.

But why is Kivnon’s approach to automated guided vehicles different, and why should you visit them at the show?

About the Kivnon Forklift Pallet Stacker

The new Forklift Pallet Stacker automatically transports stack pallets, handling loads of up to 2,645 lb, and is ideal for any pallet storage application for internal logistics or warehousing. It can move both forward and backward and comes equipped with lifting forks to move loads vertically (up to 1.5 meters) and horizontally at speeds between 0.08 and 1 m/s.

The vehicle uses mapping navigation to perform cyclic or conditioned routes and interacts with other AGVs/AMRs, machines, systems, and people to provide a versatile, plant-wide logistics solution. The entire Kivnon AGV/AMR range incorporates security scanners to allow the vehicle to operate safely among people and other machines. An online battery charging system ensures 24/7 operations without having to stop and charge.

Quality Digest’s picture

Configit Introduces Cloud-Based Configuration Life Cycle Management Platform
By: Quality Digest 02/02/2023

(Configit: Copenhagen, Denmark) -- Configit has announced that Configit Ace, the market’s leading Configuration Life Cycle Management (CLM) platform, is now available as a cloud service. The vendor-agnostic, cloud-based CLM platform is designed to integrate with any IT system. Configit Ace Cloud enables an end-to-end, enterprisewide configuration process for complex products, systems and services supporting design, development, manufacturing, sales, and support.

With Configit Ace, manufacturers and service providers can regain control with a scalable, reliable enterprise-grade platform that can provide a single source of truth on product configuration information.

The cloud-based CLM service offers the same functionality and capabilities as Configit Ace on-premises installations, providing customers with a choice of on-premises or cloud-based deployment of their CLM solution.

Manufacturing and engineering systems like product lifecycle management (PLM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) are quickly moving to the cloud as manufacturers see the benefits of reduced IT hardware, resource, maintenance, and time investment. Cloud solutions provide world-class security and immediate access for new users regardless of location, and the ability to scale capacity and performance when needed.

  • video thumb
You Can’t Spell Quality Without IT: An interview with Shelly LaPointe

IT and quality are usually kept separate in the corporate world—or considered two different beasts. But in his interview with Shelly LaPointe, head of Thermo Fisher’s IT department, Quality Digest CEO Jeff Dewar discovers a different relationship emerging. One of multiple interviews conducted during Master Control’s Masters Summit, which boasted approximately 1,000 attendees and multiple speakers within the manufacturing and tech industries, Dewar's conversation with LaPointe reveals insights into how IT professionals and quality management can work together to create a more cohesive and skillful workforce.

Quality Digest’s picture

Companies’ Discussions of Low Code, No Code up 18% in 2022
By: Quality Digest 02/01/2023

(GlobalData: London) -- Low-code, no-code (LCNC) platforms are becoming popular as companies are pouring millions into digital transformation to cut down lengthy development cycles and create new applications that meet immediate business needs. In line with this, companies’ discussions around LCNC grew by 18 percent year-on-year in 2022, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s Company Filings Database reveals that companies’ discussions around low code, no code, which is the new paradigm in application development that reduces or eliminates the need for coding, has increased gradually in recent years.

Quality Digest’s picture

Datanomix and Hexagon Bring Real-Time Factory Analytics to Manufacturers Worldwide
By: Quality Digest 02/01/2023

(Datanomix: Nashua, NH) -- Datanomix, maker of the industry’s only automated production intelligence software platform, announced a partnership with Hexagon to offer the Datanomix software solution to its global manufacturing customers. Datanomix is well known for its industry-changing “No Operator Input” approach to production monitoring, which removes the common challenges and complexities companies face when deploying production monitoring solutions. Precision manufacturers who are looking to improve production efficiency, increase utilization, optimize cycle times, and increase part margins will benefit from the automated reports and insights that Datanomix provides.

Quality Digest’s picture

SAKOR Technologies Releases DynoLAB GenV Next-Generation Test Automation Controller
By: Quality Digest 02/01/2023

(SAKOR Technologies: Owosso, MI) -- SAKOR Technologies Inc., a recognized leader in the area of high-performance dynamometer systems, announces the release of the DynoLAB GenV next-generation test automation controller, which allows even a nonprogrammer to implement complex test systems and testing standards. Delivering a new benchmark in modularity, performance, robustness, and expandability, DynoLAB GenV is built on the latest Windows technologies and development tools in full compliance with current information technology standards.

The new DynoLAB GenV can be used with a wide array of hardware, including power analyzers, resistance meters, high-potential (hi-POT) testers, ECUs, video control units, and emissions analyzers. The fully networked test automation controller can operate several different devices independently, so users can perform multiple tests simultaneously—often with a single DynoLAB GenV controller.

Each DynoLAB GenV execution unit is an independent module, which provides superior software robustness. The system is completely scalable, so performance takes advantage of faster processors, larger memory, and more processor cores as they become available.

Gleb Tsipursky’s picture

The Four Horsemen of the Mandated Return to Office
By: Gleb Tsipursky 01/30/2023

As increasing numbers of companies are requiring employees to return to the office for 3–5 days per week this fall, they’re running into the buzzsaw of what one of my clients calls the “Four Horsemen of the Required Return to Office”—challenges with resistance, attrition, quiet quitting, and diversity.

Del Williams’s picture

Going Beyond Dust Hazard Analysis
By: Del Williams 01/26/2023

For owners and operators in the agricultural and food-processing industries, Jan. 1, 2022, was the deadline for completing a dust hazard analysis (DHA) for existing facilities in accordance with Chapter 7 of the National Fire Protection Association’s Standard 61 (2020) for the Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions in Agricultural and Food Processing Facilities.

NFPA 61 and other related NFPA standards detail essential strategies and procedures for protecting people, processes, and property from the hazards presented by fires and dust explosions in facilities handling, processing, and storing bulk grains such as corn, wheat, oats, barley, sunflower seeds, soybeans, their byproducts, and other agriculture-related combustible dusts. All new processes and facilities handling and generating combustible dusts are now required to perform a DHA.

Appendix F of NFPA 61 (2020) provides a comprehensive checklist that serves as a blueprint for generating a DHA. This checklist includes evaluating the dust explosion protection for process equipment that can often be at risk, such as bucket elevators, conveyors, grinders, silos, and systems for spray-drying and dust collection.