Content By Quality Digest

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Five Tips to Avoid Color Drift
By: Tim Mouw 12/07/2021

Color accounts for 60 percent of acceptance or rejection in consumer products. Maintaining accurate and consistent color is critical. If a color starts to drift, this leads to rework, wasted materials, and added costs.

To avoid color drift over time, consider the following.

1. Are you using digital color standards?

To produce accurate color, everyone across the manufacturing process and supply chain must use the same color standard. Based on spectral data, digital color standards remove subjectivity from color communication and ensure that everyone, from design to production, has real-time access to approved standards. This helps eliminate errors that occur when physical standards become old, faded, dirty, or damaged. Digital standards integrate with formulation and quality control software to help manufacturers quickly verify color accuracy throughout the production process. They also make it easier to identify and eliminate drift before it becomes a problem.


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Exact Metrology Reverse Engineers an Impact Driver Body
By: Quality Digest 12/07/2021

(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- Exact Metrology: A Division of In-Place Machining Company and a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, recently reverse engineered an impact driver body.

Reverse engineering involves digitally deconstructing products to extract design information from them. Thus, users can determine how a part was designed so that it can be recreated. Although the process tends to imply that 3D scanning will be used solely for product design, it can be used to address many other engineering functions. These include product design and manufacturing, facilities maintenance and plant engineering, architectural and civil engineering and custom manufacturing.



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Baldrige 2022 Examiner Application Now Open
By: Quality Digest 12/06/2021

(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) is seeking applicants for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners for the 2022 award cycle.

The Examiner Application is now available online and will be open until 6 p.m. Eastern on January 10, 2022.

Baldrige examiners are part of an elite group of more than 400 professionals from around the United States. These experts give their time generously and enthusiastically to the Baldrige Program by utilizing the Baldrige Excellence Framework to evaluate organizations that are applying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and to provide carefully crafted feedback to help these organizations improve.

The program accepts award applications from manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit organizations; therefore, coverage and balance within these sectors are important factors in selecting examiners. Learn more about the qualifications and sector needs for the 2022 Board.

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Configit Enhances Configuration Life-Cycle Management Solutions for Easier, Faster, More Efficient Integration
By: Quality Digest 12/02/2021

(Configit: Copehhagen) -- Configit, the global leader in configuration life-cycle management (CLM), has introduced enhanced versions of its Configit Ace and Configit Quote solutions to make CLM integration easier, faster, and more efficient for manufacturers worldwide.

One of the biggest barriers to digital transformation for manufacturing organizations is cross-functional collaboration. Powered by the company’s patented Virtual Tabulation technology, Configit’s Configuration Life-Cycle Management (CLM) solution bridges traditional silos among manufacturing design, selling, and servicing functions. This enables cross-functional collaboration for manufacturing organizations by providing access to the same, reliable data and insights. Building on this, Configit is rolling out new functionality within its product portfolio.

Enhancements to Configit Quote, an enterprise configure, price, and quote (CPQ) solution, include:

The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson’s picture

Imposter Syndrome: When You Feel Like a Fraud
By: The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson 12/01/2021

The other day I heartily congratulated a friend on her job promotion. She replied, “What if they made a mistake? What if I’m not really qualified, and it’s the Peter Principle in effect—that I’ve risen to the level of my incompetence?”

“You’re totally qualified,” I responded, “They wouldn’t have given you the job if you didn’t deserve it.”

She then said, “But I feel like a fraud.”

My friend was suffering from imposter syndrome. I understood how she felt, so I said, “I get it. I’ve been there. In my first year of speaking professionally, I was hired to present the keynote speech for a national association. It was extremely exciting, and exactly what I wanted, but the night before I was to go on stage, feelings of doubt emerged. And, like you, I felt like a fraud. Worse, I started to feel panicky.

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Building Brand Lessons: The Returns Cycle
By: Nate Burke 12/01/2021

With the rise of online shopping continuing to increase, thanks to the convenience and comfort of shopping from home, it's important for e-commerce businesses to look to their returns policy to ensure they’re not only catering to the tech-savvy, modern consumer, but also the environmentally conscious.

And with research suggesting that 84 percent of consumers are likely to buy from, and 86 percent likely to return to, a brand with a free returns process, there’s a clear shift in demand from the modern consumer, whose patience for brands with poor returns processes is rapidly fading.

The struggles of returns for e-commerce businesses

Brands right now are doing everything they can to cater to the concerns of consumers in turbulent times, such as increasing their returns windows. However, this can create logistical and financial difficulties, particularly given ever-rising return rates. Some estimates place these at 20 percent for e-commerce businesses.

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Composites Industry Explores New Developments and Applications at Composite-Sandwich Conference
By: Quality Digest 12/01/2021

(ThermHex: Chicago) -- Leading industry players ThermHex and Fraunhofer will open their doors for experts in the field of composite sandwich materials to discuss and explore the latest developments and applications in the construction and use of sandwich materials. Europe’s composite sandwich-material industry will also have the opportunity to get a firsthand view of their state-of-the-art facilities and production techniques.

Organised by ThermHex and Fraunhofer IMWS, the Composite-Sandwich Conference will be held in Halle (Saale), Germany, February 2–3, 2022. Although the topic of lightweight construction is widely discussed in many congresses and conferences, there are only a few conferences worldwide focusing on sandwich construction and sandwich core materials.

The conference will provide the opportunity for engineers and scientists from across the composites sector to explore new fields of application of sandwich materials and network with some of the leading minds in the sector. It will bring together experts from across the composites industry.

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Chris Klope to Lead Brunson Instrument Co.
By: Quality Digest 12/01/2021

(Brunson Instrument Co.: Kansas City, MO) -- Brunson Instrument Co., a leading producer of large-scale, industrial metrology equipment for aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, and other high-precision measurement applications, announces the selection of Chris Klope as president.

In his new role, Klope will be responsible for executive leadership, market development, and strategic operations of the 94-year-old manufacturer. He brings 20 years of leadership experience to the role, including executive positions in middle-market manufacturing and industrial distribution companies, consistently generating both aggressive growth and operational excellence. Klope earned an MBA from Washington University’s Olin Business School.

“Chris brings a solid history of guiding growth in manufacturing organizations, and we are very happy to have him on board,” says Deighton Brunson, CEO. “Additionally, Chris is passionate about quality and customer service, which makes him a great fit at Brunson.”

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LRQA Unveils Bold New Branding as It Targets Transformation of the Assurance Market
By: Quality Digest 11/30/2021

(LRQA: London) -- LRQA, a leading global assurance provider, has unveiled its new brand identity following the announcement earlier this year that the Business Assurance and Inspection Services division of Lloyd’s Register (LR) is being sold to funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Bringing together expertise in certification, cybersecurity, inspection, and training, the newly independent LRQA business is focused on helping companies negotiate a rapidly changing risk landscape, with an ambition to lead the digital transformation of the assurance market.

“Our new brand reflects the pride we feel in where we have come from and the value that our expertise brings to our clients,” says Paul Butcher, CEO of LRQA. “With this new identity, we are signalling our focus on the future, on the changing risk landscape our clients face, and on the rapid transformation of assurance itself, driven by technology and data.

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Manufacturing Industry Is the Second Most Affected by Ransomware
By: Quality Digest 11/30/2021

(NordLocker: Panama) -- Manufacturing is the No. 2 industry hit by ransomware, according to the new desk research by NordLocker. An analysis of 1,200 companies hit by cyber extortion between 2020 and 2021 revealed those parts of the market where ransomware is the most widespread.

NordLocker’s research has discovered that, out of 35 identified industries, the second greatest number of ransomware attacks was detected in the manufacturing sector. The 86 companies that were affected range from one of Europe's leading wire and cable producers that serves customers across the globe to a cast-stone manufacturer that mainly operates in a single U.S. state. The findings raise a question: Why do cyber criminals prioritize this particular economic activity?