Content By Quality Digest

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Book Interview: "Never Go With Your Gut"

Story links for Dec. 6, 2019


On this QDL, we look at gut reactions. The advice we have all received (and maybe given) about “just trust your instincts” or “go with your intuition.”  Dr. Gleb Tsipursky tells us why your “gut” may not be the best thing to rely on when making business decisions.

Book: "Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters"

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William A. Levinson’s picture

Life Without the Paris Agreement
By: William A. Levinson 11/25/2019

How will the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement affect greenhouse gas emissions? Quality Digest editor in chief Dirk Dusharme and Mike Richman, principal at Richman Business Media Consulting, point out that most manufacturers already recognize that waste, including waste of energy as represented by carbon emissions, costs the supply chain money.1 This leads to my conclusion that withdrawal from the agreement will not have any significant effect on U.S. carbon emissions.

Involving relevant interested parties

It is a basic principle of ISO 9001:2015 that organizations must identify the needs and expectations of their relevant interested parties, but not all interested parties are relevant. The Paris Agreement offers little identifiable value to organizations, so it is not a relevant stakeholder. Neither are investment banks that had hoped to profit from cap-and-trade mandates.2 The supply chain should contain nothing that does not deliver value to the other supply chain participants.

NIST’s picture

Six Healthcare, Nonprofit, and Education Organizations Win Baldrige Awards
By: NIST 11/25/2019

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that six organizations will be presented with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Baldrige is the nation’s only presidential award for performance excellence, recognizing U.S. organizations and businesses that have shown an unceasing drive for innovative solutions to complex challenges, visionary leadership, and operational excellence.

“With an emphasis on efficiency and best practices, the Baldrige public-private partnership generates $1 billion per year in economic impact for the U.S. economy,” says Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The Baldrige Award embodies the competitive spirit and commitment to excellence that fuels our economic resurgence and drives our country forward.”

The 2019 honorees are as follows:

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Exploring modern apprenticeships

Story links for Nov. 22, 2019

We talk to Nicholas Wyman, CEO and founder of IWSI America, about apprenticeship programs and how they are helping address today's skilled-labor shortages.

Report: It’s Time: Using Modern Apprenticeships to Reskill America. 

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Emily Safrin’s picture

How to Win at Customer Service
By: Emily Safrin 11/20/2019

When Scarlett hung up the phone, she was close to tears. Even more unexpectedly, so was the customer service representative on the other end. How did a seemingly simple inquiry end in two people so frustrated they were on the verge of a breakdown?

Scarlett had called to resolve a mistaken charge on her phone bill, but what she thought was a straightforward question turned into a snafu with no solution in sight. Try as she might to explain the situation, she and the customer service representative couldn’t get on the same page. The two went in fruitless circles for half an hour before the agent finally announced starkly that she was applying a discount to Scarlett’s next three bills.

The problem is, Scarlett wasn’t looking for money; she was looking for an answer. Although the discount amounted to more than the erroneous charge she had called to dispute, she was not only dissatisfied but also hurt. Instead of feeling that her problem had been resolved, she felt that she had troubled the poor agent to the point that the agent felt forced to get rid of her.

It goes without saying that no customer should ever be made to feel this way. So how do you make sure they aren’t?

NIST’s picture

Avoiding the Crack of Doom
By: NIST 11/13/2019

Just as a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, the deformations and fractures that cause catastrophic failure in materials begin with a few molecules torn out of place. This in turn leads to a cascade of damage at increasingly larger scales, culminating in total mechanical breakdown. That process is of urgent interest to researchers studying how to build high-strength composite materials for critical components ranging from airplane wings and wind-turbine blades to artificial knee joints.

Now scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have devised a way to observe the effects of strain at the single-molecule level by measuring how an applied force changes the three-dimensional alignment of molecules in the material.

EHSQ and 360-Degree Organizational Performance

Quality Digest   |  Tue, 11/12/2019

Recording: EHSQ and 360-Degree Organizational Performance

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Workplace Violence: A Case Study in Preparedness

Quality Digest   |  Tue, 11/12/2019

Recording: Workplace Violence: A Case Study in Preparedness

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Lower the Cost of Production With Robust 3D Printed Jigs and Fixtures

Quality Digest   |  Tue, 11/12/2019

Recording: Lower the Cost of Production With Robust 3D Printed Jigs and Fixtures

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Frances Brunelle’s picture

Quality Practices Can Help You Prepare to Sell Your Company
By: Frances Brunelle 11/11/2019

Just as baby boomers on the manufacturing plant floor are getting ready to retire, so are the owners. More than 5,000 small manufacturing operations (with annual revenues between $2 and $20 million) will either close their doors or find new owners during the next five years.

Some of these owners are motivated to keep the business running for their seasoned and experienced employees. Others really want to “cash-out” after decades of hard work. What few of these founders/owners consider is what they can do during the next year to help their businesses be seen as attractive and worthwhile to prospective buyers.

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