Content By Ryan E. Day

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Ergonomics and the Remote Worker, Part 1
By: Ryan E. Day 03/22/2018

Before transitioning to journalism, I worked in manufacturing, production, and high-volume auto repair for decades. When I finally swapped my blue collar for white, I figured my old body would appreciate the switch to something less physically demanding. And it did—for about six months. I learned the hard way that desk work can also result in musculoskeletal injuries.

In the Quality Digest office, ergonomics is always a hot topic. Or should I say, avoiding sore necks, aggravated backs, and eye strain are hot topics? Now, our leadership team has always been willing to explore ways to improve our personal work spaces, but as our entire staff is considering the pros and cons of working remotely for a good portion of the week, a new wrinkle has manifested: ergonomics in the home office.

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FARO QuantumS Helps Woodland Trade Co. Win Jobs, Boeing Supplier of the Year, Part 2
By: Ryan E. Day 03/20/2018

In part one of this article, we explored how Woodland Trade Co. (WTC) leveraged high-accuracy portable CMMs to help land tight-tolerance aerospace contracts, and even earn Boeing’s Supplier of the Year award. Here in part two, WTC’s QA manager William Shanks reveals the advanced technology that helps WTC fulfill those highly sought-after contracts.

Challenges in delighting customers

WTC is a world-class tier one tooling supplier to OEMs such as Boeing, Blue Origin, Hexcel, and Triumph. Fulfilling contracts and delighting these customers is both lucrative and challenging. One of the challenges is that the tooling WTC manufactures usually requires 100-percent inspection.

“Because we’re a tooling shop, we’re not allowed to inspect our product according to a sample plan,” explains Shanks. “We have to do 100 percent inspection 100 percent of the time. Boeing requires us to do 100-percent inspection. That means everything we manufacture for them, we inspect. We don’t have the luxury of having a reduced inspection rate at all.”

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FARO QuantumS Helps Woodland Trade Co. Win Jobs, Boeing Supplier of the Year, Part 1
By: Ryan E. Day 02/21/2018

Manufacturing activities have strong ties to economic prosperity. Deloitte’s 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index states, “Nations and companies are striving to advance to the next technology frontier and raise their economic well-being.” It’s no surprise that the manufacturing sector is increasingly competitive. Many companies struggle; some go under. But some manufacturing companies find ways to thrive and grow. The Woodland Trade Co. (WTC) is one of the latter.

Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, WTC has been manufacturing high-quality tooling for more than 30 years. WTC exemplifies what a world-class tooling supplier looks like. To its credit, WTC is an ISO 9001-registered, D6-51991 DPD/MBD-approved supplier that has earned the Boeing Supplier of the Year Award and 10 consecutive Boeing Gold Excellence awards. WTC enjoys an industrywide reputation for on-time deliveries of top-quality tools.

So, how do they do it? How do they make that happen on such a consistent basis?

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Just Because It’s Connected, Doesn’t Mean It’s Smart
By: Ryan E. Day 02/08/2018

As a journalist in the quality improvement field, I try to keep an eye on emerging technology that can help us do things better, faster, and more efficiently. Naturally, the internet of things (IoT) is cropping up more often. IoT is all about connected devices, that is, connected to the internet, to each other, and most important, to us humans. Occasionally, it seems as if the connected device ideators miss that last part.

Connected devices are often referred to as “smart,” but some products seem to be solutions without problems.

Meet SMALT, a salt dispenser that connects to your smartphone: “More than just a centerpiece and more than just a smart salt dispenser, SMALT is a conversation starter and a great way to entertain guests.” And it monitors your sodium intake—I might be in trouble with that one.

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The Cutting Edge of Technology
By: Ryan E. Day 01/23/2018

When your public motto is “staying on the cutting edge of technology,” you’ve set a bar for yourself. Thomas Paquin set that bar when he founded Laser Specialists Inc. (LSI) in 1986. Paquin’s untimely death in 1993 left the company with questionable leadership and direction. In 2004, Nick and Jon Paquin were able to metaphorically step into their father’s boots as president and vice president of LSI. The Paquin brothers were also determined to carry on their father’s legacy of being on the cutting edge of technology.

Laser Specialists is widely regarded for precision sheet and stamped-sheet metal fabrication and cutting. Based in Fraser, Michigan (near Detroit), the company serves myriad industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense, construction, energy, and appliance.

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Datum Metrology Prospers With FARO Vantage Laser Trackers and BuildIT Metrology Software
By: Ryan E. Day 12/18/2017

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Datum Metrology LLC (DM) is a metrology service provider specializing in jig building and bond tooling for various industries, including automotive, aerospace, naval, and nuclear energy. With decades of combined experience in multiple skilled-trade backgrounds, the DM team provides something of a one-stop-shop metrology solution. The company’s depth and breadth of experience gives it a unique way of seeing new jobs.

“Instead of looking at a way to, say, inspect a job, we actually plan the job ahead because we can see the whole picture of the build,” says Jason Sobieck, owner of Datum Metrology. “When we go into a customer’s facility, instead of just jumping in and randomly measuring something, we know what we're going to jump into next. Being able to do that helps us move a lot quicker than many of our competitors.”

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Creepy Christmas Holiday Creep, or...
By: Ryan E. Day 11/16/2017

If I said I can’t stand Christmas, would you stop reading? If I said I love Jesus—who taught unity and forgiveness—would you stop reading? If I said I can’t stand Christmas, but I do love Jesus at the same time, would you think I’m crazy?

I wouldn’t normally bring up the subject of Christmas, but I recently read an article by Jason Karaian about holiday creep. I was a little surprised that such a light-hearted piece raised my hackles so quickly. Some introspection led me to ponder what I think of as a standard progression in the understanding of the Christmas tradition.

First, you find out that Santa Claus isn’t real. And then, years later, you find out that Santa Claus was kind of real in that he was based on the third-century Turkish bishop, Nicholas (who was sainted more than a century later). But, it’s OK because you are mimicking the “three wise men” giving presents to baby Jesus anyway.

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Conquering the 100% In-Line Inspection Challenge
By: Ryan E. Day 11/14/2017

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Headquartered in Algona, Washington, Dynacraft is a diversified global manufacturer of PACCAR medium and heavy-duty truck parts sold under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, and DAF nameplates. For more than 40 years, Dynacraft has provided the company’s truck manufacturing divisions and PACCAR parts division with high-quality components, subassemblies, and specialized services.

The challenge

“One of the requirements going into the new 2017 emission systems, which we are producing currently, was a requirement from our supplier quality group to do a 100-percent inspection of the emissions assemblies,” explains Mario Caudillo, production quality engineer at Dynacraft. “We were performing a standard sampling plan up to that point, so it was quite a challenge to try to go from a sample plan to 100-percent inspection.”

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Jay Leno’s Garage
By: Ryan E. Day 10/16/2017

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By any measure, a $50 million car collection is a whopper. When your collection includes fully restored muscle-car icons, ultra-rare vintage originals, one-off factory concept cars, and... oh yes, a 2017 Ford GT super-car—it is a spectacular whopper. At a car show, you would win Best of Show. But what happens when your 1934 Frazier Nash with a Blackburn engine needs a new crank case? Let’s just say, you’re not going to find one at the wrecking yard. Most likely, not anywhere else, either—you have to make one. Best of Show, meet Best in Class.

In this case, the car collection—Best of Show—belongs to legendary comedian Jay Leno. With more than 200 vehicles, Leno’s stunning automotive menagerie includes cars, trucks, motorcycles, and aircraft. More than a few are so rare, Leno and his crew can’t find all of the parts needed to restore and maintain them in running order. As Leno quips, “We got a lot of broken stuff here.” To help alleviate the “unobtanium” issue, Jay Leno’s Garage employs the FARO QuantumS ScanArm—Best in Class.

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Artificial Intelligence—Salvation or Skynet?
By: Ryan E. Day 09/21/2017

Every other day I stumble over an article about losing jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), AI being the demi-savior of mankind, or being the digital antichrist. So, exactly what is AI and what’s the big deal?

What is AI?

The question of what artificial intelligence is, immediately begs the prerequisite question, “What is intelligence?” When broken down, the first part of the term is easy. By artificial, we are all talking about computers rather than brains. The intelligence part is a little trickier. Intelligence might be understood as a computational ability—to take information in and synthesize it to be of use in a personal way. Which computers do... sort of, with programming, which is like humans... sort of. It may be the difficulty of differentiating artificial and human intelligence that creates such angst.

What’s the big deal?

So, is it “The Rise of the Machines” that we fear, or is it really just a matter of job security? Apparently, that question is just as tricky as “What is AI?”