(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has awarded $9.1 million in cooperative agreements for 22 projects designed to enhance the productivity, technological performance, and global competitiveness

Our country’s focus on cost-cutting led us to move manufacturing overseas and then outsource services. It has distracted us from adopting new technology and investing in innovation. Is this a serious mistake?

A large part of developing a rapport with customers is to offer a conversational tone that is warm and inviting. This can sometimes be achieved by paying close attention to the little things a customer might say.

People can make plenty of mistakes when launching a lean enterprise transformation. Interestingly, many of these mistakes are similar if not identical to those made by entrepreneurs when starting a business.

I come across countless articles, columns, and blogs about poor customer service daily. People can present their frustration and pitiful experiences in the most creative, peculiar, hilarious, and shocking ways.

(University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Twisting spires, concentric rings, and gracefully bending petals are a few of the 3-D shapes that University of Michigan engineers can make from carbon nanotubes using a new manufacturing process.

Sometimes it’s interesting to watch trends develop from the relatively safe perch of business media. A press release from Aveta Business Institute last week drew my attention because it wasn’t doing what 99.9 percent of all press releases do: selling something.

Reporting and documentation are fundamental aspects of the modern quality control (QC) laboratory.

To get on Inc. Magazine’s 2010 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies means opening up your books to auditors and documenting your growth from 2006 through 2009. Of course, not every growing company has the inclination or time to play along.

(FPPMM: Naperville, IL) -- In its latest white paper released at The Motivation Show, the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement demonstrates the power of personal contact in the relationship between sales representatives and their customers in the delivery of services.