(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The 2010 Baldrige Regional Conferences are set for Sept. 14 in Newport Beach, California, at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa; and Sept. 28 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs.

(Olympus Corp.: Tokyo) -- Olympus Corp. will commence international sales of the 38DL PLUS ultrasonic thickness gauge. This new nondestructive testing device allows objects to be inspected without the need for destruction or disassembly.The gauge will go on sale in Japan in fall 2010.

A surgical technician prepares her back table for the next laparoscopic surgery. Instruments are removed from their containers and packages, and placed neatly on the back table.

During the past 20 years it has become fashionable to condemn measurement processes that are less than perfect. Yet the reality is that we must always use imperfect data.

(Veeco Instruments Inc.: Tucson, AZ) -- Veeco Instruments Inc., a global provider of precision instrumentation and metrology solutions for scientific and industrial markets, announced a new low-cost member of its ContourGT family of noncontact, 3-D optical surface profilers.

I am often struck by a remark of W. Edwards Deming that the aim of a system must include plans for the future. As Deming wrote in The New Economics (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994), “A system must have an aim.

It took Gutzon Borglum 14 years to complete the carving of Mount Rushmore, one of the world’s most iconic monuments.

I am often struck by a remark of W. Edwards Deming that the aim of a system must include plans for the future. As Deming wrote in The New Economics, “A system must have an aim. Without an aim, there is no system.

(Academy Leadership Publishing: King of Prussia, PA) -- When news headlines trumpet story after story about fiscal mismanagement, unchecked greed, massive bankruptcies, and rampant downsizing, it’s hard to believe there’s any good news about the business world.