During the 1980s using flowcharts was the “in thing” to do. Today, technology has provided us with a much more effective and useful tool: simulation modeling.

The European Union is working to make products safer for consumers and manufacturers alike. Its new regulations concerning chemicals used in product makeup, REACH, will extend across the pond to affect chemical standards in the United States.

(Cargill: Washington, D.C.) -- U.S.

Whenever the economic climate freezes assets and sends investors scurrying for cover, businesses must find new ways to grow and stand out from the competition. Cost-cutting is the obvious, and usual, course of action.

(Quality Digest: Chico, California) -- Nikon Corp. has announced an offer to purchase Belgium-based metrology company, Metris N.V., for €5.50 per share. This represents an 107-percent premium to Metris's closing price on NYSE Euronext Brussels as of May 26, 2009, according to Metris.

These days blogs and newspapers seem to make a daily reference to climate change, resource scarcity and security, the environment and the economy.

(Minitab: State College, Pennsylvania) -- Statistics can be complicated and daunting, but the statistical analysis of data is at the heart of proven business improvement methods such as lean and Six Sigma.

(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- By combining the best of two different distance measurement approaches with a super-accurate technology called an optical frequency comb, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a laser-ranging system that can pinpoint

Editors note: The author submitted this just days before he lost his job. What is ironic about this "rant," as Bruman puts it, is that it was written seven years ago. Do we never learn?

At the beginning of this year, the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) released revision C to AS9100, the quality management system (QMS) standard for the aviation, space, and defense industries.