During the last decade, product quality has become increasingly important to consumers.

‘I can handle when they talk back to me,” the HR director said. “But when they roll their eyes, it just gets under my skin.”

Understanding the causes of faults and defects, and then improving the system or process so it won’t happen again, is central to lean manufacturing.

It’s generally accepted that large organizations, for a host of structural and cultural reasons, are at a disadvantage when it comes to innovation. Less agreed upon is why their employees outside of R&D should care.

Legislative support is growing for the reimbursement of care delivery via telemedicine.

‘Lean” is such a convenient term; everyone uses it based on their own definition. People frequently use “lean” in place of “efficiency,” probably because it sounds more cool. Another round of cost cutting? Sure, let’s tell everyone we’re “going lean,” again.

Whether we’re talking to a front-line operator, a plant manager, or CEO, people’s reactions to being assigned a new recurring task are remarkably similar: “Oh great—more to do.” Sound familiar?

MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves—with no electricity needed.

In 1989, I was handed a copy of ISO 9001:1987 by my employer with the direction to find out what it was all about. Our company was headquartered in Europe, and we would be compelled to implement the standard straightaway.

One of the greatest responsibilities of leadership is driving continual evolution of the organization toward a well-defined future state. Implied in this role is the need to lead change. Easily said, complex in practice.