I am by no means a Trekkie. I don’t go to conventions, nor do I have all the episodes memorized and cataloged. I don’t even try and weigh in on Picard vs. Kirk (although I do have some valid points in that debate—another time).

Editor’s note: In the current, sometimes heated, discussion about the relevance of unions, David Schwinn takes a look at their role and the responsibilities of both union members and managers.

Please don’t tell me that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction, however slowly. I hear this from politicians and commentators all the time. It isn’t. Not even close. Key economic metrics offer no encouragement at all.

I want a staff entirely populated by trusted associates; everyone does. But hardly anyone has a staff who functions at that level all the time. At some time, somewhere, someone is unaware—that is to say, they are unconsciously incompetent.

Editor’s note: This topic will be covered at greater length in an IBS-Quality Digest webinar on Tues. Jan. 29, 2013, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern.

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the global advocate for the automation industry, is disappointed in how 60 Minutes portrayed the industry in “March of the Machines” that aired Jan. 13, 2013.

You may have noticed that there is a huge amount of confusion with regards to the process capability indices Cp’s and Pp’s (see the iSixSigma website).

If that title caught your attention, it was meant to. Let me begin by saying I am not advocating that businesses do away with measurements, especially customer- and quality-related measurements.

Got your attention by what seems a bizarre claim?

When you get a cut, blood starts to flow from the wound. But very quickly, complex biochemical processes spring into action, creating a scaffolding of molecules to block the hole, and then building up an impervious clot to staunch the flow.