I attended a very nice presentation recently by a person who has been leading the lean charge for several years at a major medical center. As he reflected on key elements of his organization’s success, however, he made a statement that set off my hooey detector.

One focus of the regulations implemented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the past several years has been on quality in batch-to-batch production in the pharmaceutical industry.

Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part series. To read part one, “Making the Leap from Manufacturing Manager to Consultant,” click here.

The theme of the recent 2012 Wharton Management Conference, “Changing the Game: Leadership in Crisis,” is an apt one for the auto industry.

Compounding pharmacies, where the creation of a particular pharmaceutical product to fit the unique needs of a patient is done, have enjoyed the protection of their

While an XmR chart is commonly used as a process behavior chart, it may also be used as a test of homogeneity for a finite number of values.

With China’s electronics manufacturing industry developing in leaps and bounds each year, the country has become a hub for this industry. Yet with this ascent comes a multitude of new challenges.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year one in six people becomes sick, more than 127,000 are hospitalized, and about 3,000 die of foodborne illness. The annual economic cost in the United States alone is about $77 billion.

Much of my career has been spent helping manufacturing companies improve their profitability. Although most improvement experts in the world use lean Six Sigma to initiate improvements, it’s been my experience that the element of focus is missing.

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine. He had been treated shabbily by the university for which he worked and was trying to decide what he would do next.