I’ve had the privilege of using laser trackers on many applications. One of the most interesting and rewarding applications is their use on machine tool calibrations.

In 1985, when I transferred to an operations role, I inherited a production-only suggestion program. I recall that we received 16 ideas that year, of which one was awarded $1,600 calculated as a percentage of one year’s savings.

A readily portable miniature microscope weighing less than 2 grams and tiny enough to balance on your fingertip has been developed by Stanford University researchers.

As of 2008, the war for good jobs has trumped all other leadership activities because it’s been both the cause and the effect of everything else that countries have experienced. This will become even more real in the future as global competition intensifies.

The nonprofit Reshoring Initiative enables U.S.

Recently, I was working with a committee of leaders, support staff, and line personnel interested in encouraging and soliciting suggestions from their firefighters in an effort to improve their operations and service.

Jürgen Tautz is the founder of the BEEgroup, a research entity at the University of Würzburg in Germany that is studying ways to keep bee populations healthy.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has become an indispensable tool that allows manufacturers to see information about assets in real time. Applications built around RFID help report immediate deviations and exceptions to any process.

T he annual IBM survey of the daily commute in a cross-section of some of the most economically important international cities reveals a startling dichotomy: While the commute has become a lot more bearable during the past year, drivers’ complaints have spiked.

Six Sigma, a data-driven method for improving business and quality performance, has been published as a two-part standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).