Technological innovations on all fronts are evolving quickly and are developed, manufactured, and sold worldwide in aerospace, medical device, communications, automotive, and many other industry segments. It’s hard to keep up with these breakthroughs because they are growing exponentially. But despite all the technological innovations, one critical issue has persisted since the first industrial revolution during the mid-1800s: the engineering, manufacturing, and quality “interpretation” by companies’ suppliers, whether internal or external.

Whoever coined the phrase “it’s a small world” clearly doesn’t work in supply chain management. The earth maintains a relatively constant size of roughly 196,900,000 square miles of surface area, but in the last decade or so, the scope and complexity of global supply chains have expanded exponentially.

MELD Manufacturing has commercialized a metal production process that promises to enable 3D printing to carve out a greater role in the manufacturing sector.

In our July 6, 2018, episode of QDL, we discuss distributed manufacturing, and distributed management.

“Brother Moonshine, Sister Solution”

If want to spur innovation, try moonshine.

Business partnerships are nothing new. Partnerships that result in leaner manufacturing processes, more consistent quality, and lower manufacturing costs—that is worth talking about.

Quality management systems (QMS) have become strategic components that touch more and more of the business today. With new versions of QMS standards, and the enrollment of all people in the quality management effort, the need for cohesion from one system to the next is becoming critical.  

The digital age is well underway, and that accounts for every aspect of business. A 2016 Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey says that companies that digitally transform their supply chains will be leaders in their industries.

During the June 1, 2018, episode of QDL, we presented a special look at the parameters of relations between the United States and China, from the shifting perspectives of culture, trade, and history. Dirk and I, along with Quality Digest CEO Jeff Dewar, offered up our thoughts on what it all means to those of us in the world of quality.

“Made in China: From Scary Bad to Scary Good”

What a week. On April 30, 2018, there were top-level delegations from two disciplines: In Beijing the Chinese hosted a cabinet-level delegation of U.S. trade representatives; and in Seattle, the ASQ hosted the Sino-U.S. Quality Summit, the first of its global summit series as part of its annual World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI).