Lean
As manufacturing emerges from a period of contraction, the industry faces more than just empty roles. The average tenure of a manufacturing worker has dropped, but the complexity of the machinery hasn’t. While the industry sees signs of hope, we face a knowledge crisis far more dangerous than…
From blood tests to mammograms, doctors need reliable measurements to make informed decisions about their patients’ health and deliver safe treatments. That’s why the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serves as an important partner to health professionals and their patients…
What does onboarding mean? If you said “onboarding a salesperson” consists of doing the HR paperwork, giving a facility tour, a few days of shadowing existing salespeople, and then expecting the salesperson to hit the ground running, you’re not alone. Entirely too many sales managers feel that…
A few months ago, during separate visits to an emergency department and an urgent care center, I experienced what many patients and clinicians now consider routine: long waits, crowded spaces, and visible strain on staff. It raised a familiar question that I’ve been asking for years: If the…
Freedom is generally defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The license to act as one pleases offers a host of benefits but can also produce consequences that limit your freedom. The same can be said of your manufacturing. The choices…
Capability maturity model integration (CMMI) is a process improvement framework required by many U.S. government contracts. If you’ve been through a CMMI appraisal in aerospace or federal contracting, you know there’s a typical pattern. Things look great on paper. Then the appraisal date gets…