All Features
NIST
NIST scientists have devised and modeled a unique optical method of sorting microscopic and nanoscopic particles by size, with a resolution as fine as 1 nm for particles of similar composition.
A stream of particles of various sizes enters the system at a single point, but the particles exit the…
Greg Anderson
Government and commercial insurers are transforming payment systems from a fee-for-service reimbursement model to arrangements that include incentives for quality, outcomes, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced cost.
In the fee-for-service environment, hospitals, physicians, and other…
It’s no surprise to many consumers that some retailers and brands think that packaging—although necessary—isn’t really something to invest a lot of time, money, or effort in.
Consider the box. Many would look at it as an inconsequential container. It’s the thing you must rip, cut, tear, or…
Brooke Pierce
Think back to your last car, truck, or SUV purchase. What did you want to know before spending so much money?
More than likely, you first wanted to know the price range of the type of car you were considering. You might have also wanted to know what features were standard on the various makes and…
(PCE Instruments: Jupiter, FL) -- The manufacturer and supplier of high-quality measurement technology, PCE Instruments, has done a lot recently to increase their product portfolio by including some highly professional borescopes. The former PCE-VE series of industrial inspection cameras has been…
Exact
(Exact: Bloomington, MN) -- Exact, developer of business software in the cloud for small- and medium-sized businesses, has introduced the Smart Shop Floor app for Exact for Manufacturing, a cloud-based application for factory operators and workers to efficiently retrieve job data, track time and…
Swapnil Srivastav
Mandatory reporting requirements for regulations such as Europe’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) legislation have increased the focus on environmental compliance and ethical sourcing across the globe.…
Eston Martz
A recent post at Ben Orlin’s always amusing mathwithbaddrawings.com blog nicely encapsulates why so many people feel wary about anything related to statistics and data analysis. Take a moment to check it out; it’s a fast read.
In all the scenarios Orlin offers in his post, the statistical…
Jim Benson
Prioritization is stressful. We find ourselves prematurely making value decisions about what to pull and when (right now!).
Recently a client asked, “How can I prioritize my work when there is no clear priority? Everything seems equally important.”
This is a deeper issue than simply being…
I thought the job of a leader was to be directive, i.e., to tell your staff what to do. I loved my staff. I wanted the very best for them. I wanted to do everything I could to help them win. My strategy for their development as leaders was for them to hang around me. I frequently said, “A lot more…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Car buyer satisfaction rebounded as domestic and mass-market brands improved, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Customer satisfaction with automobiles is up 3.8 percent to a score of 82 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. Luxury cars have…
Ironically, when managers think they have all the answers, strategy can turn into fantasy. Many organizations have an obsession with certainty, a must-know attitude to strategic initiatives. Senior managers often demand teams put forward plans that give the feeling everyone knows exactly how an…
Donald J. Wheeler
The question “Is this batch like the others?” is asked all over the world on a daily basis. It turns out that the process behavior chart provides a very effective answer for questions about the homogeneity of the product stream.
In World War II, Gen. Leslie Simon used the process behavior chart…
Scott A. Hindle
A t the end of part three of this four-part series on process capability, Alan was ready to identify a contact at the factory who could assist in providing some context around the collected data and the overall production process.
Discussion with Joe
Joe, working on the production team, was the…
InfinityQS
What do you feel when you imagine your next regulatory audit? Stress? Anxiety? Overwhelming dread? The average recall can cost a manufacturer as much as $10 million, making compliance important to your brand as well as your bottom line.
As you manage the daily ins and outs of your quality…
ISO
(ISO: Geneva) -- Procurement makes up a substantial budget of any organization, so wouldn’t the world be a better place if it was done in a sustainable way? A new standard in development aims to help organizations do just that, and it has now reached one of the final stages in its development.
A…
Annette Franz
Last month, I wrote about the concept of lean management and what that means not only for your company but also for your customers.
If company leadership wants to transform the culture of the organization and become a lean company, they’ve first got to understand what comprises lean leadership,…
Morten Bennedsen
In January 2009, when Toyota’s supervisory board named Akio Toyoda president of Toyota Motor Co., the multinational car manufacturer was in crisis. After 14 years of strong sales and record profits, Toyota had found itself at the center of a perfect storm.
Oil prices were spiking, sending the…
Scott A. Hindle
Part two of this four-part series on process capability concluded with Alan just about to meet Sarah for a second time. He thought he was making good progress with his analysis of Product 874 data until he was asked to assess process capability, even though it can’t be assessed for an unstable…
James Warren
Creating a new material has long been either an accident or a matter of trial and error. Steel, for instance, was developed over hundreds of years by people who didn’t know why what they were doing worked (or didn’t work). Generations of blacksmiths observed that iron forged in charcoal was…
British Assessment Bureau BAB
There are hundreds of security breaches that happen every day but in the end, they fall into three main groups: malicious, intentional, or criminal; system glitches; and human error.
The IBM “2015 Cost of Security Breach Survey” conducted by Ponemon Research, catalogs 49 percent of the breaches…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The judges panel for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) chose 15 organizations to proceed to Site Visit Review, the final stage of the evaluation process for the nation’s highest award for organizational performance excellence.
The judges met this…
John Maxwell
Have you ever considered the time investment required of some of the world’s greatest achievements?
• It took 26 months to build the Eiffel Tower. • It took Da Vinci four years to paint the Mona Lisa. • It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. • It took Leo…
Scott A. Hindle
In part one of this four-part series, we considered the basics of process capability, as witnessed through the learning curve of Alan in his quest to determine the product characteristics of the powder, Product 874. We pick up with Alan here as he prepares for his second meeting with his colleague…
(Control Micro Systems: Orlando, FL) -- Control Micro Systems has recently participated in several collaborative laser material processing R&D projects with industry-leading clients in the aerospace, medical and consumer sectors.
In response to growing joint-venture opportunities with…