Content by William A. Levinson
Would You Like Coffee With Your Muda?Starbucks (and others) must avoid mixed messages when it comes to value
Mon, 05/23/2016 - 13:49
Colonel Paul M. A. Linebarger’s authoritative Psychological Warfare (Infantry Journal Press, 1948) defines propaganda as any planned communication with the purpose to influence behavior, but this definition is actually too narrow. Propaganda… Use Virtual Conferencing to Eliminate WasteDigital technology can substantially reduce business travel <em>muda</em>
Tue, 05/03/2016 - 13:18
All process activities can be broken down into one of five categories: waiting, handling and setup, inspection, transportation, and transformation. Of these, only transformation of the product adds value.
A figure in Frederick Winslow Taylor’s… Confidence Intervals for Proportions and Poisson MeansAttribute data are better than no data, but that’s about the best you can say of them
Tue, 04/05/2016 - 00:00
Experiments that might require a handful of real-number measurements (variables data) could need hundreds or more attribute data for comparable power, i.e., the ability to determine whether an experiment improves performance over that of a control… Risk = np, Not pThe more exposures, the closer to near certainty
Mon, 02/29/2016 - 14:26
ISO 9001:2015 has created a new focus on risk with regard to context of the organization and the needs and expectations of interested parties.
The Army Techniques Publication ATP 5-19 Risk Management, by the United States Government, U.S. Army (… Minor Changes, Major ConsequencesEven small differences in components or materials can result in unforeseen problems
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 16:46
My article, “Change and Risk-Based Thinking” describes management of change (MOC) as a safety-related phrase from the chemical process industry. MOC says that anything new, different, or nonroutine (such as repairs, equipment replacement, and… Know Your DistributionDon’t search for a cause when none is present
Mon, 11/30/2015 - 13:33
The Shewhart control chart is relatively insensitive to non-normal distributions, and the worst foreseeable consequences of a wrong decision involve searching for an assignable or special cause when none is present. The economic consequences depend… Don’t Assume a Bell CurveWhat to do when an optimized transformation won’t work
Mon, 10/12/2015 - 13:12
We all know what happens when we assume. For example, traditional designed experiments assume that residuals, the differences between the actual and modeled data, follow the normal distribution (as seen in figure 1). These experiments include t… How Exposure Affects RiskEmbracing ‘can’t rather than don’t’
Mon, 08/24/2015 - 11:26
The requirement for risk-based thinking is among the most significant changes in ISO 9001:2015. Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 5-19, Risk Management is a public domain reference that supports this requirement.
ATP 5-19 includes a risk… The Risk of OmissionRecognizing opportunity cost separates good organizations from great ones
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 12:34
Risk-based thinking, or “actions to address risks and opportunities,” is among the most significant additions to ISO 9001:2015. This provision encompasses what we currently call preventive action, or proactive actions that prevent poor quality… Gideon vs. Disney: Who Would Win?Two perspectives on engagement
Mon, 06/22/2015 - 15:53
Engagement, according to the Mercer report “Engaging Employees to Drive Global Business Success,” is a decisive competitive advantage, “a psychological state in which employees feel a vested interest in the company’s success and are both willing…
