All Features
Kevin Meyer
I have been immersed in the lean world for more than a quarter century. From the start, when some folks from the Association for Manufacturing Excellence showed me how quick changeover could save my injection-molding operation (and probably my job) from imminent destruction, to now, when I can…
Teofilo Cortizo
The mean time between failures (MTBF) calculation is widely used to evaluate the reliability of parts and equipment. In the industry it is usually defined as one of the key performance indicators. This short article is intended to demonstrate in practice how we can fool ourselves by evaluating this…
Michael Brundage
How do we get smart? I was first asked this question while sitting in on a call with a small manufacturer who supplied parts for automotive manufacturers. With all the buzz around “smart manufacturing,” this manufacturer wanted to join the movement. The problem was that its leaders didn’t know…
Jon Speer
When it comes to making medical devices, quality is key. That’s a concept that nearly every medical device professional agrees with, but what does it mean? Why is quality so important, and how should it be pursued? These are the questions that medtech executives and company stakeholders should be…
Quality Digest
Let’s get this out of the way right up front: You have the best product in your sector of the industry. You know it, your people know it—heck, even your competitors know it in the bottom of their competitive hearts. But do the thousands upon thousands of potential customers across the world know it…
Christopher Shoe
According to a recent LNS Research survey, 37 percent of quality leaders cite an inability to measure quality metrics as their No. 1 barrier to achieving quality goals. Even worse, the survey showed four in five companies have poor visibility into real-time metrics.
These figures highlight a…
Samantha Maragh
I didn’t understand what people were asking me when I was a kid. The question would come in several different forms. Sometimes it was, “What are you?” Other times it was, “Where are you from?” I would answer with things I knew to be true, like, “I’m a girl,” or, “I’m a person,” or, “I’m from…
Mark Rosenthal
The idea of doing the little things consistently over time is a powerful one that we often overlook in our hurry to show a spectacular result this week. We don’t get results from the big action we are taking today. We get results when business-as-usual is getting the little things right the vast…
Pavel Kireyev
Good salespersonship is a species of street smarts. It’s about quickly sizing up your customers and pitching your wares in terms that reverberate with their unspoken needs and desires. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning increasingly intersect with e-commerce, these priceless human…
Ian Chipman, Knowable Magazine
Imagine yourself in your local supermarket, doing your usual grocery run. In aisle after aisle, countless brands vie for your dollars and attention. Colgate, Crest, and Aquafresh toothpaste. Smucker’s, Welch’s, and Dickinson’s strawberry jam. Coke, Pepsi, and RC Cola soft drinks.
Like most…
Alberto Castiglioni
Ensuring the quality of a car’s performance and design, FARO 3D measurement technology solutions provide simple yet accurate ways of taking contact and noncontact measurements for quality control in automobile manufacturing and assembly.
Portable CMMs such as articulated arms can be used for rapid…
Katia Savchuk
Why are some companies more productive than others? And why do certain divisions within those companies perform better than others do? Research has shown that top performers tend to invest more in research and development, adopt better technology, and employ a more educated workforce.
But a new…
Scott Cowen
It was a year ago that our country lost one of its most well-known and respected mavericks in recent political history. After John McCain passed away, many felt that his death left a void that would be hard to fill and wondered whether nonconformist leaders like him, who usually worry more about…
Paige Needling
Amidst a sea of alarming cybersecurity statistics, there’s one that perfectly captures today’s reality. It’s from a 2019 Trend Micro survey, which says: “80 percent of all businesses expect to be hacked this year.” Not “perhaps” or even “likely.” But will be hacked.
And perhaps worse, only 39…
Wiley
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- Sustainable Development Goals (Wiley, 2019) offers practical pathways for achieving and implementing the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Bringing together leaders from the World Bank, the financial and business sectors, the start-up community, and academia…
Fabian Schumann, Jennifer Robison
The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that artificial intelligence (AI) will displace 75 million jobs across the globe by 2022, and that the pace will only continue to increase. A PwC report predicts that 38 percent of jobs in the United States—as well as 30 percent in the United Kingdom, 35…
Jody Muelaner
How would you like to go hands-free, maintain visual focus, and save time? These are just some of the benefits of using voice command to control machinery. Increasingly sophisticated natural language processing, based on artificial intelligence, also means that it is becoming possible to issue…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division will host HxGN LIVE Smart Manufacturing Day on Thurs., Oct. 17, 2019, at its North American headquarters located in Quonset Business Park, North Kingstown, RI. University of Rhode Island (URI…
Bruce Hamilton
Several years ago, I was asked to address a startup meeting at a new client, a large manufacturer of medical devices. The company was resource-rich, but after several years of trying had not yet gained significant traction with its lean efforts.
There were perhaps 40 people in the room, half from…
Maureen Metcalf
Many organizations feel the need to be leaner, faster, stronger, more adaptable, and more profitable. The right toolset to get them to that outcome may not be intuitive or singular.
Building organizational agility is a solid approach to help organizations develop the capacity to perpetually evolve…
Suman Sarkar
Most people attribute business disruption to technology, thinking of the iPhone, 3D printing, robotics, and artificial intelligence. However, technology alone does not cause disruption. The iPhone didn’t succeed because of its technology; it succeeded because it met customer needs better than any…
Steven Brand
The food industry is evolving rapidly, with consumers demanding quality, authenticity, and transparency from food manufacturers. And they’re not just demanding it; they’re “voting with their dollars,” supporting companies that align with their personal beliefs. To keep up with consumer demand—and…
Matt Minner
Across the United States, small and medium-sized manufacturers are contemplating integrating industrial robots into their facilities. There is a growing awareness that increasingly flexible and affordable robotics systems can help existing workers in a variety of different ways, taking on…
Himanshu Singh
The most noteworthy and significant change in data privacy regulation in more than 20 years recently came by way of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU). Being GDPR-compliant has become an important consideration in the way data are stored, handled, and processed…
Nicholas Loyd
Without soil, water, and sunlight, a large, strong oak tree won’t grow. The same concept applies when building lean processes for a small to medium-sized manufacturer. While it’s critical to get every employee on board with lean practices, upper management must lead the way to ensure successful…
