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Quality Digest
There is a lot going on in trade relations between the United States and China recently. Sanctions and threats of sanctions, then sanctions withdrawn. There has also been a great deal of finger pointing and accusations from both sides, all while those most affected by sanctions—you and me—are…
Rob Matheson
The future of transportation in waterway-rich cities such as Amsterdam, Bangkok, and Venice—where canals run alongside and under bustling streets and bridges—may include autonomous boats that ferry goods and people, helping clear up road congestion.
Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and…
Mike Richman
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…
Rip Stauffer
A lot of people in my classes struggle with conditional probability. Don’t feel alone, though. A lot of people get this (and simple probability, for that matter) wrong. If you read Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos (Hill and Wang, 1989), or The Power of Logical Thinking by Marilyn vos Savant (St.…
Dick Wooden
Iran across the book, Successful Human Relations: Principles and practice in business, in the home, in government (Harpercollins, 1952) while browsing older books about relationship development from William J. Reilly, who also wrote The Law of Intelligent Action (Joanna Cotler Books, 1945). His…
Jim Benson
Human beings are good at placing roadblocks to success and building plans that can’t be followed. We tend to fall back on our “common sense” or “snap judgement” which often makes us feel like our cavalier decisions were actually thought out. Yet, time and again, we find ourselves in deadline…
NIST
I n November 2018, in Versailles, France, representatives from 57 countries are expected to make history. They will vote to dramatically transform the international system that underpins global science and trade. This single action will finally realize scientists’ 150-year dream of a measurement…
Bruce Hamilton
Many years ago, the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) introduced a visual measurement device to my factory, referred to as a “production activity log” (PAL), also known to some as an hour-by-hour chart. Posted at the last operation of a particular process, the PAL provided an up-to-the…
Chip Bell
The 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia, won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 35th Academy Awards. Given the current conflicts in the Middle East, I recently watched the four-hour movie to learn more about the cultural history of the area.
Thomas Edward Lawrence (played by Peter O’Toole) was a British…
Olympus
(Olympus: Waltham, MA) -- Olympus announces its LEXT OLS5000 3D laser confocal scanning microscope was recognized by the judges of the annual Laser Focus World Innovators Awards program. The judging panel consisted of senior industry experts who honored the microscope with a Silver award.
The LEXT…
Rob Matheson
The grand prize winner at this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition was an MIT spinout that’s developing a system that captures and recycles vaporized water from thermoelectric power plants. The recycled water can be constantly reused in the plant’s cooling system, saving millions of…
Donald J. Wheeler
Some properties of a probability model are hard to describe in practical terms. The explanation for this rests upon the fact that most probability models will have both visible and invisible portions. Understanding how to work with these two portions can help you to avoid becoming a victim of those…
Bruce Hamilton
Three years ago I wrote an article titled “The Emperor’s New Huddle Boards,” in which I expressed concern about the trappings of improvement without actual improvement. Since then, my concern about the application of leader standard work and gemba walks has deepened as these potentially valuable…
Ira Chaleff
As a leader, which would you rather have from your people: dumb obedience or smart disobedience?
Your answer is probably “neither.” You want smart obedience: people creatively solving problems to get done what you want done. And, if you’re a good leader, most of the time you will have that.
Why…
MIT News
(MIT News: Cambridge, MA) -- Using a machine-learning system known as a deep neural network, MIT researchers have created the first model that can replicate human performance on auditory tasks such as identifying a musical genre.
This model, which consists of many layers of information-processing…
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been developing a novel way of measuring laser power. Their device, called the Radiation Pressure Power Meter (RPPM), makes its measurements using the force exerted by the laser light itself.
The NIST team has now fully…
jeffdewar
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…
Qing Shan Ding
Tensions are escalating between China and the United States over trade. The Chinese government has announced retaliatory measures on a range of U.S. products, including cars and some American agriculture products after the United States listed 1,333 Chinese products to be hit by punitive tariffs of…
Ryan E. Day
With the threat of a trade war between China and the United States looming, business relations between Asia and the West have not been this hot a topic since the Japanese Economic Miracle that was birthed shortly after WW II. Today, it is China’s turn on center stage as its soaring economic growth…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In our May 25, 2018, episode of QDL, we looked at business models, statistics, and a Champion of Quality.
“How Broken Is Your Business Model?”
Nothing focuses the mind like the sight of the gallows.
“Statistical Analysis: The Underpinning of All Things Quality”
Mike and I know next to nothing...…
Mike Richman
In part one of this article, we discussed the origins of the United States and China, and how their relationship began to emerge.
Many people might point to the United States as the ultimate example of a laissez-faire, free market, unfettered capitalist system. Some would also say that China…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In part one we saw that China has made great strides in terms of product quality, notably in the tech sector. But it still has a long way to go in other products. Driven by the growing middle class, who like all middle class buyers want value for their money, and by the Chinese government’s desire…
Ken Voytek
Without manufacturing, the room where you make dinner would be rather stark and barren. There’d be no pots, no pans, no stoves, no spatulas, no appliances—big or small. There’d be no way to prepare the meals that give you and your family sustenance. With no counter, there wouldn’t even be a place…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese products were synonymous with cheaply made. Anyone over the age of 50 probably remembers cheap Japanese transistor radios when they were a kid. We all believed, in the day, that the more transistors a radio had, the better. That wasn’t necessarily true, but try…
Mike Richman
In June of 1950, W. Edwards Deming began offering training to the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) on the precepts of statistical process control.
At almost exactly the same time, Communist North Korea invaded and nearly overwhelmed their southern neighbors, who were immediately…
