All Features
H. James Harrington
In October 2011, I attended the 3rd Business Excellence Global Conference and the 17th Asia Pacific Quality Conference held at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. One of the highlights of the conference was the awards banquet held on October 17, where the Global Performance Excellence Awards (…
MIT News
When Microsoft’s Kinect—a device that lets Xbox users control games with physical gestures—hit the market, computer scientists immediately began hacking it. At MIT alone, researchers have used the Kinect to create a Minority Report-style computer interface, a navigation system for miniature robotic…
Matthew Littlefield
Manufacturing is now a global game. The United States is still the world’s largest manufacturer but is no longer the engine for growth it once was. China, Brazil, Australia, India, Singapore, and other countries are building new facilities at a breakneck pace.
This growth is also no longer limited…
Cognex Corp.
(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp. announces the DataMan 300, its most advanced fixed-mount industrial ID reader ever created. The DataMan 300 is designed to handle the most difficult ID code-reading applications on even the highest speed lines. These new readers dramatically increase bar code…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
During a recent holiday debriefing with a friend, I learned that a colleague of hers was feeling guilty because she and her husband were unable to afford an iPad for their daughter. Nodding and sipping tea, I was vaguely sympathizing while trying on the idea of buying a macaroon from the bakery…
Teledyne DALSA
(Teledyne DALSA: Billerica, MA) -- Active Inspection (AI), based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designs vision systems for machine builders to incorporate into printing presses, packaging machines, and other web and sheet-fed or form machines. Whether the goal is to reduce waste, ensure consistency,…
Bruce Hamilton
Some time ago, while speaking at a conference in the land down under, I was taken to task by a participant for suggesting, “5S is usually the first improvement” in lean implementation. I had carelessly adopted this posture because, as a consultant, I had found that workplace organization was…
Newport Corp.
(Newport: Irvine, CA) -- Newport Corp., a global leader in lasers and photonics solutions that make, manage, and measure light, has developed the OptoFlash, a miniature, multichannel, spectrometer engine for applications requiring the detection of light energy at multiple wavelengths.
This…
NSF International
(NSF: Ann Arbor, MI) -- NSF-DBA, an NSF International Health Sciences company providing training, consulting, and auditing for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, has acquired UK-based medical-device training and consulting company, Pink Associates, with the company’s managing…
Gartner
(Gartner: Stamford, CT) -- By 2014, fewer than 30 percent of business intelligence (BI) initiatives will align analytics completely with enterprise business drivers, despite alignment being the foremost BI challenge, according to Gartner Inc. Cloud offerings will account for just 3 percent of BI…
Thomson Reuters
(Thomson Reuters: New York) -- In recognition of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, Thomson Reuters published a research report analyzing The Changing Role of Chemistry in Drug Discovery. By tracking pharmaceutical industry data during the last decade along with insights from industry…
ISO
(ISO: Geneva) -- As vehicles become more complex, with new features like driver assistance systems or electronic-based functions, it is more important than ever to identify potential risks of software and hardware failures whose consequences could be fatal. For this purpose, the International…
The QA Pharm
Like anyone else, when I plan for the new year, I need to set aside time for reflection and anticipation. I look back and ask, “Have I made a difference in anyone’s life?” I look forward and ask, “What do I want to change that I either have control over or can influence?” For people working in the…
Laser Design Inc.
Inspired by the popularity of up-close recreational experiences in the land of 10,000 lakes, a Minnesota company has figured out how to design and manufacture a unique line of small, electrically powered watercraft. However, the company had a manufacturing problem: The small fiberglass boat was…
William A. Levinson
I recently returned a pair of $28 (suggested retail price) Chinese-made gloves I bought for $7.97 the day after Christmas, which is when I do all my Christmas shopping. The reason I returned the gloves was because a seam had begun to come apart less than three weeks after I bought them. This…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- WESTEC, the premiere manufacturing biennial event for the Western United States, has announced that renowned innovation expert and business leader Tom Kelley will deliver the keynote on March 27, 2012.
Kelley is the general manager of IDEO, the design and development firm…
Juran
(Juran Institute: Southbury, CT) -- Juran’s Upgrade to Black Belt Workshop is now being offered in Washington, D.C. beginning Feb. 28, 2012. These eight days of training will consist of two, four-day training sessions spanning approximately two weeks. Participants will become technical experts for…
The Benchmarking Exchange TBE
(TBE: Aptos, CA) -- The popular online Self-Assessment for Business Excellence from The Benchmarking Exchange (TBE)—an online resource dedicated to the practice of benchmarking, reengineering, and process and quality improvement—has now been placed in public service for you to use for identifying…
TÜV SÜD America
(TÜV SÜD: Peabody, MA) -- TÜV SÜD America has added Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering (CPRE) examinations to its personal certification services in the Americas region through TÜV SÜD Examination Institute.
Requirements engineering is regarded as the ultimate discipline to make…
Verisurf Software Inc.
(Verisurf: Anaheim, CA) -- Verisurf Software Inc., a leading supplier of advanced 3-D measurement solutions to manufacturers worldwide, has expanded into new corporate headquarters that includes a metrology training center.
Verisurf’s consistent growth is due to increasing implementation of…
Wiley
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- With less than 50 percent of middle market U.S. companies succeeding at going global, corporate executives need to know how to build effective global execution platforms that will allow their organizations to thrive in a global economy. Filled with case studies and…
Brian Gudauskas, Shaun Wissner
A Quality Digest reader wrote in asking for techniques to evaluate touch-trigger probes for accuracy. Specifically, he asked how someone can evaluate touch probes and magnetic modules for wear, or to determine if they have been damaged as the result of a collision or being dropped. He wanted to be…
Jason W. Womack
Although you were energized and excited about jumping into 2012, the 20+ tasks added to your to-do list and an inbox full of e-mails begging for an immediate response sidetracked you into feeling overwhelmed and incapable of getting everything done. Will 2012 become another year of wishing things…
NIST
With a random-looking spatter of paint specks, a pair of cameras, and a whole lot of computer processing, engineer Mark Iadicola of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been helping the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in cooperation with the American Association of…
Tom Pyzdek
One of the cornerstones of quality and lean Six Sigma is data: “We insist on it.” “Don’t tell us what you think the situation is; let the data do the talking.” “In God we trust—all others bring data.” You get the idea.
An unfortunate side effect of this emphasis is the proliferation of useless…
