All Features
Nikon Metrology NV
(Nikon Metrology NV: Leuven, Belgium) — Nikon Metrology and Magestic Systems Inc. jointly introduce an innovative fabrication solution for increasing production of right-first-time composite parts that harnesses the vast capabilities of both Nikon Metrology’s laser radar technology and Magestic…
David C. Crosby
Is anyone performing total quality management (TQM) anymore? MIL-Q-9858A? Total cost of quality (TCQ)? Pert planning? Are there any one-minute managers around? Pareto? What about “up the organization?” Value analysis? Quality is free? They were all big things—in their day.
We in the quality…
Olympus
(Olympus NDT: Waltham, MA) — Olympus, a provider of nondestructive testing technologies, is pleased to introduce TomoView v. 2.9—the newest software version of the TomoView ultrasonic data acquisition and analysis software suite.
Olympus TomoView is a powerful and versatile software package…
CyberMetrics Corp.
(CyberMetrics: Phoenix) -- CalPro, from Cybermetrics, is a database of complete step-by-step calibration procedures covering more than 60 kinds of measuring devices—everything from gauge blocks to micrometers and calipers. CalPro is an indispensable asset for any calibration department.
Any or…
Stacey Corbin
You just finished your audit, and your registrar has handed you a brand-new certificate. Now, what do you do to make sure everyone knows about it? Most likely you’ll send an e-mail out to the entire company, prepare a press release, post an announcement on your web site, and so on. But sometimes,…
FARO
Mission Support Inc. has pioneered the combination of sheet metal fabrication and modern computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) dimensioning technology for improved production capabilities. They have also been leaders and innovators in the implementation of real-time CAD/…
Michelle LaBrosse
We all have one hiding over there in the groan zone. It’s the unfinished project that lives in a strange sort of limbo. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb reminds us in The Black Swan (Random House, 2007), the longer a project goes unfinished, there is an exponential increase in the time to finish the…
Chet Marchwinski
Ihave had a big smile on my face for much of the last month because I’ve had the opportunity to visit progressive organizations on three continents to look at their efforts to create lean value streams.
Walking through any process, good or bad, seems to put a smile on my face for one of two…
(XPRESS Precision Engineering: Eindhoven, The Netherlands) — XPRESS Precision Engineering B.V. announces its next series of tactile probes: the Heimen series. This range is positioned between ultra precision probes and standard scanning probes. The Heimen series combines the best of both worlds…
TÜV SÜD America
(TÜV SÜD America: Peabody, MA) -- TÜV SÜD America Inc. announces the recent hiring of Eric Ripley to the position of greenhouse gas (GHG) engineer and auditor for its Industry Service’s Carbon Management Division.
His past experience includes carbon offset project development and GHG inventory…
Bosch Rexroth
(Bosch Rexroth: Buchanan, MI) -- Bosch Rexroth and well-known lean manufacturing training organization GBMP have collaborated on three informative new podcasts in the Rexroth lean manufacturing podcast series. In the first podcast, GBMP president, Bruce Hamilton, offers his insight on three…
TÜV Rheinland PTL
(TÜVRheinland: Newtown, CT) — Starting March 21, all medical device manufacturers must comply with the Directive 2007/47/EC or risk being pulled from the European Union market. Medical device manufacturers can learn more about the medical device directive at a half-day seminar hosted by…
LMI Technologies Inc.
(LMI Technologies Inc.: Delta, BC, Canada) — LMI Technologies Inc. (LMI) announces the release of version 4.1 of their HexSight software for high accuracy pattern recognition and metrology. The new HexSight v. 4.1 software adds further support for color image processing and hardware acceleration…
ASQ
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- While Congress debates the best options for reform, a new poll of U.S. health care quality improvement experts shows that solving payment problems and restructuring the malpractice suits/tort reform top the list of areas that would help to eliminate waste. Recent studies…
Denise Robitaille
T
was the night before Christmas and all through the plant
Not a technician was stirring, no quality rants.
Performance charts were pinned to the cork board with care,
In hopes that, their progress, people would share.
The micrometers were nestled, all snug and encased
Protected from…
Jay Arthur—The KnowWare Man
After a meal at a local Chinese restaurant, my fortune cookie said, “If you keep too busy learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade.” When I think about how this applies to Six Sigma, it seems obvious that far too much Six Sigma training is dedicated to the tricks of the…
(Umetrics: Malmö, Sweden) — Umetrics announces the release of version 12 of SIMCA-4000, a state-of-the-art, off-the-shelf, Windows-based software, providing multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) for continuous processes. Whether there are tens, hundreds, or even thousands of incoming…
CMSC
(CMS: Issaquah, WA) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) is sponsoring its 26th annual conference in Reno, Nevada, July 12–16. The conference brings together 3-D measurement system users, developers, manufacturers, and researchers to present and discuss innovative applications, research, and…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has bought a car from a dealership, but according to the recently released J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study, 21 percent of new-car buyers will walk out of dealership because of a negative buying experience at that…
Cathy Sunshine
The only thing worse for companies than making bad decisions is having a deeply flawed decision-making process. Every business leader faces stressful situations that require immediate action, but the final choices can often by tainted by a destructive trio of hubris, arrogance, and denial. …
(CLSI: Wayne, PA) -- Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) recently published new proposed-level guidelines.
“How to Construct and Interpret an Error Grid for Diagnostic Assays”—Proposed Guideline (EP27-P) describes what an error grid is, why it is useful, and how to go about…
Teledyne DALSA
(DALSA, Yokohama, Japan) -- DALSA Corp., a global provider of machine vision technology, recently introduced the Piranha HS 12k 90 kHz camera. This new high-speed model features 12k resolution with a 5.2 µm pixel size, and breakthrough speeds of 90 kHz line rate or 1.2 gigapixels/second. This new…
Eric Clower
The economic downturn has caused heartache, sleepless nights, fatigue, and excessive stress for many people at all levels of most companies this past year. It was no different for me. The company I work for (an aerospace component manufacturing and repair company) started seeing the downturn in…
Michael Raphael
The year 2009 contains two significant anniversaries within the scientific community: the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his groundbreaking book On the Origin of Species. To honor these milestones, the National…
Davis Balestracci
The economy has become a convenient excuse on which to pin the blame for everything—especially job losses. Well, in the case of quality positions, yes… and no.
A sobering thought: Will the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule) inevitably apply to the quality profession? I think so. It’s time to “…
