All Features
Bill Kalmar
Many of us will look back on 2008 as the year when gas prices soared to unbelievable highs and our 401ks dropped to unbelievable lows. A key measure of consumer confidence fell to an all-time low in December and a dismal job market and uncertain outlook for 2009 did little to settle our nerves. In…
Second only to leadership, strategic planning has been likely more written about than any other management subject.
In studying leadership, we seek to learn the emotional characteristics that define a successful entrepreneur. What makes Bill Gates or Jack Welch succeed when so many CEOs…
(TBM Consulting Group: Durham, North Carolina) -- While general cost pressures continue to be the main challenge for manufacturers globally, rising energy costs have reached a new level of concern according to TBM Consulting Group’s sixth annual “Multinational Manufacturing Pulse.” The study…
(Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis: United Kingdom) -- In an effort to investigate the effect of different mechanical architecture options, developers used FloTHERM thermal simulation software to develop a new mechanical design for the Philips Aurea 42-inch LCD television. Thermal simulation at…
Thomas R. Cutler
Respecting a quality manager’s opinion is meaningless unless there’s enterprisewide buy-in to ideas and quality initiatives. Rarely do the individuals serving on a lean initiative, continued process-improvement team learn the scientifically proven communication techniques that will persuade others…
George Rodrigues
Liquid delivery is a common laboratory process and this critical function is often overlooked. As a result, routine research and test results can be in error based on a simple misunderstanding or misapplication of liquid delivery instruments. This article focuses on defining and exploring accuracy…
(FDA: Rockville, Maryland) -- To protect domestic and imported food from contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched its Food Protection Plan in 2007. Now, the FDA has issued “The One-Year Summary of Progress under the Food Protection Plan,” which describes FDA’s…
(Drug Information Association: Horsham, Pennsylvania) -- The Drug Information Association (DIA) will host its eighth annual DIA Conference for Contemporary Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management Strategies, January 11–15 in Washington, D.C. This annual event addresses current complexities and…
Barry Johnson
The cost of doing business is rising dramatically. Included in this is the cost to recruit and hire talent to join your team. It’s estimated that the total cost of one hire can exceed $30,000 when relocation and set-up expenses are included. That cost is minimal compared to the lost opportunity…
Steven Ouellette
What purpose, if any, does Six Sigma serve in economic downturns? Full disclosure: I teach and consult in Six Sigma and related areas, and you’re reading this article because you’re interested in Six Sigma, so we may not be the most objective people to assess this, but in this article, I will do…
(Transplace: Frisco, Texas) -- Eliminating waste and simplifying processes is even more important now with the uncertain economy and constant pressures to lower costs. As companies deal with tightening budgets, volatile fuel prices, and other transportation constraints, lean Six Sigma provides the…
(Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute: Atlanta) -- Georgia rural hospitals that face growing financial pressures are receiving assistance from a new Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) pilot project that is helping them improve processes and reduce waste. Supported by the…
Frank Gray
In sports, it's always the fundamentals that your coaches emphasize, like the techniques that you first learn when you’re starting to play baseball—how to hold the ball properly, how to stand and hold a bat, or how to field a grounder. The basics about the sport, if performed perfectly, yield a…
Thomas R. Cutler
When every product manufactured is unique, clients often accept quality risks in order to deliver the project on time. Testing time is limited by the project nature of a manufacturing process and the metrics of quality change when compared to repetitive manufacturing. “Fixed delivery times,…
Bill Kalmar
As we move into the frenzy of the holiday shopping season, most of us will have encounters with shopping center store personnel and restaurant staff. Stores and restaurants will be filled with people looking for that perfect gift, then quickly digesting a meal to be prepared for another crazed…
(Joint Commission: Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois) -- According to a recent report, Joint Commission-accredited hospitals in the United States have steadily improved the quality of patient care during a six-year period, saving lives and improving the health of thousands of patients. “Improving America…
(ANSI: Washington) -- December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month, and many people have started to prepare for the holiday season by purchasing toys for the children in their lives. Whether high-tech or old-fashioned, all sorts of play things are covered by a set of international standards developed…
CMSC
(Leica Geosystems: Miamisburg, Ohio) -- Leica Geosystems, a Hexagon company, has announced that field measurement results have culminated in the highest-distance accuracies of any Leica laser tracker in the company’s history. This new line of Leica laser trackers introduces a distance accuracy…
CMSC
(InnovMetric Software Inc.: Quebec City, Canada) -- InnovMetric Software Inc., a leading supplier of 3-D metrology solutions for engineering and manufacturing, demonstrated a pre-release version of PolyWorks V11 at EuroMold 2008, a trade fair held from December 3–6 in Frankfurt, Germany. PolyWorks…
CMSC
(Geomagic: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) -- Geomagic announces a new version of Geomagic Studio software that adds powerful new surface manipulation capabilities to its award-winning Fashion module while improving performance for point- and polygon-processing tools. Geomagic Studio is…
CMSC
(Geodetic Systems Inc.: Melbourne, Florida) -- GSI will host its 2009 user group meeting from January 21–23, 2009 at the completely refurbished Crowne Plaza Oceanfront Resort and Spa Hotel in Melbourne, Florida. This customer-only event will feature user and GSI presentations, along with the very…
CMSC
(Delcam International Inc.: Windsor, Ontario, Canada) -- Inspection with PowerINSPECT is helping J.P. Pattern, a machining and pattern-making shop, with its contribution towards building machines that the contractor, the Auburn University Engineering Department Fusion Laboratory, hope will…
CMSC
Scanning the Mona Lisa with the NRC-IIT 3-D scanner
For 500 years, she’s been the source of endless real and fictional mysteries, from the magic of her eyes—always seeming to follow the viewer—and the enigma of her smile, to The Da Vinci Code.
Now, using…
Robert Clem
Greetings from your new Chairperson! It’s my pleasure to lead the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) into a new year. 2009 is an exciting time for CMS, as this year marks the 25th anniversary of our annual conference, the Coordinate Metrology Society Conference, better known as CMSC. This…
In just the past two years, the functionality of portable computer-aided metrology system (CAMS) in harsh factory environments has improved a great deal. A few examples of today’s improved instrumentation/measurement technology are laser trackers, digital photogrammetry systems, laser radars,…
