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(Configit: Copehhagen) -- Configit, the global leader in configuration life-cycle management (CLM), has introduced enhanced versions of its Configit Ace and Configit Quote solutions to make CLM integration easier, faster, and more efficient for manufacturers worldwide.
One of the biggest barriers…
Quality Digest
(Patti Engineering: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Patti Engineering Inc., a leader in control systems integration, announces it has passed an intensive audit to successfully renew the company’s Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA) Certification for a seventh consecutive time as required every…
Quality Digest
(AW-Lake: Oak Creek, WI) -- AW-Lake Company introduces a Water Inline (WIN) Ultrasonic Flow Meter for highly accurate and reliable flow measurement of cooling water, condensing water, and water/glycol solutions. Designed for process cooling applications including industrial cooling circuits, the…

David Gillum, Kathleen Vogel, Rebecca Moritz
The origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains a mystery. One theory is that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was transmitted from animals to humans—a fairly common occurrence. Another is that it came from a laboratory accident—a more infrequent circumstance.
Around the world, scientists conduct many kinds…

The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
The other day I heartily congratulated a friend on her job promotion. She replied, “What if they made a mistake? What if I’m not really qualified, and it’s the Peter Principle in effect—that I’ve risen to the level of my incompetence?”
“You’re totally qualified,” I responded, “They wouldn’t have…

Nate Burke
With the rise of online shopping continuing to increase, thanks to the convenience and comfort of shopping from home, it's important for e-commerce businesses to look to their returns policy to ensure they’re not only catering to the tech-savvy, modern consumer, but also the environmentally…
Quality Digest
(Sandvik Coromant: Sandviken, Sweden) -- Leader in metal cutting, Sandvik Coromant, has launched CoroCut QI, a range of internal and face grooving inserts designed for smaller diameters. Optimized to enable a lighter cutting action and reduced cutting forces, CoroCut QI ensures high process…
Quality Digest
(Thomson Industries: Wood Dale, IL) -- Thomson Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of linear motion control solutions, has added a real-time special machining configuration capability to its online shaft selector tool. The new functionality enables customers to reduce the time spent in…
(ThermHex: Chicago) -- Leading industry players ThermHex and Fraunhofer will open their doors for experts in the field of composite sandwich materials to discuss and explore the latest developments and applications in the construction and use of sandwich materials. Europe’s composite sandwich-…
(Brunson Instrument Co.: Kansas City, MO) -- Brunson Instrument Co., a leading producer of large-scale, industrial metrology equipment for aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, and other high-precision measurement applications, announces the selection of Chris Klope as president.
In his new…

Angus Robertson, Ahmet Abaci, Beth Somplatsky-Martori
Often, there’s a razor-thin margin between success and failure. Not long ago, Gillette—which dominated the $3.5 billion market for razors and accessories for longer than a century—was challenged by a little upstart called Dollar Shave Club, which had just starred in its first commercial for a…

Rachel Gordon
First published Nov. 5, 2021, on MIT CSAIL News.
At just 1 year old, a baby is more dexterous than a robot. Sure, machines can do more than just pick up and put down objects, but we’re not quite there as far as replicating a natural pull toward exploratory or sophisticated dexterous manipulation…
(LRQA: London) -- LRQA, a leading global assurance provider, has unveiled its new brand identity following the announcement earlier this year that the Business Assurance and Inspection Services division of Lloyd’s Register (LR) is being sold to funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.…
(NordLocker: Panama) -- Manufacturing is the No. 2 industry hit by ransomware, according to the new desk research by NordLocker. An analysis of 1,200 companies hit by cyber extortion between 2020 and 2021 revealed those parts of the market where ransomware is the most widespread.
NordLocker’s…
(DigiLEAN: Sandnes, Norway) DigiLEAN AS has beed awarded the contract from Kavli to deliver digital visual-management performance dashboards.
The performance boards will be rolled out to their factories in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom. The contract also includes data…
Quality Digest
(AMETEK: Keene, NH) -- AMETEK Precitech, your global leader in precision diamond turning products, introduces the new Freeform X single point, diamond turning machine. The Freeform X, a five-axis ultra-precision diamond turning lathe, is based on the company’s highly successful Nanoform X and…

Clare Naden
The world’s leading standards bodies have issued a joint declaration calling on all countries to recognize, support and adopt international standards in order to contribute directly to the three pillars of the Italian G20 presidency: People, Planet and Prosperity.
The declaration was part of the…

William A. Levinson
Shigeo Shingo was able to summarize entire concepts in single phrases, such as “paint parts, not air.” This meant that paint which misses parts in a spray booth constitutes wasted material and also an environmental aspect. “Ship product, not air” defines similarly empty space in packaging as wasted…

Maureen Metcalf
Many organizations feel the need to be leaner, faster, stronger, more adaptable, and more profitable. The right tool set 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…
(Drishti: Mountain View: CA) -- New data released today from a survey conducted by Drishti underscores the pervasive industry sentiment that people make manufacturing operations more adaptable than machines. In fact, 73 percent of the 400 senior manufacturing executives surveyed agreed with the…

Jeff Dewar
There are many endangered industries today, and publishing is certainly among them. In 2009 we didn’t know if we would survive the monumental changes that had torn through all areas of the publishing world.
W. Edwards Deming once said to me during an interview, “Pray that your competitors are…

Scott Paton
It seems like yesterday that I walked into 1425 Vista Way in Red Bluff, California, to begin what I thought was a part-time data-entry job that was supposed to last just a few weeks. Instead, I ended up working for Quality Digest for 21 years; made lifelong friends; became a journalist, writer,…

W. Edwards Deming
Editor’s note: The following is from a transcript of a forgotten speech given in Tokyo in 1978 by W. Edwards Deming for the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). Because the original was a poor photocopy, there are small portions of text that could not be transcribed. Transcript…

Taran March @ Quality Digest
In publishing, anniversary issues sit in the ambiguous space between news and marketing. News because, at 40 years and counting, it’s not every magazine that makes it to middle age in these times. Marketing because it’s all a bit brash, like asking for presents on your birthday.
However, it’s worth…

Quality Digest
As part of QD’s 40th anniversary hoopla, we wanted to hear from those in the quality field. Tribal knowledge is real and valuable. What you’ve learned as a quality professional can help others starting out in the field. Here are words of wisdom from readers respresenting a diverse array of…