All Features
Phanish Puranam, Agustin Chevez
Flying sharks, waterfalls in the lobby, in-house top chefs, and dogs in the workplace. These are just a few tangible examples of experience design reimagining organizations beyond the traditional scope of organization design.
Organization design is concerned with how to shape interactions among…
L.S. Starrett Co.
(Starrett: Athol, MA) -- The L.S. Starrett Co., a leading global manufacturer of precision measuring tools and gages, metrology systems, and more, has significantly expanded its line of Benchtop Hardness Testers, adding seven Rockwell systems, eight Vickers systems and one Brinell system, a total…
Ryan E. Day
The pressure of global commerce has forced manufacturers to provide higher quality products at lower prices. Investing wisely in industrial inspection solutions has never been more crucial. Quality control, once perceived as a cost-center, has matured into a tool to improve profit margins. “…
Harry Hertz
What are the key attributes and behaviors for a role model, visionary leader? About six years ago, a task force of Baldrige-community senior executives under the leadership of Kathy Herald-Marlowe was charged with drafting a set of senior leader attributes and behaviors consistent with the Baldrige…
Daniel Hess
We all expect hospitals to be open and operating when we need them, but extreme weather events like hurricanes are a strain on resources and pose significant challenges for hospitals.
Closing a hospital is an extreme action, but several hospitals in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina did just…
DNV GL
Workplace safety is a complex issue, addressing everything from rules for operating heavy machinery to guidelines for respecting your fellow employees. For many of these issues we, as a business community, have developed and applied a variety of best practices and global standards—such as ISO 45001…
Paul Foster
When Deloitte wanted to get people excited about employee training, the company decided to adopt a gamification strategy for its online training portal. Using elements like achievement badges, missions, and leaderboards, they achieved a 37-percent increase in participation.
And when Ford Canada…
Sébastien Breteau
Whether it be a move forced by the U.S.-China tariff turmoil, or a sourcing strategy long in the works, the exodus from China is a reality for a host of businesses, from small to medium-sized enterprises to multinationals.
While the departure is widespread, it isn’t universal—some major players,…
Krystle Morrison
From carrying food in from the field, to shipping processed products, to assembling a supermarket display, packaging matters. As a follow-up to our exploration of emerging trends in food packaging, we’re taking a look at several innovative technologies that could change the future of packaging.…
Taryn Davis
You may have a distant memory of Hernán Cortés, that Spanish conquistador, from your eighth-grade world history class. If you don’t, he was known for conquering the Aztec tribes that controlled what is now Mexico. He’s also famous for a somewhat lesser-known story of rallying his men to burn their…
Britta Voss
When you email friends, you don’t have to worry about whether they use Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or some other email provider. You just enter their email address, write your message, and hit send. The reason this works is because there are layers of standardized protocols that all the email clients…
Sharona Hoffman
A career as a physician has traditionally been considered to be among the best vocations that talented students can pursue. That may no longer be the case. All too many doctors report that they are unhappy, frustrated, and even prepared to leave the profession.
That should worry all of us. The…
Jon Speer
Medical device manufacturers must implement and maintain a quality management system to ensure they are producing safe and effective medical devices. Created and maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), standard 13485 outlines the guidelines for medical device quality…
Søren Block Olsen
Manufacturers face constant challenges of rising expectations as customers and regulators demand better quality and greater traceability throughout the supply chain. Exacerbating matters are unpredictable tariffs, which necessitate faster responses to changing trade barriers and regulatory…
Mahr Inc.
(Mahr Inc.: Providence, RI) -- Mahr Inc., a leading provider of dimensional metrology solutions, has introduced the Precimar SM 60, an easy-to-use length measurement instrument for fast and precise external measurements on shop floor parts, with a measuring range of 60 mm.
The SM 60 is…
Donald J. Wheeler
The oldest myth about process behavior charts is the myth that they require “normally distributed data.” If you have ever heard this idea, or if you have ever taught this to others, then you need to read this article.
While this myth dates back to 1935, and while Walter Shewhart exposed this idea…
Bruce Hamilton
A daisy rising from my brick walkway reminded me this morning, that even in the worst environment, there is a chance for growth. But this kind of individual heroism does not portend success for lean transformation. As an organization with the slogan “Everybody Everyday,” GBMP places high value on…
NIMS
(NIMS: Fairfax, VA) -- The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) is pleased to announce that it has launched a new credential to validate an instructor’s or evaluator’s parts inspection skills.
According to Montez King, Executive Director of NIMS, “validating skills has become ever…
Steve Moore
Pickleball is arguably the fastest-growing sport in the United States, especially among baby-boomer retirees. This game is similar to tennis, but is played on a smaller court (44 ft × 20 ft) with a solid paddle and a perforated polymer ball much like a wiffle ball.
Pickleball’s popularity may be…
Jill Barshay, Sasha Aslanian
When Keenan Robinson started college in 2017, he knew the career he wanted. He’d gone to high school in a small town outside Atlanta. His parents had never finished college, and they always encouraged Robinson and his two older siblings to earn degrees. Robinson’s older brother was the first in the…
Ekim Saribardak
Transporting cargo over long distances has always been a logistical nightmare, but when the goods are of a delicate nature, the whole operation becomes significantly more challenging. Perishable foods, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, and other delicate goods all need special treatment during…
Andrew Edman
On factory floors all over the world, 3D printing has quietly moved from a prototyping novelty to an essential tool. Advances in printer technology and material science mean that today’s 3D printed parts are robust enough to hold up to real-world wear and tear, and precise enough for demanding…
Peter Rose
On May 26, 2020, the new European Union Medical Device Regulation (MDR) will finally take effect. By that date, all Class I manufacturers wishing to continue their trading activities within the EU market must have effectively completed the transition from the previous medical device directive and…
Davis Balestracci
As statistical methods become more embedded in everyday organizational quality improvement efforts, I find that a key concept is often woefully misunderstood, if it is even taught at all. W. Edwards Deming distinguished between two types of statistical study, which he called “enumerative” and “…
