All Features
Matthew E. May
In 1996, James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones popularized the term “lean thinking.” It was their expression for what they observed studying Toyota’s manufacturing operations: an absence of waste. Today, lean concepts have moved beyond the factory floor to become an organizing set of principles and…
Davis Balestracci
The 24th Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Annual Forum took place on Dec. 9–12, 2012. It is probably the leading health care improvement event in the world. I have presented there for 20 consecutive years and watched it evolve from barely 1,000 attendees to well over 5,000. What’s changed…
Jim Frost
In my last article, “Understanding and Using Discrete Distribution,” we looked at different discrete distributions and how you can use them. This time, I’ll show you how to determine whether your data follow a specific discrete distribution. (Read here to see how to identify the distribution of…
University at Buffalo
Management efforts to reduce cynicism and enhance employee empowerment can have a large effect on employee engagement, according to a study from the University at Buffalo School of Management.
The study, recently published in Organization Science, investigated officer attitudes and organizational…
Mettler-Toledo
(Mettler-Toledo: Columbus, OH) -- Weighing large tanks, vessels, and silos presents safety challenges, and weigh modules can be difficult to install, which takes unnecessary time and adds costs. Mettler-Toledo has introduced a new 100 Ton PinMount weigh module that offers manufacturers an…
Paul Naysmith
This is a true exposé from Santa’s mega-factory at the North Pole. The information, apparently smuggled out in a series of notes rolled into scrolls and tucked deep inside elf shoes, was found floating in the open stretches of water known as the North Pole Passage. You may not be aware that elf…
Matthew E. May
All I want for Christmas is a meaningful measurement. I’m tired of “technical specifications” that have no real-world application. I’m fatigued by acronyms and jargon that I can only imagine have evil engineers and masochistic technical writers in dark rooms giggling with glee (mwah-ha-ha-ha style…
Minitab LLC
If you’re in line for a coffee at the local Starbucks, analysis conducted by graduate students at Rutgers University suggests that the probability of waiting more than five minutes for your tall, hot, three-pump, sugar-free vanilla, one-pump mocha, half-soy, half-nonfat latte with whip is very high…
Davis Balestracci
Previously I discussed three common cause strategies (links below) that help to expose all existing, underlying special causes of variation. They also provide necessary insight into how the current process came to be and allow construction of a baseline for assessing the effects of an intervention…
Carl Zeiss Microscopy
Much has been said about American students falling behind in science; minority students in particular are under-represented and tend to choose other career options. One doctor and research scientist with a longstanding interest in education and training was determined to change this pattern. He has…
Bill Kalmar
Over the Thanksgiving holiday the Microsoft Word program on my laptop went kaput. I was unable to open any previous columns I had written, so I couldn’t write any new scintillating, informative columns for Quality Digest Daily that readers have become accustomed to. (OK, the laughing can stop now…
William A. Levinson
Henry Ford would have fired for incompetence any manager who tried to move jobs offshore for cheap labor. He believed—and more important, proved—that intelligent management can make most jobs sufficiently value-adding to justify high wages for American workers. If he was alive today, however,…
ITAMCO
(ITAMCO: Plymouth, IN) -- Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies (ITAMCO) has released the iBlue, the first handheld bluetooth transmitter that gathers crucial production data and sends it to Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, tablets, and computers. The iBlue replaces several tools, including…
FDA
An important message came through loud and clear during the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) whirlwind visit to China this month: China is determined to strengthen its food safety system.
I had not visited China in nearly 10 years and I was struck by the extraordinary progress in the cities we…
Jim Clifton
The four following anecdotes carry a similar message. They should seriously alarm city, state, and country leaders everywhere.
A CEO of a multibillion-dollar California company, and lifelong resident of the Golden State, told me at a dinner that he was moving his business from California to the…
Joel Smith
I have a birthday coming up and wanted to share a wealth of statistics about birthdays that you may find entertaining. First is the “birthday problem.” Some of you probably encountered this one in a statistics class at some point.
The birthday problem is: How many people would need to be in a room…
Matthew Littlefield
Although best practices and management systems behind quality management have remained consistent for decades, the systems and solutions used to ensure the production and delivery of high-quality products and processes have changed drastically. Systems that once seemed ideal have become obsolete…
Instron
(Instron: Norwood, MA) -- Instron, a leading provider of testing equipment solutions designed to evaluate mechanical properties of materials and components, has introduced TrendTracker, a software package for managing and analyzing test results for Bluehill 3 Materials Testing Software.…
George Anastasopoulos
In July 2008, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed to provide a legal framework that creates one monopoly in each member state of the European Union (EU) for the provision of accreditation services across Europe.
This action could be understood (but even then that’s…
Mike Roberts
Many companies struggle with the best way to think about and incorporate the cost of quality into operations. In this post we’ll examine some recent research highlighting how many companies fail to use reductions in the cost of quality as a driver for competitive advantage and revenue growth.…
Umberto Tunesi
Despite the efforts and misfortunes of Copernicus, Galileo, and other famous astronomers to convince us that the world is not the center of the universe, the quality “solar system” remains stubbornly geocentric—that is, top-management-centric.
I don’t mean this is necessarily bad, but it does…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Ron Behrens, an old friend and colleague, recently replied to my invitation to share examples of the intelligent use of statistics, such as that used in our Six Sigma projects. I asked for stories, some data, and some statistical analyses. With his response, he noted that I had probably already…
Alan’s Apothegms with Alan L. Austin
I’ve had a varied and interesting career, having lived and worked in the Middle East and West Africa. Specifically, we were in northern Nigeria, a region that suffers from corruption and poverty and the ever-present threat of violence from criminals and terrorists alike. I still check the online…
Patrick Stone
It’s clear that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should have more compounding pharmacy oversight, but how long will it take them to make other important decisions on public health?
The recent news is troubling.
For example, a shipment of tainted steroid from a Massachusetts-based compounding…
Kyle Toppazzini
In lean Six Sigma, the concept of voice of the customer (VOC) is paramount. VOC takes into account the customer’s wants and needs. But I believe this concept falls short in taking into account the wants, needs, and concerns of all aspects of an enterprise. We may not get the support we need to be…
