All Features
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest
“What makes a personal kanban any better than a to-do list?” asked Julie, crossing out a completed task on her “ta da!” list with exaggerated strokes.
“With personal kanban you visualize your work, it becomes tangible, you get kinesthetic feedback, it’s flexible, contextual, and it promotes…
The QA Pharm
A March 30, 2011, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Warning Letter to Ningbo Smart Pharmaceutical Co. revealed that it had reported conformance to specifications on certificates of analysis, when in fact no testing was done—among other issues.
The FDA rather understatedly informed Ningbo Smart, “…
Bruce Hamilton
Gary was a talented, creative welder with an idea that made perfect sense to him but was not supported by conventional measures. Gary was determined to implement his idea and pressed for a closer evaluation by his supervisor when the idea was not immediately accepted. This was Gary’s idea:
A…
Joelle K. Jay
High achievers, go-getters, type-A personalities—whatever you call them, one thing is certain: These people want to do it all, and they want to do it all… right now.
Although having many lofty and simultaneous goals is a good thing, doing too many things at once can make you feel overwhelmed and…
LRQA Business Assurance
(LRQA: Houston) -- Ryerson, Master and Associates Inc. (RMA), a leading provider of climate change verification and technical advisory services located in Santa Barbara, California, has changed its name to LRQA Americas Sustainability Inc.
The new name reflects the company’s determination to…
Avery Point Group
(Avery Point Group: Alpharetta, GA) -- Companies flush with strong balance sheets after taking drastic actions during the recession are clearly making aggressive moves to bolster their internal talent pools by seeking both lean and Six Sigma talent, according to the seventh annual study from The…
Ramco Systems
(Ramco Systems: Lawrenceville, NJ) -- Ramco Systems Corp., a developer of aviation maintenance and engineering; maintenance, repair, and overhaul; and manufacturing software solutions, announces the launch of its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Series 5 Manufacturing Suite, for the…
A new website focusing on educating visitors on lean manufacturing principles is promising to help businesses deliver great results by implementing simple solutions. Using a no-frills approach, leanmanufacturingshop.com is committed to delivering great content without the usual filler and time-…
Arun Hariharan
Root cause analysis (RCA), rightly applied, can turn problems, defects, or complaints into opportunities for continuous, permanent improvement. This anecdotal article is based on first-hand experience of applying RCA to dozens of business problems. It explains the technique of RCA in an easy-to…
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
(Thermo Fisher: Waltham, MA) -- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a global leader in serving science, has announced an upcoming food-safety seminar series that takes place in six locations across Europe. The series, conducted in English, will run from May 3–12, 2011, and each seminar will focus on…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Do you hold the key to solving some gadget mysteries from the last century of U.S. science and technology? During its 110 years, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has made many innovations in the way we measure things, from basic quantities…
Mettler-Toledo
(Mettler-Toledo Inc.: Columbus, OH) -- Mettler-Toledo has introduced the SWC515 Pinmount 316 weigh module for use in the pharmaceutical and food-and-beverage industries. This compact weigh module, which features special-grade stainless steel with capacities of 7.5 t, 15 t and 22.5 t, makes it…
QMI - SAI Global
(QMI-SAI Global: Cleveland, OH) -- Risk management is an important topic within the aerospace industry. QMI-SAI Global has developed a frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) document to answer many of the common inquires about the subject. Aerospace Risk Management FAQ is now available for download.…
WinWare Inc.
(WinWare: Marietta, GA) -- Like its predecessor accuCab, the CribMaster AccuCab2D has the same great technology but with a more visual front and a versatile two-door design. “The AccuCab2D represents our success in aligning our product designs with our customer needs,” says Larry Harper, WinWare…
Nikon Metrology Inc.
(Nikon Metrology: Leuven, Belgium) -- At archaeological sites, drawing of contexts, sections, and site plans can easily consume a huge part of the total excavation time. For particularly complicated and detailed sites, this can even rise to as much as half of the total project time. To increase…
Cognex Corp.
(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp., a global supplier of machine vision systems, has released a new version of In-Sight Explorer 4.5 that expands the capabilities of In-Sight vision systems and gives them the most advanced inspection tools available today.
In-Sight Explorer 4.5 inspection…
Laser Design Inc.
(Laser Design Inc.: Minneapolis) -- Laser Design Inc., a leading supplier of 3-D laser scanning for more than 30 years, introduced a new high-precision line of 3-D scanners, the Surveyor ZS-Series. It is based on the Spectrum coordinate measuring machine (CMM) platform from Carl…
BSI
(BSI: Reston, VA) -- Every four days there is a terrorist attack on the global supply chain. Criminal syndicates and smugglers exploit gaps in the supply chain to steal and engage in illicit trade. Governments worldwide are asking businesses to apply higher levels of diligence to suppliers’…
InnovMetric Software
(InnovMetric: Québec City, Canada) -- A talisman is “an object considered to possess magical powers,” and InnovMetric Software has announced that PolyWorks V. 12 will offer a talisman of its own for users of laser-scanning and tactile-probing devices who need to operate 3-D metrology hardware away…
Norm Spitzig
Why is it that relatively few general managers can work—and succeed—in the same company for a long period of time, while the majority cannot and do not? Conversely, why is it that a good number of businesses, given their history, tradition, culture, or governance structure, cannot keep—or choose…
National Standards Authority of Ireland NSAI
(NSAI: Dublin, Ireland) -- The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is teaming up with the Kelmac Group to hold a quality management system (QMS) auditor/lead auditor training course certified by the International Register for Certified Auditors (IRCA) and based on the International…
Lisa Lupo
Companies aren’t perfect, and neither are the people who work for them. Since this is a fact rather than a judgment, it’s reasonable to expect errors in manufacturing and process management. When an audited company continues to show a flawless record for, say, a food-safety audit, chances are it…
Renishaw
(Renishaw: Gloucestershire, UK) -- Mike Sullivan founded Future Advanced Manufacture Ltd. (Future AM) 30 years ago and realized immediately that competing on price was not the way forward. “There’s always a ‘Fred in the shed’ down the road who will offer to do any job cheaper,” he…
John Schultz
Problem solving is much more than arriving at an elegant solution. It is a twofold progression that includes problem resolution and solution implementation. Six Sigma and process improvement methods are examples of this sequenced approach to developing and deploying a remedial action that improves…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
Story update 4/13/2011: We corrected a misquote regarding who first said, “As goes GM, so goes the nation.”Every day, it seems, business as usual gets a bit more unusual. I’ve been haunting the news portals and blogs, curious to see how experts are viewing potential supply shortages following the…
