All Features
Vincent Dominé
Remember the last time you tried to change your habits in a big way? Perhaps you made a vow to eat healthier, or to listen more actively during meetings. Whatever it was, whether you ultimately succeeded or succumbed to the force of old habits, you almost certainly struggled. You may have done well…
Sabine Terrasi
Strong price pressure combined with high-quality requirements—the beverage and bottle industry faces the classic dilemma of many industries. This is also the case in the quality control department of SOLOCAP, a French manufacturer of plastic caps.
SOLOCAP is a subsidiary of La Maison Mélan Moutet…
Quality Digest
(ASC: Alexandria, VA) -- The Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC) has announced the release of the 2020–2023 North American Market Report for Adhesives & Sealants (NAMR) will be available for pre-sales purchase on March 23 and fulfillment in April 2021. The report was produced in partnership with…
InnovMetric Software
(Quebec, Canada) -- InnovMetric, the global leader in smart 3D metrology software solutions, today launched PolyWorks MS 2021, the latest release of its 3D dimensional analysis and quality control solution. PolyWorks MS 2021’s curved surface analysis toolbox offers a built-in isotropic surface…
Nate Burke
Search engine optimization (SEO) has come a long way, with continued developments, advancements, and algorithm tweaks giving business owners, brand agencies, and marketing gurus more than just a digital headache.
But traditionally, SEO has been a numbers game, with ranking positions the all-…
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
The civil rights movement and Moore’s Law are colliding to transform politics. On the street, smartphone technology is being used to document social life as never before, putting power into the hands of the public and making eyewitnesses of us all.
This same technology, bolted onto cheap and easy-…
Donald J. Wheeler
In my article, “Tightened 100% Inspection” (Quality Digest, March 29, 2021), we found that the excess costs associated with tightened specification limits are generally prohibitive. Here we consider the question: “Under what conditions can we use tightened specifications without incurring undue…
Emily Newton
Food manufacturers must carry out numerous specific processes to check that the foods they produce and distribute are safe for consumers. Analytical testing plays a vital role in meeting that goal. Here’s a look at how such examinations raise food quality and purchaser trust.
Checking foods for…
Quality Digest
(Hayward Gordon: Halton Hills, Ontario) -- Hayward Gordon Group is pleased to announce the launch of the RMS Monitor. The RMS Monitor maintains a continuous watch over pump and mixer equipment and provides alerts about potential problems.
Predictive information supplied by the RMS Monitor enables…
Clare Naden
The regulatory landscape is constantly changing, and organizations need systems in place to ensure they keep up. But complying with laws and regulations can be so much more than just ticking a box: it can be the result of a deeply entrenched culture of integrity and good ethics. All of which is a…
Henrich Greve
In March 2001, publishing executive Ann Godoff—then in her third year as president, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Random House Trade Publishing Group (RHTPG)—was the subject of a gushing profile in New York Magazine. Laced with tributes from authors and peers (“She’s the real deal,” rhapsodized…
Janet Woodcock, Judy McMeekin
During the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approach to foreign and domestic inspections for food and medical products has been both risk-based and deliberate. The Covid-19 pandemic required us to rework our business operations so that we could carry out our public health…
Fred Schenkelberg
In 2019, Nicholas W. Eyrich, Robert E. Quinn, and David P. Fessell published an article in the Harvard Business Review titled, “How One Person Can Change the Conscience of an Organization.” In it, they discuss how corporate transformations, although assumed to occur from the top-down, are actually…
Chip Bell
Iam often asked by customer service leaders how to get the CEO to care about customers. They are convinced there is a missed tactic that, if implemented, would have the C-suite camping out in the contact center and inviting customers to board meetings. When I outline a number of possible approaches…
Quality Digest
(Thomson Industries: Wood Dale, IL) -- Thomson Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of linear motion control solutions, has announced the availability of a 48-volt option for its Electrak HD electric actuator.
The added voltage capacity designed into this actuator provides motion control…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Motorized drive rollers (MDR) are an efficient and safe way to move large or heavy products down a conveyor line. They are also a key part of zero pressure accumulation, which allows conveyor systems to accumulate product without collision.
In traditional conveyor systems, products can back up…
Jim Benson
In lean there is mura, the waste of unevenness.
It’s probably the most important, but also most overlooked, in the waste theater.
For knowledge work, unevenness primarily interrupts flow. It’s when you have work that you should do easily but you don’t. There is this mura lying around that makes…
(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- Exact Metrology, a comprehensive 3D metrology service provider and hardware sales company, is proud to be a part of the restoration of Cincinnati Music Hall’s sandstone ornaments in Cincinnati. The restoration includes 10 finials atop gables and a sandstone lyre.…
William A. Levinson
The current national controversy over the need for a mandatory high minimum wage is but a symptom of a much larger underlying problem: the offshoring of American manufacturing capability.
Offshoring ruined Spain and Portugal during the 16th century, and it is similarly a clear and present danger…
Thomas R. Cutler
The demand for quality assurance and quality control managers in the manufacturing sector has never been stronger, according to Patrick O’Rahilly, founder of FactoryFix. This online platform matches vetted manufacturing workers with companies seeking specific skill sets. They set a new quality…
(Marposs: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Marposs, a world leader in measurement, inspection, and test technologies, has announced the standalone availability of Merlin Plus gauging software. Formerly only embedded in Merlin hardware devices, this software is now offered for use on any PC running Windows 7 or…
Harish Jose
Today I’m looking at the ideas inspired by mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are a class of neurons that activate when someone engages in an activity, or when they observe the same activity being performed by someone else.
The phenomenon was first identified by a group of Italian neurophysiologists…
Edmund Andrews
Seems everybody has a horror story about health insurance: Kafkaesque debates with robotic agents about what is and isn’t covered. Huge bills from a doctor you didn’t know was “out of network.” Reimbursements that take months to process.
It’s no secret that healthcare in the United States is…
Daniel Ackerman
This story was originally published by MIT News.
Despite years of hype, virtual reality (VR) headsets have yet to topple TV or computer screens as the go-to devices for video viewing. One reason: VR can make users feel sick. Nausea and eye strain can result because VR creates an illusion of 3D…
David Darais, Joseph Near
How many people drink pumpkin spice lattes in October, and how would you calculate this without learning specifically who is drinking them, and who is not?
Although they seem simple or trivial, counting queries are used extremely often. Counting queries such as histograms can express many useful…
