All Features
CRC Press
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Like quality, social responsibility is an ideal, and ideals change. How do you continuously improve something that changes continuously? To start, you need a way to measure improvement efforts, and Social Responsibility: Failure Mode Effects and Analysis (CRC Press…
SPC Press Inc.
(SPC Press: Knoxville, TN) -- Reducing Production Costs: How to Convert Capability Indexes and Performance Indexes into Excess Costs of Production and Use, by Donald J. Wheeler (SPC Press, 2010), is written for everyone who is trying to do more with less. Using a proven methodology of reducing…
(Harvard SEAS: Cambridge, MA; University of Leeds: Leeds, UK) -- A collaborative team of applied scientists from Harvard University and the University of Leeds have demonstrated a new terahertz (THz) semiconductor laser that emits beams with a much smaller divergence than conventional THz laser…
Cognex Corp.
(Cognex Corp.: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp. has introduced the In-Sight 5605, a high-resolution, self-contained, flexible vision system for applications that require visualization of very small defects, even in a large field of view. The In-Sight 5605 offers the widest range of features and…
Alberto B. Ayulo
Every journey has a beginning, and mine began during a U.S. Air Force commander’s first week on the job. He called a staff meeting and told everyone that things had to change for the organization to succeed, and “lean” was the solution. Everyone in the room looked dazed and confused, wondering…
John David Kendrick
Complexity can be thought of as the level of difficulty in solving mathematically presented problems. Six Sigma practitioners and operations research professionals are often asked to predict the complexity of a hardware or software product by predicting (in man-hours or full-time equivalents) the…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Customer satisfaction with domestic automobiles has shown resilience despite an overall decline for the industry, according to a report released Aug. 17 by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Automobile satisfaction dipped 2.4 percent from an all-time industry…
Pointools Ltd.
(Pointools: Barnet, UK) -- A high-tech digital map created with laser-scanning technology is underway for the Flanders region of Belgium. Using Pointools’ 3-D mapping software, the Belgian surveying company, Teccon, has processed billions of individual measurements to create high-accuracy data…
(CENAM: Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico) -- The committee from Mexico’s national metrology center, Centro Nacional de Metrología (CENAM), invites researchers, professionals, and all personnel in the metrology field to participate Simposio Metrología, the 2010 Metrology Symposium, which takes place…
Visual Workplace Inc.
(QMI/Visual-Lean Institute: Byron Center, MI) -- Poka-yoke devices—i.e., visual guarantees for mistake-proofing products and processes—embed quality attributes so seamlessly into the work landscape that we often forget they are there. Yet these devices are what guarantee near-perfect quality for…
Verisurf Software Inc.
(Verisurf Software: Anaheim, CA) -- Verisurf Software Inc. is set to provide manufacturers with everything they need to make the transition to the 21st century and produce higher quality products in less time and at a lower cost. This means making the switch from hand gauges and 2-D paper drawings…
(IAPC: Buenos Aires, Argentina) -- Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Argentine Institute for Quality (Instituto Argentino para La Calidad—IAPC) invites you to the COINCAL 2010 International Quality Congress. COINCAL will take place Oct. 20–22 in Buenos Aires.
The event will be at Centro…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
I would like to share with you a story about my mom, a woman who was very insecure about her background. She grew up in a blue collar family where neither her mother nor father finished eighth grade. Mom completed high school, but only with tutoring by my father. She would frequently say to me, “I…
Barbara Hemphill
Kathy is the office manager for a large corporation. The great news is that the company is growing and Kathy is looking for employees to handle all the new clients. The bad news is that she has no office space for these new employees to work in. The truth is, the office and storage areas are full…
(SOA: Schaumburg, IL) -- Findings from a new study commissioned by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and completed by consultants with Milliman Inc. estimate that measurable medical errors cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in 2008. The report used claims data to provide an actuarially sound…
ETQ LLC
(EtQ: Farmindale, NY) -- EtQ LLC announces its production part approval process (PPAP) module as part of its latest release, Reliance 7.1. EtQ’s PPAP module provides a collaboration process to efficiently manage the flow of information between a vendor and a customer on product design.
PPAP allows…
NCQA
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recently released Quality Compass 2010: Commercial, the nation’s leading database of comparable information on clinical performance and patient experience for 404 commercial health plan products serving 94 million covered…
The League for Innovation in the Community College
(League for Innovation in the Community College: Phoenix) -- The League for Innovation in the Community College will hold its first STEMtech conference Oct. 31–Nov. 3 at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Educators and industry leaders will join together for…
Institute for Supply Management
(Institute for Supply Management: Tempe, AZ) -- The third-annual Sustainability and Social Responsibility (SSR) Conference will take place Nov. 4–5 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, at the Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resort. The event, presented by the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), covers…
Mahr Inc.
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- Designed with production personnel in mind, the new Digimar 816 CL Height Gage from Mahr Federal Inc. provides highly accurate measurements without complicated procedures. Robust design and user-friendly operation combine with advanced features and functionality…
As many as 14.6 million Americans are unemployed, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That means 14.6 million people have been dealing with the losses that come with unemployment: the loss of financial stability, of identity, and of their normal daily routine.
Emily Wright dealt with…
(Strategic Vision Inc.: San Diego) -- Strategic Vision Inc. (SVI) announced results of their 2010 Total Quality Index (TQI), which shows how vehicles are judged when the “complete” experience is measured.
“Simply counting how many problems a vehicle has or design characteristics that buyers do…
Gwendolyn Galsworth
Editor's note: In this second in a series of articles on workplace visuality, Gwendolyn Galsworth, Ph.D., author of Work That Makes Sense (Visual Lean Enterprise Press, 2010) and Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking (Visual-Lean Enterprise Press, 2005), and recognized visual expert, shows us how…
(Iowa Central Community College: Fort Dodge, IA) -- Don Heck has heard a lot of talk about making Iowa the “renewable energy capital of the world,” and he thinks he’s found a way to help.
The laboratory he directs at Iowa Central Community College, in Fort Dodge, has become the first to earn…
(Dimensional Control Systems: Troy, MI) -- Dimensional Control Systems Inc. (DCS), provider of dimensional engineering consulting services and software solutions, announces the release of two new versions of 3DCS software with enhancements that further streamline processes for its users.
The…
