All Features
Mike Richman
In today’s ultracompetitive manufacturing world, knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the industry’s most advanced measurement and inspection systems.
To that end, FARO Technologies and Quality Digest are partnering to offer the rare opportunity to experience a live, no-cost video…
Paul Scicchitano
Some experts could barely hide their disappointment when the total number of ISO 9001 certificates recently failed to break the long-awaited million-certificate mark—as if it isn’t enough to have the world’s most widely used voluntary quality standard of all time.
With 982,832 third-party…
TÜV Rheinland PTL
(TÜV Rheinland PTL: Tempe, AZ) -- Figures from 13 years of solar technology testing—including the top three quality failures and strongest influences of new manufacturers on module design—show some photovoltaic (PV) modules required a tune-up to pass international qualification standards.…
(ISM: Tempe, AZ) -- The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will present the 95th Annual International Supply Management Conference and Educational Exhibit April 25–28 in San Diego, California. The event includes four days of supply management professional development, training, and networking…
Avery Point Group
(Avery Point Group: Atlanta) -- After years of steady gains, lean has now achieved a clear and dominant standing over Six Sigma as the leading force in corporate continuous improvement, according to the latest study of almost 3,500 recent job postings reviewed by The Avery Point Group, a global…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- Tomorrow’s global leaders will have to be tech-savvy and ready for advanced manufacturing jobs requiring skills in electronics, computers, software, and automation. Continuing its mission to encourage young people to focus their education on science, technology, engineering…
R. Eric Reidenbach Ph.D.
One of my clients, a wireless business-to-business (B2B) telecom company, was experiencing a significant problem in their call center. They were absolutely inundated with calls—most of them problems. They were spending a significant amount of money trying to manage the call center—adding new call…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Customer satisfaction with the goods and services that people buy in the United States remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The index is largely unchanged, dipping a mere 0.1 percent from the previous…
(Jesse Garant & Associates: Windsor, ON, Canada) -- Using computer tomography (CT) technology similar to what has been used in the medical industry for years, Ontario-based Jesse Garant & Associates has adopted and expanded this technology for automotive, mining applications, and medical…
ETQ LLC
(EtQ Inc.: Farmingdale, NY) -- EtQ Inc. has announced the addition of new and enhanced features in its latest release, Reliance 7.0.
Enhancements to the latest release of EtQ Reliance contribute to EtQ’s vision of providing the most robust solution in the industry. Below is a sample of just a…
(Creaform: Lévis, QC, Canada) -- Creaform has launched the fourth version of the proprietary software VxScan. This program can now integrate data acquired by both a Handyscan 3D laser scanner and the HandyPROBE armless and portable CMM in the same referential and in real time. Creaform now offers…
Catalyst Development Corp.
(Catalyst Development Corp.: Yucca Valley, CA) -- Catalyst Development Corp., publisher of software components and applications, recently announced the release of ChoiceAnalyst, the first affordable decision support tool with application to Six Sigma decision making.
The define, measure,…
COX Instruments
(Cox Instruments: Scottsdale, AZ) -- COX Instruments, a supplier of precision and industrial flow measurement instrumentation for the world’s most demanding applications, has announced its turbine flowmeters are now available with ceramic ball bearings. These rugged bearings are superior to…
Mountain Home Training and Consulting Inc.
(Mountain Home: Denver, CO) -- Mountain Home Training and Consulting Inc., a provider of continuous process improvement (CPI) training and certification, has shaken up their own industry during the last six months with some innovative approaches to the way they do business. It started with a…
Mark Graban
When I was in Sweden recently, we had a lot of good discussion about the lean concept of “standardized work.”
There was much agreement from different presenters at the lean laboratories conference, and from the hospital people we visited, concerning standardized work—that it isn’t a robotic…
Cognex Corp.
(Cognex Corp.: Natick, MA ) -- Cognex Corp. has announced 3D-Locate, a library of 3-D vision software tools that expands application possibilities in vision-guided robotics, assembly, and inspection.
Logistics and package tracking
Robot-guided depalletizing
Precision assembly…
National Standards Authority of Ireland NSAI
(NSAI: Nashua, New Hampshire) — Even though no firm action was taken during the 2009 Climate Conference in Copenhagen, the U.S. administration has still pledged that the country will tighten carbon emission regulations. The most plausible possibility is what is referred to as a “cap and trade”…
TÜV Rheinland PTL
(TÜV Rheinland PTL LLC: Tempe, AZ) — In an important decision, Solar America Board for Codes and Standards (ABCs) recommended the adoption of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) quality standards for all modules purchased in the U.S. marketplace. The aim of this initiative is to…
Knowledge at Wharton
In 2008, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Care System faced a challenge: Length of stay per patient at this major nonprofit health system and academic medical center was longer than it needed to be. If administrators could figure out how to cut the length of stay by an average of just…
ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions
(Carl Zeiss Metrology: Maple Grove, MN) -- In addition to a highly accurate measuring machine, the most important resources in measuring technology are the latest software and detailed application knowledge. Today, knowledge and software updates are increasingly exchanged via the internet. Carl…
ISO
(ISO: Geneva) -- For reasons of safety and reliability, the importance of being able to trace products throughout the supply chain has strongly increased in recent years. The new standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17367:2009 will help manufacturers and…
Sakor Technologies Inc.
(SAKOR Technologies: Okemos, MI) -- SAKOR Technologies Inc., a provider of implementation of instrumentation products for dynamometer testing, introduces the MicroDyne series of small motoring dynamometers. Ideal for a wide range of automotive, military, and aerospace testing applications, this…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- While there has been a significant loss of repetitive manufacturing jobs, workers with engineering and high-tech skills remain in demand and are vital to keeping manufacturing and the economy going.
A recent survey conducted by Deloitte, Oracle, and the Manufacturing…
Patrick Beauchemin
Optical comparators, also referred to as profile projectors and contour projectors, were first introduced in the 1940s and they are still widely used today in a broad range of industries to verify that manufactured parts are within tolerance. These versatile instruments are easy to use and the fact…
Bill Kalmar
In March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell uttered these now famous words, “Mr. Watson, come here—I want to see you.” That day marked the beginning of an extraordinary time in communication—the advent of the telephone. Since then there have been thousands of changes in our communication systems, many of…