All Features
(University of Michigan: Ann Harbor, MI) -- Consumer spending will lag rather than lead the recovery from the current recession, according to University of Michigan economist Richard Curtin.
“In the coming years, U.S. consumers will save more and spend less,” says Curtin, director of the…
Honeywell
(Honeywell: Helsinki) -- Honeywell has released Precision FotoFiber, a fiber orientation-angle sensor that helps paper and board makers improve overall product quality, while reducing waste and lowering production costs. The sensor—ideal for manufacturing large product runs of newsprint, fine…
Olympus
(Olympus: Waltham, MA) -- Olympus introduces the new IPLEX LX and IPLEX LT industrial videoscopes. These small and lightweight videoscopes, which are used for a wide range of remote visual inspections of parts or structures where access is limited, offer portability, ease of use, durability, and a…
International Quality and Productivity Center IQPC
(IQPC: New York) -- Pfizer, Genentech, AstraZeneca, and Elan are just a few of the companies who will be coming together to share operational excellence best practices and work together to find the optimum way to run their operational excellence programs.
From project valuation for operational…
Minitab LLC
(Mnitab: State College, PA)-- Minitab Inc. has released Quality Companion 3.2, an update to its software for managing and executing quality improvement projects.
This update introduces new functionality, including a powerful tool for value stream mapping (VSM), a primary technique used in lean…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
All the talk of health care reform has resulted in many hospitals turning to lean Six Sigma to help improve efficiency and aid in cost cutting. However, health care efficiency expert Ron Wince contends that many of these facilities are not applying the tools properly and therefore will not reap…
H. James Harrington
Two months ago my column “Are Quality Methodologies All Smoke and Mirrors? Part One” was a review of my interview in 1988 with F. James Mc Donald, the CEO of General Motors Corp. at that time. The interview focused on what GM was doing to bring about a radical change in the quality of all of their…
(Citrix Systems: Fort Lauderdale, FL) -- In a harshly competitive environment with rising consumer expectations, customer satisfaction surveys are an essential tool for listening to customers and developing strategies for improvement. Successful surveys maximize the retention of current clients…
For some time, auto experts have reported that objective quality differences have all but disappeared across most automotive brands. Indeed, the Detroit Three automakers have eliminated or substantially reduced large differences in defect rates after 90 days of ownership—no small achievement.…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with private industry and other government agencies, have produced a new reference material for beryllium. Beryllium, an exotic metal used as a hardener in high-performance alloys…
MAPI
(MAPI: Arlingon, VA) -- “The disappointing report on August durable goods activity supports the belief that the emerging U.S. and global economic recovery will be weak and laced with uncertainty at least for the first year or two,” says Cliff Waldman, economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI…
Coherent Inc.
(Coherent Inc.: Santa Clara, CA) -- The new MATRIX 532-8-100 is a Q-switched, diode pumped, solid state laser designed to deliver the best cost-to-performance ratio for demanding micromachining tasks in solar, semiconductor, and medical device manufacturing.
Specifically, it provides 8 W of…
Kimberly Douglas
If your team members (or you) hear “Meeting at 3:00” and think, “Here comes another waste of my time,” then it’s time for a meeting overhaul at your organization. While meetings can be important team-building and idea-generating opportunities for your employees, the key is knowing how to do them…
Sparta Systems Inc.
(Sparta Systems: Holmdel, NJ) -- Sparta Systems Inc., the maker of TrackWise software and the market leader in enterprise quality and compliance solutions, announces that Ascent Healthcare Solutions Inc., a Phoenix-based leader in delivering health care resource sustainability, has selected its…
According the Metris web site, as a result of a mandatory reopening of the takeover bid of Nikon Corp. (through NIMD SPRL, a wholly-owned Belgian subsidiary) on Metris, NIMD SPRL holds 11,980,911 shares and thus holds 95.04 percent of the Metris shares. NIMD SPRL will proceed from Sept. 28 to Oct…
While I have been saying this for decades, and while K’ung Fu-tzu implied it millennia ago when he called for a balance of knowledge and action, it takes a while to sink in. W. Edwards Deming showed how simply taking a pencil with paper and plotting the data makes action possible. Experts in data…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Planned and potential expansions and new facilities across campus, the addition of 400–500 kilowatts in power from solar panels, and increasing the already heavy use of alternative transportation by employees to a daily rate of 40 percent are among the highlights of an…
(Infinity QS International: Chantilly, VA) -- InfinityQS International, a provider of real-time statistical process control (SPC) software, recently announced that Kraft Foods has selected InfinityQS ProFicient 4 for the global rollout of SPC, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP),…
SigmaQuest Inc.
(SigmaQuest: Sunnyvale, CA) -- MetricStream, a provider of governance, risk, compliance (GRC), and quality management solutions, and SigmaQuest Inc., the provider of on-demand scalable solutions for product quality management, are hosting a free webinar titled, “Optimizing Your Supply Chain Using…
Patrick Lanthier
There are several challenges that can arise when you start the process of measuring micro and meso scale parts. Some important factors to consider before you begin the actual part measuring are: part handling, cleaning, and fixturing. Using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) allows you to …
Camstar Systems Inc.
(Camstar Systems Inc.: Charlotte, NC) -- Does it seem like every time you perform a corrective and preventive action, exactly the same problem crops up again? If so, then you need to attend the webinar The Next Generation CAPA System: Recurring CAPAs? Find Root Cause. Enforce Actions. Prevent…
(Logicalis: Bloomfield Hills, MI) -- Logicalis, an international leader in high performance technology solutions, has identified several “Lean IT” practices which help businesses eliminate information technology (IT) waste and trim their IT “waste lines.”
Lean IT is a set of practices for…
David C. Crosby
Y
ears ago, when I was a field quality rep (source inspector), part of my job was to audit prospective suppliers. The basis of the audits was MIL-Q-9858A, the military quality system. Most audits were simply me sitting across the desk from the head guy or gal asking questions. Do you do this?…
Denise Robitaille
It was the great W. Edwards Deming who first applied this tenet, “Drive out fear,” to quality management in his book Out of the Crisis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982) It’s one of his 14 Points for Management.
Over the last two decades, more than a million organizations have…
IBM
(IBM: Armonk, NY) -- A new IBM study reveals that despite tough economic times, Americans at all income levels are refusing to sacrifice quality, value, and nutrition to save money on food, and health and beauty purchases. The current economy has, however, led U.S. shoppers to take a closer look…
