All Features
Annette Franz
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about emotionally unavailable customers. Hat tip to James Lawther for inspiring me to actually flip the tables here and think about emotionally challenged employees, instead.
The question I posed in response to his comment on that post was: Why do we transform…
Steve Melito
How competitive is American manufacturing? By the year 2020, the United States is projected to take the top spot in the Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI), a multiyear research platform from Deloitte and the Council on Competitiveness.
The 2016 GMCI surveyed more than 500 of the…
Michelle LaBrosse
Ihave studied systems dynamics modeling for three decades. What I’ve experienced first-hand is that when you establish several key core values, you can create an entire self-replicating system for your organization.
I experimented with this idea first with Cheetah Learning, where our three core…
William A. Levinson
ISO 9001:2015, Clause 4.2—“Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties” requires the organization to determine the “requirements of these interested parties that are relevant to the quality management system.” When customers block an organization’s content, it is a sure sign…
More than 313 million global work-related accidents occur each year, according to the International Labour Organization, with a high percentage of those accidents resulting in significant time away from work. Each accident bears a personal and financial cost for the worker and the employer. Yet,…
Debby Newslow
Standard operating procedures, or SOPs, are critical to quality assurance. Frequently, in an operation with many associates, each one does his or her job as well as possible (because no one wants to do a bad job). Some people, however, will do tasks differently than others—and usually they think…
Johns Hopkins University
More than one-third of Americans say they don’t have enough time in their day to get things done, and the majority of Americans who report not having enough spare time also say they battle stress, reports the Johns Hopkins Health Review.
Busyness is a badge of honor for those who equate a packed…
Giles Hutchins
Each generation experiences significant change due to innovations, disruptions, and shifting perspectives. These transform our ways of operating and organizing in business and beyond. Yet, it seems we’re now living in a particularly dynamic period, with metamorphic shifts that challenge what we do…
Back in 2004, I was saddled with a two-hour commute to work almost every day. Fortunately, I had something with me to make the experience more bearable: my new third-generation iPod. Many of you probably remember your first iPod experience, how great it was to carry your entire music library in…
Barry Plunkett
For top executives to add value to their organizations, those in the C suite must learn how to recruit, train, nurture, maintain, and retain exceptional employees who understand customers. If an organization wants to not just survive, but also succeed, it must anticipate its customers’ needs and…
Davis Balestracci
In my last column I explained how many situations have an inherent response surface, which is the “truth.” However, any experimental result represents this true response, which is unfortunately obscured by the process’s common-cause variation. Regardless of whether you are at a low state of…
Jason Furness
Here’s a “tales from the real world” extract from our book, Manufacturing Money (Amazon Digital, 2015). It offers an example of the “five focusing steps” to improvement, with a particular focus on step one, identify the constraint; and step two, maximize the constraints output.
This was a time…
Annette Franz
Ihave written and talked about journey mapping so much this year, even suggesting back in January that we make it the year of the journey map. I think customer experience professionals have made great progress toward this goal so far in 2016! I hear so many people talking about mapping, and many…
Annelise Orleck
Pico Rivera is a dusty working-class Latino suburb of Los Angeles. After the school district, Walmart is the city’s largest employer and the source of 10 percent of its tax revenue. More than 500 families in the town depend on income from the store. The town is also the epicenter of activism by…
Gilles Hilary
President Obama has been injured in a terrorist attack on the White House. A tweet released by the Associated Press (AP) attests to this. It carries the company’s “verified” stamp of authenticity. The S&P 500 just lost more than $130 billion. Well, not quite.
The AP’s tweet was the byproduct…
Tonianne DeMaria
No doubt you’ve seen evidence of its ascendance: The cottage industry that’s become a multibillion dollar “motivational industrial complex” of sorts. Its rallying cry, “If you think it, you can achieve it!” is plastered just about everywhere these days. From gilt-framed posters of eagles soaring…
Harish Jose
In this article I want to look at the concept of equifinality in relation to the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. In systems theory, equifinality is defined as reaching the same end, no matter what the starting point was. This is applicable only in an open system, one that interacts with its…
Ruth P. Stevens
As the initial wild enthusiasm for customer relationship management (CRM) begins to plateau, and companies become increasingly skeptical of inflated claims for success, it’s time to take a hard look at how CRM projects should be measured. What is “successful” CRM, anyway? How will you know it when…
Thomas More Smith
Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor outlined changes to the existing overtime exemptions. Is this a win for workers? And a loss for employers? In truth, the real effect on both groups and the economy is much more nuanced.
As you are probably aware, some employees are exempt from being paid…
Bruce Hamilton
Twice in the last month I’ve heard the phrase “traditional lean” used in public presentations. In neither case did the presenter explain the expression, but one displayed a slide with a Venn diagram showing the overlap between lean and Six Sigma.
I suppose this means that he defined traditional…
The QA Pharm
Aquality management review of data with responsible company leadership is a current good manufacturing practices requirement. Quality management review procedures vary, but there seems to be a struggle with presenting data from across the quality management system in a meaningful and consistent…
Barbara A. Cleary, Steve Daum
Quality alone will not ensure a successful future, as the classic story of the buggy-whip manufacturer demonstrates. His products were outstanding—better than any others—but when the market changed to automobiles, he found himself out of business.
Markets do indeed change, apparently at an…
Mike Figliuolo
Work is a convenient excuse for not taking care of yourself. Not exercising, poor diet, and stress are a bad combination. You’ve got to make time for you. Work will always be there when you get back.
Just over a year ago, I had a heart attack. My second heart attack. Yep. Two. The first one…
Ben Vickery
A manufacturer can be innovative in various ways by using new business models and adopting measures to improve processes and enhance existing products. But to stay ahead of competition, manufacturers often turn to technology. Here are five technologies that are driving manufacturing innovation.…
Dan Jacob
The way an organization handles quality generally differs from how it manages other business areas. Although no one questions the importance of tangible industrial functions like production or scheduling, too often quality is treated as an add-on. Some companies take an antiquated approach and…
