All Features
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
No matter which quality management methodology, technique, or fad du jour you chose during the past 40 years, from quality circles to TQM to Six Sigma, all had one thing in common: data. In manufacturing this eventually meant measurement data. Whether it was dimensional, time, temperature,…
Ryan E. Day
Quality Digest (QD) was born 40 years ago. Birthed as Quality Circle Institute (QCI), the organization was conceived as a consultancy focused on bringing the success of quality control circles at Lockheed to organizations that were beginning to awaken to the importance of employee involvement in…
Anthony D. Burns
I’m a chemical engineer. The fundamentals of the chemical engineering profession were laid down 150 years ago by Osborne Reynolds. Although chemical engineering has seen many advances, such as digital process control and evolutionary process optimization, every engineer understands and uses Reynold…
Dennis Bailen, Bob Sherlock
Manufacturing businesses small and large have had their hands full with the fallout of the pandemic, and although it seems the worst of the crisis is now behind us, companies will continue to grapple with how to keep both customers and employees on board despite supply chain issues, intense…
Steven Severt
Although ISO 19011—“Guidelines for auditing management systems” has included language about remote quality management system (QMS) auditing since the 2018 revision, this became a reality for many of us in March 2020 with the onset of Covid-19 and the mass lockdowns that ensued. Many of us have been…
Paul Laughlin
The latest book I'm reviewing is about data and critical thinking, and it often makes you laugh. Alongside Moonwalking With Einstein (Penguin, 2011), it’s in the traditional Penguin paperback size and ideal to take with you anywhere. It’s so enjoyable you'll want to complete it ASAP. The writing…
Winnie Jiang
In what has become the most watched commencement speech ever, Steve Jobs had this advice for the class of 2005 at Stanford University: “The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Inspiring words from the…
Jason Tham
It’s common to hear about how the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chain operations. Supply chain leaders are navigating one of the most difficult periods in recent history, and it’s impossible to foretell an end to global disruptions. What many don’t realize, however, is that the pandemic…
Kari Miller
In the medtech space, all roads lead to quality. Unlike pharma, which looks at safety and quality separately, all of the information around risk and vigilance to inform product improvement will be housed within a medtech company’s quality management system (QMS).
The primary goal of post-market…
Siemens PLM Software
Siemens Digital Industries Software introduces System NVH Prediction, a new Simcenter software application. It can bring the benefits of a comprehensive digital-twin approach to accurately and easily predict the interior and exterior noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance of a vehicle…
Dylan Walsh
Justin Berg has watched Back to the Future at least 25 times. Same with the DVD special features—the voiceovers and backstory and interviews. It’s his favorite movie, and he’s long believed that part of the film’s greatness is attributable to the fact that writer-director Robert Zemeckis oversaw…
Gleb Tsipursky
Any association would love a member-retention rate of 75 percent. Unfortunately, according to a 2017 report cited in the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) publication, Associations Now, retention rates for all associations are falling. While in 2016, 73 percent of associations…
Quality Digest
Getting your product into customers’ hands is often an undervalued—and under-engineered—part of your organization’s value chain. If the pandemic’s effect on our supply chains has taught us anything, it’s this: Diligent reevaluation of our modus operandi is a must for success.
When the Covid…
Kate Zabriskie
They’re with me, I just know it, at least I think they’re with me... OK, maybe not. Oh no! They’re gone. Well, thank goodness that’s over!
Has that happened to you? How about the following:
• I addressed this issue 30 minutes ago. How did they forget so soon? They have minds like sieves—easy in…
Matt Fieldman
Some are calling it, “The Great Resignation.” Others are calling it “The Great Reshuffle.” After spending the past year as executive director of America Works, I’ve talked with more than 250 manufacturing workforce development professionals throughout the MEP National Network and our partners.…
Kurt Matzler
In 1938, MIT student Claude Shannon solved one of the most complex problems of circuit design. Working on an early analog computer, he realized that an idea from an undergraduate philosophy course could solve the problem. Applying Boolean algebra, Shannon laid the foundation of all electronic…
Jacob Bourne
Simulation technology is continually advancing to model increasingly real-world product behavior; however, many companies lag in its adoption.
A recent survey found that only 37 percent of respondents said they applied manufacturing simulation during the product design phase. The vast majority…
Roxanne Oclarino
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises that organizations will be 40-percent more efficient by 2035, unlocking an estimated $14 trillion in new economic value to global GDP by 2030, according to PwC. This makes it the biggest commercial opportunity in today’s fast-changing business climate, all…
Arron Angle
I just received and read the “2021 ASQE Insights on Excellence Executive Brief.” The brief examines how quality initiatives are progressing in the digital era, based on the views and experiences of 542 executives and quality professionals from global enterprises. Here we go again, I thought.
Yes,…
Rick Grimaldi
Employee engagement has been a boardroom buzzword for quite some time. We’ve long known engagement matters. Still, the unspoken “but” has always been that metrics—especially those of the performance and financial ilk—matter more. Now, with the workplace talent shortage at a 10-year high, the time…
Gleb Tsipursky
Organizations will need to pivot their corporate culture if they wish to survive and thrive in the world of virtual collaboration after the pandemic. The most important changes will stem from the wide-scale and permanent shift to hybrid and fully remote modes of working.
Between 65 percent to 75…
Taylor Brown
For medical device manufacturers, finding success means setting ourselves up for success with repeatable processes that not only ensure quality but also mitigate future risk.
This drive for quality is the reason we have such hyper-specific language in our standards. It’s what demands the stringent…
Annette Franz
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Seth Godin’s concept of Finding Your Who, which is all about identifying who your products are for. The Who isn’t defined by demographics but by psychographics: Their (customer) beliefs, their dreams, their desires. It’s a reminder that developing personas is so…
Karla Jo Helms
Covid-19 has changed America’s workforce in a fundamental and most likely permanent way, and not adopting the “new normal” can be the difference between success and failure.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of American workers surveyed have said that given a choice, they would…
Mark Greevan
China’s dominance in manufacturing has made it the factory for the world. The subsequent economic growth enriched an ever-expanding middle class, and the country’s retail industry has quickly adapted to supply a growing appetite for consumption.
Some of these developments in the way people spend…
