All Features
Thomas R. Cutler
Although automation has been successful in replacing repetitive, simple tasks, the human workforce still plays a critical role in manufacturing. Even the most sophisticated and automated manufacturing operations rely on human operators to configure, run, and properly maintain production equipment…
Fred Schenkelberg
Reliability activities serve one purpose: to support better decision making. That is all they do. Reliability work may reveal design weaknesses, which we can decide to address. Reliability work may estimate the longevity of a device, allowing decisions when compared to objectives for reliability.…
Aiman Sakr
Does your organization benefit from lessons learned? Does it learn from previous quality issues? A vast amount of learning takes place every day in every manufacturing facility. Do global manufacturing companies share experiences gained from resolving quality issues between overseas plants? And…
Tom Kevan
MELD Manufacturing has commercialized a metal production process that promises to enable 3D printing to carve out a greater role in the manufacturing sector.
Until recently, manufacturers’ efforts to apply 3D printing in large-scale production areas have been thwarted by inherent limitations of…
Rick Barker
Return on investment (ROI) is the subject of many discussions about ergonomics, and rightfully so. Musculoskeletal disorders are an expensive and preventable workplace injury, with total costs averaging nearly $30,000 per case, according to data from the Occupational Safety and Health…
Douglas C. Fair
A few months back, I was reading a really good article from The Wall Street Journal, titled “Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs.” Even though it was geared toward accounting and corporate operations, the message of the article struck home: Excel shouldn’t be used as an enterprisewide…
Jim Benson
I love to cook. When I make good food and share it with others, they will take a bite and look as excited to eat it as I was to create it. They might not understand the subtleties that went into it, but they understand the product. Satisfied eater, satisfied chef.
When we do something and are…
Stephen Salata
It’s an open secret that many automotive and aerospace manufacturers have unacceptably high defects and costs. And where defects are on the rise, quality costs aren’t far behind.
Even one defect could mean recalling an entire batch, a problem that can cost thousands of dollars per minute if it…
Amanda Hunt
Tensile testing of materials is critical to a wide array of industries, which means preparing specimens for testing is equally important. If a specimen is not prepared correctly, the test results will be inaccurate; this is costly if a material fails a test that it should have passed, and…
Jennifer Sillars
Policies define expectations and boundaries for behavior, but these expectations frequently go unmet.
There are three major triggers for new policy creation or policy amendment: • An adverse event highlights an operational risk that is not effectively controlled. A policy is required to address…
NIST
Story update 7/13/2018: This story was updated with a link to the released version of standard E3125–17.
Large-volume 3D laser scanners play an essential role in manufacturing large products (e.g., airplane wings), making measurements for large-scale construction (e.g., bridges), and other…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
We are here, and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine. —H. L. Mencken
I ran across the term “moonshine shop” while reading about a kaizen blitz at Ontario-based communications firm Cogeco. “Brad, [Cogeco’s] maintenance leader, coordinates all projects relating to modifying…
Adam Hickman, Ryan Pendell
By nearly every measure, the workplace is rapidly evolving. But this new fluid workplace isn’t just about the work environment. Workplaces are increasingly project-based, and employees today are attracted to interesting problems and meaningful work, not just a job title.
Compared to decades past,…
Harish Jose
I have written about sample size calculations many times before. One of the most common questions a statistician is asked is, “How many samples do I need—is a sample size of 30 appropriate?” The appropriate answer to such a question is always, “It depends!”
In today’s column, I have attached a…
Michelle LaBrosse
Project managers—and all professionals, really—pursue credentials in their field for a variety of reasons: to advance their knowledge and skills, to build their reputation, to earn a promotion, or to get a pay raise. All of these are perfectly valid reasons for seeking a credential. Project…
Bill Snyder
David Petraeus is arguably the best known U.S. general of the post-Vietnam era. He gained fame after leading the surge in Iraq, a controversial buildup of U.S. forces that was credited with a sharp reduction of violence during the U.S. occupation. After retiring from the Army, he headed the CIA…
Sharon Lurye
Schools are always trying to get their kids interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). But that’s hard to do when the students don’t have a solid idea of what having a STEM-related job really means.
“I don’t think there’s a good connection between the…
Mike Richman
Manufacturing is an eternally forward-looking sector. From the First Industrial Revolution about 250 years ago right up until the remarkable advances in connectivity and information analysis that form the heart of Industry 4.0, scientists, engineers, managers, marketers, and quality professionals…
M. Mitchell Waldrop, Knowable Magazine
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine. Part one looked at the innovative possibilities inherent in 3D printing; here we consider some of its shortcomings and the solutions that companies are finding.
A few years into this century, the industry reached a tipping point, as sales of…
Patrick Mork
Hiring a chief marketing officer (CMO) can be one of the most important decisions you make as a CEO. The right CMO can build a world-class marketing team that will not only help you acquire more customers, but also strongly enhance the perception and brand value of your company.
However, despite…
M. Mitchell Waldrop, Knowable Magazine
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
Since May 2015, in a section of its WorldPort distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky, United Parcel Service (UPS) has been operating a spare parts warehouse with no spare parts. Instead, the facility is stocked with ultrafast 3D…
Jason Furness
I would like to share with you a tale from the real world. It’s an extract from the book Michael McLean and I wrote, Manufacturing Money (Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2015). It offers an example of the “Five Focusing Steps” to improvement, especially “Step 1: Identify the constraint,” and “Step 2:…
Steven Brand
Many consider 2017 the “worst year ever” for data breaches and cyber attacks, largely due to the rise in ransomware, and IT experts predict it’s only going to get worse. According to the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), a nonprofit that works to develop tools and best practices that enhance internet…
Jon Speer
We raise the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) topic often because it is still something that companies tend to struggle with and find themselves in hot water over, particularly when it comes to regulatory audits or inspections.
There’s often a sense that CAPA is another inconvenient process…
Eryn Brown, Knowable Magazine
In ancient times, the story goes, cooks in the city of Sybaris were granted yearlong monopolies for the sale of unique dishes they created. Since then, generations of inventors have relied on patents to discourage copycats from stealing their best ideas. Economists, in turn, have tallied up patents…
