All Features
RED FLAG. This was the text I received from a woman I’d been mentoring for a year or so. She had recently been promoted to a senior management position in the software division of a large technology company. We had developed our own language for when she had a serious professional problem. Texting…
There was a time when manufacturers thought that “hot test”—a test at the end of the assembly line of a fully functional engine—was the only way to ensure that each unit had been assembled to perform as expected.
A lot has changed during the past 20 years. Manufacturers, from automotive to…
By 2020, research shows that the number of connected industrial devices will grow 285 percent from 2015. If you’re like some industrial leaders who feel the industrial internet of things (IIoT) is more hype than real, you’re taking a wait-and-see approach. But if you’re like many of the leaders we…
Gwendolyn Galsworth
Summer with its balmy evenings and long talks with good friends, lemonades in hand, is over. Let’s set the groundwork for this new season and get our definitions in place, once again—the difference between visual and lean.
What is lean?
Technically speaking, lean is a predetermined set of…
Donald J. Wheeler
While we may tweak things in production, we rarely get permission to conduct formal experiments with an operating production line. Production’s job is to make product, whereas experiments are what they do in R&D. So how can we learn about an existing production process without rocking the boat…
Chad Kymal
Deadlines for ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 registration have appeared on the horizon. Although we have 24 months to get registered to these new standards, some related timelines are looming even closer, notably scheduling a recertification or surveillance audit.
Some organizations have…
Numerous industries need to measure the weight of goods at different stages of production and distribution. Accuracy, speed, and throughput rank high on their list. If you use outdated weighing systems, a number of challenges crop up that threaten safety, performance, and compliance with local…
Harish Jose
Kaizen is often translated as “continuous improvement” and identified as one of the core themes in lean. Today I’m pondering the question: Can kaizen ever be bad for an organization?
In order to go deeper on this question, first we have to define kaizen as a focused improvement activity. The…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
You might say what Henry Ford did for the automobile, GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi have done for the gas and steam turbine industry. Naturally, the tools and technicians of both sectors have had to evolve right along with the challenges of new technology and the ever-increasing…
Chip Bell
Francie Johnsen is my very favorite pharmacist. When the petite, redheaded bundle of energy first came to work at the Eckerd Pharmacy (now CVS) near my home, she encountered a store spirit painted plain vanilla. Employees were creating a completely memory-less experience. Nothing was wrong, mind…
Michelle LaBrosse
According to well-known business executive Don Tapscott, the technological development that will most affect the way we live in the next few decades is not the newest iPhone, or flying drones, or self-driving cars. It’s something many of us may not have heard of: blockchain technology.
Blockchain…
Joby George
Manufacturing has changed dramatically during the past several years. Where once original equipment manufacturers made products primarily within their own four walls, now those companies must manage a complex global supply chain. In an effort to support innovation, reach new markets, and reduce…
Bruce Hamilton
The following is inspired by The Teachings of Don Juan (Washington Square Press, reprint 1985), an anthropological novel from the 1960s written by Carlos Castaneda, chronicling his travels with Don Juan, a Yaqui shaman. To crudely paraphrase, according to Don Juan, the road to knowledge is first…
Eugene Daniell
Sponsored Content
If NASCAR teams had to choose a capitol city, Charlotte, North Carolina, would be the most likely. With so many teams clustered around this city and its celebrated racetrack, savvy specialty suppliers have moved to the region to help NASCAR teams build speed and reliability into…
Bob Emiliani
To this day, lean management has yet to enter the mainstream in business. It remains solidly on the fringe, despite great efforts by many people over many decades.
You almost never hear of lean management in the business press unless the article is written by an insider such as James P. Womack or…
Knowledge at Wharton
Nearly everyone finds it tough keeping the boss happy sometimes. But what if you had a steady stream of conflicting requests and competing deadlines coming simultaneously from two bosses or more? An increasing number of workers are finding themselves reporting to multiple bosses, experts say, and…
Quality Digest
Three special shows were broadcast LIVE from booths of our marketing partners at IMTS in Chicago. Each episode covered events of the show and demonstrations of our partners' latest products.
• Tues., Sept. 13: 3D Systems' Geomagic 3D Inspection Software for first-article and production inspection…
Nir Kshetri
It’s looking increasingly likely that computer hackers have in fact successfully attacked what had been the pinnacle of cybersecurity—the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Reports have emerged of claims by a hacking group called the Shadow Brokers that it had breached the network of, and…
Timothy Lozier
Current management regulations and standards stress the importance of making quality management a higher priority throughout all areas of operation. At Verse Solutions, we wanted to find out how quality managers are adjusting to that new mindset, and how they are using quality-based technology to…
Bruce Hamilton
Last weekend in the Nantucket Ferry terminal, I passed a defunct phone booth: an ornate wooden kiosk used 20 years ago to frame a pay phone, provide a modicum of privacy, and hold a phone book. It appeared that this particular phone booth had been re-purposed to hold a suggestion box, or perhaps…
It’s no surprise to many consumers that some retailers and brands think that packaging—although necessary—isn’t really something to invest a lot of time, money, or effort in.
Consider the box. Many would look at it as an inconsequential container. It’s the thing you must rip, cut, tear, or…
Jim Benson
Prioritization is stressful. We find ourselves prematurely making value decisions about what to pull and when (right now!).
Recently a client asked, “How can I prioritize my work when there is no clear priority? Everything seems equally important.”
This is a deeper issue than simply being…
Donald J. Wheeler
The question “Is this batch like the others?” is asked all over the world on a daily basis. It turns out that the process behavior chart provides a very effective answer for questions about the homogeneity of the product stream.
In World War II, Gen. Leslie Simon used the process behavior chart…
Scott A. Hindle
A t the end of part three of this four-part series on process capability, Alan was ready to identify a contact at the factory who could assist in providing some context around the collected data and the overall production process.
Discussion with Joe
Joe, working on the production team, was the…
Scott A. Hindle
Part two of this four-part series on process capability concluded with Alan just about to meet Sarah for a second time. He thought he was making good progress with his analysis of Product 874 data until he was asked to assess process capability, even though it can’t be assessed for an unstable…
