All Features
Gleb Tsipursky
New research provides a compelling analysis of the repercussions of return-to-office (RTO) policies on employee turnover, hiring, and the overall talent pool within major corporations. Using data from more than 3 million LinkedIn profiles, Mark Ma, at the University of Pittsburgh, along with other…
Sergey Sukhovey
The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 was the consequence of a long-standing problem: the fragility of aging infrastructure. As reconstruction gets underway on an estimated four-year timeline, the disaster reflects the urgent need for better bridge inspection nationwide…
Nick Haase
PharmaNZ is a family-owned nutraceutical company that manufactures health supplements for the world’s leading brands. The company produces more than 250 tonnes of powder-blend products, 10 million tablets, and 70 million hard-shell capsules annually for clients worldwide. The company, founded by…
Adam Grabowski
Cash is king for manufacturers, from the owner down to the machine operators. If you visit any manufacturer, you’ll see that most have a keen eye on how everything is being used. Machines are generally only running if they are making parts; employees are typically only working if orders are coming…
Megan King
When first responders need to rescue people from an earthquake-ravaged home, they need real-time information. If law enforcement officers are looking for a shooter in a crowded building, they must learn everything they can about the scene.
Emergency responders need to know where people are and…
Tara Fortier
If you’ve heard or read about quantum mechanics, you may have seen it described as “weird.” Even the great Albert Einstein—one of the founders of quantum mechanics—called certain aspects of the theory “spooky.”
With its wave-like particles and particle-like waves, quantum mechanics certainly…
Gleb Tsipursky
You open your email and your stress level spikes: It’s another request titled “Can I work from home tomorrow?” It’s one of several you received in the last month—a relentless march of requests for remote work that ask for one-off exceptions to your policy.
So, what’s the deal? This constant…
Siemens USA
Since the early 1980s, the automotive industry has used hydraulically actuated (servo-hydraulic) test systems to simulate operating speeds and road conditions for testing OEM components and fully assembled vehicles. These systems have helped unlock vast improvements in the quality, safety, and…
Yushiro Kato
Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining momentum across a vast array of fields. Nearly everyone has tried or actively uses a form of AI, whether for personal or professional purposes. Many are finding benefits of the technology in industries that use large amounts of data that must be analyzed,…
Mike Figliuolo
You are the only one who can protect your time and your interests. You have to establish the “line” you’re not willing to cross or allow others to cross. Whether it’s the number of hours you work, the work you do (and the work others do), or the physical layout of your workspace, there are things…
Peter Beaucage
Every time you squeeze toothpaste onto your toothbrush, spray perfume on your skin, or swallow a pill, you’re using the result of a carefully crafted recipe made in a lab. These are called formulations.
Formulations aren’t just simple mixtures—they’re complex arrangements of ingredients designed…
Donald J. Wheeler
In last month’s article, “ANOVA and the Process Behavior Chart,” we saw how both techniques use the same basic comparison to answer completely different questions. Here, we’ll look at a case history where both techniques were used.
A physical property of a mass-produced item was important to its…
Michael Sharp
Understanding the inner workings of your industrial artificial intelligence (IAI) system is crucial if you want it to add measurable value to your manufacturing operations. Here, we’ll dig into one important aspect of every AI: the inputs, aka your data. Including the right type and the right…
Matt Tweedy
In global manufacturing, two key goals—intertwined yet distinct—heavily dominate the industry’s agenda: addressing the growing demand for environmentally sustainable practices, and optimizing operational efficiency. With these priorities in mind, companies are seeking multifaceted solutions that…
Alfredo Romero
Many marketing professionals are drawn to their field because they consider themselves more right-brained (creative) than left-brained (analytical). It’s true that success in marketing often requires imagination, creativity, and an emotional appeal to the target audience. In fact, many college…
NIST
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new thermometer using atoms boosted to such high energy levels that they are 1,000 times larger than normal. By monitoring how these giant “Rydberg” atoms interact with heat in their environment, researchers can…
Steven Garner
In the ever-changing landscape of business management, the concept of quality has undergone significant transformations. What began as a focus on maintaining standards such as ISO 9001 and AS9100 is evolving into a more holistic approach encompassing organizational excellence. Tom Taormina’s book…
Theodore Kinni
There’s an old saw—cribbed from Plato and popularized by Douglas Adams—that those most interested in leading others are least suited to the task. That’s not entirely accurate, yet new research has found a grain of truth in this idea: Many leaders have plenty of ambition to lead, but that’s no…
Gleb Tsipursky
The pandemic forced leaders to reconcile with the need for effective hybrid and remote team management strategies, including performance evaluations. Research has shown the benefits of moving away from large-scale quarterly or annual performance reviews. Instead, successful organizations favor…
Cindy Mielke
Businesses today have more options than ever before regarding where and how they recruit new talent. Thanks to new technologies and a general shift in working cultures, organizations can now access a much wider talent pool when hiring full-time remote employees.
However, with this added hiring…
Sabine Terrasi
It creates a warm and inviting atmosphere. Its natural grain and color tones have a lively effect and add character to a room. We are talking about classic wood flooring—usually laminate, and optionally with a click system for easy installation.
Scheucher Holzindustrie GmbH, from Mettersdorf,…
Angie Basiouny
Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli is routinely asked to predict the future of work. His expert answer is always the same: “The future looks like the past.”
He’s not trying to be cryptic. It’s just that the big changes ushered in by the pandemic five years ago are still unfolding—remote…
Stephanie Ojeda
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s inspections and subsequent actions all come down to product quality. Quality system failures result in noncompliances that FDA inspectors target during their inspections. If there is any doubt that a manufacturer’s product is safe and effective, it is the…
Akhilesh Gulati
Paul was sitting in his office staring at production numbers from the past quarter. Despite having a great team, strong customer demand, and state-of-the-art equipment, the factory’s performance wasn’t meeting expectations. There was a bottleneck in the assembly line—a critical chokepoint that was…
Anne Trafton
For many industrial processes, the typical way to separate gases, liquids, or ions is with heat, using slight differences in boiling points to purify mixtures. These thermal processes account for roughly 10% of the energy use in the United States.
MIT chemical engineer Zachary Smith wants to…
