All Features
Mark Rosenthal
Training Within Industry (TWI) job instruction is built around a four-step process titled “How to Instruct.”
Steps two and three are the core of the process: • Present the operation • Try out performance
I want to discuss step three: Try out performance
Teaching back as learning
All too often I…
Bruce Hamilton
Most lean folks use 5 Whys daily to problem solve, but relatively few are familiar with a clever problem-solving device developed 30 years ago by Deming Prize winner Ryuji Fukuda, called the why-not diagram.
Because objection is a natural human response to new ideas, Fukuda created the why-not…
Donald J. Wheeler, Al Pfadt
Each day we receive data that seek to quantify the Covid-19 pandemic. These daily values tell us how things have changed from yesterday, and give us the current totals, but they are difficult to understand simply because they are only a small piece of the puzzle. And like pieces of a puzzle, data…
Knowledge at Wharton
When the Mosaic browser, with its consumer-friendly interface, was released to the world in 1993, most had no idea how radically this first foray into the internet era would transform our lives, both personally and professionally. As humans, we are generally poor at detecting and acting on early…
Eric Stoop
According to the National Safety Council, the rate of preventable workplace fatalities per 100,000 workers has flattened or risen slightly since 2009 after decades of steady improvement in occupational safety.
Companies conducting layered process audits (LPAs) can help get the United States get…
Bruce Hamilton
Football is a tough sport, tougher than most who play it. Almost everyone who plays will eventually sustain at least a minor injury. It certainly took a toll on my body. At 15, I broke my leg in two places during a scrimmage and was out for the season. Then, another season passed me by when, as a…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
Yes, you really do have a secret superpower, although it might be better described as a hidden superpower since you’re probably not aware of it, which means you’re not using it. Will this superpower get you in the next Marvel Avengers movie? Probably not, but it might help you write it.
This…
Sensei Friedrich Fachidiot
Mea culpa! I have a reputation for mercilessly bashing management, but I’ve finally come to realize that I owe executives an apology.
As I have been constantly reminded in my career, these are very busy, very bright people. This column is a peace offering of my unique, executive quality-…
Jesse Allred
Imagine a manufacturing facility prioritizing cleanliness and organization—aisles are kept clear, equipment is well maintained, the plant floor is regularly cleaned, operators can easily locate tools, and materials are always stored in the right place. All employees contribute to managing work…
Knowledge at Wharton
Companies and societies are at the precipice of rebuilding their foundations to compete in an age of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). Yet, in the real economy—or in the world outside the tech companies—I see more struggle than success in making advanced…
Gwendolyn Galsworth
In a recent article I discussed the traditional 5S audit, shared a set of reservations, and offered some remedies—“The Five Tweaks,” as I called them. Remedies are important because most of you have a vested interest in continuing regular audits but want them to be successful and more valued. The…
Ben Aston
A large portion of a digital project manager’s job is making sure the right parts of the project are being worked on. Projects need to be prioritized. Tasks within projects need to be prioritized, too.
Plan View’s Project and Portfolio Management Landscape Report found that prioritization was…
Lisa Cohen
A recent study showing that data entry is one the most redundant and hated workplace tasks raises questions about why, in the age of artificial intelligence, data mining, and smart technologies, this task is still being done manually.
Is there any way it could be less despised?
My ongoing…
Jackie Mader
Walk into any K-5 classroom in Illinois’ Rockford Public Schools, and there’s one thing you’re guaranteed to see: kids playing with Legos. Although it may look like unstructured free time, kids in Rockford are actually hard at work when the Legos are out—building historical homes, constructing…
Matthew Hora
When her college started requiring students to complete an internship in order to graduate, it created a serious dilemma for Janelle.
“I wouldn’t be able to do classes, do the internship, and work to make money—which is kind of important because I’m basically just paying for school as I can,”…
Christine Schaefer
Robert Rouzer is retired, but he may be busier than ever as a Baldrige volunteer. In recent years, Rouzer has served not only as a Baldrige examiner for the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, but also as a state-level examiner for two Baldrige-based award programs that are part of the…
Gwendolyn Galsworth
Two of my articles (the first regarding standards, standardization, and standard work; and the second on visual standards) drew a lot of response. Readers were kind enough to share their thoughts and definitions. Some offered new terms to include in the mix: standardized work and visual standard…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
At the University of California at San Diego, lean concepts have taken hold. Along with its process improvement curriculum, the university applies what it teaches through initiatives around campus. Projects both complex and simple tackle the snags, waste, and bottlenecks of academic life. Students…
Marcia Reynolds
‘I can handle when they talk back to me,” the HR director said. “But when they roll their eyes, it just gets under my skin.”
“I know,” said the training manager. “I have an intern who does amazing work, but when I try to give him some direction, the eye-roll makes me explain myself far more than I…
Benjamin Kessler
It’s generally accepted that large organizations, for a host of structural and cultural reasons, are at a disadvantage when it comes to innovation. Less agreed upon is why their employees outside of R&D should care. Can’t acquisitions and partnerships make up the creative deficit?
Think again…
Gleb Tsipursky
In the context of our increasingly disrupted, globalizing, and multicultural world, quality leaders greatly appreciate the security and comfort of clear-cut strategic plans for the future. After all, following our in-the-moment intuitions frequently leads to business disasters, and strategic plans…
Nadia Naffi, Ann-Louise Davidson, Houda Jawhar
Today, the survival of many organizations depends on their plans to leverage cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to transform their workplaces into augmented environments.
A recent IBM study found that, as a result of AI and intelligent automation, 120 million workers will need…
Davis Balestracci
Editor’s note: The following browsable offering from Davis Balestracci represents a good chunk of his knowledge base. If you’re looking for improvement ideas, motivation, or a swift kick in the pants for yourself or your team, you’ll find them in this collection of his most popular columns.
In the…
William A. Levinson
The Automotive Industry Action Group’s (AIAG’s) and German Association of the Automotive Industry’s (VDA’s) new Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Handbook (AIAG, 2019) offers significant advances over FMEA as practiced 15 or 20 years ago.1 The publication is definitely worth buying because the new…
Steve Yacovelli
Remember in The Wizard of Oz how the Cowardly Lion, when he finally got to see the wizard, was like, “What? I already had courage? WTH?” It was kind of not cool that the wizard made the poor guy go all the way through that drama, only to say, “That gift you want? You already got it!” Well,…
