All Features
Ben P. Stein
NIST is unique as the national measurement science institute. We are the U.S. agency responsible for maintaining measurement standards, from the second to the kilogram.
We help ensure that these units of measure are consistent across our watches and our grocery scales. But this isn’t as…
Mike Figliuolo
Every day there’s a new pile of “experts” cropping up on every subject imaginable. The key to differentiating genuine experts from frauds is to ask the right questions.
Warning: This post is a bit of a rant (but it does have a story and some practical advice). How many new experts are there today…
Gleb Tsipursky
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, a subtle yet profound shift is taking place in office dynamics, particularly as we welcome back teams that have been dispersed by the necessity of remote work.
Managers find themselves at the helm of this transformation, charged with the critical…
Angie Basiouny
Hospital patients rate their pain on a scale of 1–10. Teachers grade on a curve. Sports fans spend hours debating stats on their favorite teams. Even the most ardent language lover can’t deny the power of numbers to convey information, especially when choices need to be made.
A new study from…
Mike Figliuolo
When it comes to networking, are you a squirrel or a grasshopper? From what I can tell, there are loads of grasshoppers out there but very few squirrels.
You folks know that fable about the squirrel and the grasshopper, right?
The squirrel works his butt off all summer fortifying his little tree…
4C Consulting
ISO 27001 is a globally recognized standard for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system (ISMS). Successfully implementing ISO 27001 can provide tremendous benefits, such as ensuring data security, building trust with customers, and meeting…
Silas Fulsom
In today’s highly competitive global markets, lean manufacturing is no longer something that’s nice to have—it’s a way of life. You can either reduce costs, simplify operations, and improve productivity on a continual basis—or you can lose business to competitors that do.
Lean manufacturing starts…
George Schuetz
The need for long-range height measurements has been around since the principles of layout work became a fundamental requirement in machine shops.
The first step in the manufacturing process is to lay out a piece by transferring a design or pattern to a workpiece. This is performed in almost all…
Gleb Tsipursky
Generative AI is revolutionizing industries, from drafting legal contracts to crafting personalized marketing campaigns with unmatched speed and precision. Yet this transformative power comes with challenges: fears of job loss, concerns about algorithmic bias, and the phenomenon of “hallucinations…
Megan Wallin-Kerth
It’s 2024, and the age of automation has largely taken over our phones, computers, and businesses. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, you understand. It gives us the ability to spend time and money elsewhere—from investing in staff to spending more time on innovating technology rather than whittling…
William A. Levinson
The ongoing relevance of the quality profession requires evolution and adaptation to meet the needs of the 21st century. Remember, the quality profession originated with the need for inspection to prevent poor quality from reaching customers; this was before it evolved to include metrology,…
Akhilesh Gulati
It was another busy morning at the monthly operations meeting. Lindsay, the operations manager at TechElectronics, a growing manufacturer of consumer electronics, called the meeting to order. As usual, they started with the routine updates—inventory levels, production schedules, and customer…
Etienne Nichols
Compliance with industry regulations and standards is a fundamental part of medtech. Without proper medical device compliance, companies risk patient harm, litigation, and reputational damage.
Fortunately, compliance with medical device regulations and standards is not an impossible task. A…
Mike Figliuolo
Everyone has goals these days. The one that causes more disconnects than any other is a sales goal. It’s a number to hit (either units or dollars or both—the better ones are actually measured in profit dollars rather than revenue dollars). They’re problematic because by their very nature they get a…
Marian Merritt
Cybersecurity is a fast-growing field with a constant need for skilled professionals. But unlike other professions—like medicine or aviation—there’s no clear-cut pathway to qualifying for cybersecurity positions. For employers and job seekers alike, this can make the journey to building a team (or…
Victoria Alestra
In regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food manufacturing, compliance is crucial for operational excellence. A validated quality management system (QMS) is key to maintaining this compliance. Let’s explore how QMS software streamlines validation and ensures regulatory…
ISO
A customer calls asking for details about how they are registered in your company’s database so they can make sure their information is updated. You get a phone call from a business partner who needs to contact your colleague and asks you to check her calendar to see when she’s free. Although in…
Mike Figliuolo
As leaders, we say we want our people to be empowered to go out and make decisions. We say we’re OK with them making mistakes, and we’ll still support them making decisions on their own. But not really.
I’m lucky to have a huge leadership lab in the form of the SmartBrief on Leadership weekly…
Michael Sharp
Welcome knowledge seeker! Do you feel dazzled and awed by the great potential of artificial intelligence (AI)? Perhaps hesitant or lost when terms like convolution, deep learning, or autoencoder are thrown around? Well, fear not, for you’ve come to just the right place. You don’t need to be a…
Brett Farmiloe
Struggling with underperforming team members while trying to maintain a positive work environment? To help navigate this delicate situation, we’ve turned to insights from CEOs and human resources managers.
We’ll explore six effective strategies HR leaders use to support and guide underperforming…
ISO
From small family-run companies to tech giants, the business world is changing at an unrelenting pace. Amid a constantly evolving economic landscape and sometimes dizzying technological advances, one thing remains constant: the need to maintain the highest level of quality.
Whether manufacturing a…
Donald J. Wheeler
Managers are commonly fed a diet of report-card data. These data have usually been aggregated into summaries, averages, and totals to characterize the big picture. As useful as such summaries can be, they can also be an obstacle to an effective analysis. Here, we’ll learn how to avoid this obstacle…
George Schuetz
Whether you’re a small machine shop or a large multimillion-dollar manufacturing giant, there’s no doubt you use dimensional gauges to maintain the standards for quality in your production.
The accuracy of these dimensional measuring instruments must be periodically checked to ensure that they’re…
Mike Figliuolo
We’re constantly seeking ways to both improve our business but save money at the same time. That can lead to the dangerous dynamic of “I’ll do it myself.”
Doing more with less can turn us into idiots. Our hubris and arrogance puts our idiocy into action. Sorry—I got a little ranty right out of the…
George Thuo
Data breaches and cyberattacks are things that small to medium-size manufacturers think won’t happen to them. Yet, according to the Verizon 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 43% of all cyberattacks are conducted against small businesses.
If that doesn’t grab your attention, consider this…
