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We [Alan Rudolph and Raymond Goodrich] are both biotechnology researchers and are currently seeking to repurpose an existing medical manufacturing platform to quickly develop a vaccine candidate for Covid-19.
This process is used for the treatment of blood products such as plasma, platelets, and…
We [Alan Rudolph and Raymond Goodrich] are both biotechnology researchers and are currently seeking to repurpose an existing medical manufacturing platform to quickly develop a vaccine candidate for Covid-19.
This process is used for the treatment of blood products such as plasma, platelets, and…
(MIT News: Cambridge, MA) -- Many MIT students, like their beaver mascot, are well-known for engineering skills, industrious habits, and for creating some amazing things late into the night. So, an ambitious project to build a 1:1 scale replica of MIT in Minecraft may come as no surprise. “As MIT…
F unction often relates to form, and this is particularly true within the world of manufacturing. Rigorous quality assessment procedures ensure that components are manufactured according to their precise specifications before being assembled into the fully functioning whole. These assessments might…
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…
Lean production of multiple products is built on the assumption that the process aim can be properly set for each short production run. This article will describe how to set the process aim so that your short production runs can be on target.
In a lean production environment, without a bank of in-…
Even in the midst of the pandemic, product safety and quality remain critical. For many manufacturers, complex quality management systems and procedures stand in the way of agile responses and effective operational optimization. Cloud technology provides the means to dramatically simplify quality…
(Marposs: Auburn Hills, Michigan) -- Marposs, a world leader in measurement and process monitoring technologies, has announced the availability of its Automatic Die Match (ADM) option, which automatically controls the die match in form or thread rolling if the dies are not aligned, as an option on…
The labor market is changing rapidly with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many organizations are laying off almost all of their workers, while others are considering which workers to lay off, which to furlough, and which to keep. Alternatively, some are expanding their labor forces.
When…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The ASQ Inspection Division has announced the recipients of the 2020 H. James Harrington Scholarship.
This fund scholarship was created to help ASQ division members, their family or friends defray the costs associated with college expenses. Scholarship funds are dispersed to…
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
As Covid-19 cases fill the hospitals, among the sickest and most likely to die are those whose bodies react in a signature, catastrophic way. Immune cells flood and attack the lungs they should be protecting. Blood vessels leak; the blood…
This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
As Covid-19 cases fill the hospitals, among the sickest and most likely to die are those whose bodies react in a signature, catastrophic way. Immune cells flood and attack the lungs they should be protecting. Blood vessels leak; the blood…
Story update 5/6/2020: The charts and some data have been updated to reflect the data available on the date this article was published.
During the Covid-19 stay-at-home order in Colorado, I've become increasingly frustrated by Covid-19 charts. Most of what I see are cumulative column charts, which…
The amount of risk that one is exposed to when running a business is vast. Some risks may result in severe legal or financial trouble or cause the business to shut down. Mitigating these risks is a major aspect of successfully running a business.
Every aspect of a business has certain risk factors…
(Harrington Management Systems: Los Gatos, CA) -- H. James Harrington and William S. Ruggles have released their book Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams.
“We believe this book can be very valuable to you and your organization,” say the authors. “One of the highest failure rates…
ISO 9001 certifications have seen a decline during the past two years, per data from ISO. Some say the standard has gotten too complicated with the introduction of organizational context, risk-based thinking, and the removal of mandatory documented procedures. Even a few of QMII’s clients have…
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…
Business continuity is a relatively simple idea. Plan ahead so you can keep your business successful during times of difficulty. Key management transitions, loss of a major customer, the impact of a lawsuit, perhaps a fire or an earthquake. But what if that “difficulty” is a global public health…
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…
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…
We are all familiar with flash memory storage devices, the inexpensive “thumb” drives that you stick into your laptop to store and transfer data. However, there are much more rugged industrial flash drives that perform mission-critical storage functions built into systems that you rely on almost…
Marketing is all about having a clear vision. To many, that means understanding what you want to see happen, and how you plan to accomplish it.
As important as that is, however, a different and much more imperative vision must come first: the vision of your potential customers and their perception…
Corporate boards across Europe are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic in three ways. For some, it’s business as usual. “Crisis is the business of the CEO; the board does not need to adjust its workings,” the chair of one such board told me. Other boards are going in the opposite direction,…
The brain is one of our most vulnerable organs, as soft as the softest tofu. Brain implants, on the other hand, are typically made from metal and other rigid materials that, over time, can cause inflammation and the buildup of scar tissue.
MIT engineers are working on developing soft, flexible…
(Olympus: Waltham, MA) -- With similar functionality as a standard videoscope insertion tube, the IPLEX NX working channel scope is a useful backup while offering the versatility to detect and remove foreign object debris (FOD).
A versatile tool for foreign object debris (FOD) and visual…
