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In most healthcare settings, workers attend weekly, monthly, or quarterly meetings where performances are reported, analyzed, and compared to goals in an effort to identify trends. Reports often consist of month-to-month comparisons with “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” icons in the margins, as well…
Experienced leaders know that failure is not necessarily a negative and can lead to both individual and organizational learning. We try to embrace failure and create a culture where appropriate failure is accepted as long as it’s learned from, giving our team members the space and support to fail.…
(Productivity Press: New York) -- How to Coach for Creativity and Service Excellence: A Lean Coaching Workbook, by Karyn Ross (Productivity Press, 2019), is a self-contained workbook, in which the reader completes 21 days of practical exercises and activities focused on creativity, lean, and…
(CMS: Weatherford, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) announces registration is open for its annual Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) held July 22–26, 2019, at Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.
This landmark occasion celebrates the conference that has…
Today I’m looking at the profound phrase of Canadian philosopher and a media theorist Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message.”
McLuhan noted that: “Each medium, independent of the content it mediates, has its own intrinsic effects, which are its unique message.... The message of any medium…
In just five short months, two Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners crashed, killing a total of 346 passengers and crew members. Both crashes occurred shortly after takeoff, and the similarities between the two catastrophes raised fundamental questions about the aircraft’s safety. It was grounded by nation…
Born to a Dalit family, Megha was raised in Southwest India and learned English at her convent school. As a child, she aspired to be a fashion designer or a cardiologist, but her parents insisted that she become an IT engineer. After four years of higher education, Megha found a job in the booming…
Born to a Dalit family, Megha was raised in Southwest India and learned English at her convent school. As a child, she aspired to be a fashion designer or a cardiologist, but her parents insisted that she become an IT engineer. After four years of higher education, Megha found a job in the booming…
In a recent interview for my new book, Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title (Motivational Press, 2018), I was asked to share an embarrassing moment I’d had on stage. My mind instantly flashed back to Beijing and a session I’d had 15 years ago.
It was 2003, and China was celebrating the year of the…
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Responsible manufacturing has become an obligation to the environment and to society itself, enforced primarily by customer perspective and governmental regulations on environmental issues. This is mainly driven by the escalating deterioration of the environment, such…
You arrive at work one morning, and there are FDA inspectors sitting in your waiting area. If you are lucky, you may be notified ahead of time that they’re coming, but otherwise, the US. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is fully within its rights to show up unannounced at any time.
Because of…
Within maintenance management, the term MTBF (mean time between failures) is the most important key performance indicator after physical availability.
Unlike MTTF (mean time to failure), which relates directly to available equipment time, MTBF also adds up the time spent inside a repair. That is,…
(Q-Mark: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) -- Q-Mark is now offering precision diamond styli in nearly any standard thread size and configuration. Diamond styli are an excellent choice for demanding applications. Diamond sphere performance is unmatched when measuring hard, abrasive, or very soft surfaces…
Life science companies are no strangers to data, so it would be easy to assume they are adept at making innovative use of huge amounts. Not necessarily. A tradition of rigorous scientific method and clinical trial hasn’t prepared them for the shifting inundation of big data or all its baffling…
For centuries, medical procedures, prescriptions, and other medical interventions have been based largely on experience—what is known about a set of symptoms. The doctor looks at those symptoms, tests you in various ways (blood tests, X-rays, MRIs), and interprets the results based on experience…
Competition among ride-sharing companies is intensifying in Southeast Asia, a region where the growth of smartphone use is among the fastest in the world, and the number of smartphone owners could exceed 400 million by 2020.
Since Uber, the first car-hailing app, began disrupting taxi and…
The term “set up to succeed” means people have been given most of what they need to do their job well.
Good bosses do more than just set goals and give assignments; they should see themselves as responsible for ensuring that good work happens (see Lefferts Law of Management). First, they think…
New software solutions, designed to help companies digitalize their supply chains, are improving methods of carrying out field work. Transparency of productivity is becoming the driving force of quality optimization. By increasing oversight and collaboration, end-to-end digitalization solutions…
Robots have been a part of industry longer than you might think. The patent for the first industrial robot, Unimate, was granted in 1961. While robots were sometimes utilized by larger manufacturers, such as automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), they were rarely an option for small…
Many people work on their goals by engaging in positive actions—hitting the gym, planning a trip, or taking guitar lessons. But they may be overlooking one of the most important tools for effecting change: the power of thought.
Harvard Business School professor emeritus Gerald Zaltman recommends…
I love standards, and whether you know it, you love standards, too. For example, let’s say a bulb in your lamp goes bad. You drive down to the local hardware store, buy a bulb, come back home, change out the bulb, plug the lamp back in, and... it lights up. You just benefited from at least seven U.…
Last year I had a short stay at one of Boston’s best hospitals. Although I will be forever grateful for the excellent treatment I received while in their care, I wondered about a few systems that sat directly in front of my bed. So, I took a picture to share later. Here is what I saw.
1. The…
In 2013, thousands of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland bought, prepared—and ate—beef lasagna, hamburgers, and frozen dinners. What they didn’t know is what they were actually putting in their mouths.
Although a burger is only required by law in that region to contain 47-percent…
In 2013, thousands of consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland bought, prepared—and ate—beef lasagna, hamburgers, and frozen dinners. What they didn’t know is what they were actually putting in their mouths.
Although a burger is only required by law in that region to contain 47-percent…
Imagine building a brand over decades. Hundreds of millions of dollars invested in design and development. Sponsorships with celebrity athletes and professional and college teams. Leading-edge marketing making your company one of the top 20 brands in the world. It only takes one incident to unravel…