All News
On February 14, 1929, gunmen working for Al Capone disguised themselves as police officers, entered the warehouse of a competing gang, and shot seven of their rivals dead. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre is famous not only in the annals of gangland history, but also in the history of forensic…
(Visual Workplace: Byron Center, MI) -- Visual Workplace Inc. offers an extensive line of both standard and customizable personal protection equipment (PPE) signage to communicate safety requirements to visitors and new employees, and to reinforce safety standards to existing personnel.
Common…
The XXIII Olympic Winter Games are wrapping up this weekend (Feb. 25, 2018) in PyeongChang, South Korea. During the past two weeks, thousands of athletes competed on mountains, rinks, and tracks; the best of the best emerged with precious medals that they will cherish for the rest of their lives…
Tonianne DeMaria and I run the Personal Kanban, Modus Institute, and Modus Cooperandi Corp-o-plex pretty much duo-handed. There’s a lot of work. The rules of Personal Kanban apply to us, too. We are constantly experimenting with new ways to visualize our work and limit our work-in-process (WIP).…
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is home to one of the most sensitive machines in the world for measuring objects’ dimensions. Customers who rely on the instrument include the military, academia, instrument manufacturers, private industry calibration labs, and more.…
Manufacturing activities have strong ties to economic prosperity. Deloitte’s 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index states, “Nations and companies are striving to advance to the next technology frontier and raise their economic well-being.” It’s no surprise that the manufacturing sector is…
What differentiates a lean-thinking organization from a traditional one? Basically, the lean-thinking organization is grounded in the answers to two simple questions: “What do my customers value?” And, “What organization and work processes inside my company will most directly deliver that value?”…
Can companies rely on the results of one or two scientific studies to design a new industrial process or launch a new product? In at least one area of materials chemistry, the answer may be yes—but only 80 percent of the time.
The replicability of results from scientific studies has become a…
(ICEE: Galveston, TX) -- A new conference, titled “ISO 9001 and ISO 10018: Enterprise Engagement in Action,” will be held May 7–8, 2018, in Galveston, Texas, and will provide the first formal education program for professionals and organizations committed to implementing the quality management…
Let’s assume you’re a company scouting for vendors for a variety of business-critical IT projects. Every candidate you approach wants to scoop up as much of your business as possible. Should you try to find the best partner for each task, or look for a one-stop shop?
The theoretical advantages of…
Although many manufacturing organizations have held firm to traditional operational processes for generations, the time has come for transformational change. There is an ongoing shift in cultural expectations of how, when, and where work happens, and it is driven by consumer choice. Industry…
Cost of quality (CoQ) is certainly not a new topic. It was first described in 1956 by American quality control expert Armand V. Feigenbaum in a Harvard Business Review article. As you likely already know, CoQ consists of four categories: internal and external failures, and appraisal and prevention…
What must it be like to be Elon Musk? Here’s a guy who can successfully launch the world’s most powerful rocket into space, a feat hitherto reserved for nations with decent budgets. Since 2010 his commercial company, SpaceX, has been ferrying satellites to their permanent homes, and delivering…
When Tide and other detergent manufacturers developed colorful, convenient pods designed to be tossed into washing machines and dishwashers, they never expected teenagers would try to eat them. But what was dubbed the “Tide pod challenge” quickly went viral, with teens posting videos of themselves…
Flu season in the United States typically peaks in February, but this year’s outbreak is already one of the worst on record. As of Jan. 6, 2018, 20 children have died from the flu, and overall mortality caused by the virus is already double that of last year’s.
One reason the flu is so severe…
Flu season in the United States typically peaks in February, but this year’s outbreak is already one of the worst on record. As of Jan. 6, 2018, 20 children have died from the flu, and overall mortality caused by the virus is already double that of last year’s.
One reason the flu is so severe…
Every year, would-be suitors spend lots on cards, nice trinkets, flowers, and even chocolates, trying to win the attention of their sweetheart or crush. It can be a dangerous game of risk and chance, quite often resulting in disappointment for one or both parties.
This is, I believe, most likely…
I have written more than a 100 blog posts about leadership, strategy, and culture. Within that portfolio are several accounts of business reinvention and transformation. Yet it was only a few months ago that I composed my first post on another type of reinvention: personal reinvention. My own. …
Recent FDA warning letters indicate that many drug manufacturers do not have their manufacturing in a state of current good manufacturing practices (CGMPs) control. During the first half of 2017, the FDA cited adulterated products and insanitary conditions as the two most common violations in drug…
Our Feb. 9, 2018, episode of QDL looked at electronic notes, electronic privacy, smart electronic device, and... wow... have we taken technology too far?
“Study Shows Doctors Record Better Notes After Using Best-Practices Program”
Shortcuts to electronic note taking, such as autofill and copy…
Music lovers will likely know Spotify, a music streaming service that has become famous for curating tunes based on its users’ preferences. Back in 2013, Spotify had a personalized news feed called Discover that gathered together artists, album reviews, new releases, recommendations, and playlists…
It’s easy enough to make a visual device—or borrow an idea for one from something you saw in a book or at another workplace. Reproducing other people’s ideas (as long as you say thank you) is a positive, and it can keep you going for a while. But not for very long.
Unless you are a natural-born…
There’s much ado about blockchain, and still plenty ado about the internet of things (IoT). But are these two technology phenomena complementary? Both suffer from significant barriers such as scale, market fragmentation, costs, and regulatory issues. But if the past is prologue, technological…
Within the advanced manufacturing industry there will always be a race to reduce speed and cost while maintaining quality. To this end, the industry’s landscape continues to quickly change as new technologies enter the market, new strategies are adopted, and consumer preferences evolve. Below are…
Employers have a stake in their staff’s health. It’s not just a matter of keeping health insurance premiums in check which is a consideration in countries without universal healthcare. It’s also about maximizing employee engagement and productivity, and even happiness.
Promoting health habits is…
