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(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence recently announced the release of BLAZE 600A, a fully automated 3D optical measurement system designed for use with robotic installations on the shop floor.
Based on Hexagon’s proven white-light scanner…
(Capture 3D: Corneilius, NC) -- Capture 3D, the exclusive North American partner of GOM GmbH industrial 3D metrology systems, announces the expansion of its North Carolina office to a new larger facility. The new address is 11034 Bailey Road, Cornelius, NC 28031. The move will allow the business to…
(API: Rockville, MD) -- Automated Precision Inc. (API) announced that it has opened a new services facility in Plano, Texas, to accommodate growing demand for contract services in the area’s manufacturing industries. The new location will allow API to strengthen its ability to provide affordable…
(Creaform: Lévis, PQ) -- Creaform, a worldwide leader in accurate portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, has launched the CUBE-R, a new generation of complete turnkey automated dimensional inspection solution. The new optical 3D measuring machine capitalizes on the MetraSCAN 3D…
(Innovmetric: Quebec, QC) -- InnovMetric Software Inc., the leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, today launched the 2018 release of PolyWorks at the annual PolyWorks Conference USA event. This latest major release of the company’s universal 3D metrology software platform…
The Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) has long been revered by measurement professionals for its original technical papers and presentations covering current and future industry trends. This year, the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) has outdone itself with its extensive slate of 28…
This year, the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) is proud to provide attendees at the Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) with many new and exciting experiences, starting with a brand-new website featuring new information regarding the show and a comprehensive agenda, including the…
The importance of supply chain solutions relative to a company’s efforts to maintain and improve quality are almost impossible to underplay. When enacting quality improvement programs, any company would do well to examine its supply chain model and processes as a fundamental means of improving…
Traditional corporate hierarchies tend to rely on static design. There’s the CEO at the top, followed by directors and managers. Red tape and inefficient processes can bog down decisions.
Dynamic work design is a more effective method of managing workflow, especially intellectual work, says MIT…
Volatile markets, challenging consumer demands, and the technological disruptions resulting from digitization and Industry 4.0 are producing unprecedented rates of change. In response, companies have worked to increase organizational agility, hoping to foster innovation and shorten go-to-market…
You run a manufacturing business, so you know how it goes. The cost of doing business and manufacturing product never decreases. You know that your revenue must increase just to keep up. You also know that merely maintaining your revenue status quo will only ensure you get your lunch eaten by…
Last month I joined Eric Buhrens, CEO at Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), to host a leadership team from Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center. They were on a study mission to many of Boston’s fine hospitals and were winding up their week with a visit to LEI. Early in the discussion, one of our guests…
Equipment downtime gets expensive fast in automotive and aerospace manufacturing, a risk many companies try to mitigate by storing spare parts onsite. A machine breaks down, haul out the parts, and hopefully you’re back in business with minimal disruption.
The problem is, manufacturers get so…
Manufacturing Day 2018 to Focus on Biggest Problem Manufacturers Face: A Shortage of Skilled Workers
(Manufacturing Institute: Washington, D.C.) -- The National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Manufacturing Institute has announced that Manufacturing Day (MFG) 2018 will occur on Friday, October 5, with a record-breaking turnout expected. This year, MFG Day will focus on one of the biggest…
Supply chains’ last-mile delivery has become the new Pony Express. Like that famous but short-lived courier service, the global supply chain is focused on completing the final segment between supplier and customer—which in reality is anywhere between six and nine miles, according to a recent study—…
Much like your attic, garage or basement, the NIST archives are home to quite a number of arcane objects of unclear origin and purpose. We periodically collect these victims of misplaced paperwork and present them in a series we call “Unidentified Museum Objects.” We invite you to put on your…
Boeing is demanding its suppliers reduce their prices by 10 percent, according to a February 2018 article published in Bloomberg Businessweek. It’s a hard pill for many to swallow, given that that these cuts are on top of the roughly 15-percent cuts demanded in 2012, when the company launched its…
On the May 4 episode of QDL, we discovered that love is a key component to winning a Baldrige Award, learned how to be more efficient at work, and discussed how great art helps us to really see our processes. Here is an up-close look:
“Undersecretary of Commerce and NIST Director Walter Copan…
Unily is a leading digital workplace platform designed by BrightStarr to improve engagement, productivity, and efficiency for global enterprises. Unily is also a SaaS solution. That is, it’s served up via the cloud. Meaning that—with more than a million users, including the likes of Shell, Hershey’…
A couple of weeks ago I posed the question, “Are you overproducing improvements?” and compared a typical improvement “blitz” with a large monument machine that produces in large batches.
I’d like to dive a little deeper into some of the paradoxes and implications of 1:1 flow of anything,…
I have been writing about kaizen a lot recently. It is a simple idea: change for the better. Generally, kaizen stands for small incremental improvements. Here I’m going to look at what is the best kind of kaizen.
The twist in the dumpling
A few posts back, I talked about the order for kaizen,…
(AuditComply: Belfast, Ireland) -- AuditComply has announced the ongoing use of its AuditComply platform by KDD, a Kuwait-based company. Specializing in the production and distribution of 125 dairy products, KDD is committed to quality and excellence in all that it does. KDD’s strong focus on…
Becoming a process-focused organization requires a sustained effort, and for most industrial and service organizations that is a difficult task. Failure to improve the performance of your processes leads to a failure to improve the organization and results in improperly managing the business.
All…
The new automotive quality management system (QMS), IATF 16949:2016, was released in October 2016, and it officially went into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, along with revisions to IATF Rules for Achieving and Maintaining IATF Recognition, Fifth Edition. Starting Oct. 1, 2017, all automotive QMS audits…
Mean time between failures (MTBF) is a symptom of a bigger problem. It’s possibly a lack of interest in reliability (which I doubt is the case). Or it’s a bit of fear of reliability.
Many shy away from the statistics involved. Some simply don’t want to know the currently unknown. It could be the…
