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Outsourced solutions are some of the simplest for the business improvement analyst and the biggest nightmares for the process improvement analyst. They are simple for the business improvement analyst because, on the surface, outsourcing expertise proves to be a cost-effective way to improve upon a…
Bob was an outside salesman in from the field for a sales meeting at the plant. We asked him to stop by to participate with a problem-solving team assigned to one of his customers, ABC Co. We’d tried everything, so we thought, to correct a defect in a product that we produced for ABC.
The product…
If you’ve answered the question above with, “Absolutely yes, I am a very humble leader,” you probably are not.
But don’t get me wrong: Humility should not be a substitute for confidence. In fact, perhaps the two greatest assets a lean leader, change agent, innovation pioneer, or a continuous…
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), part of the United Kingdom’s National Measurement Office, has developed a new range of 3D standards for verifying freeform coordinate measurement machines (CMMs). The standards allow the verification of portable and fixed noncontact coordinate measuring…
American management has a long-established industrialized mindset in service industries. The trend started in post-WWII when the problem being solved in manufacturing was how to quickly provide products to a world that could only turn to the United States. This was because the competition (i.e.,…
Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank has named four organizations as recipients of the 2012 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement, and visionary leadership. The winners in this, the 25th anniversary…
Cédric Touchette, holder of the Guinness record for fastest speed on a gravity-powered street luge (157.41 kmh/97.81 mph) decided to take up a new challenge: pass the symbolic mark of 100 mph, with no engine. Among the other thrill seekers interested in this challenge was Louis-Étienne Bouchard-…
When NASA engineers asked, “Could Mars have once harbored life?” and set out to investigate by launching the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, PQ Systems was in the background, not only cheering on their efforts, but also contributing indirectly to the mission through its relationship with…
It can be tempting for foreign players to look at the operating and marketplace challenges that Australian enterprises face and see only quality problems. It’s a temptation that should be resisted.
We, at Genpact, very quickly learned as much after being invited to help a top 20 Australian company…
It can be tempting for foreign players to look at the operating and marketplace challenges that Australian enterprises face and see only quality problems. It’s a temptation that should be resisted.
We, at Genpact, very quickly learned as much after being invited to help a top 20 Australian company…
With the motto, “Improved Operations through Improved Safety,” Delta Q Consultants provides risk assessments, accident investigations, safety consulting, and applied research and development specializing in fire and explosion dynamics for a wide range of clients.
The firm is headquartered in Marco…
There are several programs on the market that provide information to consumers about energy efficiency. However, the ENERGY STAR program, a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is likely the best known program.
When consumers see…
(Gigahertz-Optik: Puchheim, Germany) -- The expert committee members involved in writing ANSI/IESNA RP-27.2-00, IEC/DIN/EN 62471 (CIE S 009), and DIN EN 14255-1— “Photobiological safety of lamps and lamp systems—Measurement techniques” recognized that lamp manufacturers and distributors, safety…
The definition of invigorate is: To put vitality and vigor back into someone or something. Sounds pretty easy, right?
Where do you find this extra vitality and vigor? How do you determine whether someone or something is lacking vitality and vigor? What exactly is the process for putting vitality…
(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- Available for the first time as a standalone unit, the Olympus DP26 high-resolution microscope camera streamlines image capture and saves valuable workspace—all without the need for a PC connection.
The DP26’s new control unit is the latest enhancement to a camera…
In many organizations, employees go through their days assuming their hard work goes unnoticed by co-workers and, especially, their bosses. Feeling this way, these employees will lose motivation, and productivity will be mediocre at best.
In a very real way, acknowledging employees’ efforts and…
During the early 1980s, when I was a young man fresh out of college, I wanted to work in the advertising industry as a writer. I took the traditional approach and sent résumés with my three best writing samples to 80 advertising agencies. The response I got? Zero.
I made several follow-up phone…
(Meggitt: San Juan Capistrano, CA) -- Meggitt Sensing Systems, a Meggitt group division, has announced the successful application of the Endevco 6634C vibration amplifier in meeting the rigorous demands of jet engine testing and aircraft auxiliary power unit vibration measurements.
The Endevco…
Isee the same cycle in so many places. What cycle? A five-step process for ensuring that ideas fail.
Step 1: Altruistic leaders encourage suggestions and ask associates for their continuous improvement ideas in an attempt to foment some daily kaizen. Step 2: Associates (not all of them), somewhat…
The case study in this article began several years ago with a troubling message delivered by a major customer to a key supplier in the instruments industry. An executive from the instrument supply company, whom I’ll call Steven, summarized the customer’s message.
“I was summoned for a meeting with…
In times when companies are fighting for every cent, value-adding is a big word. If we answer incorrectly the question posed in this column’s title, we could soon find ourselves fighting like David against Goliath. So we’d better consider our answer carefully—and more to the point, objectively.…
Computational medicine, a fast-growing method of using computer models and sophisticated software to figure out how disease develops—and how to thwart it—has begun to leap off the drawing board and land in the hands of doctors who treat patients for heart ailments, cancer, and other illnesses.…
Consider for a moment the annoying, interruptive, often obnoxious nature of traditional marketing. Dinnertime phone calls from strangers in noisy telemarketing centers. Glossy pictures of the latest fashions worn by models who barely look human. Store shelves crowded with a head-spinning array when…
I’m a relative newcomer to government work, having joined the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about 18 months ago after decades of being a journalist. My job is to assign, write, and edit FDA consumer updates, which are news stories posted on www.fda.gov designed to give consumers important…
(TÜV Rheinland: Aliquippa, PA) -- TÜV Rheinland Industrial Solutions Inc. and TÜV Rheinland AIA Services LLC are holding an open house for pressure equipment manufacturers that sell products in the United States and abroad. The seminar will educate attendees about regulatory requirements for…
