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‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I’m sure you’ve heard this most vile comment, which was popularized by Mark Twain, among others. This dastardly phrase impugns the reputation of statistics. The implication is that statistics can bolster a weak argument, or that…
Editor’s note: This article continues the series exploring the TRIZ methodology, a problem-solving, analysis, and forecasting tool derived from studying patterns of invention found in global patent data. TRIZ identifies 40 principles, of which the ideal final result is one.
After seeing the…
During the last decade we’ve seen the number of companies, especially in the consumer products sector, outsourcing such functions as manufacturing and packaging to streamline processes, reduce costs, and focus on core competencies. Although there are obvious benefits to outsourcing, there are…
A new ISO brochure will help both manufacturers and consumer representatives understand how a simple set of rules and guidelines provided by ISO standards can ensure that environmental claims made on products or labels can be trusted.
The free brochure, “Environmental labels and declarations—How…
Please hold for a scene from the movie Office Space:
Bob: “What would you say ya do here?”
Tom: “Well look, I already told you! I deal with the g!**@#n customers so the engineers don’t have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can’t you understand that? What the hell is…
Editor’s note: This is part four of a four-part series about the history of quality. For a description of the earlier years in the quality movement, see part one, part two, and part three.
The Six Sigma methodology is used to identify and control variables that affect the output of a process. In…
Editor’s note: This is part three of a four-part series about the history of quality. For a description of the earlier years in the quality movement, see part one and part two. For the later years, see part four.
While Japan was organizing quality circles, the United States started the zero…
(Pivot Management Consultants: Upland, CA) -- Brainstorming-based creativity is unpredictable; you can great ideas, or you can spend a lot of time and discover nothing is useful. TRIZ is systematic, predictable, and usable by anybody regardless of “natural talent” or “creative instincts.”
TRIZ is…
(NextSense: Graz, Austria) -- NextSense GmbH, a provider of optical sensor technology, will present the CALIPRI noncontact multiplatform method for quick recording and flexible analysis of gap contours at the CONTROL 2013 trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany, May 14–17, 2013.
“CALIPRI meets the…
What happens when product for an automated sorting line dries up? Production grinds to a halt, and workers stand around waiting for maintenance to come restore the flow. Overhead costs increase as the minutes tick away. As equipment ages, this happens more frequently. Sometimes the solution isn’t…
All employees are unique as to what drives them to do their best and excel in their profession. Most work as expected, but the motivated employee will go to great lengths to exceed expectations. The key is for managers to discover what truly drives people. Once their motivation is understood,…
According to official statistics, the root cause of most accidents that befall us at home, on the road, or at the workplace is “distraction.”
However, if we were walking around in Mr. Ishikawa’s skin, we would immediately say that distraction is itself an effect of a number of causes. And if we…
Nutrition labels have been much in the news lately, presumably because we have once again won the fattest nation contest. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and various nutrition researchers have all put out some thought-provoking information for us to ponder.
The problems
First, people don’t…
In part one of this two-part series, quality by design was discussed as a business problem involving successive gaps in new product introduction. A five-phase architecture was introduced. Part two looks at the last two elements of this architecture, customer-focused optimization and dominance over…
Editor’s note: This is part two of a four-part series on the history of quality. For a description of the early years of the quality movement, see part one. For the later years, see part three and part four.
After the end of World War II, U.S. industry had become a seller’s market, and the…
Iam an avid cyclist. Last year I purchased a piece of electronic equipment for my cycling habit, produced by Garmin, called the Edge 500. It’s a nifty little gizmo that I mounted on my bike’s steerer tube.
It uses GPS to track speed, routes, distance, incline/decline angles (which allows me to…
(Tech-X: Austin, TX) -- Tech-X Inc., an ERP software startup based in Austin, Texas, has released a full-suite, integrated cloud solution for quality management called Cetec Compliance.
The software, which is offered online for free, will help companies quickly meet the core requirements of ISO,…
(NTMA: Washington, D.C.) -- In President Obama's Feb. 12, 2013, State of the Union Address, he promoted several manufacturing initiatives but warned:
"...None of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs... let's also make sure that a high…
As I sat down to examine cost of quality (COQ) at Minitab, I flashed back to my certified quality engineer (CQE) exam almost 20 years ago. I can still vividly remember staring down at a particularly difficult cost of quality question and wondering why I didn’t just follow my fourth-grade career…
If you are a proficient Six Sigma Master Black Belt or Black Belt, you are almost guaranteed lifetime employment. Most enterprises continue to create new quality problems that somebody will need to fix. Or as Joseph M. Juran characterized it, almost every product development process is a hatchery…
What exactly is “culture?” As Jim Clemmer puts it, “Culture is ‘the way we do things around here’… especially when the boss isn’t looking.”
As I asked in my January 2013 column: Do cultures’ (unwritten) expectations unwittingly create the leaders they have? Are various guises of “traditional…
(Leica: Norcross, GA) -- The new Leica DISTO E7500i laser distance meter stands for easy and effortless outdoor distance measurement. The unique combination of digital Pointfinder and 360° tilt sensor allows measurements that are not possible with conventional distance meters. In addition, with…
Turns out that some paranoid people have a reason to, well, be paranoid. Researchers from the London Business School issued a report last year finding that many people at work who thought they were being talked about were probably right.
Maybe some in the medical device industry can be forgiven…
Delta Sigma Co. (DSC) specializes in developing systems, software, and tools to automate large, complex assembly tasks and manufacturing processes. The company is involved in the design, development, production, and deployment of systems used for the research and development, production, quality…
Seven Quality Tools of an Improvement Ninja, Part 1 The cause and effect diagram
Seven Quality Tools of an Improvement Ninja, Part 2 The check sheet
Seven Quality Tools of an Improvement Ninja, Part 3 The control chart
