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Well, she’s done it again. Our generous friend and colleague, Margaret (Meg) Wheatley kicked off this year’s Chair Academy Conference in Phoenix. The beginning of her message remains dark, but the light at the end is a little clearer and brighter these days. We found her even more inspirational…
(API: Rockville, MD/Stuttgart, Germany) -- Automated Precision Inc. has unveiled a revolutionary advancement in laser tracker technology—the world’s first completely wireless, controller-free laser tracker: the Omnitrac 2.
Built on the frame of the API’s Radian tracker, the Omnitrac 2 offers an…
In Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk (Wiley, 1998), Peter Bernstein says the mastery of risk is the foundation of modern life and is what divides modern from ancient times. By consciously or unconsciously calculating probabilities, quality professionals make intelligent decisions…
There are TV shows about it. Thousands of professionals are hired every year for the sole purpose of taking it away. Most people hate it but find a hard time getting rid of it. What am I talking about? Clutter!
Even though the show Hoarders exemplifies the clutter problem to the extreme, most of…
We are all doing triple the amount of work we need to do, and most of us don’t even know it. At the same time, we are making things more difficult for everyone around us. The saddest part is that we’ve been doing this for a long time.
How is it that we manage to make this mistake but are not…
Within the next couple of weeks, scores of college students and senior high-school students on summer vacation will join the workforce. Many will have jobs at summer resorts, while others will perhaps work as life guards, as wait staff at restaurants, or toil at some of the state parks. Others…
March U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) totaled $507.91 million, according to AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was up 30.4 percent from February and up 3.2 percent when compared with the total of $…
Quality Digest and the Coordinate Metrology Society are joining forces to celebrate World Metrology Week 2013 starting on Monday, May 20.
The week will feature special editorial content, photos, games, contests, and prize drawings, all of which will appear in portions of the Quality Digest Daily…
(Carl Zeiss Microscopy: Thornwood, NY) -- Carl Zeiss Microscopy LLC is holding two workshop series on its scanning electron microscope (SEM) products. Separate events will be held for the ZEISS Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (ΣIGMA, SUPRA, ULTRA, and MERLIN Series), and the EVO Series…
I n my past life as president of a medical device company, I had two reliable leading indicators of a potential customer relationship. Basically, one was if the customers demanded automatic annual price decreases, and the other was if their payment terms were greater than net-30. Those few…
Bean-to-cup coffee makers manufactured at De’Longhi can produce a cup of coffee by just feeding beans at the touch of a button. These machines include a boiler, grinder, brewing unit, and in most cases, a steamer. The machines are manufactured on assembly lines with each unit individually…
As publisher of Quality Digest Daily, I often take a somewhat dispassionate view of process and performance errors. After all, our typical reader is a quality professional whose job, in part, is to figure out why something went wrong and prevent it from occurring again.
From that perspective, a…
During this week’s World Metrology Day festivities, it is fitting to highlight the Coordinate Metrology Society’s longstanding dedication to education and the advancement of the field of 3D portable metrology. Each year, their Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference is held in a different city in…
(Manufacturing.com: Hoboken, NJ) -- Frank Russo, CEO and co-founder of Fabricating.com, providers of sourcing solution for U.S. buyers seeking U.S. suppliers, will speak at the “Business Roundtable: Learn to be Better” event hosted by the New Jersey Tooling and Manufacturing Association (NJTMA),…
It was the memo heard around the world: In late February 2013, when Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer ordered the company’s staffers to stop working from home, she set off a ferocious debate over workplace productivity.
“Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home,” wrote the company’s…
What do you do when revenues rapidly decline, banking and financial institutions pull back, and there’s a national workforce decline? For many business owners, it’s as if lightning has struck their organizations’ industries not once, but twice.
For integrated manufacturing service provider KARLEE…
Laser trackers and the software that control them have revolutionized the way metrology data has been taken over the last 20 years. With software and hardware advances, taking measurements has become more efficient and accurate.
One of these advances in metrology software is the ability to measure…
Joe, a successful leader, is deeply frustrated. The strategic planning system that once served him well is failing. Regardless of his best-laid plans, other forces in the organization are overriding his strategies. His methods to motivate his staff no longer work. How can each day be such a…
There’s nothing I love as much as a paradox. So there’s a lot for me to get excited about with America’s current manufacturing paradox, which is whether U.S. manufacturing is the next big thing or a dying dinosaur. Should we steer our children from factory work, or should we embrace the…
During a recent interview with a big Los Angeles-area newspaper, a reporter asked me, “Is America now in permanent decline?” My answer was, “No.” Our country is not in permanent decline. But I’m concerned that our leadership is.
Actually, our leadership in Washington is failing miserably, and…
Anyone who has seen pictures of the giant, red-hot cauldrons in which steel is made—fed by vast amounts of carbon, and belching flame and smoke—would not be surprised to learn that steelmaking is one of the world’s leading industrial sources of greenhouse gases. But remarkably, a new process…
As best as I can recall, I’ve never coined a phrase with any staying power. Until now. And, my phrase has been purposely captured on a T-shirt, by someone other than a close relative. It’s not quite like having my words recorded indelibly in marble and situated in the Parthenon, but I’ll take it…
(Verisurf: Anaheim, CA) -- ATS International B.V. and Verisurf Software Inc. have signed a technology partnership agreement to integrate Verisurf Software with ATS CM4D software to automate product-quality validation solutions and further developments in this field.
ATS International B.V. and…
(Brunson: Kansas City, MO) -- Brunson Instrument Co. has launched the Brunson EasyConnect instrument mounting system, the newest addition to its line of instrument stand accessories.
Using the Brunson EasyConnect, a metrology technician can instantly connect and disconnect a laser tracker,…
(API: Rockville, MD) -- Automated Precision Inc. (API) has reached a long-term agreement with software provider New River Kinematics. As a result of this agreement, API trackers, such as the Radian, will continue to work with NRK’s SpatialAnalyzer software.
API’s laser trackers are designed to…
