All News
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- Mahr Federal, designer and manufacturer of production dimensional measuring technology, will be featuring the addition of an economical and powerful new skidless surface evaluation system to its MarSurf line of mobile surface metrology systems at Manufacturing 4…
(IBM: New York) -- Small businesses, which are catalysts for the U.S. economy, have been given access to the supply chains of 15 large corporations through a free website called Supplier Connection. This portal is similar to the Universal College Application, where a potential vendor need only fill…
(Reuters: New York) -- A program to pay hospitals bonuses for hitting key performance measures, or dock them if they miss, failed to improve the health outcomes of patients, according to a large, long-term study.
The study could lead to a reexamination of financial incentives in health care, as…
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- Have you thought about using lean in your business or organization, but are not really sure how to implement it? Or perhaps you’re already using lean, but you need to get up to speed. Lean for Dummies, Second Edition, by Natalie J. Sayer and Bruce Williams (Wiley, 2012)…
(Booz & Co.: New York) -- Confirming pessimism about the state of the pharmaceutical industry, a recent survey of U.S.- and European Union-based pharmaceutical sales and marketing executives reveals that 68 percent believe “the current business model is broken.” The survey, conducted jointly by…
By now, the story is familiar: On Aug. 5, 2010, 33 miners were trapped 2,000 feet below ground at the San Jose mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert. During their first 17 days without contact with the surface and for weeks thereafter, the miners organized themselves for survival under the leadership of…
(NSF: Ann Arbor, MI) -- All major plumbing codes are now requiring that plastic piping products comply with NSF/ANSI Standard 14—“Plastics piping system components and related materials,” including the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC). The International Plumbing Code, International Residential Code, and…
To remain the valuable business system that it currently is, ISO 9001 needs to continue to evolve, ensuring that organizations of all sizes, complexities, and locations see a clear connection between their strategic objectives and their quality management system (QMS). It is not just about meeting…
A new book on strategy recently crossed my desk, and I have to say it is an excellent read. It’s called Understanding Michael Porter, by Joan Magretta (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011). Porter’s ideas and concepts are foundational to the subject of competitive strategy, and it is always good to…
(ANSI: New York) -- On April 25, 2012, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the private-sector-led U.S. voluntary standardization system, will host an exploratory meeting to examine the need for an Energy Efficiency Standards Panel (EESP) to develop a standardization…
(ISSISSIPPI: Columbus, OH) -- On April 1, 2012, International Six Sigma Institute and Secret Society for Imperious Professionals of Process Improvement (ISSISSIPPI) has announced its new Less-Than-Free MBB, a breakthrough online certification program for the process improvement marketplace.
Buoyed…
Banner Medical is committed to an ambitious approach to quality assurance, one developed specifically for the evolving, critical needs of the medical device industry. The company believes this investment achieves multiple payoffs—in relationship-building with customers, in risk mitigation, and in…
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Oh, it’s new! I want it now. Ho-hum... what’s next? Consumers’ ever-growing appetite to acquire new products, and their short courtship with them, has kept manufacturers busy not only expending resources at an alarming rate, but also depleting these resources and…
(ISO: Geneva) -- The international standard, ISO 14051:2011—“Environmental management—Material flow cost accounting—General framework,” assists organizations to better understand the environmental and financial consequences of their material and energy use practices, so that they can identify…
(AIAG: Southfield, MI) -- The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), which develops and promotes solutions to help manufacturing and service providers operate at peak performance, has partnered with VDA, the German association of the automotive industry, to offer VDA’s quality training programs…
Predicting things on Capitol Hill is never easy, especially as the election campaign “silly season” enters the picture, but it’s beginning to look like medical device companies should expect heavier regulation in 2012, and that will only increase if President Obama is reelected in November.
The…
I’ve been baptized; I do believe in religion. But I really can’t stand the fact that the Ten Commandments had to be set in stone. The human brain is capable of effectively remembering some 100 words—and much, much more.
ADVERTISEMENT
I don’t object to documents as such. I love books; my…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- A self-sustaining business model based on income generation, and supplemented with support from the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and other nonoperating income, is the new environment for the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is…
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- The most valuable asset of any company is the people who work there. That’s why the softer aspects of people management and related skills are so important. Using the same approach as Nicolai Andler’s successful Tools for Project Management, Workshops and Consulting (…
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) RAPID 2012 Conference & Exposition will feature a potent lineup of presentations aimed at revealing how businesses can improve their competitive edge in a challenging, global economy. Industry consultant and analyst, Terry…
(TÜV SÜD America: Plymouth, MI) -- TÜV SÜD Americas, a business-to-business engineering services firm providing international safety testing and certification services, has expanded its automotive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) laboratory in Plymouth, Michigan, by opening an additional 3-m (9…
(Navitar: Rochester, New York) -- Navitar Inc., a developer and manufacturer of standard and custom-engineered optical solutions, has introduced a versatile, dual-view imaging system that allows customers to simultaneously view a single subject and capture an image at multiple fields of view.
For…
(UL: Los Angeles) -- UL Responsible Sourcing of Underwriter Laboratories (UL), a global provider of corporate responsibility auditing and ethical sourcing consulting services, has introduced its corrective and preventive action (CAPA) system to help manage and track improvements in manufacturing…
Have you noticed that sometimes it’s better to be a new customer or subscriber than a long-time devotee of a particular company? Every day you see ads and hear commercials about discounts or free memberships or extended warranties for new customers. Some gyms waive the initiation fee, magazines…
Some years back while working in an administrative department, I encountered a curious condition. Along with about a half-dozen employees, I was following the information flow from sales order to shipping. Our spaghetti diagram kept looping back to an in-box on a table just outside John’s door. It…
