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How do you know when you are truly wealthy? Your perception of prosperity will most likely change throughout your life. At the age of 5, being prosperous is having your favorite toys within reach, being able to eat ice cream after dinner, and being allowed to stay up an hour later than usual. At 16…
There are entire books, thorough training, and certification processes all devoted to lean supply-chain practices. But within any manufacturing environment, there are a few relatively simple steps that will help any enterprise to make its supply chain more lean. This article touches on these simple…
It can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to build a 2,800-square-foot, two-story house in the United States, mostly because human beings do all the work. Within the next five years, chances are that 3-D printing (also known by the less catchy but more inclusive term additive manufacturing…
(Carl Zeiss: Munich, Germany) -- Light Lab, the first accompanying app for ZEN 2011 imaging software from Carl Zeiss, is now available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Light Lab supplements the ZEN 2011 controlling and image-processing software functions within the experimental lab workflow. The…
(NIST) -- The news in 2001 was impressive, but it’s even more emphatically evident a decade later: The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) significantly benefits the U.S. economy. That’s the finding from a new economic study to determine the practical value to organizations using the…
(Qualtrax: Christiansburg, VA) -- Qualtrax Inc., a leading provider of compliance software that enables electronic document and process management for a variety of industries, has released Qualtrax v. 4.3, which includes updates suggested by customers.
“Companies in industries ranging from food…
(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- In material science laboratories where capturing, retrieving, and analyzing sample images from microscopes can be complex, Olympus Stream image analysis software v. 1.7 streamlines the process so users can accomplish multifaceted and complex applications with…
(Micro-Epsilon) -- Micro-Epsilon’s optoCONTROL 1200 is the most compact, high-speed micrometer within the company’s product range. With all optoCONTROL sensors, a light source emits a laser or LED-light curtain in the direction of the receiver. The LED or laser light produced is parallel-enlarged…
(Jossey-Bass: San Francisco) -- In The Hedgehog Effect: The Secrets of Building High Performance Teams (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2012), Manfred Kets de Vries presents the case for leadership group coaching as an experiential training ground for learning to function as a high-performance team. His group…
(Thwing-Albert: West Berlin, NJ) -- Thwing-Albert Instrument Co., manufacturer of advanced testing instrumentation, has redesigned its Vapometer Cup for easier sample setup in the lab. No more individual screws to tighten: The original Vapometer Cup used six knurled-head screws to secure the flange…
From the Broadway play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum comes a delightful song titled Comedy Tonight. In the song are phrases such as “something familiar—something peculiar” and “something appealing—something appalling.” As a follow-up to those words, each day we read or hear about…
The National Park Service and CyArk have started the new year with the launch of the much anticipated Mount Rushmore website, a new way to virtually visit the National Memorial near Keystone, South Dakota. This web portal is part of an ongoing partnership between the National Park Service (NPS) and…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ), the world’s largest network of quality resources and experts, was recently awarded Mastery Level recognition of the Wisconsin Forward Award program, which is administered by the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence and is modeled…
Meet Betty and Bart Bickerson, husband-and-wife quality analysts who work at different companies. Betty and Bart argue about everything. They argue whether grey is a color. They argue whether tomato is a fruit. They argue whether the chicken came before the egg, and whether the egg tastes better…
(Thomson Reuters: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Thomson Reuters has released its fourth annual study identifying the top U.S. health systems based on balanced, systemwide clinical performance.
The study culled data from more than 300 organizations and singled out 15 hospital systems that achieved superior…
(STEMMER IMAGING: Puchheim, Germany) -- STEMMER IMAGING will be hosting a 3-D Machine Vision Technology Day Feb, 29, 2012, at Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom, as part of its European Imaging Academy Program. The full-day event provides a comprehensive overview of the current…
(Konica Minolta: Ramsey, NJ) -- Konica Minolta 3D Scanning Labs now offers a rapid prototyping service, using 3D Systems’ Projet HD 3000 3D Production System. The Projet is ideal for a wide range of applications, including concept development, design validation, form and fit analysis, molding and…
(The Pyzdek Institute: Tucson, AZ) -- The Pyzdek Institute is making its entire lean Six Sigma training site available via low-cost monthly and yearly subscriptions. Included with the subscriptions are all 70+ modules, with reading assignments, storyboards, video lessons, online interactive…
In October 2011, I attended the 3rd Business Excellence Global Conference and the 17th Asia Pacific Quality Conference held at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. One of the highlights of the conference was the awards banquet held on October 17, where the Global Performance Excellence Awards (…
When Microsoft’s Kinect—a device that lets Xbox users control games with physical gestures—hit the market, computer scientists immediately began hacking it. At MIT alone, researchers have used the Kinect to create a Minority Report-style computer interface, a navigation system for miniature robotic…
Manufacturing is now a global game. The United States is still the world’s largest manufacturer but is no longer the engine for growth it once was. China, Brazil, Australia, India, Singapore, and other countries are building new facilities at a breakneck pace.
This growth is also no longer limited…
(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp. announces the DataMan 300, its most advanced fixed-mount industrial ID reader ever created. The DataMan 300 is designed to handle the most difficult ID code-reading applications on even the highest speed lines. These new readers dramatically increase bar code…
During a recent holiday debriefing with a friend, I learned that a colleague of hers was feeling guilty because she and her husband were unable to afford an iPad for their daughter. Nodding and sipping tea, I was vaguely sympathizing while trying on the idea of buying a macaroon from the bakery…
(Teledyne DALSA: Billerica, MA) -- Active Inspection (AI), based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, designs vision systems for machine builders to incorporate into printing presses, packaging machines, and other web and sheet-fed or form machines. Whether the goal is to reduce waste, ensure consistency,…
Some time ago, while speaking at a conference in the land down under, I was taken to task by a participant for suggesting, “5S is usually the first improvement” in lean implementation. I had carelessly adopted this posture because, as a consultant, I had found that workplace organization was…
