All News
(Marlin Steel Wire Products: Baltimore, MD) -- Eli Goldratt, author of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (North River Press, 1992), one of the most widely admired handbooks on manufacturing efficiency, was the honored speaker at a special meeting of the Regional Manufacturing Institute (…
(EtQ: Farmingdale, NY) -- EtQ LLC has announced the addition of new features and modules in the latest release of its quality management, FDA compliance, and environmental health and safety software, Reliance 8.0. Below is just a sampling of what EtQ’s newest version has to offer:
•…
(University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, MI) -- With its sleek 2011 car, “Quantum,” now built and ready for testing, the nation’s No. 1 solar-car team is preparing to take on the world.
University of Michigan’s (U-M) reigning champions of the North American Solar Challenge will compete…
“Under-promise, over-deliver” is a phrase taught to me many years ago by my friend and colleague, PQ Systems’ owner Michael J. Cleary. It may have always been true. It may always be true. It is certainly true today.
I am in the middle of a sabbatical that requires me to buy and learn to use new…
A normal distribution is far more common in statistical textbooks than it is in real-world processes, and untold grief results from the unquestioning assumption that all manufacturing processes follow the bell curve. The grief consists specifically of:
1. Out-of-control signals that send…
(Larson Electronics: Kemp, TX) -- Larson Electronics’ Magnalight has added the RL-8510W-1-UV365 handheld LED Ultraviolet Pistol-Grip Spotlight to its comprehensive line of specialty LED lights. The RL-8510W-1-UV365 produces UV light in the 365 nm range and combines a light weight…
(SGS: Rotterdam, Netherlands) -- SGS Nederland B.V. is organizing two free, 60-minute webinars. The first is titled “Advanced Ultrasonic Testing in Pre-Service and In-service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plants,” and the second is “Time of Flight Diffraction: Theory and Practice.” Hosted by Ton…
(GOEPEL: Jena, Germany) -- GOEPEL electronics LLC’s OptiCon X-Line 3D, an in-line 3-D X-ray inspection system, provides the powerful opportunity to detect voids within various layers of large-volume solder joints. In particular, in the areas of power electronics for wind power, solar…
(CMS: Benbrook, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS), the preeminent membership association for measurement professionals, has announced that Trevor Toman is the chair of the organization’s newly formed Academic subcommittee. Toman will serve as a liaison with key education institutions…
(FARO: Lake Mary, FL) -- FARO Technologies Inc., an innovative and leading global provider of portable measurement and imaging solutions, introduces the FARO Edge and V4 Laser Line Probe, the most advanced, state-of-the-art FaroArm system ever produced.
The FARO Edge is a portable measurement…
(ISO: Geneva, Switzerland) -- With all organizations susceptible to cyber-attacks, a new international standard on business continuity management processes from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a huge potential to improve security measures taken against…
(ANSI: Washington) -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announces sponsorship opportunities for World Standards Week (WSW) 2011, to be held October 11–14 in Washington, DC.
WSW is an annual event that draws leaders from all industry sectors in recognition of the importance of…
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- A growing number of health care organizations are implementing project management principles to improve cost and service efficiencies. They are in desperate need of resources that clearly illustrate the project management needs of today’s health care professional…
(TÜV Rheinland of North America: Newton, CT) -- TÜV Rheinland’s Industrial Services has introduced a new emergency rapid-response service called Containment Emergency Response Team (CERT). This specialized team has been assembled to quickly minimize original equipment manufacturers (OEM) production…
(Health 2.0 LLC: San Francisco) -- Health 2.0 is preparing for its fifth annual Health 2.0 Fall Conference in San Francisco, September 26–27, 2011. The keynote speaker will be Mark Smith, president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation. Smith is one of the smartest, funniest, and best-…
Air gauging has roots going back more than 70 years and is today a viable and highly reliable method for many industrial applications where a high volume of parts is produced, or where the precision of hard-to-access dimensions makes other measuring techniques impossible. This includes, in some…
“What makes a personal kanban any better than a to-do list?” asked Julie, crossing out a completed task on her “ta da!” list with exaggerated strokes.
“With personal kanban you visualize your work, it becomes tangible, you get kinesthetic feedback, it’s flexible, contextual, and it promotes…
A March 30, 2011, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Warning Letter to Ningbo Smart Pharmaceutical Co. revealed that it had reported conformance to specifications on certificates of analysis, when in fact no testing was done—among other issues.
The FDA rather understatedly informed Ningbo Smart, “…
Gary was a talented, creative welder with an idea that made perfect sense to him but was not supported by conventional measures. Gary was determined to implement his idea and pressed for a closer evaluation by his supervisor when the idea was not immediately accepted. This was Gary’s idea:
A…
High achievers, go-getters, type-A personalities—whatever you call them, one thing is certain: These people want to do it all, and they want to do it all… right now.
Although having many lofty and simultaneous goals is a good thing, doing too many things at once can make you feel overwhelmed and…
(LRQA: Houston) -- Ryerson, Master and Associates Inc. (RMA), a leading provider of climate change verification and technical advisory services located in Santa Barbara, California, has changed its name to LRQA Americas Sustainability Inc.
The new name reflects the company’s determination to…
(Avery Point Group: Alpharetta, GA) -- Companies flush with strong balance sheets after taking drastic actions during the recession are clearly making aggressive moves to bolster their internal talent pools by seeking both lean and Six Sigma talent, according to the seventh annual study from The…
(Ramco Systems: Lawrenceville, NJ) -- Ramco Systems Corp., a developer of aviation maintenance and engineering; maintenance, repair, and overhaul; and manufacturing software solutions, announces the launch of its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Series 5 Manufacturing Suite, for the…
A new website focusing on educating visitors on lean manufacturing principles is promising to help businesses deliver great results by implementing simple solutions. Using a no-frills approach, leanmanufacturingshop.com is committed to delivering great content without the usual filler and time-…
Root cause analysis (RCA), rightly applied, can turn problems, defects, or complaints into opportunities for continuous, permanent improvement. This anecdotal article is based on first-hand experience of applying RCA to dozens of business problems. It explains the technique of RCA in an easy-to…
