All News
(ASIS International and BSI Group: Alexandria, VA) -- ASIS International and BSI have released a joint American national standard, “Business Continuity Management Systems—Requirements with Guidance for Use” (ANSI/ASIS/BSI BCM.1-2010). The standard provides auditable criteria with accompanying…
(NVision: Coppell, TX) -- Invensys Operations Management (IOM) saved 60 hours, or about 5 percent in man-hours, in a mechanical upgrade to a steam turbine by using NVision’s Engineering Service Division to capture precise measurements of valves and other hardware. IOM usually has to spend…
(Minitab: State College, PA) -- Kraft Foods is quickly and effectively working toward Six Sigma goals with new software that makes it easy to analyze Zarpac Performance Index (ZPI) data with Minitab Statistical Software.
The ZPI-Minitab Link effectively blends performance data-collection and -…
(SGS: Rutherford, NJ) -- SGS was recently awarded the contract for nondestructive testing (NDT) services of the liquefaction and purification facilities during the construction of the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Damietta, Egypt.
About the Damietta LNG plant
The Damietta LNG Plant…
Following World War II, U.S. automakers focused on increasing productivity to meet a seemingly insatiable domestic demand. Meanwhile in Japan, faced with a decimated economy and limited resources, Toyota discovered their success hinged not on increasing productivity, but effectiveness. To this end…
(MasterControl: Salt Lake City) -- Some of the most stringent corrective and preventive action (CAPA) policies have caused hosts of compliance issues for life-science companies throughout 2010. Come learn from the MasterControl and Pathwise experts at a hands-on CAPA workshop—gain the knowledge…
(Wenzel/Xspect Solutions: Wixom, MI) -- “Industry continues to look for good portable 3-D imaging technology for reverse engineering and inspection,” says Giles Gaskell, North American sales manager for 3-D imaging products for Wenzel/Xspect Solutions.
Early in 2010, Wenzel Scantec introduced…
As ISO 9001 continues to be the most widely used ISO standard, the need to maintain the standard’s relevance to the marketplace remains a focus of the group responsible for revising the ISO 9000 family of standards. To ensure the continued relevance of ISO 9001 in the marketplace, ISO Technical…
(CMSC: Benbrook, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS), the preeminent membership association for measurement professionals, has announced a call for papers in anticipation of its 2011 Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC). This 27th annual event will be held in Phoenix, July 25—…
It’s that special season again: the season of crowded stores, whiny kids, irritable customers, and stressed-out employees. If you’re a business owner—in any industry but especially in retail—the holidays are a precarious time. When fuses are short and wallets are shrinking, customers expect great…
Christmas morning is an exciting time for millions of boys and girls who have been good all year. Heaped under a beautifully decorated tree will be an assortment of gifts—some electronic gizmos, a doll or two, some sports equipment, and maybe some clothes. Years ago when we were growing up, there…
(J.D. Power and Associates: Westlake Village, CA) -- Although reliability concerns for some brands have increased from 2009, many domestic and Korean brands—including Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Kia, and Ram—have been successful in improving customer perceptions of reliability this year, according to J.D…
(J.D. Power and Associates: Westlake Village, CA) -- Although reliability concerns for some brands have increased from 2009, many domestic and Korean brands—including Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Kia, and Ram—have been successful in improving customer perceptions of reliability this year, according to J.D…
For most of us, food safety is a topic that, at best, only lurks at the edges of our brains. It rarely becomes something we really think about until we open up our refrigerator and try to figure out what’s growing in the back corner of the bottom shelf, or until we hear stories about people being…
(Vinca LLC: Eden Prairie, MN) -- Quality systems professionals at Vinca LLC have outlined the steps to use in developing quality management systems with clients. The first step they recommend is to complete a thorough project plan.
An effective plan must begin with solid information about what…
(Visual Workplace: Byron Center, MI) -- Visual Workplace Inc. introduces Banner Kits. Banner kits enable users to quickly produce durable, high-quality and professional-looking banners for 5S programs and create visuality in the workplace at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them from an…
(HEIDENHAIN Corp.: Schaumburg, IL) -- The conditions surrounding production-environment metrology place special demands on position measuring systems used for workpiece inspection. The principle of inductive systems involves disadvantages such as temperature sensitivity or nonlinear behavior. A…
(NQA-USA: Acton, MA) -- National Quality Assurance USA Inc. (NQA-USA), a global provider of quality and environmental management system registrations, has announced its first West Coast quality conference, to be held on Jan. 26, 2011, in Los Angeles.
NQA is bringing its expertise to Los…
(EAGLE Food Registrations: Dayton, OH) -- EAGLE Food Registrations Inc., specializing in third-party certification to international management system standards, announced it will begin certifying companies to the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Ethical Sourcing Standard on Jan. 3.
SQF Ethical Sourcing…
(Grant Thornton LLP: Chicago) -- Senior management at U.S. manufacturing companies is once again optimistic, according to a November survey by Grant Thornton LLP. Nearly half (49%) believe the U.S. economy will improve during the next six months, and the same amount (49%) say they plan to increase…
People often ask me how best to prepare for a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection when you know that you have problems. My first response is that they have already taken the first step: acknowledging that there are problems. Believe me; that is a huge first step. Just like Alcoholics…
(Rucker & Associates: Raleigh, NC) -- Getting lean can often mean going green. As energy costs continue to rise, company decision makers search for ways to make their organizations more efficient. Rucker & Associates president David Rucker says lean Six Sigma strategies, usually applied to…
A couple years ago, I was consulting in a large rolling mill to help reduce late deliveries to its customers. After walking the floor for the first time with an enthusiastic 20-something engineer (let’s call him Mark), I asked for help with observation at a particular point in the factory where…
Since automotive manufacturing is so highly automated, it makes sense that this industry was an early adopter of machine vision technology. Automotive manufacturers and their suppliers haven’t put their vision solutions on cruise control, however, as they continually seek easier, faster, and less…
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has released two new videos—one for the general public and the other for business and government audiences—that communicate how standards help people in all aspects of daily life and provide tools to assist organizations in…
