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(HealthyStuff.org: Ann Arbor, MI) -- A nonprofit environmental research organization recently released results on more than 900 common products tested for toxic chemicals including lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, chlorine (PVC), and arsenic. Using an XRF analyzer, researchers at the Ecology…
In my last article, I discussed sustainability in generic terms, focusing mostly on environmental issues. This month, we’re going to look at how sustainability is reported externally.
Why do we care about how sustainability is being reported? It’s a hot topic! In The New York Times, Sept. 14,…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- Business, industry, and nongovernmental organization leaders addressed quality opportunities and crises in the 21st century in a dialogue, hosted by American Society for Quality (ASQ) and the Baldrige National Quality Program at the National Institute of Standards and…
(Zemetris: Tucson, AZ) -- Zemetrics, an optical metrology product company founded last year to provide new concept surface metrology systems, has brought its first system, ZeMapper, to the precision engineering and research and development (R&D) market.
The ZeMapper interferometric optical…
When first hearing the word “clues,” your mind might start envisioning great fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple, but in the business world it is essential for every leader to be prepared to recognize and address the dangerous signs that lead to lowered productivity and…
If you have been following my articles over the last few months, you have seen that even though statistical process control (SPC) charts are very powerful tools for examining a process, it turns out that there are a lot of ways to mess up SPC. This month, I am going to finish up with a few more…
We have all had to plan a trip to the airport. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes not so well. One of the problems we have is dealing with the variation in the trip time to the airport. Since I travel to the airport a lot and like analyzing data, I keep track of my travel time to the airport.…
(Plex Systems: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Plex Systems Inc., provider of the No. 1-rated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for manufacturers, recently announced enhanced configurable dashboard features that increase productivity and efficiency from the shop floor to the top floor.
Users…
(Baumer Group: Southington, CT) -- To increase the flexibility of machine vision systems and allow control over custom-designed LED illumination, Baumer has introduced advanced gigabit Ethernet (GigE) cameras outfitted with four independent input/output (I/O) ports located adjacent to the trigger…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- Mahr Federal has introduced the next generation of portable surface finish measuring instruments with the new MarSurf M 300. The first surface finish instrument to offer cable-free Bluetooth connection between drive and evaluation units, the new MarSurf M 300 also…
(Olympus America: Center Valley, PA) -- The study of surface roughness, which can affect everything from the way a coating adheres to a pill to the way light travels through solar panels, is one of the fastest growing areas of industrial research and development. To explore surface metrology and…
Story update 9/23/09: Reference to 9.5.2.f was changed to 8.5.2.f in second paragraph.
As more suppliers are required by their regulators and customers to achieve ISO 9001 certification, and because certification symbolizes a point of competitive differentiation in a tight economy, emphasis on…
(Magnatag Visible Systems: Macedon, NY) -- Visual communications are important for successful lean manufacturing. Inventory, safety, quality, and productivity are key metrics in lean manufacturing. With the patented RotoCube rotating towers, production managers nationwide are putting whiteboard and…
Most of us know that Wal-Mart has been a big player in the “green” movement. The world’s biggest retailer takes the whole “let’s save the planet” talk very seriously. So it wasn’t with much shock that in July the company announced a worldwide sustainability index initiative—a single source of data…
Quality Digest wants you to spend five minutes (tops) telling us how we're doing by taking our 2009 reader survey. Your responses will help us improve the Quality Digest experience in terms of content, frequency, ad/editorial mix, and more.
Giving away three TomTom GPS navigators.
Filling out…
As companies downsize, they cut down on the number of employees, or move, or close, and thousands find themselves without jobs in a highly competitive job market that they never anticipated. A 55-year-old former NCR systems engineer is in line for jobs along with whiz-bang new college graduates,…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- As part of its Socially Responsible Organization (SRO) movement, the American Society for Quality (ASQ) is offering a four-part webinar series on the importance of social responsibility and how organizations can build business value by improving environmental and societal…
(Indicate Technologies: Santa Clara, CA) -- Indicate Technologies Inc. is partnering with Optical Gaging Products and the International Institute of GD&T to present a seminar series, Precision GD&T: Introduction & Fundamental Principles, which explores the implications of geometric…
(BSI Group: London ) -- Aerospace components must endure unique demands. BSI has recently published BS EN 9100:2009—"Aerospace series. Quality management systems. Requirements (based on ISO 9001) and Quality systems. Model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and…
Is the theory of constraints compatible with lean thinking and can the two approaches be used together? This article looks at some of the similarities and differences between the two approaches and suggests how they might be coupled to advantage.
The book, Lean Lexicon: A Graphical Glossary for…
(Creaform: Lévis, QC) -- Creaform, developer and manufacturer of the Handyscan 3D line up of hand-held, self-positioning, and portable laser scanners, is proud to present the UNIscan, the latest and most affordable addition to this family of revolutionary 3-D scanners.
The UNIscan offers the…
(CSCMP: Lombard, IL) -- The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) will present two Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management workshops this year. The two-day events are designed to help professionals explore the positive effect that a well-run supply chain can have on all aspects…
Z
ero defects (ZD) is probably the simplest, most effective quality management concept ever conceived. Zero defects always works and it can’t fail—only the leader can fail. Once a leader accepts ZD as his or her personal performance standard, error will no longer be tolerated and defects will…
Not surprisingly, there was controversy over Forrest Breyfogle's article, "Non-normal Data: To Transform or Not to Transform," written in response to Donald Wheeler’s article "Do You Have Leptokurtophobia?" Wheeler continued the debate with "Transforming the Data Can Be Fatal to Your Analysis."…
Simply put, customer relationship management (CRM) is the creating and maintaining of a mutually beneficial, transparent relationship between an organization and its customers—an added-value endeavor that enables the organization to learn and provide exactly what the customer wants.
The means…
