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You see it all the time. After an initial flurry of excitement and support, an organization’s operational excellence effort bogs down. Regardless of the tools or methodologies used, passion dies down and focus gets diverted to other issues. It doesn’t matter if a company utilizes lean, Six Sigma,…
(ASTM: West Conshohocken, PA) -- The ASTM International Proficiency Testing Center is pleased to offer a 2010 proficiency testing program on thermal analyses of plastics (TAP) to laboratories who need a statistical quality assurance tool that will enable them to improve and maintain a high level…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- As a result of a major interlaboratory study, the standards body ASTM International has been able to update its guidelines for a commonly used technique for measuring the size of nanoparticles in solutions. The study, which was organized principally by researchers from…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new calibration technique that will improve the reliability and stability of one of NIST’s most versatile technologies, the microhotplate. The novel NIST device is being developed…
Hoshin kanri, or hoshin for short, refers to policy deployment. It is the method used to deploy the overall control system and total quality management (TQM). Roughly translated, hoshin kanri means “management and control of the organization's focus.”
Companies need to create a policy deployment…
(IBS AG: Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany) -- IBS AG has successfully implemented its new Tool Assistance System (TAS) at BMW’s production plant in Regensburg, Germany. The TAS is based on the Location Identification System (LIS), which, as the name suggests, is a system for locating and identifying…
(Metris: Leuven, Belgium) -- Metris, market-leading supplier of X-ray and industrial computed tomography (CT) systems, launches Inspect-X 1.6 software that boosts throughput by increasing CT reconstruction speed and improving general system control. Following Metris’ drive for continual X-ray…
W. Edwards Deming has been dead for almost 16 years. In my opinion, he and Joseph Juran were the true quality giants of the 20th century. No one seems to talk about Deming much any more except to relate stories from the past and pine for the “good ol’ Deming 4-day seminar days.” (I don’t. Nor do I…
(BLS: Washington) -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported preliminary productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the second quarter of 2009. The seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the second quarter were…
(Stotz USA, Freeport, IL) -- Stotz USA LLC, a leader in air gauging products and quality system integration, is pleased to announce the introduction of the MRA Air/Electronic column. It is the newest and most advanced column on the market, to date. The target application for this unit was a low…
As the founder of PowerSteering and a practitioner in strategic management and continuous improvement for more than 25 years, I have seen my share of management fads come and go, and even been in the room when some of them were created.
There were quality circles and total quality management…
(Advanced Test Equipment Rentals: San Diego) -- By combining performance, flexibility, economy, and the famous Haefely quality and reliability, the ECOMPACT 4 is the clear choice for the most common transient tests, including surge, EFT, dips/interrupts and AC/surge magnetic field. This ultra-…
Real estate bubble, subprime mortgages, financial system, stock markets, and finally, Main Street. The deepest crisis in decades is here, monopolizing media’s headlines, freezing our economies and strongly affecting us not only as citizens (or should I say consumers?) but also as quality…
(FPTT: Ottawa) -- In July 2009, InnovMetric Software and the National Research Council of Canada were awarded the 2009 Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT) award for the successful development and transfer of 3-D data analysis technologies that led to the commercialization of…
(Frost & Sullivan: Mumbai, India) -- Manufacturing is one of the key contributors to the growth of an economy. A country with a well-equipped manufacturing process is believed to be balanced and independent. Every economy goes through the cycle of growing from an agrarian to an industrial and…
(The Conference Board: New York) -- The number of U.S. companies with an offshoring strategy has more than doubled from 2005 to 2008 and very few plan to relocate activities back to the United States, according to Duke Offshoring Research Network's fifth-annual report on offshoring trends,…
(Bellwether Services: Atlanta) -- Bellwether Services recently announced the first edition of its Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Professional Development Series, which is now available for preorder. The book will be available by late August 2009 online and at many book distributors.
This…
Design of experiments (DOE) is a crucial tool in Six Sigma quality management and its application is widespread in Japan; nevertheless, many manufacturing companies in other countries have not formally adopted it because of its complex concepts and costs. As a matter of fact, the essence of the…
(MoreSteam.com: Columbus, OH) -- MoreSteam.com LLC, a global provider of online lean Six Sigma training and support technologies, has announced the availability of TRACtion 3.0, the latest version of MoreSteam.com’s web-based project management and tracking software for lean Six Sigma deployments…
(SigmaQuest: Sunnyvale, CA) -- SigmaQuest Inc., the leader of on-demand, scalable solutions for product quality management, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, are hosting a free webinar titled, "…
(ASTM: West Conshohocken, PA) -- According to a recent annual report, a memorandum of understanding signed between the Instituto de Normas Técnicas de Costa Rica (INTECO) and ASTM International in 2005 continues to benefit both organizations.
Formed in 1987, the Instituto de Normas Técnicas de…
(IQPC: New York) -- IQPC announces its "5th Annual Process Excellence Week for the Service & Transactional World." This fast-paced conference, held Sept. 21–24, at The Wyndham, Chicago, delivers the newest, most relevant process excellence tools, the most powerful methods, and quicker-to-…
(FDA: Rockville, Maryland) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced it has stepped up its efforts to prevent noncompliant investigators and others from participating in new product development. The FDA's procedures for debarment and disqualification have been enhanced to…
Modern equipment can be sensitive to brief disturbances on utility power mains. Electrical systems are subject to a wide variety of power quality problems that can interrupt production processes, affect sensitive equipment, and cause downtime, scrap, and capacity losses. The most common…
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--Editor
1. Introduction
In March 2009 the ASME released a new…
