All News
The current recession is the fifth in my working career. And it is beginning to feel like the worst. I can't imagine that any manager or improvement team member in any industry in any country isn't feeling a bit queasy at this point, as the world economy keeps recessing toward an unknown bottom.…
A colleague of mine made an interesting point about how we teach and learn experimental design techniques, and I thought I'd explore the subject further. He observed that the order that we teach statistics is almost exactly opposite of how one would actually use them. So this month I will describe…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has received Congressional approval on its recovery plan to create jobs, strengthen the economy, and encourage innovation. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA…
BSI Management Systems America Inc. (BSI) recently achieved accreditation to ISO 14065 for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission verification services by the American National Standards Institute, placing the former amongst few recognized GHG emission verification and reduction assertions bodies in the…
(Textron Inc.: Augusta, Georgia ) -- E-Z-GO, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), has been awarded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. The international award recognizes companies that achieve world-class performance and promote lean operational concepts.
“More than five years ago, I…
Question: How do Somalian pirates differ from some Wall Street CEOs?
Answer: A Somalian pirate takes hostages and demands money. A Wall Street CEO takes money and demands hostages.
Without the need, drive, pursuit, and focus on reducing waste; and because we had $1 billion to spend, Saturn…
Is your toolholder showing wear in the areas indicated on the toolholder shown?
We’ve been asking this question for some time now, and we know the answer. Normally, close inspection of the tapered area will show a difference in finish at the threaded area a
Toolholder…
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ost of us, I suspect, have had a week that we would prefer relegating to our mental recycle bin. But every now and then we have a week that is truly remarkable. I recently had such a week that soundly confirmed my contention that customer service is rebounding and doing so in large leaps. (If…
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ost of us, I suspect, have had a week that we would prefer relegating to our mental recycle bin. But every now and then we have a week that is truly remarkable. I recently had such a week that soundly confirmed my contention that customer service is rebounding and doing so in large leaps. (If…
(FDA: Silver Spring, Maryland) -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a final rule that requires manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers and fever reducers to revise their labeling to include warnings about potential safety risks, such as internal bleeding and…
I've been auditing to ISO 9001 since 1992. A part of my auditing philosophy has been to add value to the audited organizations by suggesting opportunities for improvement. Following, I will describe the most effective “value adds.”
Continual improvement
Look at ISO 9001:2000 subclause 8.5.1--"…
(WFD Consulting: Boston, Massachusetts) -- WFD Consulting, an expert in work-life, talent management, workload, and overwork, recently released research findings that demonstrate how longer work hours and time spent on low-value work increase burnout and negatively affect employees and…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has had many challenges and setbacks in the past few years. From budget cuts, to high-level departures, the agency has also faced fury from lawmakers on Capitol Hill over high-profile device, drug, and food recalls.
Off the record, current, and former…
Abiding by strict environmental rules can at times seem as much like a religion as a lifestyle. It’s often difficult and even conflicting to balance the intention to live “green” with the attractions of modern convenience. Moving into igloos or pit houses made of mud, is sustainable, yes, but not…
The approach of using a Wiki to document a quality management system (QMS) may seem overwhelmingly obvious in a year or so, yet we are far from that today. Chances are you've used Wikipedia on the web, but you may not appreciate the power that a Wiki can bring to virtually every facet of…
(FDA: Salt Lake City)—Utah-based life science companies are being implored to utilize a scientific approach to regulatory compliance, and to keep the lines of communication open with the Food and Drug Administration. FDA district director Tom Warwick recently spoke with hundreds of life-science…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a three-phase plan to expedite development of key standards for a smart grid, a nationwide network that uses information technology to deliver electricity. The…
(Peavey Electronics Corp.: Meridian, Mississippi) -- Peavey Electronics Corp. has begun a companywide lean initiative that will maximize efficiency among its 33 facilities and strengthen the organization's position in the global marketplace.
Lean manufacturing is a philosophy of maximizing…
One of the most frequent questions I get from Black Belts and Green Belts I train is about the characteristics of a good Six Sigma project, particularly a first project. Define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) is a procedure that is useful for certain types of projects and terrible for…
(Avery Point Group: Atlanta) -- The recession and rapid slumping of sales are forcing many companies to reevaluate their priorities with regard to their continuous improvement initiatives. As a result, there’s a high demand for lean talent skill sets, according to a new study by The Avery Point…
Those best adapted to particular conditions will succeed in the long run. This idea was invented by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (University Press of the Pacific, 2002) to describe Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection of living species.
By the early 1900s, this insight was…
(ANSI: New York) -- The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) has approved the creation of a new technical committee (TC) to address the development of standards related to combating fraud.
ISO/TC 247--“Fraud countermeasures and controls,” was proposed by the American National…
(TÜVRheinland: Newtown, Connecticut) -- TÜVRheinland of North America’s electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and telecommunications product testing lab in Rochester, New York, has been approved for electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic susceptibility testing for products imported into…
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ince 1979, an automotive-parts manufacturer had one premier product that is used by automakers such as General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Mercedes, and Daimler-Chrysler. For competitive reasons, this business didn’t want to share their name for this article.
Overview
In May 2008, the…
Since the year 2000, we have either been mesmerized, entertained, or in my case, irritated by a TV program called “Survivor.” Contestants on this show are isolated in the wilderness and compete against each other for cash and other prizes. The program utilizes a progressive elimination gimmick,…
