All Features
Neil McLeod
Nowadays we’re all used to seeing blockbuster feature films that use computer graphics and animation technologies to portray imaginary creatures or re-creations of prehistoric animals in their “natural” habitat. On the face of it, the 3D digital modeling and animation work performed by Bill…
Bruce Hamilton
I went to the gym this morning, April 1, and the gym’s owner, sole employee, and pretty much everyone’s personal trainer, Howie, asked me the same question he asks me every time I see him: “What’s your weight?”
“Stayed the same,” I said, but jokingly added, “Actually, I’m ahead of the game…
Alan’s Apothegms with Alan L. Austin
I try to visit with my mother regularly. She is in her 90s, and I welcome the chance to spend time with her. It provides me an opportunity to share memories, update her on what is going on with her grandchildren, and hear stories from her about growing up in San Francisco almost a century ago.…
ISSISSIPPI
The International Six Sigma Institute and Secret Society for Influential Professionals of Process Improvement (ISSISSIPPI, pronounced “eye-ss-eye-ss-eye-pp-eye) today announced its roster of football recruits for the 2013 season. ISSISSIPPI teams have struggled for years, largely due to an…
Quality Digest
The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Enter Gmail Motion—now you can control Gmail with your body…
MIT News
The proliferation of sensor-studded cellphones could lead to a wealth of data with socially useful applications such as urban planning, epidemiology, operations, research, and emergency preparedness, among other things. Of course, before being released to researchers, the data would have to be…
Davis Balestracci
As a consultant, it’s easy to lose touch with reality and become a platitude-spouting machine. I always like hearing from my readers because it keeps me grounded—and I try my best to reply to them all. My heart lies with the hard-working front-line folks doing the real work.
As long as I can…
Mark R. Hamel
The operator balance chart, also known as a percent load chart, operator loading diagram, cycle time/takt time bar chart, or line balance analysis graph, provides the lean practitioner with insight into how equalized operation time is among the workers within a given process, line, or cell. The…
Jack Dunigan
“Well, you have your degree. Now you’re going to get an education.” One of my professors said that to me the night I graduated. She was correct.
A few weeks later I had moved with my new bride (who is now my not-so-new bride but exciting nonetheless) to Northern Arizona for our first post-…
Steve Wise
Determining an effective in-process sampling strategy can be a tricky business. What should you measure? What should your sample size be? What are the pitfalls? Your approach can be the determining factor to whether you will ever attain true understanding of process performance or see any…
Donald J. Wheeler
What happens when we measure the same thing and get different values? How can we ever use such a measurement system to measure different things? By thinking of measurements as the product and the measurement procedure as the process we can use the techniques of statistical process control (SPC)…
Michael Causey
The giant sequoia trees on the Pacific Coast are breathtaking. Majestic and seemingly indestructible, they stand tall as a reminder that slow and steady sometimes does win the race. But what’s great in a forest isn’t always so great elsewhere.
Let’s push the metaphor a bit more, and say there’s…
Matthew E. May
When I speak to groups or meet with prospective clients, one of the most frequently asked questions I field is: “What’s my first step in creating a culture of companywide innovation?” I love the question because I believe that innovation must occur at every level of the company.
Now, that doesn’t…
Robert A. Brown
Chances are you are not fully satisfied with the results of your lean initiatives. It’s also likely that lean thinking is not used to improve your employees’ skills in working together. That’s because you are using only half, probably less, of the power of lean thinking.
In 2001, Toyota declared…
Eston Martz
When I talk to quality professionals about how they use statistics, one tool they mention again and again is design of experiments, or DOE. I’d never even heard the term before I started getting involved in quality improvement efforts, but now that I’ve learned how it works, I wonder why I didn’t…
MIT News
Today, information overwhelms everyone. But how can people learn to make sense of it? One intensive economics course at MIT is built around doing just that, by getting undergraduate students to produce research papers while working closely with faculty.
Floods of data exist on scores of subjects…
Jim Clifton
Here’s something they’ll probably never teach you in business school: The most consequential decision you make in your job—more important than all the rest—is who you name manager. When you name the right people to manage your company’s
When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that…
Paul Naysmith
Story update 4/3/2013: The author replaced his earlier chart example with an explanation of how to set up an Xbar chart.
Unlike the difficult "third album," the one that is supposed to be a real challenge following the first two musical productions, my third album in the Seven Quality Tools suite…
Margaret A. Hamburg
The deadly outbreak, in October 2012, of fungal meningitis associated with a compounded medication was a horrible tragedy. I’ve asked myself many times if and how it could have been prevented. I speak for everyone at the FDA when I say that our hearts go out to the many victims, including those…
Bruce Piasecki
Here, I share a blueprint of what a well-run team looks like and explain why the power of teams trump the appeal of the rugged individualist.
America loves a fierce individualist. Yes, there is something inspiring about an enterprising loner or an executive of a large corporation blazing a path…
A smart phone that can perform an electrocardiogram (ECG)—measuring the electrical activity of a person’s heart to determine whether he is having a heart attack—is in my opinion an extremely smart phone. That is just one example of how mobile medical applications are transforming healthcare.
As…
Alan Nicol
Are there any of us who haven’t been assigned to the “undead” project? You know, those projects that seem to go on forever without ever possessing the priority or proper resources to finally launch. Or the ones that are constantly redirected or defined so that we never make meaningful progress. Or…
Umberto Tunesi
We were all quietly and happily dozing on the sofa labeled “quality equals conformity to requirements,” when someone in Geneva, quite likely so he could keep pace with his counterpart in Detroit, abruptly awakened us with the continuous, and continual, improvement bell.
Now, maybe this guy just…
Matthew Barsalou
Genichi Taguchi passed away in Tokyo on June 2, 2012, at the age of 88. He started his career by studying textile engineering with the expectation of entering his family’s kimono business, but was drafted into Japan’s Imperial Navy during World War II. He became interested in statistics after the…
Patrick Runkel
Has this happened to you? You organize a brainstorming session to analyze your process. At the kick-off meeting, several people sit with arms crossed, lips pursed, eyes cast downward. Frequently, they’re the ones who’ve worked at the process for
“Here we go again. Wasting time to prove the…
