All Features
Matthew Littlefield
To effectively provide high-quality products, quality management must become part of each employee’s everyday thought processes. Market-leading companies can attest to the operational, branding, and bottom-line benefits of this approach. However, adopting an enterprisewide “how will this decision…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
I noticed the training wheels on my son’s bike were no longer touching the ground. He was riding without them. “Let’s take those off,” I said.
“No Daddy, I’m not ready.”
“Sure you are; let’s give it a try.”
After I removed them, he got on the bike, but couldn’t get enough momentum to stay up and…
Jeffrey Varney
When discussing process management and improvement, I often talk about the concept of “random acts of improvement.” People, with good intentions, are off trying to make their part of the organization better, more efficient, simpler. But often these changes are done locally, in silos, without…
APQC
In 2010, the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) identified the Seven Tenets of Process Management to help classify an organization’s process management capabilities. Adherence to these pillars helps build and maintain strong processes across an enterprise. By applying these tenets,…
Gene Grilli
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on leak rate testing. Read part one here.
Today’s topic concerns another “imagined” leak rate standard: accuracies that are one or two orders of magnitude more precise than any equivalent application in the same industry.
When we track down…
Umberto Tunesi
We’ve all seen “Cinderella processes,” those processes that, although they do all the work in the company, are underevaluated, almost ignored by auditors.
I recently conducted a survey on 20 auditors. It was intended to analyze what processes are emphasized in ISO/TS 16949 audits, as well as any…
NIST
Thanks to a new reference standard developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), law enforcement agencies will have an easier time linking the nearly 200,000 cartridge cases recovered annually at U.S. crime scenes to specific firearms.
Cartridge cases—the empty shells left…
Gallup
Many companies measure employee and customer satisfaction without much to show for it. That’s because their surveys—whether one magic question for customers or 100-plus-item monstrosities for employees—often focus on the rational and exclude the emotional. However, it’s vital to measure emotional…
Tracey Lynn King, Brian A. Stockhoff, Mary Beth Edmond
Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series on quality in healthcare. Part one described the Juran Model for Patient Safety, and part two identified elements of a patient safety officer program.
With between 44,000 to 98,000 patients dying each year in hospitals as a result of medical…
Kyle Cahoon
When work days (and nights) are spent conforming to customer compliance standards, investigating customer complaints, or struggling with data collection software, then finding time for continuous process improvement seems unrealistic if not impossible. Tasks pile up, demands increase, and products…
Robert G. Burney
Business and social responsibility are frequently regarded as opposite poles in a decision spectrum. Sometimes, knowing the right questions to ask or how to look at the decision can frame the decision in a way that makes sense to everyone.
Several years ago, a Baldrige Award winner recalled the day…
Georgia Institute of Technology
A research team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has developed a software tool that enables users to perform in-depth analysis of modeling and simulation data, then visualize the results on-screen. The new data analysis and visualization tool offers improved ease of use compared to…
Alan’s Apothegms with Alan L. Austin
My name is Alan Austin, and I recently described myself as a quality prodigal. I don’t mean to say that I’m very good at spending recklessly, but rather that I have returned to quality after straying onto other paths.
For those of you unfamiliar with the word, Merriam Webster defines apothegm as “…
Paul Naysmith
On Friday afternoon of March 11, 2011, an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude was detected about 45 miles off the coast of Japan. One of the most powerful ever recorded, it moved the 8,000 square-mile island of Honshu 8 feet to the east. It also set off a 130-ft tidal wave (the same height, ironically, as…
MIT News
Suppose you were asked to streamline the process of real estate development. Or to better organize the offices of an international manufacturer. Or to explain how the parts of a digital printer interact. The complexities of all these tasks would likely seem daunting.
Now suppose someone said you…
Mike Staver
When you arrive at the office each morning, you find yourself in a blame-free zone. Your team attacks projects proactively and with confidence. When a problem arises, everyone involved “owns it” and takes corrective action. The same holds true with every employee, in every department—and then you…
Paul Daniel
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulations tell us that we must identify the environmental conditions that can affect the strength, identity, safety, quality, and purity of our regulated products, whether they are pharmaceuticals, medical devices, or biologic products.
The FDA…
Knowledge at Wharton
The bossless office: Is it the wave of the future or an idea that will always be a utopian dream, given the inevitable intrusion of human nature?
Recent articles in the business press have extolled the benefits of work environments where there are no bosses and no titles, where employees decide…
New River Kinematics, API Services
St. Luke’s Church of Smithfield, Virginia, dates back to 1632. As the oldest surviving Gothic building in the United States, St. Luke’s Church is a historical landmark that is very significant to the Smithfield community and surrounding area. Despite being carefully preserved by a dedicated group…
Patrick Runkel
Muntasir Mamun and Mohammad Ujjal are riding across the United States on a bicycle built for two. As they pedal in sync from Seattle to New York, they’re not only gazing at our purple mountains’ majesty and amber waves of grain. They’re also keeping their eyes peeled for plastic soda bottles, glass…
Matthew E. May
Have you heard any of the following lately?
“I’m OK with how things are.” “The timing for this isn’t quite right.” “Seems like a lot of pain for such little gain.” “We need more buy-in to do this.” “That may work elsewhere, but not here.” “We tried something like this before, and it didn’t work.”…
Geomagic
Olympic sports keeps pushing athletes to find new and nuanced ways to condition their bodies. The same is true with their equipment. Engineers continually look for new refinements that propel the competition to a new level.
Much of this latter challenge lies in the realm of biomechanics, or…
Tripp Babbitt
Too many service organizations use measures that disconnect them from customers. The result is predictable: higher costs and worse service.
In service organizations, the systemic relationship between purpose, measures, and method is often clouded. These measures have nothing to do with what…
The Conference Board
Amid continued economic, financial, and political turmoil, several European Union countries are seeing improvement in a crucial measure of competitiveness. According to a new Executive Action Report from The Conference Board, the cost of labor per unit of output has fallen significantly in a number…
Bruce Hamilton
Referred to either as “work in process” or “work in progress” (I think they’re the same thing), WIP is one of those manufacturing concepts that’s designed to confuse.
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First, it’s not really “work” but the object of work. In fact, in a…
