All Features
John Flaig
Story update 7/08/2011: We corrected an error in Figure 2, and in the section preceded by "Expressed symbolically for a stable process...".
Two topics that have generated significant interest and frequent comments are, “Is normality required for control charts?” and “You need to estimate the tail…
Daniel Brown
Traditionally, 3-D dimensional inspection was performed in the quiet, stable, spotless, and controlled environment of quality labs. But during the past few decades, manufacturers have been increasingly interested in measuring devices that are both comprehensive in scope and portable. Nowadays,…
Michael Feuer
If you’ve ever watched NBC’s The Office, you know the show makes hilarious use of business-world stereotypes. Granted, the personalities, quirks, and antics of the employees of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. are taken to extremes, but we find them funny largely because they’re true. We know…
Michael Causey
Well, this is getting interesting. For the past several months, we’ve had relatively partisan folks on each side of the medical device industry vs. the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) debate saying either the 510(k) premarket notification process wasn’t doing so badly (the FDA), or that it was…
Frost and Sullivan
Since 2009, there has been a recovery in the white-light scanner market, and the manufacturing industry and metrology vendors acknowledge this. However, research indicates that there is still uncertainty among end-user spending.
White-light scanner end-users are increasingly becoming aware and…
GKS Global Services
A Minnesota-based manufacturer of high-quality ATV, snowmobile, and motorcycle parts and accessories had a design and development problem with a snow blade that created a lot of time-consuming rework. Thanks to 3-D scanning from GKS Global Services, the problem was recently solved.
The…
Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America
Toyota has launched a national program to donate its Toyota Production System expertise to help schools, hospitals, and nonprofits improve their operations, extend their reach, and increase their impact. The company will be working with up to 20 community organizations across the United States…
Ryan E. Day
Standard: “A document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context” (ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004—“…
Miriam Boudreaux
You’ve heard about “measuring training effectiveness” but aren’t quite sure how to do it. You’ve been filling out training attendance sheets for as long as you can recall, and they have served the purpose. So why is training effectiveness all of the sudden a topic of discussion, and what exactly is…
Jidoka is one of the core principles of the Toyota Production System, one that empowers production workers to stop the assembly line and solve problems at the moment they occur. Jidoka integrates the two guiding principles of the Toyota Way: continuous improvement and respect for people.
Recently…
Bruce Hamilton
One of the more dubious outcomes of the French Revolution was the standardization of guillotining as the sole (and oft-employed) manner of capital punishment. Prior to the revolution, only the nobility was entitled to such a humane demise. Commoners received their due by more excruciating means,…
MIT News
For discussion: We’re all quality professionals, right? We understand root cause analysis, right? But do we understand it and act on it as well as when we were babies?--Quality Digest editors
If you flip a light switch and nothing happens, there are a couple of possible explanations. One is that…
NIST
Most industry executives, military planners, research managers, or venture capitalists charged with assessing the potential of a research and development project probably are familiar with the wry twist on Arthur C. Clarke's third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable…
Angelo Lyall
In my work with both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing organizations, I have been faced with the challenge of improving quality. Toward that end, I'd like to offer a few simple lessons that I have learned.
• Know the set of attributes that customers in your industry use to measure value, and the…
Donald J. Wheeler
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is an engineering tool that has been heavily adapted for use in Six Sigma programs where it is commonly used to decide which problem to work on. In this usage a risk priority number (RPN) is computed for each of several problems, and the problem with the…
Tripp Babbitt
If a service company has been around long enough, there will be some story about how someone manipulated the system and embezzled money or committed some type of fraud. The story is often anecdotal, and the longer it has been since the actual criminal event, the bigger the tale becomes. A thousand…
ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions
Several of the polished gears are still standing on carpeted pedestals shortly after the InnoTrans—the world’s most important railway transport event. They were developed and manufactured by Henschel to help trains deliver their passengers quickly, safely, and reliably. One of the locomotive axle…
Dennis Payton
With the explosive growth in imported goods to the United States, what is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doing toward maintaining a level of service inspection that ensures the best protection of the public health? One option is to partner with the countries exporting the supplies. Perhaps…
MIT News
Researchers from MIT and Harvard University crossed the Charles River to speak at a two-day symposium intended to bridge scientific innovation from both campuses with corporate interests from around the world. The symposium was held June 14–15, 2011, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston as part…
Paul Naysmith
As a quality professional, I am a huge admirer of what the Japanese, and in particular Toyota, have given the business world, and how they have influenced quality improvements like no other in history.
Although in recent years Toyota did have a “blip” in its immaculate history, according to…
Arun Hariharan
Most businesses, government, or even nonprofit organizations have business processes. Generally, processes are documented. Most organizations also have performance measurements. But step back for a moment and ask two fundamental but strategic questions: “What business processes do we need in the…
Rapidform Inc.
Cars scream around the track at speeds approaching 200 mph, yet a 500-mile NASCAR race can be decided by a few tenths of a second. To be a winner, NASCAR teams seek any advantage they can create. However, NASCAR has strict guidelines that specify nearly every aspect of the “stock” car. For BMI Corp…
Mike Richman
Any way you slice it, the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort is one big place. Total number of rooms? More than 2,000. Massive swimming pool? How about two of the biggest ones you’ve ever seen? Fine dining and refreshments? Take your choice of two terrific steakhouses (one American, one Japanese…
NIST
A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), George Mason University, and the University of Maryland has made nano-sized sensors that detect volatile organic compounds—harmful pollutants released from paints, cleaners, pesticides, and other products—that…
The QA Pharm
Just when you think that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to stick to the script by quoting chapter and verse of current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs), it gets very progressive and offers straight talk about corporate commitment and leadership.
I have reported before that the FDA…
