All Features
Dave Coffaro
Leaders are called to look beyond current conditions. That doesn’t mean we have a crystal ball or overlook today’s reality. It means we have to ask, “What’s next for our organization?” That’s not always easy, particularly in the midst of turmoil, yet it’s essential.
As evidence of the importance…
Ben Brumfield
Dang robots are crummy at so many jobs, and they tell lousy jokes to boot. In two new studies, these were common biases human participants held toward robots.
The studies were originally intended to test for gender bias, that is, if people thought a robot believed to be female may be less…
Ann Clark
Reshoring is the trend of bringing manufacturing from overseas back to its local origin—to here, the United States. The tariffs on Chinese, Canadian, and European imports were levied both to level the global-trade playing field and incentivize U.S. companies to bring manufacturing back to America.…
Eric Stoop
What makes someone a quality leader and not just a manager? According to experts at Harvard Business School, the difference between leading vs. managing comes down to a few key strategies.
Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn defines leadership as “the creation of positive, nonincremental…
Willow Ascenzo
During the late 19th century, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays and soon after discovered their properties for medical and industrial imaging when he created a radiograph of his wife’s hand. From this discovery, the powerful tool of X-ray radiography and tomography fell into the hands of medical…
Jim Benson
You feel like you need to prioritize. That is a cry for help. And prioritization isn’t the help you need.
At this point, any act of prioritizing is a small bandage on a very large wound. You can, and probably should, still do it, but it will give you only momentary relief.
Politics, silos, poor…
Ryan Ayers
Data are valuable assets, so much so that they are the world’s most valuable resource. That makes understanding the different types of data—and the role of a data scientist—more important than ever. In the business world, more companies are trying to understand big numbers and what they can do with…
Farhana Ahmad
When Intelex developed its return-to-work program, we decided the best approach would be a phased one. Similar to the concept of continuous deployment, breaking down the plan to allow individuals to quickly process, adapt, and execute practices and procedures makes it more manageable for employers…
Paul Laughlin
During this time of teams being physically apart, it is easy for leaders to avoid difficult conversations. Empathy and compassion from leaders matters at this time, but you will not be serving your team if you use this as an excuse to avoid all criticism or challenging feedback.
I am hearing from…
Celia Paulsen
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robots, 3D printing, the internet of things (IoT)... there’s a whole world of advanced manufacturing technology and innovation just waiting for small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) that want to step up their digital game. Unfortunately, manufacturing…
Davis Balestracci
“With data from an epidemic there is no question of whether a change has occurred. Change is everywhere. The question is whether we are getting better or worse. So while the process behavior chart may be the Swiss army knife of statistical techniques, there are times when we need to leave the knife…
NIST
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated a potentially new way to make switches inside a computer’s processing chips, enabling them to use less energy and radiate less heat.
The team has developed …
Angelo Scangas
A manufacturer’s ability to maintain high-quality products and regulatory compliance depends largely on its suppliers’ own quality-related activities. Supplier audits can be an important tool for manufacturing organizations to ensure their suppliers are consistently delivering high-quality parts,…
Knowledge at Wharton
While sales of products like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and even home appliances have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, auto sales have experienced the opposite. Through March, April, and May 2020, total vehicle sales in the United States fell to levels not seen since the Great…
Gleb Tsipursky
As a vast number of companies rush to reopen, they’re falling into the trap of “getting back to normal.” They don’t realize that we’re heading into a period of waves of restrictions, due to many states reopening too soon. Indeed, some of the states that opened early have already reimposed some…
Harry Hertz
Communities across America have long struggled with systemic issues, such as education disparities, income inequality, access to healthcare, diversity and inclusion, and inequalities in economic opportunity. When these issues are addressed, they are generally addressed in silos without the benefit…
Michael Weinold
After nearly 130 years in business and a series of breakthrough innovations that shaped the way we light up our homes, General Electric has sold its lighting division to the U.S.-based market leader in smart homes, Savant, for a reported $250 million (£198 million). Although a licensing agreement…
Ken Voytek
I’ve made it my personal crusade to keep a focus on the fundamental importance of productivity to manufacturers, to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and to the MEP centers that do the daily work of helping small…
Jeffrey Phillips
Throughout human history we’ve constantly sought out tools and capital to make us more productive. From the formation of basic tools to assist in farming to real cultivation and shaping of the land for greater yields, humankind learned to grow food. Further research into genetics, fertilizers, and…
Kayla Wiles
A new laser treatment method could potentially turn any metal surface into a rapid bacteria killer just by giving it a different texture, researchers say. In a new study, they demonstrated that this technique allows the surface of copper to immediately kill off superbugs such as MRSA.
“Copper has…
Gleb Tsipursky
How can quality professionals defeat unconscious bias? First, you need to know what unconscious bias is.
Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) refers to unconscious forms of discrimination and stereotyping based on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, age, and so on. It differs…
Adam Bahret
‘What’s the MTBF of a human?” A bit of a strange question I ask in my Reliability 101 course. Why ask such a weird question? I’ll tell you why. Because MTBF is the worst, most confusing, crappy metric used in the reliability discipline.
OK, maybe that statement is a smidge harsh, but it does have…
Donald J. Wheeler
In May 2019, James Beagle and I published an article that contained tables for the analysis of mean moving ranges or ANOMmR (pronounced a-nom-m-r). By request of those using this technique, I have expanded these tables. This article contains these expanded tables and repeats the illustrative…
Martin J. Smith
Robert Siegel has peered into the post-Covid-19 future and concluded that anyone hoping for a quick recovery is likely to be disappointed. Which means a great many businesses will fail.
“We can say that with 1,000-percent certainty, and there are many reasons why,” says Siegel, a lecturer in…
Harish Jose
Shigeo Shingo is one of my heroes in industrial engineering. He had a great mind that thrived on curiosity. Today I am looking at Shingo’s Whys. This is in contrast to Taiichi Ohno’s 5 Whys method.
Ohno’s 5 Whys method is one of the tools in Toyota Production System to get to the root cause of an…
