All Features
Ryan E. Day
We all know what happens to a squeaky wheel, right? But just how loud does a wheel need to squeak before it’s squeak-worthy of replacement?
During my years of auto repair, one of the interesting tidbits I was hipped to was this: What human ears perceive as a squeak is actually a high-frequency…
Arun Hariharan
According to a recent press report, it may soon become mandatory for automobile companies in India to recall vehicles if they receive 100 or more complaints about the same problem. From time to time, we hear about manufacturing companies—most visibly in the auto industry—recalling their products…
Quality Digest
Matthew Philips from Bloomberg Businessweek wrote, “There is no skills gap.” James Bessen, in the Harvard Business Review, heartily disagrees in his article, “Employers Aren’t Just Whining—the ‘Skills Gap’ Is Real.” And in his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama declared the…
Dawn Bailey
For veterinarian Dr. Rona Shapiro, running a small business can be challenging. “Many times, I’m the person pushing the broom, and being the veterinarian, and answering the phone,” she says. “Running my own business—sometimes it tends to run you and you don’t run it.”
Then Shapiro began using the…
Dave Cranmer
A while back, I spent an afternoon with some folks at the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC, one of the MEP centers in Pennsylvania), becoming enlightened on a topic known as “digital intensity” (DI). The phrase, coined by Irene Petrick, a Penn State professor and managing director…
Harry Hertz
Intuition would say (at least to me) that I should read, listen, question, and maybe read or listen again to learn. So, I was caught by surprise when I recently read a Washington Post article by Barry Ritholtz in which he said, “Writing is a good way to figure out what you think.”
It suddenly…
Katherine Watts
Healthcare in 2014 is in a state of flux. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance exchange marketplace opened in October of 2013 with a rough start, and it has still not gained traction. Meanwhile, Medicare and Medicaid are squeezing reimbursement, and there is a growing population paired…
Paul Sloane
One of the most common obstacles to effective decision making by teams is groupthink. The term is used to describe the observation that many groups make poor decisions because they try to reach a consensus and minimize conflict. In doing so they suppress dissenting viewpoints, eschew controversial…
Tom Nelligan, Daniel Kass
Nondestructive testing (NDT), as the name implies, is a methodology used for examining the hidden internal structure, measuring the thickness, or characterizing the material of industrial parts without cutting or otherwise damaging them.
NDT offers important tools for ensuring both safety and…
Duan Jiaheng
Handan Iron & Steel Group (Han Steel) was established in 1958 in the Hebei province, China. The company is capable of producing up to 10,000,000 tons of steel annually and plays a vital role in China’s steel production. To maintain quality control in the production process, Han Steel relied on…
Bob Emiliani
Have the leading figures in the lean community walked the “Respect for People” talk? Not in my view.
Most of these leaders have only recently begun to understand and embrace the “Respect for People” principle. Although there are many dimensions to the “Respect for People” principle within lean,…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
Not every idea threatens change to the status quo, but those that do are met with a fairly predictable response: attention, which can diverge into derision or fascination; resistance; and sometimes, acceptance. I just finished reading a book that’s bound to trigger all three, with plenty of…
Michael Rapaport
If you work in the automotive industry, you should already be familiar with ISO 26262, the international standard for the safety of electrical and/or electronic (E/E) systems in series-production automobiles. Otherwise you’re likely asking, what is ISO 26262? As a basic introduction to the…
Lean Math With Mark Hamel
The term “days inventory on hand,” aka “days of supply,” along with “inventory turns,” is a measure of inventory investment.
Although turns may be one of the most basic measures of an organization’s “leanness,” days inventory on hand perhaps helps lean practitioners better visualize the magnitude…
Annette Franz
If you’re new to designing and implementing a voice of the customer (VoC) program, you’re probably scratching your head and wondering where to begin. There are a lot of components to consider as you dive in, from executive buy-in to organizational alignment to governance and more.
In this column…
Mark Rosenthal
AToyota kata is not a list of stuff to do. To help people understand this, I often ask, “What obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target?” I also like to insert the word “now” in there sometimes for emphasis. The intent (as I interpret it) is for the improver or learner to…
Paul Sloane
I give workshops on creative leadership for major organizations around the world. I always ask delegates, “What is impeding innovation in your business?” The answers often involve cultural issues such as aversion to risk, complacency, or lack of motivation to experiment.
When I gave a workshop in…
NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a laser-based imaging system that creates high-definition 3D maps of surfaces from as far away as 10.5 meters. The method may be useful in diverse fields, including precision machining and assembly, as well…
Jim Benson
If you’re already using Personal Kanban or another kanban system, you are likely at least thinking about limiting your work in progress (WIP). You’re probably finding that challenging.
We know that the more work we take on, the more our brains’ resources are taxed. That tax limits our ability to…
Paul Naysmith
I have four clocks hanging on my office wall, each one individually set for a strange and different time zone somewhere on this planet. I need to know these various times, as I am sure to engage with someone somewhere else at some point during the day.
From clock to clock, each second ticks…
Bruno Scibilia
Using statistical techniques to optimize manufacturing processes is quite common now, but using the same approach on social topics is still an innovative approach. For example, if our objective is to improve student academic performances, should we increase teachers’ wages, or would it be better…
Jacqueline Graham
A critical aspect of managing processes is the ability to measure well. Confidence in the integrity of collected data is imperative to ensure that appropriate decisions are made about acceptable product and process changes. It is possible that products declared “out of specification” may be the…
Mark R. Hamel
A multinational manufacturer was implementing a lean management system in a phased manner within one of its facilities. The target facility operated four comprehensive value streams. The lean management system implementation for the pilot value stream was incremental; its elements included daily,…
Barry Plunkett
Leadership at healthcare organizations is being tested like never before. The move away from a fee-for-service model to a patient-outcome-based model means management has to get clinical-care teams collaborating in a whole new way.
Your leadership style and the culture you help create within your…
Matthew Barsalou
W. Edwards Deming was a frequent critic of quotas. One of his famous 14 points presented in Out of the Crisis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982) is “Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.” There is little room to misinterpret this point, but…
