All Features
Matt Fieldman
The NASCAR pit stop—it’s exciting, intense, and can mean the difference between winning and losing a race. Accomplishing the three simultaneous necessities of moving quickly, completing each job with perfection, and having a flawlessly coordinated team seems impossible, yet it happens right in…
Chirag Rathi
Two years later, the perfect storm of pandemic-related disruptions is still a major source of irritation for manufacturers. Those disruptions have been major contributors to the inflation we are now experiencing worldwide. Will that inflation lead us into a recession? A lot of very smart people say…
Melissa De Witte
Over recent months, tech companies have been laying workers off by the thousands. It is estimated that in 2022 alone, more than 120,000 people have been dismissed from their job at some of the biggest players in tech—Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and soon Google—and smaller firms and startups as well.…
Nisan Lerea
Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) are a continual part of any manufacturing process. No matter how many times your factory has executed the same procedure, you must regularly perform quality checks to maintain the same quality level of your process. Quality control on a manufacturing…
Tony Boobier
Does your use of probabilities confuse your audience? Sometimes even using numbers can be misleading. The notion of a 1-in-a-100-year flood doesn’t prevent the possibility of flooding occurring in consecutive years. This description is no more than a statistical device for explaining the likelihood…
Bhushan Avsatthi
The very nature of healthcare construction and its specific infrastructural and functional needs pose significant challenges to the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. Crucial hospital spaces such as operation theaters and critical care centers need fail-proof connections to…
Erika James
Different people at different levels of an organization or ecosystem experience crisis in different ways. Senior decision-makers are unlikely to have the same insights as those who directly interface with customers or those grappling with the operational technicalities of the situation.
For this…
Bryan Christiansen
Performing timely maintenance at remote locations brings an additional layer of complexity to an already challenging task. Actively managing this kind of maintenance work falls under the jurisdiction of field service management.
Performing field maintenance work comes with a lot of moving parts.…
Jennifer V. Miller
Early in my career, I had four bosses in the span of less than four years. It’s not as bad as it sounds; I worked in retail, where churn was high. All of the departures were due to internal promotions, so that was good. I look back on that time fondly because each woman I reported to had a…
Emily Newton
The demand for printed circuit boards (PCBs) will only increase until a superior technology comes of age. The global market for PCBs could rise to $72.3 billion by 2026. PCBs have become essential everywhere, from infrastructure to consumer products.
The overwhelming demand for PCBs for the…
William A. Levinson
Corrective action and preventive action (CAPA) is probably the most important process in any quality management system because so much else depends on it. This includes not only its traditional role as a response to defects, nonconformances, customer complaints, and audit findings, but also outputs…
Ann Brady
Few of us today are unaware of the significance of cybersecurity and the threat of cyberattacks on our computers, smartphones, and other devices. We’re constantly reminded never to disclose passwords and to be on the lookout for spam and phishing emails that attempt to manipulate us into divulging…
Gleb Tsipursky
What’s your decision-making philosophy? Do you toss a coin, or do you consider all the risks of your decisions? As a quality professional, you've probably developed a well-thought-out approach to decision making and risk management. But have you considered how other people’s decision-making…
NIST
While I was reminiscing about National Take Your Dog to Work Day, a light-hearted conversation with colleagues led me to ponder how our furry friends might actually inspire people to reach new heights of excellence. But what business insights can we possibly gain from creatures who spend at least…
Scott Ginsberg
We’re told the cardinal rule of the internet is, “Never read the comments.” This catchphrase is used to warn users of the toxic parts of the internet. One minute you’re sharing an article, photo, or video that you’re proud of. The next moment, dozens or even hundreds of comments snowball into a…
Tom Spendlove
Simulation is a necessity for automotive companies in the 21st century, and there’s pressure to use more of it for many reasons: 1) Electrification produces more heat sources that need CFD and thermal analysis to design dissipation strategies; 2) industrywide moves toward minimal or “zero”…
Javeria Salman
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America are better known for homework help and volunteering opportunities than for cutting-edge career development. But ask the kids in some of the Boys & Girls Clubs across states such as Indiana, Montana, and Washington, and they might say they’re surrounded by…
Andrey Solin
The other day I watched House of Gucci—a biographical movie directed by Ridley Scott about the Tuscan dynasty representing the famous luxury fashion house. The story is based on a nonfiction book written by Sara Gay Forden, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and…
Angie Basiouny
In the hustle of a busy hospital emergency department, teams of doctors and nurses react quickly to determine whether a patient needs to be admitted, referred, or released. Providing such complex care requires a high degree of skill and seamless teamwork, the kind that usually comes from years of…
Vahed Qazvinian
Yearly, employers typically spend $3,000 to $15,000 on employee satisfaction surveys, hoping to detect if an employee has plans to leave the company. Despite that, research has shown that only 33 percent of employees in the U.S. are engaged at work, while 45 percent consider their work an emotional…
Joshua Sadlock
Yup, that’s me in the photo. You’re probably wondering how I ended up hanging under a bridge over the Mississippi River. I’m a certified bridge safety inspector.
If you have questions after seeing people hanging under a bridge, in a basket suspended from the long arm of a truck, or have seen…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Updated 12/12/22
At a meeting of EU health ministers in Brussels on Dec. 9, 2022, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council announced it will be proposing an extension to the transition date for Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (MDR) and Regulation (EU) 2017/746 (IVDR). On…
Megan Wallin-Kerth
Founded in 2012, GoFormz is a uniquely flexible documentation platform for professionals in all industries—and a long-awaited solution for those chasing lean efficiency without sacrificing quality.
What does that mean? Well, unlike using a fillable PDF or Adobe document, GoFormz is an online…
Stephanie Ojeda
Corrective and preventive action (CAPA) is a core function in any quality management system (QMS), and a critical piece in the plan-do-check-act process approach. Like any quality process, tracking CAPA key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial to continuous improvement.
It’s also a focus of…
Rob Press
Without the perfect balance of efficient workers, adequate resources, and satisfied customers, manufacturing businesses risk sending their operations into a tailspin.
Workforce optimization (WFO) streamlines manufacturing workflow by cutting costs and increasing productivity—allowing you to…
