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Tom Pyzdek
Story update 3/29/2011: We corrected an error in the next to last sentence. "p < 0.05" was changed to "p > 0.05."
One of the exercises I assign to students in my training involves creating two histograms from normally distributed random numbers. The results often look similar to those shown…
Miriam Boudreaux
Have you ever been audited and felt like the auditor’s findings were almost irrelevant in the context of your organization’s major challenges and goals? Did you sometimes feel like you've been handed a Mickey Mouse nonconformity given the issues your organization is confronting? But what is one…
Miriam Boudreaux
Have you ever been audited and felt like the auditor’s findings were almost irrelevant in the context of your organization’s major challenges and goals? Did you sometimes feel like you've been handed a Mickey Mouse nonconformity given the issues your organization is confronting? But what is one…
Stewart Anderson
An excellent article by Donald Wheeler on the economic cost of quality, “What Is the Zone of Economic Production?” gave me pause to consider the strategic implications of reducing the costs associated with poor quality. As Wheeler pointed out in his article, there is an economic zone of production…
Stewart Anderson
An excellent article by Donald Wheeler on the economic cost of quality, “What Is the Zone of Economic Production?” gave me pause to consider the strategic implications of reducing the costs associated with poor quality. As Wheeler pointed out in his article, there is an economic zone of production…
Steve Moore
During the late 1990s, Marilyn vos Savant, holder of the Guinness Book of Records’ highest recorded IQ of 228, received an avalanche of hostile responses, many from Ph.D.s in math and statistics, when she correctly solved the controversial “Monty Hall Problem.” This concerns whether a contestant on…
Steve Moore
During the late 1990s, Marilyn vos Savant, holder of the Guinness Book of Records’ highest recorded IQ of 228, received an avalanche of hostile responses, many from Ph.D.s in math and statistics, when she correctly solved the controversial “Monty Hall Problem.” This concerns whether a contestant on…
Denise Robitaille
Every once in a while when I’m conducting training, I have the good fortune to have someone ask a particularly atypical question that gets me thinking and helps me to develop more tools and techniques. This serves to not only augment my own bag of tricks but also increases my capacity to serve my…
Denise Robitaille
Every once in a while when I’m conducting training, I have the good fortune to have someone ask a particularly atypical question that gets me thinking and helps me to develop more tools and techniques. This serves to not only augment my own bag of tricks but also increases my capacity to serve my…
Davis Balestracci
When teaching the I-chart, I’m barely done describing the technique (never mind teaching it) when, as if on cue, someone will ask, “When and how often should I recalculate my limits?” I’m at the point where this triggers an internal “fingernails on the blackboard” reaction. So, I smile and once…
American National Standards Institute ANSI
(ANSI: Washington) -- The Internet as we know it is about to max out. Within the next 12 to 18 months, every one of the 4.3 billion internet protocol (IP) addresses will have been exhausted.
When the Internet was created more than 30 years ago, 4.3 billion unique addresses seemed…
William A. Levinson
Last May I wrote in “Airline Companies Are Driving Customers Away” that the U.S. Military Academy allows cadets only four responses to questions as to whether a specific duty or responsibility was carried out: “Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” “I don’t understand, sir,” and “No excuse, sir.” Col. Larry…
Joseph A. DeFeo
Designing for customer needs always leads to higher quality products and services, as well as innovative outcomes, because an effective design process uncovers hidden customer needs. Adapting the most effective models of continuous innovation can create the habit of innovation. Continuous…
Angelo Lyall
The business world seems fascinated with the story of how Toyota “invented” lean manufacturing. In actuality, Toyota did not aim to create this heavily marketed tool kit that we call lean manufacturing; the company simply did things “The Toyota Way” as they put it. Unleashing the innovative…
Miriam Boudreaux
There’s no more vicious cycle than problems that constantly reoccur because there’s no time to stop and solve them correctly. Although we all would like this cycle to stop, managers can’t afford to let employees waste time with too much researching, and employees don’t always have the time…
Steven Ouellette
“Come and listen to a story ‘bout a man named Ned / a poor Texas Sharpshooter barely kept his family fed. Then one day he was shootin’ at his barn / and he came up with a plan to spin a silly yarn. ‘Specifications,’ he said, ‘making of… the easy way.’ ” What do a Texas sharpshooter and…
Mark R. Hamel
A recent George F. Will column referenced the sign re-created to the right. Although I don’t necessarily believe that the signage encompasses the complete definition of discipline, it certainly provides food for thought.
A lot of folks think of discipline, especially in the context…
Kimber Evans
Kaizen. Across many industries in many countries, this term is thrown around as a “standard practice.” Continuous improvement—the ultimate goal of business everywhere, right? Find ways to get things done quicker, cheaper, more efficiently… and then implement those goals into an everyday routine.…
Denise Robitaille
I’ve been working with a client on implementing an ISO 9001-compliant quality management system. As always it’s a unique and interesting project, since organizations have different cultures, processes, products, and customers. No two quality management systems are quite the same. Documentation…
Mike Richman
Protecting the health and well-being of consumers and the world at large is the quality industry’s highest calling. During the past several decades, as the manufacture of electronics and consumer goods has shifted away from North America and Europe, the need to confirm and ensure the safety of…
Jon Miller
There is an expression in Japanese, “Dust accumulates to form a mountain.” (Chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru.) While this may not be geologically correct, it carries a deep truth that lean practitioners will recognize through experience. Taken positively, this is the essential spirit of kaizen…
I have long admired and respected Toyota. I have been to its factories, published and written books and articles about its revolutionary production system, known many of its brilliant people, and taught its methods to thousands of students. Like many of Toyota's admirers, I was shocked and saddened…
Steven Ouellette
With the announcement of another Toyota recall, it seems that everyone and their dog have an opinion about Toyota, and some of them might even be drawing the right conclusions. While everyone is allowed to have opinions (not the dogs—on quality matters I don't trust entities that consider cat poo a…
PQ Systems
In the world of continuous improvement, it might seem that one does not want to look back. After all, as systems improve, old data is no longer useful, and keeping it around—like keeping old love letters—may someday get you into trouble.
Knowing when to recalculate control limits is important, as…
Pierre Huot
If a manufacturer were to ask its clients how they evaluated goods or services, the three most common metrics would be goods at a fair price, on-time delivery, and quality. Ask which could be most valuable and in all likelihood the most significant response would be quality. When included in the…