Laurel Thoennes @ QD

Editor

Quality Digest

Laurel Thoennes is an editor at Quality Digest. She has worked in the media industry for 33 years at newspapers, magazines, and UC Davis—the past 25 years with Quality Digest.

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 12:01
Toyota Reshapes Operations, NASA Investigates Accelerator Issues Chief quality officers to be the direct link between customers and management
Tue, 03/30/2010 - 14:35
Toyota Motor Corp. will approach its worldwide quality assurance efforts from the standpoint of customers, and by keeping in mind the need for strengthened global communication and for ensuring transparency, the newly formed Special Committee for…
QualiPedia: Andon Alerting the team when trouble arises
Mon, 03/22/2010 - 19:13
In the manufacturing industry, an andon is a status display device used to alert the work team—by sound or visually—that assistance is needed immediately, or to identify where they need to concentrate their efforts. An andon device allows an…
Books: “The Surprising Solution” Creating possibility in a swift and severe world
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 20:29
Bruce Piasecki’s new book, The Surprising Solution: Creating Possibility in a Swift and Severe World (Sourcebooks, 2009) is about how to make better leaders, better products, and a better world. The Surprising Solution is about how to create…
QualiPedia: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Begins within
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 17:26
Simply put, customer relationship management (CRM) is the creating and maintaining of a mutually beneficial, transparent relationship between an organization and its customers—an added-value endeavor that enables the organization to learn and…
Books: “Toyota Kata”—It’s in the Mindset Are human behavior patterns and how they are taught fundamental to success?
Tue, 09/01/2009 - 16:48
While other authors have written about Toyota’s manufacturing principles and the company’s approach to efficiency, Mike Rother is the first to devote six years of study to Toyota’s actual management behavior—revealing the essential kata—in his book…
Books: “Toyota Kata”—It’s in the Mindset Are human behavior patterns and how they are taught fundamental to success?
Tue, 09/01/2009 - 16:48
While other authors have written about Toyota’s manufacturing principles and the company’s approach to efficiency, Mike Rother is the first to devote six years of study to Toyota’s actual management behavior—revealing the essential kata—in his book…
QualiPedia: Gemba The place to be
Tue, 09/01/2009 - 12:56
Gemba is a Japanese term that has been translated as: place, real place, actual place. Westerners have further defined gemba to include: where the action is, the go-and-see place, where the work is done, the place to go for improvement, and the…
QualiPedia ISO/TS 16949:2009 Quality management system for the automotive industry.
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 17:52
The latest version of the technical specification, ISO/TS 16949:2009—"Quality management systems—Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2008 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations," specifies quality…
Protecting Patients From Defective Medical Devices The question is, who decides?
Sun, 08/09/2009 - 22:19
On Tuesday, Aug. 4, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing on protecting patients from defective medical devices. The principle element of the hearing was to debate the bill S 540: Medical Device Safety…
QualiPedia: Statistical Process Control (SPC) Statistical process control might be the most misunderstood approach to quality improvement
Wed, 07/22/2009 - 14:52
Search the internet for “What is SPC?” and there are many definitions and descriptions of statistical process control that are correct but not complete. They are true but not the whole truth. From the search results, a general definition and…