Thomas R. Cutler

President and CEO, author

Thomas R. Cutler is the President and CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based, TR Cutler Inc., celebrating its 21st year. Cutler is the founder of the Manufacturing Media Consortium including more than 8000 journalists, editors, and economists writing about trends in manufacturing, industry, material handling, and process improvement. Cutler authors more than 1,000 feature articles annually regarding the manufacturing sector. More than 4,500 industry leaders follow Cutler on Twitter daily at @ThomasRCutler. Contact Cutler at trcutler@trcutlerinc.com.

Wed, 03/16/2022 - 15:30
ISO 22000—Standards Without Profitability Are Doomed
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 07:21
Story update 6/03/2011: The first two paragraphs following the subhead "ISO 22000 users" were changed.   Regulatory and standards compliance is a requirement that meets with regular resistance from CFOs and CEOs who must justify the expense. Brand…
ISO 22000—Standards Without Profitability Are Doomed
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 07:21
Story update 6/03/2011: The first two paragraphs following the subhead "ISO 22000 users" were changed.   Regulatory and standards compliance is a requirement that meets with regular resistance from CFOs and CEOs who must justify the expense. Brand…
The Role of Quality in E-Commerce Outsourced SaaS solutions gaining traction for SAP ERP users
Mon, 02/09/2009 - 14:17
Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) is an iterative four-step problem-solving process typically used in business process improvement. It’s also known as the Deming Cycle. When W. Edwards Deming postulated this process, there was no such system as e-commerce.…
No Buy-In? No Change. Perceptions of quality
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 16:00
Respecting a quality manager’s opinion is meaningless unless there’s enterprisewide buy-in to ideas and quality initiatives. Rarely do the individuals serving on a lean initiative, continued process-improvement team learn the scientifically proven…
Engineer-to-Order Process Defines Challenges of Quality
Mon, 12/15/2008 - 08:37
When every product manufactured is unique, clients often accept quality risks in order to deliver the project on time. Testing time is limited by the project nature of a manufacturing process and the metrics of quality change when compared to…
Thinking Outside the Corrugated Box A primary source of quality improvement
Fri, 11/07/2008 - 08:49
Lean theory suggests that the possibilities for quality improvement exist everywhere. Rarely does that concept translate to a damaged corrugated box in a warehouse—but it should. The cost of damaged packaging, particularly cardboard containers, is…
Lean Nesting An important element frequently ignored
Tue, 08/26/2008 - 22:00
One of the most demanding problems lean manufacturing faces in discrete manufacturing is control of first operations, where raw material may be cut into multiple parts. First operations such as laser or CNC Punch Press processes dictate what parts…
Six Sigma Busy Work Data trump all
Tue, 05/06/2008 - 22:00
Manufacturing firms intent on capturing and distilling rich streams of data will find them. Companies will often look at a capability maturity model (CMM) in rows and columns—a format common across many industries and many applications—in Excel.…
Six Sigma Busy Work Data trump all
Tue, 05/06/2008 - 22:00
Manufacturing firms intent on capturing and distilling rich streams of data will find them. Companies will often look at a capability maturity model (CMM) in rows and columns—a format common across many industries and many applications—in Excel.…
Successful Branding Clarity above all
Mon, 03/10/2008 - 22:00
Powerful brands can drive success in competitive markets and become the organization’s most valuable assets. Wikipedia suggests that, “Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, and symbol.” Today, how brands…