Author Archives: greg

#185: “MADE IN JAPAN”: OUR QUALITY STORY – GREG HUTCHINS

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Greg HutchinsTakata airbags.  Now Kobe Steel.

… “more cases of misconduct have continued to emerge, including revelations that Kobe Steel group falsified quality inspection data for steel powders and steel rods.”
Japan Times, ‘Kobe Said Employees’ Cover Up Hampered Probe on Data Falsification Scandal, October 201, 2017

Here’s our story of a similar event:

A few years back, our firm, Quality Plus Engineering, was asked why an industrial product was having quality and reliability problems.  The manufacturer’s products were failing prematurely in a very important application.

We had to go to the source – the corporate design and manufacturing center in Japan. Continue reading →

#185 – HOW A CULTURAL AUDIT CAN ASSIST RISK MANAGEMENT – JAMES KLINE PH.D.

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aIMG_4231-150x150Introduction

An organization’s culture is an important determinant of its success or failure. This is because an organization’s culture is the combined effect of the employees’ underlying assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and expectations. Each can affect performance and adaptability.  A cultural assessment can help determine areas that can inhibit mission accomplishment. This article lists the different techniques used in conducting a cultural audit and indicates how it can help guide corrective action. Continue reading →

#185 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT: A RISK TO PRODUCT DELIVERY – MALCOLM PEART

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Malcom-Peart-pixMost of us are aware of the old saw “the operation was successful, but the patient died!” which has been around since 1829 and used to describe medical, as well as military and business failures.  There are many reasons for failure but is ‘over-management’ one of them? Can too much ‘project management’ be applied to the point that the aim of the project, i.e. the product, is compromised? Continue reading →

#184 – DEVELOPING RECOVERY PROGRAMS: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HURRICANES IRMA AND HARVEY – GEARY SIKICH

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Untitled1-150x150Worst Case Scenarios

When planning for disasters we often time opt for “worst case” scenario plans.  Yet, time and again we are surprised when the “worst case” based plan that has been developed is superseded by an actual event that occurs.  Hurricane Katrina taught this lesson.  Will we be going back to school to learn the same lessons from Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma?  And, Hurricane Jose is coming in on the heels of Irma. Continue reading →

#184 – STEPPING STONES IN THE LEAN JOURNEY – JOSEPH PARIS

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image001-2-300x300-250x250As very young children, we had an instinctive need to be very close to our parents – feeling a great deal of anxiety, even a sense of abandonment, if they were not within our sight.  As we grew older – and whether it was geographically, intellectually, or psychologically – we would become more comfortable with greater distances from what we felt were our basic truths, but almost always as stepping stones and rarely great leaps.  Think of early commanders of sailing ships always keeping sight of land until traveling ever greater distances was more predictable because of maps and navigation techniques and tools. Continue reading →