With 2015 being the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo and having a man-crush on Napoleon B, I have taken this opportunity to revisit some of lessons we can learn (good & bad) from his 20 year reign as master of the universe. Continue reading
In the past two years, a number of global companies have been fined for committing major violations of law or safety regulations. General Motors (GM) was fined $35 million. A US Congressional investigation determined that GM engineers looking at ignition switch complaints, made a design change, but failed to issue a recall notice. Continue reading
Quality, system, and internal auditing are focusing on risk management, process control, process capability, and organizational effectiveness. These value added audits require more information to be collected and analyzed to evaluate value, risk, waste, effectiveness, and efficiency. As an organization moves toward value added auditing, the auditor or audit team will collect more information, conduct in-depth analysis, and obtain sufficient evidence in order to reach conclusions. Continue reading
Here is an example of how to determine the future value of a specific reliability task. Many of us face the challenge of how to justify spending product development resources to provide insights and information to the rest of the team. Accelerated life testing (ALT) is particularly difficult: It is time consuming, expensive, and at times statistically complex. Having a clear method to estimate the value serves your career and the organization well, as both benefit from the right investments. Continue reading
Threat Analysis 2016 – A Review of Top Potential Threats and Emerging Crises for 2016
We are well beyond the dreaded Mayan Calendar apocalypse of 2013. In November 2016, the United States will have a Presidential election and a new president. How well will we do, or, how poorly will we perform when, and if, unplanned for crises emerge from threats that we continue to overlook? My top picks for threats, emerging crisis issues and high impact risks in 2016 and their current status: Continue reading