Category Archives: Uncategorized

#46 – A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR QUALITY PROFESSIONALS – T. DAN NELSON

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T. Dan NelsonPDCA ON DISPLAY
When we see an athlete perform at the Olympics, we are looking at someone who has become intimately familiar with plan-do-check-act (PDCA) in its simplest form.

Each Olympian has measured every possible aspect of his or her ability to perform.  Each has done everything in his or her power to improve in an effort to be the best.  It’s not only the drive to win that makes them winners, it’s the effective application of PDCA.  To win, they can’t just want to be better, they need to be better.  Every Olympic event is PDCA in action and under pressure to deliver. Continue reading →

#45 – HOW SECURE ARE YOUR AUDITS? – UMBERTO TUNESI

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Umberto Tunesi pixThere’s a mighty black and white, six minutes long documentary film enclosed to the italian progressive rock band PFM / Premiata Forneria Marconi Stati di Immaginazione (States of Imagination) music album.  Its title is La Conquista (The Conquest), it shows how a savage Indios tribe succeeds in building, with very poor means, a bridge crossing a very dangerous river, to ensure its survival. Continue reading →

#44 – IN-PROGRESS PROCESS METRICS – UMBERTO TUNESI

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Umberto Tunesi pixEspecially in quality business, we’re very much used to control processes via product characteristics when setting up the process, then let the process run under no control unless we sense some problem, ultimately checking the process again at the end of the production batch, via product characteristics once more, before delivery to customer.  This is the essence of process – control and SPC.

This preceding is typical both for tangible products and for services. Continue reading →

#43 – DO YOU KNOW THE COST OF A BAD HIRE? – ELIZABETH LIONS

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Elizabeth Lions PixYou know the one. The one that comes in late or calls in on Monday mornings right before a major project is launched. Or the employee that is constantly negative, bringing down the team because they always have to be right. Or the employee that you just cannot coach,  no matter how hard you try to test your leadership skills.

According to a Forbes article by David K. Williams, the cost of a bad hire can run you anywhere between $25,00-$50,000. These hidden costs quickly add up when you look at a recruiter’s salary, job postings, interviewing, training and related equipment like phones, desks and computers. Continue reading →

#43 – QUALITY MANAGEMENT SEEN THROUGH THE MANUAL – T. DAN NELSON

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T. Dan NelsonA quality manual is supposed to describe a quality management system (QMS), a system of processes working together to output product. A quality manual defines a QMS, whether or not ISO 9001 certification is among management’s objectives.

OPERATIONS AT THREE LEVELS
A work instruction (level three QMS documentation) describes operations at an activity level. It describes how specific activities are supposed to be carried out. “Insert nut A onto bolt B and torque to 20 lbs.” Defining operations according to ISO 9001 requirements at this level, instead of defining them according to internal processing requirements, is not useful to anyone, nor is it necessary. Continue reading →