#142 – BLACK SWANS, GREY SWANS, WHITE SWANS …. – GEARY SIKICH

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Untitled1-150x150We hear a lot about things that are being called “Black Swans” today thanks to Nassim Taleb and his extremely successful book, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable,” now in its second edition. I have written several articles centering on the “Black Swan” phenomenon; defending, clarifying and analyzing the nature of “Black Swan” events. And, I am finding that wildly improbable events are becoming perfectly routine events. Continue reading →

#142 – THE STRESS – STRENGTH CONCEPT IN PRACTICE – FRED SCHENKELBERG

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Stress–Strength Concept

ABC FredIdeally, in every design of every component the stress–strength relationship looks like this figure:AAA 1You will notice that the stress is well below the strength. This implies there is very little chance of failure as a result of the element being overstressed. Also, ideally, we fully characterize all stresses and all strengths for each element of a product. This is generally difficult to accomplish and it is rarely done to that extent. Continue reading →

#142 – ARE YOU A SYSTEMS CONTROLLED AND/OR PEOPLE CONTROLLED ORGANIZATION? – KEITH RIDGEWAY

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Keith ImageAre you a (Systems Controlled & People Driven) or a (People Controlled and People Driven) organisation?

Every day we hear of organisations failure to prevent accidents, environmental incidents, non-conformities, product recalls and at worst a child, adult or an animal was killed. Continue reading →

#141 – WHAT WILL QUALITY LOOK LIKE IN 20 YEARS? – PETER J. HOLTMANN

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179fed3To look to the future, the quality profession is revisiting its roots. The question is, “Where is the next generation to help the profession look ahead?” Or, as I like to think of it, “What’s the emoticon for quality?”

I recently attended ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement where we discussed powerful questions such as, “What will quality look like in 20 years? What will it be called? Will it still be relevant?”

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#141 – WASHINGTON STATE ADOPTS ERM – GREG HUTCHINS

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Greg HutchinsIn the US, there are a number of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) developments:

  • US Feds are requiring ERM in all federal departments.
  • Feds are pushing ERM to states that have federal funding.
  • Fed are thinking of putting ERM into enforcement and contracts.

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