In effect November 2015, there will be a new Canadian mercury regulation for product compliance that exceeds the requirements of the European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulation. All companies manufacturing or importing goods in Canada are required to comply with this regulation or be subject to enforcement procedures. Continue reading
Previously,
I discussed failure mechanisms and root causes and classified failure into three types based on when failures occur: early life, random, and wear-out. Here I will focus on the first two: early life and random failures. Continue reading
The quote attributed to Thomas Edison of “Vision without execution being hallucination” is one side of the coin. As Roger Martin wrote in a recent HBR article, execution without vision is mindless.
A good analogy I’ve used to express how tightly integrated the two need to be comes from organized sports. Continue reading
In the February 2015 issue of Quality Progress, John West and Charles Cianfrani imply that ISO 9001:2015 will result in a change in the quality format. However, it will merely be an adjustment. The inference is that quality will still dominate. One might expect that approach in the American Society of Quality’s (ASQ) primary journal. However, this raises the question posed in the title. Is one approach going to dominate the other? There are partisans on each side. In an earlier article, I postulated that it is actually a symbiotic relationship. However, a closer examination of the foundation and difficulties associated with the Quality Improvement Process and Risk Analysis should put the issue in a better perspective. Continue reading
In order to gain competitive advantage and long term growth, CEOs are acting on three corporate responsibility trends. The trends include the impact of ratings and rankings on their business, risk management practices for brand and reputation management, and best practices for sustainable supply chains. Continue reading