With its racing debut in 2016, Haas F1 Team is the first American Formula One team to hit the circuit since 1986. Founded by Gene Haas, the team is based in Kannapolis, NC. Haas is the founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America, and he is the chairman of Haas F1 Team.

Certainly, quality professionals play an important role in their organization’s pursuit of improvement and customer satisfaction. However, managers must ‘walk the talk’ in pursuit of customer satisfaction.

As more companies expand operations and rely on supply chains that extend into many parts of the world, certifications are becoming more valuable.

Automation technology has leveled the manufacturing playing field. Now smaller firms can be nimble, niche, and with new efficiencies compete against the big guys.

Machine vision systems consist of several component parts, including illumination, lenses, camera, image acquisition and data transfer, and image processing and measurement software.

Knowing the environment, or being aware of your surroundings, is key to many a task. It’s at least one of the ways we express the importance of having all the information we need in order to reach a goal.

I recently had a discussion with a business leader about quality management systems (QMS), their purpose, and importance to the core business infrastructure. Inevitably these types of discussions leads to whether a QMS is a “bureaucracy.” 

Increasingly complex customer and regulatory compliance requirements, tighter time-to-market schedules from customers who want greater product customization, and the constant pressure on costs and pricing make aerospace manufacturing one of the most challenging businesses in the world to compete in.

The bigger players have been using this methodology for more than a decade.

Hazard- and risk-based approaches to product design and manufacturing may be required by some standards, but they are also simply good practice. These approaches require a more holistic view of the product, intended use, skillset of users, materials, environment, and end-of-life.