If you’re in manufacturing, no matter the industry, quality is top of mind. It must be, or you won’t be in business long. Yet, with all the focus, there are big misses all the time in companies large and small, which leads to an interesting question: If quality gets so much attention, why are recalls still increasing? Further, what can we do about it?

Additive manufacturing continues to grow. The number of applications are on the rise, along with additive research. At this time last year, Paul Brackman was the only person working in the Zeiss Knoxville lab—today, he’s one of four full-time Zeiss staff at the lab, along with a team working in additive software applications at the Minneapolis headquarters, and a dedicated hardware team in Germany working on additive.

In these strange times, every industry around the globe has been affected by the coronavirus. And manufacturing is no different.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) continues to gain in popularity as manufacturing teams seek to quantify plant and machine-level performance to find ways each area can be improved and keep production lines running at peak efficiency.

Marlin Steel Wire Products (Baltimore, MD) has modified its manufacturing practices over the last few weeks.

Forcing an ERP system to do double-duty as a quality management system is not as cost-effective as it might seem on the surface. Learn why ERPs aren’t capable of the essential functions of managing quality, optimizing processes, and improving operations.

Does it seem like continuous improvement initiatives keep moving to the bottom of your task list? Here’s one way to get the big picture back on your radar.

Statistical process control provides enough information and depth to optimize even the most complex processes. It’s also easy to get lost in the weeds of SPC analysis. Here’s how to stay focused on your goals. 

Your process is in control. Congratulations! Now how do you keep it in control? Employ these SPC methodologies to maintain a stable process.

When your production is set to in-crease tenfold, it’s time to expand.