Lean and agile are well recognized in the manufacturing sector and in the quality community. Like many quality methodologies, lean and agile work in tandem and separately, depending on an organization’s needs. Where do these methodologies meet and diverge, what are their driving principles, and how you can add them to your toolbox (or convince others to do so)?

In my younger years, whenever I heard “It is better to give than to receive,” I thought it related to birthday and Christmas presents. Now—because with age comes wisdom—I understand that giving has a much broader meaning. 

I am in my tenth year as a part-time instructor at Western Michigan University, currently working with junior- and senior-level engineering students. I instruct the hands-on metrology lab of Dr. Pavel Ikonomov’s metrology class. We have about 15 weeks for this three-credit hour class to introduce metrology, focusing on precision measurement. We have about 45 students taking three hours of lecture and three hours of lab each week.

ASQ has rebranded itself so it is now known simply by its acronym rather than as the American Society for Quality. The reason for this is simple: ASQ is a global entity. Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, ASQ also operates regional centers in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East/Africa. 

The quality profession has existed for nearly three-quarters of a century. In 1946, quality professionals rallied together to create the American Society for Quality Control. Throughout the association’s 72 years, the profession has evolved as roles and responsibilities have changed and expanded. 

They are two distinct phrases with two different meanings. But does your organization treat them that way?

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.

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.” 

Computers have been used to automate manufacturing processes and tasks for many years. Until the 2010s, product assembly was centralized. Over the course of this decade, however, companies have been nudging organization-wide systems toward decentralization. 

Most organizational leaders know that quality makes them more competitive and yields improved bottom-line results. They know what they need to achieve—product and/or service quality—but many organizations struggle with how to consistently yield the quality they seek. This is where ASQ can best provide assistance.