Articles by Jim L. Smith

Do companies fail because of a lack of a robust quality system? During a recent quality discussion, a quality engineer asked a group of quality professionals if anyone knew of companies who had gone out of business due to quality problems.

The focus of this particular column may not be popular and it may put some readers on the defensive.

No doubt you’ve heard the saying “Attitude Is Everything”? While attitude might not really be “everything,” in many situations it is the single most significant determining factor of success.

In this month’s column I’ll discuss ethics and its relationship to quality.

Jim Smith talks about setting goals in the new year.

We’re already more than a decade into this new century, and companies are still waiting for the “next big thing” to surface.

Jim Smith discusses the subjective nature of time and how we can use it to our benefit.

With the attention Six Sigma has been receiving, I thought it might be interesting to offer my perspective as someone who worked from the inside of a large organization to launch a major Six Sigma initiative.

My early mentor told me that “you must ignore the crabs if you want to be a success.”