By Wally Stegall and Jon M. Quigley The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) has developed the Production PART Approval Process (PPAP) standard as part of advanced product quality planning (APQP). The PPAP documentation; is thought by many as just a collection of documents and sign-off to allow a supplier to start manufacturing. That is not […]

by Jon M Quigley Design for manufacturing provides us with the ability to critique the design as it applies or impacts the manufacturing line. Have you ever wondered why the phrase “hits production” exists? It is because insufficient attention to the integration of the design and the manufacturing often result in trauma at the manufacturing […]

The sooner you move away from project management activities based upon hope, the sooner your organization makes a recovery to the efficient enterprise you desire. I have noticed a rash of project schedules wherein each task lays end to end as if the prediction of the; task start, progress, and completion times are known without […]

By Wally Stegall and Jon M Quigley: In today’s global economy the laws and regulations governing materials used in products is ever changing. One way to stay ahead or at least know where a product stands relative to laws and a regulation is to know the material content of the product from day one. If […]

Beware the “I know, I know” syndrome from an enthusiastic employee. The event occurs when the employee remembers a similar incident with a returned part, production line failure, or software issue. Unfortunately, reasoning from effects to causes is actually a logical fallacy called “affirming the consequent.” We cannot assume that a given effect has but […]

Our previous post discussed the power of the routine task. Part of the purpose of this approach is to achieve a state of wei-wu-wei or “effortless effort,” where our achievements seem to occur almost as if by magic. Objectives and targets begin to finish on or ahead of schedule, yet we don’t appear to really […]

One of the most important concepts we have seen in any environment where we need to get things done is the POWER OF THE ROUTINE TASK. Basically, we make any work that needs to be accomplished part of a routine, say, in the morning, when we begin our workaday activities. Some of these tasks are […]

Are you tired of training that is mostly blather from the speaker/teacher/trainer? We use techniques that eliminate this issue. For example, we are fond of “training games” that allow our clients to get some person-to-person and hands on activity. We also ask you to work examples of the kind of material we are training on; […]

Congratulations to two attendees at the 2011 PlugIn event in Raleigh North Carolina. The winner of the test book: Anja Hartung, Duke Energy, PEV Program, Charlotte, NC The winner of the SCRUM book: Melinda Spangler, SPX Service Solutions, Warren, MI Congratulations