Force field analysis helps you make decisions by looking at the forces for and against change. You can use this information to decide what actions will help you achieve your goals. History Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) developed a theory of social systems c...

A Material Review Board (MRB) team may be made up of several people from different departments within an organization. The Material Review Board (MRB) collectively makes decisions to disposition nonconforming material that has been referred to this b...

What is Segregation? “segregation” means separating or dividing into different groups, classes, or kinds. The word comes from the Latin sēgregāre, meaning to separate.   In a business context, segregation refers to separating customers based on their...

The best way to manage variations is to understand them first. This means understanding what causes them, why they happen, and how to predict and control them. Once you understand the process well enough, you can take steps to prevent them from happe...

Design for X means Design for Excellence, where the X is a variable that can have one of many possible values. For example: Design for Manufacturing/Manufacturability (DFM) Design for Assembly Design for Maintainability Design for Cost Design for Log...

You've probably heard of the term "leading indicators." They're the early signs of future economic trends or events. In other words, they're important indicators for predicting what might happen in the future.   But what exactly are leading indicator...

ISO 9001 is the most popular quality management standard in the world. It provides a framework for organizations to establish, implement, and maintain an effective quality management system that will consistently deliver safe, reliable products of go...

Affinity Diagram is a tool for organizing ideas generated during a brainstorming session into groups by similarity. It organizes ideas into categories so that they're easier to understand. The term Affinity diagram was proposed by Kawakata Jiro in th...

Suppliers are an integral part of any business, especially manufacturing. Supplier selection is the process of finding the right supplier for your business. It encompasses all the steps taken to find, select, and work with a supplier.  Supplier selec...

Motivation is a process in which an individual decides to act or not based on their own desire. It can be defined as "the energy source that drives an individual toward action." In other words, it is the force that makes us move from one state to ano...