Does Technology Boost or Block Employee Productivity? #MindfulTech

Technology at Work In our #MindfulTech series, I’ve talked quite a bit about how technology can impact the work-life balance of your employees. A recent post, for example, discussed how smartphones have basically extended the work day by making employees feel bound to...

Smart Manufacturing…Small and Mid-sized Companies It’s GO TIME!

 5th and Final Post in a Series: What You Need To Know About Smart Manufacturing My final post in this series on smart manufacturing may be the most important one for you. So far, since my initial post “What Is Smart Manufacturing, Exactly?” where I...

Smart Manufacturing…Productivity At The Price Of Security?

#4 in a Series: What You Need To Know About Smart Manufacturing Smart manufacturing offers so much potential, it is clearly the future of industrial productivity.  As I mentioned in the post introducing this series on smart manufacturing, smart manufacturing allows...

IoT Provides the Fuel for Smart Manufacturing

#3 and Final Post in a Series: What You Need To Know About Smart Manufacturing So far in this series, we’ve taken a pretty broad look at the trend toward smart manufacturing. In my initial post I gave a general introduction of the concept and how smart manufacturing...

Smart Manufacturing and YOUR Bottom Line

In my post introducing this series on Smart Manufacturing last week, I talked about the benefits of smart manufacturing. Machines equipped to “talk” with one another can make adjustments instantly, using real-time data to maximize production. Human interaction is minimized, which reduces the possibility of erroneous reading or slow response times.

I also mentioned that, for all its advantages, smart manufacturing isn’t embraced by everyone. In fact, in its 2014 Manufacturing Outlook Survey, the American Society for Quality (ASQ) found that 87 percent of U.S. companies are not yet using it at all. In fact, 37 percent of the businesses surveyed stated they had no interest in smart manufacturing.

What Is Smart Manufacturing, Exactly?

What YOU Should Know About Smart Manufacturing. #1 In A Series. It’s certainly not a new sentiment, but it may be truer today than ever…if you aren’t moving forward, you’re falling behind. The hyper-competitive business landscape has made pressure a 24/7...

5 Ways Technology Can Help Employee Work-Life Balance.  #MindfulTech

In last Thursday’s post, I discussed the problems that can come with the new “always-connected-to-the-office” culture. As this Wall Street Journal article points out, the work day never really ends, as communication with bosses and colleagues continues into the evening and beyond via the ever-present, ever-available smartphone.

The Best Decisions Are Based On Facts…ISO Says So

There’s plenty of bravado out there that suggests that “going with your gut” and having the courage to take chances is a trait of great leaders. But the process we completed to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification helped us realize one thing very clearly: if you have a choice between intuition and information, go with the facts.