Tag Archives: Madison

Applied Quality Engineering Education

Classroom projects translate into immediate workplace gains for working professionals in engineering [the broken link was removed] In the final semester of his UW–Madison master’s degree, Bob Aloisi didn’t just earn a letter grade in his quality engineering class: He … Continue reading

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Management Blog Tag

I have been tagged by Mark Graban of the lean blog: “Tag” – 5 Things You Don’t Know About Me. I spent a year in Singapore (the small person in the photo is me, the bigger one is Dad on … Continue reading

Posted in curiouscat.com, Fun | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Public Sector and Deming

In, Public Management-The Bush Administration, Paul Soglin, former Mayor of Madison Wisconsin, quotes one of Deming’s 14 obligations of management: W. Edwards Deming’s point number ten is, “Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workplace.” In looking for online background … Continue reading

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Box on Quality

Dr. George Box is not as well known in the general management community as his ideas merit (in my biased opinion – photo of Bill Hunter and George Box). He is well know in the statistics field as one of … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Design of Experiments, Management, Management Articles, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

LA Jail Saves Time Processing Crime

After efficiency study, L.A. jail saves time processing crime by Dan Laidman Los Angels Daily News (pointy hired boss broke the link so I removed it) Last week, Chief William Bratton told the Board of Police Commissioners that Toyota methods … Continue reading

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Statistics for Experimenters – Second Edition

The classic Statistics for Experimenters has been updated by George Box and Stu Hunter, two of the three original authors. Bill Hunter, who was my father, and the other author, died in 1986. Order online: Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Data, Design of Experiments, Innovation, Management, Manufacturing, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data

We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system. Often people forget that the end result is not for the number to be improved but for the situation to be improved. We hope, if the measure improves the situation will have improved. But there are many reasons this may not be the case (one number improving at the expense of other parts of the system, the failure of the number to accurately serve as a proxy, distorting numbers, etc.). Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments