A Quality, Safety and CIP  Manager asked, “What are some of the most effective tools that you have used to prevent repeatable defects in a manufacturing plant? We are trying to improve our FPY but continue with inconsistent results.” Scott’s and my response was:

Great leaps in quality come when you can characterize the process and understand what key factors lead to successful quality outcomes. It’s all about the process.
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Recently a continuous improvement professional asked, “How do you balance quality and profitability? If you maximize one, do you trade off the other?” My answer was:

My partner and I just finished writing a book on  safety, quality and productivity in the construction industry from an inventive point-of-view. What we found was really amazing. In the fewest possible words here’s the bottom line. Where ever you have a safety issue (or quality issue) you also have a hidden productivity issue. Solve for safety (and/or quality) and productivity efficiencies usually come along for free.
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Once again, the question Christopher posed on LinkedIn was: When does continual improvement actually begin?

A woman named, Uttia, said the following and I thought her answer was good:

First you need a process. Then you determine what you need to achieve in that process, then you need to set objectives in that process to achieve that. Then you need to set your objective and a proposed course of action to achieve that objective.
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A gentleman named Christopher asked this question on LinkedIn and it created a huge stir:  “When does continual improvement actually begin?”

My answer was:
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