Performance improvement methods and tools

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Bill King, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Fast Radius . Over the past decade, 3-D printing has transformed from a hobbyist or prototyping tool into an industrial-grade production process, referred to as additive manufacturing. Today, additively manufactured parts are everywhere—from visually appealing consumer goods to the inner workings of automobiles and jet engines. Yet, many engineers and product designers who work closely with other manufacturing methods are still learning about additive technologies and how to sort out today’s very real opportunities from yesterday’s significant limitations. Until recently, many additive manufacturing technologies couldn't produce end-use parts. But now, the additive manufacturing industry has developed new materials, techniques and technologies to become a true competitor to more traditional manufacturing processes like injection molding and CNC machining. Still, … [Read more...] about What’s New In Additive Manufacturing?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The key to better decision making is data. Effective leaders rely on data to make informed decisions and drive meaningful outcomes for their organizations. However, the process of unlocking data-driven insights is no small feat. Data doesn’t belong to individual departments—it’s an asset that benefits the entire organization. Advanced analytics requires the ability to access, manage, and combine data that’s stored in silos across the organization. As a result, multiple data formats and governance controls limit the accessibility and shareability of valuable information. Making better decisions means unifying data in a secure and well-governed way. Business leaders need to break down data silos, making all data securely available for analysis, regardless of where it lives in the organization. To make the most of data, organizations also need tools that empower individuals across the organization to interpret and … [Read more...] about Unlocking The Power Of Data: Making Better Business Decisions

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By Alfredo Atanacio, co-founder UassistME.COM / Inc. 30 Under 30 2012 / AGLN Fellow. Working in the customer service department involves several tasks that need to be performed exceptionally. These could include answering inbound calls, figuring out the answer to a client's inquiry, processing payments, assisting returns and other probable services to cater to a client's needs. At the same time, while serving a client, staff must be able to provide this service in the best demeanor possible and express real, genuine concern toward them. Should a client become unsettled, the customer service representative should remain composed and calm to address concerns and issues. Based on my company's 12-year experience in customer service, these are the top five skills we find valuable in order to thrive in this position: 1. Excellent Communication Skills The primary task of customer service representatives is … [Read more...] about Top 5 Customer Service Skills To Encourage In Your Staff

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin SVP of Product for Sisense . We have finally reached the point where analytics is considered table stakes for all businesses. At every level of the company, we acknowledge that insights from data are critical to our success in making smarter decisions every day. Although there is still work to be done, technology is making analytics more automatic and natural for everyone by progressing from IT-led reporting to standalone dashboards and now to infused analytics everywhere so that all knowledge workers have access to the personalized insights they need at the exact point they want to take action. Until now, however, we have only considered the benefits of analytics for ourselves. Our focus has been on extracting insights from data to improve internal business processes and help our teams make smarter decisions. This leaves out an entire, mission-critical part of our business: our own products that we build for … [Read more...] about Analytics For The Customer: The Next Frontier

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin John Clemons consults for Rockwell Automation and Maverick Technologies , a leading platform-independent automation solutions provider. Recently, I had a brief conversation about manufacturing execution systems (MES) with an executive from a manufacturing enterprise. The executive quickly shut down the discussion saying, “We don’t have MES. We don’t need MES. We don’t want MES. We’re never going to use MES.” Period. Conversation over. Afterward, I thought about all the things I still wanted to say. I wanted to explain that their company already had MES in their manufacturing facilities, whether they knew it or not. They may have been missing out on its true value. What is MES? MES is a computer system that executes manufacturing operations on the shop floor in conjunction with shop floor operators and the automation and control systems. MES works exclusively on the shop floor to provide specific … [Read more...] about The Manufacturing Culture Of MES

For many people, the July 4th holiday conjures up images of fireworks, barbecues, and a host of assorted social goings-on. For others, the long weekend presents a chance to take a break from the rigors of work, relax and rejuvenate. A recent study suggests that spending that break in a specific way may result in a few positive side effects that will boost your performance when you resume your daily routine; namely, better creativity , insight and problem solving . Researchers at the University of Kansas and the University of Utah have discovered that getting out in nature disconnected from electronic devices can lead to a 50 percent improvement on a creativity test. The study involved nearly 60 people taking multi-day wilderness hiking trips in four different states. No electronic devices were allowed on the trips. One group took a 10-item creativity test the morning before they began their backpacking trip, and another group took the test a few days later, at the end … [Read more...] about The One Thing to Do Over July 4th Weekend to Boost Your Creativity, Insight, and Problem-Solving

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By Candice Georgiadis, social media influencer and founder of Digital Day Inc , a social media and marketing agency in California. Advertising has continued to evolve through the past few decades. With changes in technology, the mediums of advertising have changed from conventional forms to largely digital avenues. As advertisers search for ways to improve ad visibility and increase conversion, consumers are also looking for ways to shift away from conventional systems. Customers are demanding ownership of data and dictating a shift toward transparent information usage. Web 3.0 and the Metaverse have emerged as a solution to the long-standing customer demand. Exploring The Web 3.0 Revolution In simple terms, Web 3.0 represents a shift to individual sovereignty on the internet. The shift has been largely driven by the growth of decentralized blockchain technology. The key reason behind the growth of … [Read more...] about The Evolution Of Advertising In Web 3.0: Navigating The Changes In The Metaverse

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Co-founder and CEO of Adverity . Companies have stared bleakly into the digital skills void for some time, with data chasms looking especially vast. In 2015, it was estimated there would only be enough data scientists to meet half of the global demand within a few years. By 2019, 90% of executives in all sectors were facing gaps, and 43% cited data analytics as their biggest skills problem. According to the latest studies, almost 7 in 10 firms worldwide are struggling to fill vacancies—the highest rate in 15 years. While ongoing challenges run across industries and departments, issues are most concerning in teams where shrewd data use is essential to drive important, far-reaching decisions. Of course, we’re talking about marketing; however, the choices marketers make have an enormous influence on the ultimate success of any company. So, given recent findings that marketer data proficiency is low , such … [Read more...] about Recruitment Alone Isn’t Going To Bridge Marketing’s Digital Skills Gap

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Justin Dolly is the Chief Security Officer for Sauce Labs , the leading provider of testing solutions that deliver digital confidence. Consider this scenario: Sales and marketing are yelling at engineering to deliver the features they promised to a customer. Product is pressuring the team to hit a release date that is quickly approaching. Engineering is rushing to hit a deadline and only then does someone suggest a security analysis. What happens? There will be some bugs in the code. Sound familiar? Balancing Customer Experience And Security Working with complex code, it is highly likely that there is a large amount of potentially vulnerable code in the wild that can affect security. If that code is already partially flawed, is it likely to lead to a perfect customer experience? One of the prevailing ideas is that this can all be fixed in production; it can, but what happens when a user encounters … [Read more...] about When Your Business Ships Bad Code, Users Lose Faith In Security

- A + A (May 20): President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased several times over and that Russia must bolster its cyber defences by reducing the use of foreign software and hardware. The websites of many state-owned companies and news websites have suffered sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb 24, often to show information that is at odds with Moscow's official line on the conflict. "Targeted attempts are being made to disable the internet resources of Russia's critical information infrastructure," Putin said, adding that media and financial institutions had been targeted. "Serious attacks have been launched against the official sites of government agencies. Attempts to illegally penetrate the corporate networks of leading Russian companies are much more frequent as well," he said. In a meeting with the Security Council, Putin said that … [Read more...] about Putin promises to bolster Russia’s IT security in face of cyber attacks