Musings - Quality Systems and Organizational Consulting

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May 2008

Visions of America

by Duke Okes on 2008-05-13 16:45:45

I had the opportunity to view a display of much of Norman Rockwell's work last week. It was amazing how he was able to capture the positives in American life. It seems very few are willing/able to do that these days ... for some reason it's more politically correct to tear down the U.S. I can't help but wonder why those who continually do so are still here ... it's a big world with lots of other places to live.

Ford vs. Toyota

by Duke Okes on 2008-05-12 09:50:31

I couldn't believe my eyes/ears. Ford Motor Company saying that it was as good as Toyota. Have you driven a Ford lately? I have, as well as a Toyota, a BMW, a Chevy, and a Jeep. Here's my ranking: 1) BMW, 2) Chevy, 3) Toyota, 4) Jeep, 5) Ford.

Of course it is skewed significantly by the particular vehicle model, but I can say with a lot of driving experience (including MANY rental cars) that Ford builds the most underpowered, sluggish vehicles available today.

Learning Challenges

by Duke Okes on 2008-05-01 19:48:02

I'm always intrigued when I run into a situation where I don't have an immediate solution. It forces more in-depth thought which can help us revise our view of how the world works.

This week brought just an opportunity ... how to apply root cause analysis to a situation where the outcome of a process is to quantify an unknown (e.g., there are no specs), and when the process took place a long time ago. I have a long drive coming up soon and it will provide lots of time for thinking this through.

In the meantime it helped focus me back on the importance of process control, and the need to knowing the relative contribution of each factor. Far too many organizations just treat all of them as if they were equal.

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May 2008 Post Index


We contract with organizations in several ways: Daily Rate Basis -- Project Basis -- Retainer Basis. This allows clients to determine the optimum time/cost balance suited to their needs. Daily Rate Basis: An hourly rate is converted to a daily rate (8-hour day) and work is billed based on the number of days incurred. This is the ... (more)


May 2008 May 19-21 - Presenting a Root Cause Analysis workshop for ASQ Learning Offerings, Atlanta GA. (more)