On March 9, NPR reported Boeing was unable to find any paperwork about the door plug and attributed a top Boeing official saying, “It was likely that such records never existed.” Roughly one day later, the Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation.

Quality is important in manufacturing as it can protect reputation and help in case of unexpected events. Quality can even help in clearing up the ambiguity of cheating versus gaining a competitive advantage.

Like other puzzles—and any other endeavor—the key to a solution is an understanding of the rules and the tools to lead you to the solution.

How do you ensure your supply chain and the providers you’re dealing with are reputable?

There is an old saying: Garbage in, garbage out. It is a reference to the need for any creative, quality end product to start with quality, reproducible material.

You have no doubt heard of ChatGPT, or Google’s Bard, or one of the many artificial intelligence chatbots. These chatbots allow the user to simply type in a command to write something and spit out an essay, or even a poem.

The concept of the map has not been limited to just physical locations. Just think about any activity that would or should be repeated by others. 

Check out everything we have to offer in this month’s Quality, including a profile of the inaugural winner of our Quality Rookie of the Year, Jared Curtis.

2.0 — I’m guessing that just by writing this number, in this format, many of you know where I’m heading.

In the quality industry, dealing with big data can feel like battling extraneous detail and being ever vigilant against poor assumptions. With millions of points of data, we can be overwhelmed by what is important and what is not.