Posts by: Mike Wilson

Use of FOD Products in the Aviation Industry

If there is one industry where FOD (Foreign Object Damage) has had devastating effects it is the aviation industry. Anyone working in the airline industry has heard about FOD and the havoc they wreak upon the industry with losses annually running into billions. This debris can come in form of nails, fasteners, wires, loose tools and other implements. Although they may sound simple and harmless they present…

Mike Wilson | September 18, 2012 | Safety Products | Safety, Workplace Safety

Lean Manufacturing for the Monkeys?

I had an amusing read this morning. A young Seth Godin acolyte named Luke Rumley wrote an article titled “Lean vs. growth” on his blog last week, stepping on some thin ice regarding his views on Lean. Almost immediately, Rumley inadvertently provoked the online lean gods, who sent down efficient thunder and waste-free lightning via response comments by Mark Graban of leanblog.org and Michel Baudin of michelbaudin.com.…

Mike Wilson | September 17, 2012 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing

Choose the BEST Pavement Marking Tape, Don’t Take the Cheap Route For Your Floor

Whether you are laying out your warehouse or plant floor for a 5S or 6S program, or lining it for safety aisles, it is important to buy the best, toughest highest-quality pavement marking tape on the market. Why? Because you don’t want your workers to have to continually replace their floor tape lines every couple of years (or less), resulting in a huge loss of man-hours, tape…

Mike Wilson | September 17, 2012 | Safety Products | 6S, Floor Marking, Forklift Safety, Safety

How to Ensure Workplace Safety

The importance of workplace safety cannot be underemphasized. The annual injuries and fatalities resulting from work related accidents continue to raise eyebrows. Worse still are the long-term debilitating effects that exposure to various hazards in the workplace has on employees. Some of these illnesses and deaths go unreported as they happen years after the employee has left service but there is no doubt that most of them…

Mike Wilson | September 17, 2012 | Safety Solutions | OSHA, Safety, Safety Signs, Workplace Safety

Thermal Label Printer Reviews : Brother Barcode Label Maker

When your company requires a label maker capable of producing thermal-printed barcodes, the Brother™ QL-1060N might be one that will do the trick. With a 4″ wide printhead, it is a great option for printing both shipping and barcode labels. It offers an auto-cutter, which slices the label after it is done printing. According to the Brother website, this labeler can print up to 69 labels per…

Mike Wilson | September 14, 2012 | Safety Products | Arc Flash, Barcoding, Industrial Label Printers, Label Makers, Labeling, Thermal Label Printer

Does Your Company Have a Safety Emergency Plan?

Pat Brownlee, a guest writer over at Blog4Safety.com, posted an article titled “Avoiding Cubicle Disasters” in which the idea was tossed around about having an appointed company safety leader. Now, when you work at a steel production plant, and tons and tons of molten lava-like iron are being smelted, the possibility of a fire or other dangerous situation is an obvious daily hazard. Surely, a place like…

Mike Wilson | September 14, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Emergency Evacuation, Workplace Safety

Label Maker Software Aids in More Effective and Efficient Marketing

Identification is one of the very important elements in marketing and product building. Whether you are operating a small venture or you are into large business operations, creating a name and establishing identification is a needed factor in order to guarantee success. Due to this, a great number of companies are allotting budgets to acquire the most reliable sign maker software that will meet their requirements for…

Mike Wilson | September 14, 2012 | Safety Products | Industrial Label Printers, Label Makers, Labeling, Safety, Workplace Safety

How Safe is Your Workplace?

On MySafeWork.com, author Jessica Di Sabatino, whose brother was killed in a workplace accident, writes about some of the working conditions for employees in some of the Chinese-based factories that supply iphones and ipads for Apple. Although she is a fan of Apple and its sleek, stylish electronic products, Di Sabatino calls them out on their lack of regulating the suppliers from which they make their profits.…

Mike Wilson | September 13, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Workplace Safety

Main Types of Safety Signs That Every Organization Must Have

The law clearly outlines the need for an organization to have detailed plan to ensure the safety of all persons within an organization. According to the regulations, clear signs should be employed in areas felt to be of higher health and safety risks. The main importance of the Industrial Floor Signs for example is to warn of potential hazards, remind people of the need to be cautious…

Mike Wilson | September 13, 2012 | Safety Products | Floor Signs, Safety, Safety Signs

Arc Flash Analysis Software Gets Upgrade in ArcAd v5.0

ArcAdvisor.com recently added new options to their highly-popular arc flash analysis software. According to ArcAd, in version 5.0, the following features have been added to its already robust selection of analytical tools: 1. Circuit protection device filter was implemented in main program screen by make it easier locating the upstream protection device by manufacturer name and/or product series. 2. Fuse and circuit breaker dialogs were restructured to…

Mike Wilson | September 12, 2012 | Safety Products | Arc Flash, Labeling, Safety

Is Lean Too Elitist?

The Lean Edge, a website which touts itself as a “dialogue between business leaders and lean authors” offers some neat perspectives of lean, and inspired me to write an article about a post by Tracey Richardson. She talks about the lean term, nemawashi, which she says means “prepping the soil” or “digging around the roots” in Japanese, and is a metaphor for laying the groundwork, like in gaining…

Mike Wilson | September 12, 2012 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean Manufacturing

Safety Advisor Blames Unsafe Situations, Not Operator-Error

I read an interesting article today about safety by Mari-len De Guzman on Cos-Mag.com, an occupational safety e-magazine for Canadian manufacturers. At the CSSE (or, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering) conference in Niagara Falls this week, Los Alamos National Laboratory safety expert, Todd Conklin, spoke about how many manufacturing and industrial companies look at safety issues. He pointed out that, rather than continually blame operator-error for most…

Mike Wilson | September 12, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Workplace Safety

What’s in It for You to Go Lean?

Jon Wetzel, at the Lean for Everyone blog, gives some ideas on how to get everybody interested in implementing lean in their workplace by making it affect them personally. “WIIFM” or “What’s In It For Me” is the basis for much of what people do both consciously and subconsciously. As lean trainers, we need to use this to our advantage when trying to transform a company. He…

Mike Wilson | September 11, 2012 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean

Workplace Safety and Arc Flash Labels

When injuries occur at an industrial workplace, sudden fatal explosions or electrical flashes can be the culprit. For this reason, many factories use arc flash labels to warn employees of hazardous areas. At any time, a large number of employees obtain electrical charges that can cause immobility in their arms and hands. Additionally, it can also threaten their lives if they are not careful. Without adequate safety…

Mike Wilson | September 11, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Arc Flash, Electrical Safety, Fire Safety, Safety, Workplace Safety

Beginner’s Guide to Installing Aisle Marking Tape

There are several points to consider while installing floor marking and aisle marking tape. Contrary to popular belief, such tapes are not just used for industrial floorings but are increasingly being used in other work environments as well. Using this guide, you can install reflective tape easily. Follow these simple steps: Determine the purpose, location and the appropriate tape you need to use. Aisle marking and reflective…

Mike Wilson | September 10, 2012 | Safety Products | Aisle Marking, Aisle Marking Tape, Floor Marking, Floor Tape, Safety