Tag: Big Data

Our Spreadsheet Society

“The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics.  Everything else is a recommendation.”  — Walter Isaacson/Elon Musk We live in a spreadsheet society.  Columns of Categories of People and Rows of Wants, Needs, and Desires.  This model is too simplistic.  What is needed, and Big Data can provide, is a more sophisticated approach.

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Operational Excellence Enabled by Leadership in Technology

In 2025, our new book, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making will be released by CRC Press.  This is an accompanying book to our 2023 book, Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability. Both books focus on the use of advanced information technologies to attain and sustain Operational Excellence.  Today,

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A Windy Position

In a recent online discussion, this pundit put forth the thought that fiberglass wind turbine blades can pose an environmental problem when decommissioned.  This position was quickly challenged with the rebuttal that burning coal ‘kills’ kids so it did not matter if discarded blades litter the countryside as it is worth it. According to research

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Welcome to the 70s—Again!

This Baby Boomer graduated from college in 1970.  Just in time for Saturday Night Fever and Grease, Avocado colored refrigerators and Harvest Gold dinnerware.  Plus, the best friend a then bachelor ever had–the microwave oven! Not to forget the Gasoline Lines and Hyper Inflation, Vietnam, Peace/Race Protests/Riots, a Major Recession, Stagflation and other wonderful (not)

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Crisis Management: The Need for Internal Consistency

Attributed to former US Senator and Governor Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, “Trust is built with consistency.”  Moreover, from statistics we know that Internal Consistency, “measures whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores.”  The follow on definition statistical reliability, “is the consistency of a set of measurements or measuring

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What Is Your Opinion Based On?

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” ~ W. Edwards Deming Data and its use is a very hot topic these days.  Significant controversy exists over decision making regarding Covid-19 strategies and the quality or lack there of the data supporting government policies.  Scientific disagreements and so called ‘academic arguments‘ are appropriate, especially

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Linear Metrics in Non-Linear Times?

“If it disagrees with experiment, its wrong” Our point today is to assess how behavioral decisions are being made today; not about the politics of one candidate or the other. The race to the US presidential election has entered its final phase.  As of this writing, establishment wisdom holds the conventional candidate as the presumptive

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Data Bias: The Latent or Unobserved

In statistics a Latent Variable can be defined as, ‘a variable inferred from observed or measured data.’ Its analysis is often used psychology, economics, and predictive modeling.  This author used Structural Equation Models (SEM) in his 1996 doctoral dissertation, Cross Cultural Negotiations Between Japanese and American Businessmen: A Systems Analysis (Exploratory Study). From that abstract,

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covid-19

Is Big Data Analysis Being Applied?

We have been hearing for years how, Big Data Analysis will help us optimize our businesses and generate performance at levels here to for never hear of.  So where is it now? Two major sources for data on the Covid-19 virus are Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  This is

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In Defense of Humans—Machines Are Not Ready Yet

I recently submitted an internal organizational document that was spellchecked in addition to my review; several times.  One sentence where there the intent was to say, “that which is …” was change to “that witch is …” Did I type it wrong or did ‘auto correct’ take over the decision process?  In any event spellcheck

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