Our company is named after one of the greatest inventive minds in the last 200 years. While the brilliant thinker, Nicola Tesla is virtually unknown for his ubiquitous contributions of the alternating current system and the radio; this was due in part to his drive to work in secret. It is our loss that he was a somewhat paranoid and naive businessman. He first worked in the US with Thomas Edison in the company that became the giant General Electric Corporation that we know today as a pioneer in the Six Sigma revolution. While Westinghouse was established on his original patents for alternating current.

Entrepreneurs are by nature inveterate gamblers. Originally quality programs were tools to reduce the variance or risk in the manufacturing side of business. Now the quality movement has encompassed all phases of business and non-business functions alike. It has become like "the tail wagging the dog". Many have lost sight of the fact that you are in business to make money. You do this by providing a product or service that the customer perceives as being of value. Quality tools are to insure this perception remains with the customer.

Consultants in the business and quality fields tout their respective programs as being the 'silver bullet' to solve all of your problems. Naturally, when one has a great success with a particular solution there is a tendency to favor this method for solving the next problem. Hence the saying, "Give a kid a hammer and everything looks like a nail."

Quite often there are subtle inputs that are not identified as having any impact on the outcome of an event. (Culture, individual personalities and their interaction, leadership, timing, resources, etc.) Recent work in strategic thinking is recognizing that there are thousands of smaller interactions that relate to the outcome of major events. Synergy is the much-overused word to describe the 'magic' that occurs in a successful interaction of resources, without having to actually having to grasp the key catalysts involved.

We strive to raise the power of creative problem solving to a higher factor by encouraging the pursuit of knowledge in the manufacturing environment. (While the site is specifically geared to improving the performance of manufacturing firms, service firms may find the ‘thinking tools’ to add value in their environments.)

Although there are many quality tools linked in this site, it is designed to assist the manufacturing professional. Removing the consistent headaches from the production process will yield improved profitability, ease of scheduling, and even make the quality people smile. This is a showcase for highlighting problem solving skills related to ensuring profitability and quality in business.

We would like to inspire those who want to consider 'thinking outside of the box' and for those of you already there, tools to define your thoughts. Bon voyage.