As Dirk Dusharme mentioned recently in this space (“A Bold Step Forward,” June 2008), we at Quality Digest have been working like mad these last few months to launch a major redesign of our web site, conveniently located at www.qualitydigest.com. The primary upgrade involves the addition of streaming video, most of which we script, shoot, and edit ourselves. Early last month, the new ... [Read More]

Is “Good Enough” Good Enough? In “Is Three Sigma Good Enough?” (H. James Harrington, “Performance Improvement,” June 2008), the author makes some good points about whether the cost of getting to a Six Sigma level is really justified, but his point is made based on his special set of numbers. I could make up different numbers to prove that going to a Six Sigma level is ... [Read More]

Short on News NIST has developed the first detailed chemical analysis revealing what processing is needed to transform crude oil made from pig manure into fuel for vehicles and heating. www.nist.gov/public_affairs/ techbeat/ tb2008_0610.htm#crude   The average refrigerator sold today consumes less energy than a 60-watt ... [Read More]

Eighty-four doctors treated 2,973 patients, and an undesirable incident occurred in 13 of the treatments (11 doctors with one incident and one doctor with two incidents), a rate of 0.437 percent. A p-chart analysis of means (ANOM) for these data is shown in figure 1. This analysis is dubious. A good rule of thumb: Multiplying the overall average rate by the number of cases for an ... [Read More]