HEADLINES

• Ten Steps to Address Risk Management
• CMS Conference and Silver Anniversary
• Heart Failure—Is Your Hospital Certified?

Here’s a story that proves once again that exciting quality applications can occur anywhere in the world.

Many have been taught that they must remove outliers prior to analysis. This is because much of modern statistics is concerned with creating a mathematical model for the data. Because all these models are created using algorithms, they tend to be severely affected by any unusual or extreme values.

Stimulated Yet?

Thank you, Scott Paton, for telling it like it is (“Stimulated Yet?” Quality Curmudgeon, March 2009). The bonuses at AIG and continuing troubles at General Motors make it pretty clear that bailouts don’t work. It’s also time people start taking responsibility for their actions. The real enemy is greed and until we can control the reward system, bailouts, Sarbanes-Oxley, regulation, or any other government program, we will fail, adding even more expense to the problem.

— Bill Osburn

This issue is the first of three consecutive CMSC show-focus issues that highlight the yearly Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference. The CMSC is the largest U.S. trade show focused solely on large-scale 3-D metrology. Attendance has grown each year, with last year reaching nearly 600 attendees. All the key players in large-scale 3-D measurement are there representing every large-scale 3-D measurement technology, including laser scanners, structured-light scanners, laser radar, photogrammetry, theodolites, articulated arms, indoor GPS, and more.

Soft Air USA Inc. of Grapevine, Texas, is a subsidiary of Cybergun S.A., the world’s leading manufacturer of replica airsoft guns.

As Davis Balestracci frequently emphasized in his column, “RealWorldSPC,” published in Quality Digest for four years, it is fundamental to understand the context of the data before you begin to do any computations. It is the background for your data that determines how you should organize the data, how you should analyze the data, and how you should interpret the results of your analysis. Once you ignore the context, you’re like a train that has gone off the track, with the inevitable result.

HEADLINES

• E-Waste and the Standard That Loves It
• Do the Math
• Internal Auditing Improves Risk Management
• Quality Health Care Conference
• Why New Systems Fail: Theory and Practice Collide
• U.S.-India Form Alliance on Standards

Better Than 5 Whys

I liked the way Craig Cochran discounted or lessened the credibility of the 5 Whys (“Don’t Fail Your Customers With the 5 Whys,” February 2009). He provided excellent rationale for its limitations. His alternatives were good; however, I do not believe they can replace Ishikawa’s use of the fishbone technique. While with IBM, I had a class in defect prevention using the fishbone technique followed by action teams to remedy candidate causes with a resolution to each of the viable candidate causes.

This, I swear, is a true story... mostly.

We own a washer and dryer combo unit made by a large home appliance manufacturer--let’s call them “Maytag.” The washer and dryer are in the company’s Neptune series. We’ve had them for about seven years and they’ve worked flawlessly, until recently.

About four months ago the washer started making an awful squealing noise when it went into the spin cycle. No problem, I thought. We have an extended warranty. I’ll just call the friendly Maytag repairman.