All Features
Denise Robitaille
Control of quality records: Can there possibly be a more boring requirement? You can feel the yawn coming on as you read through the requirements of ISO 9001 subclause 4.2.4.
Not only are you required to keep records, you’re required to have a documented procedure that describes how you maintain…
In last month’s column, I postulated that the hazardous-substance-free movement represents a major paradigm shift and creates demanding requirements for industry, creating a much higher bar of performance for business. QC 080000 IECQ HSPM can be a help.While the increasing demand for business…
Bill Kalmar
How many times have you viewed a compelling story on TV, or read a newspaper or magazine account of an investigation of wrongdoing and then never discovered the outcome? Mass media tantalize us with sensational reports, and after the hoopla the stories just fade away.As I lay here recently in my…
David Weldon
This article is reprinted with permission from the July 2007 issue of ExecDigital. At age 160, the New England Confectionery Co. is the oldest multiline candy company in the United States and one of the newest. Four years ago, the popular candy manufacturer embraced lean manufacturing practices,…
Quality Digest
(Seagate: Scotts Valley, California) -- Seagate Technology recently announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology has certified the advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption chip built into Seagate’s Momentus(R) 5400 FDE.2 disc drive, the world’s first laptop hard drive…
Quality Digest
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently updated its online Quality Compass, the nation’s most widely used database of health-plan performance. Quality Compass includes NCQA accreditation, Health Plan Employer and Data Information Set (HEDIS) clinical quality, and…
Quality Digest
(San Jose Unified School District: San Jose, California) -- San Jose Unified School District has entered into a unique partnership with Chevron Energy Solutions and Bank of America to establish what is believed to be the largest solar power and energy-efficient facilities program in K-12…
Quality Digest
(LEI: Cambridge, Massachusetts) -- Middle management resistance to change is now the No. 1 obstacle to implementing lean production, according to a survey conducted by the Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit management research center. Respondents were asked to select all applicable obstacles…
Quality Digest
(Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey) -- Treasure Chest of Six Sigma Growth Methods, Tools, and Best Practices is a comprehensive how-to collection of Six Sigma tools, methodologies, and best practices. Lynne Hambleton covers the entire Six Sigma toolset, including more than 70…
Quality Digest
Twenty-three soldiers, airmen, and civilian employees of the Georgia department of defense have graduated from the inaugural course of a hands-on, continuous process improvement program called lean Six Sigma (LSS). The graduates all earned their Green Belt certification after completing four…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma was Bill Smith’s vision for excellence in everything. Prior to Six Sigma, companies were implementing total quality management, statistical process control, pre-control, cost of poor quality, and other techniques with minimal effect. Quality became a promise of “motherhood and apple pie…
Paul Midler
Numerous news stories this past month have focused on concerns about the quality and safety of certain Chinese exports. In this opinion piece, Paul Midler discusses “quality fade” in China, which he defines as “the deliberate and secretive habit of widening profit margins through a reduction in…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- Using computers and the Internet can be a challenge for anyone, let alone the elderly or people with disabilities. The International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission are contributing to a technical report on accessibility icons…
Mike Micklewright
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways.”by Michael Jackson
Question: What did the registrar auditor do after informing his client that he wasn’t allowed to give advice?
Answer: He gave them advice.
I like to listen to Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”…
Quality Digest
(IAIDQ: Lutz, Florida) -- The International Association for Information and Data Quality recently announced its 2007 Information & Data Quality Conference to be held Sept. 24–27, 2007, at The Palms Resort in Las Vegas. Registration is now open, and all interested in the state-of-the art in…
Quality Digest
(NCQA: Washington) -- Five new measures of health care effectiveness were recently added to HEDIS, the most definitive set of health care quality measures in the United States.Among the additions unveiled today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance is a set of measures that will allow…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- The increasing number of liquid biofuels standards initiatives and the growing market demand for alternative energy sources are fueling the need for the harmonization of standards and test methods to support the commoditization of liquid biofuels throughout the supply chain.To…
Quality Digest
(Productivity Press: New York) -- Why does the United States rank 36th of all industrialized nations in health care? Perhaps the rampant inefficiencies of the system can help explain this dismal placement. There are bright spots, however. Innovative health care organizations, having recognized…
Quality Digest
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance, in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., recently released a new publication profiling strategies and recommendations for improving the quality of care through wellness and prevention initiatives.Quality Profiles: The Leadership Series—…
CardioMEMS engineer Michael Fonseca uses a laser to separate pressure sensors in the company’s clean room facility in the ATDC Biosciences Center located at Georgia Tech’s Environmental Science and Technology Building. Photo by Gary Meek After…
Quality Digest
(University of Virginia: Charlottesville, Virginia) -- University of Virginia Engineering School Associate Professor William F. Walker and Research Associate Francesco Viola have developed a new tool—an advanced imaging algorithm—that is transforming the way we see things. Together with graduate…
Quality Digest
The National Quality Forum is seeking nominations for members of a steering committee for the initial phase of a project to endorse voluntary consensus standards on the quality of emergency care. All nominations must be submitted by 6:00 p.m. ET, Aug. 10, 2007.Emergency care is an integral part…
Quality Digest
(Systech: Cranbury, New Jersey) -- Systech International Inc., a provider of packaging execution systems (PES) to the pharmaceutical industry, has introduced enhanced features to its plant-level server application, Systech Guardian. In addition to serialized product tracking (SPT)…
Bipin Roy
Story update 11/1/2010: We had the incorrect author shown for this story. The author is Bipin Roy.
Welcome to the information technology world of governance boards, compliance councils, Sarbanes Oxley, and audit committees that continually invent stringent rules and regulations to make the…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- Public attention has been focused as perhaps never before on the safety of the food supply as a result of recent high-profile outbreaks of illness linked to various foods.According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a rare strain of Salmonella in…
