All Features
Steve Wise
The manager of a local grocery store is having dinner with his statistician friend. The store manager tells his friend about a certain cashier who is stealing from the company.
The manager is frustrated because he thinks he knows who the thief is, but can’t fire the miscreant because the employee…
Steven Ouellette
Now that we have talked about defining Six Sigma and 10 stupid Six Sigma tricks, I’ll move on to the measure phase and discuss some things that work and don’t work in measuring the effect of Six Sigma. The new metric that Six Sigma brought to us was the sigma index, so let’s start…
Quality Digest
(Syracuse University: Syracuse, New York) -- Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management is joining with Brambles Ltd. of Australia to develop a curriculum for a new three-credit course on Six Sigma. The new course, to be called Lean Six Sigma, will be launched in the…
Craig Cochran
A few years ago, I had the good fortune of doing some consulting with B&C Specialty Products in Hopeulikit, Georgia. B&C does light manufacturing, primarily plastic molding and assembly, and they also distribute imported products produced by companies in the Far East. They have…
Quality Digest
(Ford Motor Co.: Dearborn, Michigan) -- Ford Motor Co. has the most top-quality vehicles in the industry, according to a customer-based initial quality survey recently released by J.D. Power and Associates. In the research firm’s 2007 Initial Quality Study, Ford Mustang, Mercury Milan,…
Quality Digest
(FCI: Versailles, France) -- FCI recently acquired Smartag, a specialized player in radio frequency identification (RFID) tags manufacturing. This acquisition will allow the group to strengthen its RFID offerings in a very dynamic market. Trierenberg Holding AG and Delfortgroup AG, the…
Quality Digest
(AHRQ: Washington) -- An online tool recently released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality condenses 129 quality measures into state-specific data that state governments can use to focus their efforts to improve health care. The AHRQ State Snapshot tool allows state…
Quality Digest
The Minnesota Council for Quality, Minneapolis, recently announced the recipients of the 2006 Minnesota Quality Award. Eight organizations received recognition this year: Achievement Level Winona Health (Winona) Advancement Level: Albert Lea Medical Center (Albert…
Quality Digest
(Lattice Technology Inc.: San Francisco) -- Lattice Technology Inc., developers of the extensible virtual world description language (XVL) ultra-compressed 3-D data format, will release its newest software application, XVLstaff aimed to prevent leaking of confidential 3-D data in July.…
Fred Mason
Accuracy, repeatability, performance—knowing how to interpret specifications for measuring devices and systems is important. This month I’ll talk about accuracy specifications for video measuring machines, which I described last month. The concepts apply to other measuring devices as well…
Quality Digest
(Cognex: Natick, Massachusetts) -- Cognex Corp., a supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, has announced that a Japanese supplier of industrial robots has standardized on Cognex In-Sight vision sensors for their three-axis and SCARA robots. The manufacturer will produce certain…
Quality Digest
(FARO Technologies: Lake Mary, Florida) -- FARO Technologies Inc., a maker of portable computer-aided measurement arms and laser trackers, is increasing its role as technology sponsor for the GTS-champion Corvette Racing Team, which is preparing for the most grueling race of the season…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Trade Centre and ISO have released a new product designed to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the food sector to benefit from the advantages of implementing a food safety management system. The product consists of a combined…
Denise Robitaille
Subclause 6.2.2 of ISO 9001 is ubiquitously referred to as the training clause. That unfortunately narrows the focus to only one aspect of the requirement. The subclause is situated in the section of the standard that relates to provision of resources. It doesn’t simply require that training be…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- In a crackdown on what the Massachusetts Securities Division calls a marked increase in the use of purported professional designations targeting senior citizens, Massachusetts adopted in May the nation’s first senior financial designation regulations. By requiring…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization has published standards that are highly relevant to the theme of this year’s World Environment Day, which took place on June 5, and was promoted by the United Nations Environment Program. The theme for 2007 was “Melting…
This column and the next two take stock of the current state and future of the hazardous-substance-free (HSF) movement and its effects on industry, and share my perspectives on the potential effects of QC 080000 IECQ HSPM. A vision of the future: The industry will forevermore be held…
Quality Digest
(ASSE: Des Plaines, Illinois) -- The American Society of Safety Engineers recently approved of the new American National Standard Institute/ASSE A10.4-2007 standard “Safety Requirements for Personal Hoists and Employee Elevators in Construction and Demolition Operations” that sets…
Quality Digest
(SAS: Cary, North Carolina) -- Lisa Flint Dodson has been named president of the International Association for Information and Data Quality. Data integration product manager for SAS, a provider of business intelligence and analytical software and services, and a charter member of IAIDQ…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- The sustainable development of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors will be facilitated by international standards to be produced by a new ISO technical committee that will hold its first meeting in October 2007, in Bergen, Norway. ISO technical committee ISO/TC 234,…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- The American National Standards Institute recently welcomed seven new members—Crane Operator Certification Authority, DataCom Technology Co., Electronic Data Systems, MetaMetrics Inc., Parsec Inc., Valley View Corp., and Weitzel and Associates. These organizations joined a…
Quality Digest
(Strategic Vision: San Diego, California) -- For the first time, Hyundai has produced the most leaders on Strategic Vision’s Total Quality Index, leading in three segments. The 2007 results are based on the ratings of new vehicle owners in 19 product segments. The only other brand to…
Prasad Nair
Quality and customer focus have always been topmost strategic weapons in the arsenal of successful corporations, which nurture strategic initiatives like a gardener looks after a garden. It’s quite an imaginative thought to see the resemblance of the deployment of a quality system to…
Praveen Gupta
It’s easier to start a Six Sigma project than to close it successfully. Green Belts and Black Belts are expected to be working on projects constantly, so they work on projects to meet the existing expectations. Some of these projects are unlikely to yield significant improvement due to lack of…
Quality Digest
Maj. Gen. Arthur J. Rooney, Jr., vice commander, Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force base, is the keynote speaker for this year’s conference. (WCBF: Chicago) -- With the theme “maximizing cost-saving efficiencies, delivery…
