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Quality Digest
Northrop Grumman Corp. recently achieved its 25th Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 5 rating, the highest possible rating for benchmarking commercial and defense industry best practices for management and engineering. The rating was…
Quality Digest
Effective this month, Canada’s National Quality Institute will no longer offer auditor certification. The organization, which is Canada’s leading nonprofit quality training and recognition organization, reports that it wants to focus its energies on personnel certification and…
Quality Digest
HealthGate Data Corp. has released a new version of its popular Quality Architect software, a product that features innovative tools for continuous improvement in health care environments. The new release includes an expanded library of evidence-based clinical content, including order…
Quality Digest
Delegates at the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) workshop agreed that futuristic, digitally connected home networks need an international standard by which to comply. Household connectivity is growing rapidly, with more and more electronic devices and remote networks that control…
Bill Kalmar
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. This elliptical sphere the size of a basketball took 98 minutes to encircle the earth and emitted a faint beep as it made its momentous trip. It provided no information back to mother Earth and yet it…
Gregory Roth II
I, for one, am tired of the quality flavor of the month. It isn’t quite that bad but it seems like it at times. Have you been through statistical quality control, TQM, total quality speed, re-engineering, zero defects, quality circles, SPC, Motorola Six Sigma, AlliedSignal Six Sigma, GE…
Quality Digest
A new business-process–outsourcing contract Wachovia recently made with Genpact will allow Genpact to drive Six Sigma deeply into the banking giant. Genpact, which was established as a financial services subsidiary of GE Capital and broke off from the company in 2004, reports that all of…
Quality Digest
The 4th Annual Six Sigma in Healthcare Conference will be held March 29–31 at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. James G. Springfield, president and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System, will share Valley Baptist’s Six Sigma journey in his keynote address. Valley Baptist has…
Quality Digest
six sigma IQ recently announced the speaker panel for its upcoming Six Sigma Summit in London.The panel includes Sir John Harvey-Jones, from the BBC television series Troubleshooter and former chairman of ICI; Dieter List, Alstom Power Services director of business performance…
Quality Digest
Cessna Aircraft Co. reports that the implementation of lean and Six Sigma helped it make significant gains last year. The company delivered 249 Citation jets, 822 single-engine pistons and 86 Caravan single-engine turboprops, and won FAA certification for two new jets, among other…
Quality Digest
Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey recently announced three recipients of the Army Performance Excellence Awards. The winners are: the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey (Gold Award); Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield…
Quality Digest
The W. Edwards Deming Institute will host “How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business,” a seminar for executives and leaders in all types of organizations. The event, to be held April 24–26 in Boston, will expose the 27 faulty management and corporate…
Quality Digest
e-TQM College is now accepting applicants for its third annual Pan Arab Media Quality Award. Candidates should submit in-depth, TQM-related, published articles or programs for four award categories: best article, best feature, best interview and best research. Subjects may include…
Quality Digest
Manipal Hospital of Bangalore, India, recently received that country’s prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award. The 15-year-old hospital has 600 beds and is India’s first multi-specialty tertiary care center to be registered to ISO 9001. Additionally, its Manipal Hospital…
Quality Digest
QA Edge Inc. will host a three-day conference on computer validation May 1–3 in Malvern, Pennsylvania. “Risk-Based Approach to Computer Validation” will be held at Penn State’s Great Valley Campus. The focus will be on using computer-validation best practices to lower risk and overall…
Quality Digest
Aiming to promote professional excellence and provide travelers with safe, secure and efficient airports, Airports Council International’s upcoming conference will focus on service quality in airports around the world. The Airport Service Quality Conference will include workshops, one-on-one…
David Zatz
Chrysler is stepping up their use of team-based manufacturing, moving away from the “Fordist” approach that’s been continually embraced and rejected by global automakers. Their approach brings up memories of the many other companies that have gone to teams, including some that were successful and…
Quality Digest
Trace Laboratories recently acquired a new vibration testing system to expand its services in vibration and mechanical-shock testing. Its new Unholtz-Dickie T2000 Series vibration-testing system meets the high-G vibration- and shock-testing capabilities required by aerospace, automotive…
Quality Digest
Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology and Hartwig Inc., a machine-tool distributor, have expanded their partnership to allow Hartwig to distribute Zeiss products in the southeastern United States.Hartwig has been a Zeiss distributor since 2001, and its distribution territory used to extend…
Quality Digest
Agilent Technologies Inc. recently introduced an innovative measurement solution that provides precise modulation measurements on the digitized communication signals found in the digital-signal processor-based radio transceivers used in cell phones, base stations, satellite and military…
Quality Digest
Metris, a Belgian automotive and aerospace metrology-products producer, recently announced the simultaneous acquisition of LK Ltd., 3D Scanners Ltd. and Arc Second Inc.Metris reports that the acquisitions will allow it to offer fully integrated hardware and software solutions that cover…
Quality Digest
The 2006 Measurement Science Conference will be held Feb. 27–March 3 in Anaheim, California. The event is expected to draw hundreds of metrology professionals from around the U.S., and will be held at the Disneyland Hotel. The conference will feature dozens of tutorials and workshops,…
Thomas M. Findlan
When purchasing material test equipment for tensile, fatigue or other test modes, managers of test labs may want to compare new and used test equipment due to budget constraints or other factors. The problem is that there’s currently no easy way to determine if a particular used test…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute and ASTM International recently adopted a new standard for personnel certification. ISO/IEC 17024, General requirements for bodies operating certification schemes of persons addresses the need for standardization in the service sector, a need…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute recently added upward of 13,000 Chinese national standards to its online offerings. The addition increases the number of international standards available at the site to more than 83,000. The ability to access and purchase Chinese standards…