All Features
Quality Digest
The Juran Institute recently released its educational Quality Minutes series on DVD and by subscription. The series is made up of 98 case stories that illustrate and reinforce how performance improvements helped organizations break through to success. Covering six wide-ranging libraries of interest…
Quality Digest
In an effort to bolster consumer confidence in food supplies, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) recently selected the American National Standards Institute to accredit the certification bodies that audit suppliers under the FMI’s Safe Quality Food program. The agreement is a pilot program aimed at…
Quality Digest
R/D Tech Inc. recently acquired Staveley NDT Technologies, a provider of high-performance nondestructive testing equipment and sensors. Earlier this year, R/D Tech also acquired the nondestructive testing company Panametrics, and in 2003, bought out NDT Engineering, a supplier of eddy current…
Sarah Fister Gale
In a lean environment, training is the last part of the production process to be transformed by the new approach to efficiency. While smaller work groups are streamlining steps and multitasking to eliminate waste and improve output, individuals continue to be linked to single skills or production…
Quality Digest
The Lincoln Electric Co. recently earned Ford Motor Co.’s Q1 approval. Lincoln Electric credits the use of Six Sigma practices in its welding consumables manufacturing facility with helping it earn the approval.The designation recognizes Ford suppliers that demonstrate manufacturing excellence,…
Quality Digest
An upcoming conference sponsored by the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals and Raytheon Co. will examine the many ways Six Sigma can be used to improve business processes.Six Sigma practitioners from such major companies as Dow Chemical, Seagate Technologies, Johnson & Johnson,…
Quality Digest
Six Sigma Qualtec recently released an enhanced version of its popular SixNet Intelligence software. The enhanced version integrates balanced and general business scorecards, and reflects a sharpened focus on customer needs, reports Six Sigma Qualtec. Internal research shows that customers want…
Quality Digest
General Physics Corp. recently appointed Sheri Olinyk to its operational excellence consulting division. Olinyk, a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, has been assigned to work with General Physics’ Deltapoint steel mill and automotive customers. She has worked for Allied Signal/Honeywell and has…
Quality Digest
TSYS recently appointed Jeanne McDowell as the new executive to lead its continuing deployment of Six Sigma.For more than 20 years, TSYS has delivered advanced technology and enhanced value to many of the world’s leading companies, making it possible for hundreds of millions of consumers to use…
Quality Digest
As of Jan. 1, a new accreditation body formed by the American National Standards Institute and the American Society for Quality will replace the ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program as the U.S. national accreditation body. ANSI-RAB National Accreditation Program, or ANAB, as the new…
Quality Digest
If you’ve ever wanted to be a Baldrige Award examiner, this may be your shot. The Baldrige National Quality Program is now accepting applications to fill positions for 2005 award examiners in each of five categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care and education. Notification…
Quality Digest
Quality Vision International Inc. recently announced that Vijay Patel is the new president of View Engineering Inc.Patel, who has worked for View Engineering for more than 20 years, has a strong background in technical and market management. QVI, View Engineering’s parent company, reports that it…
Quality Digest
Indo Gulf Fertilisers Ltd. recently became one of the first Indian companies to receive the prestigious Deming Application Prize. Indo Gulf is among the largest and most cost-efficient private-sector fertilizer companies in India. It manufactures and markets urea, a nitrogenous fertilizer under the…
Quality Digest
Quality Systems Integrators recently introduced an online application that provides employee tests, quizzes, corrective action and compliance to ISO standards and FDA 21 CFR Part 11. The new product is an add-on to the TMSWEB Training and Document Management System, is completely Web-based and…
Denise Robitaille
Good morning, everyone. On behalf of Galactic Registrars Interstellar Network (GRIN), I’d like to express our appreciation to your organization for selecting us as your ISO 9001 registrar. Before we begin the audit, there are a few items we need to cover. This is standard auditing protocol. Certain…
Quality Digest
The Cambodian government recently announced its plans to implement ISO 14001 to protect the temples of Angkor, one of the world’s oldest and most beautiful historic sites. Angkor, which was built between 879 and 1191, is listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific…
Quality Digest
Intertek ETL Entela recently changed the name of its automotive certifications division to Intertek Automotive Systems Certification. Entela Inc. was acquired in April by Intertek Group plc, a global testing, inspection and certification company. Intertek Automotive Systems Certifications will…
Quality Digest
Carl Zeiss Industrial Measuring Technology recently received A2LA accreditation in the calibration field. The company now complies with ISO/IEC 17025 requirements and is approved to offer in-house and on-site A2LA calibration services for coordinate measuring machines. “The addition of A2LA…
Robert Kozak
Adding value by auditing using the process- and metric-driven approach requires new methods and an increased focus on supplier performance metrics (i.e., scorecards). A change in how auditors work the process approach is evolving, with more sophisticated techniques, more rigorous testing and…
Quality Digest
After months of development, the International Organization for Standardization published a revised version of its ISO 14001 standard on Nov. 15.The changes are mostly procedural in nature, and include: Clause 4.1 “Scope”—Requires that companies describe activities, products, operations and…
Quality Digest
President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Don Evans recently announced four winners of the 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The winners are The Bama Co., in the manufacturing category; Texas Nameplate Co. Inc., in the small business category; Kenneth W. Monfort College of…
Quality Digest
A quality college in Dubai recently announced the establishment of an award in honor of H. James Harrington, Ph.D. Harrington, a Quality Digest columnist and founder of the Harrington Institute, is a leading quality consultant who frequently works in Dubai. The Harrington Best TQM Thesis Award was…
Quality Digest
A new organization for data and information quality managers recently formed, the International Association for Information and Data Quality, offers information and resources to help data quality professionals solve quality problems in their organizations. Noting that poor data quality costs…
Quality Digest
TRUMPF Inc. was recently awarded a Connecticut Quality Improvement Award for improvements made to a powerful laser. The company’s TCF 1, a diffusion-cooled CO2 laser based on coaxial electrode geometry, was improved to provide the high-quality beam characteristics of smaller, lower-wattage lasers…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma was first practiced in product development and manufacturing environments to improve customer satisfaction. There, significant improvements were achieved and sizable savings realized. After successfully implementing Six Sigma in manufacturing, Motorola applied Six Sigma in support…
