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Quality Digest
The Professional Development Institute has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Motorola University. Under the agreement, Motorola University will provide its Six Sigma expertise and services to Ohio-area businesses through the Professional Development Institute at…
Quality Digest
Six Sigma Brokers LLC has announced the public launch of its new deployment methodology, STARR. The methodology is a "control gate" approach to Six Sigma deployment, which contains effective checks and balances at each stage, accelerating progress while minimizing costly mistakes and…
Quality Digest
Supply chain and inventory management professionals will gather in San Diego Oct. 10-13 for the 2004 APICS International Conference and Exposition. The conference will feature speeches from industry leaders and authors, along with more than 100 educational workshops addressing enterprise…
Using Six Sigma initiatives to focus on improving the performance of business and manufacturing processes isn’t a new concept. But a growing number of manufacturers seeking to stay competitive and improve profitability are, instead, turning to Six Sigma to provide stronger value to…
Quality Digest
The Lean Learning Center will co-sponsor the "Benchmarking Best Practices in Lean Manufacturing" conference with Clemson University, May 25-27 in Charleston, South Carolina. Lean Learning Center founders and partners Andy Carlino and Jamie Flinchbaugh will serve as the conference…
Ronald J. Bowen
After undergoing an often costly and usually painful process to achieve ISO 9001:2000 registration, organizations invariably ask, "What do we do now to ensure that we maintain our registration and gain maximum benefit?" Under ISO 9001:1994, the old answer was fairly straightforward: Continue doing…
Denise Robitaille
Do not ever, ever, do anything just to please an auditor. This is quickly becoming one of my new favorite mantras. For many individuals, this statement would seem to be self-evident, and yet there are instances when an organization has felt compelled to change a process or implement a new practice…
Craig Cochran
Supplier management is one of the most troublesome disciplines within a management system. There’s nothing inherently difficult about it, though. Companies make it difficult by instilling the process with lots of unwieldy bureaucracy. The trick is to strip the process down to its essential elements…
Quality Digest
TSYS has been awarded two Visa Service Quality Performance Awards for having the lowest assured transaction rate and lowest transaction response time. Visa Service Quality Performance Award Programs recognize members and processors for exceptional operating performance and focus on service…
Quality Digest
Breakthrough Management Group, a provider of Six Sigma training, consulting and software, has signed a strategic reseller agreement with Iowa-based GeoLearning Inc., a developer of learning management platforms and Web-based training solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, GeoLearning…
Quality Digest
TUV America Inc. is now certified to perform ANSI/ESD S20.20 registration services. ANSI/ESD S20.20, Electrostatic Discharge Control Program Standard, was created to help U.S. military and commercial corporations design, establish, implement and maintain an electrostatic discharge control…
Quality Digest
BSI Management Systems has reissued its position on the harmonized standard for electromagnetic compatibility testing for medical devices. EN 60601-1-2:2002, the international standard for EMC testing of medical electrical equipment, is formally recognized as a harmonized standard under the…
Quality Digest
The Society of Automotive Engineers will dedicate the DTI-SAE Global Knowledge Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing with a formal signing ceremony and reception on June 15. A cooperative effort between SAE International and the Delphi Tsinghua Institute, the Global Knowledge Center…
Quality Digest
new standard intended to increase public safety around construction sites has been published by the American Society of Safety Engineers. A10.34-2001, Protection of the Public on or Adjacent to Construction Sites, establishes safety guidelines for employers, contractors, building owners and…
Quality Digest
Axsys Technologies Inc. has acquired Telic Optics Inc., a privately owned manufacturer of infrared optics and optical assemblies. Headquartered in North Billerica, Massachusetts and founded in 1986, Telic employs 32 people and sells its products to manufacturers of thermal imaging cameras…
Quality Digest
Frost and Sullivan has presented its 2004 Mechanical Test Company of the Year Award to GE Inspection Technologies. The award was given at Frost and Sullivan’s annual Excellence in Industrial Technologies Awards Banquet in recognition of GE Inspection Technologies’ overall performance in…
Quality Digest
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ annual meeting, "Where Manufacturing Comes Together--to Give You a Competitive Edge," is slated for June 9-13 in Cincinnati. The meeting provides an arena for manufacturing professionals to share best practices and expertise about new technology,…
Quality Digest
Microsoft Corp. has released new enhancements for its Microsoft Office Solution Accelerator for Six Sigma. The additions to the software are intended to help businesses cut costs, improve processes and reduce the time it takes to complete projects. Available now at no charge to all…
Quality Digest
The National Committee for Quality Assurance has released its annual report, "The Value of Care and Caring About Value." Focused on health care quality, the report is intended to benefit employers and consumers showing increasing interest in the topic. "Questions about value are being asked…
Quality Digest
TUV America Inc. has added Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 services to its repertoire. OHSAS 18001 is an occupational health and safety assessment series for occupational health and safety management systems created to enable organizations to control occupational…
Quality Digest
Diagnosing heart attacks may become an even more precise science with the advent of the first of a series of new clinical standards issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Standard Reference Material 2921--human cardiac troponin complex--is intended to help…
Quality Digest
Rath & Strong has published Whose Fault Is It Anyway? A Modern Fable About Six Sigma (2004). In the tradition of quality-focused books such as I Know It When I See It (AMACOM, 1991), Rath & Strong’s latest entry comes on the heels of its most recent bestseller, The Six Sigma…
Quality Digest
Members of an American National Standards Institute delegation have collaborated with senior representatives of the world’s leading radio, information and communications technologies standards organizations in Seoul, Korea, at the ninth Global Standards Collaboration meeting. Among the…
Quality Digest
The International Organization for Standardization has launched a Web site to support the International Conference on Social Responsibility to be held on June 21 and 22 in Stockholm, Sweden. As well as addressing the practical aspects of the conference--including online registration and…
Dave Wojczynski
The first article in this series, "What the Doctor Didn’t Order But Should Have," established a case for business improvement in the outpatient health care sector. More important, it provided real-life examples of how a Six Sigma framework can help outpatient facilities overcome…
