All Features
Quality Digest
(ES&S: Omaha, Nebraska) -- Election Systems & Software Inc., a provider of total election management solutions, recently announced that its election services division has been awarded registration under ISO/IEC 27001, which defines requirements for establishing, implementing and…
Quality Digest
(TBM Consulting Group: Durham, North Carolina) -- TBM Consulting Group, a provider of business improvement services for the manufacturing and service sectors, presented to WIKA Alexander Wiegand GmbH & Co. the fourth annual Perfect Engine award, recognizing the company’s commitment…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- The American National Standards Institute recently announced the availability of an online toolkit for all ANSI-accredited standards developers. Issued under the auspices of the ANSI executive standards council, the comprehensive suite of guidance documents is intended…
Despite the best efforts of pharmaceutical manufacturers, drug labeling is one of the greatest challenges in clinical trials, involving a complex, time-consuming process to meet strict regulatory requirements and obtain wide-ranging approvals from individual countries. That labels must…
Quality Digest
(Natus: San Carlos, California) -- Natus Medical Inc. recently announced that it was awarded a 2007 Medical Design Excellence Award for its Olympic Cool-Cap head-cooling product for newborn brain injury. The award will be presented to Natus at a ceremony to be held June 13, 2007, in New York City.…
Quality Digest
(FDA: Washington) -- U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators and U.S. marshals recently seized all implantable medical devices from Shelhigh Inc., Union, New Jersey, after finding significant deficiencies in the company’s manufacturing processes. The deficiencies may compromise…
Quality Digest
(Standard Register: Dayton, Ohio) -- For the third consecutive year, Standard Register was named a 2006 Platinum Supplier by MedAssets Supply Chain Systems, a St. Louis-based group purchasing and supply chain services company. The award was recently presented at the 2007 MedAssets…
Quality Digest
(FDA: Washington) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the entry of a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction against PharmaFab Inc., its subsidiary, PFab LP, and two company officials, Mark Tengler, PharmaFab’s president, and Russ McMahen, PFab’s vice president of…
Quality Digest
(Child Care Resources Inc.: Charlotte, North Carolina) -- Child Care Resources Inc.’s Child Care Search service recently became North Carolina’s first quality-assured child care resource and referral service through the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies.…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality recently announced a new slate of officers for the 2007–08 term. Chairman Ronald Atkinson President Michael Nichols President-elect Roberto Saco Treasurer E. David…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- Members of the American National Standards Institute are invited to participate in the annual recommendation of qualified candidates for the 2008 ANSI board of directors and for membership, voting and nonvoting, on policy committees. Nominations must be received no later than…
Quality Digest
(AIAG: Shanghai)—In a continuing effort to promote communication and collaboration between the North American and Chinese automotive industries, the Automotive Industry Action Group and the Automatic Identification Manufacturer Association of China (AIM) have agreed to work together on…
Thomas R. Cutler
Customer relationship management (CRM) usually refers to sales activities, and CRM software is commonly purchased, and occasionally used, to track potential customers, existing customers and sales activities.
“Contract manufacturing is unquestionably a relationship business. CRM must manage the…
Thomas R. Cutler
Customer relationship management (CRM) usually refers to sales activities, and CRM software is commonly purchased, and occasionally used, to track potential customers, existing customers and sales activities.
“Contract manufacturing is unquestionably a relationship business. CRM must manage the…
There’s a certain manufacturer makes carbon-based friction material in the form of a disk. A press and die are used in the final manufacturing operation to cure the carbon material into a functioning friction pad. Peak temperature uniformity is a critical characteristic during the cure…
Quality Digest
(Penske Truck Leasing: Reading, Philadelphia) -- Penske Truck Leasing implemented Six Sigma techniques to drive down costs and optimize services and recently announced it was awarded a three-year fleet management and maintenance services contract valued at approximately $47 million to support…
Steven Ouellette
Repent of your wicked ways O fellow Six Sigma Heretics, or surely you shall be smitten (smoted? smited? smartied?) and turned into a pillar of out-of-spec material! The End (of the Top Ten Stupid Six Sigma Tricks countdown, anyway) is here! What could possibly be the No. 1 reason that Six…
Quality Digest
(Frost & Sullivan: Palo Alto, California) -- Frost & Sullivan recently presented its 2007 Award for Customer Value Leadership of the Year to Minitab Inc.Through its solution offerings, Minitab has been able to aid its customers in optimally using its resources and deriving maximum…
Quality Digest
(BearingPoint Inc.: McLean, Virginia) -- BearingPoint Inc., a management and technology consulting firm, has been awarded a blanket purchase agreement to provide advisory and assistance services for the United States Air Force’s Smart Operations for the 21st Century program (AFSO21), including…
Quality Digest
(International Organization for Standardization: Geneva) -- ISO recently launched ISO 14065:2007 to address climate change and support emissions trading schemes. In March 2006, ISO launched its greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and verification standards ISO 14064:2006. The complementary new…
Craig Cochran
Last year, 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 about…
Quality Digest
(Florida Sterling Council: Tallahassee, Florida) -- The Florida Sterling Council, Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp and Governor Charlie Crist recently announced that six organizations will receive the prestigious Governor’s Sterling Award on June 1, 2007. Honored will be Brevard Public…
Quality Digest
(American Society for Quality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- The American Society for Quality presented nine medals of distinction during its recent World Conference on Quality and Improvement. Recognized for their innovative contributions and achievements in the area of quality methodology…
Quality Digest
(United Press International: Washington) -- According to a United Press International column by senior news analyst Martin Sieff, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has praised the Missile Defense Agency in a new report for improving its quality processes. The progress was cited in a GAO…
Fred Mason
The past few columns about inspection and measurement have led to discussion of different systems for measuring based on images. One type of measurement done via image analysis is dimensional, or coordinate, measurement. The systems are called video, or vision measuring, systems. Here…
