All Features
Quality Digest
Pharmaceutical services company i3 has entered the next phase of its global expansion which includes organic and acquired growth in India, Latin America and Europe. Coupled with acquisitions in Canada and Asia Pacific that i3 made earlier this year, the additions will help i3’s…
Quality Digest
Three out of four life sciences companies polled in a recent survey said that their current documentation practices are inefficient. The survey was conducted in November and focused on key areas of life sciences firms that are heavily involved with complex documentation practices,…
Quality Digest
Abbott Laboratories has completed its acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., which specializes in treatments for cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory diseases, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Abbott Labs. Abbott reports that the acquisition broadens its portfolio of products…
T. J. Becker
In our increasingly wireless world, the air is chock-full of electromagnetic signals carrying data from one place to another. Yet, while new wireless technologies advance our options in security, commerce and entertainment, they also produce interference that may cause problems for…
Quality Digest
Heartbeat Software Inc. has named Six Sigma Black Belt Irena Petsche its new vice president for professional services. Heartbeat Software is a provider of software for the life sciences industry. Petsche has 20 years’ experience in the software industry and was most recently director of…
Quality Digest
John Wilkerson, a Six Sigma Black Belt, was recently certified as the first international lead management consultant in the United States. Wilkerson is executive director of Bellwether Services, a lean Six Sigma consultancy and training organization. Published in 2003, the international…
Steven Ouellette
In this installment of my arbitrary and capricious list of the Top Ten Stupid Six Sigma Tricks (SSST), let’s talk about an error that is perhaps less frequently made now than it has been, but is still common. I call this error SSST No.6, constraining your improvement activities to…
Quality Digest
Comerica Bank recently announced three winners of its annual National Quality Excellence Award program. The award recognizes outstanding contribution to Comerica’s vision and core values. This year’s winners are Adagio Graphics, SHI and Standard Register. Adagio Graphics designs…
Quality Digest
The president and executive coach of the Juran Institute, Joe DeFeo, recently received the 2006 North East Quality Council Special Recognition Award. The award is presented to professionals from the Northeast who have made significant contributions to the quality and business communities…
Douglas C. Fair
If you read my previous two columns, you’re well educated on the top 10 mistakes that manufacturers make when implementing statistical process control (SPC). Several of these mistakes are indicative of what I call the “check-box mentality.” This mentality is typically the result of an…
Quality Digest
Comerica Bank recently granted National Quality Excellence Awards to SHI, Standard Register and Adagio Graphics. The award recognizes suppliers nominated by Comerica employees for their outstanding contribution to the company’s core values and vision. “The contributions of our three winners are…
Quality Digest
TrackSpeed, a supply chain technology and tracking company, recently launched surplustrack.com, an innovative remarketing solution that allows companies all over the world to sell, trade or transfer their surplus inventory. SurplusTrack.com uses the best practices of auction, remarketing and…
Quality Digest
Dubai Industrial City, a member of Tatweer, recently developed an integrated management system for all manufacturers operating within Dubai City. Based on international quality, health, safety and environment (QHSE) management standards and applicable manufacturing best practices, Dubai…
Quality Digest
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the Automotive Industry Action Group will meet in Shanghai April 23 and 24 for the 2007 China-US Automotive Supply Chain Summit, produced by the Shanghai International Auto Parts Sourcing Center.The theme, “Cooperation, Exchange and…
Quality Digest
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed honors Award for Arab Management 2006 winners The 2006 winners of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Arab Management were recently announced at the 4th Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Recognized…
Quality Digest
phoenix/x-ray, a manufacturer and supplier of inspection equipment for the electronics, semiconductor, aerospace and automotive industries, recently launched a new Web site. The company developed the site to be clear and user friendly, with a simple page and navigation structure. In…
Quality Digest
GKS Inspection Services Inc., a division of Laser Design Inc., recently expanded its Detroit-area dimensional inspection services with the addition of a third Faro portable CMM articulated arm. The new 12-ft. Platinum FaroArm is equipped with a touch probe and a 3-D laser scanner. GKS’…
Quality Digest
A San Diego judge declared a mistrial on Dec. 6 in the long-running patent infringement lawsuit between Faro Technologies Inc. and ROMER Inc. Hexagon AB, ROMER’s parent company, filed the suit in 2003 alleging that the unlimited rotation feature in Faro’s FaroArm violates ROMER’s patent…
Fred Mason
Continuing last month’s topic of temperature effects on measurements, what about temperature compensation? Some measuring systems claim increased accuracy with the usually optional temperature compensation. What’s that? What’s it supposed to do? And does it do what it claims to do?
Remember that…
Quality Digest
TÜV SÜD America Inc. recently acquired EST Testing Solutions, an environmental and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing organization that specializes in services to the automotive and furniture industries. TÜV reports that the acquisition will strengthen its environmental and EMC…
Last month’s column provided background on the International Electrotechnical Commission, one of only three standards-setting bodies recognized by the World Trade Organization. Readers may have asked, “So what?” The answer is that one of the three “schemes” within the IEC has provided…
Quality Digest
Sam Y. Zamrik, a technical consultant and professor emeritus of engineering mechanics at the Pennsylvania State University, was recently named president-elect of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. ASME develops codes and standards for the engineering and technology industries.…
Denise Robitaille
The adage “The pen is mightier than the sword.” is hackneyed, accurate and profound. I’ve done several pieces on the influence of words. The simple fact is that how we say something often matters as much as what we’re saying. It’s a wondrous phenomenon, one that is too often taken for…
Quality Digest
Nearly 70,000 people attended the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) Telecom World conference last week in Hong Kong to discuss international standardization of telecommunications technologies, among other things. The leading global organization for information and…
Quality Digest
NSF International Strategic Registrations Ltd. (NSF-ISR) was recently accredited to AS9110 by the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB). The registrar reports it is the first in North America to receive ANAB approval to offer AS9110 registration. The standard incorporates ISO 9001…
