All Features
Quality Digest
A recently released book compiles case studies, articles and advice to help readers through lean transformations.Lean Culture—Collected Practices and Cases (Productivity Press, 2005), uses articles and advice from Productivity Press’ monthly newsletter “Lean Manufacturing Advisor” to address common…
Quality Digest
Outlook Group Corp. recently reported a 13.6-percent increase in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2005, an achievement that was helped by the company’s use of Six Sigma. “Our strong performance in fiscal 2005 is a direct result of our continuing strategy to differentiate Outlook Group in the…
Quality Digest
Companies applying the innovation and design techniques of Six Sigma report median “hard” gains of $200,000 per project, and another $100,000 in “soft” benefits, according to a recent study. The research was conducted by iSixSigma Magazine, and found that even small companies realized comparatively…
Marilyn Fischbach
Deployment is one of the most critical elements of a successful Six Sigma program. Top-down support, champion training, wide publicity and Six Sigma awareness training for all employees are common components. In addition, employees selected to be Black or Green Belts must be trained and projects…
Quality Digest
Intergraph Corp. recently signed a four-year contract with the U.S. Air Force to deploy and manage operational excellence programs. The contract covers continuous improvement, lean and Six Sigma programs at the Air Force Materiel Command at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force…
Quality Digest
KB Home Coastal Inc. was recently inducted into the National Association of Home Builders’ prestigious National Housing Quality Certified Builder program. The certification followed a rigorous examination of the builder’s San Diego and Riverside divisions’—which make up KB Homes Coastal—quality…
Quality Digest
Danaher Corp. will acquire all of Leica Geosystems’ shares for an aggregate price of approximately $950 million. Danaher offered 500 Swiss francs per share—about $386—to shareholders. Leica Geosystems’ board of directors reports that Danaher has pledged to maintain Leica’s identity and safeguard…
Quality Digest
Teams from the private and public sectors that focus on cost savings, product development, innovation and process improvement to support their organization’s mission will have a chance to compete at the 2005 Western Regional Teams Live Competition in November.The event, sponsored by the California…
Quality Digest
FARO Technologies Inc. has redesigned the rotation of its FaroArm in response to a recent court ruling against the company. ROMER CimCore filed suit against FARO in November 2003, alleging that FARO’s use of infinite rotation technology in the FaroArm articulated arm and two gages illegally…
Quality Digest
General Electric Co. is in the process of acquiring Everest VIT Inc., a subsidiary of Welch Allyn. The company has announced that Everest VIT, a remote visual inspection equipment and services organization, will become part of GE Inspection Technologies, which is located in Huerth, Germany. Everest…
Quality Digest
The 2005 Best Practices Conference will feature Baldrige Award winners and two keynote speakers to discuss best practices and quality methodologies. The event is being organized by the California Council for Excellence and will be held Sept. 22–23 at the San Jose Marriott. Harry Hertz, director of…
Quality Digest
Policy Manager, Medical Consultants Network Inc.’s new comprehensive software, includes the company’s entire content library. Policy Manager represents MCN’s first-ever marriage of its 16,000 policies and procedures with Compliance 360 software. Together, the offering provides hospitals a complete…
Quality Digest
Mollie Shields-Uehling is SAFE-BioPharma Association’s new president and CEO, company officials recently announced. Shields-Uehling was principal of Shields-Uehling Associates, an international public affairs company. She previously served in various leadership positions with Bristol-Myers Squibb,…
Quality Digest
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America recently launched an advertising campaign aimed at America’s senior citizens about the safety risks of importing prescription drugs from foreign countries. The campaign includes the launch of a new Web site, www.buysafedrugs.info, which acts…
Quality Digest
Research and Markets, an Irish market research company, recently expanded its offerings to include pharmaceutical and biotech research.“Compound Management Trends” summarizes the results of a global benchmarking Web-based survey of pharmaceutical and biotech-compound management groups. The…
Quality Digest
A new service offering is designed to help medical device companies ensure the success of their innovations. Foster-Miller Inc.’s new Innovation Express is a series of services designed to help companies identify, target, design and manufacture innovative products. It uses the expertise of Foster-…
Quality Digest
Bank of America’s employees were recognized for their Six Sigma achievements at the bank’s annual Best of Six Sigma Expo held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bank of America implemented Six Sigma in 2001, which has helped the bank reap about $2 billion in revenue gains and cost saving. Its goal is to…
Quality Digest
The International TechneGroup Inc. recently partnered with a noted quality function deployment specialist to help its clients with new product development. Hans Hjort will educate ITI clients on how to plan, choose and design winning products and improve time-to-market. He has 15 years of product…
Quality Digest
The National Standards Authority of Ireland is the first registrar in the world to receive accreditation to provide registration for the new EIA/ECCB-954 standard. The new standard specifies the technical requirements that manufactures must meet to ensure there are no hazardous substances in their…
Quality Digest
New top executives at Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. have vowed to improve product quality in the wake of a scandal involving vehicle defect cover-ups. Harald Boelstler, incoming company president, stated that the Japanese company, Mitsubishi Fuso, has established a new business base and…
Quality Digest
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently added clinical performance information to its online Health Plan Report Card. The “Living with Illness” report addition shows how effectively health plans treat patients in four areas: diabetes, cardiac care, asthma and mental illness. The…
Quality Digest
Senior managers can guarantee a project’s success or failure through their support—or lack of it. That’s the message of a new book, Quality Makes Money (American Society for Quality Press, 2005), by Patrick Townsend and Joan Gebhardt. The book is the authors’ effort to reenergize the U.S. “quality…
Quality Digest
A new Six Sigma course offered at the University of Notre Dame is specifically designed for health care professionals. “Lean Six Sigma Black Belt for Health Care Professionals” addresses the complex challenge of controlling costs while improving quality in the medical field. A blended-learning…
Quality Digest
Voltaix Inc.’s employees have recently received lean manufacturing training in an effort to improve the company’s semiconductor performance.The training was provided by the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program Inc. Earlier this year, 15 Voltaix employees received Six Sigma Green Belt…
Tom Pyzdek
Some years back I, along with Drs. Doug Montgomery, Bryan Dodson, John Ramberg and others in the quality community, became concerned that there was no standardized criteria for becoming a Six Sigma Black Belt—or any other Six Sigma belt for that matter. The leading quality organization at that time…
