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Quality Digest
The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index held steady for the second quarter of 2004, remaining at its highest level in 10 years. The index stands at 74.4, unchanged from last quarter. Economists report that the sunny news indicates high customer satisfaction, which generally contributes to…
Quality Digest
Improved product design would make manufacturing products less expensive than outsourcing to countries like China, according to a recent benchmarking study. The authors suggest that U.S. companies should do a better job of integrating cost analysis into product design. With rigorous cost analysis…
Quality Digest
School administrators looking for ways to meet tough federal requirements have found a new ally in a rather unlikely place—the quality profession. The need for continual improvement is familiar to quality professionals, but it’s relatively new to the education community. The No Child Left Behind…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute recently awarded 2004 Leadership and Service Awards to six executives. The winners were recognized for their significant contributions to national and international standardization activities and commitment to the standards community. The winners are:…
Barbara A. Cleary
Donald Trump’s dramatic, “You’re fired!” on the reality show “The Apprentice” is just entertainment to most people. To teams of summer interns at PQ Systems Inc. in Dayton, Ohio, however, it meant a challenge for the ensuing work week. The young interns, faced with the tedious task of contacting…
Quality Digest
Sypris Test & Measurement will relocate its San Francisco Bay Area calibration lab, the company announced recently. The company moved from San Jose to Sunnyvale, California. Moving the lab places the company closer to existing customers in military, aerospace, communications, semiconductor and…
Denise Robitaille
Perhaps the single most pervasive reason top management resists the implementation of a quality management system relates to our failure, as quality professionals, to demonstrate the return on investment. We do a less-than-stellar job of demonstrating to executives the financial value implicit in…
Quality Digest
The recent acquisition of Quality Certification Bureau Inc. by QMI made QMI the largest registrar in North America, according to the registrar. The buy-out includes QCB Inc., QBC Corp., and QCB Organic, companies that are collectively based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. QMI reports it now has more…
Quality Digest
A joint committee of the American National Standards Institute and the American Industrial Hygiene Association recently released a draft Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) standard for public review. The deadline to submit comments on the proposal is Oct. 15. ANSI established…
Quality Digest
Social Accountability International will hold its sixth annual conference in New York City on October 18. The conference, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Workplace Standards: Responsible Strategies for Global Sourcing,” will focus on the latest developments where supply chain management and…
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How did your quality system get so complex and redundant? Many companies established their quality systems after having purchased a software program with a “canned” quality manual and procedures. Software companies try to subliminally sell you the concept “more is better.” Purchasing companies…
Quality Digest
The revised ISO 14001 standard is scheduled to be published by the end of the year, meaning significant changes to environmental management professionals. According to the International Organization for Standardization, the changes to the standard aim to clarify it and make it more user-friendly.…
Quality Digest
A partnership between Arc Second Inc. and Romer CimCore could signal the acceptance of indoor GPS as the measurement technology of the future. Several major metrology companies, including Romer CimCore, Metrologic Inc. and New River Kinematics, showcased Arc Second’s GPS technology at the 2004…
Quality Digest
FARO Technologies Inc. recently released an enhanced generation of its popular laser trackers. Highlights of the new trackers include ADM Smart Auto-Adjust, which improves accuracy by automatically adapting to conditions affecting measurement drift; Fast Laser Lock, which re-locks the laser in…
Quality Digest
Delcam Inc. is offering a free CAD viewer that will allow users to view CAD models in all the major formats, including CATIA versions 4 and 5, Pro/Engineer 2001 and Wildfire, SDRC, Unigraphics, SolidWorks and Solid Edge, as well as other industry standards. “Even though modern CAD software can…
Quality Digest
Lockheed Martin Corp. announced it will buy a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and laser scanner from Leica Geosystems Inc. for use in its Forth Worth, Texas, headquarters. Under the terms of the contract, Leica’s metrology division will deliver an LR200 laser scanner (which combines radar,…
Quality Digest
Henry Ford Community College is planning a “Surviving To Thriving” training event in quality performance, lean principles and performance benchmarking on Sept. 16. The event will feature representatives from the community college, along with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, Southeast…
Quality Digest
Motorola University will provide Six Sigma training to industrial companies across the United States, according to an agreement reached between Motorola University and Charter Consulting Inc. Joseph Lackner, head of Charter Consulting’s Six Sigma program, says the company plans to use the…
Quality Digest
The Piston Group plans to use grant money from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to enhance the area workforce by training leaders in lean manufacturing, quality management and Six Sigma. The company will receive $57,000 in economic development training grants and will partner with Henry…
Quality Digest
Six Sigma Qualtec has announced that L.T. (Tom) Hall has joined the firm as a managing partner. Hall brings the company more than 20 years of experience in providing performance improvement consulting to financial institutions. He most recently served as a practice manager at Earnings Performance…
Quality Digest
Textron Inc. recently announced two promotions within its Six Sigma department. Peter Riley was promoted to senior vice president of Six Sigma, integrated supply chain and transformation. In addition, John Mayers was appointed to the position of vice president of Six Sigma. Both men will serve on…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma has been well applied in manufacturing through improving processes that use the DMAIC methodology. Some larger corporations have integrated Six Sigma so well into the corporate culture that it can be considered the DNA of the company. However, even in such companies, the human resources…
Quality Digest
More than 150 American and Chinese government and private sector standards experts attended a workshop in Beijing Aug. 18 and 19. The event was hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and focused on encouraging…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute has announced it’s accepting nominations for its board of directors and voting membership on policy committees. The nominations are for terms beginning Jan. 1. All qualified BOD candidates will be referred to the board nominating committee and will be…
Quality Digest
The National Quality Institute recently announced three gold trophy winners of the Canada Awards for Excellence. The awards, which are the most prestigious quality awards in Canada, were given to the following companies: DaimlerChrysler Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers—CAE Healthy…
