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Quality Digest
(NIST:Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are developing state-of-the-art measuring techniques, similar to those used in making aerospace components fit together precisely, that soon could improve success…
Quality Digest
(The Baldrige National Quality Program: Seattle, Washington) --The Baldrige National Quality Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, based in Washington, D.C., announced recently that the Washington State Quality Awards organization will host the Western 2007…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- ISO has launched a new self-assessment tool on CD to help organizations ensure an effective and smooth-running IT environment through implementation of the ISO/IEC 19770-1 standard on software asset management.The CD “ISO/IEC 19770-1 Software Asset Management: Are You…
Quality Digest
(Mazda: Hiroshima, Japan) -- Auto Bild, Germany’s largest car magazine, has ranked Mazda in first place in its highly respected “Quality Report” for 2007, which was published this month. This was the third straight year that Mazda has been awarded first place in this annual report.First…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee) Eliminating outbreaks of food-borne illness is possible but it won’t happen by increasing inspections alone, say food safety experts in the latest Quarterly Quality Report from the American Society for Quality. The answer, the report finds, is in prevention. “The…
Douglas C. Fair
I frequently hear discussions among engineers, managers, and higher-ups concerning process capability, an alphabet soup of indexes and three-letter designations. The indexes are bandied about as though a single number communicates knowledge, understanding, and certainty. My experience is that this…
Steven Ouellette
Now that we have talked about defining Six Sigma and 10 stupid Six Sigma tricks, I’ll move on to the measure phase and discuss some things that work and don’t work in measuring the effect of Six Sigma. The new metric that Six Sigma brought to us was the sigma index, so let’s start…
Quality Digest
(Syracuse University: Syracuse, New York) -- Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management is joining with Brambles Ltd. of Australia to develop a curriculum for a new three-credit course on Six Sigma. The new course, to be called Lean Six Sigma, will be launched in the…
Quality Digest
(WCBF: Chicago) -- Worldwide Convention and Business Forums is gearing up for its Global Six Sigma Summit, Oct. 23–26, at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. With a forecast attendance of more than 400 senior executives from across industries that are striving for business…
Quality Digest
(U.S. Army: Washington, D.C.) -- The U.S. Army’s ongoing implementation of lean Six Sigma (LSS) techniques, as embodied in the Army Business Transformation Strategic Framework, continues to show success, and leaders anticipate reaching a $2 billion savings mark this year. A recent LSS…
Quality Digest
(American Axle & Manufacturing: Detroit) -- Richard E. Dauch, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing, received the American Society for Quality, Automotive Division, 2007 Quality Leader of the Year Award in recognition of his long-time leadership, commitment,…
Steve Wise
The manager of a local grocery store is having dinner with his statistician friend. The store manager tells his friend about a certain cashier who is stealing from the company.
The manager is frustrated because he thinks he knows who the thief is, but can’t fire the miscreant because the employee…
Quality Digest
(Ford Motor Co.: Dearborn, Michigan) -- Ford Motor Co. has the most top-quality vehicles in the industry, according to a customer-based initial quality survey recently released by J.D. Power and Associates. In the research firm’s 2007 Initial Quality Study, Ford Mustang, Mercury Milan,…
Quality Digest
(FCI: Versailles, France) -- FCI recently acquired Smartag, a specialized player in radio frequency identification (RFID) tags manufacturing. This acquisition will allow the group to strengthen its RFID offerings in a very dynamic market. Trierenberg Holding AG and Delfortgroup AG, the…
Quality Digest
(AHRQ: Washington) -- An online tool recently released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality condenses 129 quality measures into state-specific data that state governments can use to focus their efforts to improve health care. The AHRQ State Snapshot tool allows state…
Quality Digest
The Minnesota Council for Quality, Minneapolis, recently announced the recipients of the 2006 Minnesota Quality Award. Eight organizations received recognition this year: Achievement Level Winona Health (Winona) Advancement Level: Albert Lea Medical Center (Albert…
Craig Cochran
A few years ago, 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…
Fred Mason
Accuracy, repeatability, performance—knowing how to interpret specifications for measuring devices and systems is important. This month I’ll talk about accuracy specifications for video measuring machines, which I described last month. The concepts apply to other measuring devices as well…
Quality Digest
(Cognex: Natick, Massachusetts) -- Cognex Corp., a supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, has announced that a Japanese supplier of industrial robots has standardized on Cognex In-Sight vision sensors for their three-axis and SCARA robots. The manufacturer will produce certain…
Quality Digest
(FARO Technologies: Lake Mary, Florida) -- FARO Technologies Inc., a maker of portable computer-aided measurement arms and laser trackers, is increasing its role as technology sponsor for the GTS-champion Corvette Racing Team, which is preparing for the most grueling race of the season…
Quality Digest
(Lattice Technology Inc.: San Francisco) -- Lattice Technology Inc., developers of the extensible virtual world description language (XVL) ultra-compressed 3-D data format, will release its newest software application, XVLstaff aimed to prevent leaking of confidential 3-D data in July.…
This column and the next two take stock of the current state and future of the hazardous-substance-free (HSF) movement and its effects on industry, and share my perspectives on the potential effects of QC 080000 IECQ HSPM. A vision of the future: The industry will forevermore be held…
Quality Digest
(ASSE: Des Plaines, Illinois) -- The American Society of Safety Engineers recently approved of the new American National Standard Institute/ASSE A10.4-2007 standard “Safety Requirements for Personal Hoists and Employee Elevators in Construction and Demolition Operations” that sets…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Trade Centre and ISO have released a new product designed to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the food sector to benefit from the advantages of implementing a food safety management system. The product consists of a combined…
Denise Robitaille
Subclause 6.2.2 of ISO 9001 is ubiquitously referred to as the training clause. That unfortunately narrows the focus to only one aspect of the requirement. The subclause is situated in the section of the standard that relates to provision of resources. It doesn’t simply require that training be…
