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A consultant who helped Xerox Business Services win a Baldrige Award will be speaking about organizational performance improvement at an upcoming seminar. John Lawrence, a consultant and former senior executive at two Fortune 500 companies, will present a program entitled “Mapping the Journey–A…
Minitab recently started offering its software to academic customers at discounted rates through e-academy.com, an online provider of brand-name software. The site offers MINITAB 14 in multiple languages, MINITAB French 13 and Minitab Quality Companion for as little as $29.99 per semester. Free,…
A recent study shows that hospital administrators are heeding advice to integrate and embrace quality improvement efforts.Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine interviewed 100 directors from a randomly selected cross-section of all acute-care hospitals and compared their responses with those…
A new book concludes that medical practitioners need a better grasp of quality management principles, methods, programs, systems and experiences. The issue is the topic of a recently published book, Core Curriculum for Medical Quality Management, (Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc., 2005). It…
In an effort to improve the quality of instruction in its classrooms, the Los Alamos Public School District in New Mexico has adopted the Baldrige Award criteria. The Los Alamos Monitor reported the Baldrige Award criteria adoption has already been met with some success. The district’s main office…
RABQSA International and the National Quality Institute of Canada have joined forces to promote personnel training and certification throughout Canada. The agencies will temporarily allow people and organizations currently registered to standards by NQI to also be registered to one or more of…
User satisfaction with federal e-government Web sites leveled off after nine months of steady improvement, according to the latest quarterly findings of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The new data shows a slight decline to an aggregate government Web site score of 71.9 from the December…
APQC and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals are collaborating to provide no-cost supply chain measurements for benchmarking. The organizations developed and are promoting online supply chain surveys as a reliable and cost-effective way for organizations to learn how their…
Several Ohio health agencies are mounting an effort to improve the quality of health care in the state.Greater Cincinnati Health Council and 17 of its member hospitals will partner with the Ohio Hospital Association to launch the Greater Cincinnati Hospital Quality Improvement Project, reported the…
An international workshop to help local governments implement quality management systems based on ISO 9001 will be held May 22–23 in Veracruz, Mexico. The aim of the meeting is to produce an international workshop agreement (IWA) to allow more-rapid ISO 9001 implementations in governments, shorter…
Northwest Analytical Inc. recently released an updated version of its flagship NWA Quality Analyst SPC suite. The solution allows manufacturers to more easily analyze process data to identify process improvements and execute quality initiatives such as Six Sigma, CAPA and ISO standards. It includes…
Rath & Strong recently released a new pocket guide for practitioners of GE Work-Out, a methodology that helps improve Six Sigma and lean projects. GE Work-Out was developed by General Electric as a companion to already-established quality improvement programs. It creates a method to deal with…
Breakthrough Management Group recently launched a publishing initiative to advance its total performance improvement model. The launch coincides with the release of BMG’s vice president of publishing Neil DeCarlo’s book, Six Sigma for Dummies (For Dummies, 2005). The company plans to publish an…
One of the oldest chapters of the Association for Operations Management (APICS) and the Harrington Institute recently made a formal agreement to offer Six Sigma, process improvement and project management certification to APICS members around the world. Founded in 1960, the Golden Gate Chapter of…
The American Society for Quality 12th Annual ISO 9000 Summit will be held in Atlanta April 4–5The event will include three major meetings and conferences. Along with the ISO 9000 conference, it will also feature the U.S. Standards Group Meeting, and Summit course clusters and exams for attendees…
The Associated Press recently reported that a committee in Montana’s state legislature is working toward defining quality in education. The initiative is part of a larger effort to change the state’s school funding process. Following the unanimous vote to begin the process, the measure will next be…
Successful management is analogous to being a fighter pilot in a combat environment, according to Jim Murphy, an F-15 pilot who will deliver a keynote address at Quality Expo.Murphy is the founder and CEO of Afterburner Inc., a consulting company that uses fighter pilots to teach some of the world’…
Leading businesses identify customer satisfaction, cost savings and productivity improvements as the primary drives for their quality improvement initiatives, according to a new study from Best Practices LLC. Based on analyses from 46 major companies, the survey concludes that: There is a…
SigmaXL recently released a new version of its SigmaXL v. 4.0 software. The solution is an add-in for Microsoft Excel.The add-in is designed for statistical and graphical analysis. New features include Recall SigmaXL Dialog, which allows users to recall the last data worksheet they used; run charts…
After two years of steady increases, customer satisfaction with goods and services purchased and consumed in the United States has taken a dramatic downturn, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index. The ACSI for the fourth quarter of 2004 was 73.6, down from 74.3, the largest…
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield recently received Case Management Accreditation from URAC, a Washington, D.C.-based health care accreditation agency that establishes quality standards for the health care industry. URAC’s standards require insurers to establish a process to assess, plan and implement…
Eastman Kodak Co. recently acquired OREX, a provider of nondestructive test equipment for specialty medical facilities. OREX has 84 employees, is headquartered in Yokneam, Israel, and is now part of Kodak’s Health Group’s Non-Destructive Testing group, which produces KODAK INDUSTREX digital systems…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently released a draft of its new Quality Plus standard. Comments on the draft are due by April 18. The standard, compliance to which is voluntary, identifies organizations that have adopted innovative practices or that promote quality care. It…
Most experts don’t see an end to the offshoring trend, but with an estimated half of all offshoring operations falling short of expectations, companies considering sending their operations overseas have to consider the risks—not merely the rewards—of doing so. The findings come from a report, “…
PowerSteering has acquired Breakthrough Management Group Inc.’s software assets. The two companies have entered into an agreement in which BMG will offer its project tracking software along with the complete suite of PowerSteering software. BMG will continue to provide Six Sigma solutions worldwide…
