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(NCQA: Washington, D.C.) -- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recognized the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as an accrediting entity for qualified health plan issuers participating in health insurance exchanges. NCQA’s Health Plan Accreditation (HPA) contains all…
(AMA: New York) -- Join Aaron Dignan, author of Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success (Free Press, 2011) for an hour-long webinar August 29, 2012, from noon to 1 p.m. EDT. Playing games is one of the most popular activities in our culture, generating tens of billions of dollars in…
(Robert Half: Menlo Park, CA) -- To fill management positions, companies are more likely to look for talent outside rather than within their own ranks, a new survey from Robert Half Management Resources suggests. Chief financial officers (CFOs) who were interviewed said that, on average, 38 percent…
(Johns Hopkins University: Baltimore) -- Two swimming strokes, one that pulls through the water like a boat paddle and another that whirls to the side like a propeller, are commonly used by athletes training for the Olympic Games. But elite swimmers and their coaches have long argued over which arm…
Three years ago this month Quality Digest Daily published my column, “Do You Have Leptokurtophobia?” Based on the reaction to that column, it contained a message that was needed. In this column I would like to explain the symptoms of leptokurtophobia and the cure for this pandemic affliction.…
“If Japan Can… Why Can’t We?” was an American television episode that aired on June 24, 1980, broadcast by NBC as part of its show, NBC White Paper. That episode is often credited with beginning the quality revolution and introducing the methods of W. Edwards Deming to American managers.
In the mid…
The primary barrier to mutual communication is a person’s natural tendency to approve or disapprove of what is being said by another person. Judging takes place because people tend to evaluate what they hear from their own personal point of view and reference. These evaluations short-circuit their…
(Delcam: Birmingham, UK) -- Delcam will demonstrate new probing capabilities in the 2013 version of its FeatureCAM feature-based CAM software on booth E-3222 at IMTS Sept. 10–15, 2012, in Chicago. The ability to incorporate probing sequences into CAM programs makes it easier to undertake…
(ANSI: Washington, D.C.) -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has released a workshop report on the status of the redevelopment of NSSN, a National Resource for Global Standards, is a search engine for standards-related information from a wide range of developers. The report focuses…
(Basler: Ahrensburg, Germany) -- Digital industrial camera specialist Basler will soon be starting series production of its ace GigE camera models with powerful CMV2000 and CMV4000 complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors by CMOSIS, Antwerp, Belgium-based developer, manufacturer, and…
(AIAG: Southfield, MI) -- The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), developer and promoter of solutions to help manufacturing and service providers operate at peak performance, has introduced a new membership benefits package designed to provide automotive manufacturers and suppliers easier…
(ISO: Geneva) -- Managers responsible for selecting suppliers or responsible for purchasing decisions now have available an attractive hard copy version of the ISO brochure, “ISO 9001 in the Supply Chain,” up to now published uniquely as a web document.
Goods and services are commonly promoted as…
(AMA: New York) -- Women negotiate all day, every day, often without even realizing they are in a bargaining situation. Whether the negotiation is a small, everyday matter, or a bigger, more structured deal, making the most of these conversations is imperative.
Join the American Management…
Deciding how to control your documents can be difficult. ISO 9001, the quality management system (QMS) standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), requires you maintain accurate and up-to-date procedures, but doesn’t give a lot of guidance on how to get there. Between…
(Banner Medical: Carol Stream, IL) -- Banner Medical executives Vince Adams, vice president of Sales, Marketing and Strategic Planning; and Bob Khin, quality assurance director; along with Peter Johns, supplier quality manager for Pioneer Surgical, will participate on a faculty panel at the…
(Gartner: Stamford, CT) -- Global research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. has revealed its annual ranking of the top supply-chain organizations headquartered in Asia-Pacific.
The goal of the annual Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 research initiative is to raise awareness of the supply-chain discipline…
Adverse food safety events can have disastrous effects on branding and profitability. Because information today can go viral in a matter of hours, companies in the food and beverage industry are faced with increasing pressures to operate seamlessly, with little or no room for error…
U.S. corporations continue to lag far behind their counterparts in other developed economies—notably the European Union and Japan—in transparency of environmental and social practices. According to a new study by The Conference Board, the overall disclosure rate of this type of information by U.S.…
A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the electric power output of solar energy devices, capabilities useful to researchers and manufacturers working to develop and make next-generation…
(Geomagic: Morrisville, NC) -- Geomagic, a global company providing 3D technology for digital reality, has released two new versions of software from its Sensable Group’s 3D modeling product lines: Freeform v. 12 SP2 and Claytools v. 4. These new releases are the first since Geomagic’s April 2012…
(ASTM: West Conshohocken, PA) -- ASTM International, known worldwide for developing test methods and its 13,000+ technical standards and thousands of related publications, is launching two new journals: Advances in Civil Engineering Materials (ACEM) and Materials Performance and Characterization (…
(Nikon Metrology: Brighton, MI) -- As simple to use as a digital camera, the NeoScope II is a high-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) that produces images with a large depth of field at magnifications ranging from 10X–60,000X. It offers high and low vacuum operation, three selectable…
(Paton Professional: Chico, CA) -- With his engaging and inspiring new book, The 7 Lessons: Management Tools for Success (Paton Professional, 2012), Craig Cochran rewrites the entire management improvement genre. The 7 Lessons reads like a novel, but its advice, observations, and analysis are built…
(Mahr Federal: Providence, RI) -- With the introduction of the MarSurf XR 1 surface measuring system, Mahr, a manufacturer and marketer of dimensional measuring equipment, has bridged the gap between portable surface measuring devices and larger, full-featured, PC-based surface measurement and…
Often it is the simple and basic question that unlocks the mystery of our business or process problems. What’s more, we don’t have to be trained experts in process improvement techniques to ask the all-important, all-powerful dumb questions.
I was listening to a friend and colleague describe the…
