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(ANSI: New York) -- Nearly 90 participants gathered together from June 24-25 for the 2008 Open Forum for Standards Developers, hosted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in Washington, D.C.
The second-largest open forum to date, this year’s event was attended by representatives…
(H.H.S.: Washington, D.C.) -- Significant improvement has been made since last year to enhance the safety of imported products, according to a new report released by the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety.
Entitled the “Import Safety—Action Plan Update,” the report outlines steps taken…
(ANSI: New York) -- The Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) has submitted a new work item proposal to the International Organization for Standardization for a standard on performance requirements for purpose-built anticounterfeiting tools. As the U.S. member body to ISO, the American…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) --Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in cooperation with national standards organizations, have taken the lead in developing the first two standards for solid-state lighting in the United States. This new generation of lighting…
Have you ever sat in a meeting room continually looking at your watch and counting the minutes left before the meeting ends? Have you wondered why—after 20 years of manufacturing similar products—you’re still discussing the same issues that reduce your profits and stunt your growth? Did you…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- Physician profiles are becoming an integral part of hospital appointment, reappointment, and ongoing professional-practice evaluation (OPPE) as now required by The Joint Commission. The American Society for Quality will provide direction on creating a profile, as…
(Quality Digest: Chico, California) -- Be sure to check out the new, fully redesigned Quality Digest homepage and web site. Not only is the new site more aesthetically pleasing than ever, it’s easier to navigate, so you can now find your favorite topics, columnists, departments, and articles…
Walk into many stores and you’re bound to be impressed by the quality of digital cameras, TVs, cell phones, and other consumer electronics. Every year the quality of these devices improves by leaps and bounds, and consumers often pay less as products improve.
I wish the same could be said about the…
(IBM: Armonk, New York) -- IBM’s vision statement, "Healthcare 2015 and Care Delivery: Delivery models refined, competencies" defined calls for collaboration among providers to achieve new milestones in defining, measuring and delivering value across national and global health care systems.
The…
(American Society for Quality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- Physician profiles are becoming an integral part of hospital appointment, reappointment, and ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) as now required by The Joint Commission. A free seminar scheduled for Wednesday, July 30, 1-2 p.m…
(American Society for Quality: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- The American Society for Quality has submitted guidelines to the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in response to a concern about a ruling that could threaten to…
(ANSI: New York) -- The Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) has submitted a new work item proposal to the International Organization for Standardization for a standard on performance requirements for purpose-built anticounterfeiting tools. As the U.S. member body to ISO, the American…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently released standards that updated its voluntary Physician and Hospital Quality (PHQ) program, an assessment of how health plans measure and report on the quality and cost of physicians and hospitals. NCQA launched PHQ in 2006…
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(ISO: Geneva) -- Due to the negative effect of cold on human health and performance, as well as on work productivity, quality, and safety, a comprehensive strategy of risk assessment and management practices and…
Business, academia, and government will assemble for the Business Innovation Conference at Illinois Institute of Technology in Wheaton, Illinois, September 8–10, 2008. With 36 sessions, 6 workshops, and several keynote speakers, this will be the first conference of its kind to address both the…
The price of petroleum fuels has affected attendance at regional manufacturing expos by quality professionals. Gasoline pump prices are past $4 per gallon, and national trade shows are feeling the effect. Conferences, seminars, and national trade shows aren’t necessarily deficient, but quality…
To be a good leader, you must develop people who can function without you looking over their shoulder. There’s no greater satisfaction than mentoring someone who turns out to be a great leader. In war, a leader must develop capable people to carry out orders, and to succeed in business you must as…
Are great leaders born or made? I believe leadership is a trait that can be learned. To be a leader you must have followers and you must develop people that can go out and function without you looking over their shoulder. I believe there’s no greater satisfaction than to be able to mentor someone…
In September 2007 at the QuEST Forum I had the privilege of presenting an AT&T in-house Six Sigma process-improvement success story, “Reducing Non-Billed Inside Wire Dispatches,” which was selected as a best practice in the Six Sigma category. (QuEST—Quality Excellence for Suppliers of…
As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.
Why do we do lean…
(John Wiley & Sons Inc.: Hoboken, New Jersey) -- Medical Device Design for Six Sigma: A Road Map for Safety and Effectiveness, by Basem S. El-Haik, Ph.D., and Khalid S. Mekki (John Wiley and Sons Inc., May, 2008) presents the complete body of knowledge for Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), as…
I was working with a client to create their business’s critical performance measures the other day, and one of the managers said, “We should set the target higher than we want it—you know, aim high to hit low.” This set off one of my rants, and I thought I would share it with you.
When I worked as…
(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- The Baldrige National Quality Program strives to continuously improve all aspects of the program to deliver greater value to its customers and stakeholders and to improve the effectiveness of our processes. To that end, the program is offering opportunities for…
(ISO: Geneva) -- A new edition of ISO 9001 is being submitted for voting as a final draft international standard. Subject to formal approval by the ISO membership, the publication of the revised version is expected to be published this fall.
The proposed ISO 9001:2008 doesn’t introduce additional…
A few weeks ago, I found myself and my family on a beach making a sand castle. It was the last day of our vacation and shortly after we began working the warm South Carolina sand, an official approached us and asked if we would like to be contestants in the weekly sand sculpture contest. Why not?…
