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(University at Buffalo: Buffalo, New York) -- A continuous improvement program developed at a Pennsylvania hospital in partnership with The Center for Industrial Effectiveness in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has already saved the hospital $500,000 and…
In the first quarter of 2007, my company conducted a complex-manufacturing research survey of 1,473 senior management level executives (CEO, COO, CFO, vice-president of operations). Complex manufacturers were defined as those employing “other than exclusively repetitive manufacturing processes”…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently launched a new version of its physician practice connections (PPC) program designed to assess how medical practices are functioning as patient-centered medical homes. The new PPC—patient-centered medical home (PPC-PCMH)…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- Ever wonder how quality relates to a slice of New York-style pizza? Or how to use lean tools at home? The American Society for Quality is offering innovative “After 5” sessions that cover topics on how to incorporate quality in day-to-day life at the 2008 World…
(ERAI: Naples, Florida) -- The first Electronic Industry Supply Chain Conference (EISCC) will be hosted May 1–2, 2008, in Las Vegas by ERAI Inc., a global trade association for the electronics industry. The event will focus on essential procurement and quality concerns and on regulatory issues…
In the first quarter of 2007, my company conducted a complex-manufacturing research survey of 1,473 senior management level executives (CEO, COO, CFO, vice-president of operations). Complex manufacturers were defined as those employing “other than exclusively repetitive manufacturing processes”…
How much is a kilogram?
It turns out that nobody can say for sure, at least not in a way that won’t change ever so slightly over time. The official kilogram—a cylinder cast 118 years ago from platinum and iridium and known as the international prototype kilogram or “Le Gran K”—has been losing…
In dimensional measurement it isn’t unusual to measure feature locations relative to reference edges. How one measures an edge depends on how we define it. So what exactly is an edge? Basic edges Back when people thought the world was flat, they feared that explorers who ventured out to sea might…
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization and its partner, the International Electrotechnical Commission, have published a new guide on the vocabulary of metrology—the science of measurement and its application.ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007, “International vocabulary of…
(EOS: Krailling, Germany) -- EOS, a manufacturer of laser-sintering systems, has announced that the 11th EOS International User Meeting (IUM) will be held April 14–16 at the hotel The Monarch hotel in Bad Goegging, Germany. The annual conference provides participants with a platform for…
As we know, GD&T is a symbolic language with which to specify permissible limits of imperfection in manufactured parts, namely limits that maximize the parts’ operability, assemblability, and affordability. It’s complex only to the extent that the real world of imperfect geometry is complex. If…
Every once in a while, when I’m doing an audit someone will ask me—in a whiney voice—about some ISO 9001 requirement. The whine sounds something like, “Do we really have to ________?” Fill in the blank with any of a number of “shalls” from the standard. They know they have to, but they’re hoping…
(IHS Inc.: Englewood, Colorado) -- IHS Inc. has announced the release of a major upgrade to its hazardous materials management system (HMMS) product. This release, HMMS 4.0.956, represents a significant enhancement in the functional envelope of the HMMS application, including the following six…
(ISO: Geneva) -- A new ISO/IEC guide to developing service standards for consumers will not only benefit standards developers, but will also be of value to service providers in reducing customer complaints and cutting the business costs of poor service.ISO/IEC Guide 76: 2008, “Development 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.
The…
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.The…
(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization recently published a standard to increase the security of financial transactions over electronic media. ISO 19092:2008—“Financial services—Biometrics—Security framework,” establishes security requirements for implementing and…
A sheet of laser light illuminates the surface of the heat exchanger during the air-velocity measurement experiment.(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Air-source heat pumps typically deliver 1 1/2 to three times more heating energy to a home than the electric energy they consume,…
(ANSI: Washington) -- A tripartite task force commissioned by the governments of the United States, the European Commission, and Brazil recently completed a review of existing bioethanol and biodiesel standards to identify where greater compatibility could be achieved in support of the global…
(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Rockville, MD) -- According to a new study funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, most doctors’ think that current systems to report and share information about errors are inadequate.…
(Lumetra: San Francisco) -- Investing in culturally-appropriate, community-based interventions substantially improved rates of A1C testing among Latinos with diabetes, according to a new study published in the February American Journal of Public Health. Proper diabetes care management is essential…
(World Bank: Astana, Kazakhstan) -- The World Bank’s board of executive directors recently approved a US$117.7 million loan for the Kazakhstan Health Sector Technology Transfer and Institutional Reform Project. The project will introduce international standards to the Ministry of Health and…
(AQHA: Washington, D.C.) -- The annual American Quality Health Association meeting will be held in San Francisco, California, Feb. 26–28, 2008. National health care leaders from quality improvement organizations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other public and private…
Dr. Tomas Gonzalez, senior vice president and chief quality officer for Valley Baptist Health System of Harlingen, Texas, is a busy man. Not only does he direct quality process improvement at Valley Baptist’s two hospitals, he’s also a physician and a certified Master Black Belt. Valley Baptist…
Six Sigma captured the imagination of CEOs around the world. There have been many claims of its successes yet these have at least partially been attributed to the Hawthorne Effect, which implies that if enough money is thrown into any methodology, at least some short-term results can reasonably be…
