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A new training course being offered by the American Society for Testing and Materials will examine the roles of precision and bias in the standards development process. “Statistics in Standards and Standards Development: Getting to Precision and Bias” will focus on statistical issues associated…
Pitney Bowes Inc. and Bank of America have reached an agreement that will deploy Six Sigma across the bank’s extensive mailing operations. Under the $112 million agreement, Pitney Bowes will provide Bank of America with technology and expertise from across its broad solutions portfolio, including…
In hopes of making ISO 14001 easier to implement, the International Organization for Standardization recently published a revised version of the standard.ISO 14001: 2004 provides a framework for organizations to control the environmental impacts of their activities, products and services, and…
Several Xerox Corp. employees plan to donate their lean and Six Sigma skills to help nonprofit groups in their communities. The donation is part of Xerox’s larger effort to prioritize the value of good corporate citizenship, which was announced at the Business for Social Responsibility conference…
Former General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch, along with several other high-profile business leaders, will address the upcoming Six Sigma Summit. The event, to be held Jan. 24–26 at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, will also feature workshops and seminars facilitated by such Six Sigma luminaries…
A case study of GE’s Six Sigma implementation is now available online from Best Practices LLC. “Building Six Sigma Excellence: A Case Study of General Electric,” examines GE’s quality efforts and compiles cost–saving steps from several top Six Sigma companies. A manufacturing company included in…
Six Sigma Qualtec recently released an enhanced version of its popular SixNet Intelligence software solution. SixNet Intelligence, a deployment management and project tracking tool for performance improvement programs, now includes both balanced scorecards and general business scorecards,…
The Juran Institute recently moved its headquarters from Wilton, Connecticut, to Southbury, Connecticut. The Juran Institute, founded in 1979 by Dr. Joseph M. Juran, also has offices in Spain, The Netherlands and Canada. Juran established many of the fundamentals on which quality processes, such as…
The American Heart Association recently launched an effort to improve the quality of patient care. The organization made the announcement at its Scientific Sessions 2004 conference, held Nov. 7–10 in New Orleans. The program focuses on improving patient care quality and establishing relationships…
Canada’s National Quality Institute is planning a tour of at least two quality award-winning businesses early next year. The first tour will be of Polywheels Manufactuturing Ltd., a Toronto company that won a gold trophy for quality in the Canada Award for Excellence program this year. Participants…
HealthAnalytics LLC and Statit Software recently announced their collaboration to develop a new performance improvement network. The new network is called EMSmeasures and is being developed by the companies in collaboration with the National EMS Management Association. Statit Software will embed…
The Automotive Industry Action Group hosted a conference on radio frequency identification (RFID) in Livonia, Michigan, on Nov. 4. The use of RFID is increasing in the auto production industry, and the conference examined ways it’s helping streamline the inspection process. Representatives of…
Minitab Inc. recently announced the release of a Japanese version of its popular MINITAB Release 14 software. The Japanese version includes fully translated menus, dialog boxes, text output, graphs and all other features and functionality of the English-language version. In addition, the Japanese…
Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Inc. recently named Barry Timmins its new sales and marketing manager.Timmins has 15 years of experience in industrial management and sales. He will be based in Houston. LRQA has in-depth experience in providing registration for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001,…
The U.S. government’s largest weapons systems research, development and troop support commands center recently mounted an effort to become registered to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) hired San Diego-based consulting firm Sullivan International…
IQS recently announced the availability of its new Enterprise Quality Performance Management (EQPM) model at its annual user group conference. The new model is based on the existing data model, which represented significant innovation in the quality management market when it was released in 1985.…
The Registrar Accreditation Board and the Quality Society of Australasia announced recently that they are close to completing their merger. The organizations announced that they planned to merge in June, an effort that will be finalized on Jan. 1, 2005. RABQSA International will have principal…
TÜV America recently announced it appointed Frank Sidorowicz as TL 9000 program manager. Sidorowicz will be based in Plano, Texas, and has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry and its related standards. He will be responsible for all TL 9000 activities throughout the NAFTA…
The American National Standards Institute recently announced new members. The organizations joined ANSI under a new market-based membership structure that ties investment directly to the level of service and involvement based on the unique needs of each member.A list of the new members follows…
I was recently asked to write about the ISO 9001:2000 requirements that are still giving folks a hard time. Recent audits that I’ve conducted have led me to conclude that there are several clauses that continue to give us heartburn.
The issue that seems to come up most frequently relates to…
The American Society for Quality recently announced that it has recognized 30 members as fellows of the organization. ASQ has headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 104,000-member professional association aims to create better workplaces and communities worldwide by advancing learning, quality…
TÜV America and Healthcare Specialists Inc. have formed a new alliance to help hospitals receive Medicare reimbursements more quickly and easily. To that end, the organizations formed a new organization, TÜV Healthcare Specialists, which includes the National Institute for the Accreditation of…
Novations Group Inc. and Motorola University recently announced that they have partnered to offer online Six Sigma learning programs. The partnership is part of Motorola’s 2002 decision to launch a new training program as part of its Six Sigma renewal effort. To accomplish this, it teamed with the…
More than 10,000 manufacturing customers, analysts and partners attended Rockwell Automation Inc.’s 13th annual Automation Fair recently. The event took place Oct. 27–28 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and was the world’s largest free education manufacturing forum. It…
QMI recently announced that it has received accreditation to perform ISO 13485:2003 audits. The accreditation, which was issued by the Standards Council of Canada, also allows QMI to offer registrations to ISO 13485:1996 and ISO 13488:1996. To apply for or maintain a valid license for Class II,…