ISO Releases Joint Quality and Environmental Auditing
Standard
The International Organization
for Standardization has released the eagerly awaited joint
auditing standard for quality and environmental management
systems.
ISO 19011:2002, Guidelines for quality and/or environmental
management systems auditing, replaces six older standards
in the ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14000 (environmental)
families. Its use will give organizations a more integrated
and balanced view of their operations, making it an outstanding
tool for continuous improvement toward business excellence,
ISO claims. Use of the standard saves money and reduces
the disruption that separate individual audits of both systems
would cause.
Both families of standards emphasize the importance of
audits as a management tool for monitoring and verifying
the effective implementation of an organization's policy
for quality and environmental management.
ISO 19011 provides guidance on both conducting internal
and external quality and/or environmental management system
audits and managing audit programs. ISO recommends the standard
to auditors and organizations involved in auditor certification
or training, certification/registration of management systems,
and accreditation or standardization in the area of conformity
assessment.
Improvements from the older standards have been added
to ISO 19011. According to ISO, this standard recognizes
more explicitly than the previous auditing guidelines that
the competence of the audit team and individual auditors
varies according to the nature, scope and complexity of
the audit and that it's impossible to set uniform competence
criteria applicable to all situations. ISO 19011 provides
a framework enabling organizations to set their own competence
requirements and related auditor evaluations processes.
ISO 19011 replaces ISO 10011-1, ISO 10011-2 and ISO 10011-3
in the ISO 9000 family and ISO 14010, ISO 14011 and ISO
14012 in the ISO 14000 family. It also completes the ISO
9000 "core series," which comprises the revised
ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 standards.
ISO 19011 was developed by a joint working group of ISO
technical committee 176, Quality management and quality
assurance, and ISO/TC 207, Environmental management. It
is available in the United States from the American Society
for Quality at www.asq.org.
E-Learning Complements Traditional Training
With all of the hype surrounding
e-learning, you might surmise that traditional training
is headed for extinction. Not true, according to a recent
report released by the American Productivity and Quality
Center. Its findings conclude that best-practice organizations
use e-learning to complement classroom training, rather
than replace traditional methods. The study, "Planning,
Implementing and Evaluating E-Learning Initiatives,"
identifies best practices, challenges and opportunities
for improvement in e-learning.
"While saving money is a common reason to conduct
e-learning, true savings are achieved only if employees
learn faster or better than they would using a traditional
training approach," says Cindy Hubert, APQC's director
of knowledge management and e-learning. "Whether a
company needs to bridge the knowledge gap between retiring
employees or it's dealing with reduced training budgets,
all organizations can improve their learning capacity by
acting on these findings."
The report shows that one stumbling block on the path
to e-learning success is employee resistance to change.
General Motors University, which the report identifies as
a best-practice organization, addressed resistance to change
by creating tools to enable process leaders to educate their
employees about e-learning. These tools include a presentation,
a video with testimonials from key organization leaders
and leader/participant resource kits. Other statistical
data, research analysis and organization-specific case studies
are shared in the report.
The report identifies 11 best-practice organizations:
Army Management Staff College, Autodesk Inc., Boeing, Booz
Allen Hamilton, General Motors University, IBM, Intel, Memorial
Hermann Healthcare System, Procter & Gamble, SCT University
and Veterans Benefits Administration.
To view an executive summary or to order a copy of the
report, visit www.apqc.org/pubs.
A Company's Most Challenging Asset: Its
People
More than ever, a company's
bottom line depends on its people, brands and technology
as much as it depends on its more tangible assets, according
to a recent study released by The Conference Board and sponsored
by DDI and PeopleSoft. As an effect of this, investors (especially
those in labor, public pension funds and social responsibility)
are increasingly demanding information about human capital
activities.
"More people are convinced that the way a company
manages its employees makes a difference in the bottom line,"
says Stephen Gates, principal researcher at The Conference
Board's Capabilities Management and Human Resources Strategies
Research Unit. "But people are perhaps the most challenging
of all assets to measure and manage. They contribute to
the value of a company through what they can produce with
their competence, relationship ability and values."
Eighty-six percent of surveyed companies say that their
motivation for human capital measurement is to improve their
bottom line. In turn, many senior managers are putting more
pressure on human resources professionals to show how they
contribute. These companies are upgrading their software
to measure HR activity and can now supplement traditional
financial measures with economic profit and human capital
measures.
This is good news for investors, many of whom believe
there is a direct link between human capital activities
and long-term shareholder value. Investors express the desire
to see their companies implement human capital reporting--notably
in the areas of labor-management relations, turnover, training
and competency, and diversity and equal opportunity programs.
To illustrate their concern for human capital, shareholders
have formed resolutions, pressured their governments for
more disclosure and coordinated their demands for more standard
reporting. There are also efforts among social responsibility
investor groups to coordinate their demands.
The study indicates that, although shareholders are less
concerned with absenteeism, productivity information or
recruitment information, they're overwhelmingly interested
in labor-management relations, retention information, training/competency
and an equal-opportunity profile of the workforce.
On the other hand, many HR directors are hesitant to release
human capital information when it has the potential to reduce
management's flexibility--namely when HR directors are in
the midst of contract negotiations with individual employees
or unions. There is also fear among the HR community that
lawsuits may arise, especially if there is a problem with
their published human capital measures.
"It's not clear that investors understand the practical
difficulties behind creating, collecting, aggregating and
interpreting human capital measures," notes Gates.
"An emerging issue for many companies will be which
human capital measures should be reported in a way that
can be meaningfully interpreted."
"Value at Work: The Risks and Opportunities of Human
Capital Measurement and Reporting" also discusses how
human resource managers intend to create human capital measures
and how human capital measures affect incentive compensation
plans. The study is based on a survey of 102 Fortune 500
and Europe 500 companies. For more information, visit www.conference-board.org.
Thinking Lean During Slow Business Growth
When business begins to rebound
from an economic downturn, unmanaged growth can lead to
waste. Although it's uncertain if U.S. businesses have seen
the worst of the economic storm, Grant Thornton LLP is offering
tips to stay lean while improving business.
"Lean growth is the order of the day," comments
Paul Neblock, management advisory services senior manager
at Grant Thornton's Detroit office. "Manufacturers
need to be cautious about growing too quickly without a
strong business strategy in place."
Companies should take time during a slow economic climate
to understand their value stream, advises Neblock. "During
a growth period, manufacturers need to have a good handle
on their manufacturing and distribution capacity,"
he says. "It pays to be judicious."
"Tips for Lean Growth" can be found at Grant
Thornton's Web site, www.grantthornton.com.
The article offers the following tips:
Know your capacity. In order to expand smartly, companies
must have a good sense of their manufacturing and distribution
capacity. Companies can accomplish this by understanding
their value stream and uncovering bottlenecks in the supply
chain. The capacity constraint should be a specific work
center, support process or facility constraint.
Define your core competencies. Slow economic times present
opportunities to redefine core competencies and evaluate
the company's direction. Explore new products and technologies
and determine whether they would contribute to the organization.
Use this time to remove obsolete technologies and products
that no longer provide value to the organization or its
customers.
Evaluate your suppliers. Sometimes a review of the value
stream indicates that suppliers are the cause of company
bottlenecks. Long lead times can lead to slow delivery and
excess inventory. Manufacturers should work with suppliers
that best serve the organization, seek solutions to the
problem or identify new suppliers. Companies should strive
for a collaborative relationship with suppliers, offering
a win-win strategy.
Be choosy about adding capacity. Demand increases as the
economy recovers, and there may be a need to add capacity
in the manufacturing process and in key support areas. Companies
should have a good handle on their existing capacity and
core competencies before adding capacity. In some cases,
outsourcing is the solution.
Manage payroll smartly. Perform a capacity or staffing model
based on accurate value streams to determine your company's
staffing levels at different levels of demand. This reduces
the risk of too many or too few employees at any given time.
Grant Thornton LLP is a global accounting, tax and business
advisory firm serving middle-market companies.
Canadian Quality Awards Presented
Canada's National Quality Institute
presented its Canada Award for Excellence to seven Canadian
organizations during the 2002 NQI Summit in Toronto. The
award, much like the U.S. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award, recognizes organizations that have measured continuous
improvement through a commitment to innovation, productivity,
a healthy workplace and ethics.
All winning organizations have increased efficiency, expanded
market share, added employment opportunities and enhanced
international competitiveness. There are two award categories:
Healthy Workplace Award and Quality Award. NQI also issued
a Quality Award Certificate of Merit this year.
"In the last year, social, political and economic
events have presented Canadian organizations with unprecedented
challenges," notes Cameron Hyde, chairman of NQI and
president of Xerox Canada. "The ones who are calm in
the midst of the dramatic changes are likely the ones who
have invested in the creation of a sustainable foundation
for their organization. That is certainly true of this year's
CAE winners."
Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, Ontario--One of Canada's largest
steel producers, serving customers throughout North America
with flat-rolled and tubular steel and laser-welded blanks.
NCR, Mississauga, Ontario--A leading global technology company
that provides ATMs, retail systems, data warehouses and
IT services.
Dana Canada Inc., Spicer Driveshaft Group, Magog, Quebec--A
global leader in the design, engineering and manufacture
of products and systems for automotive, commercial and off-highway
vehicle manufacturers.
Canada Post, Saskatoon Operations--A provider of physical
and electronic delivery solutions.
Homewood Health Centre, Guelph, Ontario--A fully accredited
312-bed mental and addiction facility providing specialized
programs.
Mullen Trucking, Aldersyde, Alberta--A leader in the Canadian
trucking industry, coordinating the safe, reliable transportation
of shipments throughout Canada and the United States.
The 2002 Quality Award Certificate of Merit went to CAE
of Saint Laurent, Quebec. CAE is a leader in advanced simulation
and controls equipment and integrated training solutions
for customers in the civil aviation, military and marine
markets.
NQI is an independent, not-for-profit organization that
provides training and assessment services, personnel certification
programs, and Progressive Excellence Program Certification.
This year marks the 19th annual presentation of the Canada
Awards for Excellence. The Healthy Workplace Award, sponsored
by Health Canada, was initiated in 1999. To learn more about
award criteria and judging, visit www.nqi.ca.
Quality
Is Elementary, My Dear Watson
Elementary schools are outperforming
secondary schools in their use of quality tools and approaches,
according to a recent survey of U.S. public school principals.
The survey, which was sponsored by the American Society
for Quality, also indicates that although quality is making
inroads in education, the majority of principals (70 percent)
believe that schools will be more likely to adopt quality
improvement programs in the future.
Kenneth Case, ASQ's president-elect, and John Geraci,
vice president of research at Harris Interactive, presented
the survey results at the 10th Annual National Education
Quality Conference held in late September in Columbus, Ohio.
Here are some highlights of the survey:
Six of every 10 public schools in the United States have
a formalized quality improvement approach in place.
Elementary schools are more likely than middle and high
schools to have formalized quality improvement programs
in place.
Elementary school principals are more likely than middle
or high schools to consider parents as stakeholders and
to involve parents' feedback in shaping school improvement
plans.
Ninety-five percent of the schools with formalized quality
improvement plans reported that their plan includes measurable
outcomes.
Eight of every 10 principals believe that improving standardized
test score performance is extremely or very important.
Despite these results, principals are not as likely to
measure their efforts in other areas that are important
to them. For example, the study showed that although 85
percent of principals believe that improving teacher satisfaction
and morale is extremely or very important, only 71 percent
of their schools regularly gather quantifiable data about
their efforts in this area.
"For the first time ever, schools are being held
accountable for their improvement efforts through the No
Child Left Behind Act," explains Case. "It was
ASQ's goal to conduct a survey that would serve as a baseline
measure to help monitor future progress in the area of quality
improvement in our nation's schools."
"The survey shows that there are significant opportunities
for improvement in education, particularly at the secondary
school level and among new principals," adds Geraci.
"Some aspects of the quality approaches used in business
are in place, but progress needs to be made and measured
in a uniform way."
The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, recorded
401 public elementary, middle and high school principals
throughout the United States. The data were weighted to
represent all U.S. public schools.
Case
in Point: Koalaty Kid
The American Society for Quality's
Koalaty Kid initiative provides Baldrige-based training
to educators who wish to improve their schools' performance
in all aspects of learning, from reading to math to student
attendance.
Since its inception in the early 1990s, more than 200
schools worldwide have become active participants, including
a few junior high and high schools.
www.koalatykid.org
Quality Control Circles: A Way of Life
at Yazaki North America
Thanks to innovative thinking
from quality gurus like W. Edwards Deming, Shigeo Shingo,
Joseph M. Juran and others, organizations from all over
the world have several options when it comes to implementing
a quality improvement initiative.
One such option is implementing quality control circles,
which have proved enormously successful for Yazaki North
America, a developer of advanced electronic technologies
for vehicle applications. So successful, in fact, that the
corporation has developed the Quality Control Circles Competition,
highlighting
the efforts of various teams throughout the organization's
worldwide facilities.
Also called quality circles, improvement teams or quality
teams, quality control circles consist of small groups of
employees--usually 10 or fewer--that meet regularly to discuss
solutions to quality-related issues. At Yazaki, the teams
devise ways to improve quality, boost productivity, increase
safety and enhance environmental preservation.
"Who better to evaluate the processes in our manufacturing
plants than the employees who are engaged every day?"
comments Marc Gattoni, quality director of Yazaki's Component
Business Unit. "Quality is a highly competitive arena,
and we must constantly improve in order to maintain our
leadership position."
This year's Quality Control Circles Competition consisted
of three manufacturing facilities--Circuit Controls Corp.,
El Paso Components and North American Components--that assembled
teams to provide solutions and data to support their recommendations.
Each facility selected its best circle and sent its members
to a QCC Presentation Runoff at Yazaki's Canton, Michigan,
headquarters.
The winning team--a circle from El Paso Components--was
chosen to travel to Yazaki Corp. in Susono, Japan, to compete
in the Circle of Champions competition, which will be composed
of teams from Yazaki's operations in China, the Philippines,
Mexico, Thailand and Australia. The winning team's solution
will be recommended for implementation throughout all Yazaki
organizations.
Now in its third year, Yazaki's quality control circle
program has expanded to include more than 500 associates
within the organization, and has more than doubled in the
last two years.
Last year's winning team reengineered a production and
process setup procedure that reduced line downtime by 53
percent and reduced environmental scrap by 66 percent. To
learn more about the company, visit www.yazaki-na.com.
Industry News
MPACT Now Has Computer-Based Training Option
Integral Solutions Inc. has introduced a new computer-based
training option to its Manufacturing Planning And Control
Tool software.
The training is available in two formats: Trainer's Choice
and Student's Choice. Trainer's Choice is a CD designed
for training coordinators to train employees within the
facility. Student's Choice is MPACT computer-based training
over the Internet through ISI's QualityData Online portal.
Details are available at www.integralsolutions.com
and www.qualitydataonline.com.
TÜV America and 7 layers Inc. Establish
Bluetooth Facility
TÜV America has established a Bluetooth laboratory
at 7 layers Inc.'s facilities in Irvine, California. Bluetooth
is short-range radio technology that allows electronic devices
to wirelessly communicate across a limited distance.
The lab offers Bluetooth development, testing and qualification
services, and houses a Rhode & Schwarz TS8960 RF testing
system and a PTW60 system for protocol testing.
"The Irvine facility is now equipped to provide one-stop
testing solutions utilizing the
latest testing equipment," comments Stefan Butz, CEO
of TÜV America.
More information is available at www.7layers.com.
Deming Research Seminar:
Feb. 24 and 25 The W. Edwards Deming Institute is sponsoring
the Ninth Annual Research Seminar, slated for Feb. 24 and
25 at Fordham University, Lincoln Center, New York. Presentations
will link Deming's management theories to applied and academic
literature and the works of other theorists.
To attend the event, register online at www.deming.org/calendar/index.html.
The Web site also contains a list of accepted papers to
be presented.
Renishaw and Metrologic Sign Software Agreement
The Metrologic Group will develop its Metrolog II software
to run on Renishaw plc's UCC1 universal CMM controller platform,
and Renishaw will use the new software in its worldwide
demonstration facilities.
"This is an important development in the further
acceptance of the UCC1 controller as a leading control platform
for the CMM industry," comments Ben Taylor, Renishaw's
assistant chief executive. "Because Metrolog II software
is an established product with a broad user base, CMM users
worldwide will benefit."
The UCC1 controller optimizes the CMM/probe sensor interface
for maximum part-checking speed and accuracy. Learn more
at www.renishaw.com
and www.metrologic.com.
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