Fifty-one percent of the attendees worked in management, according to the show's statistics. Other categories included manufacturing engineers (12%), sales and marketing (10%) and other departments (11%). The largest industry group represented, fabricated metal products (21%), was followed by other top categories such as job shops (19%), metalworking machinery (18%), all other (16%) and transportation (8%).

The eight-day IMTS show offered manufacturing industry members a look at the latest manufacturing developments. The show featured a number of product pavilions focusing on technologies such as abrasive machining/sawing/finishing; metal cutting; quality assurance; environmental, safety and plant management; factory automation; gear generation; lasers and laser systems; metal forming and fabricating; and tooling and workholding systems. The top categories of interest to IMTS attendees this year included machining centers; turning centers -- lathes, mill, drill, bore; tools and tooling; grinding and finishing; and quality and vision.

  Manufacturing '98, a manufacturing conference co-sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, complemented this year's IMTS show. The conference brought together more than 200 industry experts, from both corporate and academic circles, who led sessions in 13 technology tracks, including assembly and welding, injection molding, management and manufacturing systems automation. The SME estimates that nearly 900 participants attended the eight-day conference. Attendees expressed exceptional interest in management sessions related to managing manufacturing processes and lean manufacturing, according to John McEachran, SME's conference director.

Another show highlight, the IMTS Youth Summit, debuted at this year's event. Sponsored by the Association for Manufacturing Technology and several other organizations, the youth summit sought to attract students to manufacturing technology careers. More than 3,500 students -- from grade school to graduate-level students -- and 670 educators from 35 states and Canada participated. They attended presentations by the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America and other industry representatives concerning manufacturing careers. As part of the summit, students also toured the show floor and were asked about ways the youth summit for IMTS 2000 could be improved.

IMTS shows have a long history. The first, held in Cleveland in 1927, attracted 12,000 visitors and 184 exhibitors. Two years later, in 1929, the show returned to Cleveland before going on hiatus during the first years of the Great Depression. The show was next held in 1935, before it was again halted during World War II. Then, in 1947, the show moved to Chicago. It was the world's largest industrial exhibition that year, attracting 96,000 attendees. Since then, the show has continued to expand and undergo various changes. It is held every two years at the McCormick Place in Chicago -- the next show will be Sept. 6-13, 2000.

The Quality Cup honors U.S.-based teams that make exceptional contributions to their employers' quality improvement programs. The six categories include educational institutions, government units and agencies, health care organizations, manufacturing firms, service firms and small businesses.

Judging is administered by a panel of 35 RIT-appointed judges, including RIT faculty, USA Today staff, and quality experts from consulting, industry and universities. Nominees will be provided with their first-round quartile rankings for each of the judging criteria.

The MLA was signed in Durban, South Africa, by four quality management systems auditor certification bodies: the Quality Society of Australasia, representing Australia and New Zealand; the China National Registration Board for Auditors, representing the People's Republic of China; IQA International Register of Certificated Auditors, representing the United Kingdom; and the Registrar Accreditation Board, which signed on behalf of  the ANSI-RAB National Accreditation  Program.

MLA signatories underwent rigorous peer evaluation programs before receiving approval. Three additional IATCA members have applied for approval with the intention of signing the MLAs and further increasing acceptance for the program.

  IATCA programs support worldwide acceptance of a supplier's quality management system registration. "The MLAs bind each member to recognize the IATCA auditor certifications and IATCA training course approvals issued by each other," explains Joseph R. Dunbeck, RAB CEO.

A transfer option for RAB-certified auditors and auditors from the other signatory bodies will allow certified auditors to transfer to RAB IATCA auditor certification using simplified transfer criteria. The transfer must be completed before Feb. 11, 2002. After that time, applicants for IATCA certification must meet the full criteria.

For more information, contact the RAB at telephone (888) 722-2440.

The ASQ Public Sector Network includes government employees and other professionals interested in applying quality principles to the public sector. All public-sector groups are represented -- from local, state and federal government to public employee unions, professional organizations and academic institutions. Quality professionals from the private sector also are welcome to join.

"It's a great group of people," says Charles Grubb, division chairman. People in government quality needed a way to exchange information, he explains. First affiliated with ASQ in 1993 as a technical committee, the network achieved full ASQ division status last year.

The SCP Certification, launched in January, was developed by 25 leading organizations within the industry, including SSPA, Xerox and Sybase. The standard offers 11 criteria important in the information technology industry, including customer relationship management, customer feedback, corporate commitment and strategic division, performance metrics and total quality management.

Support centers that sign up for the program receive the SCP manual and self-assessment, which offer a road map to meeting the standard's 11 criteria and 100 subelements, says Christine O'Shea, national sales director for ZD Consultants.

  "We're finding that it takes 30 to 90 days to become certified," explains O'Shea. Certification benefits companies through  industry recognition, and streamlined internal processes and procedures, she adds.

Sixteen leading industry sites have achieved SCP Certification so far. An international summit in the United Kingdom will introduce the standard to Europe, where there is considerable interest, reveals O'Shea.

However, many readers understood that the Juran Institute, a quality consulting firm based in Wilton, Connecticut, had closed down and moved to Minnesota.  A. Blanton Godfrey, the Juran Institute's chairman and CEO, says that clients, friends and family have called to inquire about the institute's status.

"There was never any formal connection between these two organizations other than they were both founded by Joseph M. Juran," says Godfrey.

For more information about the Juran Institute, call (203) 834-1700.

Human resource executives in 15 industries responded to survey questions concerning work force development practices, including how their companies use externally developed training, mentoring relationships, computer-based instruction, and professional conferences or seminars. Half of the 171 companies surveyed rate their current work force development systems' effectiveness as a five or less out of a possible 10. Seventy-seven percent of the organizations plan to increase funding for workplace development, particularly in two areas: dealing with change (23%) and interpersonal skills, including communication (16%), teamwork (15%) and customer  service (13%).

The study also found that the relationship between a company's performance management and its work force development system consistently predicts overall success. Yet, many organizations experience difficulty when attempting to link work force development practices to their performance management systems; only 39 percent of the organizations said they clearly make the connection.

For more information about the report, contact DDI at telephone (800) 944-7782.

North Carolina A&T University's student team won the contest's first competition. In managing their virtual factory, the team drove the cyberspace company stock from less than $2 a share to $8.90 a share in less than 12 months. North Carolina and runner-up University of Maryland -- with a score of $7.256 a share -- will receive licenses for CIM/Quality software compliments of JKA Inc. and copies of Total Improvement Management by author and quality advisor H. James Harrington.

For more information, contact H. James Harrington, Hurd Foundation chairman, at telephone (408) 947-6587.

Hospitals reportedly are becoming customer-focused and orienting improvements around better service, care delivery and personal attention. Findings also show that investor-owned hospitals were more likely to report increases in patient satisfaction (72%) than other hospital types, including religious/church-owned (59%) or large hospitals with 500 beds or more (59%). Investor-owned hospitals also report the highest profit margins of any hospital type.

The FQA's regulations require fastener manufacturers to submit their fasteners for testing by laboratories accredited by various accreditation organizations. The delay follows the passage of Public Law 105-234, which amends the FQA.