By: Quality Digest
02/21/2005
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program will receive its 1,000th application in 2005, a milestone award administrators will celebrate all year long. Between 1998 and 2004, there have been 343 manufacturing applications (25 award recipients), 164 service applicants (13 recipients), 326 small business applicants (15 recipients), and 83 health care applicants (4 recipients). To date, the total number of applicants is 999.
2005 marks the 125th anniversary of The L.S. Starrett Co.The company was founded in 1880 by Laroy Sunderland Starrett to market his innovative combination square tool, an item that has since become a standard in toolboxes worldwide. Starrett later developed innovative design variations to calipers, spring dividers and indicating gages, and he invented the modern micrometer.
AssurX Inc., a supplier of enterprise quality and compliance systems, recently introduced CATSWeb Records Management, a solution designed to assist companies in complying with corporate record retention policies. Recent high-profile corporate compliance scandals have made record retention more important than ever, according to AssurX.
More than 1,000 health care quality experts will meet in San Francisco this week for the annual meeting of the American Health Care Quality Association.The two-day event starts Feb. 23 at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. It will feature keynote addresses from Don Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and John C. Nelson, president of the American Medical Association.
A new study from Best Practices LLC shows that the best performance management and measurement tactics not only affect the bottom line, but also significantly enhance employee satisfaction. Companies that heavily invest in their employees reap the rewards of their investment. Some examples include: 
QualityWBT Center for Education and AQS Management Systems Inc. have partnered to offer a new ISO 9001 certified lead auditor class over the Internet. The RABQSA-approved class combines three days of training online and two days of face-to-face training. Students can access the online training at any time and any place; the instructor-led classes are scheduled every other month.
The International Organization for Standardization recently launched an online survey to examine the value of ISO 14001 to small and medium-sized businesses. ISO encourages all sm all- to medium-sized businesses to participate, whether or not they have implemented ISO 14001 or another environmental management system. The survey can be completed in five to 10 minutes and will be available until March 8. A report on the results will be available online after May 1.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently praised the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services for launching a new pay-for-quality pilot project designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in large medical groups. The 10 large medical groups participating in the program will have Medicare incentive payments linked to their performance on various NCQA- and American Medical Association-developed clinical measures.
More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the WESTEC 2005 exposition and conference, which will be held April 4–7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event is one of the 200 largest trade shows in North America, attracting large numbers of domestic and international manufacturers annually.