The American Society for Quality has announced it’s seeking applicants to serve on its board of directors for 2005-06.

The ASQ nominating committee will accept applications from senior, fellow and honorary members for the following positions: president, vice president, treasurer and national director. There are two openings for the national director position. Applications are due Oct. 15, and the terms begin July 1, 2005.

Original equipment manufacturers and end users think similarly about how to improve their relationships, according to a new study conducted by Rockwell Automation and Penton Media Inc.

The study, based on interviews with 582 OEMs and end users, compared the two groups’ views on important relationships issues like design cycle responsibilities, buying behaviors and communication channels.

The American Productivity & Quality Center and Fusion Productions recently announced a collaboration to strengthen organizations’ virtual communities and communities of practice (CoPs).

Through the joint offering, organizations and associations can enrich the value they provide their community members by using best practices and guidance from APQC, combined with Fusion’s community software. Specifically, participants will learn how to:

National Technical Systems Corp. recently purchased a world-class telecommunications product testing laboratory in Calgary, Canada. It’s the company’s third testing facility abroad.

The 14,000 sq. ft. lab includes state-of-the-art chambers, test equipment and instrumentation, and is equipped for advanced radio testing and certification of wireless products, product safety and mechanics.

Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. recently signed a contract with Leica Geosystems to buy six laser tracking systems for its manufacturing operations in Dallas.

Vought reports it will extend the contract over a span of four years to replace its existing measurement systems with approximately 24 Leica LTD800s and LTD600 laser tracking systems. The contract value could total $4 million.

DVT Corp. recently announced the availability of a new PC-based object linking and embedding for process control server designed to work with the company’s Legend series of smart camera-based machine vision systems.

OPC technology can eliminate expensive custom interfaces and drivers normally required for interconnecting equipment and moving data throughout the organization.

Hexagon AB added to its market share recently by acquiring ROMER CimCore Inc., a consolidation that is already underway.

ROMER CimCore Inc., which has operations in Carlsbad, California, and Farmington Hills, Michigan, manufactures and markets metrology equipment used widely in the automotive, aerospace and general industrial markets. Its products include portable coordinate measuring machines, software and various enhancement accessories.

Carl Zeiss SMT Inc. recently opened a new applications and demonstration lab in Redwood City, California.

The company plans to use the new Electron Microscopy Applications Lab to serve West Coast customers with better applications, sales and service support. Customers can bring samples in for evaluation on the lab’s state-of-the-art equipment, which includes Zeiss’ CrossBeam, SUPRA and EVO technologies.

National Quality Assurance USA recently announced its accreditation through the ElectroStatic Discharge Association to provide auditing services against ANSI/ESD S20.20:1999.

The accreditation will allow NQA USA to help organizations develop electrostatic discharge control programs. The ANSI standard addresses requirements to design, establish, implement and maintain electrostatic discharge control programs to protect electrical parts, assemblies and equipment susceptible to ESD damage.

Pilgrim Software recently announced the availability of its SmartAudit Offline solution.

The suite is based on Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003, though it’s a new and separately licensed add-on to Pilgrim’s SmartAudit version 7.03.5 internal and external audit management system. It allows users to perform remote offsite audits or any audit where a network or Internet connection isn’t available.