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MSB is the first Missouri K-12 school to win the Baldrige-based Missouri Quality Award. The state-operated school, which will celebrate its 150th birthday in 2001, pioneered the teaching of Braille in the Western Hemisphere, introducing the system in 1859. It also serves as Missouri's leading educational service delivery system for blind and visually impaired children under age 21, and the families and professionals who work with them. MSB's primary goal is to ensure that students with vision loss achieve the necessary skills--academic, social, work and life--to enjoy productive, independent lives. Through its outreach programs, MSB provides free services to Missouri's 525 school districts and the more than 1,100 blind, visually impaired, and deaf-and-blind children and their families throughout Missouri. The school operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide counseling, therapy and health services. Students participate in a variety of extracurricular activities and clubs, including Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and sports like wrestling, track, swimming, forensics and cheerleading. "At the Missouri School for the Blind, we invest in children, their families and the professionals who work with them," says Yvonne Howze, the school's superintendent. When Howze became superintendent in 1991, MSB implemented a three-year quality plan, which led to a five-year strategic plan spanning from 1995-2001. Howze launched an employee recognition and suggestion system, and employee action and improvement teams to involve MSB's 200 staff members in the effort to raise the school's educational programs and services to a new level of quality. The program has proven so successful that, in the spring of 1998, the school discovered that it had met all of its goals two-and-a-half years early. The school now anticipates applying for the Baldrige Award's newly created education category, notes Howze. "We'd like to apply and see where we are," she says. "We're interested in the feedback." What else lies ahead for the school? MSB has launched the "Beyond Success" campaign, which will consider, among other things, how to establish international exchange programs for its students, as well as expanding the potential and resiliency of its staff members. For more information, contact the Missouri School for the Blind at telephone (314) 776-4320.
ANSI Searches for New President
"Together, we have accomplished a great deal, and the institute has been through many changes for the better," Mazza says of ANSI. "I expect the institute will continue to improve under its new leadership." Max Rumbaugh of SAE International will chair a search committee of board members to find Mazza's replacement. Mazza, who will stay with the institute while the committee endeavors to identify a successor, says he intends to work aggressively to continue to advance the goals and objectives of the institute during this time of transition. For more information, contact ANSI at telephone (212) 642-4931 or visit the ANSI Web site at www.ansi.org .
Lab Shortage Hampers QS-9000 Compliance With the recently released third edition of QS-9000 now penetrating the automobile industry, some potential problems with the requirement have surfaced--specifically involving the need for ISO/IEC Guide 25-accredited laboratories. In section 4.11.2.b.1, QS-9000:1998 explains that inspection, measuring and test equipment for compliant facilities must be calibrated by qualified in-house laboratories, commercial/independent labs or customer-recognized government agencies. If a facility uses a commercial or independent calibration lab, it must be accredited to ISO/IEC Guide 25 or an equivalent national standard. The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation Web site reveals that a total of 39 ISO Guide 25-accredited calibration laboratories exist in the United States, with only 29 offering commercial calibration services. This poses an obvious difficulty, considering the thousands of suppliers required to be QS-9000-compliant. On Jan. 22, the Automotive Industry Action Group released its latest version of the IASG Sanctioned QS-9000:1998 Third Edition Interpretations. In this document, AIAG states: "Due to a current lack of suppliers of accredited calibration services for calibration laboratories, compliance to QS-9000:1998 Third Edition laboratory requirements, 4.11.2.b.1, may be satisfied if the supplier has a documented plan to assure that, effective Jan. 1, 2001, the supplier is fully in compliance with QS-9000:1998 Third Edition cl. 4.11.2.b.1 requirements." One company, Furon Co. of Mantua, Ohio, recently encountered the certified lab shortage, says Tom Apathy, the company's quality support team leader. Furon received its QS-9000 certification in April 1998. In October 1998, the company underwent its first surveillance audit. At that time, Furon's auditor encouraged the company to go ahead and align its quality system with QS-9000, Third Edition, because there appeared to be few changes the company would need to make in order to meet the third edition's requirements. However, during the audit, the company learned that it needed to find a calibration firm certified to ISO Guide 25; otherwise, according to a Registrar Accreditation Board ruling, a hold would be issued on its audit. Furon began searching for a certified lab, a difficult task considering the scarcity of suitable facilities. The company finally found Accu-Check Instrument Inc. of Pinkerington, Ohio. Since then, using the services of a certified lab, Furon has managed to meet QS-9000:1998's requirements. AIAG's IASG Sanctioned Interpretations offers companies in Furon's position a reprieve until January 2001. However, this development doesn't erase the problem--it merely delays it. The next year should determine what other adjustments will be required in order for the automotive industry to fully meet QS-9000's requirements. For more information, contact AIAG at telephone (248) 358-3570 or visit the organization's Web site at www.aiag.org .
The first-ever knowledge management ANSI/ISO standards and technical reports have been started by AIIM International, a leading information technology association. Knowledge management involves the processes and systems used in the creation, use, reuse and management of an organization's knowledge, an important asset found in its employees, customers, products, business processes and information systems. Because knowledge management is in its formative stages, with numerous definitions, a growing need exists to develop a common, standardized framework. On Jan. 28, AIIM launched its standards-writing effort with a two-day Knowledge Management Forum in Washington, D.C. "As an accredited ANSI development organization, AIIM plays an essential role in creating national and international standards, technical reports and recommended practices," says Marilyn Wright, AIIM International's vice president of standards and technical services. AIIM International is working on the following standards projects:
For more information, contact AIIM International at telephone (301) 587-8202 or visit the organization's Web site at: www.aiim.org .
Chief executives' confidence in the nation's economy plummeted to its lowest reading in more than seven years, The Conference Board reports in its newly released Measure of Business Confidence. The index fell eight points in the third quarter of 1998 to a reading of 41; a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses. Forty-seven percent of CEOs believe economic conditions are worse than they were six months ago, up dramatically from last quarter's reading of 17 percent. Only 12 percent of survey participants hold the opposite view, down from 26 percent in the prior survey. "Chief executives are less optimistic now about the current state of the economy than they have been since the beginning of the decade," says Lynn Franco, associate director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "Their outlook for the next six months is even more bleak." The majority of CEOs (51%) anticipate a worsening in the economy during the next six months. Only 12 percent of chief executives think it will improve in the coming months. Thirty-nine percent expect conditions in their industries to worsen during the next six months, while only 17 percent expect conditions to improve. The measure of business confidence is based on quarterly surveys of more than 150 chief executives and other business leaders. For more information, visit The Conference Board's Web site at www.conference-board.org .
Regional Baldrige Conferences Scheduled The National Institute of Standards and Technology's National Quality Program and The Conference Board have announced the schedule for the ninth annual Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Regional Conference series. The conferences will be held May 19 in Atlanta, June 3 in Boston, June 10 in Chicago and June 17 in San Francisco. At each conference, executives learn about organizational excellence from the Baldrige winners themselves. The 1999 regional conferences will feature the 1998 Baldrige winners--Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, Solar Turbines Inc. and Texas Nameplate Co.--as keynote speakers, along with past winners. Topics will include benefits of the Baldrige process, key success strategies in the seven criteria categories and the leader's perspective on performance excellence. For more information, contact The Conference Board at telephone (212) 339-0345 or visit the organization's Web site, www.conference-board.org , for a detailed conference schedule.
Leading the group will be quality consultant Dennis R. Arter, author of Quality Audits for Improved Performance (ASQ Quality Press, 1994). This will be Arter's second visit to China, and he looks forward to this next journey. "There are amazing opportunities for U.S. businesses to do business in China," he says. "The Chinese are hungry for knowledge about Western quality practices. They know quality is the key to success for their nation." The group will exchange technical information with Chinese colleagues in government, academia and industry at a number of gatherings. Each delegate will get the chance to speak on a quality topic of his or her own choosing at the various meetings they will attend, explains Arter. Sessions will consist of short speeches by U.S. delegates and then responses from Chinese attendees. The group will be limited to 25 professional delegates and 25 guests; anyone interested in China and the quality profession may participate. Fifteen people must be registered, with deposits, by May 1 for the program to proceed. The Ambassador Programs of People to People International will coordinate the exchange. For more information, contact Dennis Arter at telephone (509) 783-0377, e-mail arter@quality.org or visit Arter's Web site, home.earthlink.net/~auditguy/ for information, a registration form and pictures from his previous trip to China. |
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The American National Standards Institute has set out to identify a new president and chief executive officer. The current president and CEO, Sergio Mazza, who was elected president in October of 1993, asked the ANSI Board of Directors late last year to begin searching for his replacement.
TR Introduction to Knowledge Management and Sociological Approach to Knowledge Management. This technical report will explain the knowledge management concept and introduce the sociological approach to take when considering how knowledge is produced, acquired and transmitted by individuals, teams and groups within an organization. 
