All Features
Quality Digest
March 26 and 27, Spar Point Research will present “SPAR 2007: Capturing and Documenting Existing-Conditions Data for Design, Construction and Operations” at the Marriott Town Square in Sugar Land, Texas.Project managers, engineering leads, construction managers, survey heads and asset…
Quality Digest
Dubai Industrial City, a member of Tatweer in the United Arab Emirates, recently won certification to ISO 9001. “The certification validates Dubai Industrial City’s aim for enhanced customer satisfaction through the effective application of its quality management system, including…
Quality Digest
Consumer Reports magazine last week listed the 47 most reliable vehicles on our planet. Twenty-one of them were made by Toyota Motor Corp. Honda Motor Co. makes 11 of the top 47. Other reliable cars are made by Lexus, Pontiac and Subaru, the only automaker all of whose cars are recommended by…
Quality Digest
Metris recently acquired 3D Engineering Solutions, a laser scanning and visualization service company. 3D has been Metris’ largest service center in the United Kingdom since 2005 and will continue to provide support services to its new parent company as a Metris UK subsidiary. 3D’s…
Quality Digest
Jordan Valley Semiconductors Inc., a provider of semiconductor metrology solutions, recently formed a distribution partnership with OpenDream, a Korean manufacturing company. OpenDream will provide sales and support services for Jordan Valley to Korean customers. The agreement is…
Fred Mason
The local environment can be an important factor in the quality of measurements. No matter what is being measured, the higher the resolution of the measurement (the finer the detail), the more significant the effect of environmental influences can be. The measurement you’re after is one…
Quality Digest
phoenix/x-ray Systems + Services received a Global Technology Award for its nanotom, a 160kV nanofocus computed-tomography system. The award was presented by Global SMT & Packaging magazine during the Assembly Technology Expo in Chicago. The panel of experts selected the nanotom for…
Stephen C. Webb
Slow monitors that don’t pick up the exact end-point when a part is seated properly can hamper high-volume press-fitting operations. This process-control problem is especially widespread in automotive-powertrain assembly. A transmission, transfer case or differential can contain four to…
Quality Digest
Charles Rasbach is the new vice president of sales and marketing of RAM Optical Instrumentation Inc. In this role, Rasbach will manage ROI’s professional North American distribution channels and coordinate the company’s advertising, trade show and related marketing activities. “Chuck…
Fred Mason
This is the first “Measurement Matters,” a column that will show how much measurement matters in achieving and maintaining quality, especially in manufacturing. I will cover topics such as types of measurements and measurement devices, how measurements are made, what can be done with the…
Quality Digest
WorkPlace Training Inc. recently started offering a metrology applications course for engineers and scientists. The course provides a comprehensive examination of measurement parameters, measurement uncertainty and metrology applications, including the principles and instrumentation…
Quality Digest
The Automotive Industry Action Group will host a conference on the development of interoperability standards for the automotive industry. The National Institute of Standards and Technology estimates that the automotive industry wastes $5 billion annually due to a lack of interoperability…
Quality Digest
The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSIP) recently recommended the adoption of three interoperability specifications to the American Health Information Community. HITSIP is a multistakeholder group that develops data standards for American health care companies. The…
Quality Digest
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers recently announced a new standard relating to the skills required of pipeline workers. "ASME B31Q: Pipeline Personnel Qualification Standard" details the tasks typically performed by pipeline workers, and can be used to qualify pipeline…
Quality Digest
On Nov. 16 and 17 in Arlington, Virginia, the Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP) will start work on a comprehensive set of standards and guidelines that businesses and other organizations can use to prevent and respond to identity theft and fraud.…
Quality Digest
The latest in the International Organization for Standardization’s series of documents for supply chain security management systems provides requirements for ensuring that certification bodies perform their work competently and reliably. ISO/PAS 28003:2006, "Security management systems for the…
Denise Robitaille
Surely you remember the tale of the emperor’s new clothes, a wonderful story filled with multiple quality training opportunities.
There was an emperor who was pompous and vain. One day, two scoundrels came to the palace, presenting themselves as tailors from a distant land. They said they had woven…
Dennis Bradley
In March 2005, EIA/ECCB-954, "Electrical and Electronic Components and Products Hazardous-Substance-Free Standard and Requirements" was developed and released as a U.S. national standard. In April 2005, the IECQ management committee agreed at its annual meeting in the United Kingdom to…
Quality Digest
Leading European research bodies and open source projects recently secured European Union money to assess the quality of open source software. Software Quality Observatory of Open Source Software will build tools to enable open source projects and software companies to benchmark the…
Bill Kalmar
As the cool, crisp air of autumn begins to make its annual appearance here in the Midwest, and the trees on country roads are aflame with color, it’s time to make some wardrobe decisions. Should I select the fur-lined parka over the Gore-Tex windbreaker? Are the Eddie Bauer boots warmer than the L.…
Quality Digest
IBS America provides compliance management solutions and recently announced a strategic partnership with International Quality Consulting, a business and technology consultancy. IQC consultants will provide customers in the pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences industries…
Quality Digest
Effective Oct. 30, Ellen Bovarnick became responsible for customer satisfaction, driving process improvements, establishing corporate quality standards and leading the implementation of Nortel’s Six Sigma initiative. “I’m excited to welcome Ellen to my team,” said Joel Hackney, Nortel’s…
Quality Digest
ThermoML, a project using Web-based technologies, has markedly improved the quality of data available to researchers and sped access to a lot of new scientific data.A partnership among the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute will provide a “Standards Resource Guide” and the P3 Web portal for the Environmental Protection Agency’s 3rd annual P3 award competition. ANSI is one of more than 40 industry, government and nongovernmental organizations helping to support the…
Quality Digest
iSixSigma magazine recently named software from PowerSteering Software Inc. as the top solution for project tracking. The magazine cited PowerSteering’s best-in-class home page, multiple methodology support capabilities and feature-search capability as key performance indicators in the…