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Quality Digest
Solectron Corp., a provider of electronics manufacturing and integrated supply-chain services, recently received Stratus Technologies’ 2006 Supplier Excellence Award. Solectron’s Columbia, South Carolina, plant was honored for its outstanding performance in support of the introduction of…
Quality Digest
Kevin Caldwell recently joined the Juran Institute as its vice president for enterprise assurance. Caldwell, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has more than 30 years of experience in operations, business performance and quality management, for a variety of industries in international and U.S.…
Quality Digest
Veriteq Instruments Inc. recently released the enterprise version it its viewLinc monitoring and alarming software. viewLinc Enterprise is designed for applications demanding immediate notice of out-of-compliance environmental conditions. It is a quick method of arranging complete…
Christopher Werner
Although conventional homogenization has served the needs of the dairy industry and other industries for more than a century, the producers of pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical and food products are increasingly turning to high-shear fluid processing when highly precise processing is required…
Quality Digest
Kaiser Permanente recently received the Innovations in Healthcare Award from the Adapted Business Leaders (ABL) organization. The award was given in recognition of Kaiser’s successful use of five health-improvement programs developed by HealthMedia Inc.: HealthMedia Succeed, which…
Quality Digest
Stelex University recently provided a training session for the Food and Drug Administration’s National Center for Toxicology Research (NCTR) that focused on computer systems validation. Stelex University is Stelex’s professional education and technical training department. Its training…
Quality Digest
Microsoft Corp. recently announced the winners of its Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Awards 2006 competition. The awards were presented at the annual meeting of the Drug Information Association in Philadelphia, and were given to companies that have demonstrated the best use of…
Parsec Automation Corp.
Parsec Automation Corp. has enhanced the 4.04 version of its TrackSYS software to better serve pharmaceutical and medical device–industry users. The company reports that many pharmaceutical and medical-device makers believe that their plants have an operating efficiency in the 60-70 percent range,…
Douglas C. Fair
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. There are severe costs to the business involved in the recall, in addition to potential costs of civil and criminal…
Quality Digest
Andrew Spanyi’s recently released book uses process management to demonstrate how managers can improve customer service while trimming expenses. In More for Less: The Power of Process Management (Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2006), Spanyi emphasizes the use of process management to streamline…
Quality Digest
Mitutoyo America Corp. recently received a 2005 World Excellence Award from Ford Motor Co. The award was one of 60 presented on May 3, 2006, in Dearborn, Michigan, to Ford’s top global suppliers for their performance in 2005. The award recognizes suppliers that achieve the highest…
Quality Digest
A metrology standard currently under development has the potential to save millions of dollars for any organization that shares quality management data with its suppliers or original equipment manufacturers. The standard is being developed by a technical committee organized by the…
Quality Digest
Ralph Welborn’s and Vince Kasten’s new book delves deep into the global offshoring movement to examine best practices and provide advice for organizations new to—or trying to fix—their operations. In Get It Done! A Blueprint for Business Execution (Wiley & Sons, 2006), the authors…
Quality Digest
Xerox Emirates recently received the prestigious Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi. The company, which recently deployed a comprehensive lean Six Sigma program, provides printers, digital copies, multifunction products and color printers, among other business…
Steven Ouellette
I
n Dirk Dusharme’s First Word in the April 2006 issue of Quality Digest, he sneaks into the back of the “Church of the Six Sigma” and cannily reports the goings on. In this column, I will burst in through the doors dressed in motley and try to pry the scales off of your eyes, chanting, “DMAIC…
Quality Digest
The Juran Institute is offering Six Sigma training at a reduced cost this summer. The training consists of: Step One: A two-day interactive introduction to lean on July 18 and 19. Step Two: A four-day Yellow Belt workshop that includes a review of the skills learned in step one…
Quality Digest
WCBF will host a design for Six Sigma (DFSS) conference in Las Vegas in September. The keynote address—“Design for Six Sigma: A Key to Growth”—will be delivered by Martha Gardner, GE Global Research global quality leader. Other expert speakers include Kamal Ayoub, Tyco Healthcare vice…
Quality Digest
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers’s lean certification bronze-level exam will be used as an outcome assessment as part of the 360vu Research and Education Foundation’s Lean Enterprise Certification Program, the companies recently announced. The exam will be used for lean enterprise…
Quality Digest
The International Register of Certificated Auditors and RABQSA have agreed to recognize each other’s training certifications. Both organizations are currently performing evaluations to identify which of their certifications are mutually acceptable. They expect to add continually to the…
Quality Digest
Rising fuel costs seem to be affecting customer perceptions of quality in the energy and airline industries, according to the American Society for Quality’s Quarterly Quality Report. The QQR examines the perceived quality of goods and services, as measured by the American Customer…
Quality Digest
The Baldrige National Quality Program’s annual Improvement Day is approaching, and the organizers are seeking comments to improve its processes. Improvement Day will be held July 26, 2006, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Comments on…
Craig Cochran
Last year I had the good fortune of doing some consulting with B&C Specialty Products in Hopeulikit, Georgia. B&C does light manufacturing, primarily plastic molding and assembly, and they distribute products produced by companies in the Far East. They have about 150 employees and are by…
Quality Digest
TÜV America Inc. and Product Safety Engineering Inc. have entered into a partnership in order to expand their product safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing services. PSE will provide EMC testing, product safety services and global certification services to TÜV’s customers in…
Quality Digest
Flexible Learning Ireland recently formed a partnership with AssurX Inc. to distribute AssurX’s CATSWeb software in Europe. FLI is a provider of consulting, training and software to the life sciences sector, and will focus the distribution of CATSWeb on this market. The company works with…
Quality Digest
An upcoming metrology course will focus on the practical use of vibration and shock testing, measurement, analysis and calibration. The course will be held Oct. 16–18 at the Amerisuites Las Vegas. Wayne Tustin, an expert on vibration and shock testing, and president of Equipment…