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Quality Digest
The revised ISO 14001 standard is scheduled to be published by the end of the year, meaning significant changes to environmental management professionals. According to the International Organization for Standardization, the changes to the standard aim to clarify it and make it more user-friendly.…
Quality Digest
A partnership between Arc Second Inc. and Romer CimCore could signal the acceptance of indoor GPS as the measurement technology of the future. Several major metrology companies, including Romer CimCore, Metrologic Inc. and New River Kinematics, showcased Arc Second’s GPS technology at the 2004…
Quality Digest
FARO Technologies Inc. recently released an enhanced generation of its popular laser trackers. Highlights of the new trackers include ADM Smart Auto-Adjust, which improves accuracy by automatically adapting to conditions affecting measurement drift; Fast Laser Lock, which re-locks the laser in…
Quality Digest
Henry Ford Community College is planning a “Surviving To Thriving” training event in quality performance, lean principles and performance benchmarking on Sept. 16. The event will feature representatives from the community college, along with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, Southeast…
Quality Digest
Motorola University will provide Six Sigma training to industrial companies across the United States, according to an agreement reached between Motorola University and Charter Consulting Inc. Joseph Lackner, head of Charter Consulting’s Six Sigma program, says the company plans to use the…
Quality Digest
The Piston Group plans to use grant money from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to enhance the area workforce by training leaders in lean manufacturing, quality management and Six Sigma. The company will receive $57,000 in economic development training grants and will partner with Henry…
Quality Digest
Six Sigma Qualtec has announced that L.T. (Tom) Hall has joined the firm as a managing partner. Hall brings the company more than 20 years of experience in providing performance improvement consulting to financial institutions. He most recently served as a practice manager at Earnings Performance…
Quality Digest
Textron Inc. recently announced two promotions within its Six Sigma department. Peter Riley was promoted to senior vice president of Six Sigma, integrated supply chain and transformation. In addition, John Mayers was appointed to the position of vice president of Six Sigma. Both men will serve on…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma has been well applied in manufacturing through improving processes that use the DMAIC methodology. Some larger corporations have integrated Six Sigma so well into the corporate culture that it can be considered the DNA of the company. However, even in such companies, the human resources…
Quality Digest
Orion Registrar recently announced the hiring of a new business development manager to focus on registering plastics manufacturers to ISO 9000. Lewis Yasenchak has worked in the registrar business for more than 20 years. Orion’s new plastics program, which he will supervise, will offer auditors…
Quality Digest
Rockwell Automation’s power and energy management solutions team will examine the quality of Kraft Foods’ power consumption, Rockwell announced recently. By using its energy management software, Rockwell will be able to automate load profiling mechanisms and analyze power quality issues, such as…
Quality Digest
A new partnership between Romer CimCore and Arc Second Inc. highlights the rapidly growing acceptance of indoor global positioning systems as the measurement technology of the future. Taking coordinate measurement beyond traditional approaches, Romer CimCore, Metrologic Inc and New River…
Quality Digest
More than 150 American and Chinese government and private sector standards experts attended a workshop in Beijing Aug. 18 and 19. The event was hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and focused on encouraging…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute has announced it’s accepting nominations for its board of directors and voting membership on policy committees. The nominations are for terms beginning Jan. 1. All qualified BOD candidates will be referred to the board nominating committee and will be…
Quality Digest
The National Quality Institute recently announced three gold trophy winners of the Canada Awards for Excellence. The awards, which are the most prestigious quality awards in Canada, were given to the following companies: DaimlerChrysler Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers—CAE Healthy…
Shellye Archambeau
"Quality is never an accident, it is always the result of an intelligent effort"—John Ruskin (1819-1900)
A manufacturing company had annual sales of $250 million. Its quality department calculated the total cost of repair, rework, scrap, service calls, warranty claims and write-offs from obsolete…
Quality Digest
In an effort to strengthen the automotive supply chain, the Automotive Industry Action Group will offer crisis management and business recovery training. The emergency response training is the first of its kind in the automotive industry, says Andrew J. Cummins, executive director and CEO of…
Quality Digest
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…
Quality Digest
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…
Quality Digest
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…
Quality Digest
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…
Robert Nix
My first experience with the word “culture” comes from my high school science class. We grew a living organism on a nutrient base, which the teacher called a culture. The girls in class described it using the medical term, “Eeewwwww!” Years later, in the business world, I find top…
Chuck Doyle
Many organizations need answers to some key questions about lean and quality management: Is there a difference between quality and value? Should we have two teams, one for continuous improvement and one for lean? What roles would each have? What are the differences? The source for this…
Jeffrey S. Goss
Six Sigma, the statistical approach focused on increasing profitability by improving efficiency, has been part of the engineering world since the 1980s. Now, new innovative online and on-campus programs at Arizona State University are shaking up the way people all over the globe are…
Quality Digest
As organizations pursue quality and value, many find that Six Sigma alone isn’t enough to compete in the global marketplace. The addition of quality function deployment, however, often translates into increased functionality, quality and profitability. International TechneGroup Inc. will host…