All Features
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 imported products produced by companies in the Far East. They have about 150…
Quality Digest
The Automotive Industry Action Group’s second Early Warning Standards—Warranty Conference will examine escalating automotive warranty costs. The event will be held June 6 at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Michigan. Panel discussions and presentations will deal with improving working…
Quality Digest
Three teams took top honors at the 21st International Team Excellence Competition in Milwaukee.The competition was part of American Society for Quality’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement, held May 1–3. The live contest featured 27 teams from around the world hoping to achieve…
Quality Digest
People having trouble with uncertainty estimation can gain a clearer understanding of the approach from a forthcoming series of courses on uncertainty measurement and estimation hosted by the National Measurement Institute, a division of the Australian government. The course is suitable…
Quality Digest
Bede X-ray Metrology recently launched its wafer edge defect inspection capability that uses the company’s BedeScan defect-inspection system. The tool is capable of looking at process-induced defects on the surface of the wafer. It can also detect crystallographic abnormalities inside the…
Quality Digest
Davis Inotek Instruments has signed a final purchase agreement with GE Consumer & Industrial to buy its instrumentation services unit, a calibration and repair operation based in Duluth, Georgia. The unit serves more than 1,000 manufacturers throughout the country.Davis Inotek…
Quality Digest
The Mahr Group recently acquired Helios Messtechnik GmbH & Co., a German provider of noncontact and contact shaft measurement, and precision gages. The acquisition creates a new corporation, Mahr Helios Messtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, and will allow the Mahr Group to enhance its…
William R. Gilman
Metrology is the science of measurement. It’s a very broad topic because so much is measured. In manufacturing, the need to verify and validate dimensions of parts is crucial. These dimensional measurements are done at many stages in the manufacturing process with a range of devices, from simple…
Quality Digest
4D Technology Corp. recently received NASA’s Goddard Achievement in Excellence Award for its contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope project. The company partnered with NASA to develop an electronic speckle pattern interferometer (ESPI), which enables precision metrology on large…
Quality Digest
The International Telecommunications Union has formed a focus group to lead standardization efforts for Internet television.Internet Protocol Television is a system by which digital television content is delivered via a broadband connection. It offers high-speed Internet, television and…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute will host an upcoming forum for standards developers in New York City. Open Forum for Standards Developers will be held June 20–21 and will continue a dialogue initiated in March, when consortia representatives met with members of the voluntary…
Quality Digest
A new standard provides guidance for identifying and quantifying genetically modified materials in foods. ISO 24276, "Foodstuffs—Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified organisms and derived products—General requirements and definitions," lists sample collection…
Denise Robitaille
A few months ago, I wrote about the importance of understanding your customers’ requirements. We looked at requirements that exceed the traditional scope of product specifications such as labeling, packaging and documentation.This month, we’ll take a look at how we communicate our…
Quality Digest
Rockwell Automation recently received Frost & Sullivan’s 2005 Customer Service Leadership Award.The award recognizes Rockwell Automation’s commitment to understanding customer requirements, and to providing high-quality products and services to customers around the world. In…
Quality Digest
A recently released book is the product of the European Foundation for Quality Management’s comprehensive studies of work and European businesses.Above the Clouds (initiated and edited by Hervé Legenvre, Josephine Woolley and Lorraine Mallinder, Greenleaf Publishing, 2006), aims to…
Quality Digest
Ixperion will host a conference on the use of lean and Six Sigma in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.Lean Six Sigma for Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals will be held June 20–21 at the Hotel Mercure in Budapest, Hungary. Preconference workshops will be held on June 19. The…
Esteve Garriga
The 2005+ approach is the system established to characterize and winnow the applicants for the 2006 European Award. Formerly instituted as the European Quality Award, this year it will be designated the 2006 EFQM European Award.The 2005+ approach doesn’t represent a change in the reference and…
Quality Digest
RABQSA International recently released a new certification scheme for auditor certification of information security management systems (ISMS).Many organizations recognize the importance of their information assets, so they’re implementing information security management systems to identify…
Quality Digest
Canada’s National Quality Institute recently launched a new certification program. The Leadership Excellence Program Certified Excellence Professional Program will offer certification to quality professionals who have worked in a quality or healthy workplace position. The program has five…
Quality Digest
Quality Vision International Inc. recently broke ground on a new facility that will house its Kotem Technologies division in Hungary. The headquarters office, which is scheduled to open in 2007, is located in Budaörs, about 10 km southwest of Budapest. The new facility is also part of…
Quality Digest
The U.S. Army recently announced that 41 students from its Sustaining Base Leadership Management program successfully completed lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification. The program is part of the Army Management Staff College, a 12-week program that focuses on executive-level leadership,…
Quality Digest
The International Society of Six Sigma Professionals will host its 7th Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference May 16-19 at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference will feature a keynote address from Charles O. Holliday Jr., chairman and CEO of DuPont.…
Quality Digest
Cellnet Technology Inc. recently named Prasana Venkatesan as vice president of product development and supply chain. Venkatesan is a lean manufacturing and Six Sigma leader with more than 20 years of experience in energy-industry product development and manufacturing. He previously…
Quality Digest
In an effort to improve its services and patron access, the Houston Public Library turned to Xerox Corp. and Six Sigma. The improvement effort began last year, when Xerox was hired to measure and analyze the operations at four branches of the Houston Public Library. Services analyzed…
Quality Digest
Nader Fathi, SigmaQuest Inc. CEO, will deliver a presentation at an upcoming symposium for the medical device industry. “How to Ensure Medical Product Quality in a Zero-Tolerance World” will be delivered at the third-annual Surface Mount Technology Association’s Medical Electronics…
