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Quality Digest
Renishaw recently started offering a special trade-in program for users of older Hewlett Packard HP5528 and HP5529 laser systems. The company will provide trade-in allowances when users upgrade to Renishaw’s ML10 Gold Standard laser calibration system. The upgrade program saves HP users…
Quality Digest
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a part of the Department of Commerce, recently issued the final specifications for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards. The cards will be required of all federal employees and contractors by Oct. 27. They’ll be encrypted with…
Quality Digest
Are you wondering what to do with the boxes of spreadsheets, forecast plans and financial documents stored in your office? Just ask the International Organization for Standardization, which recently published a new guideline for business-records management. ISO 23081-1:2006 enables the…
Quality Digest
Pulte Homes Inc.’s Nevada Area division recently announced its registration to ISO 9001. The homebuilder retained Construction Quality Alliance Partners to consult on implementing ISO-compliant quality processes. Pulte Homes Nevada Area has its headquarters in Las Vegas and builds in…
Quality Digest
RABQSA and the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories (CAEAL) recently established an industry-specific laboratory accreditation scheme for Canadian assessors. The scheme provides recognition to assessors who provide Canadian laboratory accreditation assessments…
Quality Digest
Standards that relate to the wearability and care of clothes will help even the owners of the glamorous gowns and tuxes seen at the Academy Awards maintain their fancy frocks. Standards developer ASTM International, a member of the American National Standards Institute, has released a…
Denise Robitaille
It’s the week after the huge annual trade show—the opportunity for you and the rest of your industry to showcase your companies and to rollout your latest, greatest blow-the-competition-out-of-the-water product offerings. Unfortunately, instead of having a working model to demonstrate—…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute recently announced the availability of a Chinese translation of the United States Standards Strategy (USSS). As part of ANSI’s commitment to promote awareness of the document’s initiatives and to support the implementation efforts of various…
Quality Digest
AEA, a high-technology trade group, will host a series of six events focusing on new and upcoming regulations that restrict hazardous substances in electrical and electronic components. The European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and Restriction on the…
Quality Digest
National Technical Systems Inc.’s Calgary division recently started offering wireless-device testing to FCC standards and European Radio & Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (R&TTE). Original equipment manufacturers require certification for wireless products such…
Quality Digest
European researchers are hard at work developing wireless sensors that will predict when components will fail. The implication of such a sensor has broad implications for just about all sectors of the manufacturing industry. The sensor could theoretically reduce machinery breakdowns to…
Quality Digest
Ampro Computers recently expanded its investment in software developed by Infor for managing and reporting on key areas of its business. Ampro supplies custom computer boards to allow manufacturers to integrate computers into their products in a way that minimizes the product size, cost…
Quality Digest
iGrafx recently announced the availability of the 2006 version of its process-excellence series of software solutions. iGrafx 2006 has enhanced modeling and simulation capabilities to better support corporate process-excellence initiatives. It also adds significant improvements and…
Thomas R. Cutler
Is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helping or hindering quality? Many companies that purchased their first ERP package years ago now find that the system is hindering their efforts to adopt new quality initiatives, including lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. Since the purchase several…
Quality Digest
The Global Six Sigma Awards will be presented on June 28, 2006, at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Scheduled to coincide with the Global SixSigma Summit, the awards will honor Six Sigma’s best achievements and leading practitioners.Entries for 12 different awards (10…
Praveen Gupta
Many people believe that they can buy Six Sigma certification and get some marketing advantage. By documenting a few more procedures, they can achieve Six Sigma recognition. For some, Six Sigma is a fact-based methodology made of fancy statistical tools that solve all business problems.…
Quality Digest
Synthis Corp., a provider of enterprise knowledge-management software, was recently named one of Georgia’s most innovative technology companies. The list was compiled by the Technology Association of Georgia, which accepts nominees from the state’s technology community. Recipients are…
Quality Digest
Perkins Technical Services Inc. was recently awarded a nearly $500 million contact to provide lean Six Sigma consulting, process management and organizational development throughout the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command. Perkins has subcontracted much of the work. One of the…
Quality Digest
Diane Ritter, a prolific author and former colleague of W. Edwards Deming, recently joined The Quality Group as its director of business excellence. Ritter is a co-author of the popular The Memory Jogger (GOAL/QPC, 1994) series of Six Sigma pocket guides, and has more than two decades of…
Quality Digest
Dave Rasmusson’s The SIPOC Picture Book: A Visual Guide to the SIPOC/DMAIC Relationship (Oriel Inc., 2006) helps readers use Six Sigma concepts to sort, categorize and organize new concepts and information, and integrate them with what they already know. SIPOC—supplier-input-process-…
Quality Digest
Customer satisfaction slowly and steadily climbed during the fourth quarter of 2005, according to The American Customer Satisfaction Index.The index is released quarterly and examines customer satisfaction in rotating groups. During the fourth quarter, it measures satisfaction with the quality…
Quality Digest
A new ISO/IEC standard aims to harmonize the various approaches used around the world for assessing the quality of e-learning initiatives. ISO/IEC 19796:2005, Information technology—learning, education and training, quality management, assurance and metrics—provides an overall framework to…
Mike Micklewright
Why don’t registrar auditors audit clause 7.4 Purchasing of ISO 9001 when it comes to purchasing their services? After all, they’re providing a service that affects the quality of your operations, processes, and eventually, products.ISO 9001 states that your company “Shall evaluate and select…
Quality Digest
An upcoming conference will offer attendees a unique environment to learn about the production of hazardous-substance–free (HSF) products. HSPM2006 will include a thorough overview of QC 080000 IECQ HSPM, a recently released standard that addresses new requirements (such as RoHS in Europe…
Quality Digest
An upcoming conference will examine the dual use of lean and Six Sigma to achieve the most return on investment. Lean Six Sigma 2006, hosted by Ixperion, will focus on the application, not simply the theory of the methodologies. There will be streams designed for manufacturing,…