All Features
Quality Digest
The use of Six Sigma has saved GW Plastics tens of thousands of dollars, and the company expects current projects to yield even larger savings, company officials report. The company started several Six Sigma projects 14 months ago with the goal of increasing weigh-count throughput and in-process…
Quality Digest
The National Committee for Quality Assurance and U.S. News & World Report will rank U.S. health plans in the magazine’s Oct. 3 issue. The issue will hit newsstands on the same day NCQA will release its annual State of Health Care Quality report. Hundreds of commercial, Medicare and Medicaid…
Quality Digest
IQMS recently launched a new partnership with PlasticsGrid that will expand the company’s offerings in Europe. IQMS is the developer of EnterpriseIQ ERP software, a solution for repetitive, process and discrete manufacturing environments. The exclusive distribution partnership with PlasticsGrid…
Quality Digest
iGrafx recently integrated its business process analysis solutions into Adobe Systems’ LiveCycle Workflow platform. The integration of iGrafx’s BPA capabilities into Adobe’s process management software will help organizations improve operational efficiencies, comply with regulatory requirements,…
Quality Digest
The National Quality Institute will present the Canada Awards for Excellence on Oct. 20 in Toronto. The event will include a Performance Excellence Summit during the day and the awards will be presented at a gala dinner in the evening. Paul Martin, Canada’s prime minister, will deliver the keynote…
Quality Digest
The ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) is developing an accreditation program to support the Sustainable Forestry Board’s Sustainable Forest Initiative. The program is a comprehensive set of principles, objectives and performance measures developed by professional foresters,…
Quality Digest
The Princeton (New Jersey) Regional Chamber of Commerce recently named Gregory H. Olsen, Sensors Unlimited Inc.’s chairman of the board, as its Innovator of the Year 2005. The award will be formally presented to Olsen at the organization’s Leadership Awards Dinner on Nov. 30. Olsen was recently…
Fluke Corp.
What is calibration anyway? Many people do a field comparison check of two meters, and call them “calibrated” if they give the same reading. This isn’t calibration. It’s simply a field check. It can show you if there’s a problem, but it can’t show you which meter is right. If both meters are out…
Quality Digest
The 2005 Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference logged record attendance figures and earned raves from attendees about the show’s 3-D metrology-only focus. This year’s show, which was held in late July at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, showed a 10-percent increase in attendance vs. that of…
Quality Digest
Mitutoyo America Corp. appointed Crotts & Saunders Engineering as the company’s exclusive distributor for its coordinate measuring machines in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Crotts & Saunders Engineering has served the manufacturing and dimensional metrology needs of discrete…
Quality Digest
Geodetic Systems Inc. recently launched V-STARS/E4X, an entry-level digital photogrammetry system with a wide range of applications. V-STARS/E4X is designed for applications that don’t require the highest level of accuracy or expandability provided by other Geodetic Systems camera systems. V-STARS/…
Quality Digest
COMET North America Inc. recently hosted the grand opening of its service and repair center at its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. The new facility features the highest-quality test, repair and maintenance services for all COMET X-ray tubes, RF products and FEINFOCUS microfocus X-ray tubes.…
Quality Digest
Carl Zeiss SMT recently marked the 40th anniversary of its watershed scanning electron microscope.The product was developed in 1965 by Cambridge Instrument Co., a U.K.-based predecessor of Carl Zeiss SMT’s nanotechnology division. Four decades later, the SEM is still partly manufactured in…
Quality Digest
The Standards Council of Canada recently expanded TÜV America Inc.’s accreditation to include SPE-1000-99, field evaluations and special inspections. The accreditation includes the following inspection services: custom-built equipment for special applications, equipment manufactured on a…
Quality Digest
The American National Standards Institute recently granted final approval to a new standard, ANSI/AIHA Standard Z10.The new standard allows organizations to integrate occupational health and safety (OHS) management into their overall business management systems. It focuses on principles that are…
Quality Digest
The German Institute for Standardization (DIN) recently submitted a proposal to the International Organization for Standardization for a new field of ISO activity on the subject of potentially explosive atmospheres. The DIN proposal suggests that there’s an urgent need to harmonize existing…
Quality Digest
An upcoming American National Standards Institute course will examine the use of an emerging standardization process in the homeland security profession. Strategic Standardization Management is a process that investigates all aspects of standardization across a business, organization or industry…
Quality Digest
The Standards Council of Canada will simultaneously commemorate its 35th anniversary and World Standards Day next month. SCC will host a special event on World Standards Day, Oct. 14, which will include commemorative speeches, several workshop presentations and an exhibit. National stakeholders,…
Quality Digest
Rockwell Automation Inc. has acquired Quality Rewind & Electric Inc., a motor repair and management company based in Alberta, Canada. The acquisition provides Rockwell Automation with the opportunity to expand its operations in the Canadian oil sands industry, in which capital spending is…
Quality Digest
The Israel Society for Quality will host its 16th International Conference in November in Tel Aviv. The event, titled “Quality as a Catalyst for Global Cooperation,” will focus on quality’s affects on developing and established economies. It will be held Nov. 14–16, 2006, and will coincide with the…
Thomas R. Cutler
In repetitive manufacturing, it’s possible to apply statistical process control (SPC) techniques to purchased components and manufacturing quality as well as scrap and yield. Statistical analysis is acceptable if a company mass-purchases or mass-manufactures the same product to the same standards…
Quality Digest
IQS has enhanced its enterprise solution to enable seamless integration of its enterprise advanced product quality planning functionality within the Microsoft Project interface. The integration allows an at-a-glance visibility to information across all business units while working in Microsoft…
Quality Digest
General Electric Co. recently announced the acquisition of Everest VIT Inc., a provider of remote visual inspection equipment for industrial applications. Everest VIT, a subsidiary of Welch Allyn, will become part of GE Inspection Technologies, which is based in Huerth, Germany. GE reports that the…
Denise Robitaille
A recurrent theme that dominates discussion on the establishment of corrective action programs is the practice of channeling problems through multiple conduits for assessment and resolution. Organizations inadvertently fragment their corrective action process by trying to address problems and…
Quality Digest
TÜV America Inc. recently announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has approved an expansion of the registrar’s Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory scope of accreditation. OSHA approved the addition of 44 standards to TÜV America’s NRTL scope, expanding its…