All Features
Denise Robitaille
I was channel surfing the other day, looking for some local news that would tell me why I had woken up to a power outage that had lasted the better part of the morning. I don’t usually watch TV during the day, so I had no idea what stations carried noon time news broadcasts. As I was flipping…
Quality Digest
The Minnesota Department of Human Services, which operates the state’s Medicaid program, will apply quality standards to five major areas of the plan. Administrators will use standards from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to satisfy federal and state managed-care requirements in…
Quality Digest
In an effort to highlight the importance of international standards, the American National Standards Institute recently published the first in a series of short articles about the many different existing standards. The first highlighted standard is related to wood machinery safety and the…
Quality Digest
National Quality Assurance USA has recently been accredited to perform registrations to AS9120, the new aerospace standard. NQA received the accreditation in December 2004 from the ANSI-RAB NAP, now known as ANAB. AS9120 specifically applies to aerospace subcontractors that receive outsourced…
David Parlagreco
The concept of establishing goals and flowing them throughout an organization isn’t new in business or in quality management system standards. In ISO 9001:1994, the establishment of goals was done via the quality policy, following a review of effectiveness in meeting these management goals. QS-9000…
Quality Digest
A new partnership between Brooks Software and AssurX Inc. will allow the companies to target discrete manufacturers with a customized and fully-integrated quality management solution. Under the terms of the agreement, Brooks Software will resell AssurX’s CATSWeb non-conformance CAPA software, and…
AssurX
A new partnership between Brooks Software and AssurX Inc. will allow the companies to target discrete manufacturers with a customized and fully-integrated quality management solution. Under the terms of the agreement, Brooks Software will resell AssurX’s CATSWeb non-conformance CAPA software, and…
Quality Digest
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration and the Big Three automakers recently formed a partnership to improve the manufacturing competitiveness of the U.S. automotive industry. The partnership, called the United States Alliance for Technology and Engineering for Automotive…
Quality Digest
One current and one former employee of 3M Co. recently filed suit against the company, alleging that its implementation of Six Sigma discriminates against older workers. The lawsuit, filed by Clifford Whitaker, 60, and Michael Mucci, 55, alleges that 3M favors Six Sigma training among its younger…
Quality Digest
TÜV America recently added EAC 37 auditing services for clients in the education industry already undergoing ISO 9001 registration.TÜV was accredited by the ANSI-RAB NAP (now known as ANAB) to evaluate compliance to EAC 37 on Dec. 7, 2004, and will now apply its Insight Auditing services to the…
Quality Digest
The American Society for Quality will offer courses examining quality management and improvement for people working in the service industry. ASQ has offered courses for service industry professionals in the past, but the focus was on applying quality tools and processes commonly used in the…
Quality Digest
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association recently released a significant update of its Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine standard. DICOM establishes a single language for exchanging medical digital images and related patient information, and allows the interoperability of…
Praveen Gupta
After launching a corporatewide Six Sigma initiative, leadership must consider how to get Six Sigma institutionalized in the supply chain. After implementing Six Sigma at an organization, its managers must think about continuing the improvement rate through implementing Six Sigma in its supply…
William A. Levinson
“Then the Husaria broke into a wild g allop and the heavy mass of men and horses cascaded over the Turkish ranks, bowling over the first, slicing through the second… The Grand Vizir leapt onto a horse and made his own escape moments before the winged riders thundered up to the tent and the banner…
Quality Digest
The Shanghai Association for Quality recently recognized eight Chinese businesses with awards for their innovative and successful Six Sigma implementations. It was the first time the SAQ issued the awards, highlighting the growing popularity of Six Sigma in China. The winning businesses represented…
Quality Digest
Retailers have long known that customers won’t shop at their stores if they don’t provide a satisfying buying experience, but finding ways to consistently meet customer expectations has been difficult. That’s where a new tool from AMR Research comes in. The company recently created a self-…
Quality Digest
Six Sigma is fairly new to the financial services sector, but the methodology’s many successes and challenges in the industry will be the focus of an upcoming conference. The Strategic Research Institute is hosting the second-annual Six Sigma Strategy for Financial Services conference, which will…
Quality Digest
Atos Consulting recently announced its plan to release a new Six Sigma practice based on PowerSteering software. Atos Consulting and PowerSteering have a long-standing marketing partnership and share several major clients. The new Six Sigma solution will be distributed to both company’s clients,…
Quality Digest
Equitant recently hired a Six Sigma Master Black Belt to be its European director of operations. Dermot Ainsworth has a long work history with General Electric and has served as manufacturing manager for the company’s European sheet and film business, production sales inventory director for GE…
Quality Digest
Northrop Grumman Corp. recently appointed a vice president for Six Sigma, among five other new vice presidents. Ron Smith will be in charge of implementing and overseeing Six Sigma in Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology Center, where the company develops a broad range of systems and products for…
Quality Digest
DNV Certification recently acquired CoreRatings, a leading European corporate responsibility rating agency. The acquisition recognizes the need for companies to provide more transparent and reliable information for investors. The combined expertise of DNV and CoreRatings will allow DNV to provide…
Quality Digest
The Juran Institute recently released its educational Quality Minutes series on DVD and by subscription. The series is made up of 98 case stories that illustrate and reinforce how performance improvements helped organizations break through to success. Covering six wide-ranging libraries of interest…
Quality Digest
In an effort to bolster consumer confidence in food supplies, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) recently selected the American National Standards Institute to accredit the certification bodies that audit suppliers under the FMI’s Safe Quality Food program. The agreement is a pilot program aimed at…
Quality Digest
R/D Tech Inc. recently acquired Staveley NDT Technologies, a provider of high-performance nondestructive testing equipment and sensors. Earlier this year, R/D Tech also acquired the nondestructive testing company Panametrics, and in 2003, bought out NDT Engineering, a supplier of eddy current…
Quality Digest
The upcoming Quality Institute for Healthcare: Redesigning Systems of Care conference will feature seminars and keynote addresses from several important members of the quality community. The conference, to be held Feb. 14–16 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, is designed to detail the quality tools…
