All Features
Georgia Institute of Technology
For people with impaired mobility and reduced ability to sense injury, the risk is high for pressure ulcers that can develop when they sit or recline in one position too long or wear a poorly-fitted prostheses for an extended period.
Clinical data collection helps drive the researchers’…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Winsconsin) -- As Food and Drug Administration regulations and quality system requirements tighten, manufacturers can’t afford the ramifications of unidentified risks in production. To help educate producers, the American Society for Quality is offering a one-day virtual course…
Mike Micklewright
Question: What kind of dishes are made out of lead?
Answer: China
Many of us in U.S. industry have forgotten the principles of our dearly departed quality guru, W. Edwards Deming, since his passing in 1993. Since then our quality levels as a country have grown only slightly. At the Society of Anti-…
Quality Digest
(USGBC: Washington) -- Sheridan Stationside Village has been selected for a new nationwide pilot program designed to foster smart growth principles and environmentally friendly design. The mixed-use transit-oriented development in Hollywood, Florida, is one of six projects across the state…
Quality Digest
(NCSU: Raleigh, North Carolina) -- North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles and Industrial Extension Service have expanded their programming to include online lean Six Sigma courses. The College and IES now offer a menu of classroom training and certifications related to Six Sigma…
Quality Digest
(NCQA: Washington) -- Fourteen of the nation’s leading preferred provider organizations (PPOs) covering 10.2 million U.S. citizens are among the first to come forward for evaluation under NCQA’s new Health Plan Accreditation standards. The program evaluates PPO and managed-care plans under a common…
Quality Digest
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- The American Society for Quality, has awarded a $15,000 Community Good Works grant to the Partnership for Education in Ashtabula County located in Ashtabula County, Ohio.The grant money will help to implement PEAC’s Community Partnership Initiative, which supports…
Quality Digest
(PolyOne Corp.: Cleveland, Ohio) -- PolyOne Corp., a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions, recently announced that Tom Kedrowski has joined the company as senior vice president of operations.Prior to joining PolyOne, Kedrowski served as vice president for…
Quality Digest
(Juran Institute Inc.: Southbury, Connecticut) -- Juran Institute has partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District to implement a Six Sigma improvement initiative.LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the nation, providing educational services to more than 700,000…
Steven Ouellette
There is something that will get you into trouble if you don’t know about it, and which in my experience very few Black Belts or even Master Black Belts know about. It’s only in the mind of the person doing the research, and no software program will know about it. This mysterious property is “…
Quality Digest
(Minitab Inc.: State College, Pennsylvania) -- Minitab Inc. recently released a fully translated Korean version of Minitab 15 Statistical Software, its flagship product and the leading package used to implement Six Sigma and other data-driven quality improvement programs worldwide.Minitab 15…
V. Viswanathan
For quite some time a major question has been cropping up in my mind: Is Six Sigma’s application in software development as effective as it is in the manufacturing industry?The answer is “No.” The savings and benefits that occur in the software industry due to Six Sigma and other process-…
Steven Ouellette
There is something that will get you into trouble if you don’t know about it, and which in my experience very few Black Belts or even Master Black Belts know about. It’s only in the mind of the person doing the research, and no software program will know about it. This mysterious property is “…
Quality Digest
(U.S. Navy: Great Lakes) -- A team from Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Midwest headquarters wrapped up the command’s first lean Six Sigma event in Great Lakes on Aug. 17, after a week dedicated to improving its support to commands throughout the region.By applying the concepts of…
Quality Digest
(ANSI: New York) -- Because of a new standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission, your washing machine and refrigerator may soon start "talking" to your television. “Home Network Communication Protocol over IP for Multimedia Household Appliances,” IEC 62457—slated for publication…
Quality Digest
(APQO: Chicago) -- The Asia Pacific Quality Organization has announced the winners of the International Asia Pacific Quality Awards. Record numbers of companies and countries participated in this seventh year of the awards.The following organizations won the World Class Award: Large Manufacturing…
Quality Digest
(TIA: New York) -- The U.S. Toy Industry Association has announced plans to implement new systems to bolster the safety testing and inspection of toys sold in the United States. “The safety of children is our primary concern, and the safety record of our 500 manufacturer members is exemplary”…
Quality Digest
(Galactic Suite: Barcelona, Spain) -- Earthlings seeking adventure beyond the stars may not have much longer to wait. The Galactic Suite—the first hotel in outer space—is expected to open its airlocks in 2012. Resembling a kind of molecular model structure, the three-bedroom hotel will consist…
Fred L. Eargle
It probably started when my favorite diner served my coffee cold three visits in a row. “Why can’t I get a hot cup of coffee?” I thought. “This is the Quality Diner.” After all, I always left a nice tip. In fact, I had become so accustomed to leaving the suggested tip, that I didn’t connect it with…
NCSL International
(NCSL International: Boulder, Colorado) -- The William A. Wildhack Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of metrology and measurement science, consistent with the goals of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories International.
This year’s winner,…
(SAKOR Technologies Inc.: Okemos, Michigan) SAKOR has launched its newest product line, the HybriDyne series of hybrid vehicle driveline test systems. Combining SAKOR’s core capabilities in combustion engine and electric motor testing, the HybriDyne is a comprehensive test solution for calibrating…
Quality Digest
(ARTEL: Westbrook, Maine) -- Data taken at Yellowstone National Park during Mission No. 2 of the ARTEL Extreme Pipetting Expedition show that pipettes deliver volumes inaccurate by up to 37 percent when handling fluids at temperatures different from the pipettes. Called thermal disequilibrium…
Quality Digest
(Agilent Technologies Inc.: Santa Clara, California) -- Agilent has announced the availability of a new embedded local oscillator (LO) measurement capability for its PNA Series network analyzers. With its ability to accurately test frequency converters without having to directly access a common…
Fred Mason
All this talk about work in past columns—and the end of summer looming—makes me think about golf. You may not discuss golf and measurement in the same breath, but there are a lot of critical measurements involved in golf. There are also a lot of variables in angle, force, and direction to be…
Quality Digest
(ISO: Geneva) -- With international trade largely dependent on freight containers, a new International Organization for Standardization standard on the technology used to track their movement has the potential to minimize handling costs, improve inventory tracking and availability of accurate…
