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Quality Digest
The American Society for Quality has teamed with two health care quality organizations to sponsor a conference examining the role of quality in health care. ASQ has joined with the American Hospital Association and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management to develop the conference, which…
Quality Digest
Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans recently appointed four prominent industry leaders to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award panel of judges.The new judges are Lloyd Barker, Alcoa Inc. director of corporate quality; David C. Branch, Branch-Smith Resources Ltd. chairman and CEO;…
Quality Digest
FeinFocus recently opened a new office in Shanghai to provide sales and technical support to the growing Asian market. The new office will operate as part of the newly expanded COMET China office, to offer a complete X-ray solution combining the conventional X-ray expertise of COMET with the…
Quality Digest
Leica Geosystems, an advanced metrology supplier, recently received the prestigious Imaging Solution of the Year award from Advanced Imaging magazine. The award was in recognition of Leica’s innovative LR200 noncontact scanner, which was used by Leica, MAGLEV Inc. and MetricVision to produce a…
Quality Digest
IQS Inc. recently released a new JAVA-based supplier managed capability that gives suppliers direct access to the corrective action requests they have been assigned. The new capability is designed to enhance collaboration, communication and accuracy. It allows users to login to specified portions…
Quality Digest
Instron, a provider of testing equipment designed to evaluate properties of materials and components, has recently been accredited to issue calibration certificates according to KOLAS regulations. The Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme issued the accreditation. “KOLAS accreditation allows us to…
Quality Digest
Sypris Test & Measurement recently consolidated its calibration laboratory in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, with its new facility in Sayreville, New Jersey. The New Jersey lab, which is A2LA-accredited, has the unique capability to do fiber optic calibrations and RF calibrations to 26.5 GHz,…
Quality Digest
The American Society for Nondestructive Testing recently awarded Mark Tierney a certificate for NDT Level III in radiography.Tierney, who is manager of NDT services at Laboratory Testing Inc., is also NDT Level III certified in visual & optical, magnetic particle, liquid penetrant and…
Quality Digest
Shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging is quietly earning a growing place in industrial machine vision for quality inspection. SWIR imagers, sometimes also referred to as NIR imagers, can see objects and events that vision and thermal cameras cannot. Moreover, they’re’ smaller and lighter than all…
Test and measurement equipment (T&ME) must be periodically calibrated to ensure it’s operating within its specified parameters. Of course, the uncertainty of the system used to calibrate the equipment shouldn’t add appreciable error to this process.Test and measurement equipment (T&ME) must…
Quality Digest
Endevco has opened a European customer service center in an effort to expand its global customer care. The new office, located in Germany, will be the center of European operations for the company and will service its existing offices in the U.K., France and Spain. A major focus of the center will…
Quality Digest
The first meeting of the ISO group that will develop a standard for social responsibility has been scheduled for March 7–11 in Salvador, Bahia, in Brazil. The chair of the working group is Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Suzano Group excellence programme corporate manager; and the vice chair is Catarina…
Denise Robitaille
Occasionally, when I’m waiting for a flight, the small talk with fellow travelers will meander into discussions about the purpose of our respective trips. When I tell them that I’m on my way to conduct an audit, they immediately jump to the conclusion that I’m a certified public accountant (CPA)…
Quality Digest
ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden recently spoke at the World Economic Forum, emphasizing the importance of standards in the world economy. The forum was held Jan. 26–28 in Davos, Switzerland, and was attended by several world leaders in industry, government and trade. Bryden pointed out that…
Quality Digest
The international Organization for Standardization recently published ISO/IEC Guide 74, a standard designed to maximize the effectiveness of symbols. “The use of graphical symbols in signs, on labels and in product instructions and other product documentation has a number of advantages,” says John…
Quality Digest
SAI Global recently announced the acquisition of Ohio-based CRS Registrars Inc. for an undisclosed sum of money. SAI Global, which is based in Australia, reports that the transaction will add $5 million in revenue to its U.S. customer base. Additionally, the combination of CRS’s and SAI’s North…
Quality Digest
Pharmaceutical companies are strengthening their quality assurance programs to comply with government regulations and customer expectations, according to a new survey published by Best Practices LLCThe research firm surveyed seven major pharmaceutical companies and found that they’re striving to:…
Quality Digest
A survey conducted by Xerox Corp. found that 83 percent of manufacturing and engineering professionals say they spend too much time looking for information. The results underscore the importance of an effective document management strategy, the company reports. Nearly 90 percent of the respondents…
Quality Digest
Imaging Sciences International Inc. recently announced its registration to ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.The developer and manufacturer of dental and maxillofacial radiography products, reports that the registration process is part of its expansion into the global marketplace, as it now is eligible to do…
Quality Digest
Frost & Sullivan recently awarded Puritan Bennett, a provider of respiratory products, its 2004 Product Quality Leadership Award. The award was in recognition for Puritan Bennett’s innovative HELiOS Personal Oxygen System, which makes it possible for people requiring supplemental oxygen to “…
Quality Digest
Mercury Interactive Corp. recently released a Chinese language version of its popular Quality Center software.The Chinese Mercury Quality Center is an integrated set of application delivery software, services and best practices that allow IT professionals to optimize the quality of business…
Praveen Gupta
In layman’s language, Six Sigma means great and fast improvement, which leads to virtual perfection. Another indicator of a successful application of the Six Sigma methodology is the degree of breakthrough. Sometimes, when customers demand zero defects at any cost, suppliers are forced to add an…
Quality Digest
Information Resources Inc., a provider of enterprise market information, recently announced that its Six Sigma implementation has significantly improved the data quality it supplies to customers.Launched a year ago, the company’s Six Sigma program focused on improving the currency, completeness and…
Quality Digest
The Strategic Research Institute is planning a summit designed for Six Sigma professionals in the financial services sector. The event will be held Feb. 24–25 at the New York Marriott East Side Hotel in New York City. The summit will be presented mostly in a round-table format, with discussions on…
Quality Digest
Online training company MoreSteam.com recently developed a Chinese language Yellow Belt course for its international customers. The new course uses a commonly used, simplified Chinese character set and features the company’s popular interactive features. Like all MoreSteam.com online training, the…