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Customer satisfaction with American-made automobiles increased slightly in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, but satisfaction with Japanese- and Korean-made cars increased even more, widening the customer satisfaction gap that U.S. automakers have been struggling mightily to close.…
The Association for Operations Management (APICS) has moved its 2005 conference from New Orleans to Kansas City, Missouri. The event will be held on the same dates (Oct. 16–18) as it was originally planned, but at the Kansas City Convention Center instead of at the Ernest P. Morial Convention…
A new survey by the International Organization for Standardization finds that the service sectors are the largest users of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The worldwide number of ISO 9001 certificates at the end of 2004 was 670,399, up 35 percent over 2003 and up 64 percent from 2000, the year before the…
An average of 300,000 American service and professional jobs will be sent overseas by 2015, so the American National Standards Institute will host a conference to help organizations prepare to do business as the global business climate shifts. “Conference for Certification of Personnel:…
TÜV America will offer a unique opportunity to test drive four luxury vehicles at two distinct events next month. All participants have to do is simply give their opinions. Test drivers will be asked to rate the general appear of the vehicle, its interior, seating position and other questions. The…
Pivotal Resources and Ideas@Work, a Belgium-based consultancy, have announced a strategic alliance that will expand Pivotal Resources’ services in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Initially, the alliance will focus on bringing Pivotal Resources’ open enrollment Six Sigma Green Belt, Black…
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…
Instantis recently penned agreements with two consultancies to provide exclusive Six Sigma software. Instantis will be the exclusive strategic Six Sigma enterprise software partner of Air Academy Associates and Advanced Integrated Technologies’ enterprise performance improvement software partner.…
Intentia recently launched a Theory of Constraints production planning solution for lean manufacturing applications. The solution is ideal for manufacturers with make-to-order environments where demand is volatile and different product lines share the same resources, creating bottlenecks. The…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A new survey finds that Six Sigma-related corporate training programs are six times more likely to be recognized as highly successful than those without the methodology. Additionally, only 15 percent of programs rated highly successful didn’t include Six Sigma. Three percent of the programs viewed…
The American Society for Quality and Creative Healthcare (CHC) will soon offer blended-learning Six Sigma training to quality professionals in the health care industry. Green Belt training sessions will be held Nov. 9–11 in Atlanta. Courses will also be offered at ASQ headquarters in Milwaukee and…
The 2nd annual Six Sigma in Service & Transactional Environments Summit will be held Oct. 20–21 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference, hosted by WCBF, will feature case studies and examples of how Six Sigma is being used in nonmanufacturing environments, an exploration of lean Six Sigma, tips…
FARO Technologies Inc. recently launched its Software Diversity Program and named Delcam Inc. as the program’s first partner. The SDP is an open-architecture software platform. More than 60 software platforms have joined the first general level, Open Architecture Partnership, which began with the…
A five-day conference will serve as an educational forum and networking opportunity for business and technical professionals new to information and data quality, as well as those who have already completed data quality improvement projects. The 17th annual Information Quality Conference will be…
iGrafx’s Partner Program has doubled since its inception at the beginning of the year, the company has announced. iGrafx’s business process analysis software is being used by training and consulting companies all over the world, including Australia, Spain, Jordan and India, among others. This year…