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The 2005 Best Practices Conference will feature Baldrige Award winners and two keynote speakers to discuss best practices and quality methodologies. The event is being organized by the California Council for Excellence and will be held Sept. 22–23 at the San Jose Marriott. Harry Hertz, director of…
Bank of America’s employees were recognized for their Six Sigma achievements at the bank’s annual Best of Six Sigma Expo held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bank of America implemented Six Sigma in 2001, which has helped the bank reap about $2 billion in revenue gains and cost saving. Its goal is to…
The International TechneGroup Inc. recently partnered with a noted quality function deployment specialist to help its clients with new product development. Hans Hjort will educate ITI clients on how to plan, choose and design winning products and improve time-to-market. He has 15 years of product…
The National Standards Authority of Ireland is the first registrar in the world to receive accreditation to provide registration for the new EIA/ECCB-954 standard. The new standard specifies the technical requirements that manufactures must meet to ensure there are no hazardous substances in their…
New top executives at Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. have vowed to improve product quality in the wake of a scandal involving vehicle defect cover-ups. Harald Boelstler, incoming company president, stated that the Japanese company, Mitsubishi Fuso, has established a new business base and…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently added clinical performance information to its online Health Plan Report Card. The “Living with Illness” report addition shows how effectively health plans treat patients in four areas: diabetes, cardiac care, asthma and mental illness. The…
Senior managers can guarantee a project’s success or failure through their support—or lack of it. That’s the message of a new book, Quality Makes Money (American Society for Quality Press, 2005), by Patrick Townsend and Joan Gebhardt. The book is the authors’ effort to reenergize the U.S. “quality…
The American National Standards Institute will host its 2005 Annual Conference on Oct. 6 at the Marriott at Metro Center in Washington, D.C. The conference, “From A to Veeck: Standardization and the Law,” will provide an opportunity for anyone involved in the standards process to get up to speed on…
A recent study of internal quality assurance functions found that hybridized quality structures provide the most reliable outcomes. “Improving the Quality Function: Driving Organizational Impact & Efficiency,” performed by Best Practices LLC, concludes that companies that use at least three…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently added five new measures to the 2006 edition of its Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS). The online tool is used by U.S. health plans to measure and report on their performance in key areas of clinical care and customer service…
The International Electrotechnical Commission’s Standardization Management Board (SMB) recently released a new document outlining its strategy in alignment with the IEC’s Masterplan 2000. SMB Standardization Strategy 2005–2007 identifies eight objectives: Ensure the development of market-…
Iowa’s Easter Seals nonprofit organization recently adopted Six Sigma practices and it now expects to save thousands of dollars in ongoing Six Sigma projects. The organization partnered with Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. in 2000 to begin Six Sigma training, and to address production and supply…
The International Organization for Standardization is the “world’s largest developer of standards,” according to the World Trade Organization’s World Trade Report 2005. The recently released report was written by WTO economists and discusses the benefits standards deliver in terms of consumer…
In a wrap-up of the American Society for Quality’s World Conference for Quality and Improvement, ASQ officials reported the conference a big success.A total of 1,927 people attended the event, which was held in May in Seattle. ASQ reports that book sales increased 50 percent over last year and…
PQ Systems Inc. recently released an enhanced version of its GAGEpack EZ software that includes new measurement systems analysis and gage management capabilities. Other new features include maintenance scheduling, robust reporting features and user-selected sigma values for R&R percentages.…
Vision Engineering Ltd. is relocating to a manufacturing facility in New Milford, Connecticut, where it will offer higher quality and lean manufacturing of its microscopes and noncontact measuring equipment, company officials reported.Rick Coyle, Vision Engineering general manager, says that the…
A week after Leica Geosystems rejected its surprise acquisition offer, Hexagon Metrology has mounted an effort to buy all outstanding shares of the Swiss metrology company. Hexagon has offered Leica shareholders 440 Swiss Francs per share of Leica stock—a 21.23 percent…
Pilgrim Software Inc.’s Fusion 2005 User Conference will be held Nov. 6–9 at the Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina in Florida. Pilgrim expects the conference to be its largest yet. It will feature IT personnel, executives and Pilgrim users from all over the world to discuss best practices and…
Participants at the ISO 9001 & TQM International Conference and the Shanghai International Symposium on Quality proposed several ways that quality philosophies can adapt to the rapidly changing Asian social environment. The conferences were held simultaneously in Shanghai recently. Participants…
In an effort to strengthen local support to its customers, ASI DataMyte Inc. recently opened a new Shanghai office and expanded its distribution network in Poland.TQMsoft, headquartered in Krakow, Poland, specializes in quality systems training and consulting, and produces overall quality solutions…
Overall company growth and the addition of a new sales and marketing staff have prompted American Systems Registrar to move into new headquarters recently.The registrar’s new address is 5989 Tahoe Drive, Ste. 120, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Richelle Kinzie, ASR president, reports that the company…
New rules that prohibit the presence of lead and other hazardous substances in electronics and electrical equipment will be outlined in training courses held this summer and early fall in the United States. The new Hazardous Substance Free specification, adopted by the International…
MetricStream Inc. and Tata Consultancy Services, an Indian IT services firm, recently formed an alliance to help clients decrease the cost of compliance with government regulations and industry mandates. According to the companies, a recent study found that companies will spend nearly $15.5 billion…
TÜV América de México recently received ISO 9001 registrar accreditation from the entidad mexicana de acreditacíon (EMA). The accreditation will allow TÜV América de México to better meet local market needs and strengthen its customer commitment. It will also allow the registrar to conduct more…
Quality will need to become more of a focus as service industries realize that competing on price alone isn’t a viable, long-term business strategy, according to authors of the American Society for Quality’s Quality Index.“ISO management systems and Six Sigma have long been a staple of the…
