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A new book reveals the secrets of making quality the center of manufacturing through the eyes of a struggling ice cream company. The Ice Cream Maker (Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, 2005), by Subir Chowdhury, tells the fictional story of Peter Delvecchio, the overwhelmed plant manager of Dairy…
Leica Geosystems’ metrology division recently extended the warranty on its Laser Trackers. The new warranty lasts for five years and is applicable to new Leica Laser Tracker system sales only. To participate, the customer needs to have the system inspected and recertified once a year. The five-year…
M.E.S. Indian School, the largest expatriate school in the country of Qatar, expects to obtain registration to ISO 9001 by November. PK Mohamed, vice president of the school, reports that the MES Indian School appeared to already meet almost all of ISO 9001’s requirements. The school has almost 7,…
The ownership battle over Leica Geosystems just got hotter: Hexagon AG recently upped its offer for the Swiss company to 573 Swiss francs per share. The sweetened offer was in response to a counter offer made by Danaher Corp., a U.S.-based manufacturer of professional instrumentation, industrial…
FARO Technologies Inc. was recently approved by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining as an alliance partner. Shared standards and best practices allow NCDMM members to improve their products and processes through greater quality control. Many use FARO’s coordinate measuring…
Six Sigma Qualtec recently released an enhanced version of its SixNet business intelligence system. The enhanced module is free to current SixNet customers and allows companies to develop and analyze financial reports that mirror the format used by corporate leadership teams to track budget…
The Lean Enterprise Institute recently became a strategic reseller for iGrafx FlowCharter 2005 lean value stream mapping software. The software is available through LEI’s product catalog, which also features leading lean publications, training tools and workbooks for implementing lean tools. iGrafx…
SigmaQuest Inc. recently released SigmaExpress, the industry’s first on-demand product performance intelligence software. SigmaQuest will host SigmaExpress, which will provide OEMs with the means to upload product test, engineering, manufacturing and supplier data. At the site, information is…
Expanding knowledge and recognizing achievements of the Navy’s NAVAIR AIRSpeed Black Belts was the topic of the day at the Black Belt Symposium, held July 21 in Maryland. Vice Adm. Wally Massenburg, NAVAIR commander and lean Six Sigma consultant, and Michael George, chairman and CEO of the George…
Activplant Corp. and Harbour Consulting Inc. have allied to provide manufacturing improvements to the automotive and other industries. The alliance will allow Activplant clients to simultaneously work with Harbour to evaluate their overall performance and improve operational performance. “Harbour…
The American Society for Quality will host a two-day conference that will demonstrate how to use mandatory financial reporting to improve overall operations. “Beyond Compliance to Sarbanes-Oxley—Financial Benefits From Integrating Your Management Systems,” will be held Sept. 27–28 at the Doubletree…
Productivity Inc. will present its 10th annual Lean Management and TPM Conference and Exposition on October 10-14. The event will be held at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas and will feature dozens of seminars, panels and classes on total productive maintenance, lean manufacturing and management, Six…
Many client organizations are starting to require formal evidence of quality management capability as a condition for signing construction contracts or partnership agreements. This is where Quality Management in Construction (Gower Publishing Co., 2005) comes in handy.The new book focuses on the…
The Juran Institute and Wexi Inc., a South Korean quality management services provider, recently partnered to expand in the Asia Pacific region. When signing the agreement, Joseph A. De Feo, Juran Institute president and CEO, and Ho-Jin Hwang, Wexi president, suggested the combined services of…
A seminar focused on understanding and preventing human error in decision making will be held Sept. 13 and 14 in Boston. The seminar will examine the root causes of human errors and discuss how they relate the quality improvement efforts. Ben Marguglio, of BW Marguglio LLC and High Technology…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently released its first online version of Quality Compass, a health plan comparison tool. Quality Compass includes accreditation and HEDIS results on more than 250 commercial health care plans. It allows employers, health plan administrators and…
Pilgrim Software Inc. was recently recognized as one of just 12 Microsoft Independent Software Vendors for manufacturing. The designation will allow Pilgrim to receive Microsoft training, marketing and technical expertise. “Being an ISV has many advantages that will filter town as benefits to our…
Quality Technology Co. recently posted an ISO 9001 self-assessment checklist on its Web site. The checklist is available free until Aug. 31, and it allows users to assess their organization’s documentation, compliance and effectiveness processes. It’s organized by ISO 9001’s components: quality…
Software quality was identified as one of the greatest challenges facing the software development community in a recent industrywide survey. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported that software quality is their biggest problem. Distributed development and customization were also cited as top…
The Automotive Industry Action Group’s AutoTech 2005 will be held Aug. 29–Sept. 1, and will include a substantial quality component. This year’s theme is “Streamlining the Industry,” featuring more than 70 educational sessions in five areas: quality, OEM requirements, collaborative engineering,…
Intergraph Corp. recently signed a four-year contract with the U.S. Air Force to deploy and manage operational excellence programs. The contract covers continuous improvement, lean and Six Sigma programs at the Air Force Materiel Command at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force…
A recently released book compiles case studies, articles and advice to help readers through lean transformations.Lean Culture—Collected Practices and Cases (Productivity Press, 2005), uses articles and advice from Productivity Press’ monthly newsletter “Lean Manufacturing Advisor” to address common…
Outlook Group Corp. recently reported a 13.6-percent increase in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2005, an achievement that was helped by the company’s use of Six Sigma. “Our strong performance in fiscal 2005 is a direct result of our continuing strategy to differentiate Outlook Group in the…
Companies applying the innovation and design techniques of Six Sigma report median “hard” gains of $200,000 per project, and another $100,000 in “soft” benefits, according to a recent study. The research was conducted by iSixSigma Magazine, and found that even small companies realized comparatively…
Danaher Corp. will acquire all of Leica Geosystems’ shares for an aggregate price of approximately $950 million. Danaher offered 500 Swiss francs per share—about $386—to shareholders. Leica Geosystems’ board of directors reports that Danaher has pledged to maintain Leica’s identity and safeguard…