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Employees of Mercury Marine recently completed their 1,000th lean Six Sigma project. Mercury Marine, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of marine propulsion systems, began using Six Sigma and lean concepts in its manufacturing processes in 2003. Since then, it has trained almost 700 management…
Despite rising vehicle costs and high gas prices, consumers gave the auto industry its highest perceived quality rating in a decade, according to the Quarterly Quality Report. Compiled by the American Society for Quality, the report measured the auto industry’s perceived quality score…
To demonstrate how manufacturers can comply with the Restrictions on Hazardous Substances directive (RoHS), the California Manufacturing Technology Consulting organization will host two day-long seminars this month. The first will be held Sept. 19 at the Holiday Inn Mission Valley in San…
TÜV SUD AG, the parent company of TÜV SÜD America, recently acquired two German companies, a move that will allow it to extend its services in the chemical, pharmaceutical and process industries. Effective Oct. 1, the materials technology unit of R&M Industrieservice Höchst…
Professionals in the software and information technology industries will learn to implement Six Sigma at a WCBF Inc. conference Nov. 8 and 9 in San Francisco. The event has been designed to provide attendees with proven approaches to common problems that they can implement immediately. It…
The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center reports that a pilot lean and Six Sigma program it led in four Michigan hospitals saved up to $4.1 million. Four northern Michigan hospitals took part in the eight-month program. They reported significantly increased surgical capacities,…
Decisioneering Inc. recently released its widely used Crystal Ball software in Spanish, French and German versions. The software was previously translated into Japanese, and Decisioneering reports that its growing worldwide customer base required further translation. The evaluation version…
UGS Corp., a provider of product life-cycle management (PLM) software and services, will soon host its 4th annual Digital Manufacturing Symposium in Dearborn, Michigan. The conference will be held Sept. 13–14 at the Conference & Event Center. Scheduled to present are executives and…
Hexagon Metrology will host an opening celebration of its new North American headquarters in the Quonset Business Park in Kingston, Rhode Island, on Sept. 14. Guests will include Governor Donald L. Carcieri; Saul Kaplan, Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. executive director; Ola…
The Commercial Vehicle Group recently chose Fred Pippen as the new director of quality of its Americas division. Pippen will be responsible for overall quality systems management, directing supplier quality management and development, supporting emerging market supplier identification…
The 22nd Canada Awards for Excellence, equivalent to the Baldrige Awards in the United States, will be announced Oct. 24 at the Performance Excellence Summit in Toronto. The National Quality Institute administers the awards and will host the event at the Toronto Metro Convention Center…
Red River Army Depot recently won the Department of Defense’s highest award for depot-level maintenance, and it credited its lean Six Sigma program for the recognition of its High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle Recapitalization Program, in which depot employees streamlined their…
The Georgia Oglethorpe Annual Conference & Awards Banquet will be held Sept. 27 and 28 at the Loudermilk Center in Atlanta. The Georgia Oglethorpe Awards are Georgia’s state-level Baldrige Awards. The conference is for anyone interested in using the Baldrige criteria, including…
The University of Tennessee’s undergraduate supply-chain management and logistics program ranked no. 6 in U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges list for 2007. The program was ranked No. 7 for 2006. In the 2007 edition, the program is ranked sixth among public institutions…
Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications (QuEST Forum) will hold its 7th annual Best Practices Conference in in Durham, North Carolina, this September. The event will take place at the Durham Marriott at the Civic Center, Sept. 12–13, and presentation topics include quality…
The Mexican Institute for Quality Control recently announced the winners of the International Asia Pacific Quality Awards for 2006. The annual award program is sponsored by the Asia Pacific Quality Organization and administered by the Walter L. Hurd Foundation. Judges use the Baldrige criteria…
Best Practices LLC’s Global Benchmarking Council will host a quality conference in St. Louis Sept. 20–22. "Unleashing Business Success Through Breakthroughs in Lean Sigma & Quality" will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It will include updated research from Best Practices LLC, a…
Minitab Inc. recently released Quality Companion 2, software designed to help manage and execute Six Sigma projects. Quality Companion 2 complements Minitab’s statistical software and simplifies process improvement by helping teams plan, execute, document and report on their projects.…
Dennis Goldberg was recently appointed CEO of Transport Pharmaceuticals Inc., a provider of drugs and medical devices for the topical treatment of dermatological conditions. Goldberg has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and he was most recently…
Nonin Medical Inc. recently acquired MedAir AB, a Swedish medical-technology company. MedAir specializes in developing and manufacturing optical equipment for medical-gas analysis, and the purchase will enable Nonin to broaden its products and services to include carbon dioxide monitoring.…
CVS/pharmacy recently donated $2.1 million to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapy Alliance in support of new research initiatives into the disease. CVS—the largest retail pharmacy chain in the U.S.—raised the money through a customer-donation campaign held in stores during June. Since the…
The release of an updated version of ISO 9001 has been delayed until the middle of 2009. The update was scheduled for release in 2008, but a failure to obtain sufficient support for a draft of the standard at a meeting recently held in Ireland has pushed it back, reports Quality Systems…
ABS Quality Evaluations Inc. will host “Strategic Hurricane Planning for Business Continuity” on Sept. 7 at the San Luis Hotel, Spa and Conference Center in Galveston, Texas. The National Standard for Facility Hurricane Preparedness was created to help businesses develop a system to become…
DuPont will triple the revenues from its automotive coatings business by the end of this year due, in part, to an aggressive Six Sigma effort, company officials report. Since consolidating its previous Brazilian coatings operations from a joint operation into a fully DuPont-owned business…
National Technical Systems Inc., an engineering services provider, recently acquired Dynamic Labs, an environmental testing laboratory. The acquisition marks the growth trend that NTS has established in the past few years, company officials report. Dynamic Labs operates facilities in Phoenix…