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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…
Quality New Mexico and the Baldrige National Quality Program will co-host the Western Baldrige Regional Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this fall.The conference and preconference workshops will be held Oct. 4–5 at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town. It will feature speakers and workshop…
The implementation of Six Sigma at Decatur Memorial Hospital has saved millions of dollars and dramatically improved patient satisfaction. The hospital reports that 10 months after it installed patient-safety technology software from Omnicell Inc., it was more than $2 million under budget in its…
SigmaPro Inc. will begin its fall training Sept. 25 with a Master Black Belt course. It will be followed by service for Black Belt, lean Sigma Black Belt and lean Sigma Green Belt courses. All of the courses’ curricula are designed to provide in-depth knowledge in how to apply DMAIC (…
Anderson Packaging, a pharmaceutical contract manufacturer, recently hired Chuck Aubrey to join its executive management team. In the newly created lean Six Sigma position, Aubrey will lead Anderson Packaging’s corporate lean Six Sigma programs, help facilitate ongoing process improvements…
A recently released book promotes hoshin kanri , a Japanese method of strategically planning and managing complex projects, as a powerful component of Six Sigma and lean enterprises. Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise: Developing Competitive Capabilities and Managing Profit, by Tom…
The University of California at Irvine Extension will offer a new lean Six Sigma course this fall. The Six Sigma Lean Green Belt course has been designed for professionals in a variety of industries, ranging from manufacturing to service to seek increased management efficiency. It will be…
The International Organization for Standardization’s Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO) and Committee on Developing Country matters (DEVCO) will hold a seminar on improving consumer participation in standards development. The event, hosted by the Botswana Bureau of Standards, will be…
The American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians Inc. will host its 29th-annual Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Conference this fall in Rosemont, Illinois. “Does Quality Pay?” will feature a thorough examination of the effects of quality-assurance programs…
The International Organization for Standardization reports an 18-percent increase in the number of international registrations issued for ISO 9001 in its annual “ISO Survey of Certifications.” The survey is ISO’s main barometer for measuring international use and compliance with its…
Chad Kymal recently received the Quality Professional of the Year award from the American Society for Quality. Kymal is CEO of Omnex Inc. and a contributor to Quality Digest. He was recognized for his long-term commitment and contributions to the quality industry. The award was presented…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently added new requirements for health plans seeking accreditation to its Quality Plus program. The change becomes effective in 2007.Candidate health plans will have to demonstrate that they provide their members with information to help…
The 2006 Safe Quality Food Institute Conference will promote discussions on the learning successes of the SQF Food Safety Certification Program and its global effects. The event will comprise sessions on global food safety certification, becoming an SQF expert or auditor, the value of…
The 2006 Automation Fair will present industry leaders’ success stories Oct. 25–26 in Baltimore. The event focuses on value-added services and solutions, integrated control and information architecture, and advanced automation products. In addition, experts will host forums to provide a…
The July Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index was 106.5, up 1.1 from the assessment performed in June.“Consumer confidence continues to hold steady, with the prognosis little changed from last month,” says Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. The…
A Team Leader’s Guide to Kaizen Events , a new guide from Breakthrough Management Press serves as an armchair coach for those who are leading lean kaizen events within their organization,” says Neil DeCarlo, Breakthrough Management Group’s vice president of publishing. The guide includes…
Representatives from companies such as The Ritz-Carlton, Accident Fund, Raytheon, Sonoco and DuPont will present winning tactics and case studies to business executives Sept. 20–22 in St. Louis. “Unleashing Business Success Through Breakthroughs in Lean Sigma and Quality” will include…
Leading quality professionals can learn how to achieve management buy-in, bring about organizational harmony, identify best strategies for implementation while maintaining compliance, and integrate benchmarking and metrics into lean Six Sigma initiatives at the International Quality and…
Pentacle Partners and MoreSteam.com recently partnered to offer a training program for lean and Six Sigma. Pentacle Partners is a consulting and training services provider, and MoreSteam.com provides online lean and Six Sigma training.The focus of the training is on immediate workplace…
Reliable Plant magazine will host its Lean Tools for Maintenance and Reliability Conference Sept. 18–20 in Las Vegas. Last year, nearly 150 manufacturing industry leaders gathered in Cleveland to share experiences and learn from major companies how lean tactics and strategies help…
SigmaXL, a provider of Excel add-ins for statistical and graphical analysis, recently released a new version of its flagship software. SigmaXL Version 5 includes multiple dotplots, improved multiple linear regressions, enhanced measurement systems analysis capabilities, process capability…
The U.S. Army recently graduated its first class of lean Six Sigma Black Belts in Korea, and more training is already underway. The U.S. military has made process improvement through lean, Six Sigma and theory of constraints a major focus in recent years. The Navy’s extensive lean Six…
In recent meetings with legislators in Washington, D.C., representatives of the American Society for Quality offered quality expertise in support of President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative and health care issues that are currently before Congress. The meetings have focused…