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Lean Six Sigma Summit West 2006 will be held Sept. 26-29 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The event, hosted by Six Sigma IQ, will feature nine detailed tracks and presentations from leading organizations using lean Six Sigma, such as Bank of America, DuPont and GE Plastics. Track topics…
The increasing use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) in clinical processes such as admissions and discharge, drug administration, surgical procedure control, and patient monitoring is the focus of a new ChainLink Research study. Clinical settings are a high-payback opportunity for…
WellPoint Inc., one of the nation’s largest health benefits provider, recently launched "360 Health," a public outreach program that addresses preventive care, health improvement and care coordination. "360 Health" is the industry’s first program to integrate all care-management…
In an effort to help Americans in the fight against heart disease, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America recently launched a multimedia national health education campaign. The effort stresses the importance of Americans consulting with their health care providers, as…
The American Society for Quality will host its Six Sigma Forum Roundtable Sept. 14–15 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. To maximize one-on-one discussion time with other attendees and presenters, and for more networking opportunities, registration is limited to 150 people. The event will feature in-…
We’ve all heard about how calamitously insufficient a quality standard of 99 percent would be: One percent of airplanes crashing on take-off would mean nearly 200 domestic commercial airline crashes each day. One percent of erroneously filled prescriptions would mean about 35…
The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that the Tamil Nadu region of India—that country’s automotive manufacturing hub—will generate as many as 500,000 new jobs in the next decade. This can’t be good news for the U.S.-based automotive manufacturing industry, which is forecast to…
A new book takes issue with the Sloan management model, arguing that its widespread use in American industry is a major reason why U.S. manufacturers are struggling in the leaner global economy. Rebirth of American Industry, by William H. Waddell and Norman Bodek, outlines the core…
In his new book Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way (Kaplan Publishing, 2006), author Michael J. Webb takes readers into companies like Standard Register, ServiceMaster, Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, Motorola and others to show how they doubled revenues and cut sales costs by rethinking…
Authorized generic drugs can lead to lower medicine prices and overall savings to the health care system, according to a new study commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and prepared by IMS Consulting. An authorized generic is a drug that is distributed by…
The use of Six Sigma in sales and marketing applications will be the focus of an upcoming WCBF conference. The 3rd annual Six Sigma in Sales and Marketing conference will be held Aug. 23–24 in Chicago. It will include a keynote address entitled “Applying Six Sigma to Sales and Marketing…
CIGNA HealthCare Corp. recently launched a lab that will develop integrated Six Sigma-level end-to-end service for its medical, dental, pharmaceutical and behavioral health plan participants. The "Innovation Lab" will be staffed with 100 specially trained consumer advisers representing…
A Canadian bread company used Six Sigma to determine how to maximize efficiencies on its delivery operations. Before it selected CHEP to provide delivery pallets, Canada Bread Frozen Bakery had experienced costly delays and occasional difficulties with the inbound flow of pallets,…
A new partnership between two software organizations highlights Six Sigma’s use in the mining industry.An Aug. 9 webinar will introduce the partnership between OSIsoft and BESTECH, and explain the use of their software by BHP Billiton, one of the world’s largest mining companies. The…
Once upon a time, in a real, live U.S. corporation, top management decided that Six Sigma was a good idea. They trained up many Black Belts to lead projects to produce documented savings as defined by the existing accounting system. To encourage people to be successful, the Black Belts—…
Last year I had the good fortune of doing some consulting with B&C Specialty Products in Hopeulikit, Georgia. B&C does light manufacturing, primarily plastic molding and assembly, and they also distribute imported products produced by companies in the Far East. They have about…
Boston Centerless Inc. has been named a 2006 Silver Medal recipient in the Northeast Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing contest.Referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Manufacturing” by Business Week magazine, the Shingo Prize is recognized as a premier manufacturing award and…
An International Organization for Standardization subcommittee has called for the development of a standard that would identify, assess, eliminate or reduce the risks associated with consumer products in the supply chain. According to the Consumer Policy Committee (COPOLCO), rapid changes…
The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently called for better public information about consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) and other forms of insurance. The white paper "Protecting Consumers in an Evolving Health Insurance Market" also examines the rapid growth in enrollment…
If you’re an upwardly mobile professional male, you probably know more about ISO 9001 registration than your female, blue-collar peers. Such were the findings of a study performed in the United Kingdom. Study authors James Tannock, of Nottingham University Business School, and Henry Brown…
The number of applications to the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award significantly increased, with 86 applicants compared to 64 from last year’s event.A major gain in the number of health care organizations applying for the award, along with the addition of a new nonprofit award…
Optical Gaging Products Inc. recently moved its Western region technology center to a new facility in Tempe, Arizona. The newly remodeled, 8,000-sq.ft. building is equipped to support sales, applications analysis and training for the company’s Western customers, and to act as a single-…
Organizers of next week’s Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference have announced the 19 papers to be presented at the event. Following are the selections for the 2006 CMSC Conference: Large-Scale Metrology Instrument Performance Evaluations at NIST, by W.T. Estler, D.S. Sawyer, B.…
GKS Inspection Services, a division of Laser Design Inc., recently opened a CAD-modeling office in India. The office, which is in Pune, employs 12 engineers who provide reverse engineering and inspection services. Because it’s growing so rapidly, GKS says it plans to hire 10 more…
Metronics Inc. recently introduced the Quadra-Chek 300, a digital readout system that combines multiple video measuring functions in a single, compact display unit. A combination cross-line generator and automated edge detection provide users with improved accuracy, and increased measuring…