All News
Nearly 300 delegates attended the first meeting of the new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) working group that will develop ISO 26000, the planned standard on social responsibility (SR). By the end of the meeting, the working group had formulated 32 resolutions, mainly regarding…
HealthStream Inc., a provider of learning solutions for the health care industry, recently acquired Data Management & Research Inc., a provider of quality and satisfaction surveys and other research-based measurement tools. HealthStream purchased all of DMR’s shares for approximately $10.6…
Honeywell recently announced that its Electronic Materials unit received the Best Quality Award from Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor unit. Samsung noted that Honeywell was chosen for the award because of a close customer/supplier relationship and cooperative technology development in 2004. “We’…
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Quality Forum are now accepting applications for the 2005 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. The annual award recognizes health care workers and organizations that make significant contributions to…
Peter J. Kolesar is the newest elected member of the Juran Institute’s board of directors. Kolesar, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, teaches courses in statistics, quality and productivity management. He holds a joint appointment with the university’s School of…
Nikon Instruments Inc. recently announced the integration of its semiconductor inspection and Nexiv vision measuring systems under the company’s SITECH division, which is based in Tempe, Arizona.The purpose of the move is twofold. First, Nikon hopes to improve customer responsiveness by building on…
A workshop focusing on using the senses as quality tools will be held June 6–10 in Florida. The course will be facilitated by Nancy McDonald, president of M&M Consulting & Laboratory Inc. She will show participants how to use their senses of taste, smell and sight to evaluate the overall…
As quality professionals, we frequently report such facts as proportions (percentages), process capability indices, averages and standard deviations as if we know what we’re talking about. But what’s our actual level of confidence? All of our observations and our understanding are based upon data…
”Cause and effect, Chain of events, All of this chaos makes perfect sense” —Joe Diffe Third Rock From the Sun In my recent article, "How to Lead with Six Sigma: What are you solving for?" I discussed the need for leaders to clearly identify just what they’re…
Decisioneering Inc. recently released a sped-up version of its Crystal Ball software, version 7.1. Crystal Ball 7.1 Extreme Speed allows user to run simulations 100-times faster than previous versions. In creating the solution, Decisioneering partnered with Frontline Systems Inc., developer of the…
Six Sigma has had dramatic effects on many of the companies that have implemented it, but understanding the methodology is often difficult for those just starting the process. A new book, Six Sigma for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), details the process in lay terms for easy understanding.…
MoreSteam.com recently pledged to donate $250,000 in lean Six Sigma training to Starfish Family Services, a Detroit-area social services agency. The training will allow the agency to become more efficient with the use of its funds and other resources, says Bill Hathaway, MoreSteam.com president. “I…
Voltaix Inc., a manufacturer of chemicals and gases for the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries, recently announced that 15 of its employees recently received Green Belt certification. Voltaix provided the employee training to invest in customer support relationships and improve product…
Canadian real estate companies are reportedly finding Six Sigma a useful tool to reduce data errors. The Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail reports that although the industry has been slow to fully adopt the methodology, an increasing number of companies are using it to drive the decision-making…
A consultant who helped Xerox Business Services win a Baldrige Award will be speaking about organizational performance improvement at an upcoming seminar. John Lawrence, a consultant and former senior executive at two Fortune 500 companies, will present a program entitled “Mapping the Journey–A…
Minitab recently started offering its software to academic customers at discounted rates through e-academy.com, an online provider of brand-name software. The site offers MINITAB 14 in multiple languages, MINITAB French 13 and Minitab Quality Companion for as little as $29.99 per semester. Free,…
A recent study shows that hospital administrators are heeding advice to integrate and embrace quality improvement efforts.Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine interviewed 100 directors from a randomly selected cross-section of all acute-care hospitals and compared their responses with those…
A new book concludes that medical practitioners need a better grasp of quality management principles, methods, programs, systems and experiences. The issue is the topic of a recently published book, Core Curriculum for Medical Quality Management, (Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc., 2005). It…
In an effort to improve the quality of instruction in its classrooms, the Los Alamos Public School District in New Mexico has adopted the Baldrige Award criteria. The Los Alamos Monitor reported the Baldrige Award criteria adoption has already been met with some success. The district’s main office…
RABQSA International and the National Quality Institute of Canada have joined forces to promote personnel training and certification throughout Canada. The agencies will temporarily allow people and organizations currently registered to standards by NQI to also be registered to one or more of…
User satisfaction with federal e-government Web sites leveled off after nine months of steady improvement, according to the latest quarterly findings of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The new data shows a slight decline to an aggregate government Web site score of 71.9 from the December…
APQC and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals are collaborating to provide no-cost supply chain measurements for benchmarking. The organizations developed and are promoting online supply chain surveys as a reliable and cost-effective way for organizations to learn how their…
Several Ohio health agencies are mounting an effort to improve the quality of health care in the state.Greater Cincinnati Health Council and 17 of its member hospitals will partner with the Ohio Hospital Association to launch the Greater Cincinnati Hospital Quality Improvement Project, reported the…
An international workshop to help local governments implement quality management systems based on ISO 9001 will be held May 22–23 in Veracruz, Mexico. The aim of the meeting is to produce an international workshop agreement (IWA) to allow more-rapid ISO 9001 implementations in governments, shorter…
Northwest Analytical Inc. recently released an updated version of its flagship NWA Quality Analyst SPC suite. The solution allows manufacturers to more easily analyze process data to identify process improvements and execute quality initiatives such as Six Sigma, CAPA and ISO standards. It includes…
