This Month in News Digest

American Red Cross Undergoes Quality Transfusion

The American Red Cross has launched a multiyear, multimillion- dollar quality effort to enhance organizational effectiveness and improve its process of collecting, manufacturing, testing and distributing blood.

The Red Cross' Biomedical Services sector derives three end products from whole-blood donations: red blood cells, platelets and plasma. The intention of this quality initiative is to improve the ways in which the Red Cross manufactures these three products.

"Our quality effort is focused on ensuring safe, pure and effective blood," explains Jack Prause, senior director of quality business operations at Red Cross Biomedical Services. "Like many organizations, over time we've reacted to problems by applying a Band-Aid, a manual work-around, an additional inspection or something else to ensure that we get a quality end product. This has resulted in increased complexity in our operating processes and systems. Our focus is to build key control points within those processes to make them less complex and as flexible as possible."

The Red Cross began planning this effort in May 2001, but the events of Sept. 11 significantly transformed the initiative. "Sept. 11 caused a massive change because of the huge amount of donations we were receiving," explains Prause. "It put a severe strain on the organization. Everything was working at absolute capacity, and this helped us identify some of the systems that weren't quite as robust as we would absolutely like."

Red Cross Biomedical Services is a separate entity from the rest of the organization, so it wasn't involved in the issues surrounding the diversion of post-Sept. 11 charitable donations.

This isn't the first quality overhaul the Red Cross has undertaken. In 1993, the organization launched Transformation, a comprehensive program designed to centralize and systemize its operations. Prior to Transformation, each of the Red Cross' 50 regions had considerable autonomy. There were 11 different computer systems being used, and each region used its own testing labs. Transformation centralized the Red Cross' system to one computer system and one set of procedures, thus ensuring national control and improving the safety of distributed blood.

As a result, the organization decreased the number of Form 483 Observations, or areas that the Food and Drug Administration views as needing improvement, by more than 80 percent in the last decade. In fiscal year 2002, 27 of the 38 regional sites and laboratories inspected by the FDA had zero observations. In the facilities where observations were written, seven of the 11 facilities had no more than three observations.

"This quality initiative involves reengineering and redesigning the procedures that are now common," Prause explains. "Now we can make a change and roll it out everywhere in the nation and know that it happened nationwide. Now we're looking to drive down any variability, deviation or error down to the zero level."

This quality effort is a comprehensive and integrated holistic approach to organizational improvement. The effort consists of more than 30 initiatives, including:

Using new technologies to reduce the potential for human error

Restructuring and increasing the level of quality assurance staff by 50 percent, with 175 new positions being added throughout the field units and headquarters

Creating a more streamlined training system and implementing a comprehensive training program

Reengineering the core manufacturing processes to provide more efficient and simplified processes that will reduce and prevent errors.

Investing in facilities to address short-term infrastructure needs and enable more efficient and effective adoption of new technology

Prause is confident that the quality effort will be a success, and he attributes it to four factors:

Absolute executive support and involvement. Top Red Cross executives have given the quality team the resources it needs to implement a successful initiative.

A focus on operating excellence rather than FDA compliance. The Red Cross believes that by reengineering its processes to be effective, streamlined and efficient, compliance with any regulations will follow.

Comprehensiveness. Rather than focusing on FDA hot-button issues, the Red Cross is redesigning its entire system. This involves training staff, bringing in new technology and ensuring that each facility has resources to manufacture a safe product.

End-user involvement. The Red Cross has enlisted end-users and field unit operators to help design the quality initiative. "They play a large part in designing a process that allows for compliance but is also user-friendly and flexible," says Prause.

The Red Cross provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply to patients in 3,000 hospitals nationwide. Learn more at www.redcross.org.

Calibration Trends Indicate Growth

The calibration services industry will keep growing until at least 2007, according to a new research report available from The Signal Group.

"The Market for Calibration of Test and Measurement Equipment: Strategies, Trends and Forecasts 2003–2007" forecasts calibration services growth driven by increasing adoption of quality management systems and the increased use of measurement and sensing technology.

"The calibration services industry has seen growth rates in excess of 15 percent per year in many countries," says Greg Powell, Signal Group partner and principal author of the report. "The commercial sector will benefit heavily from a continuing trend to outsource calibration services."

The study also analyzes the situations faced by different providers of calibration services, including test equipment manufacturers, commercial vendors and in-house laboratories.

The report can be used as a sourcebook of current conditions, practices, trends and developments, including an analysis of eight key industry segments. The report also analyzes fundamental background issues and provides five-year forecasts accompanied by practical strategic advice.

The 103-page report is available for $850. To review the report's table of contents, or to place an order, visit www.thesignalgroup.net/research.

Microsoft to Launch Six Sigma Software

Microsoft Corp. has developed Accelerator for Six Sigma, which the company plans to launch within the next few months.

Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma is an integrated set of products and services that leverages existing software, such as Microsoft Project and Visio, and is customized for Six Sigma practitioners. It includes interactive project guides to lead organizations through the define, measure, analyze, improve and control model, assisting in tracking financial information, utilizing human resources, managing Six Sigma tools and electronically sharing knowledge gathered across the enterprise.

"We're looking hard at how we can develop offerings that improve productivity in all aspects of a company that enable customers to take greater advantage of the functionality in their software to address specific business problems," says Ted Johnson, corporate vice president of the Business Tools Division at Microsoft. "The Microsoft Accelerator for Six Sigma is a great example of an offering that can affect the operations function in a company. Not only can it help improve efficiencies, but it's also based on Microsoft software that many customers already have in place."

Microsoft has been practicing Six Sigma internally. The company developed Accelerator using the design for Six Sigma methodology.

"By calling it an 'accelerator,' we mean that Microsoft isn't creating a whole end-to-end solution, but rather facilitating a whole solution by adding additional functionality to our existing Information Worker software," says Ingo Heel, senior product manager of Microsoft's Information Worker Enterprise Solutions Group. "Think of it as an application layer."

The software leverages the company's existing products, including Office XP Professional, Project Server 2002, Project Professional 2002, Visio 2002, Windows 2000 Server, SQL Server 2000 and SharePoint Team Services, as well as third-party products, services and deployment partners.

Microsoft worked with Apriso Corp., a provider of collaborative execution solutions, to create enterprise performance solutions for manufacturing and health care companies. Additionally, Microsoft is teaming with SigmaPro Inc., a supplier of integrated Six Sigma, design for Six Sigma, and lean consulting and training services.

Visit Microsoft's Web site at www.microsoft.com.

Check Your Calendar

Introduce Lean to Your Organization

Lean is one of the most popular buzzwords in quality-minded organizations today, but--much like a fat-trimming diet--getting lean is easier said than done. More and more, a lean transformation isn't just a quality choice but a quality must.

The Lean Learning Center in Novi, Michigan, teaches a set of lean workshops that provide a foundation for lean transformation. Participants learn how to translate lean into a set of rules and principles, practice implementation through factory simulation, and develop a plan for introducing lean to their organizations.

"Few companies today can escape the challenge of delivering reduced prices and better quality to their customers," says Jamie Flinchbaugh, one of the founders of the Lean Learning Center. "We help companies understand lean as a sustainable enterprisewide system, not just as a collection of tools."

The Lean Learning Center's 2003 workshop schedule includes four sets of lean-focused curriculum:

The Lean Experience--geared toward operations managers and their teams that want to begin a lean initiative at their organization. The five-day course includes lean concepts and principles, factory simulation, case studies, and various lean implementation methods.

Lean Leadership--focuses on creating leadership within an organization. This two-day course includes a look at notable business leaders, lean leadership models, and leadership characteristics and styles, among other topics.

Lean Kaizen Workshop Boot Camp--a five-day course for individuals interested in leading large-scale lean projects. The boot camp teaches facilitators how to identify a project, plan a team workshop, use process tools to understand the organization's current state, establish an ideal state, and plan and execute an action plan.

Lean Value Stream--provides insight into how to identify opportunities for gains in cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. Value stream mapping methods are also taught.

"Everyone learns better when they're enjoying themselves, so we try and make the experience fun," comments Flinchbaugh. "Our goal is to create champions of lean ready to convey and execute the lean philosophy to their companies."

A schedule of the workshops can be found at The Learning Center's Web site, www.leanlearningcenter.com .

Baldrige Challenges CEOs to Become Chief Ethical Officers

In the wake of some major corporations' immoral actions and their legal consequences, it comes as no surprise that the National Institute of Standards and Technology is challenging CEOs to prove that their organizations' practices are just. Organizations vying for the 2003 Baldrige Award will find extra emphasis on ethical activities throughout all seven of the 2003 Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence's categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results.

According to NIST, these criteria will help organizations form the foundation for sound management and ethical business practices.

"For America to have a strong economy, we need sound businesses with ethical, responsible leaders," says U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans. "Great authority is vested in the men and women who run our public corporations, and with such power comes responsibility. Corporate leaders aren't simply stewards of their individual companies. They're stewards of American capitalism itself."

The criteria state: "Senior leaders should serve as role models through their ethical behavior… Senior leaders should be responsible to your organization's governance body for its actions and performance. The governance body should be responsible ultimately to all stakeholders for the ethics, vision, actions and performance of your organization and its senior leaders."

This emphasis on ethical practices is most prevalent in the criteria's leadership category, which asks how the organization's governance system ensures management and fiscal accountability and independence in audits while protecting stockholder and stakeholder interests.

Additionally, the results category asks organizations to provide evidence of fiscal accountability, ethical behavior, legal compliance and organizational citizenship.

Other areas receiving greater attention in this year's criteria include the need to capitalize on knowledge assets, the need to create value for customers and the organization, and the alignment of all aspects of an organization's performance management system with the results measurements.

To download a copy of the 2003 Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, visit www.baldrige.nist.gov.

INDUSTRY NEWS

New ISO President Takes Office

Oliver R. Smoot of the United States has taken office as president of the International Organization for Standardization for a two-year term. Smoot succeeds Mario Cortopassi of Brazil.

Smoot will work on involving developing countries in standardization processes, identifying new areas for standardization and developing ways of communicating the benefits of conforming to ISO standards.

Smoot has experience in standardization, law, intellectual property and information technology. Visit www.iso.org to learn more.

New Company Provides Metrology Outsourcing Services

Xspect Solutions Inc. has begun business as a nationwide total metrology outsourcing partner. The company is a business partner with Wenzel GmbH as an exclusive distributor of Wenzel CMMs in North America.

The company is headed by Keith Mills, former president of DEA and International Metrology Systems. "The continued fragmentation of the CMM industry creates an opportunity for change management in both CMM distribution and support activities," says Mills. To learn more, visit www.xspectsolutions.com.

NCQA Site Includes Model Quality Improvement Initiatives

The National Committee for Quality Assurance has launched qualityprofiles.org, which catalogs 65 quality improvement efforts from NCQA-accredited health plans.

The site allows users to download quality improvement tools, such as action plans, guidelines, member and provider letters, log sheets, and surveys. It also features advice on implementing an improvement effort, summary descriptions of specific challenges and a list of required resources. Each study includes staffing requirements, timelines, required resources and specific activities that improve performance. The Web site is based on NCQA's print version of Quality Profiles.

NVision's Consulting Includes Laser Scanning

NVision Inc., a provider of laser-scanning solutions and consulting services, has expanded its North American technical center to increase its consulting services in the laser-scanning field.

"This expansion positions us to provide a fuller range of consulting services to companies that want to take advantage of laser scanning without having to invest in equipment and train people in its use," comments Bill Bonner, NVision's director of sales and consulting. Learn more at www.nvision3d.com.

Xerox Consults in Keeping the Noise Down

Xerox Corp.'s Acoustical Engineering Laboratory now provides consulting services in the areas of design for low noise and sound quality, industrial noise and vibration control, in-process quality control, predictive maintenance and condition monitoring, noise measurement to ISO and ANSI standards, and hearing conservation.

The Webster, New York-based laboratory houses an ISO 3745-conforming precision hemi-anechoic chamber, noise control engineering facilities and model shop, and noise-control equipment from several leading metrology companies. To learn more, visit www.xrx-acousticenglab.com.

Newport Opens Precision Optics Facility

Newport Corp. has opened a new 42,000-square-foot optics manufacturing facility near its headquarters in Irvine, California.

During the last three years, Newport has expanded its optical manufacturing capability to provide collimators, beam expanders, spatial filters and optical components to the semiconductor, medical, aerospace and scientific markets.

"The facility includes controlled environments to ensure particulate, temperature and humidity levels consistent with manufacturing high-precision optical components and thin-film coatings," says Robert J. Phillippy, vice president and general manager of Newport's Industrial and Scientific Technologies Division. For more information, visit www.newport.com.

OPC Technology Added to GainSeeker

Hertzler Systems Inc. now offers the GainSeeker OPC Connectivity Pack, a solution that captures data from any OPC server and provides automated enterprisewide process control.

OPC, or OLE for Process Control, is an industry standard created through the collaboration of automation hardware and software suppliers in cooperation with Microsoft.

Hertzler Systems, which developed the GainSeeker suite, provides software and services that help collect, manage, analyze and report quality information. For more information, visit www.hertzler.com.