When Allen Witherspoon, general manager of GASCO Manufacturing, needed to write a quality manual to satisfy the requirements of one of his top customers, he had no idea where to start.

The largest missile manufacturing facility in the world, an appliance manufacturer and 10 automotive suppliers are 2004 recipients of the 2004 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.

Agilent Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with eBay, allowing sellers to offer pre-owned test equipment that has been assured through the new Agilent Advantage Assurance program.

Three of the world’s leading measurement laboratories, including the U.S.

EtQ Inc., a provider of enterprise quality, compliance and environmental management software, has launched the EtQ Quality Server, a package equipped with the full EtQ quality management suite, including more than 20 modules and all the tools to run an enterprise quality management syste

Nikon Instruments Inc. has opened the Nikon 2004 Small World Photomicrography Competition.

"More vehicles will be produced in the next 20 years than were manufactured in the previous 110-year history of the industry," says Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research Cardiff University Business School in Wales.

Acxiom Corp. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will collaborate to research customer-centric information quality management.

Hexagon AB has agreed to acquire the South Korean company Korea ErFa Systems Engineering Co.’s metrology business.

(IQS: North Olmsted, OH) -- IQS Inc. has released its OptiMetrix Integration Engine, an enterprise performance management application that enables real-time, bidirectional transfer of APQP information throughout the automotive manufacturer supply chain.