Successful quality initiatives are based on understanding the true nature of “quality.” It resides in the minds of those who judge it and use it to make their purchase decisions—in other words, the market.

Some things never cease to amaze. We are meeting with the executive committee of a major global company, and we have just asked if innovation is one of their top strategic priorities.

(CMSC: Benbrook, TX) -- Join the Coordinate Metrology Society in Reno, July 12–16, at the spacious Grand Sierra Resort for the 26th annual Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC). 

(ISO 9000 Conference: Pittsburgh) -- The European Quality Initiative has announced that the 19th annual International Conference on ISO 9000 will be held March 13–15, 2011, in San Antonio, Texas, at the Grand Hyatt Riverwalk hotel.

(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- The new book,

(CyberMetrics: Phoenix) -- CyberMetrics Corp.’s Quality Management Division introduces a new product offering, the GAGEtrak Portable Calibration Solution (PCS). Now you can export gauge calibration data from GAGEtrak software to a netbook or laptop to perform calibrations in the field.

(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ) presented the first Spencer Hutchens Jr. Medal for Social Responsibility to Joanne Adrienne Vincenten during its annual World Conference on Quality and Improvement in St. Louis on May 23.

(DALSA: Boston) -- A global provider of machine vision technology, Dalsa Corp. recently launched four new models in the Falcon high-performance area scan camera family.

If analysts are correct, the recent economic downturn may be slowing and even changing direction. The recession's effect on operations, however, has barely begun to manifest.

Customer satisfaction data resulting in various quality indexes abound. The airline industry is particularly watched.