newsdigest
by Dirk Dusharme
Companies that implement an environmental management system could reduce
the amount of time the government spends hovering over their shoulders when
it comes to environmental regulation compliance.
This is one reason the Environmental Protection Agency backs the proposed
ISO 14000 standard, explains Jim Horne, special assistant to the director
of the EPA's Office of Wastewater Management. The draft international standard
is expected to be released as an international standard in late 1996.
"We need to target our own limited resources, as do the states,"
says Horne, who represents the EPA on the U.S. ISO 14000 technical advisory
group. "If an organization went through the time and expense to put
a system in place and maintained it based on the findings of a third-party
accredited organization, then perhaps we would not have to provide as much
oversight of that facility."
Before backing the standard, the EPA argued for major changes. First, they
pushed through the addition of language requiring a commitment to "prevention
of pollution" as well as a commitment to develop objectives and targets
related to prevention of pollution.
"We want to encourage companies to go beyond just complying [with regulations]
and to really look for ways to prevent pollution," emphasizes Horne.
"That's why we pushed so hard."
The EPA had to compromise on their push for stronger language regarding
compliance audits-how well a company meets applicable laws and regulations.
Compliance audits are important, says Horne, because they make a company
"identify problems and go back and look at root causes for noncompliance
and how to address them."
Third-party evaluation of the compliance would take place when the company
applied for ISO 14000 registration. Following registration, if a follow-up
review by a third-party auditor showed compliance problems, the ISO 14000
certificate could be pulled.
In essence, then, because companies may be required by customers to have
an ISO 14000 certificate (much like ISO 9000), the threat of losing the
certificate could do more to keep companies in line than a government watchdog.
Index Measures U.S. Customer Satisfaction
If you want to know how your industry stacks up in your customers' eyes,
take a look at the American Customer Satisfaction Index. ACSI is a new economic
indicator developed by the National Quality Research Center at the University
of Michigan School of Business Administration and financed by the American
Society for Quality Control.
ACSI is based on telephone interviews from a national sample of 46,000 consumers
who have purchased or used products from 203 companies or agencies representing
40 specific industries in seven industrial sectors.
ACSI covers manufacturing non-durables; manufacturing durables; transportation,
communications, utilities; retail; finance, insurance; services; and public
administration and government. These sectors represent about 43 percent
of the U.S. gross domestic product.
ACSI released the first index, which looked at all 40 industries, in October
1994. Each quarter, ACSI measures and publishes data on about one-fourth
of the industries being monitored so that every industry is measured once
a year. The October 1994 results provide the baseline against which the
quarterly updates are compared.
For more information on ACSI or to subscribe to the ACSI Quarterly Report,
contact the ASQC at (800) 248-1946 or fax (414) 272-1734.
Postal Service Customers Getting Happier
The 1995 first-quarter results are in from the American Customer Satisfaction
Index, and the U.S. Postal Service has shown a whopping 13-percent increase
in customer satisfaction.
On the other hand, airlines and hotel/motel groups' ACSI ratings declined
4.2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
Overall ACSI ratings declined 0.5 percent since the October 94 survey.
Army Research Center Wins Presidential Award
The Department of the Army's Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering
Center in Warren, Michigan, won this year's Presidential Award for Quality.
Vice President Al Gore presented TARDEC with the award at the Eighth Annual
Conference on Federal Quality Improvement in August.
TARDEC's use of advanced automation has contributed to a number of economies
and efficiencies, including a four-year savings of $168 million in vehicle
development time and the elimination of duplicative layers of management.
TARDEC is the nation's laboratory for advanced military automation technology.
It has developed an advanced computer simulation process, called virtual
prototyping, which allows TARDEC's engineers to create, design, test and
evaluate new military vehicles within the confines of the computer (Quality
Digest, April 1994, page 7).
The vice president also gave Quality Improvement Prototype awards to the
Army's Armament Research Development and Engineering Center in Picatinny
Arsenal, New Jersey; the Army's Red River Depot in Texarkana, Texas; NASA's
John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida; and the General
Services Administration's Federal Supply Office (Northeast and Caribbean
regions) in New York.
The Presidential Award for Quality and the QIP Award are the public-sector
equivalent of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and are presented
annually to federal organizations that provide high-quality services and
products to their customers, often by the implementation of quality-control
programs.
CE Mark: It's the Law in European Countries
Although the point isn't widely discussed, the European Union's CE Mark
is the legal driving force behind ISO 9000 certification for a wide range
of products, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, International
Trade Association.
The CE Mark certifies that a product conforms to EU health, safety and environmental
requirements, similar to the Underwriters Laboratories Mark in the United
States. The CE Mark is already a legal requirement for many products exported
to EU countries and will eventually be required on two-thirds of all products
the United States exports to Europe, says the ITA. Some U.S. products have
already been held at EU member state borders for failure to carry the mark.
The tie-in to ISO 9000 comes with how a company proves compliance to CE
Mark requirements. There are eight options, ranging from self-declaration
to a third-party ISO 9000 audit. For some product categories, notably implantable
medical devices and some telecommunications equipment, the EU requires an
ISO 9001 certificate, says the ITA.
The following chart lists some of the current product categories for which
CE Mark legislation exists. In most cases, when more than one route is available,
the manufacturer may choose which one they wish to take.
For more information, contact the International Trade Association, Office
of European Union and Regional Affairs, at (202) 482-5276.
High School Honors Quality Students
Stand aside, jocks. You don't have to be an outstanding sports performer
to get one of those cool school jackets with a letter on it. This year,
Anoka High School in Anoka, Minnesota, awarded letters in, you guessed it,
quality.
"We're the first high school in the nation to award a Fine Arts letter
in quality," boasts Anoka High School Teacher Bill Mittlefehldt, who
started Anoka's quality curriculum two years ago.
To earn a letter in quality, a student must complete four quality training
sessions offered during the first semester. These include quality seminars
led by local business leaders and site visits to local manufacturing companies
to observe quality principles in practice.
During the second semester, students must memorize W. Edwards Deming's 14
points, view quality-related videos and form a quality team made up of other
students, a teacher sponsor and a business mentor. This team must define
a quality project that affects a specific site (usually a student's workplace),
generate a solution to the problem utilizing quality tools and, working
with their business mentor, give a formal presentation of the solution to
the staff at the project site. Presentations must use real data, highlight
new processes and project trends after the transformation.
Although only six students completed the letter program, Mittlefehldt is
not discouraged.
"On the whole, I count it a successful first foray," he explains.
"More than 120 students of our 650 senior class had serious exposure
to the role of quality in our business community. This will provide a foundation
of learning for further training."
Employees Still Fear Layoffs
The economy may be back on its feet, but employees still fear layoffs, according
to a new survey of the nation's top executives by Robert Half International.
Forty-one percent of those polled said that job insecurity is the No. 1
source of stress in the workplace today.
"Staffing cuts have been so deep in recent years that even those employees
who have kept their jobs remain uneasy," says Max Messmer, chairman
and CEO of the staffing firm.
Job insecurity 41%
Understaffing 32%
Personality conflicts 9%
External competitive pressures 8%
Changing technology 7%
Other 3%
In response to the question: "Which of the following would you say
is the No. 1 cause of stress in the workplace?"
Suppliers Embracing QS-9000
In a recent automotive group survey, 77 percent of the automotive suppliers
who responded indicated they intend to pursue QS-9000 certification. And
of those, 66 percent expect to be QS-9000 certified by the end of 1996.
Compared to results from last year's annual Automotive Industry Action Group
Quality Survey, it appears that supplier interest in-and commitment to-quality
is building. QS-9000 is the quality standard developed jointly by the Big
Three automakers.
For more information, telephone the AIAG at (810) 358-3570 or fax (810)
358-3253.
ISO 9000: What Does It Really Mean?
When it comes to meeting ISO 9000 specifications, which is more important,
a literal interpretation or understanding the intent? Polaroid and ISO 9000
registrar Det Norske Veritas found themselves pondering that question recently
when DNV audited Polaroid's Battery Division in Waltham, Massachusetts,
for ISO 9002.
About 20 of the division's 300 employees are developmentally challenged
young adults (18p;22 years old). They are responsible for loading battery-sorting
machines, pulling samples, performing some off-line inspections and packaging
batteries-functions that fall within the scope of the company's quality
management system.
The question facing auditors was whether Polaroid could fulfill section
4.1.1 of the ISO 9002 specification: "The supplier shall ensure that
this [quality] policy is understood, implemented and maintained at all levels
of the organization" (emphasis added).
"Now, you could approach this formally and say that since these people
don't understand the quality policy, the company can't be certified,"
says auditor Michael Itzkevitch.
Instead, auditors focused on the intent of the specification, which is to
ensure that the product satisfies customer requirements.
Polaroid assures quality by requiring the teachers who work with the employees
to be ultimately responsible for the quality of the employees' output. In
addition, a main-line Polaroid employee checks on the quality of the work.
All of this is clearly spelled out in the company's procedures.
"It really comes down to people being able to understand what is required
of them to do this job," says Itzkevitch. "They don't necessarily
need to know the philosophy."
Send us your news tips
Is there something important happening in the quality arena? Has your company
achieved outstanding results by implementing a quality program? Let us report
it in "News Digest." Send news tips or story ideas to News Editor,
Quality Digest, 40 Declaration Drive, Suite 100C, P.O. Box 1769, Chico,
CA 95927-1769, or phone (916) 893-4095, fax (916) 893-0395 or e-mail qdnews@aol.com.
Be sure to include contact information.
How do You Define Service?
Mere customer service is no longer enough. We have entered a new age wherein
the customer's needs must be more than served-they must be cleverly anticipated.
On the other hand, service, as a singular concept, captures some of the
finest of human endeavors. I offer a more comprehensive connotation of the
word: "Life has meaning and service is the expression of that meaning."
-Darby Checketts
President
Cornerstone Prof. Development
Provo, UT
Service means satisfaction. No matter how your company views it, service
is in the eye of the beholder.
If you provide service to your customers, both internal and external, you
will be providing them satisfaction. Providing satisfaction is a direct
result of a quality product or service.
-John W. Sherman
Director of Quality
American Freightways
Harrison, AR
Service is an interesting, time-consuming and complex process with the ultimate
goal of satisfying and exceeding your customer's requirements, including
their expectations.
-Jade Barnes
ITT Automotive
Morganton, NC
The definition of service is easy. Return every phone call; be honest, even
when it hurts; and keep each commitment spoken, no matter how small or insignificant
it seems.
-Todd Broyles
Corporate Quality Auditor
Blue Bird
Fort Valley, GA
Service: the kind of expertise an individual or company can provide to a
customer. A company is evaluated by its customers by the service supplied.
-Bertha A. Franco
QA/QC Coordinator
Redeseal Corp.
Odessa, TX
Whom Do You Trust?
Most workers (70 percent) say that they trust their leaders more than their
peers, senior management or other departments, reports Development Dimensions
International. According to DDI's survey of 1,100 management and nonmanagement-level
workers in 57 service and manufacturing organizations, 56 percent of nonmanagement
employees view lack of trust as a problem in their organizations.
Here are the top five dos and don'ts for trust building, according to respondents:
Do
Communicate with me openly and
honestly without distorting any information.
Show confidence in my abilities
by treating me as a skilled, competent associate.
Listen to and value what I say,
even if you disagree.
Keep your promises and commitments.
Cooperate with me and look for
ways that we can help each other.
Don't
Act more concerned about your own
welfare than anything else.
Send mixed messages so that I never
know where you stand.
Avoid taking responsibility.
Jump to conclusions without checking
facts.
Make excuses or blame others when
things don't work out.
