ASQ: Aviation, Space and Defense: In the News

The 15th Annual Conference on Quality in the Space and Defense Industries (CQSDI) was a success again this year. There were 300 attendees from all aspects of the government and industry. Overall feedback from our attendees shows a big thumbs up! Visit our conference site to review the sessions that have been made available online.

The keynote speakers were of the highest caliber. Rex Geveden, Associate Administrator of NASA, joined as the opening keynote. He discussed the history of space and some of the failures that were faced. Out of this came the rigorous documentation process, project management, quality and configuration control. He touched on the remaining Space Shuttle missions and the repair activities ongoing with the External Tank. He faced the future where we will have space ships that are smarter to work with the crews. He emphasized that quality management is very consequential and it matters as the consequence of failure is terrible.

Lt Gen Henry “Trey” Obering III, Director of Missile Defense Agency, gave an outstanding presentation on the world of missile defense. He had a great presentation that used video to demonstrate quality aspects. This demonstration showed how important quality is to our National defense program. [insert Obering photo]

Jim Albaugh, President of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) was our final keynote. Jim gave a presentation based on lessons learned and how we learn from the past. He focused on having robust processes and process disciplines. He says we need to get back to the basics in supplier management. He also mentioned doing a great job in corrective action and root cause analysis which are basic to our function. He was very candid and forthright with his presentation.

We were also honored to have 3 great featured speakers. These featured speakers spoke in the areas that our panels addressed. The first was Frank Culbertson who addressed the human element. His presentation focused on the people we will be hiring and managing in the future. He discussed generational issues that are facing us now and will continue to do so in the future. His presentation is posted on our website. There are some really interesting statistics and analysis that I think you would all benefit from.

We went outside of the ASD world for our second featured speaker. We were extremely pleased to have Emmett Peter, Director of Global Safety and Assurance from Walt Disney Parks and Resort to talk to us about their program. Disney is very much a global concern with parks in the Americas, Europe and Asia. He addressed the challenges and concerns faced by a people-oriented and dependent company. He took us behind the scenes to demonstrate the role of quality and the inspection techniques used to keep us all safe on their rides.

Our third featured speaker was Keith Ernst, Acting Director of Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). Keith’s focus was on the supplier element. We all need to face the facts that the supply chain is of great concern to all. He discussed concerns that have surfaced since last fall while looking at major program performance. One of the major focus areas was the supply chain challenges that program face. He concluded by saying that we need to bring the quality discipline to the challenges we face.

Our panels were in concert with our featured speakers. We had excellent panelists from government and industry. The diversity included representatives with many years of experience in quality to those who were new to this process but learning fast! All had a perspective that was unique to them but relevant to the audience.

Four special topics closed the conference. One was a rousing panel discussion on Government Contract Quality Assurance. The group consisted of NASA, DCMA, the Army and MDA. Each had new or revised policy that they shared with the crowd. There was a lively Q&A session.

We were fortunate to have speakers in our other sessions with experience in a variety of subjects. Dale Moore from the Navy presented NAW AIRSpeed: Transforming the End-to-End Value Stream, Michael Dreikorn gave an update on the body of knowledge project and Jon Cowart from NASA spoke on the NASA Process Focus Group.

All in all it was a great conference. This conference is a lot of work for the committee but it is interesting. As soon as we close out at 4pm we all gather together and do a “Hotwash” of observations, conversations, comments (both good and bad). We do this so that we have a head start on the next planning session. The one thing you never hear is “I don’t want to volunteer to do this again.” Everyone is enthused and ready to go for 2008. In addition, some folks who had a really good time stayed behind to help and signed on as new volunteers for next year!

Speaking of next year, we will have our planning session at the end of June. Please send me any comments or suggestions to improve our conference or process. We are always looking for good topics, good speakers and fantastic volunteers. My email is debra.harrison@dcma.mil.