Joseph (Joe) Basala, SSMBB

Joe Basala was the Technical Leader, known as Master Black Belt for CNH's (Case-New Holland) Continuous Improvement Process—Six Sigma. In his last assignment, he provided technical guidance worldwide to the Champions and C.I. Coaches (Black Belts) on topics such as project selection, process methodology, and proper use of the various statistical and quality tools. Joe has had involvement in CNH's Business Process Reengineering (BPR) initiative, focusing on Global Product Development.

During his 13-year career with CNH (CASE Corp. prior to the merger), Joe accumulated a variety of experiences. He has been a Design Engineer in the Crop Harvesting Group for self-propelled Combines and is listed as a co-inventor on a Combine cleaning system patent. He was promoted to a reliability engineering position where he obtained the status of Sr. Reliability Engineer. In 1997, Joe took over as Quality Engineering Manager in the Advanced Manufacturing and Quality Engineering organization. In that position Joe had a lead role in laying the groundwork at CNH that allowed a company-wide deployment of Six Sigma methodology in 2000.

Joe has a Bachelors & Masters of Science degree from Western Illinois University and a Masters of Business Administration degree from St Ambrose University. He is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt through the ASQ / SSA Alliance, and is an ASQ-trained Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Additionally, he is an experienced Taguchi methods practitioner.

He is a senior member of ASQ, and also has the following certifications: Certified Quality Manager, Certified Reliability Engineer, Certified Quality Engineer, & Certified Quality Auditor. Joe is also a Certified Manufacturing Engineer through the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).

Joe has supported ASQ through several volunteer activities. He has been a planning committee member for the AICE Quality Conference (held in the Quad Cities), a member of the speaker selection committee for ASQ's first ever Six Sigma Conference, a member of the committee which provided input to ASQ's Six Sigma Forum web site, and a member of the editorial review board for ASQ's Six Sigma Forum Magazine.

Joe's interests include the practical use of statistical and quality tools for process/product development and improvement, Six Sigma / DFSS deployment models, and methodologies for incorporating the Voice of the Customer (VOC).