- Auditing
- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Human Resources
- Innovation
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Project Management
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Reliability
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Standards
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- AS9000
- Compliance
- Risk Management
- Customer Experience Management
- Economic Case for Quality
- err
Standards Outlook: Trust, but Verify
Grouping product, service and process audits together is somewhat natural, because a process audit may include a product or service audit. I’ve dubbed the combination a verification audit....
Aerial Coverage
To harmonize requirements across the supply chain for the management of the Department of Defense aviation CSIs, a standards publication group has reconciled final industry comments and is preparing to publish a new aviation, space and defense standard....
What's on the Horizon
As an industry evolves, so, too, do the standards and regulations that govern it. The aviation industry has seen several changes made recently, and more are on the way....
Spring Into Action
Last year, I was presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It was a great honor for all of us at General Systems Co.—and for all of us in the quality profession—to be recognized for our efforts related to total quality and innovation....
Standards Outlook: Remaining Relevant
Without changes, ISO 9001 risks becoming irrelevant on the world stage. So, what new ideas should be included in the next edition?...
3.4 per Million: Digging the Holistic Approach
Few will argue we live in a dynamic world where change is accelerating. What often goes unnoticed is that along with this rapid change, there is the opportunity and the need to improve....
Ask, and Ye Shall Receive
Journalists are experts in managing conversational flow and encouraging people to open up and provide vital information. Their techniques can serve auditors well as they navigate the frustrating quagmire of audit and assessment interviews....
Standards Outlook: The Right Approach
The process approach is at the heart of a quality management system (QMS) defined by ISO 9001. And, as everyone knows, it’s necessary to have the old ticker checked out from time to time....
Measure for Measure: Conscientious Calibrations
There are compelling reasons for an organization to get certified to a standard, but one that gets overlooked is the impact on the environment....
Expert Answers: August 2009
Deciding on a survey strategy ... Gauging the maturity of your quality management system....
World of Confusion
U.S. manufacturers of medical devices must comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements and also face the challenge of labeling in multiple languages if they want to sell their products in the global marketplace....
Back to Basics: Table Talk
There are many ways to determine how successful a process or project is. These methods normally involve detailed metrics and may include cycle-time reduction, number of process steps and customer satisfaction. However, the more improvement projects there...
It Doesn't Add Up
Bewildered economists offer many theories as to what ultimately led to today’s financial woes. Analysts attempt to untangle how so many factors and variables—banks, mortgages and government oversight—contributed to the mess....
Quality in the First Person: Quality Isn't a 9-to-5 Job
As a quality professional, I often think about how quality is embedded in people’s everyday lives. Looking back at my own life, I was shocked to learn how long and how much of an impact quality has had on me—especially outside of work....
Volviendo a los Fundamentos: Grafico que habla
Hay muchas maneras para determinar cuan exitoso es un proceso o proyecto. Estos métodos implican habitualmente indicadores detallados y pueden incluir la reducción del tiempo de ciclo, el número de etapas del proceso y la satisfacción del cliente....
Measure for Measure: Be Honest
I realized early in my career in metrics and metrology that doing the best I could meant bringing a sense of honesty and integrity to my work. In truth, they are the foundations for making a quality measurement....
Standards Outlook: Revised AS&D Standards Take Flight
The International Aerospace Quality Group has released the IAQG 9100:2009 aviation, space and defense standards in all three of its sectors....
Expert Answers: June 2009
Auditing management systems ... ISO 9001 trouble ... Crunching the numbers for product specifications....
Prepared for Battle
Organizations need to remember that while the impact of a recession may be significant from a psychological perspective, the application of sound quality management principles has a much more significant effect on an organization’s success....
Standards Outlook: Effective Audit Programs
Today's organizations need to be agile and responsive to the changing requirements in private and public business sectors. Properly directed, internal audit program resources can help an organization stay focused and uncover improvement opportunities....
Measure for Measure: Balanced Budget
In a previous edition of this column, I discussed Type-A and Type-B contributors of measurement uncertainty and what goes into a measurement budget. In this installment, I will outline a process for building that budget....
Statistics Roundtable: Grab the Brass Ring
Remember going to the amusement park and riding the carousel or merry-go-round? During the ride, there was sometimes a brass ring you could grab from a dispenser.It took some dexterity to snatch the ring from the dispenser as the carousel rotated....
Expert Answers: April 2009
Auditing your new company ... ISO 9001 coverage ... Dealing with wishy-washy management....
Perspectives: First, Do No Harm
Healthcare costs in the United States are increasing at staggering rates. In fact, last year’s employer health insurance premiums increased by 5%, which is two times the rate of inflation....
Small Change, Big Impact
Little has changed in the fourth edition of ISO 9001, which was issued late last year by the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 9001:2008 contains no new requirements, so the transition should be painless for most organizations....
3.4 per Million: Smart Talk
When you examine the success of Six Sigma at Motorola, one characteristic that is frequently listed as a critical success factor is the common language it created. That attribute meanders its way into all types of Six Sigma conversations....
Keep on Truckin’
In July 2005, a transportation representative at Bayer MaterialScience identified a potential problem with the way the company chose its shipping carriers. Bayer, a global manufacturer of polymers used as raw materials for products such as compact...
Change That Sticks
Process improvement is gaining more attention as organizations face budget cuts, competition from developing markets overseas and a challenging economy....
Back in Circulation
As the applications for lean expand, organizations must realize lean’s usefulness goes beyond environmental efforts. But first, we must look at the history of lean and to understand how its future fully complements social responsibility....
Standards Outlook: Dynamic Duo
Lean and Six Sigma are two methods aimed at improving the quality of an organization’s operations and its financial results. Both concentrate on customer satisfaction and improved business performance....
Measure for Measure: Standard Definition
It's important to establish metrological traceability as it is defined in ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007. In this column, other ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007 definitions pertaining to measurement uncertainty are discussed....
Career Corner: Make Your Own Luck
A colleague mentioned that he thought of me as the most successful person he knew and asked for advice. Ironically, I don’t ever feel successful and am always trying to improve, but I told my friend I was probably just lucky....
Off the Ground
None of the 4,000 fasteners that were hand drilled into the fuselage of any C-17 cargo plane was misaligned or had gone missing. For years, Boeing has been building these top-notch planes. It just wanted to build them better....
Practice What You Teach
Many education institutions do not have a foundation conducive to sustainability efforts. For many, change will be cumbersome. Opportunities exist, however, and persistence will be an ally....
Standards Outlook: To Launch or Not to Launch
Having quality professionals on medical device product development teams eliminates last-minute conflicts....
Out of Sight ... Out of Mind
The purpose in sharing this story is to publicize a growing gap in quality-system coverage caused by outsourcing and to share some of the challenges of fixing it. The story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent....
The Power of Balance
Many organizations face tremendous challenges in calculating trade-off relationships and the point of balance when determining their cost of quality. Experts don’t always agree, compounding the difficulty....
Contacts That Count
A team dedicated to improving member contact rates at Healthways Inc. pulled just about everything from its lean Six Sigma toolbox while working on a project and was recognized in ASQ’s International Team Excellence Award competition....
Building From the Basics
Quality control is about models, methods, measuring and managing. It’s about uncovering a problem and finding the solution. It’s about using the right techniques at the right time to make things better....
Standards Outlook: Risk and Quality Management
The media has made all of us aware of the global financial crisis caused by the assumption of risk by banks and speculators in stocks and commodities....
Back to Basics: Improve a Nonconforming System
When we think of nonconforming material, we think about scrapped and reworked material or products that directly cut into a company’s bottom line. But a closer look shows that a nonconforming material system can provide a wealth of information....
Measure for Measure: In No Uncertain Terms
Because ISO/IEC Guide 99:2007 harmonizes terms for many different industries, it is important to take a closer look at all the terms. In this column, I will examine measurement uncertainty and metrological (measurement) traceability....
ISO-lating the Problem
When two healthcare organizations were searching for a way to better manage their activities, both turned to ISO 9001:2000 in the hope that the standard could organize their practices and help them improve service to patients....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 4: Salary by ASQ and RABQSA International Certification
When it comes to ASQ certification, one is good, but more is better....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 8: Salary by Number of Years in Current Position
No matter how you look at the data, job seniority has little effect on salaries....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 2: Salary by U.S. Regions and Canadian Province
In the United States, the East South Central region is home to the lowest-paid quality professionals....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 14: Salary by Organization's Quality Infrastructure
More than 80% of the U.S. and Canadian survey respondents are members of their organizations’ quality department. The size of that department varies, depending on the size of the organization and division in which the respondents work....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 12: Salary by Industry
U.S. and Canadian survey respondents are a lot alike when it comes to the industries in which they work....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 3: Salary by Number of Years Experience in the Quality Field
Year in and year out, general salary survey results have shown respondents’ salaries increase as their experience in the quality field increases. This year is no exception....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 13: Salary by Geographic Location
In all, 99% of the people who participated in this year’s salary survey work in the United States (including the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam) or Canada....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 10: Salary by Number of Employees Overseen
In the United States, 54.1% of the respondents indicated that their job duties include overseeing other employees. In Canada, the percentage is slightly higher at 59%....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 9: Salary by Number of Years in Current Position and in the Quality Field
Like many professionals in other fields, quality professionals typically have spent quite a few years working in quality, but not necessarily a lot of years at their current job....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 20: Size of Raise and Additional Payments
This year, 72.5% of the U.S. respondents and 72.1% of the Canadian respondents expect to receive bonuses (which include other types of additional annual payments such as profit sharing and deferred payments but not overtime or insurance)....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 2, Section 22: Base Earnings by Consulting Experience and RABQSA International Certification
Section 8 in the regular employee results reveals that the number of years spent in a position has little impact on regular employees’ salaries. What about self-employed consultants?...
Salary Survey 2008: Part 2, Section 23: Hourly and Daily Rates
When the self-employed consultants were asked in last year’s salary survey whether they charge clients by the hour, day or some other way, many consultants noted that they charge by the hour and day, and they charge by the project....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 15: Salary by Extent of Quality Responsibilities
What percentage of employees have quality responsibilities stated in their job descriptions where you work? If it’s below 26%, your organization is a lot like the organizations that many of the survey respondents work for....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 19: Salary by Gender and Age
When QP first began publishing the salary survey two decades ago, only 13.1% of the U.S. respondents were women. Since then, the percentage of women in the quality field has increased significantly....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 16: Salary by Highest Level of Education
More than 90% of all the survey respondents have furthered their education past high school. Most often, they reported that their highest level of education is a bachelor’s degree, with 44.7% earning one....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 11: Salary by Division Size, Organization Size and Location of Headquarters
Most often, the survey respondents work for small divisions in small organizations with headquarters in North America....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 1: Salary by Job Title
The vast majority of respondents who participated in this year’s salary survey are full-time regular employees—in other words, they work 36 or more hours per week for a company or organization....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 2, Section 21: Base Earnings by Quality Experience, Education, ASQ Certification and Six Sigma Training
In 2002, QP started tracking whether self-employed consultants wore one hat or two—that is, whether they worked as self-employed consultants only or whether they worked for a company and offered consulting services outside their company-related duties....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 5: Salary by Six Sigma Training
Putting down that you completed Six Sigma training looks good on a résumé, but does it result in higher pay? There’s a good chance it will....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 17: Salary by Highest Level of Education and Number of Years in the Quality Field
The salary survey results show that respondents’ salaries typically increase as their level of education increases (see Section 16) and as their level of experience in the quality field increases (see Section 3)....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 7: Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status
Overall, 85.3% of the U.S. respondents and 73.4% of the Canadian respondents don’t get paid for overtime (they are exempt employees)....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 2, Section 24: Base Earnings and Rates by Age, Gender and Geographic Location
The profiles of self-employed consultants in the United States and Canada are pretty similar. The U.S. consultants are mostly men who are 46 to 55 years old, whereas the Canadian consultants are mostly men who are 36 to 55 years old....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 18: Salary by RABQSA International Certification
As Section 4 in the regular employee results noted, 1,263 respondents (14%) have earned RABQSA certifications. These respondents hold 22 out of the 33 RABQSA certifications listed in the salary survey....
Salary Survey 2008: Part 1, Section 6: Salary by Number of Work Hours
If you work more than 40 hours per week, you’re not alone....
Salary Survey 2008: Looking at the Numbers
Mean salary: The mean salary is the average salary for that particular group. Manager: Ensures the administration of the company’s quality, process and business improvement efforts within a defined segment of the organization. Quality engineer: Designs, i...
Standards Outlook: Conducting a Document Review
Some industry sectors require documentation that has word-for-word traceability between the MS documentation and audit criteria. For internal audits, document reviews can be part of a routine audit of an area, rather than a separate document review. Docum...
Perspectives: In Crisis, Give Credit to Quality
The financial industry needs a quality framework for manufacturing and controlling complex mathematical models, technological systems and financial data. Therefore, if Congress enacted strict quality standards for financial data and its distribution, the ...
Salary Survey 2008: The Complete Report
51 Section 6 Salary by Number of Work Hours Online Section 7 Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status Online Section 8 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position Online Section 9 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position and in the Quality Field Onli...
Total Quality, Total Commitment
An innovative approach to quality helped A.V. Feigenbaum create the concept of total quality management. Indeed, Feigenbaum’s quality contributions have been praised by U.S. business leaders and quality professionals around the globe. Armand V. Feigenbaum...
Energize Your QMS
Changes to the ISO 9001:2008 amendment are high benefit and low impact. This position stated the following: "ISO 9001:2008 has been developed to introduce clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and changes that are intended to improv...
Online Sidebars Sanders
Increasing movement from quality of product to quality of management and the organization. The systems approaches the quality profession has evolved through ISO 9000 and other management system standards will be valued by organizations looking to bring qu...
Smooth Approach
Traditional internal audits fulfill a need for companies with fresh ISO 9001 implementations. But for organizations with mature systems, an innovative approach called an appreciative internal quality audit can take them beyond compliance to excellence....
What's Up?
Study participants outlined the forces, four scenarios in which they might play out, and the implications to quality, organizations and the profession. Study participants were asked to envision the implications of the key forces and scenarios for quality ...
3.4 per Million: Putting It All Together
For companies that have been asking themselves how to achieve even more improvement, the answer lies in developing a comprehensive process management system that integrates three critical components....
Standards Outlook: What's Really Important
By the end of this year, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is expected to issue a new version of ISO 9001....
Futures Study
Forces of Change From All ASQ Futures Studies Table 1 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 Changing values Partnering Quality must deliver bottom- line results Globalization Globalization Globalization Learning systems Management systems will increasingly absorb the...
Geared Toward Innovation
The role of innovation is being vigorously debated among quality professionals and in society at large. It is therefore appropriate that innovation has been elevated to one of the most important strategic issues for the quality profession....
Measure for Measure: Matter of Life and Death
In too many cases, lack of traceability is a daily occurrence. I'm not talking about the traceability of a batch or lot of product. I’m referring to the traceability of test instruments....
Standards Outlook: Down With Silos
Businesses today have multiple management systems, including financial, quality and environmental. Unfortunately, these management systems usually do not talk to one another....
Keeping Current Online Table
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST) in partnership with ASQ Award criteria are built on seven core values: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information analysis, human ...
In the Know
More and more organizations are choosing outsourcing as a necessary means of remaining competitive in the global economy. Quality professionals must consider building a body of knowledge completely dedicated to the subject of quality in outsourcing....
Standards Outlook: Ensuring Supplier Quality
I've worked in the medical device and pharmaceutical/biotechnology industries, and I've concluded that when it comes to quality, the medical device world is at least 20 years ahead of its drug-world cousin....
The Road to Improvement
Registration of public organizations to the ISO 9001 quality management standard can be difficult because of their complex operations and extensive documentation....
Online Baranzelli sidebars
IDOT developed an internal quality system audit team to determine whether the new QMS conforms to planned arrangements, to the requirements of the ISO 9001 and to the QMS requirements established by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and is...
Raising the Bar
Now more than ever, companies must measure and manage their quality costs to compete at a high level in today’s global marketplace....
Strength in Numbers
Finding resources to pursue quality improvement and organizational excellence is the greatest challenge confronting most organizations today, including universities and professional organizations....
Expert Answers: July 2008
The sigma 1.5 shift ... ISO's origins....
Measure for Measure: Calibration, From Cradle to Grave
"From cradle to grave" is a phrase commonly used in drug development. But it makes just as much sense when talking about calibration, because in nearly every part of our lives, we are exposed to various measurement disciplines and influences....
Standards Outlook: Ready for Takeoff
The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) is putting finishing touches on the next revision of AS9100, the quality management system (QMS) standard for the aviation, space and defense (AS&D) industries....
Far-Sighted
In the first year nonprofit organizations could apply for the honor, Coral Springs became the first local government to take home a Baldrige award by proving it didn't emphasize the present at the expense of the future....
Customer Servicemen
Customer Feedback is a key component of improvement. The challenge has always been finding the most effective way of procuring it....
Expert Answers: June 2008
Calculating DPMO ... Origins of sampling plan....
Incredible Journey
In response to personnel’s safety concerns and rising workers’ compensation costs, a team at Boeing’s C-17 site developed a solution to thwart injury and save money....
First-Person Narratives
The C-17 World-Class Safety Team was structured in a way that allowed members to have fun, work cooperatively with each other and work autonomously on their own. Participating on the World-Class Safety Team, preparing for the CTEA [California Team Excelle...
Standards Outlook: Off to a Good Start
Clause 6.2.6 of the U.S. supplement for the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) auditing standard provides guidelines for establishing initial contact with the auditee....
Two Are Better Than One
Management need and my personal curiosity recently led me to take a closer look at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). My work pointed out similarities and differences between SOX and ISO 9001....
It All Ties Together
At a time when gas costs have skyrocketed and companies across the board are doing their bit to be greener, a team of individuals from CSX Corp. came together to develop a solution to combat the large amount of fuel wasted while locomotives sat idling....
