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November 2001
Volume 1 • Number 1
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Six Sigma Forum News
Six Sigma Forum Membership Tops 6,000
More than 6,000 Six Sigma professionals have joined ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum since it launched last May.
About 25% of the members are from outside the United States, including China, Mexico and Indonesia. The membership also represents diverse sectors such as healthcare, banking and workplace safety.
Six Sigma Forum membership remains free for an introductory period and carries discounts for events, merchandise and services promoted on the site. To view nonmember portions of the site or to join, visit www.sixsigmaforum.com.
Six Sigma Conference Speakers Announced
Speakers for the ASQ Six Sigma Conference 2002 will be Michael L. George, chair and CEO of the George Group; Gregory H. Watson, Master Black Belt and managing partner of Business Systems Solutions Inc. and ASQ’s chairman of the board; and A. Blanton Godfrey, founding editor of Six Sigma Forum Magazine.
Case studies will be delivered by experts from organizations such as Boeing, Ceridian, John Deere and NCR.
The conference will be held Jan. 28 to 29 in Tampa, FL. Conference sponsors are the George Group, JMP (a business unit of SAS), StatSoft, Proxima Technology, Pivotal Resources, Smarter Solutions, Air Academy Associates and Leap Technologies.
For details or to register, call 800-248-1946 (United States and Canada only) or 414-272-8575, or go to the conference site.
Web Site Articles Describe Challenges To Deployment
New articles on ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum Web site highlight specific deployment challenges faced by two quality professionals. These articles join more than 60 already on the site, www.sixsigmaforum.com.
Karen Welch, a Master Black Belt with 10 years of global experience, shares insights about challenges caused by cultural differences in approaches to cost reduction, conceptions of quality and communication.
Scott Laman, a principal engineer with Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products, outlines issues and concerns confronting smaller organizations considering Six Sigma deployment.
Laman says these difficulties include limited resources, the need to develop more detailed information systems and the struggle to combat conservative attitudes about risk taking.
Networking resources
The Web site also offers two types of networking resources: discussion boards and a searchable database for locating colleagues. Plans to expand the networking functions include live chat sessions on a regular basis.
Each Six Sigma experience level has its own discussion area for postings under two broad categories: issues and organizational culture.
So far, discussion has centered around topics such as project selection, workplace safety, establishing a statistics culture and technical aspects.
Participants have offered insight and advice, debated ideas and even exchanged telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.
The database contains information members voluntarily supply about their skills and interests. Members can search profiles to find colleagues sharing experience levels, areas of specialization or geographic locations.
For more information or to join Six Sigma Forum, visit www.sixsigmaforum.com.
Six Sigma Notes
Founding Editor A. Blanton Godfrey is seeking submission of articles to this publication, Six Sigma Forum Magazine. Articles should be submitted directly to him at godfrey@asq.org, or SSF Magazine Editor, Campus Box 8301, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301.
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Six Sigma Executive Summary is a Web based course that provides an overview of the history of Six Sigma, executive responsibility, organizational development, common quality metrics and the Six Sigma process. The course is designed mainly for executives, managers and quality professionals. For more information, call 800-248-1946 (United States and Canada only) or 414-272-8575.
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Excellence Ireland (EI) is supporting ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum by placing the forum’s logo and a link to the forum’s Web site on its home page. In addition, information will appear in EI’s magazine, communication has been sent to past attendees of the ASQ-EI collaborative Six Sigma training, and the two associations had a joint exhibit at the European Organization for Quality’s annual conference in Istanbul, Turkey.
