- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Engineering
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Innovation
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Process Capability
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Safety
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Total Quality Management
- ISO 22000
- Risk Management
- Information Management
- Customer Requirements
- Food Safety
- Strategic Planning
Standards Outlook: World View
The global economy has provided organizations with many opportunities that didn’t exist even 10 years ago. On the other hand, the internet and extensive outsourcing have “flattened” the Earth, presenting organizations with many new risks....
Standards Outlook: What’s Cooking?
The U.S. Federal Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act is another milestone in food safety—the latest step to supplement hazard analysis and critical control point programs that have been mandated for a variety of commodities....
The Right Ingredients
In Out of the Crisis, W. Edwards Deming writes, “Everyone doing his best is not the answer. It is first necessary that people know what to do.” To ensure people know exactly what to do, all activities within the organization should be system oriented....
Standards Outlook: Keeping Watch
Supply chain management is important to ensure organizations can compete in the global market. Organizations continue to focus on core competencies, resulting in greater dependence on high-quality materials and services from suppliers....
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 2: Salary by U.S. Regions and Canadian Provinces
South Carolina 1.4% 96.8 North Carolina 3.6% 95.3 Tennessee 2.1% 89.6 Kentucky 1.3% 89.9 WV 0.3% 92.9 Virginia 2.9% 95.8 Maryland 2.1% 123.4 Delaware 0.4% 108.2 D. C. 0.1% 144.4 New Jersey 2.1% 128.6 Connecticut 1.7% 132.7 RI 0.3% 125.5 MA 3.5% 121.4 Mai...
Standards Outlook: From the Trenches
ISO 9001 and the COSO internal control guidance document used by financial organizations that must comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act don’t have a lot in common, but one thing they share is the need to update the current version....
Career Corner: Show Your Softer Side
There has been little attention and importance placed on softer skills. But more companies are realizing that while an individual’s hard skills will move them ahead quickly, it is the dearth of soft skills that can derail an individual’s advancement....
Career Corner: Survive and Thrive
An understanding of how the entire workplace dynamic is changing and the ability to adapt to those changes with a united workforce comprised of multiple generations is critical not only to a company’s success, but also its survival....
Standards Outlook: Revised Thinking
COSO developed the internal control integrated framework in 1992 in response to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s. COSO is now 20 years old and is due for an upgrade to incorporate changes in the financial environment....
Email Matters
It is commonly accepted that 80% of data within an organization is unstructured. Emails are considered a part of the definition of unstructured data. But with the right processes, it is possible to get email under control....
The Power of Positive
In his 2006 book, The World is Flat, Thomas Freidman cites the many challenges globalization puts on corporate life: changing political realities, social entrepreneurship and the effects of the internet....
Growth Chart
Globalization, as well as demands from people, business and technology, require organizations to deliver high-quality performance to remain competitive. Quality methods can allow alignment with rapidly changing and increasing customer expectations....
Around the Bend
While the eight forces found in the 2011 ASQ Future of Quality Study are unique, what ties the group together is the theme of emergence—the idea that, in many cases, these forces rose quickly and seemingly out of nowhere....
A Change in Focus
It is ironic that the life-sciences industry’s approach to quality management systems has been lagging rather than leading due to a fundamental focus on compliance with regulation versus a holistic process for improving quality....
Get in Touch With Your Emotions
Emotional intelligence is one of the key traits shared by organizations that succeed in a dynamic world characterized by innovative technology, a diversified workforce, easy access to information and economic globalization....
Career Corner: Quality's New Role
When was the last time you were at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI)? If it has been several years, it is worth considering attending the 2011 conference in Pittsburgh. It will be a really great event....
3.4 per Million: Rediscovering True North
During my years at Motorola, I had the pleasure of viewing a video by the popular trainer Morris Massey. In the video, he introduced the concept of a “significant emotional event.”...
Quality 3.0
Two quality leaders weigh in on the current direction of quality management, sustainable quality improvements and their visions of what “Quality 3.0” will bring....
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?...
The Right Move
Shortcomings in both measurement systems and traditional methods for assessing customer satisfaction affect the ability of most firms to directly link quality improvements to changes in financial performance....
A Simple Plan
For more than 100 years, U.S. manufacturers have advanced equipment and manufacturing technologies to constantly monitor progress and drive process improvement....
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 ...
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...
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....
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....
A Recipe for Safe Food: ISO 22000 and HACCP
Although food safety experts maintain that the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, three recent food recalls raise the question of how food supplies can remain safe in a global environment. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point...
The Innovation Process and Quality Tools
Cost control and product quality are only capable of sustaining competitive advantage. It takes product or service innovation to create competitive advantage in a global marketplace. Innovation consists of a series of steps like any other business or...
Career Corner: The Making of a Knowledge Worker
Add value, become indispensable, be willing to be itinerant, and you will prosper.
This is the story of Dan Sawyer. Sawyer is an expert in the emerging areas of engineering and technology governance and the application of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to technology....
Apply Six Sigma To Sales and Marketing
A common misconception regarding Six Sigma is that it applies only to manufacturing processes and that its fact-based problem solving methodology doesn't transfer to business processes such as marketing and sales. These people believe that a...
Career Corner: Career Management for Engineers
Engineers - particularly electrical and electronic engineers - were once insulated from outsourcing. In fact, it could almost be said electrical engineers were recession and outsourcing proof. That's no longer true....
International Outsourcing: Value vs. Economics
International outsourcing has become the easy way out for many organizations seeking to stay competitive in a global economy, whereas establishing a lean Six Sigma organization requires sustained and consistent hard work. Proponents say outsourcing is...
No Longer Lost in Translation
Language barriers and communication delays can disrupt a company's plans to survive and thrive in a global economy. The pursuit of quality also depends on bridging the communication gap. Without communication there can be no bridge from quality theory...
After Six Sigma - What's Next?
A systematic scientific approach is fundamental to dealing with problems of variability that cause costly defects and quality problems. This idea has remained the foundation of numerous incarnations of quality management and is the basis of the current...
Reflections on the Future of Quality
Over the years, the intent of quality systems has evolved from enhancing customer satisfaction by meeting their needs to improving overall organizational performance and capabilities. But quality management systems have always lagged behind evolving...
Good News - If You're Ready
Futuring is a structured look ahead aimed at enhancing anticipatory skills. ASQ's most recent futures study, conducted in 2005, identified six key forces of change: globalization, innovation, outsourcing, consumer sophistication, value creation, and...
As the World Flattens
We are struggling with the uncomfortable results of the world's having been very rapidly "flattened" by technology harnessed to eliminate barriers of space and time. This technology revolution has converged with other forces of change....
Quality Management's Role in Global Sourcing
Globalization and the evolution of quality management systems from a focus on controlling product conformity to a much broader focus on overall enterprise capability have resulted in the need to redefine the role of quality management in dealing with...
Opportunities Are Everywhere
As the distinction between quality management and business management fades, an unprecedented confluence of trends and forces offers unique opportunities for quality professionals. Sporadic cost cutting campaigns are being replaced by business...
Statistical Leadership
Statisticians, as we have known them for almost half a century, may become an endangered species....
Quality Challenges in Global Companies
Quality management system implementation in multinational corporations is often hindered by factors related to cultural differences among its affiliates. A survey indicates major factors affecting QMS implementation include cultural limitations,...
Prepare for the Worst
Quality professionals face the same problems as those in IT, software development, programming, automaking and numerous other fields, loss of jobs to overseas outsourcing....
Making Stakeholders a Strategic Asset
Employees and business partners have an important role to play in organizational improvement. Quality models indicate that managing stakeholders to enhance their value generation capability can be a winning strategy....
Turn Your Customers Into Interns
You may have been here before: You just signed a contract to have a house built. You’re excited at the prospect and can’t wait to move in. Obviously, with the contract just signed, your move in date is far off....
Column: Standards Outlook: Strategies for Improving Business Performance
Most organizations face dozens of extraordinary conditions in today's business environment, including aggressive competitive strategies from their opposition, daunting regulatory situations and the pressures of...
Quality, Not Quantity, of Management
This article is from the book The Power of Management Capital: Utilizing the New Drivers of Innovation, Profitability, and Growth in a Demanding Global Economy, available through Quality Press, item number
ASQ's World Partners
One of ASQ's objectives is to become a global advocate for excellence and a provider of information and learning opportunities about quality. Having decided to take a more active role in collaborating with existing national quality associations, ASQ is...
How to Set Up a Predictive Maintenance Program
The application of advanced technology through predictive maintenance programs (PMPs) has a major impact on product quality, customer satisfaction, and machine safety. While the proposed European Standard of Documentation on Maintenance will increase...
Penn State's Commitment to Quality Improvement
Penn State University's commitment to continuous quality improvement (CQI) began in 1991 when former executive vice president and provost John Brighton and former president Joab Thomas created a university council on continuous quality improvement...
Design for Six Sigma: 15 Lessons Learned
Despite its growing popularity, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a difficult transition for most companies. Six Sigma professionals from a number of major corporations share their experiences switching from a deterministic to a probabilistic design...
The International Quality Manager
Competitive organizations seeking to implement Six Sigma or any other quality system need to translate quality concepts into the context of the organizational culture. The effort is substantial, particularly if the organization is multinational....
Column: World View: How to find the correct balance between standardization and differentiation.
For system and management standards such as the ISO 9000 series, even more than for product standards, a correct balance between standardization and differentiation is important for the benefit of the free market. The value added by having a standard -...
How To Find the Correct Balance Between Standardization and Differentiation
No generalized quality model can fit all organizational needs
I believe, in fact, that for these standards, even more than for product standards, a correct balance between standardization and differentiation is important for the benefit of the free market. Success led ISO 9000 to break down the barriers separating c...
Exploiting the World's Most Recognized Standard
Tremendous progress has been made recently in the harmonization of world standards through the efforts of recognized standard-setting organizations. But it may not be possible in an era of expanding technology and diversified systems to achieve such...
A World of Opportunity
Quality professionals often create and maintain connections via voluntary associations. A new approach designed by ASQ to revamp its approach to affiliations with other quality groups includes a revised international position statement, a new strategy...
Six Sigma, E-Commerce Pose New Challenges
Companies feel a need to become more flexible and ready to respond to rapid changes due to the growth of e-commerce. Corporate systems for responding to such changes have the same role as that of the central nervous system in the human body. The...
Changing Management Styles Put Their Mark on Industry
The nature of management is changing, and in the 21st century, it will depend on basic elements such as leadership, processes, and organizations. Successful leaders can communicate their vision effectively and inspire everyone in the organization to...
Back to the Future
The ASQ Foresight 2020 project has generated scenarios on the future of quality and the role of the quality professional. Facilitated by the Institute for Alternative Futures, the project is a successor to ASQ's first futures study, which had 2010 as...
Implementing the Six Sigma Solution
Six sigma initiatives rely on quantitative, root-cause analyses and the comparison of customer requirements to business performance. Any business can use this method to solve its process problems. To do so, it must have good information about its...
International Society Brings Practitioners, Researchers Together
A tool to develop a world-class quality process
1. P. Helo, "Quality Documentation Distribution With Intranet Implementations," Productivity & Quality Management Frontiers--VII (Norcross, GA: Engineering & Management Press, 1998). 2. M. Laatu and I. Taksis, "Development of Systematic Customer Satisfact...
National Laboratories of Metrology in the Western Hemisphere
Competitiveness in an era of global markets and technological change mandates that National Laboratories of Metrology (NLMs) be implemented in the Americas. The NLM concept in the Western Hemisphere has matured through the efforts of the Inter-American...
Putting Quality in Knowledge Management
Rapid access to expertise within an organization is a purpose of knowledge management. Quality professionals have critical leadership and educational roles in the harvesting of that knowledge and in the management of corporate memory. Knowledge is...
Digital Hammers and Electronic Nails - Tools of the Next Generation
In the knowledge age, quality professionals and their organizations must welcome the change that is driven by technological innovations. Successful organizations in this era will be customer focused, process controlled, quality engineered, results...
Quality in the Age of the Networked Society
At Forum '97, the 13th year of this national quality improvement symposium, participants and speakers examined the future of information technology. A basic conclusion was that change pervades the workplace, and new rules and new techniques like...
The Criteria: A Looking Glass to Americans' Understanding of Quality
Process Management is Category 6 in the 1997 criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA). As the sixth of seven installments on the Baldrige criteria, this article notes that the MBNQA is driven by values for which the criteria are...
From the Classroom to the Boardroom
By encouraging partnerships and collaboration between academia and industry, the TQO (Transformations to Quality Organizations) program can benefit the entire country. TQO was founded because of concerns about college graduates being inadequate in...
The Criteria: A Looking Glass to Americans' Understanding of Quality
Customer and Market Focus is Category 3 in the 1997 criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As the third of seven installments on the Baldrige criteria, this article describes the evolution of Category 3 and the need to understand...
Virtual Teams: Today's Reality, Today's Challenge
Virtual, dispersed, or networked teams have members who are geographically disperse and yet work together closely. It is expected that 13 million U.S. workers will be on such teams by 1998. Impetus for virtual teamwork includes trends in globalization...
Safety in the Skies
Causes of airplane accidents suggest how to increase safety. Weather-related accidents have prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to introduce terminal Doppler radar and wind shear alert systems. The role of air traffic control can be...
Obstacles vs. Obsolescence
There are challenges to the development of the quality profession in the business environment. The lack of a consistent knowledge base with a scientific foundation is an obstacle to clearly identifying the quality professional's role. Multiple...
The U.S. Economy Needs a Productivity Boost
The participative organization is a key to surviving in an environment of international competitiveness and technological change. Employee involvement can increase productivity and quality, thus countering trends like restructuring, downsizing,...
Quality and Its Environment in 2010
Four scenarios of the year 2010 have been developed by the American Society for Quality Control Futures Team. First, the global reality scenario is one of worldwide wealth and technological revolution. The information society of 2010 is surrounded by...
Quality, the Future, and You
The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) Futures Team recommends that now is the time for ASQC, quality professionals, and all organizations to prepare for rapid change. The 17-person team identified nine key forces and developed four scenarios...
Trends and Key Forces Shaping the Future of Quality
The American Society for Quality Control Futures Team and Alternative Futures Associates identified nine key forces for the 1995-2010 era. Globilization may lead to demands for multicultural quality training and assistance for countries like China and...
Quality Management Practices Worldwide: Convergence or Divergence?
This study compared U.S. and Pacific Rim electronics-industry managers' attitudes toward quality. A 33-item questionnaire was distributed to 285 individuals, most of whom were middle managers. The 68.8% response rate included 96 responses from 17...
Motorola's Fountain of Youth
Renewal is a key to success at Motorola. As technology has changed, the company has updated its product line. Its goals include the six sigma standard and reduced cycle times. More than 132,000 employees are renewed through continuing education in a...
