- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Design of Experiments
- Human Resources
- Innovation
- Inspection
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Six Sigma
- Standards
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Certification/Registration (management system Standards)
- Risk Management
- Customer Experience Management
- Food Safety
Quality in the First Person: Who's On Top?
Leaders appear to encourage a fear-driven and reactive work culture by instituting limiting and detrimental work systems and policies. Throughout my career, I have witnessed these counterproductive efforts again and again....
Mood Righting
U.S. organizations face monumental challenges as a global economy has emerged. Arguably, the global economy is driving competitive forces to levels unimaginable only a few decades ago....
What Makes You Tick?
Uncoordinated internal operations create organizational inefficiencies, a lower level of customer service and unnecessary delays in management decisions, resulting in increased costs....
Avoiding an Avalanche
Organizations that make products with rigorous quality requirements face numerous challenges associated with meeting objectives—ranging from complying with standards to operating in highly-regulated and frequently audited environments....
Balancing Act
With common quality methods and standards in place, manufacturing organizations share a daunting challenge: an increased volume of electronic and paper-based data collected during process development and manufacturing....
One Good Idea: Act the Fool
Almost every workplace has a few heyokas and they are vital to the organization’s survival....
Expert Answers: May 2013
Lean case studies from IT organizations...
Innovation Imperative: Risk and Development
In my first Innovation Imperative column, I wrote that, in short, innovation is a risky business. In this month’s column, I am going to move beyond identifying the nature of the risks we must address and look at how we manage those risks....
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....
Statistics Roundtable: One Size Does Not Fit All
The need to improve is ever present in all endeavors and will continue to be so. We live in a dynamic world. As predicted in the second law of thermodynamic and entropy, the world will continue to change....
3.4 per Million: Roundabout Estimation
THE IDEAL IN Six Sigma is to directly measure your inputs and outputs. What can a quality practitioner do when that’s not possible or practical?...
Paving the Way
Data and information are at the heart of good investigations and decision making, but are all kinds of data the same? What are the major categories and types of questions to ask to collect and analyze data?...
Statistics Roundtable: Getting Graphical
A company has six manufacturing processes critical to its business success. Management recently required each area manager to provide quarterly reports on the performance of their particular process....
Perspectives: Survey Overload
Some years ago, I was presented the bill at a restaurant. In addition to the itemized list of charges, the little billfold contained a customer comment card. “Wow,” I thought, “what a great idea. This place is really on the ball.”...
Career Corner: Build Your Economic Case
Do you realize that one of the greatest means for professional development is attending a quality industry conference? But first, you need to get there....
Back to Basics: Winning Them Over
You’re the new quality manager. You meet the management team and it seems committed to quality and fulfilling regulatory requirements. You’re relieved. Obtaining buy-in is half the battle....
Heart of the Matter
The goal of most processes in the manufacturing and service industries is to produce products or services that exhibit little to no variation. Variation is defined as “where no two items or services are exactly the same.”...
Tool Time
“Does everybody know what time it is? It’s ‘Tool Time’!” On “Home Improvement,” one of the most watched TV sitcoms in the U.S. in the 1990s, Tim and his assistant, Al, demonstrated to their television audience what tools they had and how to use them....
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....
Expert Answers: April 2013
Root cause analysis tools ... Calibration data for a fee ......
Expert Answers: March 2013
Supplier audits ... Requiring ISO certification...
Statistics Roundtable: Let's Be Realistic
Decision making is all about understanding and comparing trade-offs between choices: What benefits are possible, what are the risks and can they be mitigated, and what will each of the alternatives cost?...
Standards Outlook: Confidence Game
For the second time in my 55 years on this Earth, we are seeing a crisis of confidence. This stems from many factors, including the devastating recession of 2008 to 2009 and the slow and painful global economic recovery we are witnessing....
Five at the Forefront
ISO 19011:2011 is an international standard that provides guidance on auditing management systems. Using ISO 19011 is not mandatory, and organizations are not required to reference this standard in their auditing procedures....
Measure for Measure: Verifying the Art
Measurement may be considered a science and an art. It is a science in that it is based upon the laws of physics and math. Some consider it an art because elements of human judgment are needed to translate measurement from abstract to real application....
One Good Idea: Form by Design
Filling out simple forms should be easy, right? Yet, how many of us have had the experience in which a simple and easy-to-follow form took more than one time to fill out 100% correctly?...
Innovation Imperative: Seize the Opportunity
I bought a copy of the Scientific American and skimmed through the articles during my flight until I came to Michael Webber’s, “How to Make the Food System More Energy Efficient.” He had my attention....
Apples to Oranges?
Consumers around the world demand safe food. Through the years, retailers and food companies have pushed their suppliers to have food safety systems and improve on them. The drive started with suppliers being required to have third-party good GMP audits....
Before the Fact
The FDA has ratcheted up its surveillance and inspection activities on the suppliers of food and dietary supplements. Growing concern over protection of America’s food chain has been voiced by the FDA’s commissioner of food and drugs....
Career Corner: Out of Hiding
While I was the senior statistician for a manufacturing division of a major aerospace firm, I shared the concept of the hidden factory with a statistical quality control (SQC) training class composed entirely of senior and middle management....
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....
Quality in the First Person: Show and Tell
I have a confession to make. One of the most frustrating things I have encountered during the course of my quality career is trying to explain what I do for a living to people who have no idea what quality is or what it does....
March 2013 One Good Idea - online figures
CAPA process swim lane diagram / online Figure 1 Phase 1: Initiation Phase 2 and 3: Investigation and Corrective Action Issue CAPA number Enter CAPA info into log Notify quality manager CAT investigation CAT investigation Identify issue Meet with process...
Don't Lose Patients
Clinch Valley Medical Center—a for-profit, 175-bed hospital operating in western Virginia and part of a healthcare organization with operations in 18 states—has been undertaking lean Six Sigma initiatives for approximately three years....
Career Corner: Who's Responsible?
One factor not often discussed in career development is career level of the individual. A 20-something-year-old manager often has different goals and career satisfaction levels than a 40-something-year-old manager....
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....
Know the Why
One of the primary reasons improvement projects fail is a lack of alignment with an organization’s vision, mission, goals and objectives. In an attempt to avoid that issue, a government agency in Guyana deployed a multi-tool method for improvement....
Quality in the First Person: Keeping It Continuous
My journey into quality is a story that I’ve told a few hundred times because it’s become a part of my outreach to customers in beginning the relationship-building process. I am the founder of an accreditation organization for the healthcare industry....
Perspectives: The Unending Search
Recently, Stephen K. Hacker wrote that “many of our organizations remain mired in their current states, frozen in old mindsets.”...
The Right Blend
Faced with cost reductions and scheduling changes, a chemotherapy mixing room (CMR) implemented the define, measure, analyze, improve and control method and lean tools to optimize operations....
Lessons in Labeling
What kind of care would you want for a loved one fighting cancer? This is the question the experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America ask themselves every day and motivates employees to create a culture where continuous improvement becomes a habit....
3.4 per Million: Box Paradox
Without any data to support this, I’m willing to wager that anyone who has been employed in a manufacturing or transactional environment for five years has either been directed to or heard someone direct others to “think outside the box.”...
Statistics Roundtable: Group Effort
Cluster analysis is being widely used in disciplines as diverse as marketing, genomics and climate change. The technique lends itself to large data sets and small, focused data sets....
Online Figures - Ramsay
Year Verct( dys) # Rpts FinRpts InvTech #_ Staff 2003 296 31 13 1.00 216 2004 829 24 11 2.24 190 2005 309 22 12 1.65 210 2006 222 22 9 2.35 225 2007 171 17 5 3.58 247 Verct( dys) = verification of claims cycle time # rpts = number of reports for the boar...
Career Corner: In Shape for Quality
I first met A.H. when my personal growth shifted to a more horizontal direction. He has since gone solo, working as a self-employed personal trainer. When I learned he had gone solo, I wondered if his perspective on managing for quality had changed....
Standards Outlook: Corrective Action Challenge
The purpose of corrective action is to prevent the recurrence of the problem. There are usually many actions that can be taken to address the problem, ranging from incremental changes to innovative solutions....
Why Certify?
These stories are told by people at different stages of their careers. One of the things they have in common, however, is they’ve carefully considered the costs and benefits of ASQ certification....
One Good Idea: Ultimate Originality
When developing products for a new market, innovative ideas are essential. A tool that can be used to spark innovative new product ideas is the ideate, define, design and validate (IDDV) method....
Quality in the First Person: Failure of Inspection
Inspection often occurs at the end of the production line. As a result, the information gained from identifying problem pieces comes too late to make adjustments in the process, let alone isolate places in the process that are causing the problem....
Out in Front
“The job of management is not supervision, but leadership.” … “The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and to simultaneously bring pride of workmanship to people.”...
Innovation Imperative: Put It on Paper
Last year, the ASQ Quality Management Division’s Innovation and Value Creation Technical Committee conducted its first evaluation of ASQ readiness for innovation certification....
Rain Gauge
The Six Sigma define, measure, analyze, design and verify process is appropriate for exceedingly complex engineering construction problems that require the use of simulation and design of experiments....
Statistics Roundtable: Follow the Rules
Despite appearances to the contrary, I am not old enough to have participated in the first discussions of control chart rules....
Measure for Measure: What If?
There are no requirements that call for traceable calibration to the National Institute of Standards and Technology or any other National Metrology Institute (NMI). Nor are there any requirements for other countries to be traceable to their NMIs....
Expert Answers: January 2013
Six Sigma staffing ... Calibration vs. verification ......
Online Figures - One Good Idea
Innovation Example Novel idea Mobile phone Problem as an opportunity Post- it Same application with different features MS Windows, Apple OS Multifunctional gadget Swiss knife Input/ characteristic a b c d e Risk score ( 1/ a* b* c* d* e) X1 X2 X3 Etc. In...
Statistics Roundtable: Inquiry on Pedigree
THE MEDIA FREQUENTLY report on examples of situations in which results from statistical studies are not reproducible. A recent article in the New York Times reported how a sophisticated study went wrong because of poor data quality....
3.4 per Million: No Specification? No Problem
In a column earlier this year I referenced a nine-step approach for determining an organization’s long-lasting operational metrics and how to decide where to focus improvement efforts so the entire enterprise benefits....
Standards Outlook: Get in Front of the Problem
Considering the unfortunate fact that product recalls and their disastrous results seem relatively common, it’s curious why so many organizations resist formal efforts to address preventive action....
Salary Survey 2012: Crunching the Numbers
The 2012 survey was sent to 54,337 members. Of the 6,857 individuals who started the survey, 6,857 completed the questionnaire for a response rate of 11.2%....
Salary Survey 2012: Facing Tight Times
The more things stay the same, the more quality professionals must look for productive ways to change. For the first time since QP began its annual salary survey, the most important indicator—average salary—has become frustratingly stuck in place....
Get Them in the Game
The key to developing a high-performance, quality-oriented workforce is maintaining a high level of employee engagement....
Quality in the First Person: Who Is the Customer?
The Christmas season is a good time to study processes because shopping provides a prime example. During this time, men tend to revert to a “hunter-gatherer” state, while women are diligently searching for the optimum gift....
Career Corner: Trade Your Expertise
Most readers have an idea of what a mentor is. Perhaps you have received counsel or knowledge from an experienced mentor or mentored a person seeking your advice. But there is a lesser-known mentoring relationship—a peer-to-peer relationship....
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 5: Salary by Six Sigma Training
S. employees, Canadian employees, international employees Salary by highest level of Six Sigma training for Canadian respondents / Figure 3 115,929 170,000 133,600 91,538 89,811 79,511 84,000 87,750 103,314 92,094 84,608 77,523 65,000 94,000 105,062 84,8...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 1: Salary by Job Title
Figure 1 includes results for: x Full- time employees, part- time employees, x U. S. employees, Canadian employees, International employees Salary by job title for U. S. respondents / FIgUre 1 46,884 50,558 53,970 56,246 57,718 69,279 70,094 72,261 74,13...
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...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 3: Salary by Number of Years of Experience in the Quality Field
Salary by years in quality and job title for U. S. respondents / Table 1 ConTinued) Minimum Maximum Standard deviation Count Mean Median Analyst no experience $ 80,000 $ 129,000 $ 22,218 4 $ 97,800 $ 84,000 less than 1 year 28,000 77,800 19,915 7 50,114 ...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 4: Salary by ASQ and RABQSA International Certification
Percentage of respondents holding aSQ certifications / Table 1 2012 2010 2008 Certified quality auditor 22.9% 24.1% 24.2% Certified quality engineer 20.4 23.7 21.6 Certified manager of quality/ organizational excellence 12.6 13.7 12.6 Certified Six Sigma...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 6: Salary by Number of Work Hours
117,746 105,228 99,432 93,146 80,680 72,965 56,449 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 More than 60 hours ( 1.8%) 56- 60 hours ( 6%) 51- 55 hours ( 10%) 46- 50 hours ( 26%) 41- 45 hours ( 39.9%) 36- 40 hours ( 15.2%) 35 or fewer hou...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 7: Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status
com 44 Exempt vs. nonexempt status by job title / Figure 2 Percentage exempt and average salary by job title for U. S. respondents / Figure 3 11.5 13.3 19 64.5 69.6 71.4 75.1 77 80.6 81.7 84.6 89.9 91 91.9 92.2 93.9 94.1 94.6 95.1 95.4 97.2 98.5 99.6 88....
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 8: Salary by Number of Years in Current Position
com 50 SponSored by Salary by time in current position for U. S. respondents / Figure 2 Salary by time in current position for Canadian respondents / Figure 3 93,287 87,271 90,357 84,833 85,039 85,433 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 More ...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 9: Salary by No. of Years in Current Position and in Quality
Part 1. Regular Employee Results Section 9. Salary by Number of Years in Current Position and in the Quality Field Longevity.s Effect On Earnings Cross- tabulation of the number of years in current position and in the quality field / Table 1 In a positio...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 10: Salary by Number of Employees Overseen
QP 65 QP Salary Survey 2 0 1 2 Salary by number of employees overseen for U. S. respondents / Figure 2 Salary by number of employees overseen for Canadian respondents / Figure 3 125,378 111,064 100,758 102,717 93,924 89,209 85,176 76,431 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 11: Salary by Division Size, Org Size and Location of HQ
Salary by division size for U. S. respondents / Figure 3 Salary by division size for Canadian respondents / Figure 4 104,974 104,656 97,212 90,354 84,140 80,486 73,220 84,729 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 More than 10,000 ( 4.5%) 5,001-...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 12: Salary by Industry
Transportation and aerospace products 12.8 80,965 24.7 79,706 other products 5.3 78,625 4.7 78,111 Service sector 28.5% $ 90,449 42.8 $ 93,453 Construction services 5.4 90,114 7.0% 85,600 Consulting and other professional, scientific and technical servic...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 13: Salary by Geographic Location
Countries where respondents work / Table 1 Count Percentage United States 5,028 83.97% Canada 342 5.71 Mexico 79 1.32 China 63 1.05 India 50 0.84 australia 33 0.55 Saudi arabia 29 0.48 Singapore 25 0.42 Malaysia 24 0.40 Trinidad and Tobago 21 0.25 United...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 14: Salary by Organizational Quality Infrastructure
Salary by quality department membership for U. S. respondents / Table 3 Part of a quality department Not part of a quality department Percentage Average salary Percentage Average salary All respondents 80.7% $ 84,445 19.3% $ 96,346 analyst 63 64,330 37 7...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 15: Salary by Extent of Quality Responsibilities
S. employees, x Canadian employees, international employees Salary by extent of quality duties for Canadian respondents / Figure 2 100,000 93,132 95,187 93,171 80,510 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 0% of duties are quality related ( 0.3%...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 16: Salary by Highest Level of Education
In Canada, it was more than 68%. Salary by highest level of education for U. S. respondents / Figure 1 115,202 99,817 85,630 68,627 69,940 61,779 62,974 50,000 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 Doctorate ( 2.95%) Master's degree (...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 17: Salary by Highest Level of Educ. and No. of Yrs. in Quality
Qp 157 Salary by highest level of education and years in quality for U. S. respondents / Figure 1 51,289 64,242 76,781 59,756 65,897 75,339 71,705 89,217 99,561 85,232 103,187 113,211 99,562 109,591 138,626 $ 20,000 0 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 18: Salary by RABQSA International Certification
Part 1. Regular Employee Results Section 18. Salary by RABQSA International Certification Details on RABQSA Certifications Salary by RABQSA certifications for U. S. respondents / Table 1 Aged care professional APIQ auditor AS9100 aerospace experience aud...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 20: Size of Raise and Additional Annual Payments
Historical look at expected size of raise / Table 1 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Expect a pay cut 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.3% 1.9% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% Do not expect a raise 9.8 8.9 7.6 11.2 38 21.4 18.2 18.3 0.1% to 2% increase 13.5 13.3 12.3 13.4 14.8 23....
Salary Survey 2012: Part 2, Section 23: Base Earnings by Education and Training
1 28,000 28,000 Certified manager of quality/ organizational excellence 20,000 275,000 86,193 9 112,391 100,000 Certified quality auditor 12,000 180,000 56,553 17 87,066 96,521 Certified quality engineer 12,000 214,245 71,048 10 96,625 82,500 Certified q...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 19: Salary by Gender and Age
A First for Women Part 1. Regular Employee Results Section 19. Salary by Gender and Age Salary by age and gender for U. S. respondents / Figure 1 49,313 65,585 79,906 85,305 90,911 93,681 48,624 68,137 85,815 97,586 96,454 104,053 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 6...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 2, Section 22: Base Earnings by Years of Experience
Qp 181 Base earnings by consulting experience for U. S. self- employed consultants / Figure 1 133,145 150,981 122,500 161,818 124,015 43,417 56,500 95,969 93,000 85,700 80,383 37,705 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 $ 140,000 $ 1...
Expert Answers: December 2012
A better supplier scorecard ... Inspecting your suppliers ......
Online Figures - December Back to Basics
alt section Remove engine Critical inspections Hydro cks Adjust 2410 Adjust 2410 TCI/ TCTO Supply Get topics E/ E AFG Fuels A/ V A/ R Egress B/ M NDI Looks Tools Egress Egress flow cks M/ T AFG & lube Remove elevators Weigh elevators AFI Props RFLTS TCR ...
Quality Around the Clock
It’s in your DNA. It’s how your mind works. It’s what you do. It’s who you are. When you work in quality, you see things differently. You approach problems and scenarios in certain ways. It happens after you’ve signed off....
Statistics Roundtable: Improve Your Evaluations
In an earlier Statistics Roundtable column, we described how the conclusions you can draw from statistical analysis of limited life data can be bolstered by appropriately incorporating engineering knowledge and experience into the analysis....
Back to Basics: To DMAIC or Not to DMAIC?
Define, measure, analyze, improve and control is a structured problem-solving method. Each phase builds on the previous one, with the goal of implementing long-term solutions to problems. Most problem-solving efforts benefit from a disciplined method....
Volviendo a los Fundamentos: ¿DMAMC o no DMAMC?
Definir, medir, analizar, mejorar y controlar (DMAMC) es un método estructurado de resolución de problemas. Cada fase de DMAMC se basa en la fase anterior, y el objetivo es implementar soluciones a largo plazo a los problemas....
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....
Quality in the First Person: Pursuing Excellence
This is the story of my journey from lackadaisical and passive performance to data-driven dominance during my collegiate football career as a punter....
One Good Idea: Keep Moving
Many decision makers do not properly distinguish uncertainty from risk. When this occurs, there’s a tendency to spend too much time studying the problem, leading to a phenomenon often called “analysis paralysis.”...
Measure for Measure: First Step Toward Disaster
Users who take it upon themselves to forego calibration without adequately evaluating the impact of their decision within a specific measurement application increase the likelihood of making a bad measurement-based decision....
Innovation Imperative: Open to Suggestions
Open market innovation intrigues people because it appears to run counter to accepted business practices. It discounts secrecy, recognizes we lack knowledge in our own organizations and depends on ideas from outside for success....
Expert Answers: November 2012
Surveys in the toolbox ... Auditing it all ... Reference materials in ISO 17025 ......
Law and Order
The laws created and enforced by government are among the most important works of humankind. They address the most significant societal problems and have a direct impact on human rights, living standards and the quality of life of every person....
Shift Into High Gear
When customers of tgestiona began expressing dissatisfaction about the its inefficient service and delivery processes, it began a transport optimization project that earned gold-level status in the 2012 ASQ International Team Excellence Award process....
