AQP Connections
ASQ Provides Congressional Testimony to
Support Baldrige Changes
On May 10,
ASQ submitted a statement for the record for a
hearing held by the Committee on Science of the U.S.
House of Representatives. The hearing dealt with
budget requests for the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, including additional
funding for a new Baldrige Award not-for-profit
category.
“Baldrige has provided a rigorous,
nonpolitical examination process for its applicants
that has proven effective in understanding and
recognizing those organizations that have achieved
superior results because of quality
management—and in sharing those results across
all sectors. The Baldrige process is perceived as
fair, and without its own agenda. In addition, the
business, education, and healthcare communities have
expressed the need for a NIST-managed Baldrige
program that is independent of agencies with
regulatory oversight,” the statement noted.
Additionally, the statement declared, “ASQ
supports an increase in funding for the Baldrige
Award program of $1.5 million for fiscal year 2005
that would fund activities related to the expansion
of the Baldrige Award to cover the not-for-profit
sector. This move will allow the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award to reach its full potential as
a force for positive change within our nation’s
economy by permitting not-for-profit organizations,
representing a significant portion of the U.S.
economy, to apply for the award and benefit from its
assessment and feedback processes.”
House Education and Workforce Committee
Meets With ASQ Representatives
Early in May, ASQ’s president, Ken Case, and
John Dew, chair of ASQ’s Education and Training
Board, met with staff of the House Education and
Workforce Committee to discuss ways in which quality
methods could address cost issues in higher
education. The committee is developing legislation on
the accreditation process as well as legislation to
reduce the costs that students must pay for higher
education.
Educational Opportunities
Announced
Webinar
The following ASQ
webinar is scheduled for June. It involves one
90-minute session. Participants will receive 0.15
CEUs/ASQ RUs. The fee is $139 per site.
Title: Lean Enterprise: The
Higher Level Building Blocks of Lean
Presenter: George Alukal and
Anthony Manos
Date: June 29, 2004
Start Time: 8:30 a.m. Pacific/9:30
a.m. Mountain/10:30 a.m. Central/11:30 a.m.
Eastern
Description: This webinar
explains four of the important lean building
blocks. Flow and work cells are described along
with concepts such as line balancing and working
to “takt” time. Inventory reduction
using supermarkets and kanbans are discussed.
This webinar also presents the benefits of JIT in
the supply chain, and Total Productive
Maintenance (TPM) and its advantages for any lean
enterprise.
Public Training Courses
Title: Guide to Process
Improvement and Change (#04198)
CEUs: 2.4
Date: July 26-29, 2004
Location: Charlotte, NC
Description: Process
improvement initiatives are not new to
organizations. However, the application of a
systematic approach to change is altering even
the most prestigious companies around the globe.
This course is designed to provide students with
the topics, direction, mentoring, and case
studies necessary to realize the advantages of
process improvement.
Title: Introduction to Quality
Management (#04199)
CEUs: 3.4
Date: July 26-30, 2004
Location: Charlotte, NC
Description: This course
provides a comprehensive review and working
knowledge of key elements represented by
ASQ’s Certified Quality Manager and
Certified Quality Improvement Associate Bodies of
Knowledge and the Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award Performance Excellence criteria.
The course is designed to provide participants
with the Quality Manager principles, techniques,
tools, and skills for on-the-job application
useful in a wide range of businesses and
organizations—service, manufacturing,
government, education, healthcare, etc.
Title: Customer-Supplier
Partnerships—An Introduction (#04200)
CEUs: 3.0
Date: July 26-27, 2004
Location: Charlotte, NC
Description: Make a dramatic
impact on customer satisfaction levels and boost
quality, profits, and market share with
customer-supplier partnerships. This course is
intended for organizations developing a new
customer-supplier program or updating an existing
one.
Featured e-Learning Course
This self-paced course can be taken at any time or in
any location where the participant has access to a
computer and an Internet connection. Participants
have 60 days to complete the course once they
begin.
Title: Voice of the
Customer
Estimated Length: two hours
Description: In any product
or service development endeavor, listening to the
voice of the customer is critical to how well
market needs are met. This course covers the
basics of how to gather customer data, and the
different methodologies needed to analyze
customer input. Participants will gain an
appreciation of the importance of understanding
the customers’ needs, in the
customers’ own words. This course consists
of exercises, quizzes, a final exam, and a
certificate of completion. A downloadable
workbook includes numerous forms to make the
initial contact with customers more effective. It
includes a customer selection matrix, demographic
surveys, phone scripts, contact letters, 95
customer focus group questions, sample interview
guides, competitor analysis forms, environmental
mapping sheets, data validation forms, and a
bibliography.
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