Quality Audit
Newsletter of the American Society for Quality
Rochester Section 0204
| Vol. 47 Issue 4 |
February, 2010 |
In this issue:
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEETING
ASQRS Members Certification Achievements
Make Good Great ®
ASQ Report: Innovation and Quality
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
It’s that time of year again. Please reserve Wednesday, 31 March, 2010 for the 66th ASQ Rochester Section Annual Quality Conference. Plan to come to Rochester’s Highest Quality Venue for Conferences of this type: The Rochester Riverside Convention Center! The theme this year is: PREEMPTIVE QUALITY—Making Quality Happen Where It Really Counts! Again this year your Conference Committee is hard at work lining up technical presenters for SIX information-packed tracks running from morning through the afternoon. We are planning to have dynamic Keynote Presenters who will amplify the overriding theme of Preemptive Quality. As always we will have informational exhibits and booths from organizations who underwrite the Conference. The luncheon and Rochester Riverside Convention Center Parking IS included in the Registration Fee. There will be a drawing at the end of the day for door prizes as we did last year—lots of fun and very popular!
You will be remiss if you don’t attend this 66th ASQ Rochester Section Annual Quality Conference. It’s a great opportunity to network, explore career possibilities, broaden your quality knowledge base, fulfill your company’s annual training requirement, achieve recertification points necessary for maintenance of your ASQ Professional Certifications, talk with a variety of quality professionals, enjoy the camaraderie of professionals in your field, learn about Service Quality, explore converging disciplines such as sustainability and environmental conservation and examine the Quality Profession in a whole new light! As we know from our past Conferences, anybody who’s anybody in Quality in the greater Rochester area attends this Annual Conference. Last year over 40% of our Conference attendees were in Quality Management, including a number of corporate Vice Presidents!
At sixty-six years, this is the longest standing Quality Event in the United States. Feedback received from attendees last year and in prior years indicates that the value, impact and quality of this Conference is as good or better than many other conferences of its kind. Be sure you plan to attend. The Registration Form will be available soon via our web site: www.asqrs.org.
The Early Bird Registration Fee is $165.00 and is available to ASQ Members and Non-Members alike. Early Bird Registration is only good until Wednesday, March 17, 2010. After March 17, Registration is $200.00. There are no student discounts or group discounts this year. Payment must be in advance—cash/checks/credit cards will not be accepted at the door. Attendance at the full Conference is included in the Registration fee: A.M. coffee/tea, all Keynote Sessions, the Luncheon, any combination of Presenters’ Sessions, Convention Center Parking, Recertification Point and Eligibility for Door Prizes. Register several from your organization to be sure you can cover all of the sessions for maximum value.
Be sure you schedule Wednesday, March 31, 2010 to attend the 66th ASQ Rochester Section Annual Quality Conference: PREEMPTIVE QUALITY—Making Quality Happen Where It Really Counts at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center! You will not find a better investment of your time, or your money. Get a step up on your coworkers and learn how to prevent quality issues from occurring. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Rochester Section, American Society for Quality: First in the Nation…..First in Quality!
Rich Henderson, Section Chair, 2009/2010
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEETING
The next professional development meeting will be Thursday February 18, 2010. It will be held at the MCC campus in the Brighton Room. The menu will be vegetable lasagna, salad and all the fixings. Keep checking the dinner meeting page of the web site to learn more as details become available.
ASQRS Members Certification Achievements
Congratulations to the following for passing the October, 2009 exams thereby achieving peer recognition of their mastery of the Bodies of Knowledge listed as follows:
Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence, Lynda Fleming
Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence, Nishant Nair
Certified Reliability Engineer, Louis F. Lavallee
Certified HAACP Auditor, Harvey F. Walker
Certified Quality Inspector, Joseph C. Hennigan
Certified Quality Technician, Clifford W. Matthews
We also extend hearty congratulations to the ASQRS members listed below that passed the December, 2009 exams and achieved peer recognition of their mastery of the Bodies of Knowledge listed herewith:
Certified Quality Engineer, Carol Marchetti
Certified Quality Engineer, Karen McQueen
Certified Quality Engineer, David P. Stein
Certified Quality Engineer, David G. Thompson
Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, David C. Gardner
Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, Susan Kovach
Certified Calibration Technician, Paul Bufano
Certified Calibration Technician, Bo M. Gobelli
Certified Calibration Technician, Douglas Urquhart
Certified Quality Improvement Associate, Linda Ingrassia
Certified Quality Improvement Associate, Keith Newcomer
We congratulate all 17 of you on your achievement. We know that these Certifications will enhance your careers and as well as your earning power. We welcome your continuing participation and involvement in Rochester Section activities.
Make Good Great ®
ASQ Member Unit Satisfaction and Loyalty Study Open
How can your ASQ (Division, Forum, or Section) enhance your member experience? Take our survey and let us know. Your input provides guidance for creating opportunities focused on your needs. This allows us to provide the products and services that are most important and beneficial to you.
All ASQ members can provide feedback on how well the (Division, Forum, or Section) serves their needs. We appreciate your participation in this survey. Your answers will be kept confidential and reported only in the aggregate. ASQ headquarters sent email invitations or postcards to eligible members beginning January 5. The study will be open through February 28.
As a thank you, participants will be entered into a drawing to win one of eight $25 ASQ Bucks. ASQ headquarters will provide (Division, Forum, or Section) leadership with the results when available in early spring.
To participate, please visit http://www.marketprobe.com/svy/ASQ/ASQsurvey.asp
Innovation and Quality — A Marriage That Works
ASQ Report: Innovation and Quality — A Marriage That Works
Companies Take Fresh Approach to Balance Ideas, Efficiency
Milwaukee, Wis., January 27, 2010
Despite recent news reports to the contrary, quality processes are not stifling creativity at major U.S. corporations. In fact, some highly profitable companies are using unique approaches to strike a balance between efficiency and innovation, according to a new report released today by ASQ (American Society for Quality), www.asq.org.
In the report, ASQ profiles two major companies—DuPont and Procter & Gamble—well-known industry innovators that have taken steps to fully integrate the creativity-generating functions of R&D and product development with regular process management structures and practices.
DuPont uses a variety of Six Sigma methods as well as Stage-Gate®, a carefully designed business development process that encourages both consistency and speed. The aim is reduced waste in the design, development and commercialization of new products.
"There’s no reason why Six Sigma should hamper innovation—if used properly," said Liz Keim, past president of ASQ who coaches businesses in quality management. "Companies need to understand that quality process tools aren’t appropriate for all pieces of a job and should carefully analyze where they can best benefit the bottom line."
P&G maintains that a major driver of its innovation is a unique mix of quality processes that provide structure. Two major examples are Future Works, an organization of multidisciplinary teams that seek innovation opportunities outside of existing business units, and Corporate Innovation Fund, which focuses on high-risk, high-reward ideas.
"More than any other factor, systems are the way we avoid dependence on ‘eureka!’ approaches to innovation," said Robert McDonald, P&G chief operating officer. "We select innovation projects, allocate resources and ultimately bring the best innovations to market with highly disciplined processes and systems."
The following are tips for businesses that are working to balance quality processes and innovation:
Keep things in perspective: Quality is broader than Six Sigma, and innovation is broader than breakthrough invention.
Innovation occurs in social systems. Treat it like a team sport involving real-life interactions of multitudes of real people.
Go outside the boundaries of your own organization for innovation insights. Collaborate with customers, suppliers, business partners, and academia.
Think of innovation not as a series of unrelated eureka moments, but rather as a process—a change process that can be managed with familiar change management and quality management methods.
Establish a widespread culture of innovation in your organization. And build innovation-enhancing capabilities throughout a customer-centered value stream.
Challenge the common assumption that innovation is inversely related to structure. Common knowledge will give you only common results no different than what everyone else is doing.
Encourage divergent thinking during ideation and convergent thinking during development.
To view the complete report Fresh Thinking on Innovation and Quality, visit www.asq.org/2010/01/innovation/fresh-thinking-oninnovation-and-quality.pdf
To submit content for a future newsletter:
Send to:
David Gilfoy at auditeditor@asqrs.org by the 20th of the
month prior to publication.
If information is not received by the 20th it may still be added to the
asqrs.org web site.
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