ASQ Section Survey

Fellow ASQ Members,

The leadership team for the Blue Ridge Section (1108) will start meeting next week, to determine what activities to offer our membership for the upcoming program year, which runs from Sept ’09 thru May ’10. Activities under consideration will be monthly meetings, plant tours, ASQ certification refresher courses, and training workshops.

Would you take a few minutes to complete and return the attached survey to help guide these efforts? It will provide feedback on last year’s program and be a source of ideas for the coming one. Please return by next Wednesday, June 3. Your help and participation would be most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Don Roderick
Chair, ASQ Section 1108
don.roderick@mcquay.com

survey-05-09

Rapid Improvement Events, Keys to Kaizen Event Success and Sustainability

Fellow ASQ members,

Considering the strong response we had for the April 22 Kaizen Blitz workshop, some of you might be interested in a related seminar, “Rapid Improvement Events, Keys to Kaizen Event Success and Sustainability” that VPMEP is offering on May 20th, in Danville . The speaker will be Dr. Eileen M. Van Aken of Virginia Tech. See attached publicity for more information.

rapid-improvement-flyer-5009-5-20

ASQ Section 1108 – Election Slate – 2009-2010

Dear ASQ Section 1108 members,

The Blue Ridge Section, like all other ASQ sections, is run entirely by volunteers who strive to promote and support a local community of professionals dedicated to the field of quality. Section officers serve for a one-year term beginning on June 1st, and typically we have several meetings during the summer months (May – August) to plan the program calendar.

Vote on-line

Kaizen Blitz Half-Day Workshop

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 – 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Plecker Workforce Center, Room P126-A
Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA

Kaizen, which literally means “change for the better”, is a process used for breakthrough improvement implemented as a project or event, using Lean tools and the Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) improvement cycle.
In this half-day workshop, instructor Tom Zbell will help attendees learn the Kaizen process and how it can help drive out waste and improve operational efficiency in your facility.

kaizen-workshop-04-22-09

5s Numbers Game

kaizen forms with examples – 2009

Standard Pig

Time Observation Exercize

April Meeting Announcement

Topic: Presentation and Tour of JMU’s School of EngineeringLocation: JMU Festival Conference & Student Center. Harrisonburg, VA
Time: 5:30 – 6:00 PM: Registration. 6:30 – 7:00 PM: Dinner. 7:00 – 8:00 PM -Program
Speaker: Dr. Ron Kander, Director, School of Engineering, James Madison University
The April Meeting of Blue Ridge Section ASQ will be a joint meeting with the
Northern Shenandoah Valley Section ASQ at the new School of Engineering at
James Madison University, April 2nd. Dr. Ron Kander, Director of James
Madison University’s School of Engineering, will give a brief review of the
formation of the new school and its unique curriculum. He will describe how the
new School of Engineering was conceived, using as context popular literature
(e.g., Tom Friedman’s newest book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”) and recent National
Academy of Engineering reports (e.g., “The Engineer of 2020″). He will review key
elements of the curriculum and will describe how the development of the courses,
hiring of the faculty, and design of the studio spaces have come together to form a
new kind of engineering education experience at James Madison University.
Meeting Details

March Meeting

For our March meeting, guest speakers Chris Spofford, David Kophazi, and Paul Johnson, all of MicroAire Surgical Instruments will describe how they are using SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die) as the vital first step to implementing LEAN in the MicroAire Machine Shop. This talk will include an overview of MicroAire’s business, the principles of SMED, how it fits into a LEAN implementation, and a discussion of the MicroAire SMED efforts.
Located in Charlottesville, MicroAire Surgical Instruments is one of the leading manufacturers of orthopedic power surgical instruments, and replacement burs and blades.

Download meeting details

February Meeting

Topic: Weibull Is The Way
Location: Waynesboro Country Club.  1117 Meadowbrook Rd. Waynesboro, VA
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009
Time: 6:00 PM – Social.  6:30 PM – Dinner.  7:00 PM – Program

We are very fortunate to have Jim McLinn, chair of ASQ’s Reliability Division, as our February guest speaker. Attendees will discover the power of the Weibull distribution to analyze data and aid modeling. Learn how everything from in-process data and accelerated life tests to field failure data can be quickly and efficiently analyzed. Hands on examples show the power. Find out what you have been missing. 

Download meeting details

Accelerated Life Test and Weibull Analysis Seminar

Friday, February 13, 2009 – 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM (lunch included)
Plecker Workforce Center, Room P126-A
Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA

Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) is one of the most important tasks that any quality or reliability engineer can perform. This one day seminar will start with the basics of how to set up several different ALT formats and administer tests through to successful completion. These will include the Standard Steady State Accelerated Test, the Step-Stress Test and Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT). Each has a different purpose and value and requires a different approach to analysis. Weibull techniques will be employed to analyze the data generated from the test. Weibull will show us how to get the most meaning from the test results and how to spot problems with the test method or test samples that could ruin results. Practical hands on approached are emphasized. You don’t need a background in stats to understand and appreciate the examples and results.

Download a Flyer

January Meeting

Topic: Strategic Quality Assessment – Identifying the Key Strategies for Growth

For our January meeting, guest speaker Susan O. Schall will describe how a strategic quality assessment can be a powerful tool in helping companies identify their opportunities for quality improvement and future growth.  The presentation will focus on how one company, a business unit of a global chemical company, chartered a team to conduct such an assessment to help ensure their long-term sustainability.  In her talk, Ms. Schall will describe how the strategic quality assessment was conducted, lessons learned, and how the recommendations align with known quality best practices and operations competitiveness strategies.

January Meeting Details

Section 1108 November Dinner Mtng

Fellow ASQ Members,

At our November 13 dinner meeting, Sharon Johnson, Senior Associate with SRI International, will speak on SRI’s 21st Century Workforce Transitions Project. See attached publicity for more information.

Please contact Ray Schumin (rschumin@cadenceinc.com) by close of Monday, November 10, if you plan to attend. Be sure to specify whether you’ll be eating with us or attending the presentation only.

asq-11-13-08-mtg3
Should be interesting. Hope you can make it.
Don Roderick
Publicity Chair
ASQ, Section 1108