MESSAGE FROM THE EDUCATION CHAIR

"World Quality Conference Report"

Section Members & Honored Eavesdroppers,

While we wait for our new Education Chair (Dave Clinard) to get up to speed, we've asked Abe Wong to report on his trip to the World Quality Conference held in Florida last month.  Our section paid his way so that he could represent us.  As it turned out, he was the only representative from the west coast.

+~+~+

Global Quality with a World of Experience - by Abe Wong

This year's ASQ annual conference was held from April 30th to May 2nd at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The theme was Quality and Improvement, and it got a world of responses to this ASQ's annual event. 

I had the pleasure to attend this World Conference on Quality and Improvement as the representative from San Diego, and also got invited to ASQ's private international cocktail reception, where it was specially hosted to honor quality organization representatives from around the world. 

There were so many came from South America to represent their independent quality societies or associations, including Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, and Argentina, just to name a few. The Spanish speaking sessions were so heavily attended which even extended into overtime events. 

Then there was the group came all the way from China, plus also a few came from India. It was only several short months ago that ASQ has established formal organization in both countries. So there they came from the ASQ-China office in Beijing and the ASQ-China office in Shanghai. In addition, several mid to upper ranking level Chinese government officials also came representing the very new government agency now known as CCAA (China Certification and Accreditation Association) and also from the better known government agency CQC (China Quality Council). 

I sat with the Chinese group at the banquet table and since I am into supplier quality management with a large percentage of my suppliers in China, I used the opportunity to discuss with the government officials in regard to the quality problems as we have encountered all the time and heard from the news. We did not have any promises but we both agreed that training and education are the keys for future improvement. I was glad to know that popular quality related publications in the U.S. have already been translated and available in Chinese. ASQ-China even has the Chinese version of the CQE certification examination well in place. 

As I have been involved in the China trade for so many years and understand their cultural differences, it is certainly exciting that the door for quality opportunity has finally opened widely. Nowadays I can even see the improvements in supply quality on my daily contact with the Chinese suppliers; many are making a significant difference away from the past. I believe ASQ-China is on the right step in promoting quality awareness and educating the tens of thousands young engineers in China to learn how to take responsibility for what they have done. 

Many members from ASQ as well as from other professional organizations have been asking me about information to visit China. My next trip is being planned for October to attend a quality conference in Shanghai and have a meeting with the government in Beijing. Also there will be the very popular and well known Canton Fair ( www.cantonfair.org.cn ) during the same period which I also planned to be there. The City of Ontario had a group of 22 that went with me a little over a year ago had a good time and learned a lot from the inner circle. So if anyone is interested in seeing more than the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, just contact me for details. Photo taken at the WCQI banquet, May 1st, 2007.

Current Educational Course Status

• Several refresher courses are just finished (CQE, CSQE, CQA, CQI) but several new courses are now just being offered (CQI, CSQE, and CSSBB).  See details on our refresher course page.

• Unless 10 more people sign up within the next week for this month's workshop on "getting certified", it will be postponed until next month.  Watch our workshops page for more information.  

Other Announcements

• Sign up now for next month's special panel meeting. 

• Several new jobs have recently been posted on our jobs page.  In addition, we have recently split that page into two pages in order to facilitate printing and upload speed.  See http://www.asqsandiego.org/jobs.htm and keep sending them in.  

• Don't forget to check out our sponsor pages.  Great courses and products being offered!!  See links at the bottom of this email. 

• Don't forget to check out other local events on our local event calendar. 

Sincerely,

Officers at large pending a new 

Education Committee Chair

ASQ Section 0703 

This month we are highlighting: 

San Diego Mfg. Industry Report

by Michele Nash-Hoff  mnash-hoff@cact-sd.org

http://www.cact.org/centers_detail.php?center=san_diego 

Adobe pdf file (89kb) free reader link below

According to the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Economic Bulletin Vol. 55, No. 2, the loss of manufacturing jobs diminished in recent years so that “after losing 19,700 jobs between 1999 and 2004, a loss of about 3,300 jobs per year, a net loss of only 100 jobs were lost in 2005 while 800 are estimated to have been lost in 2006.”  Why is this?  ... read on.     

OEE slides from this month's meeting

• Click here for MS PowerPoint slides (233kb) used earlier this month during the membership meeting.

While topics covered during this months meeting included PM (Preventive Maintenance), PdM (Predictive Maintenance), TPM (definition varies by company but generally accepted as "Total Productive Maintenance"), and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), this presentation covers only OEE metrics and the 6 forms of equipment waste.