MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Faith and Begorah Quality Professionals!

I hope you all enjoyed your St. Patrick’s Day!   Did you cheer our San Diego State Aztecs in their appearance at the Big Dance? It was quite a feat for them to get there and we congratulate them on their outstanding season – Go Aztecs! 

At our Section Meeting on March 12 we started off the program that evening by presenting our recommended Slate of Officers for the 2002-2003 year which starts in July. Although the floor was opened up for nominations, our original recommendations were overwhelmingly approved!

I believe this “Vote of Confidence” is indicative of your satisfaction with the work your current Executive Board and our Committee Chairs are performing on your behalf. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to them all for a job well done so far this year, we are so grateful for their past service. I am happy to say that I will be returning to the Executive Chair position for one more year and will be proud to serve that term with the following individuals:

1. Mr. Hank Posters will be taking on the responsibilities of the Vice Chair and activities related to Section Management Planning.

2. Ms. Karen Liu will be assuming the responsibilities of the Treasurer position and will be assisting us in managing the financial resources of our Section.

3. Ms. Cristine Thiel is returning in her role as Secretary for our Section building on her years of service including Publicity Chair.

4. Mr. John Weaver has accepted the Arrangements Chair position and will be responsible for coordinating the Section Meeting logistics.

5. Ms. Stacy Apostol will be returning as the Auditor, assisting our Treasurer in assuring we are good stewards of your resources and making sure our finances are in good shape.

6. Mr. George Durgin is also returning as Education Chair and will be making your training opportunities as efficient and informative as possible.

7. Mr. Rich Ostrin will be continuing as Re-Certification & Examinations Chair in addition to the other duties he has including Education Board Member.

8. Mr. Michael Campbell will be returning as Membership Chair using his excellent communication skills to assist in the recruiting and retention of Section members.

9. Mr. Kim Niles has agreed to continue his excellent work as our Webmaster, working to give our membership one of the best sources for information in our region.

10. Mr. Arta Motadel will also be continuing in his role as Programs Chair and is researching and planning high quality professionals to speak at our meetings and off site events to involve more members.

11. Mr. Michael May is also continuing as Publicity Chair with an extended budget and great ideas to promote our Section.

12. Ms. Michelle Vargas has accepted the Koalaty Kid Chair and is seeking committee members to plan and support this valuable program within our community.

Please extend a warm welcome to our new Board members at the next opportunity, they have graciously accepted their responsibilities and are committed to work to continuously improve our organization in order to assure we are providing our membership with the highest quality services and educational programs.

Our special thanks to current Arrangements Chair and tireless long time Section supporter, Mr. Jack O’ Dell. Although his wit, wisdom and hard work will be sorely missed by us all, we wish Jack and his family all the very best on their move to the beautiful state of Connecticut in May. Be sure you plan to attend our next months Section Meeting and help us give Jack a proper sendoff (we hope the Connecticut Section knows what they are getting into!)

Mr. Chuck Miller gave an excellent presentation on “Creating a Vision in Supply Chain Strategy” following the election. He gave us a worksheet and had us do an exercise. He asked “What is the definition of a Mission?” the concise answer is: What We Do Today. He said to efficiently accomplish our Mission, one must properly employ Strategic Thinking and he gave us the following suggestions:

1. Perform an assessment of your “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT)”

2. Use all your available talents, concentrating on our “Strengths”.

3. “Think Outside the Box” do not limit your self to the past and what everyone else is doing.

4. Be creative, let desire drive your imagination.

5. Conquer fear, accept the possibility of failure.

6. He asked us to capitalize on our “Opportunities”

The next question he asked us was “What is the definition of a Vision?” The answer is: What We Do Tomorrow. He spoke on the importance of properly employing Strategic Planning to establish our Vision by:

1. What do we do different tomorrow?

2. Set aside thinking time to visualize an unobstructed view of the future (think through the process)

3. Establish a clear direction (what do we need to do first).

4. Develop a process mentality (employ the Plan, Do, Check, & Act cycle).

5. Focus on the big issues but do not lose sight of the details (listen to the vocal minority).

6. Remember there is no change without consequence (can the Weak Links support the weight of the Chain?)

Inhibitors to overcome for these processes are:

1. Smoke and Fires – Schedule your day and prioritize your activities.

2. Clutter – Just Do It.

3. Negative Thoughts – You cannot afford them (employ the 3 R’s: Respect Responsiveness & Results).

After our meeting we had a raffle for our door prizes to reward your support and encourage greater attendance. There were several happy winners that evening of several pairs of Movie Tickets, Starbucks gift certificates and an ASQ Technical Book. Our thanks to Publicity Chair Michael May for leading this fine effort.

Is your company planning on eventually converting their Quality system from an ISO 9000:1994 to ISO 9001:2000? If so, you will not want to miss this months 3-Hour Workshop on Wednesday, March 27^th when Ms. Diane Geldreich will lead her team from Kyocera Wireless on an " ISO 9001:2000 Transition” presentation.

All those in attendance will be gaining the benefit of years of combined experiences because their case study will provide proven methods to avoiding pitfalls and overcome challenges common with ISO conversions. Bring your ISO team members and come learn form these seasoned professionals. If you are interested in this 3-Hour Workshop, more information is available on the website.

Be sure to plan on attending next months Section meeting on April 9^th when the topic will be "Systematic Problem Solving (SPS)", by Fernando Perez.  Please keep checking our website for details on this and many more upcoming educational programs and opportunities available at your local ASQ Section. Keep in mind that all our events include excellent speakers, food, soft drinks, coffee and desert.

We hope you will encourage your colleagues to come attend a meeting and consider joining our section. Please feel free to contact any of your Executive Committee members to let them know what you would like to see in the way of special topics, events or speakers that would be of interest to you, even our menu is open for suggestion! This is your Section, I invite you to help us make this a Section that serves every facet of its membership to the best of its ability, and we will truly achieve “World Class” status.

Best regards, Don Griego Executive Chair ASQ Section 0703

FEATURED ARTICLE OR QUALITY RELATED EDUCATIONAL LINK

This month’s featured article is as follows:   

Statistical Distributions - A Living Paper  HTML Format Featured by Quality Progress Magazine by Kim Niles, Member & Officer, et.al. Statistical Distribution Plots and Considerations

Make sure you visit our virtual Library, open 24 Hrs/day, 7days a week, and please bounce back your favorite Quality related library thoughts and submissions (i.e. comments, ebook links, old term papers, article links, articles you've written, etc.).

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS UPDATES

Our section proudly sponsors a variety of educational and professional training

opportunities.   See our main education page.  

Current Refresher Class Schedule.  Individual classes are often available for $25 per night.  Ask the class contact for more information.

This Month's Workshop - Using Excel For Statistics