Did you graduate from an Indiana University? Are you interested in helping the next generation of Quality professionals? Would you be interesting in working with the Indy section to sponsor a student branch of ASQ? Believe it or not – there is not one student branch in the entire state of Indiana!

From ASQ’s Friday’s Fast Facts:

College and university students represent the future of quality, and geographic community member leaders are encouraged to consider sponsoring a student branch. A new ASQ Student Branch Counselors LinkedIn group has also been created. View the policy and current list of all student branches.

If you are interested send us an Email – we would love to hear from you

In today’s issue of Friday Fast Facts, ASQ shared recent changes in recertification point totals.  The full article is available here, but to read the article requires login to the ASQ National site.

In summary:

Based on member feedback, ASQ has increased the recertification unit (RU) point thresholds significantly, rewarding section and division activities. These changes were approved by the ASQ Certification Board in September 2016 and went into effect on January 1, 2017. Specifically, the points increased are in the following categories:

A. Points change, Section E/Meetings, from 9.0 to 10.8.

B. Points change, Section F/Committees, from 6.0 to 8.0.

Congratulations to Bud Newton, the Region 9 Director who is the 2017 Section Affairs Committee Chair.  In ASQ’s announcement, Bud provided the following information on what he hopes to accomplish during his time in office:

SAC Chair Bud Newton

I see ASQ as the ‘go-to’ spot for all things Quality. The networking opportunities are key to individuals being able to enhance learning and re-energize the ‘Quality’ batteries. I’m excited to see the continued focus on expanding to a global base as this is critical to growth, retention, and sustainability. We continue to focus on the value of the ASQ membership experience as well as the value of our members to the communities we serve. Personal engagement in the many ASQ Quality Body of Knowledge offerings, as well as the many opportunities to serve in leadership positions, have been extremely beneficial. This, along with excellent coaching and mentoring from past member leaders, has greatly aided my personal growth and leadership skill set. Regarding the Section Affairs Council (SAC), we need to continue to focus on clear definition and continuous improvement of the many processes that support our sections, member leaders, our members and the communities we serve. Additionally, SAC will be focusing on optimizing alignment of effort and resources with all ASQ communities to be sure we are best supporting our regional directors and member leaders to do the very important work of strengthening our sections and serving our communities.

ASQ will be shifting all certification examinations to a Computer Based Testing (CBT) model starting with the October examination cycle.  The examinations will be administered through Prometric examination sites located throughout the US.  This will allow greater access to the certification examinations and quicker response to your results.

Prometric has created a demo of the test experience so that the examinee’s may experience the look and feel of the test platform before examination day.  The test demo is available here.

Many thanks to the Cincinnati Section for sharing this information.

Friday’s edition of Fast Facts shared a story on the value of an ASQ (American Society for Quality) certification.  In this story, upper management realized that Six Sigma could help them solve problems with inventory control and sent an employee to an ASQ Lean Six Sigma Green belt training.  The employee obtained his certification and used his newly acquired knowledge and skills to tackle the inventory control problem.

As described in the story, the number of out of stock items was reduced from 14 major in 2014 to 1 minor in 2015.  On time deliver increased from 44% in 2014 to >95% in 2015.  Based on a better understanding of inventory needs the company was able to increase purchase orders which resulted in an ~9% savings (250K USD).

This is just one example from ASQ where the application of quality made a difference.  How has quality impacted your organization?  How can we educate top management on the value that ASQ certifications bring to the bottom line?  Do you have a quality story that you would like to share?  If yes contact the Indy ASQ Section Leadership Committee.  We would love to hear from you!

From 1 July 2016 Friday Fast Facts and ASQ National! Change Management from ASQ TV

Change management experts discuss key steps to consider when approaching employees with change and helping them through the process. Learn about the carrot-and-stick technique—which can be used to motivate employees—and a tool that can make meetings more efficient and keep change management plans on track.

Read Sunil Kaushik’s Quality Progress article regarding the carrot-and-stick method as well as additional motivational strategies.
Watch the full interview and read the Quality Progress article about the Joint Commission’s improvement initiatives.

Note you may (need) to log-in to the ASQ National website.

In the 2016 ASQ World Conference Recap email issued June 1, 2016, the Quality tool of the week is Mistake Proofing, or Poka-Yoke.  The full article is available on the ASQ National website click here.

Mistake–Proofing Procedure

1. Obtain or create a flowchart of the process. Review each step, thinking about where and when human errors are likely to occur.
2. For each potential error, work back through the process to find its source.
3. For each error, think of potential ways to make it impossible for the error to occur. Consider:
   • Elimination—eliminating the step that causes the error.
   • Replacement—replacing the step with an error-proof one.
   • Facilitation—making the correct action far easier than the error.
4. If you cannot make it impossible for the error to occur, think of ways to detect the error and minimize its effects. Consider inspection method, setting function and regulatory function.
5. Choose the best mistake-proofing method or device for each error. Test it, then implement it. Three kinds of inspection methods provide rapid feedback:
   • Successive inspection is done at the next step of the process by the next worker.
   • Self-inspection means workers check their own work immediately after doing it.
   • Source inspection checks, before the process step takes place, that conditions are correct. Often it’s automatic and keeps the process from proceeding until conditions are right.

If you do Poka-Yoke and would be willing to share your experiences at either a section workshop or dinner meeting please contact the Section Leadership Committee.

In Last Friday’s Fast Facts, ASQ National shared that effective September 28, 2016 ALL certification examinations will move to Computer Based Testing.  Computer Based Testing will commence with the October 2016 test cycle.

Benefits of the change include an increase of annual administrations from two to six; additional days available for testing from four to 102; more testing location from 350 to 8,000; convenience of retesting reduced from six months to two months; and exam results in zero to four days instead of 10.

The examinations will be available at Prometric testing sites.

For a short video on what to expect on testing day – click here

Last night Indy ASQ held a networking social at Squealers on 86^th street in Indianapolis.  The event was well attended with a good mix of members from the Section Leadership Committee, members, new members and a few interested non-members.  We had some great conversations, great snacks and I saw a few business cards exchanging hands throughout the evening.   The Indy ASQ Socials are a great way to connect with the section and meet members in a relaxed informal atmosphere.  Our next social event is on May 4 at Chuy’s in Noblesville Indiana.  We hope to see you there! A few pictures from the 4-21 Event at Squealers:

Remember our next social event is on May 4 at Chuy’s in Noblesville, Indiana.  We hope to see you there!

In a recently posted article and case study on ASQ National Website.  Janet Jacobsen describes how a DMADV project at Samarco Mining resulted in over 2M in annual savings.  The case study is available here.   The improvement project resulted in a 10% increase in profitability and ~89% reduction in non-quality production.

Do you have a case study on  how DMADV or DMAIC projects have improved quality, increased productivity, or reduced cost at your facility that you would be willing to share at an Indy ASQ Section meeting?  If so please contact your Section Leadership Committee.