Welcome back to another program year of exciting events and activities that your section board has planned for our membership. I encourage each of you to continue the great attendance you have provided in the past program year. I believe it was one of our best, and the next two are even more interesting. Also – please do not hesitate to contact any of the board members or myself to suggest a program or even better, offer a tour and presentation of your workplace! It provides us all, and you and your work team, to share with us your own lessons learned both good and bad. It may just be a presentation on how the economy has changed the landscape of your industry or specific to your business. It may relate to how your management is doing things differently as the new world economy continues to evolve. I know in the case of my own organization, Mercury Marine, we have gone through drastic changes and are continuing to evolve as we redefine our manufacturing footprint. I am also working on a future tour and presentation here as the change has been something to be seen to grasp the full concept. Unfortunately we will not be fully “settled in” until well into 2012, but I will continue to work on the potential opportunity for us to share. 

As we move into the fall season, children are headed back to school, young adults back to their respective college lives and those of us in business and industry continue to fight the good fight to retain market share and improve our competitive advantage. Please be aware of what your professional organization has to offer in support of those endeavors. The ASQ website has multiple resources available to you, its membership, that will not only help you transpire professionally, they can help your business with the continuous improvement process as well as numerous networking opportunities. We, in the Winnebago section leadership team, have shared resources and schedules with the other regional sections, Milwaukee and Central Wisconsin for example, and have had some of their members attend our events and visa versa. I encourage you to check their program schedules, and links to their websites can be found on our website, an easy ride down the information super highway. 

I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming meetings. Please also know, you are welcome to attend any board meeting to either offer your opinion, or just listen and observe, no obligation needed (we do not do a hard sell for volunteers, we have plenty of great / talented people on the team and more interested in future positions) however you are also welcome to be considered for a spot on our board. Remember, the board meets every 4th Monday of the month from 5:00-7:00 PM and presently we are staying at our previous location in Appleton. Give me a call if you’re interested. 

Dave Wildner
Section Chair / Winnebago / # 1206
 
 
From the ASQ Website News Link:

Concerned as a citizen about how businesses act?

Involved in social responsibility endeavors at your corporation?

The SRO* is for you. We’re a new international movement that is helping define and shape the evolving practice of social responsibility in corporations and other businesses and organizations.

We discuss standards for social responsibility, how social responsibility can be part of an organization’s focus on quality, and examples of best practices in social responsibility.

Join the movement »

The SRO* is a partnership of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Greater Milwaukee Committee and Visit Milwaukee, but is not confined to the Milwaukee area.  Other corporations and organizations that share an interest in defining social responsibility and in shaping how that definition affects business and society are invited to support the effort by becoming sponsors of The SRO* — no matter where they are physically headquartered or operating.

ASQ was awarded the administration of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Social Responsibility by the American National Standards Institute. The U.S. TAG is the U.S. member of an international working group chartered with developing an international standard on social responsibility. ASQ’s involvement is a direct extension of its existing leadership role in standards development.

The social responsibility guidelines will be released in mid- to late 2010 as ISO 26000.

The ISO 26000 guidelines will cover seven core areas:

  • organizational governance
  • human rights
  • labor practices
  • fair operating practices
  • environment
  • consumer issues
  • Contribution to the community and society.
 
 
What a beautiful summer we have had here in Wisconsin, albeit a touch wet. Our friends & neighbors in Milwaukee have really suffered from the flooding. This too had an impact on the Experimental Aircraft Association Airventure. (EAA) I know from personal observation that the Fond du Lac County Airport has been over capacity for parking the birds, but what a great economic boost this will be for the Fox Valley. I have to say that now having lived here for four years, Wisconsin has exceeded my expectations and made me an extremely satisfied customer.

In an effort to reciprocate, my colleagues and your friends and co-workers who are the members of the board and volunteer chair holders are making me look good as they continue to develop & implement the programs for the 2010 -2011 ASQ Winnebago Section 1206 events year. I urge everyone to pay attention to this website and read your newsletter (you have the option to print it right off of the website if you like the ink on the finger method) and stay tuned. We have the entire program year booked and are working on programs for next year! In addition, our chair positions for working the business of the section are full and we have back-up help in most cases. You guy’s ROCK! However, everyone is invited as we turn nobody away from our meetings or offers to help us with the business of enhancing your career advancement through education and networking.

One of the exciting additions to our section to come this year is mostly due to one of our new volunteers who has taken the lead role in developing and hopefully successfully implementing a new student section at local universities. Darci Keplin is doing a great job of organizing this activity and even if the program does not achieve success, it is in no way a reflection on her efforts. Frankly, I think it is going to be really big, and she is starting small at the schools in Fond du Lac. (Marian University / UW FDL / Moraine Park Technical College) If this proves to be successful, there are plenty more great universities in the valley where we can continue to share the knowledge and wealth of our society.

A new activity under development at H.Q. in Milwaukee is the Social Responsibility development activity and associated International Standards that are in process of being developed by ASQ for the international business community. Thanks in part (my opinion) to the debacles of modern business failure and consumer rip-offs of our generation, the Social Responsibility and associated oversight committee and certification process should put some reaction plans to out of control business practices, including containment and corrective action development. I am hopeful that BP. may be the first to be “red tagged” once they actually clean up the spill and associated aftermath from the Gulf oil crisis. Anyway, below are some clips from the ASQ website providing information on that subject. I think its great, and wonder why we didn’t do this a long time ago.

For those of us working in manufacturing & quality, does it seem to you as it does to me, that the focus of quality processes and improvement is no longer on us, but more on the service industry, medical and business practices in general? Who knows, maybe we will actually be able to hold government accountable to the same standards which we in business are held to.

A guy can dream can’t he?
 
 
As we conclude our 2009-2010 Program Year and enter into the summer season, I again want to express my heart felt gratitude to the members of the board of your ASQ section. They not only have helped us create one of the most exciting and best attended event seasons, we have already booked most of our next program year. This is a tribute to both those hardworking volunteers on the board and you, the members who continue to show up and support the efforts that they put forth. It’s easy to become distracted with everyday life, business and family to put the section business lower on the priority list. I understand that as much as anyone else, however, our enthusiasm and support for the programs continues to gain momentum and praise. Again, I thank you all! 

I wanted to mention the following piece from Davis Balestracci Jr. who had led us through the Data Sanity program at our Spring Conference, because as I continue to read through his outstanding work, I am inspired by the collection of information he has assembled in his book, Data Sanity, A Quantum Leap to Unprecedented Results. (If you have not read his book, then by all means, you should, as it is what every Quality Professional must have in their required reading). 

Right out of the gate, in chapter 1, exhibit 1.1 on page 3 he has identified what he calls the “universal” process flowchart. If you haven’t seen it and want to, let me know and I will scan and email the page. My point is however, I think most all of us can relate to this true process map. He (like me) continues to emphasize that every quality issue is related to a process problem. The book defines it in detail, but in the beginning he outlines the chaos that is true of most processes. He then discusses the naked truth, that traditional statistics courses actually deny this existence, making application of the usual techniques (called enumerative statistics) incorrect. He goes on to point out that what quality improvement really needs are statistical techniques that allow for this variation by exposing it, then measuring  the effects of interventions to reduce this inappropriate and unintended variation, with the ultimate goal becoming consistent prediction. 

Although that statement, consistent prediction, is not as “sexy” as variation reduction, it speaks to the black & white truth of the reality of most processes. A process map is necessary and sometimes interesting, but are we truly documenting the actual process when we create a process map, or are we drawing a picture of what we believe someone else has designed as the process, so that those in higher places are not offended by the actual chaos that is the reality of the process? 

The quote, by Donald Berwick, MD, president and chief executive officer of IHI and stated throughout his work claims “Each system (process) is perfectly designed to get the results it is already getting”. There is several great quotes from other quality champions identified in his work, for example Jim Clemmer from “Firing on all Cylinders” who speaks of the 85/15 rule which claims that 85% of all work problems are controlled by the processes and only approximately 15% are caused by direct involvement of people working in the process, yet we tend to lay “blame” on the person responsible. There are many more great works that he references as well, but the bottom line is identified in the summary of that first chapter. All work is a process. 

This leads me back to where I started, which was to lay “blame” on our successful program year (I’m kidding of course). The position descriptions we have identified continue to evolve within our section management process documentation. Our long term goal as the Leadership Team of the section is to make the jobs we are doing today, not only easier for the future chair holders, but to make the job interesting and fun. We are working on our own processes within our team, nobody gets blamed for issues, but everyone is, and should be, praised for their efforts. 

I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming planned events for your section.  Have a great summer, be safe, have fun and keep fighting the good fight. Keep the Q in all you do!

Sincerely, 
Dave Wildner
ASQ Section 1206 Chair
 
 
Recently I attended the ASQ Section 1206 Spring Conference along with many of you. I don’t know what your opinion of the learning experience was, however I hope it was positive.  (Yes, I collected the feedback forms, but I sent them to the survey chair for analysis and distribution.) For me personally, Davis Balestracci was … dynamic at a minimum.  You have to admit his presentation technique is engaging.  I am interested in further discovering all the great techniques he has developed and documented in his book, Data Sanity.  If you, as a professional in the field of quality science, need to become more efficient at what you do to present information to top management, you need to read his book. (And who in quality doesn’t?)  My only regret with this conference is that we didn’t have enough time to learn more of what he teaches, and one or two day seminars do not do his work any justice.  Because of this, Woody (Treasurer) and I decided that we are going to present to the section as a mini session later this next program year, a portion of the great tricks we learned from Davis (with his permission of course).  We would also love to have him back at some future conference.

Speaking of the section, I want to take this moment to thank all of the fabulous people on YOUR section board. I have to admit, volunteering for anything is always difficult, especially in our super busy world. Balancing life, job, family, and the stuff that happens on a daily basis that you don’t plan for, which can take up the first 28 hours of the day, and then it all hits you that you forgot about this or that.  I first joined the board when I moved to Wisconsin in 2006, and I have to say – and I mean this with sincere gratitude; the members of the board and volunteers who help put together the Winnebago section activities, newsletter and website, and manage the business of the section are some of the finest, brightest and professional people I have had the pleasure to know and work with. (Did I also mention fun?) It is because of them that you have, in my opinion, the best of all the best – in networking, meeting / plant tour / training opportunities and more from your ASQ section. So I encourage you all, at a minimum, to come to the meetings and programs that they arrange for you. Let us know what you like and dislike about the programs (feedback forms) and continue to support YOU through professional development and recognition from ASQ. 

They truly are Making Good – Great! 

Sincerely,
Dave Wildner
 
First Post! 05/13/2010
 
Start blogging by creating a new post. You can edit or delete me by clicking under the comments. You can also customize your sidebar by dragging in elements from the top bar.