For those with interests in Six-Sigma applications attend our December monthly meeting. Over the course of the year, we offer our members nine (monthly) opportunities to meet, each month on the second Monday (September through May) and benefit from an interesting program. The networking offers valuable connections to Quality Professional colleagues. Come join us, whether as a new entry to the industry or a long-time member there s always something new to learn. You might just catch the spark that launches your next chapter of life. December Program: Six Sigma + Theory of Constraints Principles Applied to the Healthcare Industry When: Monday, December 9, 2013 6:00 PM Networking and Dinner 6:45 PM Section News and Announcements 7:00 PM Program 8:30 PM Depart Where: Mills River Restaurant 4467 Boylston Highway (Hwy 191 and 280), Mills River, NC 28759 Directions: From I-26 and the Asheville Airport exit (Exit 40), continue on Airport Road (NC Highway 280) past the AVL airport about 4.5 miles. The restaurant is located at the intersection of Highways 280 and 191 and the landmarks are the Marathon gas station and the Food Lion Plaza. (This is on the left side of the road as you continue South and West of Asheville.) We will be meeting in the events room. Program Brief: A for-profit hospital in rural western Virginia was experiencing significant delays in processing patients through its pre-admission testing protocol. By combining the tenets and philosophies of Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints, this same hospital was able to reduce patient wait time by as much as 70%, improve employee morale, and improve hospital patient satisfaction scores. Our speaker s presentation for December will explain the key points and methods that led to these significant quality improvements.
About the Speaker: Dr. Todd Casey Dr. Todd Creasy is a professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Dr. Creasy is principal at Bridgepoint LLC consulting, where he has worked in a variety of industries including manufacturing, trucking, hospitality and mining/construction. As a consultant, his primary focus for both project work and training in Lean Six Sigma is healthcare. As a guest speaker, panelist, trainer and project manager, his consultancy has taken him internationally and to many of the 48 contiguous states. Todd holds a doctorate degree from Case-Western Reserve University as well as a MBA, M. Sc. in Finance and BSBA. He is certified as a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma and considered a Lean Architect. He has published in academic and practitioner journals, is quoted in news print, and has appeared on Fox Business News. Chair s Corner The Wonderful Holidays We Americans have a wonderful holiday structure at the end of each year the Thanksgiving and Chanukah/Solstice/Christmas/Kwanzaa holidays, repeating each year, and at such an ideal time of the year. Within a few weeks, these Holidays embrace some of the most fundamental of our precious ideals family, faith, caring and sharing. Perhaps we deserve as much. With so much attention and time devoted to business and personal goals beginning with New Year s resolutions and continuing throughout the next 11 months, so the close of the year should direct the focus toward the values of life. Used to be Thanksgiving marked the commencement of this special season, except for this year, some marketing directors thought that opening the stores for business at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day was a good idea, whilst silently ignoring the fact that steals away the time with family employees should rightfully expect as part of a Thanksgiving Holiday. In many people s opinions, that premature Black Friday was an unnecessary thing, compromising fundamental values for the sake of the dollar. Quality time with family and friends is precious, and need not be forced into further short supply. The whole concept of balance in life and quality of life reminds me of the wide repertoire of The Beatles music. Over the several decades of their magical mystery tour, they demonstrated a rare ability to bring us music that spanned from light and whimsical, to deep and thought provoking. Consider as
example, the wide gap between Ob La Dee, Ob La Da and I am the Walrus. At places in their musical journey they brought us fun and frolic, and at other points overloaded us with mental imagery pondering life s timeless challenges. So it is with our own lives, finding the right balance between work and family. Having spent much of the past two months in international work in the Mid East, realizing that in the Islamic world, none of these Holidays are recognized there, it further focused my thoughts on balance in life. Of course, the Islamic peoples have other similarly precious cultural Holidays. So with that thought, Best Wishes for a wonderful holiday season. Hopefully, your Thanksgiving brought happiness, focus on family, and sharing of a meal. Remember the reasons for the season. I hope you will gladly put aside work, make family plans, and enjoy all the wonderful aspects and heart felt connections of this special time of year. NEW NEWSLETTER FIELD Share one brilliant idea. Contact the Section 1103 Secretary, Amitav Das, at adas852987@aol.com. CONGRATULATIONS to Newly-Certified ASQ Quality Professionals: Kathryn B. Shaw Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) Justin Blackwelder: Certified Calibration Technician (CCT) Nick Robbins: Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) Brandon Finley: Certified Quality Inspector (CQI) Travis Silvers: Certified Quality Technician (CQT) Diane Hix: Certified Quality Technician (CQT)
January Program: TBA QUALITY JOBS jobs openings, and people seeking jobs Larry Adams is seeking a Quality Engineering position: Larry is a Quality Engineer who along with a practical knowledge of quality systems exhibits strong Materials Engineering experience in metallurgy and plastics development. Larry s problem-solving approach centers on lean and six sigma experience to quickly identify problems, determine root causes, and to implement changes in process and inspection. His experience also includes QMS development, auditing, corrective/preventive actions implementation, team facilitation and training, quality data management, metrics development and analysis, process flow development, document control and customer support. Larry s familiarity and experience with both QS9000 and ISO 9000 compliance would provide outstanding leadership to maintain and improve quality management systems along with significant cost savings. He can be contacted at larryjadams@bellsouth.net
ASQ Certification Schedule for Local Exams Exam Date Dec. 7, 2013 Mar. 1, Jun. 7, Oct. 4, Dec. 6, Application Deadline Oct. 18, 2013 Jan. 10, Apr. 18, Aug. 15, Oct. 17, Biomedical Auditor (CBA) X X Calibration Technician (CCT) X X X HACCP Auditor (CHACCPA) X X Manager of Quality/Organizational X X Excellence (CMQ/OE) Master Black Belt* (CMBB) X Pharmaceutical GMP Professional X X X Quality Auditor (CQA) X X X Quality Engineer (CQE) X X X Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) X X X Quality Inspector (CQI) X X Quality Process Analyst (CQPA) X X X Quality Technician (CQT) X X Reliability Engineer (CRE) X X Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) X X Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) X X X Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) X X X *See Website (www.asq.org) for Master Black Belt Portfolio Deadlines Note: This above listing is for access to the locally administered examinations. Certification examinations are held at UNC-A. ASQ notifies test candidates of the building and room location as well as the scheduled times for each exam. Questions? E-mail our local Certifications Exams Proctor, Lula Moon, at qualitypledge@aol.com.
2013- ASQ Carolina High Country Section 1103 Leaders: Section 1103 Chair Gary Scalise Secretary Amitav Das Treasurer Roy Keithley Programs and Vice Chair Larry Adams Programs Committee Lou Rawls Certifications/Examining Lula Moon Recertifications Larry Bradley Membership Open Internet Liaison Tracee Humes Nominating Open Auditing Rob Hughes Invitation to join LinkedIn group All members are invited to join the LinkedIn group named: ASQ High Country Section 1103-Asheville, NC, USA. This local group provides opportunities to share communications such as technical discussions, upcoming events, job openings, chapter organizations and networking. We look forward to having you share and to view productive and interesting discussions on this LinkedIn group. Stay Connected Copy and paste these addresses and links into your browser: ASQ on the web: http://www.asq.org/ ASQ Training: http://www.asq.org/training-and-certification.html ASQ Membership: http://www.asq.org/membership/why-become-a-member/overview.html http://www.ashevilleasq.com http://www.asq.org/sections/mini-sites/1103/index.html *** NOTE *** Meeting cancellations are posted on website by 2:00 pm on meeting day