This Monday, May 24, the American Society for Quality (ASQ) brings its annual World Conference on Quality and Improvement to St. Louis, Missouri. For three-plus days, some of the “best and brightest” in the field of quality are coming to one place to share their insights, real-life successes, and some of the challenges in developing, implementing, and maintaining quality management systems.

The WCQI agenda looks like this:

• Thursday-Sunday, May 20-23 – Preconference courses, such as the CQA exam refresher, and leadership meetings;
• Monday, May 24 – Conference opens; keynote address; lectures, presentations, and networking;
• Tuesday, May 25 – Keynote speech; lectures and workshops; and
• Wednesday, May 26 – Workshops, a Six Sigma Forum panel discussion, networking, and the closing session, which includes the presentation of the International Team Excellence Award.

There are presentations and workshops for everyone, from those who are just getting acquainted with quality to those who want to add to their already extensive knowledge of quality concepts and techniques.

Sponsors and exhibitors at the World Conference include:

• Bizmanualz;
  
• Abbott;
• Boeing;
• GE Healthcare;
• The Juran Institute;
• Minitab; and
• Northrup Grumman.

Coincidentally (or not), the ASQ’s event takes place at the same time as National Small Business Week in the U.S. (Wouldn’t it be great to get some cross-pollination of ideas between these two outstanding events?)

If you’re going to be at the WCQI, please look us up; we’re at booth #1013. If you can’t make it, keep watching our blog. We’ll be giving our take on the World Conference in the coming days.

ASQ officially has joined with SME, AME, and the Shingo Prize, to create an industry standard lean certification.  The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) and Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing have been collaborating on an industry standard for lean certification for years (originally released in 2005).  ASQ and the Lean Enterprise Division of ASQ have reached an agreement with the SME, AME, and the Shingo Prize to begin offering the same three-level lean certification consisting of bronze, silver, and gold levels of attainment.

Each level requires the completion of multiple lean projects, demonstrated lean education hours, and a lean portoflio write-up.  Details of the lean certification can be found at the SME website. ASQ members may contact the Lean Division for more information or go to the LED Bok & Certification Site.  ASQ plans to offer the first lean certification exam at the 2010 World Conference in St. Louis.

Part two continues the Lean Manufacturing discussion with Quarterman Lee, General Alexander Haig and Dan Miklovic.

A discussion of Lean Manufacturing and its origins broadcast by many PBS stations and syndicated on cable. This Lean Manufacturing segment of “World Business Review” provides a concise summary of Lean and may be useful for those who are new to Lean or who want to introduce the concepts to others.

Is a senate candidate that preaches lean an oxymoron?

The Lean Network is an Australian not-for-profit organization run by lean practitioners, for lean practitioners with the explicit purpose of disseminating the lean body of knowledge known as LEAN THINKING. Members voluntarily share information about their lean implementation experiences in a spirit of cooperation and willingness to help each other.

The Lean Network meets on a monthly basis for lean Site Visits or lean Knowledge Sharing Meetings.  Lean events occur on the Third Tuesday of each month alternating between a SITE VISIT or a MEETING at the Dept of State and Regional Development in Parramatta, NSW, Australia.

Looking for lean six sigma news stories?  The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper has a site focused on their Lean Six Sigma mentions in the news.  Any WSJ story that mentions lean six sigma is available for easy reading.  If you are looking for references to lean six sigma in the news media then this is a great place to start.  Check it out.

http://topics.wsj.com/subject/l/Lean-Six-Sigma/3124

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) has created the Lean Registry as a lean community.  The registry is free so you do not have to be a member of SME to join.  The Lean Registry works as a searchable database of lean practitioners.

Although it is easy to sign up to become a member, one must complete a lengthy survey of your lean interests, lean experiences, and what you are looking for in terms of lean assistance or support.  Once you have become a Lean Registry member, you can search for others with similiar interestes, join various interest groups, or join in the conversation with blog posts or comments.  If you are looking for a database of lean practitioners, then the SME Lean Registry is a good start.

Ok, so you are reading this blog and wondering — “Are there other Lean Blogs?”  You bet, below is a list of some of the various musing about lean and six sigm that you can find on the web.  There are a lot of serious thinkers here. 

This webinar presents the results of a project that explored the application of process improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma, to services offered in the public sector. Comprehensive field research identified success factors along with some common organizational barriers. Specific recommendations were developed to overcome the challenges identified and initiate a Lean Six Sigma based process improvement program that sustains for the long term.