Speaking of Quality

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I have been an ASQ member since 1990 and have served continuously as an ASQ member leader (aka volunteer) for 30-plus years. One of the many benefits of volunteering is the opportunity to observe, up close, how ASQ goes about practicing what it preaches.

Quality is not a single field, but in fact the integration of knowledge from many fields of science, technology and management. This can be seen by looking at some of the quality gurus and their more well-known contributions.

After a presentation, it’s important for me to read the reviews from participants in order to know what worked well and what I should change with future audiences.

Recently I attended two separate meetings where the topic of Job 1 and Job 2 was discussed.  This topic was new to several of my coworkers and it was something I had not heard discussed in probably 20 years.  For those of you not familiar with Job 1 and Job 2, allow me to explain:

Smart manufacturing, like many other industry “smart” initiatives, harnesses a plethora of integrated people, process, and technological elements to drive successful value creating outcomes.

In 2020, seeking to engage and contribute as a new member of the ASQ Board of Directors, I volunteered to participate in a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force.

ASQ empowers individuals of the world to achieve excellence through quality. It is composed of passionate people who use their tools, ideas and expertise to make our world better.

In a technically focused organization like the American Society for Quality (ASQ), participating as a woman can be daunting at the start. While the demographics of the organization have shifted over time, many more technical roles have been seen as being “for men.”

A standard is a document established by consensus and approved by a recognized bodythat provides – for common and repeated use – rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.