Section 0401
NEWSLETTER

October 2016 (Volume 66 - Issue 8)

Our objective: To increase awareness, interest, and involvement in Section activities and quality-related subjects. 

Visit our web site at http://www.asqmontreal.qc.ca/

1 - Next Event

7 - Voice Of The Customer 

13 - Section Education Program 

2 - Ad / Publicité

8 - Proposed Slate of Officers

14 - Executive Committee Meetings & Officers 

3 - Upcoming ASQ Events

9 - Welcome to our New Members

15 - Recertification

4 - The Editor's Corner

 10 - Organization Members 16 - Unemployed Member Dues

5 - A Word from Your Section Chair

11 - Other ASQ Events

 17 - Feedback/Advertising Rates

6 - Had You Come to the Last Event

12 - ASQ News

1. Next Event

Date

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Time

6:00 PM

Place

Sheraton Montreal Airport Hotel

     555 McMillan Avenue
Dorval, Quebec
H9P 1B7
(MAP - DIRECTIONS)

ASQ Montreal Section 401 General Assembly
(18h00 to 18h30)

Agenda Items
1) Call to Order
2) Adoption of Agenda
3) Adoption of Previous Minutes
4) Chair Report
5) Treasurer's Report
6) Program Chair Report
7) Membership Chair Report
8) Election of Officers
9) Recognitions
10) Adjournment

The General Assembly will be followed by dinner (18h30 -19h15) and then this month's presentation:

Acceptance Sampling Techniques



Bassem Bouslah

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Pratt & Whitney Canada


**************************************

Please join us on October 26th, 2016 for our annual General Assembly, followed by our guest speaker present the topic of Acceptance Sampling Techniques.

2. Ad / Publicité

ABOUT THE EVENT

Our event speaker has studied the complex interactions between production, quality and maintenance in manufacturing systems, and has developed a new approach of designing acceptance sampling plans. Acceptance sampling constitutes an important branch of Statistical Quality Control. In his presentation, he will give an overview of acceptance sampling techniques. Also, he will discuss the limitations of existing acceptance sampling standards such as ISO 2859, ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 and the MIL-STD-1235 series. He will present an overview of the new trends in designing sampling plans, that simultaneously address quality needs and machine maintenance intervals.

YOUR SPEAKER

Mr. Bassem Bouslah received his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 2009 from the National Engineering School of Tunis, and M.Sc.A. and Ph.D degrees in Industrial Engineering in 2011 and 2015 from École Polytechnique de Montréal. His main research interests include Operations Management, Manufacturing Systems Design, Simulation, Quality Control and Supply Chain Analytics. Bassem is a member of the Order of Quebec Engineer (O.I.Q.) since 2013. He has been an ASQ Certified Six-Sigma Black Belt since 2015. He has held various research positions in Risk Management, Lean Enterprise, Inventory Management and Data Science at Pratt & Whitney Canada since 2012. Previously, he worked as a Lean Six-Sigma consultant.
 
*****************************************

Cost
ASQ Members ($40)
Non-Members ($50)
Student Members only ($30)
**Students who do not wish to take part in the dinner and networking may arrive
at 6:45 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. presentation ($5 only)**

 NOTE: For students wanting to get to the Sheraton Hotel, you can easily take the STM Express City Bus 747 which will drop you off at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport.  After which, you may take the Sheraton's free shuttle to get to the hotel.  Click HERE for more details.
After the meeting, an ASQ member will often be available to drop off a student at a nearby bus or metro station.

Bring your business cards and be ready to network.

To register for any event or for more information on events please contact:
Dr. David Tozer

E-mail: event@asqmontreal.qc.ca

3. Upcoming ASQ Events

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Next month, we will have as our speaker Mr. Xavier Guillard, President of PPM Metrology in Bromont, Quebec. His presentation will be on subjects in metrology, with a focus on standards and compliance.

Please make a point to join us!

4. The Editor's Corner

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB


A "quality" tee for me.
                         

*******************************************************

Any feedback?  Click on the link in the bottom right corner of this section and let me know.  Thanks.


5. A Word from your Section Chair

By Francois Pageau, Section Chair


A few weeks ago, an electronic company announced a massive recall of their newly released flagship product because of a safety issue. What would you do in Samsung's shoes? Some possible choices are the topic of a USA Today article, an article posted on the ASQ website. What is also of concern is that at the end of September, there were reports of “self-destructing” washing machines made by the same company: in rare cases, some of the affected machines could experience “abnormal vibrations” when washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items. The problems could result in “personal injury or property damage”.

I am no insider to the Samsung boardroom, so I don’t know what happened between the drawing board and product release. I do know however that the design, manufacturing and commercialization of new products require coordination, rigor, discipline and nowadays, courage. Courage to tell upfront senior management what is possible and what is not within a set time frame. This is their technical peoples' responsibility to advise management of the technical difficulty to meet deadlines. Yes, it is often possible to shrink development and testing time by being “innovative”. I personally have worked with very smart people, but have yet to meet one person that is innovative every minute of his/her workday. The fact is that only the techies will know if there is real innovation taking place or if they are just cutting corners just for the sake of meeting deadlines and pleasing management – in the short term at least. Once advised, management could then decide to cut corners anyway, but my view is that this doesn’t happen in great companies.

Another problem is the lack of appreciation of risk. According to Wikipedia, the ISO 31000 (2009) / ISO Guide 73:2002 definition of risk is the 'effect of uncertainty on objectives'. Well-intended people are not necessarily well-versed in risk assessment methodology. The two components of risk to account for in design, development and testing are the probability and the consequence of an event, and these should be quantified to guide engineering and management decisions. I believe that in practice, the consequences are more precisely figured out than their corresponding probabilities. Probabilistic risk assessment methods exist, but few developers make a thorough use of them.

Please understand that my comments above are meant in their generic sense and not particularly directed to any specific organization. By the way, I own a Samsung 4K curved screen TV and it works fine with outstanding color rendering.
 

Give me your feedback by e-mail

6. Had You Come to the Last Event

By Eric Hosking, Senior Fellow of Quality at PWC, BApSc in Mech Eng, MBA, CQE, CSSBB and CQA

Had you come . . . Optimization of Snow Removal

On September 28th, our section hosted two representatives from the City of Montreal:  Yvan Levesque, Optimization Advisor, and Simon Cloutier, Director, both from the Organizational Performance Department City of Montreal. They described the application of lean principles to the problem of snow removal in Montreal's 19 boroughs.


Montreal, it turns out, does not benchmark well against other large urban areas at similar latitudes for a number of reasons. In short we have lots of snow, we have expectations that the streets are clear, the sidewalks are clear and that the bike paths are cleared simultaneously, and we achieve this by moving the snow completely out of the city. Other northern cities tend to have less snow and/or use other technologies to eliminate the snow.


Given that Montreal lifts snow off the streets using a snow blower and then trucks it out of the city, our speakers undertook to improve the productivity of the truck convoys, graders, and snowblowers that you see in the streets after every major snow storm. They described a very successful effort starting with the process baseline measurements and then the improvements they put into place. Their work was undertaken in the winter of 2015/2016.


The detailed baseline data was not immediately available and our guests had to use innovative techniques to gather it from the convoys, working in concert with the crews and the management teams. Using lean tools, they were able to propose specific recommendations for the structure of the convoys, number of pieces of equipment, and their placement on the street. These were tested in 4 of the 19 boroughs. The outcome was a demonstrated potential to save literally millions of dollars in snow removal costs when the recommendations are fully deployed across all 19 boroughs. This work, we were told, will continue in this coming winter.


The evening was punctuated by numerous questions from the very receptive audience. The interaction with the speakers continued long after the official presentation was over.




7. Voice Of The Customer

By Eric Hosking, Senior Fellow of Quality at PWC, BApSc in Mech Eng, MBA, CQE, CSSBB and CQA


The ASQ holds a section VOC teleconference quarterly. The most recent was one was on September 22nd, 2016. VOC chairs heard news from ASQ HQ and shared best practices. We, Montreal Section 401, shared our popular Pecha Kucha conference format.

ASQ HQ have conducted a world wide survey of both members and customers to understand how well the ASQ is perceived, and how well it serves its member base. Note: Customers are non-members who use ASQ services such as certifications, publications, etc. The goals were to:

  • Refresh Net Promoter Score (NPS);
  • Get insight into drivers of satisfaction;
  • Identify opportunities to increase the ASQ experience for members and customers.

The survey has shown important trends that are mirrored in the survey work we do in Section 401. Among them:

  • The ASQ is very much appreciated. 84% of the membership is very satisfied with the ASQ and 87% would recommend a membership to customers.
  • It is most appreciated for its training and information, and its enhancement, advancement and standardization.
  • There is a gap in the support to health care and this is reflected in our local surveys that indicate a desire to provide more about health care in our conference series.
  • The biggest membership challenge, also noted at the Section 401 level, is how to attract and retain young members.

Our next executive meeting is our annual planning session where we will lay out the 2017 conferences/activities. We will use these results and our own survey feedback to build our agenda.

On a final note: Our last conference saw two speakers from the City of Montreal talk to us about how they used Quality principles to streamline snow removal in some of Montreal's boroughs. It was a very well received conference scoring over 95% 4s, good, or 5s, very good, on our scale of 1 to 5.

Give me your feedback by e-mail

8. Proposed Slate of Officers (January - December 2017)

By Raymond E. Dyer, ASQ Senior Member, CMQ/OE, & CQA, Nominating Committee Chair


 In accordance with Sections 5.4 and 6.1 of the Section Operating Agreement, the Montreal Section 401 Nominating Committee comprising of I. Alli, N. Dickinson, D. Tozer, and R.E. Dyer (Nominating Committee Chair), proposes the following Slate of Officers for January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017:
Chair: Robert Demers
Vice- Chair: François Pageau
Secretary: David Tozer
Treasurer: Chantale Simard

To nominate a different slate of officers or obtain further information, please contact Raymond E. Dyer at redyer_19@yahoo.com; alternate nominations for Section officer positions can be made by petition of at least 10 members of the Section. Please note that to hold a Section Officer position; one must be a Full, Senior, or Fellow ASQ member in good standing affiliated with the section.

9. Welcome to our New Members

SEPTEMBER 2016

Unavailable at time of publishing. Check back in November 2016.

10. Organziation Members

ASQ Montreal Section thanks our Organization Members:

QMI - SAI Global

11. Other ASQ Events

ASQ Montreal Francophone Section 404 (Thursday, October 27, 2016)

The next event for the ASQ Montreal Francophone section will be their Annual General Assembly, to be held at l'École de Technologie Supérieure .  For more information, click HERE.

ASQ Ottawa Section 407 (Wednesday, October 19, 2016)

Product Registration and Quality Management System Requirements for Medical Devices

Overview

Medical devices are highly regulated in all phases of the product lifecycle. The current compliance environment is evolving quickly as standards and regulations try to keep pace with technological developments and as emerging and established regulatory schemes attempt to make devices safer and more effective. This presentation will introduce the product registration and quality management system requirements currently in place for medical devices in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. The presentation will also highlight some significant challenges that industry compliance professionals will be facing within the next few years.

About your presenter

Rob Matheson is a medical device compliance professional with over 16 years of experience managing regulatory affairs and quality management systems. He has worked on a number of products including clinical chemistry tests, point of care devices, sleep and neurodiagnostic systems, genetic sampling and specimen storage devices, electronic health records and most recently, cardio acoustic diagnostic systems. Worked for large and small organizations (global giants like Abbott and Covidien/Tyco, innovative newcomers like DNA Genotek and CV Diagnostics). He holds the ASQ CMQ/OE certification and is a BSI 13485:2003 certified auditor.

PLACE: Centurion Conference & Event Center, 170 Colonnade Road, Nepean, ON. K2E 7J5
Networking: 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Buffet Style Dinner: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
(Please bring $20.00 cash for the buffet)
Presentation: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Students who do not wish to take part in the dinner and networking may arrive at 6:45 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. presentation - $5.00 at the door.

For full information and to register for the event, click HERE.

12. ASQ News

Section Affairs Council (SAC) Election Results
Congratulations to the three regional directors elected by SAC to the ASQ board of directors: Barrie Simpson (photo on left), (Region 6B: Northern and Central California, Northern Nevada, Hawaii), Don Brecken (photo on right), (Region 10: Central, Southern, and Northern Michigan, Northwest Ohio, Northwest Indiana), and Jim Creiman (bottom photo), (Region 8: Northeast and Southeast Ohio, Western Pennsylvania). They will serve on the board from January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2018.
Read the biographies . . .

The Quality Professional
What are the requirements to be called a quality professional? This question has sparked a heated debated on ASQ’s LinkedIn page. The debate explores the case of an employee who was recently promoted to a quality manager position and has begun referring to himself as a quality professional. This employee had never served in a quality role before and held a degree in art. See if this topic sparks a similar debate at your next section meeting.
Follow the discussion . . .

Extraordinary Results From ASQ Section Education Initiative
Remarkable improvements in a school district in the Appalachian Mountains of Northeastern Tennessee is a direct result of ASQ Section 1106 involvement. Historically, school attendance and graduation rates were low. Section volunteers used quality tools such as data analysis, benchmarking, best practices, strategic planning, and Baldrige criteria to establish standards and improve test scores. Reading, math, and writing skills significantly improved. Why not challenge your section to use their knowledge of quality tools to make a similar difference in a child’s future?
Read the Kingsport Times news story . . .

The Role of Quality in Education
To continue their support of quality in education, ASQ Section 1106 is also sponsoring two area school superintendents for this year’s ASQ Quality Education Conference and Workshop (QECW), November 11 – 13, 2016, in Houston, TX. Share with your members the top 10 reasons to attend the QECW and read an interview with the kick-off keynote speaker, ASQ chief executive officer Bill Troy.
Read the blog posts . . .

13. ASQ Montreal Section Education Program 2016

By Dr. David Tozer, Ph.D., ASQ CQE and SSBB, Education & Audit Chair


Having ASQ certification gives you an edge in the market and can significantly increase your income.

ASQ Certification often leads to higher paying employment.  The money invested in education and certification increases chances of finding employment quickly in the down sizing environment we live in.  People who take the section sponsored refresher courses, and spend at least twice as much time as spent in the classroom on self study, have an 80%, or better, chance of passing the examination on the first attempt.

Certified Quality Engineer Topics include: quality concepts, cost of quality, human resources, team formation and group dynamics, inspection, metrology, sampling, reliability, quality standards, quality audit, statistics, design of experiments, process improvement, liability, and modern management methods for improving quality.

Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Topics include: quality concepts, cost of quality, enterprise wide deployment, business process management, project management, team formation and group dynamics, define, measure, analyze, improve, control, lean enterprise, statistics, design of experiments, and design for six sigma.

Certified Six Sigma Green Belt Topics include: quality concepts, cost of quality, enterprise wide deployment, business process management, project management, team formation and group dynamics, define, measure, analyze, improve, control, and statistics.

Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Topics include: quality concepts, quality planning, customer focus, quality standards, project management, cost of quality, team formation and group dynamics, human resources and improvement.


Certified Quality Auditor Topics include: quality concepts, team formation and group dynamics, management responsibility, audit objectives, audit preparation, audit conduct, audit reporting, sampling, and basic statistics.

Certified Quality Inspector Topics include: quality concepts, team formation and group dynamics, geometry, metrology, reading drawings, mechanical processes, statistical process control, inspection, and sampling.

Calendar and Registration Form

Questions? In house courses, etc.: Dr. David Tozer:  (514) 694-2830, education@asqmontreal.qc.ca

14. Executive Committee Meetings & Officers

Section Executive Committee (Leadership Team) Meetings are held at different locations, starting at 6 PM. The next regular meeting is tentatively scheduled for:

November 2, 2016

Consult the List of Your Executive for 2016 here

Note that all dates planned are subject to change.  Please call ahead to attend by contacting the Section Chair or the Section Secretary.

Note: Available on request for section members only are minutes of section executive meetings (contact the Secretary) and section operating budget information (contact the Treasurer).

15. Recertification

Is Your Recertification Due?

Look at your wallet card to see when your present certification is due to expire. If it says December 31, 2015 you should contact ASQ by phone at 1-800-248-1946 and explain your situation to them because your certification has lapsed and you are no longer certified.

If your wallet card states June 2016 you have until December 31, 2016 to get your journal to me. Why so long? Because you have an expiration date of June 20, 2016 plus or minus six months. To assist you with documenting your Recertification Units (RU) please use the Electronic Recertification Journal, or a paper equivalent, to document your claims. Please also complete the "Documentation Required" log for each section of point that you are claiming and attach all of the relevant evidence thereto. Journals with just the "ASQ Recertification Journal Application" page completed and nothing else will not be accepted.

Maybe you’ve decided not to recertify because (a) you are unemployed, (b) no longer in the quality field or perhaps, (c ) your employer no longer will pay for it? Think about this, your certification belongs to you and no one else. Your name is on it and no one else’s. It is portable and you can bring the recognition to your next company. Remember how hard you had to study for it? If you let it lapse you must rewrite the exam. Do you know where you will be employed in a year or so? Well congratulations if you do because most of us don’t and it could come in handy then, it sure won’t hinder you to retain it. The cost at $69 USD to renew one certification is much less than it would be to rewrite. If you are unemployed then contact ASQ directly at 1-800-248-1946. Ask for “Recertification” then explain your unemployment situation to them. You may be able to have your due date extended. But at $69.00 that is not really that much if it will help land your next job?

If you are a member of Section 0401, Montreal then contact me (Norman) at certification@asqmontreal.qc.ca to find out where to send your journal. If you are NOT a member of section 401 then contact ASQ directly at 1-800-248-1946.

Please DO NOT EMAIL your journal to me. Use Canada Post or equivalent.

16. Unemployed Member Dues

Unemployed ASQ members receive a discount on their membership dues based on consecutive years of membership.

Consecutive Years of Membership Dues Discount
1-4 50%
5 or more 100%

Eligibility Criteria

  • You must be a Full, Senior, or Fellow member.
  • Any years as a Forum, Associate, or enrolled student do not qualify.
  • You may submit this application only after being unemployed for at least 90 days.
  • You must be actively seeking employment.
  • Retired or self-employed members are not eligible. ASQ offers a similar benefit for retired members.

Benefits

  • Your basic membership dues for the current membership year will be paid or partially paid by ASQ. Basic membership dues exclude
    additional Forums and Divisions, journals, and additional Sections (Seniors and Fellows—you keep your extra benefit of choice).
  • You may participate in the program for no more than two years in your membership lifetime. You must complete an application for the second
    year of participation.
  • After renewing your membership, please visit Careers in Quality to search for jobs, apply for positions online, and post your resume for employers to view.

NOTE: The following links require that you be logged into your account before you try to activate them.

Download the ASQ Unemployment Program Application PDF (105 KB)

NOTE: The information related to this benefit was correct at the time this Newsletter was issued.  But as the ASQ has the right to revise its benefits, please contact the ASQ for the latest information on this benefit.  It may be revised or discontinued at any time.



17. Feedback

Please send us your comments about the ASQ Montreal Section 0401 E-Newsletter (topics, layout, length, etc.).  Do you want to contribute an article (English or French) or a good idea?  Contact us by e-mail.

Advertising Rates (per ad)

Ad

 ASQ Member

Non

member

First Ad

$200

$240

Regular size

$135

$165

Small size

$100

$125

10% discount  for 2 to 7 issues
25% discount for 8 issues (full year) 

Contact Michael Bournazian for more information


Pass it on

We invite you to forward this Newsletter to friends and colleagues who may be interested.

The ASQ Montreal Section 0401 Newsletter is prepared by and published for its members.
Section web site: www.asqmontreal.qc.ca
Newsletter Editor: Michael Bournazian, Eng.
The opinions expressed in the Newsletter are those of the authors, not those of ASQ. Articles may be reproduced if the source is stated
If you are an ASQ Montreal Section member and wish to receive this Newsletter by e-mail, please go to www.asq.org and revise your profile to add mailings from your section.

How to Opt Out.

This e-mail is being sent in the course of normal Montreal Section  business to the e-mail address of record. We are not responsible for forwarded e-mails. If you no longer wish to receive e-mail communications from the Montreal Section (your section) of ASQ, please visit your ASQ account to unsubscribe or reply to this message, indicating Opt Out in the e-mail body and in the title.

Keep in mind that by doing this you will no longer receive ANY correspondence from your section. If you are concerned about too many emails, ASQ has suggested limitations about how many e-mails may be sent to the section members each month. This does not extend to career notifications.