Section 1515 has begun its 2008-9 season of activities, and we are pleased with the success of two of our first events. The first event was a review of the upcoming changes to ISO 9001: 2000 (aka 9001:2008). Jay Stahan presided in a presentation and discussion of the changes. As one attendee mentioned, “I’m glad someone else took the time to read about the new standard and summarize the changes”!! As we know, reading standards is not the most enjoyable way to spend one’s time! Another session is planned with Section 1510 in December.

Sensormatic’s DFSS project included members from QA, Finance, Manufacturing, Marketing/Sales, Design Engineering, and Supply Chain services. The interdisciplinary team used many of the tools in a Black Belt’s tool kit (including DOE’s and FMEA’s), but felt the Voice of the Customer (VOC) process and developing a “House of Quality” (QFD) were particularly beneficial in allowing the team to meet both functional and cost goals of the project. By maintaining a Functional Scorecard based upon the QFD, the team was able to track actual performance compared to the DFSS plan in a simplified and easy to read format. Their post-launch assessment resulted in only one required design change!

Our thanks to Ron and the Sensormatic team for hosting an insightful event. It truly added to the attendee’s understanding of this DFSS project by seeing the product, the testing facilities and meeting members of the team.

Section 1515 plans more “on site” Best Practices meetings in the coming months. They are posted in this issue of the Variant as well as at our website www.asqpalmbeach.org. Please join us at future “Best Practice” events.

Jay Stahan,
on behalf of the Section 1515 Leadership Team