January 2001

Vol. 3, No. 1

Here's this month's issue of Quality eLine, a newsletter from PQ Systems, Inc. that provides industry news, case studies, quality tips, and information about software products and training services.

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In this issue, you will find:

Feeling better: Children's Hospital improves patient satisfaction with SPC
Nobody, adult or child, really looks forward to a hospital stay, but Children's Medical Center in Dayton has been able to improve its patient satisfaction scores through an educational intervention strategy facilitated by SQCpack.¨ To learn more, go to childrenshospital.htm.
Quality Quiz: Another quiz from Professor Cleary--and last month's winners!
Winners of last month's quiz (and a copy of Quality Gamebox) are Lisa Cecere (Stadtlanders Pharmacy); Jim Chapman (Surtape Technologies); Dena Helsinger 
(Good Samaritan Hospital); Pam McCaulley (PCS Phosphate Co., Inc.); John Meyers (Parlec, Inc.); Steven Naegele (CTM Corp.); Gary Phillips (Culstom Bldg. Products); Ray Remillard (Saint-Gobain); and Bruce Werling (Lincoln Foodservice Products). Congratulations!

And now for our January question. After you have read the question, click on the response that you think is correct. As in previous quizzes, if you answer correctly, you can register to win a free copy of Quality Gamebox.

You are the plant manager for a paper manufacturing company that produces school supplies and stationery. Your quality manager, Franklin Benjamin, is willing and eager, but you have recruited him from recent graduates of a local university that does not require statistics as part of the undergraduate business degree. You find that you are in a position of giving on-the-job training to your quality manager when it comes to statistical analysis and other gaps in his education. This, you are finding, is a challenging job.

Benjamin has come to you today, pleased at his statistical prowess and the improvement he says has occurred on one of the production lines. The process is in control, and the printout from SQCpack has executed a chi squared test that shows a normal distribution of the data. Benjamin has done a capability study and observes that the Cp = 1 and the Cpk = -1. is positive and is negative.

When he sees that the Cp is 1, Benjamin says that the process must be capable. What is your response to his assertion?

a. He is right. 99.73% of the parts being produced are estimated to be within specifications;
b. The process is not capable; the output is above the upper spec limit;
c. The process is not capable; the output is below the lower spec limit;
d. The process is not capable; half of the data set is above the upper spec limit.

Six Sigma and more: Let's Look at the Numbers 
In his monthly column, David Schwinn muses about the importance of selecting the metrics that will reflect what's important. Go to sixsigmaandmore.htm.

Charts you can use: Measuring snowfall from the comfort of your computer
 Record snowfall has left major cities, including Buffalo, NY, virtually paralyzed. Look closely at Buffalo's snow for November and December. Go to chartsyoucanuse.htm

PQ's home town: Top 10 areas in "IT IQ" includes Dayton
Statistics compiled by Brainbench, a Virginia company specializing in technical certification, the Dayton-Springfield area ranks 7th nationally in a recent ranking of "IT IQ." Brainbench determined the ranking through a series of tests including Windows NT Administration, Windows 98, Unix System Administration, HTML 4.0, RDBMS Concepts, C, Java 1.2, and Visual Basic 6.0. The top 10 areas are:

  1. Seattle
  2. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
  3. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
  4. Minneapolis-St. Paul
  5. Milwaukee-Racine, Wis.
  6. St. Louis
  7. Dayton-Springfield
    8.
  8. Austin
  9. Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, N.C.
  10. Las Vegas

 

Copyright 2001 by PQ Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.