We're off to an exciting start in 2007 here at InfinityQS. Our User Group has been planning the user conference for several months, and we're pleased to announce that Infusion 2007 will take place June 3-6 in the Washington, D.C. metro area.  For more information on the presentation topics, keynote speaker, location and registration details, visit the Infusion 2007 Web site. If you register before March 1, you will be entered in a drawing to win one of two $75 Gift Cards from Amazon.com.

 

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey that we sent to you in early January. Your responses will help us to better serve our customers. Everyone who completed the survey was entered to win an Apple iPod Nano. We selected the winners at random, and are pleased to announce that Joe Elrod of Siemens Power Generation and Anthony Orzechowski of Abbott are the winners.  

 

If you have not done so already, please be sure to download ProFicient Build 2 from this link. This upgrade includes Lot Acceptance Sampling, enabling you to evaluate the quality of incoming materials before accepting them into your manufacturing processes.

 

Our new 24/7 customer support option is generating a great deal of interest. Customers with a Corporate License Agreement (CLA) can now purchase Gold Level Support as part of the Annual Maintenance Agreement. This service provides access to round-the-clock technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for designated employees. Contact your account manager for more information.

 

We want to hear from you. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on our products and services.  What enhancements would you like to see added to our software?  How can we better serve your organization?  Send an e-mail to suggestions@infinityqs.com with your input.

 

Mike Lyle to be Recognized in "Pros to Know"

President and CEO Michael A. Lyle will be featured as one of the "Pros to Know" in the upcoming issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. Nominations were reviewed for individuals in the software and service provider industries who have personally helped increase the recognition of Supply Chain as a strategic function within the enterprise. Lyle was recognized for his work with eSPC-- a solution that provides executive-level analysis of live supply chain quality data, as well as more detailed analysis for supplier chain managers and quality professionals.

 

Last years winners included Tim Carroll, Vice President of Supply Chain Operations for IBM, Dick Conrad, Senior Vice President of Global Operations Supply Chain for Hewlett-Packard Co., and Gary Allen, Senior eCommerce Manager for Vodafone.

 

Additionally, eSPC was featured in Supply & Demand Chain Executive January issue. The article, Brewing Up a Smooth Supply Chain, provides insight into the future advances in supply chain management technology, highlighting the innovative features of eSPC.

 

Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive's user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage.

 

 Medtronic Collects and Consolidates Data with ProFicient

InfinityQS recently announced that Medtronic is taking advantage of ProFicient's Lot Acceptance Sampling feature, a new enhancement in Build 2A. "With ProFicient, we can monitor our processes from beginning to end, said W. Garth Conrad, quality systems group director for Medtronic. View the press release on our Web site.

 

 

InfinityQS' Vice President of Statistical Applications, Doug Fair, talks about the "checkbox mentality" that many quality professionals fall into when it comes to SPC and certification. Doug Fair's article is published in "The Quality Insider"-- an e-newsletter published by Quality Digest.
 
You can solidify your quality certification system and leverage your SPC software by generating management reports, having regular quality meetings, and assigning someone the role of "SPC Champion". To read the full article, click here.

 

The Role of the Supply Chain in Quality Management

 

Today more than ever, product quality is highly dependent upon a company's suppliers. Vendors chosen unwisely could create a long-term problem for any manufacturer. Considering the issues of vendor consolidation, minimization of redundant suppliers and the ever-present customer demands for lower prices, vendor selection and management can have a profound effect on ultimate product quality.

 

Research indicates a notable upward trend in spending on Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM), specifically on technology solutions that mitigate risk. According to AMR Research, many businesses have dedicated funding for SCRM initiatives, and spending will continue to rise. With a 17 percent average budget growth rate from 2005 to 2006, 68 percent of companies in a recent study indicated that they are currently using SCRM technology, or plan to implement or evaluate it within the next 12 months. 
 

The demonstrated trend in the sharply increasing SCRM adoption can be attributed to several factors:

• The growing complexity and interdependency of the supplier base
• Increasing global competition
• Increasing costs of raw materials and labor, the pressure to reduce costs
• Stricter enforcement of government (FDA) regulations, increasing number of regulations

 

Where's My Target?

 

This quiz will test how much you remember from your college statistics 101 and SPC 202 classes. The questions are simple, but deriving the right answers will require reliance on several basic statistical principles. 

 

Given
There is a certain bottle filling operation. The label's stated weight on the bottle is 750ml. The bottle can physically hold 760ml. Any fill less than 750ml is an under fill. Any fills over 760ml will run down the side of the bottle and make a sticky mess. The goal is to set the fill head so that the rate of under fill is 13 bottles per 10,000.  Note: The fill head can be reliably adjusted in increments of 0.1 mil.

 

The range chart (n=5) is always in-control with an R-bar = 3.9542ml. However, due to excessive operator tampering, predictive statistics from the X-bar chart are not reliable. The bottle can physically hold up to 760ml. Any fills over 760ml will not allow the top enough room to be properly installed.

 

Question 1: Where should the fill target be set to the level where no more than 13 bottles per 10,000 are under filled?

Question 2: With the fill target optimized, will you expect any of the bottles to be over filled beyond 760ml?

 

Question 3: If the answer to question 2 is yes, about how many bottles per 10,000 will be over filled?

 

To win, you must correctly answer all three questions. Please submit your response by replying to this e-mail. The first two respondents with the correct answer will receive an eSPC windbreaker. The answer and the winners will be announced on this Web page on March 1.