posted 18 April 2001 02:00 PM               

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See you down life's highway!

Eric

posted 18 April 2001 02:09 PM               

1. My name is Eric Frischmuth
2. Quality Engineer focused on quality system development.
3. Medical Device Industry
4. ETHICON Endo-Surgery, a Johnson and Johnson Company. Located in Cincinnati, OH
5. 13 years in quality and 8 in Operations. 7 years in the military before that.
6. Play guitar and raise water lilies! Got the "Greenraisin" tag in college when a friend started calling me that. I asked him why and he said, "Just how normal is a green raisin?" The rest is history!
7. My pet peeve is the lip service given to quality
8. If I could change the world of quality, I would REQUIRE rotation from operations and other functions through the quality organization or function. The best ops folks are the ones who've been through QS, QA, or QC, and the best QA folks have the scar tissue from ops!

My degree is in Business Administration.

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See you down life's highway!

Eric

posted 18 April 2001 04:31 PM               

2. Quality Manager for Thule in CT and I oversee the QMS in both our US manufacturing facilities (Ill). I have done some consulting work, but mostly just for friends and their referrals.

3. Roof Racks and Accessories for Automobiles. I worked in the Medical Device world too, once upon a time at US Surgical Corporation.

4. Noted above.

5. 12 years as: Senior Technician, Quality Engineer, Quality Manager.

6. Not really sure that I am much different than anyone else. Nothing distinctive that I know of.

7. Senior Managementâs separation of the Quality & Business Systems and lack of Quality Concepts.

posted 18 April 2001 06:57 PM               

Alistair Stuart Dyer (Scottish)

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do

Consultant/Lead Internal Auditor/Management Representative. Work for a company that allows me to do outside consulting.

3. Industry you're in or have been in

All tier II B3 Automotive (started at the bottom)

4. Company you work for and location

Various, commute from Michigan to mid-Ohio for main company I work out of.

5. Length of time in quality function

Too Many!!! (23 years)

6. Something personal that sets you apart

Adaptability/no hair

7. Your pet peeve in quality

Paradigms

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?

Attack Over. Get rid of the term quality system and replace it with a term like management system, or manufacturing system, or business system.

Influence schools to teach courses in cause and effect, prevention vs detection, root cause analysis etc.... They all affect how we live our everyday lives and are not limited to the umbrella of quality systems.

ASD...

posted 19 April 2001 09:02 AM               

1. Randy Daily

2. I am an ESH Professional working in a safety office on a US Army installation as a contractor.

3. The industry I started in would now be called nation building...I served as an infantryman in the Marines during Viet Nam. I then went into the Army Reserve as a member of Special Forces (yep I wore a green beenie)and retired from the National Guard with about 28.5 years service. I am a former police officer from Arkansas spent 11.5 years with Lockheed as an aircraft mechanic (licensed A&P). I worked for ITT Industries in Environmental Safety where I got introduced with ISO 9000 and jumped on the 14000 bandwagon and got myself RAB certified as a Lead Auditor (not easy).

4. I now work for Charis Corporation as a Safety Specialist in the Ft.Irwin safety office (I hate it..the job not the company).

5. I started in Quality in 1990 with Lockheed as an Inspector.

6. My bullet and knife wounds which mean I don't scare real easy or get intimidated either.

7. How people tend to fake it and claim a good job.

8. Hold folks more accountable with a 34" Louisville Slugger

posted 19 April 2001 09:38 AM               

1. Name - Carol X. (yes, my last name starts with an x)
2. Job Title - Quality Assurance Manager
3. Industry - Currently: Sheet Metal Fabrication
4. Job Shop north of Chicago
5. Length of time in quality function - OUCH - 23 years
6. Something personal that sets you apart - hardest working mom - I have 5 kids - ages 6 months to 18 years
7. Your pet peeve in quality - lip service and fads
8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do? - eliminate it - companies are going to make good or bad product iregardless of what we do - I say let them sink or swim on their own (I know, that would put me out of a job)

posted 19 April 2001 10:01 AM               

Name:
Freeda Hoeweler (very German)

Job Title or explanation of what you do:
My job title is Quality Engineering Technician, which is not representive of what I do. I pretty much maintain our QS registration. I am pretty much your average pee-on.

Industry your in or have been in:

We make metal and plastic components for a variety of different companies. Both automotive and non-automotive.

Company you work for & location:
I work for a machine shop in Southern Indiana (across the river from Louisville, KY). We occupy the old Louisville Slugger factory. Yes, until 5 years ago Louisville Slugger bats were made in Indiana.

Length of time in quality function: Unlike most you, I have pretty much started in the quality game. I have been in it for only 6 years.

Something personal that sets you apart: Not too much except, I am very tall and have a lot of red hair.

Your pet peeve in quality: My pet peeve is that upper management thinks that quality is the responsibility of the quality department. When they don't hold the mfg. department accountable for the quality of the parts they run.

If you could change the world of quality, what would you do: I'll have to get back with you on that one.

posted 19 April 2001 10:05 AM               

1. Name: Daniel Edward De Yarman (French, well De Yarman is anyway)

2. Job title: Quality Assurance Coordinator - All the responsibility and none of the authority of the Management Representative.

3. Industry: Custom Automated Industrial Machinery

4. Company and location: Acro Automation Systems, Inc. (QS-9000 TE registered) - Glendale (suburb of Milwaukee), WI

5. Time in quality: grueling, almost two years

6. What sets me apart (condensed version): I am a Christian, which helps me to realize there are more important things in life than "quality assurance". I am quite young, only 25(as of last week), and have no college degree. I was offered this position after a registrar and consultant had been picked and it was my job to make sure we got registered. We did so in a little over a year. I pretty much learned as I went along. Took a few good courses along the way, though.

7. Pet peeve: Lack of management support or management turning a deaf ear to what is really going on (penny wise, dollar stupid).

8. What I would change: Put everybody in someone else's shoes for one week so they can see how there actions or lack there of make a difference, not just in terms of quality, but of the bottom line.

posted 23 April 2001 08:19 AM               

1. Name

Laura McFarlane

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do

Owner/President of Odyssey Quality Management
(fancy words for self-employeed consultant for several local businesses)

3. Industry you're in or have been in

Primarily automotive 20 years with GM/Delphi prior to going out on my own. Most clients have some automotive.

4. Company you work for and location

Above....Rochester, NY

5. Length of time in quality function

Most of above career; with stints in manufacturing

6. Something personal that sets you apart

Well, CarolX has me beat on the kids(I have 3 8-14); so I'll have to go with the fact that I still actively play softball and soccer - which, if you do the math, my mother thinks I'm too old for. I've also recently been amazed that altho there are alot of women in quality at the larger companies - in the smaller companies I'm dealing with, I'm still "unique."

7. Your pet peeve in quality

Fancy names for the same thing- and manager that "latch" on and think its a matter of more training.

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?

posted 23 April 2001 09:18 AM               

1. Name- Howard Atkins
2. Job Title or explanation of what you do
Consultant for QMS mainly for QS9000 and VDA, represent companies that are exporting from Israel for supplier development, audits etc.
3. Industry you're in or have been in
Plastics mainly for automotive but also electronics and areospace, also electronic parts
4. Company you work for and location
International Quality Services, Israel
5. Length of time in quality function
10 years
6. Something personal that sets you apart
I live on a Kibbutz in the desert, south of Beer Sheva, with 3 kids 9-16
7. Your pet peeve in quality
An automatic assumption that SPC is the same for all industries
8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?
Make the management really understand that they need to be committed

posted 23 April 2001 05:19 PM               

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posted 25 April 2001 10:37 AM               

1. Name:
Steve Truchon

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do:
Quality Engineer which is kind of inaccurate but thats the title they gave me. I am responsible for the ISO/QS system here, also I am the Safety Director and recently was awarded the "privelidge" of being the official environmental coordinator, so I guess I'll coordinate the environment now too?

3. Industry you're in or have been in:
Currently in the fineblanking industry. For those who do not know, its basically precision metal stamping (yes, its possible, and its not an oxymoron). Previous to that I have been in precision machining, culinary arts, marine biologist, and Naval SpecWar Operator (Hooyah Randy)

4. Company you work for and location:
Precision Resource - Florida Division Fort Lauderdale near the beach

5. Length of time in quality function:
hmmmm 2001 minus 1980 equals WAY TOO LONG!

6. Something personal that sets you apart:
Im a musician trapped in an engineers body.

7. Your pet peeve in quality:
"We've been doin it this way for 20 years and now you say..." - Not many things will cause my gut to "grrrrrr" more that this.

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?
Teach "quality" as a life concept in the public school system. Duct Tape the mind of the stereotype Production Manager. Go back in time and re-route myself to the Keys as a shrimp fisherman.

posted 26 April 2001 10:52 AM               

1) Rick Goodson

2) Dual job titles: Quality Services Director & Master Trainer. I'm the resident quality 'gear head' at the organization and also responsible for developing, designing, and teaching training programs in quality, operations, manufacturing. I also consult (we call it direct help) for our members (explanation in 4) below).

3)Worked in manufacturing (electronics, electro-mechanical, mechanical) in goverment, industrial, and automotive industries. A couple of Fortune 100's and a bunch of smaller companies. Now in training and consulting.

4) Work for MRA - The Management Asociation, located in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin. We are a management association with approximately 2,200 member companies. MRA provides advise, training, and direct help in most organizational areas (emphasis on Human Resources) except accounting and IT.

5) 22 years in quality and a few (9 years) in purchasing, engineering, and operations management.

6) Vegetarian, organic gardener, grow most of what I eat. (Yea, I have heard them all...Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?, etc.)

7) Pet Peeve: ISO implementations to get the registration only and then complain nothing got better and it costs alot.

posted 26 April 2001 10:54 AM               

1. Name
Really is Jim - Really is Biz (plus a bunch of extra letters unpronounceable by humans )

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do
ISO/QA Manager plus records manager plus customer service PPAP coordinator plus.... statisticion .......plus.

3. Industry you're in or have been in
Metal/process manufacturing - currently Agricultural - tractor/combine / light industrial (backhoe & crawler) parts.
In past life (s) - I spent 10 years as a piecework welder - Taught shop floor SPC thru a local colleage program for 3 years.

4. Company you work for and location
General Grind (really do work for the genreral grind) - midwest USA

5. Length of time in quality function
16 years - 10 + years member of ASQ - Certified CQT trained in CQE body of Knowledge (do't expect me to remember all of it tho )

6. Something personal that sets you apart
We have 6 american paint/pinto horses all but 2 raised here "on the ranch"(if you can call 8 acres a ranch).
(Why 6? we need them for the 5 grandkids and they keep the weeds down)

7. Your pet peeve in quality
Inability of many managers to understand the results of focused effort, and their role in the QMS.

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?
Gather all the "flavor of the day" programs together & give each a clear identification.
All too often a "New idea" is developed that just is an extension of Demming & Juran theories.

posted 14 June 2001 01:46 PM               

1. Name

see above.....

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do

Consultant/trainer/auditor for hire. President/Owner BQA

3. Industry you're in or have been in

Been there done that, so to speak...specialize in Electronics for defense & mil stds...heavy experience in textiles, plastics and metal stamping, TE Supplement stuff as well as services (food and retail)

4. Company you work for and location

BQA Training and Consulting, Central Massachusetts

5. Length of time in quality function

nearly 30 years. (ouch)

6. Something personal that sets you apart

everything sets me apart, they broke the mold

7. Your pet peeve in quality

actually in general..." SEMANTICS" hang ups

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?

Exit stage left...LOL

make everyone dance to the same drummer...teach "common sense" and problem solving principals (even at the preschool level !!!)
When I write the training (lesson)plan for that one that is effective, I will become a multi-millionairess!!!!!

posted 14 June 2001 09:35 PM               

1. Name -- Graeme C. Payne (the origin and spelling is totally English.)

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do -- Metrology Engineer, or Quality Engineer if the first draws a blank stare. I am currently supposed to be writing calibration procedures and implementing "better" measurement methods for an electronic calibration lab. I actually do some of that, when I get a break from working on the QMS. (The registration audit is in six weeks!)

3. Industry you're in or have been in -- I am currently working with the electronic calibration lab of a major airline. Previous work was doing the same for the Navy (civil service) and a brief year as a technical writer and ISO guru for a software company. My specialization is the care and feeding (aka calibration) of electronic test and measuring instruments. Although one position with the Navy was in Environmental Effects Testing, where I got to bash things to bits, freeze and boil them, shake them to powder, fog them with salt mist and take them to very high simulated altitudes. Great fun!

4. Company you work for and location -- I am a contractor working at a major airline in Atlanta, GA (as they say on a popular game show ...)

5. Length of time in quality function -- 20 years.

6. Something personal that sets you apart -- how many other "left-handed red-haired eyeglass-wearing cat-loving English immigrant former Marines" do you know?

7. Your pet peeve in quality -- Total Quality Lip Service.

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do? -- Restructure business education (undergraduate and graduate) so that most textbooks are by (or based on the work of) Deming, Juran, Shewhart, Feigenbaum, Covey, Crosby, Peters and a few others - and make them required study for supervisors promoted from within.

(My secondary goal is to win the lottery and retire. But alas! I know too much about statistics and probability to make that work!)

posted 14 June 2001 09:42 PM               

Thanks in advance, I need the largest sample size possible to crunch the data and post a benchmarking matrix.

ASD...

posted 15 June 2001 05:15 PM            

1) Name: Christina Forakis, BS in Organization Behavior; MS in Organization Development; OJT in Business Mgmt (20+ years)
2) Job Title/What you do: Organization Development Practitioner; Leadership & Team Development; Strategic Planning; Relationship and Role Mgmt; Conflict Resolution; Facilitation;
3) Industry: Private Consultant; State government civil servant
4) Company/Where: Sacramento, California
5) Length of time in quality function: 30+ years; there is no job that is not involved in some aspect of a "quality function, although my years in sales, working with customers, and working for the state have certainly honed my acumen in 'quality'.
6) What Sets you apart: Approach. I approach everything from the perspective that everyone is in the same boat; right, that doesn't always turn out to be true, but it's where I always start. What has created sustaining long-term relationships of trust has been my approach to everyone I work with or encounter. Soft, genuine, clear, and open.
7) Your pet peeve: Lip service
8) If you could change one thing: Lip service

posted 16 June 2001 01:17 PM            

1. Name:
James Huening (pronounced Heening)(verrry german)

2. Job Title or explanation of what you do: Quality Manager, QS-9000 ccordinator (guru in training) Lead inspector, Calibration, etc...etc...etc.. (I am 50 percent of the Quality department)

3. Industry you're in or have been in:
Oh Lordy lets see...30 years in manufacturing, of which about 15 have been in the quality field.

4. Company you work for and location: Small (about 90 souls), general machining company in Cincinnati Ohio.

5. Length of time in quality function:
See above. Started out as a line inspector for a hydraulic cylinder mfg. Moved to final testing (try to blow them up. Fun but messy when you succeed), then to management before moving to my current position.

6. Something personal that sets you apart: Mmmmm... Well how many 46 year olds can say they have flown a B-17 Flying Fortress. (did it twice.) Also was the first child born in Cinci area 1/1/55.

7. Your pet peeve in quality:
Same as others. Non-accountability. Idea that quality is for the quality department. Lip service from upper management.

8. If you could change the world of quality, what would you do?:
Can't really add too much to what others are saying. Seems that the only functions that "Quality" should be performing are training, calibration, and auditing. Everything else should be handled by other functions. Were talking about business practices here.

Sure have been pleased with the quality of the people populating this board, and am happy to be a part of it. Thanks to everyone.

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Low tech is better than no tech.

[This message has been edited by JRKH (edited 16 June 2001).]