Prof

QA6640 Chat Room Transcript April 18, 2007

Prof. Atkins 20:16:42
The chat room is closed for this evening.

J Scott 20:13:29
Thanks You Professor.

Prof. Atkins 20:12:36
If there are no other questions then we can close the chat room for this evening.

There will be NO more chat rooms this semester.

Prof. Atkins 20:11:59
Gleiter,

I will check my email and send a copy of the Final Exam to your proctor at that alternate email address. Please check with your proctor tomorrow and verify that your proctor received the Final Exam.

Gleiter 20:10:47
Professor Atkins,
I forwarded an alternate email address for my proctor to you at Professor_Atkins@yahoo.com. Is this okay?

Prof. Atkins 20:08:37
The proctor email addresses provided by the following two students are NOT Valid:
Kimberly Geiter
Natasha Romero
The above two students need to provide me with a VALID email address for their proctor.

A copy of the Final Exam has been emailed to the proctors of the following students:

Daira Komic
Michael Ginn
Bradley McGuire
James Scott
Glenn Stevens
Christopher Wellman

If your proctor did NOT receive a copy of the Final Exam by email then please have your proctor send me an email tomorrow and I will forward a copy of the exam to your proctor by reply email.

You should contact your proctor and make arrangements to take the Final Exam anytime before Wednesday, April 25, 2007. Your proctor must email your completed Microsoft WORD exam to me no later than 7:35 PM on that date. Your proctor may email your completed exam to me early but not after the deadline.

Students who will be taking the Final Exam on campus should meet in Room M-133 on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 before 7:35 PM. The exam will be distributed at 7:35 PM and each student will have 60 minutes to complete the exam. The exam is open book and open notes, but it is NOT a research exam. It is a discussion exam. You may use a computer or you may write you answers on paper by hand. It is your choice. Computers will be available in the room next door to M-133 if you wish to use a desk top computer to compose your answer to the Final Exam.

Prof. Atkins 20:07:03
The thirty-minutes are now up. Responses posted after this message appears will not be evaluated for chat room participation credit.

Students who have proctors should contact their proctors and make arrangements to take the Final Exam before next Wednesday at 7:35 PM.

If you have questions, you may ask them at this time.

hanane el hamraoui 20:06:57
sorry i sent it twice. The recent one is the one I wanted to post. Sorry again

Gleiter 20:06:37
Kimberly Gleiter
kgleiter@hedonline.com

When I began my career in quality, I not only had very little experience but also very little training and education on the topic. I was hired to help a company implement the requirements of ISO 9000 – a concept I had just “heard” of one year prior. Fortunately, I was assigned to be trained by someone with a lot of experience. Nearly 11 years later I look back upon what I consider a rather successful career and have come to learn how much I have yet to learn. Training and experience are both important, but I have found that there are gaps in my knowledge due to a lack of a) a formal education in quality and b) direct responsibility for various tasks. I previously worked for a large company with numerous departments that were accountable for many of the things that I am now personally responsible for in a smaller company. For example, in my previous company our procurement department handled supplier selection and evaluation. Other than reporting (infrequent) supplier quality issues, my role with suppliers was minimal. With this realization over the years that there is much more to learn, I embarked on the journey towards a masters’ degree in quality assurance at SPSU. Once I’ve completed this task, I hope to feel complete in my knowledge of QAM. In addition to this, I am planning to take the CQA exam. I am not taking it in order to add another certification to my resume, but rather to gauge my knowledge and understanding. I am grateful for the amount of experience I have gained over the years. There are some that are in the opposite situation from me. They have the education, but no experience. This can be a challenge because they do not always know how to apply the concepts they have learned. I think a quality professional needs a well rounded amount of each; education, work experience, certifications and ongoing “refresher” training.

hanane el hamraoui 20:06:01
Hanane El Hamraoui
helhamra@spsu.edu

A quality professional is someone that has been adequately educated before working in the field. The education is very important to qualify him for the job he will be doing in any company. Graduate programs such as master of science of quality assurance could be a good example of a high level of education to qualify a quality professional. As the author mentioned in page 150, the quality professional has an educational combination of both interesting and mandatory fields: business and science. Having then the business knowledge implies a knowledge of finance, marketing, project management, and other components in parallel with a good knowledge and master of statistics (basic statistics, statistical process control, design of experiments) could absolutely qualify someone for the quality analyst or engineer title. Knowledge of quality standards, ISO series, Total quality management, etc is also recommended. The work experience is relevant to qualify an individual as a quality professional because dealing in a daily basis with quality problems, working with auditors, and other quality professionals would increase the knowledge of quality, give more insight how to treat and solve quality issues, and help achieve the expertise in quality assurance. Long years of experience is highly appreciated in the job market because of the critical aspect the quality gets. Certification as well is very helpful to be a quality professional. Being a certified engineer or holding certificates such as Black belt, Green belt are also recommended and highly appreciated to qualify a quality professional.

cwellman 20:04:16
Chris Wellman

The quality professional must recognize that they have many customers beyond those who receive your organization product or services. Those customers include; manufacturing, purchasing, engineering, contracts, and yes suppliers. We need to ensure we act as a good conduit of information to ensure people have the knowledge to prevent problems.

While I do not agree with a lot of what Lamprecht presents, I would agree that some business education is important to engineering training. After all, regardless of our job, it is important to understand our impact on the efficiency of the organization. So, it is necessary to know what effect our decisions will cause. We cannot blindly make decisions without regard to their cost and a good understanding of business will help one make good decisions.

In addition to engineering and business education, it is a good idea to add professional certification to your credentials. While certification in your field will not ensure you will be a success, it can give you the foundation necessary to build a good base of knowledge. Regardless of your profession, it is never a good idea to go off on a tangent with jargon, as Lamprecht points out you can alienate others. Rather use your certification to help educate others on why you do what you do. People need to understand there are consequences to a process that is not in control and knowledge gained through certification and professional engineering and business schooling will allow you to communicate why certain controls are necessary.

Work experience, is paramount to your ability to be efficient and communicate well with your peers in other professions. Quality professionals must ensure they mentor new personnel to ensure they learn that how to work efficiently with peers (customers) like; manufacturing, purchasing, engineering, contracts, and yes suppliers in addition to those who receive product or services from your organization. As Crosby points out you will do much better choreographing your moves like a ballerina than enforcing like a hockey player.

Finally, like the ballerina, keep a good stage presence above all, do not let emotions control you, keep focused. You must endure a lot of stressful situations. There will be times when you feel like you are alone, but if you keep your head and principles other people will fall in with you, they are just waiting for someone to do the right thing.

Komic 20:03:29
Effective quality professionals play a key role in making success of any organization. Since the goal of any organization is to improve the achievement of all aspects of the organization, the quality professionals must be engaged in the process of improvement instruction to meet the needs of all elements of the organization.

All professionals must be aligned with the others to achieving the goals of the organization. They must be focused on improving procedures to reach those goals and they must be dynamic and focused on changes that occur on ongoing bases. The quality professionals must be able to work and interact with other functions within company to support designing assessments, supplier engineering, reviewing and discussing operating procedure changes, supporting establishment of the organization charts and hierarchy, be responsible for data reviews, statistical analysis e.t.c. The organization achievement results and other data are the most effective part of the organization plan and should be considered the main focus for all quality professionals.
The high quality professionals must be able to focus on researching, understanding and implementing improved organization instruction for all elements of quality system, particularly those at risk of not meeting the standards.

The responsibility of these individuals is also in ability to document the quality system requirements. They shall be able to use the statistical tools and implement process improvements, reengineering e.t.c. They should be able to provide the training to others within organization.

Rich Weaver 20:03:22
The American Heritage dictionary has this to say about ‘profession’:
(1) An occupation or vocation requiring training in the liberal arts or the sciences and advanced study in a specialized field.
(2) The body of qualified persons of one specific occupation or field.

So, by definition, a person cannot be a ‘professional’ in a vacuum. It requires a certifying body, or at least some sort of defined process to determine whether a given individual should be included in the member set, or not.

To be counted as a doctor or a lawyer, for instance, requires definite and verifiable training, certification, accreditation. The defining requirements for “quality professional” are not as well-defined. There are, however, certain generally accepted minimum requirements.

For starters, a quality professional should have work experience in the quality field. It may be one year or thirty years, but I’d say that you definitely should be able to show some hands-on experience.

But experience, by itself, is not sufficient to grant professional status. I know some co-workers who boast of 25 years of experience in quality, but I’d describe them as having one year of experience repeated 25 times! Their motto seems to be “Been there, done that”.

To be a ‘quality professional’ requires an active and inquisitive mind. It requires keeping up-to-date on the latest trends (Lamprecht would say ‘fads’) in Quality. It involves a continuous desire to learn more about different aspects of the field, whether it’s new problem-solving techniques, lean production, TQM, statistical control, data analysis – the list goes on and on.

Now, an active and inquisitive mind is difficult to see. As I pass people on the street, I (usually) can’t tell if they have an active or inquisitive mind. One way to help discern this is by educational history. But the possession of a diploma is not enough, in itself. A person may have gotten a diploma 30 years ago, and learned nothing since then. On the other hand, I’ve met hourly inspectors without a diploma, but there interest and desire to learn more about quality makes them more of a quality professional than some of my colleagues in the Quality department.

So my core definition of a quality professional would definitely include current, ongoing training. An the certification by ASQ, for me, serves as a good operational definition of proficiency and knowledge in the quality field. You definitely don’t pass the CQE exam without quite a bit of study!

So in summary, work experience supplemented by evidence of training and desire to learn are characteristic of a quality professional.

hanane el hamraoui 20:02:58
A quality professional is someone that has been adequately educated before working in the field. The education is very important to qualify him for the job he will be doing in any company. Graduate programs such as master of science of quality assurance could be a good example of a high level of education to qualify a quality professional. As the author mentioned in page 150, the quality professional has an educational combination of both interesting and mandatory fields: business and science. Having then the business knowledge implies a knowledge of finance, marketing, project management, and other components in parallel with a good knowledge and master of statistics (basic statistics, statistical process control, design of experiments) could absolutely qualify someone for the quality analyst or engineer title. The work experience is relevant to qualify an individual as a quality professional because dealing in a daily basis with quality problems, working with auditors, and other quality professionals would increase the knowledge of quality, give more insight how to treat and solve quality issues, and help achieve the expertise in quality assurance. Long years of experience is highly appreciated in the job market because of the critical aspect the quality gets. Certification as well is very helpful to be a quality professional. Being a certified engineer or holding certificates such as Black belt, Green belt are also recommended and highly appreciated to qualify a quality professional.

gstevens 20:02:01
Glenn Stevens
Email: anandale@comcast.net

In your own words, discuss the concept of a Quality Professional, including education, credentials, work experience, certifications, and any other criteria you believe would be relevant to qualify an individual as a Quality Professional.
A quality professional is one who has dedicated his knowledge development, skills and expertise to the body of knowledge that is contained within the quality profession. For a such a person to be deemed a quality professional they should demonstrate extensive working experience in any of the following quality subject areas: quality control, quality assurance, quality auditing. Certification greatly enhances the qualification and credentials of the quality professional. Such certification should be provided by reputable quality professional organizations such as the American Quality Society, Quality Assurance Institute et al.

The quality professional at a minimum should be knowledgeable about the historical development of quality, the different quality management frameworks and their importance (Total Quality Management, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Statistical Quality Control, Just In Time, ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards etc). He should have more than a cursory knowledge of the systems used, and the various methods used to solve business problems. Familiarity with such concepts as cause and effect analysis, root cause analysis, human factor engineering, management reporting are all critrical areas that the quality professional should demonstrate competence in.

Additionally the quality professional should be knowledgeable about the contributions made to the profession by such contributors as Fegianbaum, Frederick Taylor, Herbert Shewart, Dr. Edwards Deming, Philip Crosby, Dr. Joseph Juran, Dr, etc.

The quality professional should have demonstrated capabilities and experience with the methods for solving problems, understanding the causes for variances, be able to implement activities for continuous improvement. Working experience with quality control tools and methods, including statistics and supporting software significantly adds to the professional repertoire.

The quality professional should demonstrate continuous learning and ongoing education to stay current in his field and abreast of new developments.
Membership in reputable quality organizations, attending seminars and providing input to the profession are highly desirable qualities of the quality professional. Other forms of contribution may include providing white papers on pertinent subject matter in the fields. A formal training at accredited tertiary learning centers (colleges, universities, vocational schools) in the area of quality assurance are added traits that a quality professional should seek to demonstrate.

J Scott 20:01:42
To me, the concept of quality encompasses many things. The major focus has traditionally been about product quality. The quality profession has evolved over the past 20 years from product quality to more of organizational quality. Organizational quality, I feel, is the big picture. If the organization is performing correctly, then product quality will surely follow. The ISO standards discussed in Chapter 13, are a standardized way to induce organizational quality. Still, organizations can have standards, but fail to perform effectively and efficiently. Inefficient or ineffective standards only produce ineffective organizations. The challenge for the Quality professional is to be able to take an objective look at the organization, and have the knowledge and ability to effect change.

The Quality Professional should be educated, from the standpoint of being capable of learning and grasping concepts that often differ from the status quo. A Quality Professional with a business degree may be as effective as someone with a technical degree. It is the ability and will to learn that is important. Above that, I feel further training in a broad range of disciplines is important. One should understand human nature, process design, ISO, safety, environment and any other aspect of the particular business that affects it’s ability to operate effectively. However, I do feel that it should be a priority for a Quality Professional to understand “narrow and deep”. Meaning, one should be a jack of all trades but be well versed in a particular area. This is often a personal interest choice but nevertheless will come in handy.

Work experience provides prospective. A person from a business environment will have a different prospective that someone from a manufacturing environment. I think it is good to diversify but the professional should understand their core strengths and attempt to capitalize on them.

I feel certifications are important. Certifications are a communication device. They simply communicate that someone has satisfied a given standard for understanding in a particular knowledge area. Certifications are important in the business and will get you in the door but one must be able to back it up with results. Otherwise, the credibility of the certification is in jeopardy.

Above all, I feel the ability to work and improve whatever you do is the key to Quality success. Couple this with knowledge and drive, and you have the qualities of a good Quality Professional.

Natasha_Romero 20:01:00
Natasha Romero
nromero@spsu.edu

I believe that there are many factors which could possibly qualify an individual as a Quality Professional. The first factor that I feel is the most important is work experience. There is a lot of knowledge that comes along with years of experience. I feel that an individual with a substantial amount of experience in the quality field should be considered a Quality Professional. As an example in my current work environment there are two Quality Engineers of the two one of them has worked in the quality field for 25+ years if ever I have questions or need advice on a quality issue I always approach him first. I do this because I know that with the years of experience he has he more than likely has dealt or observed the current situation that I am in. I feel that his insights from years of work experience are something that I could learn from.

Another aspect is education which is very important. It is very good for an individual to have an education or to have taken courses in the quality field in order to be considered a Quality Professional. I feel that in going through the MSQA program that this will qualify me as a Quality Professional. I feel that a formal education sets the good solid foundation for an individual to begin to work in the quality field or any field for that matter.

Many organizations have put a large amount of emphasis on certifications. I do feel that a certification such as an American Society of Quality (ASQ) certification can add to the credentials of considering an individual a Quality Professional. I do not feel that a certification alone without work experience work or formal education can qualify someone as a Quality Professional. I feel that a formal education in quality assurance holds more merit than a certification.

I feel that work experience and education combined are the best qualifications of a Quality Professional. Like I previously stated I feel that an education sets the foreground for an individual to build upon with work experience.

Another aspect that needs to be considered in the question of what makes a Quality Professional is the aspect of the way in which the individual handles themselves. Any “Professional” should have integrity and good work ethic.

Michael Ginn 19:59:08
Michael Ginn
Email: ginnmichael@hotmail.com

The subject of quality professionalism is very complicated. It depends on the field quality an individual goes into. I will focus this discussion on the automotive quality field. The automotive quality field in my opinion is the most challenging. A person in the quality engineering field should have at a minimum a BS in Industrial Engineering, technology field, or any other major with a quality/statistical focus. The IE field of study in my opinion would prepare an individual for a quality engineering job the best. The main strong points or credentials should be statistics, technical writing, strong communication skills, six sigma, and strong computer skills. A great certification resource is the ASQ organization. I would strongly suggest a quality professional working towards achieving certifications through ASQ. A good starting point for certification is the CQE (Certified Quality Engineer). I would also look for a quality professional to be actively involved in their local chapter of ASQ. This involvement will allow the professional to build relationships within the quality field and to benchmark from others experiences. I also believe an individual with some plant floor experience will strengthen their ability in serving in their quality position. Most of all a quality professional must present their self in a professional matter. This includes a clean cut appearance and to be fully organized in their daily work environment.

Prof. Atkins 19:34:57
CHAT ROOM DISCUSSION QUESTION:

You have thirty-minutes to answer the following chat room question:

In Chapter 13 of the James Lamprecht textbook, “Quality and Power in the Supply Chain,” the author discusses the concept of Professionalism in relation to Quality.