53rd MINNESOTA QUALITY CONFERENCE
October 9 & 10 2006
Minneapolis Airport Marriott,
Bloomington, MN

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!

REGISTRATION     DAY AT A GLANCE     SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS     EXHIBITS     SPONSORSHIPS

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS:

SIX SIGMA:

111 & 112
Disproving the Myth: Lean CANNOT be applied to Non-Manufacturing Areas
Two Hour Presentation by Sara Braziller

Lean principles are not just for manufacturing. This two hour session is for anyone that wants to understand LEAN key concepts and principles and learn how this powerful methodology can be applied to office areas (e.g., Sales, Customer Service, IT, Accounting, etc.) and service industries (Healthcare, Insurance, Banking, Consulting, etc.)

113
Lean Six Sigma
Dave Baker

More details on this presentation will be available soon.

114
Driving Quality & Process Improvement through the Healthcare Value Chain: Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire’s Inspiring Healthcare Innovation Grant Program
By Rhonda Thorson

In December of 2005, in an effort to drive quality and process improvement throughout their supply chain, Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, a HMO network model, developed and implemented the Inspiring Healthcare Innovation Grant Program accessible to all contracted network providers—promoting a partnership for improvement. The importance of the grant program will be discussed along with a brief overview of those projects receiving grant monies.

QUALITY TOOLS:

121
Taking the Balanced Score Card to a Higher Level
Jeffery Leland, Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minnesota

This presentation is designed for anyone who currently uses the Balanced Score Card but wants to understand how they can increase their organizational performance by applying the BSC at multiple levels. This engaging presentation will highlight the application of the BSC at all levels of the organization and various-sized projects.

122
Monitoring Order by Picking Accuracy in a Distribution-Warehouse
Prem Borse, Ironwood Electronics, Inc.

Distribution warehouses in the United States have seen tremendous growth over the last two decades. Ensuring order-picking accuracy is the most vital aspect of quality in distribution warehouses. Order picking accuracy (OPA) is a measure of order accuracy and, thus, customer satisfaction.
Order picking is a complex and costly process, which is why distribution warehouses are usually optimized for cost efficient order picking systems. Monitoring OPA before shipment is an effective way to ship error-free orders to customers and also analyze errors or error patterns in order to take proper corrective actions. Control charts, an effective process monitoring tool commonly used in manufacturing industries can be used to monitor OPA.
This presentation talks about development of control charts based on geometric distribution and demonstrate that the developed control charts methodology is effective in monitoring order picking accuracy. It is recommended that distribution warehouses should utilize these charts on real time basis for effective monitoring of OPA

123
How to internally audit the business-critical 9001:2000 requirements
By Jack Weed, TUV America

With so many requirements to evaluate between the ISO 9001:2000 Standard and those of a company’s Quality Management System, the internal audit process may tend to focus more on what is needed to maintain certification in place of assisting management and their efforts to achieve long-term business success. This presentation will discuss four critical areas from which internal auditors can identify business performance weaknesses that when corrected, can reduce operating costs while increasing customer satisfaction.

124
Transforming the University of Minnesota: The Road to a Top Three Public Research Institution
By Scott Martens, University of Minnesota

An overview of the models, methods, structures, tools & techniques the University of Minnesota is using to transform itself in the goal of becoming a top three public research institution. A look at why we started, where we are at and where we are going with the transformation.

SUPPLIER QUALITY:

131
Supplier Improvement Strategies
By Mike Fedock, Pro Med Molding

Whether the objective is to help resolve a specific issue or part of an overall improvement initiative, ensuring supplier performance improvement is essential to staying competitive. This presentation is best suited for quality and purchasing professionals who actively participate in the acquisition or evaluation of supplied materials and components.

132
The Cost of Poor Supplier Quality
By Mohan Ponnudurai & John Moroney, AssurX, Inc.

The cost of poor quality, when it comes to suppliers and purchased parts impacts every aspect of the business.
Shorted and wrong deliveries disrupt production schedules, resulting in poor quality due to expedited and shifted schedules. This ultimately results in late shipments and unhappy customers and potentially cancelled orders.
Nonconforming purchased parts increase costs, lengthen cycle times and consume expensive labor hours, tying up inspectors, buyers, engineers and managers.
Getting suppliers and purchased part quality under control impacts nearly every part of the company, including purchasing, quality, manufacturing and engineering.
This presentation describes a system and methodology that ties together all of these functional areas. It automates and helps manage supplier qualification and auditing, dealing with delivery issues and nonconformance's.

133
Auditing Software Suppliers - How to fit a square peg in a round hole
By Thomas Rudinski, Medtronic, Inc.

Many auditors have significant backgrounds in auditing traditional hardware manufacturing. Many of the standards used in audits evolved from traditional hardware manufacturing. Unfortunately, retrofitting a traditional manufacturing quality system audit to a software supplier can be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, as many of the areas important to review in a traditional manufacturing operation such as calibration, receiving inspection, supplier control, ect, may have very little impact on the quality of a supplied software product. This presentation will discuss topics for making software quality system audits more beneficial for both the client and supplier.

134
Supplier Process Capability Evaluations
By Florence Taitel & Ummul Yamani, Boston Scientific

The process capability evaluation (PCE) is a powerful tool developed by Boston Scientific CRM Supplier Capability Group engineers. This enables objective identification and mitigation of risk in a supply chain using Lean Six Sigma tools.

VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER:

141
Using the Voice of the Customer in new product development
By Dr. Mathew Coumbe, Satisfaction Management Systems, Inc.

This presentation demonstrates how the “Voice of the Customer” has dramatically improved the success of several Midwest manufacturers’ product development process. Questions that will be addressed include, “How can we reduce the time it takes to get our products to market?” “How certain are we that the features we plan to add to our existing product line will be valued by the market?” “How much value do customers actually place on our proposed features?” “Which features will deliver the highest return on our investment?”

142 & 143 TWO PART SESSION
Voice of the Customer
By Paul Palmes, Northern Pipe, Inc.

Presentation information will be available soon.

144
Customer Focus, Sunny Fresh Style
By Ann Burns, Sunny Fresh Farms

Learn how Sunny Fresh Foods, a 2005 and 1999 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, integrates its process for targeting markets and customers with its business planning process and continuous improvement approaches, to develop value-based partnering relationships with its key customers.

LEADERSHIP:

151
Leading with Clarity, Courage and Conscience: Making the Transition from Good Manager to Great Leader
By Deborah Savage, Ph.D.

The manager who has grasped the significance and potential of the quality management philosophy and methodology often finds himself or herself in conflict with the murky approach to organizational effectiveness that remains the default position for most companies. This situation calls for visionary leadership at every organizational level, accompanied by the quiet wisdom that comes from an inner conviction. The manager becomes a great leader by starting from within.

Beginning with actual case studies that reveal the ethical significance of working knowledgeably with data, we will discuss the implications that “letting the data lead one’s thinking” has for the manager’s conscience. The case studies will allow us to consider concretely how each of the four elements of Deming’s theory of profound knowledge, that is: knowledge of a system, knowledge of variation, cognitional theory and psychology, serve as both a guide to management practice and as a source of clarity and courage for the enlightened manager.

This session will cover the skills and behaviors that will allow the manager with vision to move toward great leadership. But we will go further. We will also explore the personal character and qualities that must provide the foundation of such a transition, the values and principles for which technique is no substitute.

152
Leading the Four Types of Knowledge
By Faith Ralston, Play to Your Strengths

153
Innovative Leadership, Leveraging Clockwise Patterns of Success
By Dennis Stauffer, Insight Fusion

What do scientists, babies and successful entrepreneurs all have in common? The patters they use to think and act. Most of us fail to recognize these underlying habits, much less apply them consistently. Learn how to bring out the best in people and cultivate their ideas by leveraging these patterns.

This session will:

1.) Give you fresh insights into how to think innovatively.
2.) Help you identify and leverage the behaviors that promote creativity and innovation on your team and with those around you.
3.) Demonstrate the critical problems, managing successful programs and leading effective organizations.

154
The Principles of Team Success
By Petra Marquart, Hennepin Technical College

Passion and energy converge when people come together to accomplish their goals. This convergence is at the center of all successful teams. In this session, you will learn how to build productive alliances, the role communication plays in cooperation and conflict, the transformation from coworker to collaborator and the power of service.