ASQ World Conference - Day 2

The ASQ World Conference was three day event. The keynote speaker of Day 2 event was Ms. Barbara Corcoran, Founder of The Corcoran Group.

So many participants were joined the keynote session in the Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom.

Barbara Corocran’s credentials include straight Ds in high school and college and 20 jobs by the time she turned 23. It was her next job that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country when she took a US$1000 loan to start The Corcoran Group.

I would like to summarize Barbara Corocran’s management secrets as follows:

1: Perception creates reality.

2: All the good ideas are on the outside.

3: Don’t underestimate the power of recognition.

4: Shoot the dogs early!

5: Fun is good for business.

6: Only two kinds of people, expanders and containers.

Finally, she concluded “You have the right to be there!”

Corcoran is the author of Use What You’ve Got, an entertaining business book that has become a national best-seller, as well as Nextville, Amazing Places to Live Your Life. Her latest book, Shark Tales, is due out in January 2011.

Then I joined another seminar entitled “Improving DuPont’s Business using Statistical Thinking and Methods”. The speaker was Dr. Steven P. Bailey (Principal Consultant, MBB, Applied Statistics Group).

Dr. Bailey seminar included the following topics:

- DuPont’s Applied Statistics Group (ASG)

- Strategy of Experimentation (SOE)

- Product Quality Management (PQM)

- DuPont Six Sigma

- Measurement System Roadmap

- Historical Data Mining and Designed Experiment

- Wrapup and Acknowledgements

Then Dr. Bailey introduced the history of DuPont’s quality journey. ASG started in 1964 (Applied Statistics), then PQM performed since 1973 (Quality Technology). In 1989, QM&T, ISO 9001, PQM and Malcom Balcom Baldrige; and DuPont Six Sigma had introduced since 1999.

Dr. Bailey brief their “To Do List” that was “Achieve Sustainable Growth and Increase Shareholder Value Though:

1. Integrated Science (Modern Biology plus World-class Chemistry)

2. Knowledge-Intensive Products and Businesses; and

3. Productivity Gain using Six Sigma.

The following was the role of Master Black Belt.

DuPont Six Sigma using of Bill Hunter’s “Theory of SIGMA” below.

S – Strategy … not just tactical

I – Information … not just data

G – Generation … not just reactive, but proactive (e.g. DOE)

M – Management … not just folks in the “trenches”

A – Action … to make improvements happen

Measurement System Analysis (MSA) flow chart was mentioned and main steps were identified.

Dr. Bailey concluded SOE, PQM and Six Sigma were systems that had been delivered solid business benefit within DuPont.

(Photo took with Dr. Bailey)

During Networking Break, we met Dr. H. James Harrington (CEO, Harrington Institute) and Mr. Doug Nelson (Lean master consultant of Harrington Institute, CSSMBB). Dr. Harrington is past Chairman and past President of the prestigious International Academy for Quality (IAQ) and of the American Society for Quality Control.

(Right: Mr. Doug Nelson, Dr. Harrington, Minda and I)

After that I met Mr. Wayne Breitbarth in ASQ Career Fair. He was nationally recognized author and LinkedIn expert and his talk named “How to Use LinkedIn to Find Your Next Job”. I brought his book with sign and took a photo for memory.

In afternoon session, I attended Ms. Betty Kildow (Emergency Management Consultant, Kildow Consulting) seminar entitled “Business Continuity in the Supply Chain: Lessons Learned from Japan”.

She said the Japan case would be a Black Swan and Domino Effect.

The affected cases were found significant in small and medium enterprises (SME) such as rice wine and paint pigment.

She explained what “Lesson Learned” is. That was knowledge or understanding by experience (both positive and negative).

Then she identified Seven Good Practice of Business Continuity as follows:

1. Be proactive

2. Build in back-ups and redundancy

3. Fully included the supply chain

4. Assess and measure continuity program effectiveness

5. Develop continuity partnerships

6. Address people considerations

7. Strive for progress, improvement, maturity

Ms. Betty Kildow proposed a role of Corporate Risk Officer who was responded for the ten elements under the umbrella.

At the end, she explained the different between Lesson Observed and Lesson Learned. That one had no change but the other had positive change.

During Q&A session, I questioned that if it was a sole supplier because the key IP of the component owned by Japan mother company. It was a real problem of some China OEM manufacturers met.

Then I joined another concurrent session. The speaker was Ms. Karen Roberts (LearnFirm.com) and her topic was “Interaction Skills for Auditors.

She employed the science of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to an audit interaction added a powerful tool to the auditor’s tool box. Ms. Karen Roberts explained different eye movement’s meaning and using Dr. Deming as an example.

During the communication, body language was very important which included Posture, Head Position, Gestures and Breathing. She gave us an auditory body cues below.

1. Posture:

Rhythmic, even movements. Foot, hand or leg tapping that is somewhat rhythmic.

2. Head Position:

Level or tilted to the left. The head may be turned so that one ear is directed to the speaker.

3. Gestures:

Methodic foot, hand or leg tapping. Sometimes touches their face or point to their ears.

4. Breathing:

Even breathing from the middle of the chest.

It was interested to separate the Adults Learn into four classes that was “Unconscious Incompetent”, “Conscious Incompetent”, “Conscious Competent” and “Unconscious Competent”. After the seminar, it was believed that fine-tuning one’s communication skills allowed for excellence in auditing.

Before the Chair’s Reception, I took a photo on riding the motorcycle.

Reference:

ASQ WCQI - http://team.asq.org/wcqi/

Dr. H. James Harrington - http://www.harrington-institute.com/about-us/harrington-institute-about-us.html