American Society for Quality

American Society for Quality

Central Wisconsin Section

Helping people improve their organizations

Word from the Chair

By Don Smith

Leading well…“Do what I say, not what I do.” Not only is that not an effective parenting technique, it’s a really poor substitute for leadership. Leading by example can be simple (“just do it!”), but more often than not is difficult to execute. What does it mean to “lead by example”? Studies show that groups of people define similar lists of character traits for what makes “good leaders”, regardless of the professional or educational composition of the group. And those lists ALWAYS include the traits of respect, follow-through, and trust. These attributes are really describing the fact that a good leader does what he says he (or she) is going to do, and doesn’t ask or expect something of their followers that they themselves are not also willing to do (i.e., they’re not above it). This is a good definition of leading by example. Now this isn’t all that leadership involves, but it is a key piece of it. So how does this apply to us? As quality professionals, whether our title includes the words leader, manager, supervisor, or some other form of boss, we all have the opportunity to be “leaders” in our organizations. All of us have a role to play in educating others, in maintaining the systems that we have helped establish, and in using those systems. Some of us have responsibility for leading or facilitating teams, for reporting results, or for auditing others’ results and performance. We each have choices to make about how we will spend our time and the resources allotted to us. And how we choose to do any of those tasks is really part of our roles as leaders. You see, we each “lead”, we are all watched by our co-workers and our supervisors, and we all have the opportunity to influence others. Are you a person of your word? Can others rely on you to follow-through? Do you ask (or encourage, or audit) others to do things that are critically important, only to opt out of those things yourself because you have “more important” things to do? If you want to improve your influence in your organization, the first and most significant thing you can do, is to improve the example that you are setting – they are directly correlated. Again, lack of title is no excuse, in fact some of the most influential people that I have met who have an impact on shaping their organizations’ culture and results are not those in “authority” positions, but rather those who have chosen to focus on the example that they set for their peers, subordinates, and superiors. When it comes to the kind of impact you can have, the choice is (at least in part) up to you, and just as you can make a huge positive impact, you also have the opportunity to make a negative one. Because the reality is, you always lead by example…

Section 1218 Member Appreciation Meeting

Monday, June 1, 2008

Schedule

5:30 pmArrival / registration

5:50 pm Presentation by Don Smith and Scott Bensen on ASQ membership

6:30 pmBaseball game begins

Our group will be seated in the Ministry Health Care / Gantner Garden (which is at the end of the 1st base line).

Prices for the evening (This price includes game ticket and All you Care to Eat & Drink):

Adults $10.00 each

Children 5 – 12 years old $5.00 each

Children 4 and under – Free

Total Family Package $30.00 (max)

Central WI Section 1218 ASQ Newsletter May 2009

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Directions to Athletic Park,

Wisconsin Woodchucks Ballpark, 324 E Wausau Ave Wausau

From US-51 / 39
Take the Bridge Street exit - exit number 193
On Bridge Street head East

Stay on Bridge Street until you cross the Wisconsin River. After the bridge turn left at the stop light onto 3rd Street. Straight on 3rd Street to the ballpark. The ballpark will be on the right hand side of the street. There is lots of parking on the South side of the ballpark. Enter the ballpark on the East side (5th Street side) of the field. The gate will be marked for the ASQ group.

To register: Call Kari Wroblewski at (715) 252-4707 or e-mail at . Please provide your name, company, phone number, and member status.

Registration Deadline: NOON - Thursday, May 28th

April Meeting Highlights

By Hal Raymer

Harley Davidson, Tomahawk Operations, hosted April’s meeting with a tour of their facility and presentations on pursuing Operation Excellence. Harley Davidson established a strategic imperative of achieving Operation Excellence in order to attain goals of cost reduction, cycle time reduction, and improved quality with the “voice of the customer”. They soon realized that separate Quality and Operational Excellence functions caused confusion and duplication of required resources. These issues were addressed by establishing a single top leadership position responsible for both Quality and Operational Excellence program direction and resources management.

“Everybody, Everyday continually finding a better way” is their mantra for pursuing Operational Excellence. A strategy of focusing on contributing factors instead of “bad outcomes” and engaging everyone everyday is the method being used to build capacity for identifying and resolving problems. Harley Davison attempts to create a learning environment by providing training as needed along the way. Knowledge learned in the training is then immediately applied to the issue at hand thereby reinforcing the training. Operation Excellence personnel attain results by coaching team members to apply the right tool at the right time to eliminate the seven types of waste. Examples of two Operational Excellence projects were presented addressing scrap and utility costs which have a projected savings of $475,000 per year.

Job Opportunities

Phillips Plastic is looking for a Quality Manager. Please see the link below for position details.

http://www.phillipsplastics.com/careers/147/quality-manager

Meeting Schedule

Meeting Date / Event / Topic / Time / Where
June 1st / Member Appreciation Meeting / NA / 5:30 PM / Wausau Woodchucks game

Have you moved, changed jobs, or changed your e-mail address? Help us keep you informed of Section 1218 events and information by updating your contact information at http://www.asq.org/. Log in and click “Change Address” to update your membership record.

Section 1218 Website & Information

The section website can be located at: www.asq.org/sections/mini-sites/1218

Questions on membership information?
Contact: Don Smith
Stevens Point Mill, New Page Specialty Papers
Phone: (715) 345-8069
Fax: (715) 345-8750
Mobile: (715) 213-4565
e-mail: / Questions on recertification journals?
Contact: Michael Keel
Donaldson Co.
Phone: (715) 341-5311 x349
Fax: (715) 341-0318
e-mail:

Educational Opportunities

Central WI Section 1218 ASQ Newsletter May 2009

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