23 June 2016

Report: ASQ 2016 World Conference on Quality and Improvement

On May 16-18, 2016 the American Society for Quality (ASQ) held its 2016 World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. The annual event drew over 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries.

Glenn Mazur of the QFD Institute presented "ISO 16355: A Standard for Innovative Customer Experience," during which the audience actively participated in the interactive survey, a new feature offered by ASQ. Here is a photo that one of the attendees kindly sent to us.


Missed this year? Plan to attend other conferences Mazur will present at this year to learn more about ISO 16366. 
  •  2016 International Symposium on QFD, September 9-10 in Boise ID.
  •  2016 ASQ Service Quality Conference, October 24-25 in Chicago.
  •  2016 ASQ International Conference on Quality Standards, November 14-15 in Pittsburgh PA.








09 June 2016

Omron hits a home run with a new mindset

Example of Omron products
(source: Omron youtube channel)
In a business magazine interview, the new Omron president, Mr. Ogino, described not only innovation in their new products displayed at the the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but also advances in the company's core beliefs about customers and product development.

Omron is an international medical device manufacturer that sells home healthcare devices such as blood pressure monitors, body weight and composition meters, and others.

Under Mr. Ogino's directives, Omron product developers now must investigate the validity of product concept from the customer's perspective and identify "true" customer needs. No longer are product features such as 'integrated,' 'compact,' 'easy to read,' and so forth sufficient.

"Tens of thousands people end up with amputations every year because of high blood sugar. We make blood glucose meters to make such incidents zero. We make nebulizers with a conviction to cure asthma during childhood. I make sure in our company that no product planning takes place without first making clear why we should make the product, what is the ultimate goal," says Mr. Ogino.

This new mindset, code-named "Project Zero" (meaning driving down users' adverse health events to zero), will not only help the company differentiate itself from other wearable technology manufacturers, but also it can bring them closer to becoming in compliance with the new ISO 16355 for QFD.  Here is how... Read the full article.

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