ASQ Quality News Today

Leaning in to Food Processing

Tuesday

Lean manufacturing and the food industry: those aren't exactly two concepts that easily go hand in hand with each other. But it's not unheard of, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Lean for Food program through TechHelp and the University of Idaho. "Some people misunderstand the word 'lean,'" says TechHelp Marketing Manager William Mullane. "They think it means leaning out an organization, stripping it down or getting rid of people and resources,

Honest Hackers Hit Hospitals, Prompt Tighter Rules

Tuesday

The security analysts wanted to know how easy it would be to hack into medical devices used in hospitals, knowing the danger if outsiders could gain control. They found the answer when they managed to figure out hundreds of restricted passwords for equipment that included surgical and anesthesia devices, patient monitors and lab analysis tools. "We stopped after we got to 300," said Billy Rios, who found the passwords with his colleague Terry McCorkle. They alerted

Shanghai Inspecting Preserved Eggs Amid Safety Scare

Tuesday

Shanghai food safety authorities said they are checking all preserved eggs from Jiangxi province after some processors in Nanchang County were said to be using dangerous chemicals in their operations, Shanghai Daily reported Monday. Some plants in Nanchang, a major production area in Jiangxi, use large amounts of industrial copper sulfate to cut the two-month curing time in half, CCTV had reported last Friday. In reaction to the report, the State Food and Drug Administration said

VWs Faulty Gearbox Recall Increases to 34K

Tuesday

Volkswagen (VW) group's recall in Australia over faulty gearboxes has gone up to 34,000 vehicles, reports The Sunshine Coast Daily . Last week, the automaker had recalled about 26,000 vehicles including the Golf, Jetta, Polo, Passat and Caddy models manufactured between June 2008 and September 2011 to replace the 7-speed DQ200 direct-shift gearbox (DSG) fitted in them. Now Audi and Skoda have also joined the recall. Audi is recalling 6,267 affected A1 and A3 hatchbacks built

Baby Matters on Board With Nap Nanny Recall

Tuesday

Pennsylvania company Baby Matters LLC is recalling 165,000 Nap Nanny and Nap Nanny Chill recliners in the wake of five infant deaths, U.S. regulators said. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said the recall is part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the regulator against the Berwyn, PA, company in December 2012. The case sought a mandatory recall of the recliners that have been the subject of 92 incident reports filed at the CPSC. The

140 Workers Fall Sick in Bangladesh Garment Factory

Tuesday

More than 140 workers, mostly women, at two Bangladeshi garment factories near the capital Dhaka fell ill yesterday after drinking suspected contaminated water in their workplace, police said. A series of tragedies since last November when a fire killed 111 people in another factory have triggered renewed scrutiny of "made-in-Bangladesh" clothes commonly sold in the West. Yesterday's development comes less than two weeks after up to 600 workers at another garment plant were rushed to

Berwick Announces Run for Governor

Tuesday

A former top Obama administration health official, Don Berwick, formally announced Monday that he is running for governor of Massachusetts. Berwick, a Democrat, is a physician and health policy expert who ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for President Barack Obama. But amid the heated politics of health reform, Republicans refused to confirm him to the position atop CMS. They said his comments praising Britain's healthcare system suggested he favored rationing, an interpretation

Electronic Records May Not Be Cure-all

Monday

Recent research and comments from health industry executives have combined to throw a bit of cold water on the promise of electronic health records, or EHRs. On Wednesday, Judy Faulkner, CEO and founder of Verona-based EHR vendor Epic Systems, said during a conference in Madison that it's unlikely healthcare providers will ever be able to fully share information on patients. Reports from RAND Corp. and the Center for Public Integrity also suggest EHR use so far

Mitsubishi President to Directly Oversee Quality Control

Monday

Mitsubishi plans to tackle the problems that led to delayed product recalls through an organization directly answerable to the president, reports the Nikkei Financial Daily . Of the recalls, company president Osamu Masuko said: "We were not rigorous enough to respond immediately ... We intend to accelerate the efforts to reform our quality control and information dissemination procedures, as well as our corporate culture overall, through a body under my direct control." Separately, Mitsubishi has indicated

Chrysler to Recall 1,200 Ram Truck

Monday

The Chrysler Group will recall more than 1,200 model-year 2013 heavy-duty Ram pickup trucks over a headlight software issue, reports the Detroit News ' Washington Bureau. The recall involves both Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks to ensure that their headlights comply with regulations when in high-beam mode. The recall comes as an internal investigation by Chrysler engineers revealed that the affected vehicles were equipped with faulty headlamps whose high beams do not comply with standards governing

Solar Plane Touches Down After Slow Journey

Monday

A solar-powered plane intended to fly across the U.S. has landed near Washington, D.C., with one leg to New York remaining. Solar Impulses website said the aircraft landed at 12:15 a.m. local time on Sunday after flying 14 hours and four minutes from Cincinnati. It added that Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard was at the controls for the last time on the multi-leg journey. Colleague Andre Borschberg will fly the remaining Washington to New York leg in

Should Students Be Grouped by Ability?

Monday

At one time, schools routinely sorted students upon arrival, usually by an admissions test. In some instances, a bit of discretion accompanied the culling; brighter students were the blue team, while lower-scoring peers were the red team. That wasn't the case at my high school, where ability-tracked classes carried obvious names. The highest scoring students were in the A/B track. Students with mid-range scores ended up in the C/D track, while the lowest performers were lumped

GM to Recall Another 231K SUVs Over Fire Risks

Monday

General Motors (GM) has agreed to recall another 231,000 sport utility vehicles (SUV) over fire risks, and has urged owners to park them outside garages until they are repaired, reports The Detroit News . The recall includes 193,000 2006-07 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, SAAB 9-7x, Isuzu Ascender, 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT, and GMC Envoy XL in the US; 3,546 in Canada; 4,876 in Mexico; and 30,000 outside North America. The issue, according to the

Engineering Skills Shortage Raises Concerns

Monday

Growing demand for engineering staff in the U.K. automotive sector because of expansion is raising concerns about a skills shortfall, reports the Financial Times . Vince Cable, the U.K. business secretary, has told the newspaper that the skills shortage is becoming a "critical issue" that represents a "serious problem at all levels" of the automotive industry. Cable said: "There is a massive skills gap. From apprentices to technician level, to graduate level, to engineers ... there

Rural China Hospital Reforms Increase Patient Satisfaction

Friday

Xiao Huaqing, a pediatrician at the Peoples Hospital of Yiyang County, Henan Province in central China, now follows standardized clinical protocols to treat his patients. Called a clinical pathway, it is literally a computerized checklist that serves as a roadmap for both caregivers and patients throughout their treatment. It lists everything from what tests a patient can expect before surgery to how soon he or she should be discharged from hospital and most importantly, how much

Data Dispute Fuels Chryslers High-stakes No

Friday

For 17 years, automakers have complied with every request for a recall, no matter how costly, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And then last week, in a startling decision, Chrysler Group said no. It refused a request from NHTSA to recall 2.7 million 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-07 Libertys for an alleged fire risk caused by fuel tanks mounted behind the rear axle. Chrysler's "no" was a high-risk answer and one that came

Apple, Automaker Partnerships: Whos in Control?

Friday

Apple's move to more seamlessly link its new iOS 7 mobile operating system into car systems will force automakers to decide whether the computer giant is a friendor a threat to their in-car digital plans, analysts say. The basic idea, as announced without much detail by Apple earlier this week, is to integrate a simplified, Siri-enabled application of iPhone functions into a car's dash screen and infotainment system. Apple named Honda, Mercedes, Nissan, Ferrari, Infiniti,

Ranbaxy Confirms Quality With Apollo Pharmacy

Friday

Apollo Pharmacy, the largest branded medical stores chain in India owned by Apollo Hospitals, has resolved the matter with Ranbaxy Laboratories and will continue to sell its medicines from its outlets across the country. Last week, Apollo Pharmacy has temporarily stopped selling Ranbaxy Laboratories drugs. Apollo's medical committee reviewed the matter, and as a cautionary measure, recommended the pharmacy to temporarily suspend sale of Ranbaxy medicines as it can't take any chance with patients' safety. With

England Doctors Can Opt Out of Performance Reports

Friday

Doctors in England will be given the opportunity to opt out of new league tables assessing their performance. The tablescentral to government plans for a more transparent National Health Service (NHS)aim to show patients how well consultant-led surgical teams in hospitals across England are performing against each other. The move, announced under the NHS Mandate, aims to "shine a light on variation and unacceptable practice." But it has emerged doctors could be able to refuse to disclose

Honda Issues Recall in Japan, U.S.

Friday

Honda said that it will recall a combined 455,029 vehicles in Japan, spanning 12 models including the popular N Box minicar, to fix problems with their transmission or brake systems, reports Kyodo News . In two reports filed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Honda said that the five models with the continually variable transmission (CVT) flaw were made between December 2011 and May 2013, while the seven models with the brake flaw

China to Unveil Standard for Gasoline Emissions in Sept.

Friday

China is likely to roll out its phase-V hazardous materials control standard for motor vehicle gasoline in September to improve air quality and reduce discharge of pollutants, according to a report published by China's Economic Information Daily on Thursday. A draft of the phase-V standard has been approved recently by national technical committee for standardization of petroleum products and lubricants. China will introduce 89#, 92# and 95# gasoline rather than current 90#, 93# and 97#

China Urges J & J to Improve Quality Control

Friday

China's food and drug regulator on Thursday urged New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to improve quality control, after the company recalled several of its products in the past few years. Since 2009, Johnson & Johnson issued 33 recall orders, with the latest two being this year on April 23 and May 3 over quality issues of their drug products, data from the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) revealed. "Frequent recalls over quality concerns

Using Telemedicine to Decrease ER Wait Times

Thursday

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding has been a major issue nationally for 20 years and continues to increase in severity. To address this issue, a pilot study has been launched at the University of California (UC) San Diego Health System's ED to use telemedicine as a way to help address crowding and decrease patient wait times. The study is the first of its kind in California to use cameras to bring on-call doctors who are outside

Study: Hands-free Isnt Risk-free

Thursday

The increasingly popular voice-activated, in-car technologies that allow drivers to text, talk on the phone or even use Facebook while driving still allow for dangerous mental distraction, according to a study. In the most comprehensive study of its kind to look at drivers' mental distraction, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that as mental workload and distractions increase, reaction time slows, brain function is compromised, and drivers scan the road less and miss visual

Customers Prefer Email Over Social Support

Thursday

The general opinion that customers prefer social over email for support from companies has been proved wrong in a new report from Freshdesk, a software-as-a-service-based social customer support solution. The report, titled "What Makes Customers Happy? The State of Customer Support," has highlighted a few important points about the industry. Thirty-seven percent of customers use email over social, which is still at just 12% of all customer support queries received. One of the main reasons that customers

Debate About Safety of Biotech Crops Reopened

Thursday

Groups campaigning to ban genetically modified (GM) foods in Europe have jumped on the recent discovery of an unauthorized GM strain of wheat on an American farm as vindication of their longstanding campaign to banish biotech crops from the European Union (EU). The European Commission will test U.S. wheat imports for a strain of herbicide-resistant wheat developed by Monsanto, a global leader in agricultural biotechnology, but never approved by food regulators in the United States. Any

5 Ways Patients, Docs Can Improve Care

Thursday

Instead of wondering what your doctor wrote in your patient record after a visit, ask him or her to read back the notes to ensure accuracy. It's one of five simple steps Mayo Clinic suggests doctors and patients take to improve health care quality. Mayo Clinic defines quality as a comprehensive look at all aspects of a patient's experience, including: excellent care, the best medical knowledge and experience, access to the best technology, and staff demonstrating

NHTSA Considers Pontiac G6 Recall

Thursday

It's a brand that was killed around four years ago but regulators in the United States are looking at forcing General Motors (GM) to recall about 500,000 Pontiac G6 sedans because of several issues, including malfunctioning brake lights. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that brake lights turn on without the brake pedal being depressed but are not illuminated when drivers actually apply the pedal. GM killed Pontiac in 2009, the same year the

Tips for Implementing Six Sigma

Thursday

Six Sigma is a continuous improvement approach and toolsetdeveloped in the manufacturing sector by Motorola in the 1980sused to reduce the number of deviations or errors created from a process. The name Six Sigma derives from a term used in statistical mathematics called standard deviation, a measure of the deviation of a data set from its mean (represented by the symbol σ, sigma). The term Six Sigma generally refers to a defect rate in the single

Japan Moving Toward Nursing Robots for Elderly

Wednesday

In rapidly aging Japan, efforts are accelerating to make more practical and affordable robots for helping the elderly perform daily tasks to cope with a projected future shortage of caregivers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has allocated 2.39 billion yen in the budget for fiscal 2013 to help develop nursing care robots and spread their use. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry chose last month 24 companies that will receive subsidies covering half to two-thirds of

ASQ Quality News Today

Leaning in to Food Processing

Honest Hackers Hit Hospitals, Prompt Tighter Rules

Shanghai Inspecting Preserved Eggs Amid Safety Scare

VWs Faulty Gearbox Recall Increases to 34K

Baby Matters on Board With Nap Nanny Recall

140 Workers Fall Sick in Bangladesh Garment Factory

Berwick Announces Run for Governor

Electronic Records May Not Be Cure-all

Mitsubishi President to Directly Oversee Quality Control

Chrysler to Recall 1,200 Ram Truck

Solar Plane Touches Down After Slow Journey

Should Students Be Grouped by Ability?

GM to Recall Another 231K SUVs Over Fire Risks

Engineering Skills Shortage Raises Concerns

Rural China Hospital Reforms Increase Patient Satisfaction

Data Dispute Fuels Chryslers High-stakes No

Apple, Automaker Partnerships: Whos in Control?

Ranbaxy Confirms Quality With Apollo Pharmacy

England Doctors Can Opt Out of Performance Reports

Honda Issues Recall in Japan, U.S.

China to Unveil Standard for Gasoline Emissions in Sept.

China Urges J & J to Improve Quality Control

Using Telemedicine to Decrease ER Wait Times

Study: Hands-free Isnt Risk-free

Customers Prefer Email Over Social Support

Debate About Safety of Biotech Crops Reopened

5 Ways Patients, Docs Can Improve Care

NHTSA Considers Pontiac G6 Recall

Tips for Implementing Six Sigma

Japan Moving Toward Nursing Robots for Elderly

VWs Faulty Gearbox Recall Increases to 34K

Data Dispute Fuels Chryslers High-stakes No

Apple, Automaker Partnerships: Whos in Control?

Study: Hands-free Isnt Risk-free