Quad Cities Quality Learning Network

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With a unique systems-thinking perspective, the Iowa Quality Center is one of the state’s premiere resources for quality and performance excellence. The center offers a wealth of resources to support your continuous improvement journey.

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Phone (319) 398-7101

Fax (319) 398-5698

Email info@iowaqc.org

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3375 Armar Drive Marion, Iowa 52302

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Total Production System

TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers.

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Quad Cities Network

The Quad Cities network is open to all individuals wishing to share experience and learn from each other based on performance excellence and the principles of quality.

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Upcoming Meetings

Past Topics

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When:	Third Wednesday of each month
Time:	7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Location:	Genesis Health System, Davenport

Next Meeting:	Mar. 17
Topic:	Tools for Prioritizing Problems, Solutions and Influencers This month we will be discussing three of the top tools for prioritizing problems, solutions and influencers. Gary Nesteby will facilitate the force field analysis, multi voting and the relationship diagram. Bring your problems and a cup of coffee.

Date	Topic

Oct. 2009	Concept Mapping Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. Construction of concept maps is group process to make knowledge and information held by individuals, teams, or groups of stakeholders visible. Concept mapping encourages the group to stay on task; creates a conceptual framework; expresses this framework in the language of the participants; yields a visual product which shows how major ideas and their interrelationships are linked; the process often improves group or organizational cohesiveness and morale.
Aug. 2009	NGT Tool NGT is an acronym for Nominal Group Technique. NGT is used to prioritize and generate a course of action. It gives each member of the team equal opportunity to state a problem or solution without intimidation. NGT not only takes away the power of a strong or caustic personality, it also removes the stigma that the voice of leadership is the only voice heard. NGT is valuable when focus is diversified, a problem is highly controversial, or a team is deadlocked in disagreement. This discussion will be led by Dustin Derby of Palmer College of Chiropractic.
Jul. 2009	Leadership in a Quality System Liz Rodriguez, from the strategic development department at Palmer College of Chiropractic, will lead the discussion.
Jun. 2009	Spaghetti Diagrams Tom Curly, Twin Cities Optical, will lead this discussion.
May 2009	Value Stream Mapping This discussion will be facilitated by Mark Rickman from the HON Company.
Apr. 2009	Decision Focus Tools Joel Nordstrom, John Deere, will lead this discussion.
Mar. 2009	Goal Alignment from Customer Needs to Organizational Strategies This discussion will be facilitated by Terry Simmons and Steve Kuhl from the National Weather Service Quad Cities Forecasting Office.
Feb. 2009	Integrating Quality Methodologies
Jan. 2009	Out of the Gates - Transformation to Quality and Performance This discussion, facilitated by IQC, will be designed to provide lessons learned on transforming an existing organization to a high performing one. We will look at the areas of Systems, Customers, Variation, Knowledge and People.
Nov. 2008	5S and the Red Tag Process This month's discussion with be on Lean 5S and the Red Tag process, a recommended first step in implementing Lean in an organization.
Oct. 2008	Making the Economic Case for Quality A few years ago ASQ published the white paper, “Making The Economic Case For Quality.” ASQ continues to build on that “Case for Quality” through a variety of case studies on successful organizations. To help make our organizations stronger and more sustainable we all need the ability to “sell” quality and get people engaged in the organization’s success. We will discuss the points from this white paper to see how quality can bring economic success to any organization.
Jul. 2008	Using a Shewhart Cycle to Plan for Emergencies Baldrige criteria (item 6.1c) asks organizations to assess their work system and workplace readiness for disasters or emergencies. Recent tornadoes and flooding across Iowa have been a reminder why a well crafted plan is important. Join the folks at the National Weather Service to learn how to employ time proven quality principles when planing for disaster.
May 2008	The Tools of Process Improvement What is the purpose of lean, six sigma, Baldrige, TPM, TQM, theory of constraints, and other programs of quality and how do they align with each other to offer a competitive environment of growth and sustainability. This group discussion will assist in your learning and answer many of your questions.
Apr. 2008	Learning From Your Partners and Stakeholders Join facilitator Donna Dubberke, of the National Weather Service, for this exciting discussion.
Feb. 2008	IDEO, Teamwork and Process Improvement Do you think that your organization does a good job at encouraging teamwork within your process improvement system? Whether you said yes, or no, this network will teach you more about teamwork strategies that you can employ. George Varchola of EICCD will lead the discussion.
Dec. 2007	Fourth Generation Study of Systems and Processes
Oct. 2007	Exploring the Use of the SIPOC Model in Continuous Improvement Whether you are using Lean, Six Sigma or ISO to guide your continuous improvement program, the SIPOC, which depicts a systems view of a process, is a useful tool to assure that you are looking at the “big picture” of the process rather than focusing on just one piece of the puzzle. Plan now to join this discussion group to understand the tool in more depth and to experience first hand how to develop a high-level process map using the SIPOC for a process within your organization.
Aug. 2007	The Red Bead Experiment The Red Bead Experiment is a fun and simple way to look at the concept of variation and how that affects the workplace. This is a lesson about people and management; NOT statistics. An understanding of variation can help us overcome some of the frustration we see in our organizations. A video of Dr. Deming leading the classic Red Bead Experiment will kick off our discussion.
Jun. 2007	Building cooperation in the workplace The world around us tends to focus on competition – we compete for grades in school; we compete for good performance appraisals at work; departments compete on performance. However, competition can smother motivation and innovation and hinder our organizational change management. We will continue our discussion about what works to build cooperation in the workplace in a competitive environment.
May 2007	Competition, Cooperation, and the Individual Understanding how competition can smother motivation and innovation is an important part of managing change. How can we build win-win cooperation in our organization? Join us as we view another classic video from the Deming Library to kick off our discussion and share our experiences around internal competition and cooperation.
Apr. 2007	Cultural Transformation A continuous improvement journey involves change. This kind of change involves a cultural transformation. Using a classic video from the Deming Library, we will listen to people from Baldrige winning Zytec (Now part of Artesyn Technologies) tell about their cultural transformation to a culture of continuous improvement. Compare your experiences with those of Zytec as we discuss Cultural Transformation.
Mar. 2007	Cultural Transformation: A New Way of Thinking Dr. Deming said, “The worker is not the problem. The problem is at the top! Management!” What did Dr. Deming mean by that? What is the new way of thinking? What is the route to making a cultural transformation to this new way of thinking? We will use a classic video from the Deming Library to get our discussion started – the issues in this video are as meaningful today as they ever were. Join us in our discovery of A New Way of Thinking.
Feb. 2007	Deming’s 14 Points for Organizational Transformation Join Gary Nesteby, of the Iowa Quality Center, for a facilitated discussion of Points 1-4 of Deming’s 14 Points for Organizational Transformation. Point 1- Create constancy of purpose Point 2- Adopt a new philosophy Point 3 - Cease dependence on mass inspection Point 4- Minimize total cost when dealing with suppliers.
Jan. 2007	Learning from Experience – National Weather Service and the IRPE Award January’s meeting will feature Steve Kuhl and Terry Simmons of the National Weather Service as they share their experience of applying for the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Award. They will share their lessons learned and help attendees understand the process from the applicant’s perspective. Come learn from those who’ve been there!

New Classes

Baldrige Green & Measures Matter Workshops, May 6 details

ISO 9000 Lead Auditor Training, Apr. 19-23 details

Online Lean Certification

Get Certified in Lean Manufacturing, Lean Healthcare or Lean Office on YOUR schedule. details

Upcoming Events

ISO 9001:2008 Internal Auditor Training, Apr. 5-7 details

IRPE Celebration, May 6 details