Upcoming Programs

Location: Westinghouse Energy Center,
4350 Northern Pike, Monroeville, PA

Topic: “Cascading Quality Goals to the Front Line” by Steven Leuschel, KCOE

About the Program: What corporate metrics are you observing day in and day out? Is your leadership team aligned around safety and quality as the top priorities? Once you’ve got the metrics right and the systems in place around those metrics, how do you begin to cascade them to the frontline? Come listen to Coach Steve Leuschel from KCOE and bring your own examples of how to cascade quality to the frontline.

About the Speaker: Steve Leuschel, Coach at Saint Vincent College Kennametal Center for Operational Excellence, is currently working with area manufacturing and healthcare continuous improvement systems.

Friday, March 25, 2010 (4th Thursday), 11:30am-1:30pm - Healthcare Special Interest Group and Pitt Student Chapter Joint Lunchtime Meeting

Location: William Pitt Student Union Room 837, University of Pittsburgh Oakland Campus

Topic: “Lean Applications to Healthcare: Building a Culture of Change”, by Jennifer Condel

Abstract: The rapidly changing healthcare landscape, need for reform and improved patient outcomes, continues to drive interest toward solutions from other industries. One such industry, automotive, has demonstrated efficiency using lean principles to improve quality, decrease waste and cost; challenges in our current healthcare systems. To achieve systematic and sustainable reform, an organizational shift toward a culture of change must occur to align and empower all levels of the organization to be real-time problem solvers and conductors of rapid improvement cycles. For the past ten years, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative has taught and applied its lean based methodology, Perfecting Patient Care (PPC), in various healthcare settings for improved patient outcomes. Core components of this methodology are observation of work at the point of care, application of work design principles, value-stream mapping and A3 problem solving. In this presentation, examples of direct PPC application to healthcare workers will include anatomic pathology, hospital and primary care settings.

About the Speaker: Ms. Condel is currently Project Manager/Coach for the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) using its lean-based methodology, Perfecting Patient Care (PPC), to support primary care practices and health care centers transform to a patient-centered medical home. She has 19 years experience working in the healthcare industry. Prior to PRHI, she was an Improvement Specialist for the Donald D. Wolff, Jr. Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation of UPMC applying. Ms. Condel has a strong laboratory background including experience as an Anatomic Pathology Manager, Cytotechnologist and Medical Technologist. For three years, she served as a Team Leader for the UPMC Anatomic Pathology Learning Line utilizing the tools. Ms. Condel has also published and presented in the areas of problem solving, lean concepts and quality assurance in pathology.

About the Program: This is the Joint Healthcare Special Interest Group and ASQ Student Chapter meeting. We will have free pizza for lunch. To help establish the student chapter ASQ-Pittsburgh is looking for ASQ mentors and corporate sponsors (to help defray the expense of ASQ membership for the students). Please, help out in this endeavor. Please contact Shankar Lakhavani at ShankL@pitt.edu or 412-736-5864 for more details.

Meeting Duration: 2 Hour

Cost: Free for ASQ Members
$10 for Non-ASQ Members (note: if a non-member becomes a member at the meeting, then the $10 can be applied towards membership dues)

Memberhip Information:

For students interest in becoming a member of the Pitt Student Chapter, please sign up on the Pitt Student Chapter Page.

Anyone interest in becoming a member of the Healthcare Special Interest Group, please sign up on the Healthcare SIG Page.

Location: Online Webinar

Topic: “Getting Things Done as a Quality Professional”

Speaker: Brien Palmer, Principal InterLINK Management Consulting

Duration: 1 Hour

About the Program:

Do you find yourself frustrated as a Quality professional?
Do you find it difficult to get management to hear your ideas?

Then plan on spending lunch hour of March 26th in an immensely valuable webinar.

Most of us are very skilled in the analytical areas of logic, use of data, formal problem-solving processes, statistics, and so forth. We are trained in these areas, we use them constantly, and we are inclined by temperament to think of them as the only way of thinking. However, this way of thinking —this temperament— represents only a small part of the general population, and other people can consider us a bit odd.

In fact, we analytical types often lack what can be called “complimentary” skills, such as people skills, communication skills, assertion, presentation skills, political acumen, business knowledge, ability to managing change, etc. Because Quality professionals often lack these skills, we can get marginalized in organizations. Ideas get lost, management goes un-convinced, Quality takes a back seat, companies get in trouble, and so forth.

This cycle can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be inevitable. In fact, analytical people are fast learners when they set their minds to it. When analytical people focus on non-analytic skills, they experience vast improvements in personal and organizational effectiveness.

This program will introduce Quality professionals to some immediately-applicable complimentary skills.

About the Speaker: Brien Palmer is a management consultant specializing in leadership development and quality management systems. In twenty-five years as a consultant, he has served a broad spectrum of clients, from large, internationally known companies such as Commonwealth Edison and Ontario Hydro to smaller, family-owned businesses. He has produced significant business results in a wide range of business settings, including high technology, manufacturing, public utilities, financial services, construction, and non-profit organizations.

Brien is a senior partner in InterLINK Management Consulting, a small, Pittsburgh-based consultancy (www.InterLINKbusiness.com).

Brien serves on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Quality (ASQ). He is an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, and has written many articles for Quality Progress magazine. He is the author of one of a Quality Press’ best-selling books: Making Change Work—Practical Tools for Overcoming Human Resistance to Change. He also created ASQ’s first internet-based “virtual seminar”, which is still in production: The Case for Quality: Taking it to Management.

Cost: Participant pays $25 for voice-over-the-internet (VOIP) webinar presentation. Invite your company for Pizza Friday at no additional charge! Need speaker on computer to hear Presenter.

Registration: Call 412-261-4300, upon payment participant will be registered for the webinar.

If you have any problems with registering, please contact Robin Dudash: iqps@aol.com

Re-Certification Units (RU): Gain 0.1 RU under the Professional Development category. Learn more about Recertification …

Location: Westinghouse Headquarters,
1000 Westinghouse Drive, Cranberry Township, PA
Auditorium 176A

Tentative Topic: “Reliability/Statistics and Lean Tools” by Dave Kitska and a speaker to be named later

About the Program: Check back for details.

About the Speakers: Check back for details.

Location: Holiday Inn Pittsburgh University Center

Conference Theme: Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare Cost, Quality and Efficiency Improvement.

Conference Keynote Speakers:

• U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy
• Karen Wolk Feinstein, President and CEO, Jewish Healthcare Foundation
• Tami Minnier, Chief Quality Officer, UPMC
• Joel H. Ettinger, President/CEO, Category One Inc.

Additional Speakers: David A. Vorp, PhD; Tania Lyon, PhD; Graciela Perez, PhD; Deb Simak and Shankar Lakhavani, MBB

What to Expect at the Conference: State of the National Healthcare Debate; Malcolm Baldrige Applied to Healthcare; Medical Innovations; Language of Process Improvement; Process Improvement Tools and Techniques and other timely topics. Q & A Sessions, Round Table Discussion.

Please see Our Brouchure, which you can print for a reminder.

Conference Details: ASQ Pittsburgh Section will be having their 1st Annual Healthcare Quality Conference; this 1-Day 2-Track Healthcare Conference will be held on Friday, 30 April 2010 at the Holiday Inn Pittsburgh University Center.

World-class healthcare organizations and professionals must find ways to improve through people, processes and performance to remain competitive and viable in this challenging economic environment. Attend this 1-Day 2-Track Healthcare Conference and seminars to learn quality processes and tools that you can take back to your company/organization and use your new knowledge to take your organization and yourself to a higher level of performance. This conference will offer 2 learning tracks; one for the quality professional seeking to update their knowledge and an advance track for the more seasoned professional. Look forward to high quality workshops and an opportunity to network with knowledgeable quality improvement experts.

Plus a training session: Lean Six Sigma -- Continuous Process Improvement (LSS-CPI) Healthcare: Boot Camp.

ASQ certification credits and continuing education credits for Healthcare professionals will be awarded. Continental breakfast and lunch will be included. ASQ members and students will get discount on the Conference fees.

Early Bird Registration: By 2 April is $125; Regular Registration is $199 (Discount for ASQ Members is $25) Scholarships for F/T Student and Unemployed ASQ Members are available; for details and application please contact Lou Anne Rudy at Lrudy@accessabilities.org or 724-420-0040 for more details.

Reservations: Advanced credit card payment required via ESWP at 412-261-4300 or email m.gaetano@eswp.com

Location: Bolttech Mannings Corporate Headquarters,
501 Mosside Blvd, North Versailles, PA 15137

Please note: Tour attendance maximum 60, so register early!

About the Visit: A brief presentation on the company will be provided by Brian Knopp, President/CTO and Teresa Whitacre, Quality Assurance Manager.

Bolttech Mannings, Pittsburgh Business Times Large Manufacturer of the Year for 2009, will show first hand their journey towards quality, lean, and operational excellence.

Plant tour requirements: Closed toes shoes are required. No cameras of any kind will be permitted to be used during the tour.

Event: The ASQ Pittsburgh Regional Friday Lunchtime Webinar Series

Location: Online Webinar

Topic: “Managing Quality Costs”

Speaker: Mustafa Shraim

Duration: 1 Hour

About the Program: Please check back for Details.

About the Speaker: Please check back for Details.

Cost: Participant pays $25 for voice-over-the-internet (VOIP) webinar presentation. Invite your company for Pizza Friday at no additional charge! Need speaker on computer to hear Presenter.

Registration: Call 412-261-4300, upon payment participant will be registered for the webinar.

If you have any problems with registering, please contact Robin Dudash: iqps@aol.com

Re-Certification Units (RU): Gain 0.1 RU under the Professional Development category. Learn more about Recertification …

Directions to Frequent Meeting Sites:
Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania
Monroeville - Westinghouse Energy Center