ASQ WCQI 2019 Graphic

Just returned from a ASQ’s annual World Conference for Quality and Improvement (WCQI) in Fort Worth, Texas.  The 3-day event included interesting keynote speakers and some very helpful breakout sessions.  In one of those sessions I presented ‘Design Business Systems to Support Sustainable CI’, a deeper dive into a topic I introduced at last year’s conference. I also had the opportunity to present a Q-talk presentation on ”Can Quality 4.0 answer ‘The Question’”, using the TED Talk format.  The Q-Talk was a new experience and it turned out to be quite effective.  This was my 4th national conference presentation.

The schedule at WCQI is pretty packed, but I was able to attend two of the keynote addresses, one by Cheryl Cran addressing the role of leaders in transferring knowledge and training new leaders. A second address was by Charlene Li, who addressed the importance of leadership creating a movement and the affects of culture on leadership effectiveness.

It’s always difficult to decide which breakout session to attend – they all sound interesting.  Here’s a brief summary of some of the sessions I attended:

  •  Visual Project Management – This session described a very simple, but comprehensive system for planning and tracking projects.  The visual part involves ‘task’ cards that can be used to plan the project and also show a ‘week at a glance’ view of active tasks and their status.  While this approach might not be for everyone, it could be very useful in the right environment.
  • Quick Problem Solving – As the title suggests, this session described a well-thought out process for achieving quick results for solving certain types of problems.  While not as robust as a DMAIC approach, this seems like a great tool to have at your disposal.  The methodology is described in detail and demonstrated with an in-depth example.  And, there is a great guide concerning when this approach should and should not be used.
  • Use Machine Learning to Prevent Process Defects – If you are ready to dive into the new world of Industry 4.0 and the use of Machine learning to analyze vast amounts of process data, this presentation provided a great start!  It describes and demonstrates new ways to use Machine Learning, the combination of modern statistics and computer science to attack problems where complex data can be analyzed to determine relationships beyond the capabilities of classical approaches. Great information if you want to see where industry is headed.

 So many sessions and so much information!  This is just a taste of the great ideas presented at the conference. Keeping up on these kinds of new ideas is an integral part of TCII’s mission to provide the most effective approaches to Continuous Improvement.  If you are interested, lets have a conversation about how these and other Continuous Improvement techniques can help your business as it moves into the future.