Tag Archives: quality

IWD2021: Thérèse Schölvinck: #ChoosetoChallenge Starts by Challenging Yourself

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The theme for IWD2021 is: “A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.”  IWD2021 is asking: How will you help forge a gender-equal world? The answer is by celebrating women’s achievements, raising awareness against bias and taking action for equality.

Through our annual IWD blog series, we want to introduce you to a group of women – our employees, customers and partners – who personify the achievements of women in tech and in EHSQ.

Find out why the word “why” – typically a challenge-type word – is so important to Thérèse.

What is your name, title and company?

Thérèse Schölvinck, Director – PD People – HR Business Partners, European Patent Office

I studied Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands. Istarted to work at the European Patent Office as a Patent Examiner in 1991. In addition to my core job, I was … Read more...

How Quality 4.0 is Changing the Future of Business: Part II

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Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0

In our previous blog on Quality 4.0, we introduced the ways in which the principles of Industry 4.0 have impacted the practice of quality. In today’s blog, we’ll look at the first of a series of case studies to see how this revolution plays out in today’s organizations.


Maintenance 4.0


Equipment failure in a manufacturing environment can disrupt cash flow and productivity. Not only do machine repairs cost money and time to repair, but there is also a cost to sitting idle. Time and money are lost through decreased productivity and missed deadlines, while rushed work (for example, immediately after recovery from the failures) can lead to additional product defects or safety hazards. While traditional maintenance techniques react to machine failures only after they occur, Maintenance 4.0 offers the opportunity to collect data to predict and prevent machine downtime before it occurs, potentially protecting millions of dollars of productivity … Read more...

Compliance at the Speed of Risk

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I recently read that risk management begins and ends with decision making. Perhaps this is right, but I believe not in the sense that this statement was originally made. Risk management is more than just identifying the value at risk and deciding which is the best option. While this is important it is only half of the story.

Every plan, every project, every business endeavor operates in the presence of uncertainty and this uncertainty creates the opportunity for risk. This affects decision making, of course, but also affects how a company is organized, structured, the systems and processes that are put in place, and the culture it needs to contend with uncertainty as they make progress towards their goals and mission success.

Unfortunately, up until now, many companies build their defenses around disparate management systems implemented across functional silos and reinforced by reactive behaviors. This creates the possibility for risk … Read more...

EPA: Existing Owners of Upstream Oil and Natural Gas Facilities Can Perform Self-Audits to Return to Compliance

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EPA offers a new temporary program in an effort to improve compliance, environmental outcomes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has temporarily expanded its voluntary self-audit and disclosure program for upstream oil and natural gas facilities by giving existing owners the opportunity to use EHS audits to find, correct and self-disclose Clean Air Act violations. EPA believes this self-audit program will motivate facilities to participate and start making the necessary changes to their equipment to address violations and return to compliance, improving air quality in surrounding communities.

“Upstream oil and natural gas facilities sometimes can have numerous emission violations. By temporarily expanding our self-audit program to existing owners, we expect more facilities to return to environmental compliance. This incentive to identify, correct, and self-disclose violations will provide additional public health and environmental protection in the surrounding communities,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Susan Bodine.

EPA is making … Read more...

The Intelex Quality Top 10 for 2019

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Intelex provides tons of posts, webinars, and insight reports every year to help you figure out how to manage EHSQ better. Here’s our Top 10 resources on quality, all in one place!

It’s time to celebrate the Top 10 most popular or insightful blog posts, reports, or webinars we’ve brought to you in 2019 on quality-related topics! We picked these results based on feedback and interest and hope that they’ll help you learn more about the critical role quality plays in EHSQ. See you in 2020!

#10 – A Digital Transformation for Voice of the Customer (VoC) (Blog Post – September 17, 2019): This quick story shows how Fuji Xerox used their digital transformation initiatives to improve Net Promoter Score (NPS) from -4 (bad) to +35 (very good). To do this, the implemented a VoC data collection and management system.

#9 – Quality Failures Can Leave You In the Dark… Read more...

Documentation and Disaster: The Importance of Documented Procedures for Any Organization

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In October 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX flying with Lion Air from Jakarta crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. In March 2019, another Boeing 737 MAX, this time with Ethiopian Airlines, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. Each plane had been delivered to the airlines only a few months earlier, making them the latest and most technology advanced aircraft in the world. At first glance, there should be no reason that these aircraft crashed under such similar circumstances.  

During the investigation, the root cause of these disasters began to become clear. In 2010, Boeing had begun a redesign of the 737 aircraft to remain competitive with Airbus, which had recently announced the introduction of the upgraded A320 to compete with the 737. To ensure timely delivery of the 737 MAX and avoid losing competitive advantage to Airbus, Boeing presented the 737 MAX as being similar enough to the … Read more...

GDPR Consent: Legally Managing Data about EU Citizens

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If you collect data in the European Union, you’re well aware of GDPR and potential for steep fines if you are not compliant. Find out which consent rules are key.

It’s been well over a year since the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. Proposed in 2012, the regulations were approved in 2016 to provide consistency between data privacy and protection regulations across EU member nations.

The cornerstone of GDPR is consent: information about a person belongs to that person. If your organization is collecting data thatin any way relates to a citizen of the EU, that person should be informed about how you plan to use that information and kept informed as your organization’s data management strategy evolves. It doesn’t matter where the individual is located — universities who have even one student who is a citizen of the EU must also comply.… Read more...

Define Systems of Record to Boost Performance

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Quality depends on data because effective decision making depends on data. As a result, successful business and process outcomes will depend on building a culture of quality around data. This includes creating and following management processes to make data accessible, available, and accurate.

One strategy for improving process quality through data is to identify master data and decide which system of record will hold each type of master data. This is similar to knowing who the experts are in your company, knowing how to find them when you need them, and getting assurance that they will provide you with accurate, up-to-date information. For example, your Environment, Health, Safety & Quality (EHSQ) system may be your system of record for emissions, incidents, exposure data, and quality events, providing a single source of truth for these processes.

Master Data

Master data is some of the most important data your organization has – … Read more...

Next Generation Quality: It’s All About the Data

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As early as 2015, McKinsey’s “Digital America” report projected that adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing alone was expected to increase domestic GDP by over $2 Trillion by 2025. This estimate, developed from expectations surrounding productivity enhancements, waste reduction using methods from lean manufacturing, and new business models enabled by technologies like 3D printing and practices such as remanufacturing, is on track to not only be met — but exceeded.

Manufacturing is Being Revitalized

All of these sea changes are happening because of data – and the software used to collect, manipulate, and understand it. While traditional manufacturing jobs have relied on physical and mechanical skills, new manufacturing jobs require additional cognitive skills. As a result, manufacturers are scrambling to identify and roll out technology training for workers that will best support these emerging needs. At the same time, organizations recognize that institutional memory remains critical. Job shadowing … Read more...

Statistical Process Control Turns Potential Problems into Valuable Opportunities

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Imagine how nice it would be if you could predict the future, if you could make decisions with the confidence that you knew exactly what their consequences would be.

Unfortunately, we can’t predict the future. But we can get greater insight into the hidden patterns in processes and information that exist right now, and that can give us a much better idea of how to respond to potential problems before they become a reality. When we put what we learn from these insights to good use with an integrated EHSQ (environment, health, safety, and quality) management system, we can also unlock the potential for incredibly valuable financial opportunities.

Statistical process control (SPC) is a method traditionally associated with manufacturing. However, it can provide deep and valuable insight into any business or production process. SPC is a mathematical technique developed in the 1920s to monitor random processes and provide alerts when … Read more...