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Baldrige
Award
Nine
Organizations in Final Running for Top Quality Honor
Teams
of business and quality experts will visit nine organizations—four
manufacturers, one service company, two small businesses, one
education organization and one health care organization—as part
of the application process for the 2000 Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award. Forty-nine organizations applied for the award,
including 14 manufacturers, five service companies, 11 small businesses,
11 education organizations and eight health care organizations.
Starting
in October, site-team members will verify information in the application,
examine each organization's records, conduct interviews, and clarify
any issues or questions raised by earlier reviews. A private-sector
panel of judges will review the site-visit findings and make recommendations
concerning winning organizations to NIST. All 49 applicants receive
an extensive feedback report highlighting strengths and opportunities
for improvement.
Baldrige
award recipients for 2000 will be announced in November.
For
more information on the MBNQA, go to the Baldrige site on the
World Wide Web at www.quality.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
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Quality
Are
You Keeping Pace with the Global Economy?
Globalization
is a fact of life. Succeeding in the global economy is not such
a sure bet.
A
survey conducted by Louis Harris & Associates confirmed that a
majority of American chief executive officers recognize that they
must strengthen their international strategies and performance
if they are to succeed in the fast-evolving global marketplace.
However, they are unsure about how to implement policies that
will result in global success.
A
new paper examines how CEOs are using the Baldrige Criteria for
Performance Excellence to help improve their strategies and operations
and better address global opportunities. Richard Pieranunzi, president
of STMicroelectronics-Region Americas, says, "The Baldrige criteria
have helped us learn how to align our entire organization so that
we can provide consistent service and quality no matter where
a particular customer may be operating, which is required these
days in order to survive."
The
paper, "Baldrige: A Global Approach for a Global Economy," and
the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence are available
on the World Wide Web at www.quality.nist.gov
or by calling (301) 975-2036.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Manufacturing
Aeronautics
Firm Gets in STEP with Streamlined Data Exchange
STEP
(also known as ISO 10303), the global Standard for the
Exchange of Product model data, got another rousing
endorsement from an industry leader when Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
initiated full production use of the standard for technical data
exchange with its suppliers.
Traditionally, LM Aeronautics manually transmitted large volumes
of engineering data via hard-copy bid packages to potential suppliers.
Data often had to be interpreted and re-entered into different
systems, resulting in time delays and errors. Using STEP, data
can be quickly and accurately sent electronically to first-tier
suppliers and, if needed, retransmitted to lower-tier suppliers.
What once took weeks is now accomplished in a matter of minutes.
From
the definition of IGES (the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification)
through the current STEP standard, NIST has been a leader in the
quest to create a universal, unambiguous language for exchanging
product information. From 1984 until 1998, NIST also served as
the secretariat for the International Organization for Standardization
(known as ISO) Subcommittee on Industrial Data. NIST still participates
in STEP's evolution and implementation by developing testing methodologies
for and making technical contributions to ISO 10303 as applied
to different industries.
Organizations
successfully using STEP in their manufacturing processes include
Boeing, Boeing's McDonnell Douglas unit, Delphi Delco Electronics
Systems, General Motors, NASA, Rolls-Royce and UTC/Pratt &
Whitney.
Both
LM Aeronautics and NIST are members of PDES Inc., a joint industry/government
consortium specifically formed to accelerate the development and
implementation of STEP.
For more information on NIST's involvement in STEP, contact Simon
Frechette, (301) 975-3335, or Steven Ray, (301) 975-3524. For
more information on LM Aeronautics' new STEP standard, contact
Mike Nipper, (817) 777-4973. For PDES information, contact Martha
Nicholson, (843) 760-3225.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
Awards
Improved
‘Vision Using Sound' System Wins R&D; 100 Honor
An
inexpensive acoustic wave transducer developed by NIST mechanical
engineers has been selected as one of the top 100 technologies
for the year 2000 by Research and Development Magazine.
The device, known as the lensless line-focus broadband transducer,
helps acoustic microscopes perform ultrasonic examinations of
alloys, ceramics, crystals, composites and other industrially
important materials simply,
cheaply and with easier interpretation of the data.
The
transducer sends a pulsed sound wave through a test sample that
is submerged in water. The speed of the reflected wave provides
a measure of the material's elasticity (its ability to flex under
stress), while the direction of the reflected wave provides details
about crystal planes or defects within the material.
Current acoustic microscopes use lenses to focus the ultrasonic
beam and may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The NIST transducer
costs less than $500, can be used with conventional ultrasonic
systems costing about $20,000 and yields equivalent or better
quality data on materials properties.
The cost savings result from NIST's use of an inexpensive piezoelectric,
plastic film for the curved transducer. Electrical signals cause
the film to emit relatively low-frequency, pulsed sound waves.
The curvature of the film focuses the sound waves in the same
way that curved mirrors are used in telescopes to focus light
from distant stars. The transducer is positioned above the sample
and then scanned or rotated through different angles to get a
full picture of the material's elastic properties.
For technical information on the NIST transducer, contact Gerry
Blessing, (301) 975-6627.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
Physics
NIST
Pioneers the Use of Image Plates for Far UV Spectroscopy
Researchers
in NIST's
Atomic Physics Division have demonstrated the effectiveness
of photostimulable image plates for recording spectra in the far
ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Although image
plates have been used for higher energy applications such as X-ray
crystallography, no one previously had evaluated them for far
UV spectroscopy. Based on the NIST results, image plates eventually
may replace the expensive, hard-to-handle and often hard-to-obtain
photographic plates traditionally used to record spectra at these
wavelengths.
Image plates are film-like sheets coated with a rare earth phosphor
such as BaFBr:Eu (barium fluorobromide doped with a trace of europium).
When an image plate is exposed to energetic radiation, electron-hole
traps are created in the phosphor that can persist for very long
periods of time, even weeks. When illuminated with a red laser,
the traps decay by fluorescing in the blue. If an image plate
that has been exposed to high energy radiation is scanned with
a laser in a special reader, a two-dimensional map of the exposed
region is created in a computer. Software developed for this application
then can be used to process the data.
The
image plate can be erased and reused. Furthermore, image plates
have a response that is linear over a wide dynamic range. The
NIST physicists successfully recorded spectra in the 5-60 nanometer
region with the image plates, achieving sensitivity comparable
to that of photographic emulsions made for this spectral region.
These results were published earlier this year in Applied Optics,
vol. 39, no. 4.
For technical information, contact Joseph
Reader, (301) 975-3222.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum, (301)
975-2763
Small
Business
MEP
Helps Makes Success an Equal Opportunity Result
Not
since Rosie the Riveter have there been so many women in manufacturing.
Not just working on the factory floor, but owning it.
For example, Carol Latham's small company, Thermagon, manufactures
a product that removes the heat build-up in electronic components.
Her customers include some of the largest and best-known electronics
firms in the world.
Donna Martinez' small business, American Ornamental Iron Inc.,
manufactured and installed the spires, orbs and steel adorning
the new Milwaukee Midwest Express Convention Center.
Women-owned businesses in the United States, especially small
businesses, have increased dramatically over the past decade and
are having a significant impact on the economy. And, according
to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners, manufacturing
is one of the fastest growing areas for women.
Latham and Martinez represent thousands of other small manufacturers—women
and men— whose ability to succeed in a tough marketplace
remains vital to the U.S. economy. But, as determined and success-driven
as they are, sometimes it takes more to make it in a tough, competitive
sector like manufacturing. Thousands of small manufacturers credit
the expert business and technical assistance they received from
the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership in helping them overcome
barriers to their productivity and competitiveness.
A
nationwide network of centers in all 50 states, the NIST MEP provides
expertise and services tailored to a small manufacturer's most
critical needs including lean manufacturing, e-business, and worker
training. Many of NIST MEP's client companies are reporting astounding
results.
Small manufacturers can reach their local NIST MEP office by calling
(800) MEP-4MFG (637-4634). Information also is available at www.mep.nist.gov.
A collection of MEP success stories involving women-owned manufacturing
firms can be found on the World Wide Web at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/women_manuf.htm.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301)
975-2767
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