Michael Bournazian

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB

This past August, I decided to resurrect a tradition that my father and I used to do every year when I was younger: go see professional tennis at the (now named) IGA Stadium in Montreal. Every year on the professional tennis circuit, both Montreal and Toronto host tournaments in Canada, with the cities alternating each year with regards gender; this year, it was the women who played in Montreal.

I was lucky enough that on the day I went, I got to see Canadian Leylah Fernandez play against the U.K.’s Harriet Dart. Although Dart ended up winning the match, it was Fernandez who only a month later would make it all the way to the U.S. Open finals with an incredible string of challenging victories. Both her and male counterpart Felix Auger Aliassime did Canada proud with their amazing play.

One interesting thing I realized on that day in early August day: not only were there no line judges on the court, but as well there was no net judge either. Although electronic technology has been used in tennis for years (to help with verifying questionable human line calls), this was my first time seeing service calls being made electronically as well. There was no one crouched at the end of the court with their fingers wrapped around the top of the net, ready to call “let” if the player’s serve happened to touch the top white seal/border of the net. Replacing the human hand is a rectangular sensor that is installed under the border, which gets triggered whenever a served ball touches the border.

Upon subsequent reading, I learned that in order to reduce staff due our current world situation, the 2020 U.S. Open tournament used electronic judging on most matches, excluding those held at their 2 big courts (Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium). At this year’s 2021 Australian Open, all matches used electronic judging for the first time in a Grand Slam event.

So yes, it seems that in order to reduce the amount of possible human interaction during a match, the use of electronic judging technology has increased and will likely never revert back to its human ways. That said, electronic technology ultimately began being used in tennis (as well as other sports such as cricket, badminton, and even snooker) in order to reduce and ideally eliminate something Quality practitioners know very well: HUMAN ERROR.

With the release of the 5th edition of the ISO 9001 standard (ISO 9001:2015), the principles of Risk Management were imbedded into the standard, an approach that the AS9100 standard had already done with its 2009 revision. Organizations had to (finally!) make risk management an integrated part of their management system. As well with the 2015 revision, the element of human error finally found a place in 8.5.1 Control of production and service provision, which states:

“The organization shall implement production and service provision under controlled conditions. Controlled conditions shall include, as applicable:

g) the implementation of actions to prevent human error”

So organizations are now in a situation where they are mandated (as applicable) to evaluate their production and service operations for ways to  prevent humans from being, well, occasionally human. Mistakes occur, we all know this . . . even during tennis matches. You can easily go on YouTube and find plenty of video compilations of players disputing rulings that they saw one way, but the human line or net judge saw/felt another. So by slowly implementing electronic judging into the game over the years, the tennis world (aka the organization) has been attempting to reduce/eliminate the human error from the game . . . by eliminating humans ;-). That is one way to go (extreme!), but ultimately the standard’s minimum expectation is for companies to look at how to best mitigate the risk that a human fault may occur.

One judge that still remains on the tennis court during matches is the chair umpire, so there is still a human overlord during the proceedings. That said, it would not surprise me if in my lifetime that role also goes . . . electronic.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the “C” word nor the “P” word were used during the writing of this article. Photo taken (and edited) by Michael Bournazian.

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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB

In June 2021, I published my 100th newsletter for the ASQ Montreal Section (the English section when I first started, now the bilingual English/French section). Never did I think I would reach a triple digit milestone such as this. When I took over the role back in September 2010 from current Section Chair Chantale Simard, my feelings were more akin to “survival” than to “excellence” and “mastery”. I had no idea if I would do a good job, no idea if I would enjoy doing it, plenty of “no ideas”.

What drove me to accept the challenge originally was simply to do something outside of my comfort zone. The reason I started going to ASQ dinner presentations in 2009 was to learn different languages of Quality. Although I enjoyed my job and the company I worked for at the time, I felt my Quality vocabulary was becoming myopic: often I would say to myself such things as “There must be a different way to do this”, or “I bet Company X does this better than us”. In the end, attending those initial dinner presentations helped me meet new people in the Quality field, but also helped answer some of these things I would (often frustratingly) be asking myself on the job.

As a result, this put me in touch with others on the Montreal Section Committee at the time, and eventually thanks to Chantale’s belief in me (a belief that I did not fully have yet), I took on the role of Newsletter Editor. Slowly and surely, as I have done with many other things in my life, I learned how to best make everything work for me. And so to this day, I continue to enjoy putting together these newsletters.

Not every edition has been easy:

• There was the one I started back in September 2011 and hoped to finish before leaving for a business trip to Berlin. Unfortunately, a car accident a few days before leaving left me uninjured but my car a total loss. With a trip to prepare for and a new car to purchase, I had to call in the help of the previous Editor (Mme. Simard encore!) to finish what I started.
• Also in November 2013, when I spent most evenings after work in a hospital watching my Father slowly lose his life. At the time, I thought of asking for help, for someone else to step in just for this month. In the end, I told myself that putting in the time (even at the midnight hours) to do it myself would be a good distraction from what I knew was going to be a difficult next few months.
• And finally, I cannot forget all the times I would have to be travelling with work, doing audits during the day and then in my hotel room in the evening catching up on “the regular job” AND working on the newsletter. Somehow I always got it done: that said, I think back now and wonder “HOW?”.

In conclusion, as a woman who should have been President once said: “It takes a village”.  So a huge THANK YOU to all those who have contributed over the past (now 101) issues of this newsletter. You know who you are, you are many, so please accept this single yet large sign of gratitude from me. You have all helped make my working life, and my life in general, better.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the “C” word nor the “P” word were used during the writing of this article.

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Any feedback? Click on the link and let me know.

Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB

Before I wish you a happy and safe summer, as I normally do in the June newsletter, something interesting to touch on:

This newsletter marks the 100th of said publications that I have written, edited, assembled, reviewed, stressed over, cursed at, and just plain enjoyed doing since I first took on the role of Editor in 2010. At that time, Chantale Simard saw something in me that I did not know I was capable of, so I was wary to accept the challenge. But soon enough, I decided that the old adage “no chances, no advances” needed some actual practice. One hundred newsletters later, and it still feels like one of the best chances I took on myself.

My original want was to write something special in this newsletter regarding this milestone. Well, now you’ll have to suffer through a long, hot summer and wait until the September newsletter to see what I come up with. I am positive you will all find ways to occupy your time until them.

OK, now back to normal broadcasting . . .

As is customary for me in the June newsletter, I would like to thank you, the reader, for taking the time to read this newsletter. I do hope that the effort that goes into putting it together by myself and others shows, and that you get something positive out of it every time you read it.

I, as well as the entire ASQ Executive Committee, are fully aware that we continue to live in strange times. With all the additional stresses and changes we have adapted to, I would not blame anyone for not being able to give the ASQ as much attention as they would normally give. Rest assured that we understand and that we will continue to be here to promote the Quality profession for you, to the best of our abilities.

So finally . . . I wish you a safe, happy and QUALITY summer season. After the completion of the June 16th event, we will be back in September 2021.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the “C” word nor the “P” word were used during the writing of this article.

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Any feedback? Click on the link and let me know.

Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB

A positive update on my Editor’s Corner article from February 2021. If you recall, I had 2 good friends of mine, both of whom work in the Quality field, lose their jobs.

The positive is that as of this month, both have started new, permanent employment. They were both let go from longstanding jobs with aerospace companies, and have now started new roles with different aerospace companies.

In both their cases, it took a few months, a few interviews, and few frustrations. But hopefully they can now settle into their new Quality roles. I wish them the best of luck.

And if you are reading this and are currently in the situation they used to be in, then click on the link above and read my full article on things to keep in mind and to do with regards to “Job Searching 2021”. All the best and none of the worst to you.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the “C” word nor the “P” word were used during the writing of this article.

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Any feedback? Click on the link and let me know.

Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, CSSGB

If you are a member of ASQ, then certainly you receive the monthly ASQ magazine “Quality Progress”. And if you read closely the April 2021 issue, then surely you realized that a few of our ASQ Montreal committee members were part of a group of 4 people who authored the article entitled “A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Events“.

I am very proud of both J.P. Amiel and Raymond Dyer, who have both worked very hard to make sure that our current situation of “Virtual Webinar Events only” is well executed every last Wednesday of the month. As well, they have shown an openness to ideas and a regular drive to continuously improve the process of doing these kinds of events, and making them fruitful for everyone attending.

If you have not already read the article, then I encourage you to CLICK HERE and start reading. You must login to your ASQ account first to access the full article.

Congratulations as well to the other 2 co-authors, Ruth Stanley and Michel Guenette. Great job everyone!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neither the “C” word nor the “P” word were used during the writing of this article.

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Any feedback? Click on the link and let me know.

Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.