Editor’s Corner

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

As usual, November brings to an end our Section’s event activities, as well as Newsletter activities until January of the following year.

So I would like to take this opportunity, as I have in previous November issues of this Newsletter, to wish everyone a joyous holiday season. However you celebrate, I hope it is filled with peace and love.

See you in 2025. 

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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2) Write a review of one of the upcoming monthly webinars for the “Had You Been There” section.

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

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

On October 2, 2024, I did something for the first time this decade: I visited a supplier to conduct an audit.

In pre-COVID times this was a normal occurence, however since March 2020 any supplier audit I conducted for my employer had to be conducted virtually. Even by 2022 when the world started fully “opening up” again, my immune-compromised being still continued to do these activities remotely; thanks to my understanding managers for agreeing to this.

So what made this audit different that made me decide to go onsite? Two reasons:

1) It’s not 2020, or even 2022, anymore. Even though COVID is still around, I have kept up-to-date on my booster shots. I have also decided that in certain not-so crowded environments, I can forego wearing a mask. So going to this supplier resulted in me not wearing a mask while in the conference room with their staff who were always a fair distance from me; that said, I would put a mask on when going into their shop, where the “employee density” was greater. It’s all about risk management.

2) This supplier is literally walking distance from my office! Seriously, I could have walked their in 20 minutes. So I can only imagine my manager’s reaction if had I said I was going to conduct this audit virtually as well.

In truth, it felt good to finally do a supplier audit onsite again. Yes, doing them virtually does work and plenty can be achieved; but there is something to be said for actually being there and talking to people in person and seeing the facility in the flesh.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Let me take this opportunity to say that I hope everyone had a wonderful summer, and welcome to the fall 2024 season of ASQ newsletters and events.

Was my summer wonderful? Well, I would have definitely preferred not having a recurrence of my lower back issues that had dogged me in the past, but it is what it is.

I have spoken before here about “Quality of Life”: about how we should go beyond our paying jobs in the name of Quality, and expect/demand Quality from our lives in general. Although it is fair to say that my back issues have affected my Quality of Life over the past 4 months, the truth is I have done my best to keep everything in my life going as normal, with some adjustments here and there. It is also worth noting that no one is an island, and although we regularly find ourselves complaining about our healthcare system here in Quebec, I have certainly not been at a loss when it comes to getting the services I have needed.

So for helping me to maintain/improve my Quality of Life in the recent months, I say thank you to all the health practitioners and their staff, I greatly appreciate it.

OK, enough about me. Keep on reading the newsletter and hope to see you at all our future events.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

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 wish you a safe, happy and QUALITY summer season. We will be back in September 2024 with the next newsletter. All the best to you.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

The last time we had an in-person “Night Of The Registrars” event, it was pre-pandemic. So it’s been a while.

I sincerely hope to you see you at this event on Wednesday, May 29th at the Novotel Montreal Airport hotel. If you have not already signed up, do not hesitate . . .  CLICK HERE.

And not long after, on June 12th, we will be having our final event before the summer break, once again at the Novotel hotel.

This will be a networking event hosted by our very own Chantale Simard. Here is a brief synopsis of the evening:

Rejoignez-nous pour une soirée de connexions de qualité à Connexion Qualité / Quality Connection – où le réseautage va au-delà des frontières! Participez à des discussions animées, brisez la glace avec le Bingo Qualité, et mettez votre expertise à l’épreuve dans un défi de trivia par équipe. Connectez-vous, collaborez et élevez votre réseau dans le domaine des professionnels en qualité!

Join us for an evening of quality connections at Connexion Qualité / Quality Connection – where networking knows no bounds! Engage in lively discussions, break the ice with Quality Bingo, and put your expertise to the test in a team trivia challenge. Connect, collaborate, and elevate your network in the realm of quality professionals!

Again, do not hesitate if you are interested in being part of this June event . . . CLICK HERE.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

If you are reading this, then the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 is now in the history books. If you took the opportunity to witness it live, good for you. And even if you did not, given social media, there are a million and three options to witness it after the fact.

One thing I actually learned because of the solar eclipse is that . . . low and behold, there’s a ISO standard for that!

The ISO 12312-2:2015 standard, entitled “Eye and face protection – Sunglasses and related eyewear – Part 2: Filters for direct observation of the Sun“, is the standard to which protective eyewear must be certified to in order to properly and safely view the sun.

According to the Solar Eclipse Across America website: “ISO 12312-2 sets requirements on the following properties of a safe solar viewer:

• Transmittance (the ratio of transmitted light to incident light) at the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths that reach our retinas;
• Uniformity of transmittance;
• Material and surface quality;
• Mounting;
• Labeling.”

Often in our Quality lives, we work with “common” ISO standards like ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO45001, etc. However, the International Organization of Standardization has published (as of January 2024) over 25,000 international standards covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing.

And in case you were wondering, there are 2 other ISO 12312 standards:

• ISO 12312-1: 2022 > Eye and face protection – Sunglasses and related eyewear – Part 1: Sunglasses for general use; and
• ISO 12312-3:2022 > Eye and face protection – Sunglasses and related eyewear – Part 3: Sunglasses for running, cycling and similar active lifestyles.

A solar eclipse . . . not just something to SAFELY look at.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Customers. Clients. Entities that give you money to provide them with goods and/or services, often to drawing and/or specification requirements. Where would we be without them?

I know where I WILL be once I am without them . . . retired and hopefully on a beach. But until then, I (and most of you too) go to work everyday and do our Quality best to deliver to our paycheck providers the best we can. But as the image meme below correctly states, who/how your customer is (both external and internal ones) can result in your work being exciting and rewarding, or demanding and frustrating.

Having worked in customer facing roles in various companies during my career, I have seen the difference first-hand between customers who make your work smooth and those who make your work rough. It can be quite eye opening at times, considering that all these companies work essentially to the same standards (ISO9001, AS9100, TS16949, etc.), and yet never have I experienced any sort of macroscopic “uniformity” from one to the other, with regards to how they deal with suppliers, how they conduct their audits, how they deal with escapes, etc.

And perhaps that makes sense, since no two humans are alike, and since all these companies are made up of tens, hundreds, thousands of humans, how can there be any uniformity? And yet, in our daily Quality work, what are we very often striving to achieve? Yup, uniformity: from consistently conforming parts to high value customer service to gage repeatability and reproducibility, and on and on.

So ultimately, just do your best to make sure the customer is satisfied . . . even if they are a headcase.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

As Quality professionals, as in everyday life, we sometimes find ourselves in situations where taking a shortcut feels like a good option, as opposed to the longer and perhaps more correct option.

I cannot know the number of certificates of conformity I have signed in my career to date, there have been too many. But I always did my best to assure that the work that went into manufacturing the product was done correctly before putting my signature to paper.

I can clearly remember a heated exchange I had with a contract administrator who wanted to ship his parts ASAP, and who was getting terse with me because I was doing my regular due diligence (aka taking longer than he would have liked). In the end I told him that he could sign the CofC himself, as well as deal with any issues that come up after. The most immediate issue would have been that at the time, I was the only person authorized by that particular customer to give the final sign off on their products in our company, so another person’s signature on the CofC would have raised immediate red flags. Long story short, he suddenly became very willing to give me another precious 5 minutes to review all the job records properly before giving the final sign off.

Shortcuts: not always the best choice.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Happy 2024 to everyone reading this post. All the best to you in this new year. 

Like most people, I took some time off before returning to work in the new year. And during that time off, I committed a grievous quality infraction in my personal life . . . I participated in causing a quality escape! If you are unfamiliar with what this means (please don’t be), then by all means Google it before reading on.

During my time off, I had booked an appointment with my osteopath. I arrived at the clinic early as I normally do, then saw my osteopath for the hour-long session. Once done, I got dressed, left the session room, said goodbye to the receptionist and left.

Did you notice something missing from that “process”? I certainly did not at that moment, but about one hour after leaving I got a call from the clinic, telling me that (cue scary horror movie music) I forgot to pay!! In my hurry to leave, I completely missed one of my essential process steps . . . paying for the service I received. As well, the clinic completely missed one of their essential process steps . . . assuring that the customer pays for the service.

After profusely apologizing, I got back in my car, returned to the clinic and righted my wrong. Of course now, given my profession and the way my brain works because of it, I am left with the question: “How do I assure that I don’t forget to pay going forward?” That said, I also wonder why it took the clinic an hour to realize that a customer had left without paying? How was the escape finally realized? What will they do to assure on their end that no one leaves without paying again?

My next osteopathy appointment is in early February, so stay tuned and I may have some answers.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

In my corner last month, I spoke about “Year-end” . . . in financial terms. This month, it’s a different year-end.

As usual, November brings to an end our Section’s event activities, as well as Newsletter activities until January of the following year.

So I would like to take this opportunity, as I have in previous November issues of this Newsletter, to wish everyone a joyous holiday season. However you celebrate, I hope it is filled with peace and love.

See you in 2024. 

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

“Year-end” is a term we are all surely familiar with. Financially speaking, it refers to the end of the 12-month performance cycle of a company. For some businesses, year-end lines up with the calendar year, so starting January and ending in December; other businesses try to avoid having the end coincide with the holiday season, so it ends up being a different, continuous 12-month cycle.

As a Quality professional for the past 25+ years, one thing I have commonly heard in the weeks leading up to the close of year-end in all the companies I have worked for is “We need to ship as much as possible before year-end”. I was reminded of this a few weeks back in September, as my current employer’s fiscal reporting period is October to September.

At times in my career being closer to action, I had been made to feel like if I did not “do my part to get the parts shipped, it would not look good on me”. In other words, play along and look the other way if/when quality issues arise. Of course, doing so would mean you are merely delivering non-compliant product to your customer, but at least it will count towards the company year-end, right? Does this sound familiar? If not, give it some time (don’t worry, it won’t take long).

A new expression I also heard not long ago came from a supplier where I had conducted a virtual audit. The initial corrective action responses were supposed to be provided by September 29th, 2023. I received an e-mail from the Quality Manager 2 days before to ask for a one week extension to October 6th with no reason(s) given. When I asked why, his response back was (word-for-word) “Oh, you know, year-end”. I smiled on the outside as I read it, but not on the inside.

Money makes the world go around. Not sure who first said that, but I am sure they were a quality individual.  

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Hello, and welcome back to your favourite (I hope) Quality newsletter. I sincerely hope everyone had a good summer, which continues until September 23, 2023 🙂

I have often talked about “Quality of Life” here in my corner, about how important it is to have a good work-life balance. Like all normal first-world country people though, my balance sometimes falters. The one constant imbalance in my life for the past 10 years was that I had not made the effort to take a proper vacation. By vacation, I mean go away/travel somewhere for an extended period of time, and not just stay at home for a week away from work.

For about 6 years, I was emotionally not into doing any big travel. Then in early 2020 when I turned a corner and decided it was time, the world decided to have a pandemic. This year though, suffice it to say that enough was enough.

In short, my partner and I got on a plane and headed to Newfoundland. I have had friends there since the late 1990s and it was nice to see them on their home turf for the first time in a decade. It was especially nice for my partner who had never been to the east coast of Canada before, not to mention also being vacation deprived for a number of years. We spent a week touring around the east coast of the province and in the capital of St. John’s. We ate good, we saw beautiful places, and best of all, we disengaged from our regular lives for a week.

Is our “Quality of Life” drastically different now? I think we all know the answer. That said, being able to “change” for a brief period of time does do wonders for one’s mental well-being, as well as leave you with lifelong memories. I hope I can continue pursuing a better balance.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

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 wish you a safe, happy and QUALITY summer season. We will be back in September 2023 with the next newsletter. All the best 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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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

The announcement earlier this month from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 no longer needs to be deemed a global health crisis was of little reassurance to me. As someone who is immune compromised and in daily contact with my Mom who is elderly, my mask wearing continues, and if I stick out like a sore thumb, then so be it.

When I go into the office to work, I have consistently been the only one wearing a mask for about the last 3 months. Since I started going back to seeing live indoor concerts in 2022, I double-mask. Eating at a restaurant in the past 3 years happens only if said restaurant has an outdoor dining area. And when I go indoor shopping (whether it be for groceries or something else), a mask can still be found on my face.

That said, in another instance of my work life encroaching into my personal life, in March 2023 I have found myself needing to practice “RISK ACCEPTANCE“.

With the 2015 revision of the ISO 9001 standard, we were finally brought into (perhaps kicking and screaming) the world of Risk Management and Risk-based Thinking. Along with it came terms that previously had more of a foothold in the financial world, such as Risk Assessment, Risk Analysis, Risk Mitigation, and as I mentioned above, Risk Acceptance (also called Risk Retention). It ultimately means exactly what you think it does . . . which is that you are aware of a potential or inherent risk, but you knowingly decide to not act upon it in order to minimize its effects (aka mitigation).

Well, some recent examples of me assessing risk and then (in one instance) accepting risk included the following:

• The funeral of a family member in March 2023 (all events occurring on the same day):
  • Attending the church service – mask worn, as there is no need to eat during the service and it is indoors;
  • Riding in the hearse with 5 other people to the cemetery – mask worn, as I had not had much contact with them in the past 3 years and we are in a small closed space;
  • At the cemetery – mask not worn, as we are now outside and COVID is less transmissible outdoors;
  • Reception at the church’s restaurant – indoors but mask not worn, as I would be eating regularly (risk accepted).

Over the next 10 days after this difficult day (for numerous reasons), I conducted a total of 3 rapid tests on myself, all of which came back negative. Would I have been surprised with a positive result? Not in the least, but as I stated above, I accepted the risk and so did my Mom who was with me the whole time and masked in the same manner as I did.

Risk Management . . . it’s all around you.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, I know, the “C” word was used during the writing of this article.

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Back in March 2021, I wrote in this very section about the ice storm that had hit Texas. I concluded in the end that it was not really my place to point the finger at the state’s lack of preparedness, given eastern Canada’s lack of preparedness during the 1998 ice storm that affected us 25 years ago (happy silver anniversary!).

In present day Quebec (and Montreal specifically), we  experienced an unexpected sense of deja-vu when, low-and-behold, another ice storm hit the area on April 5th. Not as severe as 1998, but still a large proportion of the Montreal region was once again plunged into darkness, which meant no electricity and, unlike in 1998, no Internet as well (yes, I know, the Internet was around in 1998, but without the stranglehold it has on our lives like it does now).

So did Hydro Quebec do a better job of dealing with the emergency this time around compared to 1998? If I strictly look at my own personal situation, I went 4 days with power this time around, as opposed to 2 weeks as I did in 1998. So by those numbers, I should be happy. That of course did not stop me from cursing (loudly in my mind) every 5 minutes or so that my power was still off yet I was seeing other neighbourhoods regain their power almost immediately.

But overall I do feel that Hydro Quebec dealt with this storm better than the previous one, so kudos where they are due for lessons learnt and improvements made. That said, this ice storm took place during the warmer month of April, whereas the 1998 storm occurred in January and continued into February, the veritable “dead of winter”, so not exactly the same “test conditions”. And no, I am not wishing for an ice storm to strike in January 2024 😉

Hopefully by the time you read this, your power has returned and you are back to surfing Internet-style and not sleeping under 2 blankets and wearing 3 layers of clothing. All the best for a warm summer.

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

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

By Michael Bournazian, Eng., Newsletter Editor, ASQ Senior Member, Quality Management Professional, CSSGB with Rolls-Royce

Expiry dates. Best before dates. They are in our everyday lives all the time, and as anyone who has done audits during their Quality career knows, they can come up regularly during these activities as well: calibration dates on measuring equipment, expiry dates on chemical products, even certain documents (ex. quality plans, workmanship criteria) may be valid for only a certain period of time or for a certain quantity of product.

But if you have read these posts of mine long enough, you know that I love it when my work life finds a way of barging into my personal life 😉

During my regular weekly grocery shopping recently (March 5, 2023 to be exact), I wanted to buy some Cheez Whiz (yes, I can be a sucker for punishment). I usually buy the light variety with the blue label, however the first jar I grabbed contained the following surprise:

An even bigger surprise was the fact that every single jar that was there (approximately 10 in total) had the same expired Best Before date of February 15, 2023.

Of course, the Quality practitioner in me (as well as someone with a weak stomach) was outraged, although not to the point of losing my cool in the middle of the store. I found the manager on duty and pointed the issue out to him. When I asked him if the grocery store chain had a process on assuring that products with expiry dates get removed once the date is passed, he gave an answer that left me with raised eyebrows . . . “We should”.

I have since raised a customer complaint on the store’s official website and I am awaiting a reply. I know that they are good at responding, as I had raised a complaint back in 2020 when I noticed that some employees were not capable of properly wearing face masks.

We’ll see how this latest complaint (aka FINDING, in AuditorSpeak) gets resolved. In the meantime, you don’t really need Cheez Whiz in your diet, right?

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

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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

When we talk about QUALITY in our domain, it more often than not involves the quality of the parts we manufacture or the services we provide. Fair enough, but many other things require similar focus and energy, one of those things being QUALITY OF LIFE.

A friend of mine (both on and off Facebook) recently posted the following statement, in advance of the bone-chillingly cold days we had in Quebec at the start of February 2023:

“I typically don’t mind winter, but we’re getting to the portion of the program that always makes me question certain life choices”.

Aside from the laugh it gave me, it did make me think about how we all make big, important choices during the course of one’s life: what career to have, buying a home, getting married, where to live, etc. And in the end, all of these choices will affect your quality of life.

My life philosophy for many years has been: get up each day, be grateful that you got up, and do your best with whatever the day brings. Or perhaps worded differently . . . today, have the best quality of life that you can.

Does this mean that my quality of life each day is excellent? Hardly. But it does mean that I will do my utmost to have the best day possible. I don’t know who said it first, but the expression “Every day above ground is a good day” is one that I fully subscribe to.

Was the recent cold snap fun? You guessed it . . . hardly. But I got through it, and if you are reading this, so did you.

So congratulations on having the best quality of life you could under those circumstances.

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

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
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Thank you, all the best and none of the worst.

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

Late last year, I helped organize and participated in a 2-day Supplier Quality workshop in my company. One of the things that I did at the start of each day’s sessions was to present a safety moment. On Day 1, I presented a one-pager on safe driving habits during the winter season, timely as we were about to enter the snowy season. On Day 2, I focused on safe practices when dealing with hazardous materials in the workplace.

More and more when I attend workshops, all-hands presentations, etc., I find that these events are starting with safety moments. And it is good to see, for in my humble opinion, there is plenty of crossover between Safety and Quality, whether it be during our working time or our personal time.

So going forward in 2023 and beyond, please do your best to assure your own personal safety in anything you do, as I am sure no one would want to be the subject of the headline below, which caught my eye as I was starting my first day of work in 2023.

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

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ALSO . . .  Please contact me or any one else on the Leadership team if you would like to:
1) Write and submit an article to be published in the Newsletter.
2) Write a review of one of the upcoming monthly webinars for the “Had You Been There” section.

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