🔅 Nomination 🔅

Veronica Marquez, M.Sc., CSSBB

I am thrilled to announce that Christine Bergeron, MBA, Adm.A, CMC, CQPA, CSL has accepted the role of Student Outreach Committee Chair. Her boundless energy, profound knowledge of academia, and unwavering drive make her the perfect fit for this pivotal role. Christine’s dedication and expertise will be instrumental in fostering connections within the universities and student communities, paving the way for our growth in this vital market sector. With her onboard, I am confident that we will reach new heights and expand our reach in the academic arena. Merci Christine! J’ai très hâte de continuer cette collaboration. Her first event will be on March 19th at UQAM, where she is planning a panel on “ERP: myths and realities“. She is replacing Farnoosh Naderkhani who has done a great job all these past years. Thank you, Veronica Marquez

Christine Bergeron, M.Ba., Admin.A, CMC, CQPA, CSL

ASQ Montreal — Call for Officer Nominations 2024

From: Sam Weissfelner, ASQ Senior, ASQ CSQE, CQA, Nominations Committee Chair The following slate of candidates was submitted by the nominating committee for the 2024 Section Leadership Team (SLT):  Chair: Veronica Marquez Vice-chair: Raymond Dyer Secretary: Carolee Rigsbee Treasurer: Chantale Simard The election process involves that the Nominating Committee submits a slate of officers to be approved at the General Assembly. To hold a Section Officer position, you must be a Professional, Senior or Fellow ASQ Member in good standing affiliated with our Section. To submit alternate nominations for Section officer positions, please complete and submit this Nomination Form before September 30, 2023. Alternate nominations for Section Officer positions can be made by petition of 10 members in good standing of the Section. The slate of officers will be repeated in the October newsletter and approved at our next planned Annual General Assembly to be held on October 25th, 2023. Thank-you to all.

FR

ASQ Montreal — Business Plan 2024

By J.P.  Amiel, ASQ Senior, CQA ret., Secretary

As fall slowly settles in, your Montreal Section leadership team is looking ahead at next year’s line-up of action plans based on ASQ’s continuing development of its own Strategic Plan. Basically, our Business Plan lists what steps the section will be taking to achieve a specific goal. It is broken down into actionable steps that can be easily followed and tracked so as to clarify what resources will be required to reach it within a specific timeline. You will find below a preview of what we will be working on in 2024.

As for the 2023 Business Plan Objectives, we are proud to report that for the 16 objectives that we defined, so far 12 are 100% completed, 2 are 90% completed, one is at 80% and the last one at 78%. What a Q3 report, indeed!

Here are the 2024 goals for your Montreal Section Section Leadership Team (SLT).

We look forward to seeing you at our events and should you decide to help us in our endeavours, we will make room around the Section Leadership meeting table. We’d love to hear from you here.

ASQ PEP 2022 Performance Awards

ASQ-HQ offered its congratulations to the 2022 Awardees for Member Unit Performance Excellence!

It was a total of 17 Technical Communities (Divisions) and 28 Geographic Communities (Sections) which were recognized for their commitments and excellence. For 2022, five out of the 13 Canadian Sections won recognition. We are especially proud to report that amongst the seven GOLD winners, both the Montreal and Toronto Sections were recognized. Calgary won Silver recognition, and both Edmonton and Hamilton won Bronze recognition.

The ASQ Performance Excellence Program was created by Milwaukee-based ASQ to recognize Member Units for excellent performance that reinforces ASQ’s position as the thought leader and expands ASQ offerings to members and customers:
• Contributions to ASQ thought leadership, as measured by myASQ content postings;
• Member Engagement and Experience, as measured by myASQ activity and member increases;
• Fiduciary responsibility, as measured by adherence to budget;
• Achievement of business plan objectives, as measured by self-reported progress on business goals and targets.
These measures were evaluated based on the Member Unit’s own baseline data and self-reported business plan progress. Award levels were conferred using a common point system.

Congratulations!

Radical Transformation Kaikaku – A personal Story

By Jean-Pierre Amiel,  ASQ Senior, CQA ret., Web Committee Chair

On the 30th of November 2022 we had the privilege to meet and hear Albanesa Ymaya, CLSSBB, TPS, Kaikaku Practitioner describe her approach on transformation in Kaikaku Before Kaizen. What I didn’t know then, was that Albanesa had also had her own personal radical transformation. In 2019, she survived a terrible car accident. Today, on LinkedIn, she reports in her own philosophical way how that day caused her to reflect that on life — not personal or professional — but both. This reflection set her on a dream to visit Japan, the place where the Toyota Production System began…. Here’s part of that post, translated from Spanish:

😱 4 years ago in that vehicle! Where my life could have ended in a minute and thus many of my dreams. But if this is a professional network (LinkedIn) why am I sharing something so intimate and personal? Simple. Over the years I have discovered that there is no real separation between the professional and the personal, because all we have is a life. A life that we occupy at different times.
Our professional life is completely tied to who we are as a person. Well, there is only one life!
After that fateful accident, I promised myself that I would live every moment as if it were the last day of my life and fight with all my might to achieve every dream I had… Four years ago, I made a firm decision not to keep waiting and today, thanks to God and the work of my team and family, I will be able to realize another big dream…. I will be in the place where one of the most admired business models in the world (the Toyota Production System) began …. I will finally be in Japan!
Today I invite you to fight with all your heart for each of your dreams ….. I invite you to take one action each day that will bring you closer to achieving them….. Never give up!

ASQ Montreal — Women in Quality Initiative

By Veronica marquez, M.Sc., CSSBB, ASQ Member, Social media Chair.

Today, March 22, 2023, the Montreal Section introduces our Women in Quality Initiative. We want to showcase women, their accomplishments, their successes, and inspire the next generation of Women in Quality.
Will you join us?

Click here for a silent video or access the survey.

ASQ Montreal — Business Plan 2023 | Plan d’affaires 2023

Jean-Pierre Amiel, ASQ Senior, CQA ret., Secrétaire

Lean: A catalyst for sustainable businesses — Guest appearance in Indianapolis

This Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2023, while we were enjoying little chocolates with our significant others, our Social media Chair and resident knows-a-lot-about-sustainability, Veronica Marquez, M.Sc., CSSBB, ASQ Member, President, Founder and Senior Consultant of Aristeio was sharing her knowledge and experience on Lean: A catalyst for sustainable businesses with participants at an event put on by the ASQ Indianapolis Section. Her presentation aimed at showing the synergy that exists between Lean management and realizing a sustainable organisation. Here are some notes on that presentation.

Recent unusual extreme weather events in our southern neighbour’s regions, probably peaked her audience’s curiosity to learn more on how “human actions still have the potential to determine the future course of climate”. Veronica, a believer that lean tools are in the forefront of solutions, proposed ways for participants to instigate the necessary changes in their organisation so that sustainability becomes part of their Lean path and evolution.

Her basis is from various European studies in 2019 which showed that ten countries produced more than 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions (!!). In that report, China was the largest, followed by the US, India, the European Union (27 countries counted as one), Russia, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran and Canada. It also showed that for the US and Canada (in similar proportions but not quantities), the majority of the effects were from Electricity/Heat, Transportation, Building and Manufacturing/Construction. It was proposed that in 2016, globally, energy use represented 73,2% of the 50 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Having made that statement, it followed that there goals must be set and solutions found. The United Nations (UN) set 17 goals. Veronica proposes that Sustainability in Supply Chain management — the orchestration and continuous improvement of planning and execution of processes on strategic, tactical and operational level along a value chain end-to-end, operating within economic, environmental, and social thresholds — should be one of them.

The emissions throughout the supply chain may be identified and then reduced or eliminated by thinking in terms of Lean and Green processes — economic growth is combined with continued reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. This may be achieved by the use of effective demand management and efficiency measures, the efficient use of energy, water, and other natural resources, optimized inputs to production processes, and a decrease/elimination of the level of waste to landfill.

Because “linking Lean and Green is a real advantage as opposed to implementing two distinct approaches”, Veronica explained that of the various tools currently available to the professional (5S, ANDON, JIT, KANBAN, POKE-YOKE, SMED and TPM), shared examples of 5S and TPM could work to solve productivity and environmental issues as part of  a strategic vision for Lean and Green. In that regard, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed adding a “Green” layer perspective to the traditional Visual Stream Mapping (VSM) typically used in Lean to document every step in the process. This “Green” layer perspective could then be applied to environmental projects and help instigate the necessary changes in an organisation so that sustainability becomes part of their Lean path and evolution.

Veronica then proposed how to integrate the Lean-Green deployment as a strategic sustainability, the integration into the corporate bottom-line and discussed steps to overcome barriers. An interesting presentation indeed.

Some further ressources:

• Our World in data GHG Emissions by sector
• EPA Environmental professionals guide Lean and Six Sigma
• Sustainable Development Goals Compass

By Jean-Pierre Amiel, ASQ Senior, CQA ret., Web committee Chair.

Plan your career today: where would you like to go with Career Pathways?

ASQ has developed a tool that will allow you to “map out” your career journey, now available in beta test form for you to provide feedback on. The Career Pathways tool is full of resources and learning to help you reach your desired role, field, and experience level, as well as find new and exciting opportunities on our job board. Click on the links below to find basic information about typical quality field roles, the skills required and potential advancement opportunities.

More information…

The Quality Manager and the Multiple Management Systems — Guest appearance in Toronto

Last December our Montreal Section Chair, Raymond E Dyer, BSc & MBA, ASQ Senior Member, CMQ/OE, & CQA took his 30 years plus in Quality experiences with various industries, quality methods, models, tools, management system registrations, and registrars virtually to Toronto (A short walk the living room). His objective: To share stories with the ever growing need to have Quality Management System (QMS) professionals represent organizations facing multiple management systems and their certifications, well beyond ISO 9001. This presentation, similar to the one at our General Assembly, last October, but with a virtual twist.

In his presentation Ray suggested that the QMS professional was the individual best able to ensure integration of the various systems because, that person usually had a :

• • • Broad understanding of the business;
  • • Cross functional influence;
  • • Experience with management system notions in Leadership communications, objectives, risk management, documentation, internal audits, management reviews, metrics/KPIs, corrective actions and improvement, etc. and a growing notion of an Integrated Management System;
  • • Experience representing the organization during 2nd and 3rd party audits.

His conclusions:
• Organizations are increasingly seeking recognition in more than one ISO certification (ISO 9001 is often just the start!);
• The QMS professional is often chosen to lead or strongly support such management system certifications due to their experience and the nature of their work;
• Integrating the common elements of these management systems helps improve effectiveness and efficiency of related activities.