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The Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner / / /
Michael Bournazian

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

Greetings! And a (hopefully) better new year to everyone. If are not happy to see 2020 come to an end, then I would like to know what you have been smoking since March 2020.

I like to think of myself as a realistic person and thinker, leaning more towards optimist. So I currently do believe that 2021 will at some point give us our “old” lives back. And hopefully, that will include in-person ASQ events again. I believe we have succeeded wonderfully with our online webinars since March 2020; that said, it would be nice to be in a room again and actually meet the other people in that room, and watch the speaker live and in person. Fingers permanently crossed then.

One big change that we are introducing this month is our new, revamped website and newsletter. For me, the newsletter has been a source of pride since 2010 when I took over from Chantale Simard as its editor-in-chief. For 10 years, I used NVu software to create these newsletters 9 months out of 12; now we have switched over to using WordPress to create and publish. Much like when I started in 2010, I expect there to be a learning curve until I feel like I can fly the plane on my own; thankfully, your trusted and diligent ASQ Montreal Committee is a supportive and generous bunch of guys and gals, so I know I have several parachutes at my disposal if I need to “eject” 😉

In the end, the important thing is to give you, the reader and ASQ member, an enjoyable reading experience and a source of vital information for your Quality focused careers. That is, and will continue to be, the ultimate goal.

So here’s to WordPress! And here’s to you! And here’s to 2021 . . . hopefully the learning curve towards normalcy is not to steep.

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.

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Voice of the Customer – Voix du client

Voice of the Customer / / /
Amine Djeffal

Amine DjeffalBy Amine Djeffal, ASQ CQA, RAC, Quality and Regulatory Affairs Professional

Selon les résultats de notre sondage sur la présentation de Cristian Dragnef en novembre 2020 sur la mise en place d’un cadre de sécurité de l’information certifié ISO 27001:2013 Système de gestion de la sécurité de l’information (SGSI), la majorité des répondants, soit 64%, étaient membres de l’ASQ. Les niveaux d’appréciation ont atteint 100% concernant les catégories Sujet, Approche et Qualité de la présentation. En ce qui a trait à la catégorie Interaction le résultat obtenu était de 75%.

D’autres parts les participants ont exprimé de l’intérêt à l’égard de certains sujets d’actualité. Incontestablement le sujet qui revient le plus dans les sondages est celui des audits virtuels. Sujet tout à fait pertinent surtout en ces temps de Covid-19. Afin de répondre à cette demande la section ASQ Montréal a jugé bon d’inviter Annie van Otterdijk qui nous parlera des aspects touchant la planification et le déroulement de ce genre d’audit (vituel). L’évènement, en français et en mode virtuel, est prévu le mercredi 27 janvier 2021 à 18:30. Nous espérons que vous serez nombreux à y participer.

Toujours selon les résultats du sondage, la Newsletter (l’infolettre) de la section demeure le meilleur moyen pour joindre le maximum de membres afin de les tenir informés des évènements à venir. Au final l’évènement a suscité un engouement et un enthousiasme ayant dépassé toutes les attentes. En effet, tous les participants ont indiqué qu’ils participeraient à un évènement similaire dans un proche avenir.

Au nom de l’équipe de direction de la section je tiens à souhaiter à tous les membres les meilleurs vœux de santé pour 2021.

Restez connectés pour plus d’informations et à bientôt.

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Had You Connected to the Last Event

Last Event Review / / /
Cristian Dragnef

Raymond DyerBy Raymond E. Dyer, ASQ Senior Member, CMQ/OE, CQA, Program Chair and Section Secretary

Had you been connected….. Le 25 Novembre 2020, Exploiter votre système de gestion qualité (SGQ) ISO pour garantir la sécurité des données critiques and December 17th 2020, Party on line | Party en ligne.

Commençons par la présentation de Cristian Dragnef en novembre. Il nous a parlé de l’efficacité et des risques opérationnels, et de l’exposition à différents niveaux de risque pour la confidentialité, l’intégrité, la disponibilité et la conformité, y compris les menaces et les risques que ces expositions peuvent soulever. Il a ensuite parlé de la gestion des facteurs de risque tels que les conséquences, les stratégies, les dépendances et les actions (ou contrôles). Il a ensuite partagé certaines estimations de coûts pour diverses formes de violations de la sécurité suivie par les principaux facteurs de sécurité de l’information à prendre en compte. Cristian a terminé en montrant comment les normes ISO 9001 (système de gestion de la qualité) et ISO 27001 (système de gestion de la sécurité de l’information) pouvaient fonctionner ensemble pour fournir un système de gestion intégré complet. Les parties que j’ai vraiment appréciées ont été de partager les exemples sur les conséquences des menaces et les risques sur la confidentialité, l’intégrité, et la disponibilité et la comparaison des principales sections des deux normes, c’est-à-dire ISO 9001 et ISO 27001. Cristian et sa présentation ont obtenu un score de 100 % (4 et 5 sur 5) pour le sujet, l’approche et le présentateur. Il est vraiment dommage que certaines personnes aient eu des difficultés à se joindre à cet excellent événement.

Now for the Party on line | Party en ligne held in December. This networking event was hosted by incoming Section Chair Chantale Simard using Teams. Given the difficulties several interested individuals had in joining our November event, the Section Leadership Team decided to set aside Webex and try using Teams, another video conferencing tool made available to us by ASQ. It’s a different look and feel, but the virtual event went quite well. Chantale led a roundtable of introductions and some of the stories shared were quite amusing. Some people got to meet each other for the first time, old-timers like me knew everyone that attended, but really enjoyed seeing them again. In both circumstances, the exchanges were a pleasant way to end what had been a very challenging year. We’re going to try and leverage this experience to start the year off using Teams instead of Webex and see where this brings us. We’ll continue to explore alternatives to bring our members and interested Quality parties the best events we can.

To all, we wish you a safe, healthy, and happy new year for 2021.
Nous vous souhaitons à tous une bonne et heureuse année 2021, en toute sécurité et santé.

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Other ASQ Events

Other ASQ Events / / /

Read about some other activities within the ASQ Community: Canada Conference and Regional Webinars.

Regional Webinars:

To see the list of webinars being offered by ASQ’s Canada/Greenland Region, visit our myASQ site | Pour voir la list des webinaires proposés par la région Canada/Groenland de l’ASQ, visitez notre site myASQ “Canada/Greenland Region Webinars – Webinaires“.

To see the list of webinars being offered by ASQ’s Europe, Middle East, And Africa Region, visit our myASQ site | Pour voir la list des webinaires proposés par la région Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique de l’ASQ, visitez notre site myASQ “Webinars – Europe, Middle East, And Africa Region“.

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Student Outreach Committee – 2020 Eric Stern Award

Student Outreach / / /

Farnoosh NaderkhaniBy Dr. Farnoosh Naderkhani, ASQ Member, Assistant Professor @ Concordia, Student Outreach Committee Chair

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly changed the world as we knew it, at the beginning of the 2nd decade of the 21st century. The past nine months have been significantly challenging, startling, and disillusioning, in particular for students who are among those hardest hit as they were suddenly forced to live and learn remotely. On the bright side, we all have learned to continue learning, working, and socializing in a virtual environment. I wish all students a healthy, productive and prosperous 2021.

It is my great pleasure to announce that Mr. Kamyar Azar is the recipient of the ASQ Montreal Section’s 2020 Eric Stern Award. Mr. Azar is currently a full time Masters student, studying Quality System Engineering at the Concordia Institute for Information System Engineering (CIISE), Concordia University.

Kamyar Azar - 2020 Eric Stern Award

In summary, the intellectual merit of his work is in the development of advanced Machine Learning-based models (ML), coupled with Quality Control techniques to perform high accuracy predictions in the Healthcare industry. Nowadays, significant technological advancements have resulted in the availability of large multi-modal, complex and high-dimensional datasets within the Healthcare domain.

Due to the complexity of such datasets, using dimension reduction techniques is more important than ever before to increase the training speed and to provide better interpretations. In this regard, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) control chart, a well-known quality control technique for data dimensionality reduction, is applied to analyze the Breast Cancer Wisconsin (Diagnostic) imaging dataset. Finally, multiple classification models are “trained” to predict a tumor’s malignancy. In addition to significant theoretical and technological implications of such projects, like Healthcare being a key driver of Canada’s economy, advancements in this line of research can have a significant impact on our Healthcare industry.

Congratulations Kamyar for your work. Great job.

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Word from the Chair – Mot de la présidente

Word from Section Chair / / /

By Chantale Simard, MBA, Quality Assurance Analyst, Bombardier Aviation, ASQ CMQOE and CSSGB

Do you hold one or more ASQ certifications? Do you have the impression that our certifications are not recognized enough in Quebec and that employers do not differentiate from other certifications that are much easier to obtain? If this appeals to you, we need your help.

In fact, our section has given itself the mandate to promote ASQ certifications to employers and quality professionals in Quebec. I present to you, below, some avenues that we will explore this year.

First, we’ll maximize the use of our LinkedIn group with discussions on the value of certifications. We will also focus on mutual assistance between members in preparing for exams. Here is the link for our LinkedIn group.

Second, we will continue to represent ASQ at major events and we would like to be present at more of them. Are you aware of an event of interest? Let us know! You are interested in representing the section, let us know as well. Yes, it is possible to do so, even at virtual events!

Third, participate and invite your colleagues to our events, which will of course be virtual at the start of the year. To increase the visibility of our events, we’ll be using Eventbrite. The more known ASQ is, the better our certifications will be!

Fourth, as you probably already know, the Montreal section has been the only section in Quebec for a year now. We are in the process of modifying all of our platforms to make everything as bilingual as possible. Please visit our modernized website.

Finally, we are open to all other ideas. Contact me let me know about yours and thank you in advance for your help!

Happy healthy new year 2021!

FR

Give me your comments

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Next Event – Prochain Événement

Next Event / / /

Réaliser des audit virtuels

Mercredi 27 janvier, 2021 à 19:00

– WEBINAIRE EN FRANÇAIS –

Une opportunité de réseautage débute à 18h30.

Annie van Otterdijk

Annie van Otterdijk, QMS Chef auditeur certifié par l'IRCA (International Register of Certified Auditors) vous invite Mercredi 27 janvier, 2021 à 19:00 PM à un Webinaire pour partager ses expériences personnelles sur la réalisation d’audits virtuels d’enregistrement. Cela sera suivi d'un partage d'expériences avec d'autres auditeurs et audités quant aux difficultés, la sévérité, la qualité et l'efficacité des audits virtuels.
Depuis 1998, Annie van Otterdijk a effectuée plus de 900 audits de certification de systèmes de management de la qualité (audit par un tiers tels que ISO 9001- CSA Z299) pour QMI-SAI Global. Elle a également aussi effectué des audits de qualification de fournisseurs dans le domaine manufacturier pour un fabricant reconnu mondialement et des audits de qualification de fournisseurs sur le développement durable (Sustainability) dans le domaine automobile selon les exigences d'un grand fabricant automobile reconnu mondialement. Durant sa carrière, elle a développé, implanté, formé et fourni du support technique sur différent système de management tels que ISO 9001, CSA A23.4, NQ 2621-900, Qualibéton 9000, CSA N299, ISO 17025, etc. Annie a et récemment effectué plus de 45 jours d’audit externe en mode virtuelle. Elle détient également un agréement de formateur par le gouvernement du Québec et a participé comme évaluateur aux Prix Performance Québec 2020.

Attendance will be worth 0.5 RU (Recertification Units) for ASQ.
La participation vaut 0.5 RU (Recertification Units) de l'ASQ.

For more information on this upcoming event, see our Newsletter, myASQ or myASQ-FR.

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