23 August 2014

QFD in Europe - Reporting 2014 QFD activities across EU

2014 has been a big year for QFD in Europe.
The statue of Poseidon in Gothenburg
photo: Historiker/Wiki Commons
  1. The spring blossomed with QFD Green Belt® and QFD Black Belt® in-company training sessions in Nuremberg Germany, Prague Czech Republic, and Waterloo Belgium. Several projects are well under way.
  2. The summer heated up with a June QFD workshop during the International Academy for Quality (IAQ) annual meeting in Stenungsbaden Sweden, using QFD tools to capture the voice of the IAQ membership (including our Chair, Sr. Mary Jean Ryan) in order to explore ways to improve the membership experience. The session was followed by an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet and musical dinner cruise!
  3. Next was a special Pre-EOQ Congress session in Gothenburg Sweden attended by 37 participants. This included a 2.5 hour QFD White Belt® training session to introduce the new VOC (Voice of the Customer) and AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) tools used in Modern Blitz QFD®.
  4. In the main European Organization for Quality (EOQ) session was a paper on the ISO 16355 standard (new QFD standard).
  5. Vienna
    photo: Eliza0027/Wiki Commons
  6. The ISO Technical Committee (TC) 69 for Statistical Methods held its annual plenary session in Vienna Austria later in June. We were able to finalize the ISO 16355 draft and launch its commentary phase. Work on Parts 2 and 3 have begun.
  7. The autumn is ablaze with new events, starting with the 20th International Symposium on QFD (ISQFD) as well as a
    QFD Green Belt® course to be held in Istanbul Turkey from September 2 - 5, 2014.  This is a great opportunity for readers in EU and ME regions to attend the today's best QFD training and earn an international QFD certificate.
  8. The 2014 Akao Prize® is being awarded to Associate Prof. Jaroslav Machan of the Czech Republic during the ISQFD.

Keep up the good work, Europe. I will update you on Turkey soon!