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Pre-Conference Workshops Schedule – Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
7:15–8:00 am	Check-In for ASQ Certification Exams at the Grand Ballroom (Lower Level)
8:00–1:00 pm	ASQ Certification Exams
Workshops AM	7:30 – 8:00 am - Check-In  for Pre-Conference Workshops at ASQ Registration Desk in Lobby
8:00–5:00 pm	W1 - Human Error Prevention
Workshops PM	12:30 – 1:00 pm - Check-In for Pre-Conference Workshops at ASQ Registration Desk in Lobby
1:00–5:00 pm	W2 - What auditors think and what to do about it			W3-SPC	W4- Prep for CPGP Certification exam	W5-  Project  Risk Management
5:30-7:00 pm	Membership meeting and conference dinner
7:00 –8:00 pm	Keynote Address: Edie Varley, Emotional Intelligence: The Quality Leadership Tool of the Future
Conference Schedule – Thursday, April 14, 2011
7:00–6:30 pm		Registration
7:00–8:00 am		Continental Breakfast, Visit Exhibits, Book Sales  & Networking
8:00–8:30 am		Welcome & Chair Address: Kim Rochetti and John O’Reilly
8:30–9:30 am		Exhibits Open	Featured Keynote:  Pete Andres, Past ASQ President: The Future of Quality
9:45-10:45 am			80% of Serious Errors are in the Handoff	Minitab Demo Version 16: What’s new in Minitab	Becoming a world class Leader	A case study: from bottleneck to benefit
10:40 –11:00 am			Break
11:00–12:00 pm			Predictive Modeling and other advanced analytics	Thinking outside the box with ASIT	Engaging a Changing Workforce	What do we know about great teams?
12:00 pm –1:00 pm			Lunch Break: Networking, Visit Exhibits, and Books Sales
1:00-1:30pm			Luncheon Keynote: Donna Forgy: How to Overcome the Awkward “What Do I Say”
1 : 30 –2 : 00 pm			Networking, Visit Exhibits and Books Sales
2:00 –3:00 pm			SSM Healthcare’s journey to winning the MQA award	Exploring the future of Quality	Both/and thinking in organizational leadership	Change Management
3:00-3:15pm			Break
3:15-4:15pm			Tele-medicine	Contingency Plan as a Business Sustainment Tool	A coaching organization: A strategy for innovative leaders	Advantage of linking management systems
4:15-4:30pm			Break
4:30-6:30pm			Conference Wrap-up, Reception, Networking, Exhibits, and Book Sales

The 2009 Spring Quality Conference concluded successfully on Friday, April 3. Despite lower attendance due to various factors, the wonderful group of speakers, attendees and volunteers collectively staged a good and meaningful conference. We’ll post more details as they become available. In the mean time, enjoy the conference slideshow.

Top 10 Reasons to Attend the 2009 ASQ St. Louis Spring Conference on April 2-3, 2009.

10	We’ve got speakers from eight different states.
9	Hear keynote address by Kim Tucci of The Pasta House (Maybe he’ll give out coupons, you never know.)
8	Get new ideas, so you can impress your boss.
7	You might find a new “Quality Mentor” or “Quality Protégé”.
6	We’ve got books for sale. Some are cheaper than sleeping pills and may work just as well! But seriously, two authors are speaking, so you can buy their book and get it signed.
5	Conference price includes three meals and a snack.
4	The Cardinals Home Opener is April 6th this year. You’re too excited to work anyway!
3	Did we mention free food? Free drinks too!
2	At $199, it’s a bargain at twice the price. Students and between job attendees $100!
And the Number One Reason to Attend the 2009 ASQ St. Louis Spring Conference is…
1	Last year we had a workshop titled “Put Your Internal Audit System on Steroids”. This year we’re Steroid-Free!

WS4 - Lean out your ISO 9000 Quality Management System

Chris Anderson
Managing Director, Bizmanualz

Does your ISO 9000 QMS contain too much documentation?  Have you ever wondered how to get rid of procedures used to conform to the old 1994 version of ISO 9000?  Many of those old procedures are not required or needed by the latest version of the ISO 9000 standard.  In fact, your people may not even be following them very well anyway resulting in frequent minor audit findings.

Using Lean Thinking, you can reduce your organization’s reliance on procedure documentation.  Using a visual workplace you can perform trending and analysis that generates buy-in for change.  How about a lean Corrective & Preventive Action Kaizen Process that engages your workforce and communicates the latest improvements to your employees? 

Using lean you will understand how to conform to the minimum document and record requirements and reduce the bureaucratic waste commonly associated with ISO 9000.  Now is the time to learn how to lean out your ISO 9000 Quality Management System.

WS5 - Introduction to Design of Experiments

Connie M. Borror

Design of experiments is an important set of quality tools that can be used for product/process development and improvement.  In this workshop, an introduction to design of experiments will be presented with emphasis on strategic experimentation, guidelines for experimentation, and factorial designs.  During the workshop there will be some exercises that participants will have the chance to work on individually or in groups. So if you want to bring their laptops with Minitab v 15 already installed, please feel free to do so.  Please note that Minitab v 15 can be obtained from www.minitab.com for a free trial period of 30 days.  It is assumed that the participant will have a understanding of basic statistics such as hypothesis testing and confidence intervals.

WS7 - The Human Side of Lean Manufacturing

George H. Friesen, MA
Business Practice Leader - The Lean Enterprise
St. Louis Community College

“No person is independent as long as he has to depend on another person to help him.  It is a reciprocal relationship-the boss is the partner of the worker, the worker is partner of the boss.”
Henry Ford, America’s first lean champion

Success in implementing lean processes depends upon much more than simply using tools like 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Kanban, Six Sigma, and Visual Controls, etc.  The fact that less than 30% of companies that start the implementation of lean processes do so successfully is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is that is at the heart of Lean.  This is what is often not understood:  Lean is based upon a set of beliefs about human beings and human behavior that stand in marked contrast to many of the beliefs that guide the behavior of today’s managers and supervisors.   These “Lean” beliefs are crucial to the success, not only of the organization, but to each individual working within the organization.  And, to the extent that these Lean beliefs do not guide the behavior of an organization’s managers and supervisors, attempts to implement Lean processes will be crippled.  This seminar will focus on the ways in which beliefs, leadership styles, and work processes impact the success of lean implementation initiatives.  It will offer a specific plan for optimizing the interplay of beliefs, leadership styles, and work processes in a way that will make an organization’s transition to Lean successful.  Finally, this presentation gives some specific suggestions on how to use the 5S System as an ideal trigger for a transition to Lean.

WS-9: A Lean Tool-Kit for Project Leaders

Adil F. Dalal, CQE, PMP
CEO, Pinnacle Process Solutions, Intl.^TM

A commonsense approach to excellence in project management

Lean technology has significant number of time-tested techniques which are universal and applicable to almost any business and industry.  Lean tools have been used to make businesses more efficient and profitable for several decades.  Can this tool-kit be customized for project managers to ensure that they can beat the TQC (Time-Quality-Cost) criteria on every project they lead/manage?

Technological advances are now being measured in days and not in years.  Thus, any long-term planning, in most situations, is just like trying to look into a cloudy crystal ball. 

The best approach is for Project leaders to collaborate with Lean practitioners and learn and apply principles of lean and continuous improvement. The upshot is that project leaders are empowered and proficient at reducing project lead-times, identifying and eliminating non-value added activities and wastes and using a kaizen approach to get breakthrough results in all their projects.  Thus, as projects get more complicated, fast-paced and global, it is vital for project and program leaders to expand their tool-kit to include more customized lean tools in order to be successful.

Online registration for the 2009 ASQ St. Louis Spring Quality conference is now open.You can register for the conference online. You can register online whether you are paying by credit card or check. Conference brochures will be mailed to section members starting this week.

Complete conference agenda is available in the brochure as well as on this website.

Following is the 2009 St. Louis Spring Quality Conference schedule. Attendees have plenty of opportunities to network and enhance their quality knowledge. A total of nine workshops are offered the day before the conference. Sixteen breakout sessions are planned for the conference day. Details on the workshops and instructors will be posted within the next few days.

Online registration link will be available soon!

Pre-Conference Workshops - Thursday April 2, 2009
7:15 - 8:00	Check-in for Certification Exams - Grand Ballroom
8:00 - 1:00	ASQ Certification Exams
7:30 - 8:00	Check-in for Pre-Conference Workshops (AM) - Registration Desk in Lobby
8:00 - 12:00	WS1 - Using Statistics for Decision Making, Brenda Bishop
	WS2 - People and Lean+ Integrating our Strengths, Dawn Newman and Mark Dana
	WS3 - Excel for SPC and Statistical Analysis, Scott Follet
	WS4 - Lean ISO 9001 - Chris Anderson
12:30 - 1:00	Check-in for Pre-Conference Workshops (PM) - Registration Desk in Lobby
1:00 - 5:00	WS5 - Introduction to Design of Experiments, Conni Borror
	WS6 - Effective Internal Audits, John Moorhouse
	WS7 - Human Side of Lean, Geroge Friesen
1:00 - 3:00	WS8 - Thinking Locally and Globally in ORganizational Leadership, Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier
3:00 - 5:00	WS9 - A Lean Toolkit for Project Leaders, Adil Delal
5:30 - 9:00 pm	Conference Reception and ASQ St. Louis Section Meeting Keynote Speaker - Mike Brooks
Book Sales and Exhibitor booths open from 5:30 - 8:00 pm
Conference Day - Friday April 3, 2009
7:00 - 8:00	Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibits, Book Sales & Networking
8:00 - 8:30	Welcome and Chair address - Steve Hyland & Steve Mundwiller
8:30 - 9:30	Featured Keynote - Kim Tucci
9:30 - 9:45	Break
	Track 1	Track 2	Track 3	Track 4
9:45 - 10:45	Gerald Verduft Lean Management	Colin Gray Maximizing Value from ISO	Connie Barrot Intro to Response Surface Meth.	Scott Follet History of Measurement
10:45-11:00	Break
11:00-12:00	Adil Dalal Got Lean? Critical Tools…	Dawn Newman Engage People, Involve Teams	John Moorhouse Value of Accredited Calibration Labs	Don Smith Organizational Changes
12:00 - 1:00	Networking Lunch, Exhibits, Book Sales
1:00 - 1:30	Luncheon Keynote: BJC Hospital WOmen and Infants Team
1:30 - 2:00	Networking, Exhibits, and Books Sales
2:00 - 3:00	Elizabeth Cudney Strategic Lean Six Sigma	Chris Anderson Integrating Quality and Inovation	Daniel Templeton When Brainstorming Stops Use Zlotin	Gerald Verduft Distance Learning
3:00 - 3:15	Break
3:15 - 4:15	Rob Herhold Balanced Scorecard	Rod Toro Top 10 Tragedies in Implementing QMS	Tom Crespi Quality Movies	Kim Rochetti Career Transition
	Conference Concludes. Book Sales and Exhibitor Booths open from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm

Kim Tucci, the Co-Founder of Pasta House Italian Restaurant will deliver the opening keynote address at this year’s St. Louis Spring Quality conference.

Mike Brooks, President and CEO of Ardent Outdoors, will deliver the evening keynote address on April 2.

Keynote speaker Robert Chapman (standing, R) fields a question from afternoon keynote speaker Dennis Arter (standing, L) at the 2007 ASQ St. Louis Spring Quality Conference

2009 St. Louis Spring Quality Conference

April 2 – 3, 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel – Clayton
7750 Carondelet Ave, St. Louis, MO 63105. Tel: (314) 726-5400. View Map

Our annual Spring Quality Conference will once again be held at the Clayton Crowne Plaza Hotel. The conference will be on April 2nd and 3rd, and as in the past, we will offer ASQ exams, pre-conference workshops, keynote speakers, a reception and 3 or 4 tracks of breakout sessions. Steve Hyland will be providing you with the details in the coming months. We were able to negotiate a better deal with the Crowne Plaza for next year, including free parking…which is a nice perk in downtown Clayton.

We will post details on this page as they become available. So please check back often.

View 2008 Spring Conference details.