PM News: Quality System Is Recertified

Quality System Is Recertified
Chicago Extruded Metals Company (Cicero, Illinois) has been recertified to the new ISO 9001:2000 standard. "Our organization is positioned to be an increasingly reliable resource to your customers, and this certification serves as validation of our team's efforts," says Jack Ward, quality manager.

The development and deployment of the quality system was done in less than 6 months with new operations and quality staff. President Patrick Balson credits the company's accomplishment as a cooperative climate between labor and management. "Successful implementation under ISO9001:2000 targets customer satisfaction, improves the confidence and morale of our employees and enhances our reputation as a producer of extruded brass shapes."

Its manufacturing facility is a fully integrated brass mill that features horizontal continuous casting, indirect extrusion and multiple finishing lines that specialize in extruded brass shapes, rectangles, rod, coil and wire products.

Newall Electronics (Columbus, Ohio) has been acquired by California-based BEI Technologies Inc.
Derek Rimmer, Newall's managing director, says, "The two organizations have a number of complementary technologies. I am confident that BEI Technologies' existing involvement in the automation, aerospace and automotive sectors will provide opportunities for us to extend the markets for our encoder technologies." Newall's manufacturing will remain in the United Kingdom, and its sales and service operations will continue to operate in their established regions.

"We are excited about this acquisition because we believe the addition of DRO and digital linear encoder products will be a natural extension of BEI's product portfolio," says BEI Chairman and CEO Charles Crocker. "Also, there may be significant market opportunities for Newall products with BEI's current customers and markets."

Great Lakes Air Systems (Clawson, Michigan) has opened a new office in Columbus, Ohio to be home to all sales and marketing operations.
The manufacturing and engineering divisions will remain in Clawson. The company chose to locate its sales and marketing office in Columbus because of its convenient location to its customer base, which stretches from Canada to the southern United States.

The new location has five employees, including Reid Walters and Dave Walters, sales managers. They have added Mike Arehart to the staff as service manager, Dan Fall as sales representative and Jen Starkey as office administrator.

Quality Expo 2005 will be held April 19 through 21, 2005 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.
The conference is focused on quality-related technologies and solutions for manufacturers. It immerses professionals in a comprehensive presentation of inspection, test and measurement equipment, software and services. Manufacturers can discover and compare the latest ideas and products to improve quality and productivity, reduce costs and compete globally.

The new 2005 conference program begins a day earlier than the Expo—on April 18, 2005—and features courses presented by associations including American Society for Quality, Automotive Industry Action Group, The Association for Operations Management, The Materials Information Society, Edison Welding Institute, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and more. Topics include lean production, six sigma, statistical process control, nondestructive tests, ISO 9001:2000 and more.

Joseph De Feo, president and CEO of Juran Institute, Inc., will deliver the keynote address at the Expo. The keynote address, April 19 at 9 a.m., is titled "Breakthrough Solutions to Achieve and Sustain a Cutting Edge in Quality Leadership" in which Mr. Feo will discuss the road map for achieving this leadership. For more details and to register, visit www.qualityexpo.com.