December 2023 Chair’s Message
Greetings Valued ASQ Phoenix Section Members –
The holidays are upon us! I hope each of you had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving with your families. My day was spent eating far too much, catching up with family – some of whom I had not seen in years, and stealing glimpses of the football games on television in between all of the other festivities. I would imagine many of you experienced something similar. As we head into Christmas and New Year’s, and round out what’s left of 2023, there are just a couple of things I want to bring to your attention; these include a recent section community service event and an upcoming section sponsored training.
A few of us met at Feed My Starving Children in Mesa the Saturday following Thanksgiving to pack boxes of food for children across the globe. This event involved filling small bags with various ingredients including soy, vegetables, and vitamins; sealing the bags; then placing them in boxes for shipment to malnourished children in predetermined locations around the world. Our small team, which included a handful of new friends we met that morning, packed a total of 15 boxes of food (the average for teams in attendance that day). After the packing event, we refueled at Chipotle while enjoying some light conversation and each other’s company. We hope to plan another community service outing in 2024 and look forward to seeing some familiar and new faces there. Hopefully, one of them will be yours!
Finally, the ASQ Phoenix Section is hosting a Lean Tools Training on December 13th from 3:00-5:15 p.m. This Greenbelt ‘Define’ Tollgate Tools Part One, will discuss in depth the ‘define’ phase of the DMAIC acronym. Key activities in the ‘define’ phase include stakeholder analysis, voice of the customer (VOC), critical to quality (CTQ) analysis, high-level process mapping, and problem statements. The course will be taught by Kevin Lehigh, a Lean expert and Master Black Belt with more than 23 years of consulting experience as a senior consultant. This virtual training is a great opportunity to expand your knowledge or enhance your current understanding of the ‘define’ phase of the DMAIC process. For additional information and instructions on how to register, please visit the ASQ Phoenix Section’s ‘Events’ page at ASQ Phoenix-Greenbelt - American Society for Quality. We hope to ‘see’ you there!
I hope you will stay tuned in as we move into the new year! There are additional trainings in the works as well as new opportunities for networking and community service. We also have some phenomenal speakers lined up for our monthly member meetings. I am excited about all of the opportunities we have in store for you to enhance your member experience! I encourage you to take advantage of them!
Until we meet again, I hope you stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected! Happy holidays!
Cheers,
Hilary Werner