July 2024 Chair’s Message
Greetings Valued ASQ Phoenix Section Members –
I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the return of the monsoons! We have made it to July which means the first half of 2024 is behind us. It’s a perfect time to reflect upon what we have accomplished as a section thus far this year to build momentum for those things yet to come.
In January, a couple of Phoenix Section board members participated as judges in the Future Cities Competition. This competition invites junior high school students to create cities of the future that solve a citywide sustainability issue using the Engineering Design Process and project management skills. Student solutions are presented through a three-dimensional model of their selected city, an essay, and a formal presentation the final day of the competition. The ASQ Phoenix Section sponsors a scholarship for the team whose design not only meets the requirements of the competition, but also goes above and beyond to demonstrate the use of quality practices and principles. The team selected to receive the $500 scholarship for 2024 was team Istanova from Mesa Accelerated and Gifted Academy. This team of all females also won the regional title for their city. At the national level, they won awards for ‘the most advanced smart grid’ and ‘best use of nuclear science’. Congratulations team Istanova!
In June, the ASQ Phoenix Section in partnership with Arizona State University, selected a recipient for the Ted Thal Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to students who are seeking degrees in engineering and who demonstrate through the authoring of an essay that they meet the requirements of the scholarship. Within the essay, students are required to discuss their academic and career goals, their leadership experience, and their student involvement. This year, the ASQ Phoenix Section awarded $1250 to HJ Jones who is entering his junior year as an undergraduate student in a program for Chemical Engineering. Congratulations, HJ!
The ASQ Phoenix Section is also continuing its series of Greenbelt courses which commenced in October of last year. The fifth installment of this training will be held on July 17th from 3:00-5:15 p.m. MST and will cover additional topics from the FMEA 5th Edition. Some of the topics that will be discussed include the Kano Model, Customer Journey Maps, and Quality Function Deployment. Charles Cox will be delivering the training, so it is likely to be a fast paced two hours chockfull of relevant information. You won’t want to miss it!
As you can see, the first half of the year has been very productive for your ASQ Phoenix Section! As we roll into this second half of the year, we plan to continue offering opportunities for training, including a Certified Quality Engineer Body of Knowledge course later this year. We’ll also continue planning a great lineup of speakers for our monthly member meetings. For those of you who enjoy networking events, we will be planning a couple of those as well (a wine tasting event and community outreach event are currently in the works). I encourage you to stay tuned in to MyASQ for all upcoming developments and training opportunities.
I look forward to seeing you at our next member program meeting on July 11th where Robert ‘QualityBob’ Mitchell will be speaking on ‘Embracing Organizational Performance Excellence for Career Development’.
Until we meet again, I wish you health, happiness, and connectedness.
Cheers!
Hilary Werner