Process Improvement & Quality Fundamentals

Presented by VMEC in partnership with the Vermont Section of ASQ

Dates: Fridays, April 9, 16 & 30 and May 7 & 14, 2021;
note there is no class Friday, April 23

9:00 am – 12 Noon each day 

Course Fee – $625; this does NOT include the cost of the course book, “The ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate Handbook” (Fourth Edition); you will need to purchase this prior to the start of the class 

Non-VT employees may attend this training

Note: This course coincides with an ASQ Certification Option

If you are curious if this training opportunity is right for you and/ or members of your organization, join us for a complimentary 30-minute introductory webinar on Friday, March 5, 11:00 – 11:30 am.  Tim King, Education Chair for the Vermont Section of ASQ as well as the founding partner of the consulting and training firm, Quality Matters LLC, will host this webinar.  He is also the instructor for the spring course.

For an organization to pursue excellence and control costs, there must be internal capability for effective and sustainable process improvement. In five (5) 3-hour sessions, participants will learn the tools, techniques and necessary planning to improve a business process and achieve better outcomes, with increased efficiency. This course will enable participants to contribute to process improvement initiatives, while getting a comprehensive understanding of how quality management has and continues to evolve in all business sectors.

Quality improvement involves methods such as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check Act), Lean and kaizen, and Six Sigma. These are tools and methods all quality systems expect an organization to have in place and use.

In conjunction with the training, participants work on a project throughout the course with instructor feedback and guidance.  Suggested projects include:

• Cycle time analysis and reduction
• Root cause analysis
• Process measurement & improvement
• Customer dissatisfaction
• Process audit & improvement

An added value for participating in this multi-week course is preparation to attain the Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) status (a lifetime certification) with the American Society for Quality (ASQ). 

Who should attend? Leadership team members and individual contributors that want to gain the knowledge and skills of a quality practitioner who participates in, or leads, process improvement projects. Also, this course is a great foundation for other courses such as auditing, risk management, corrective action and business process management.

What you should expect Each participant will need a sponsor for their project (most likely the participant’s manager or another leader from their company) that will support applying the tools to actual work that is value-added for the company. We will give sponsors regular updates on course content and suggestions for helping implement course content at work.

Course Outline 

Session 1: Quality management systems, terms and philosophies

• ISO 9001 fundamentals; quality terms in common use
• The history of quality and the pioneers that helped chart the course

Session 2: Process improvement planning

• Identifying and evaluation the merit of a CI project; forming and chartering a CI team; identifying key project stakeholders; CI roadmaps (basic 7-step model vs. the DMAIC model)
• Champions, sponsor and coaches for CI teams

Session 3: Process improvement steps, tools and templates

• PDCA/PDCA thinking; lean & six-sigma tools
• Running effective meetings; team development (forming, storming, norming & performing
• Tools for decision making & for resolving conflict

Session 4: Fundamentals of quality assurance

• Risk analysis; customer requirements capture and establishing process capability prior to full production
• Measuring COPQ (the cost of poor quality) and how QA lowers these costs

Session 5: Fundamentals of quality control (internally and supplier) and corrective action

• 100% inspection vs. sampling inspection; control on nonconforming product; effective corrective action steps & tools. In-process quality control and the 1-10-100 cost multiplier rule

CQIA Test Dates View this link and scroll to “Testing Dates” in June and August 2021; note application deadline dates and fees.  The exam fee is a separate cost, not included in the course fee.

What is the value of certified employees? Investing in staff quality skills and knowledge will bring value and a market differentiator to your organization. ASQ certification offers these benefits:

• Knowledgeable employees who assure product and service quality
• Internationally recognized credentials from the global voice of quality
• Greater employee loyalty and retention
• A more competent Vermont workforce

Read below what two participants of this course held in
fall 2020 said about their experience:

“The Process Improvement and Quality Fundamentals course was extremely useful.  Not only was I able to gather the knowledge to obtain the certification for ASQ’s CQIA, but I was also able to learn many different tools to help me lead continuous improvement projects and corrective actions.  Being able to learn the tools but also apply them to a real project was extremely helpful in understanding what the course was really about.”
– Stacey Reeve, Quality Engineer, Chroma Technology 

“I just passed my CQIA exam! The course references were great, as well as the class handouts and presentations.  With a little brushing up, I really went into this exam with a feeling of confidence. Thank you for all the hard work you and the VMEC/ASQ team put into the class, I will highly recommend it to others!”
– Matt DeAngelis, Safety & Quality Manager, LEDdynamics Inc.

About the instructor Tim King is the Education Chair for the Vermont Section of ASQ.  He is also the founding partner of the consulting and training firm, Quality Matters LLC, based in Williston, VT.  Tim provides clients with extensive business experience, having worked in various management and operational leadership capacities in the private sector and as a consultant for the past twenty-five years.

Tim has a master’s degree in Training & Management Development, and a master’s degree in Engineering. He has been certified by ASQ as Manager of Quality & Organizational Excellence (CMQOE), a Quality Auditor (CQA) and a Quality Inspector (CQI). Tim obtained his Master Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt from the Thayer School of Engineering-Dartmouth College. He is certified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI®.

Questions on this course? Please contact Phil Chadderdon, VMEC Professional Manufacturing and Business Growth Advisor, at [email protected] or (802) 274-1407.

Payment: Please make check payable to “VMEC” and mail to PO Box 12, Randolph Center, VT 05061-0012. To pay by credit card (VISA, MC, AMEX), click here.