March 2000 Issue

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Through the efforts of our Program Chair, Cindy Zollo-Davis, members of the Subsection traveled to the Athens area on March 14 for our monthly membership meeting.  The evening featured a quality-related presentation and tour of the Florida Production Engineering (FPE) molded plastics manufacturing facility, followed by dinner at the Nelsonville Ramada Inn and Conference Center.

FPE supplies precision injection molded and painted plastic trim components to the automotive industry through five plants in Florida, Ohio and Alabama.  Its product lines include wheel trim, door panels, air bag covers, taillight and headlight housings, instrument panel components and bezels.  FPE is a wholly owned subsidiary of EGI Incorporated of Dayton, Ohio.  Its other Ohio plants are at Circleville and Marion.

Our host for the evening was Mr. Mike Poindexter who is the Plant Manager of the FPE Athens facility.  Mike is an ASQ member and a Certified Quality Engineer who so capably demonstrated and shared his knowledge of the plant with all of the tour participants.  Joining Mr. Poindexter as tour guides were Nancy McKee, FPE Quality Supervisor and Ryan Copp, FPE Engineering Liaison.  My sincere thanks to these very talented and dedicated FPE professionals for an interesting and informative evening.

In my column last month I gave you an update on the status of our Petition for advancement of the Subsection to a full ASQ Section.  Now I can tell you that all of our hard work has paid off!  We have successfully passed all of the reviews and intense scrutiny of our Petition package at ASQ Headquarters in Milwaukee.  Our new Section Bylaws have been reviewed and accepted; the expansion of our service area from 7 to 16 counties has been approved; our petition signatories have been reviewed and confirmed; the SVS election of Officers has been ratified for the new section and Tim Matchett's list of Scioto Valley Section Executive Committee Chairs has been accepted.  We are well on our way to full Section status with a first class team and a full head of steam!

Our advancement to full ASQ Section is now a primary agenda item for the ASQ Board of Directors (BOD) at their meeting on Saturday morning, May 6 at the Annual Quality Congress in Indianapolis.  We have solid support from our Sponsoring (Columbus) Section and from our own Region 8 Director, as well as from the Region Director.  Both of these gentlemen are members of the ASQ BOD and they have assured me that they will support our advancement to full Section.  We also enjoy an excellent relationship with ASQ Headquarters and we have developed a very positive image with headquarters personnel and organizations.  We have attained recognition as a leader in the ASQ Section Management Program (SMP) and we have distinguished ourselves as the only Subsection to ever attain the Implementation Level in the SMP.  Check out the Certificate on our Web page!

NOTICE: ASQ Headquarters has just requested that Scioto Valley Members change their Section Designation to Section "0815" and the "Scioto Valley Section" on Membership Renewal Notices.  How's that for a positive indicator?

Congratulations to Mary Jo Mercier on being elected the new ASQ Region 8 Director!  Mary Jo was the very first Columbus Section Chair to tell me that she would fully support our efforts to form an ASQ Subsection.  She has been a source of tremendous support and encouragement for all of our efforts and she has been a frequent attendee at our SVS meetings.  Mary Jo will bring excellence to her role as Region 8 Director.

In accordance with our Bylaws and with the concurrence of the SVS Executive Committee I have appointed Mr. Richard P. Biehle to a three year term as a Director of SVS.  Mr. Biehle is a self-employed Quality Management Consultant in the Ashland, Kentucky, area and was the founder and first Chair of the former Appalachian Subsection.  Rich has agreed to join our SVS management team to provide advice and guidance to the SVS Chair and Executive Committee and to represent the interests of the SVS members in the western West Virginia and eastern Kentucky areas.  Welcome aboard, Rich!

I also want to congratulate our SVS Education Chair Tom Hester on his recent retirement from the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) after a career spanning nearly 25 years at the Portsmouth facility.  Tom has also been responsible for setting-up the SVS CQA preparatory course that started just last week.  Because of Tom's hard work and diligence we now have 10 SVS members taking the course every Tuesday evening at Ohio University in Chillicothe.  I have had the pleasure of working with Tom at USEC and within the SVS and I look forward to continuing our association as he plans to stay fully involved in ASQ and the SVS.

Be sure to join us for our April 11 membership meeting at Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) in Portsmouth, our Quality in Healthcare meeting.  The meal is courtesy of SOMC and we are in for a real treat with two outstanding presentations on healthcare quality.  I'll see you there!

Bob Rinderman
SVS Chair

QUALITY SOCIETY'S MONTHLY MEETING TO BE FOCUSED ON HEALTH CARE AREA

"Quality In Health Care" is the subject of the monthly dinner program of the Scioto Valley Subsection, American Society for Quality (ASQ).  The dinner meeting will be Tuesday, April 11, 2000, and hosted by the staff of Southern Ohio Medical Center, Portsmouth.

Speakers from Southern Ohio Medical Center will be Dr. Kendall Stewart, Director of Medical Staff, and Ms. Becky Hall, Director of Quality, who will discuss the elements of health care quality and provide examples of how those elements are applied and then take questions from the audience.

This meeting also provides opportunity for local area health care administrators and quality professionals to network with others in their field, benchmark with other health care facilities and organizations, and further hone their skills in the quality profession.  The Scioto Valley Subsection intends to be a networking organization to provide for this structure and to address "Quality in Health Care" annually as part of its program schedule.

Non-members interested in the Subsection, in the ASQ or in the subject of quality are welcome.  ASQ

members holding certifications earn 0.3 recertification units for attending this meeting.

Here are the arrangements:

Date:

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

Location:

Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC), 1805 27th Street, Portsmouth

Schedule:

5:30 - 6:15   Registration and networking
6:15 - 7:00   Dinner
7:00 - 8:15   Brief business meeting and then speakers

Menu:

Dinner will be a buffet with two entrees, salad, vegetables, dessert and beverage, provided by SOMC.  Any special dietary needs will be accommodated if a special note is provided with your reservation.

Reservations:

Due to table seating limitations, dinner will be limited to the first 40 reservations.  A few additional people can be accommodated for the meeting only, but a reservation still is required due to the limited size of the room.

Reservations will be accepted until close of business Friday, April 7, 2000.

Reservations may be mailed to the following address:

ASQ Scioto Valley Subsection
PO Box 1947
Chillicothe, Ohio 45601
Attention:  Doug Scott, Arrangements Chair

You can also E-mail your reservation(s) to rdscott@bright.net, or call Doug at (740) 772-6997.

Directions:

Driving south on U. S. 23 into Portsmouth, turn left at Coles Boulevard (the first traffic light after entering the city limits of Portsmouth).  Note: There is a left turn lane, and that there is no street to the right.  Proceed east on Coles Boulevard about eight (8) blocks to the first traffic light.  Proceed just past this light and then turn right up the hill to Southern Ohio Medical Center.  Parking is available on both levels of the parking garage or behind the building next to the Emergency Department.  The meeting will be in the Education building to the right of the Emergency Department.

From the downtown Portsmouth area, drive north on U. S. Route 23 and turn right at Coles Boulevard.  Proceed as above.

USEC SETS ASTM INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Two methods for analyzing uranium, developed by USEC's Portsmouth Plant laboratory personnel, were approved by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and will be published in the Year 2000 edition of the Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Volume 12.01 on Nuclear Energy (I).

ASTM methods are recognized throughout the world as international standards for performing uranium analysis. These methods will now be available to everyone in the nuclear industry.

"By taking the initiative in developing these standards, USEC demonstrates its leadership in the uranium enrichment business," said Morris Brown, Portsmouth Plant General Manager.  "These particular methods provide USEC with the ability to satisfy customer needs with regard to product specifications through industry-accepted standards."

Dr. David Manuta of the Portsmouth Plant's Chemical Technology section and Mr. Randy Blevins of the plant's Mass Spectrometry section presented the methods to the ASTM. Other plant laboratory personnel who contributed to these accomplishments include Cindy Blugerman, Rick Foster, Kenneth Horsley, Brian Lanning, Byron Park, Richard Schwab, George Shoemaker, Ronald Smith, Jim Williams and Gary Workman.

The ASTM-approved methods include the following:

• The Analysis of Refrigerant 114, Plus Other Carbon-Containing and Fluorine-Containing Compounds in Uranium Hexafluoride via Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy (C 1441-99), presented to the ASTM by Dr. David Manuta.
• Isotopic Analysis of Uranium Hexafluoride by Double Standard Multi-Collector Gas Mass Spectrometry (C 1429-99), presented to the ASTM by Mr. Randy Blevins.

USEC Inc. is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.  A global energy company, USEC has its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and operates production plants in Kentucky and Ohio.