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Vol. 19, No. 1 The Newsletter of the Measurement Quality Division, American Society for Quality March 2005

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The StandardGoes Electronic...

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T ABLE OF C ONTENTSThe StandardVol 19, No. 1, March 2005

or j

Advertising

to the field of

Letters to the EditorThe Standard

Letters clearly state

and

is

Editor and PublisherJay L. Bucher6700 Royal View Dr.De Forest, WI 53532-2775

Voice: 608-277-2522Fax: 608-846-4269Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

2005 Rates for a single publication:

Business card size...........$20¼ page ...........................$35½ page ...........................$70Full page ......................$120A 15% discount will be applied

for multi-edition ads. Ads mustbe formatted in MS Word. Advertising must be clearly identified as an ad and should relate

measurementquality. Publishing of an Advertisement does not implyendorsement by the Measurement Quality Division or ASQfor the product or services offered.

welcomes lettersfrom members and subscribers.

shouldwhether the author is expressing opinion or presenting factswith supporting information.Commendation, encouragement, constructive critique,suggestions, alternativeapproaches are accepted. If thecontent more than 200words, we may delete portionsto hold that limit. We reservethe right to edit letters and pa

pers.

1

CHAIR’S COLUMN ........................................................................................ 3The Standard GOES ELECTRONIC .......................................................... 4

ST ANNUAL MQD/INSPECTION DIV. CONFERENCE............................. 4THE LEARNING CURVE............................................................................... 5CCT UPDATE .................................................................................................. 6

UPCOMING EVENTS ..................................................................................... 6DEPARTMENT OF LABOR JOB DESCRIPTION INITIATIVE.................. 7STANDARDS COMMITTEE ACTIVITY ...................................................... 8METROLOGY COMMUNITY NEWS ........................................................... 9MQD MEETING MINUTES ......................................................................... 10JOE SIMMONS SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED ............................................ 11JOE SIMMONS SCHOLARSHIP SOLICITATION ..................................... 12NEW OFFICER BIOS .................................................................................... 13MQD OFFICERS............................................................................................ 18

F ROM T HE DESK OF T HE E DITOR /P UBLISHER

Welcome to what I hope is an improved look, and feel of The Standard . Before anyone sends their complaints and comments about the new look and being an electronicpublication, please read the article on how and why we made this decision. You’ll findit starting on page 4. You may also have noticed that I am listed as the Editor and Publisher. The first should be obvious, the second no so. Since we have gone to an electronic or paperless format, I find myself in the unenviable position of not only puttingtogether the articles and papers that we will present here, but also publishing the finaledition, and posting it for everyone to read. Please bear with me as I learn the ropesand gain experience in this new found phase of my literary career (read that as anotheradditional duty – military parlance for extra work that one is not paid for).

Having said that let me introduce myself. I’m a retired Air ForcePMEL technician who worked on the bench for 10 years, thenmanaged to run a couple of PMEL Quality Assurance sections, supervise a physical/dimensional area, and eventually became theLab Chief for three different PMELs and Flight Chief, all whileserving in seven PMELs during my career. After spending 20 of my 24 years overseas, I am happily living in De Forest, Wisconsinwith my wife, daughter, and two longhaired miniature Dachshunds.I stay active in both NCSL International (I’m the section coordinator for the Madison Wisconsin section) and ASQ (I’m an SME forthe CCT exam), an officer with the MQD, and Share Point administrator for our website (more voluntary additional duties). In my spare time (spoken firmly with tongue-in-cheek) I’m the Manager of Metrology Services for Promega Corporation, a biotechnology company. I solicit your feedback and constructive comments. Thanks for helping us make The Standard the best publication possible.

The Standard is published quarterly by the Measurement Quality Division of ASQ; deadlines are February 15, May 15, August 15and November 15. Text information intended for publication can be sent via electronic mail as an attachment in MS Word format.Graphics or illustrations must be sent as a separate attachment, in jpg format. Photographs of MQD activities are always appreciated.Use single space between sentences. Publication of articles, product releases, advertisements or technical information does not implyendorsement by MQD or ASQ. While The Standard makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of articles, the publication disclaimsresponsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors or other contributors. Material from The Standard may not bereproduced without permission of ASQ. Copyrights in the United States and all other countries are reserved. Website information:MQD’s homepage can be found at http://www.asq.org/measure . © 2005 ASQ, MQD. All rights reserved.



March 2005 The Standard

C HAIR ’S C OLUMN By Dilip Shah

Happy New Year!With the New Yearcome many changes.First, you will notice achange in the format of the newsletter. I wouldlike to express my appreciation to Mark Schoenlein (MQD Treasurer and The StandardEditor) for his dedicatedservice to the Division.

Mark had to resign from both positions because of the demands of his new position at a different company. We wish Mark well in his future endeavors.

Jay Bucher is well known as the Editor and coauthor of The Metrology Handbook published lastyear and sponsored by the division. Jay is also therecipient of last year’s Max J. Unis Award. Jayassumes the editorship of The Standard. Please,support Jay by contributing articles of interest andproviding him with the feedback. With Jay at thehelm of The Standard, I feel very confident of itssuccess.

Karl Wigdal assumes the interim Treasurer position and will assume the full treasurer duties duringthe next calendar year starting July 1, 2005.

We are very pleased to fill in the position of Division Historian. Keela Sniadach has volunteered forthis position. To introduce you to Both Karl andKeela, their biography is published in this editionof The Standard.

The next change for The Standard is that we aregoing to switch to the electronic format. Carefulconsideration was made to switch to the paperlessformat. The three main reasons being:• Timely delivery of news and articles of interest.• Save on ever increasing paper, printing and de

livery costs.• A capability to post the newsletter on the web

site with live links to other areas of interest.

I am sure that there will be some glitches on the

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way as we implement this change. Please provideJay with your feedback as we go through this transition.During the past quarter, the Measurement QualityDivision co-sponsored the conference in Heath,Ohio with the Inspection Division in Heath, Ohio.A separate report is provided on the conference inthis newsletter. Thank you to Mollie Brown of theInspection Division for compiling the report.

This January, The Measurement Quality Divisionwas also the co-sponsor of the Measurement Science Conference in Anaheim and hosted a session.We had our display booth at the conference andhad good traffic where brochures on the CCT examand the Metrology Handbook were distributed. Mysincere thanks go to all the volunteers who helpedmake this possible (Duane Allen, Phil Painchaud,Jay Bucher, and Randy Farmer). The MQD donated two copies of the Metrology Handbook asdoor prizes at the conference.

MQD’s project for this year is the Department of Labor Job Description Initiative for calibration professionals headed by Chris Grachanen. We are veryglad to be working in partnership with NCSL International on this project. You will find more information about it in this issue.

We will again be at the WCQI (new name forASQ’s AQC) in Seattle in May and hope to seemany of you there in person.

Plans are being made for the next MQD conferenceto be held at Corona, California in September2005. It will be hosted at the U.S. Navy facility.

We are also soliciting student applicants for the JoeD. Simmons scholarship for this year.

I hope that the year 2005 is a prosperous one for allof you.

Sincerely,Dilip A. ShahE = mc3 Solutions197 Great Oaks Trail #130Wadsworth, Ohio 44281-8215Voice (330) 328-4400 / Fax (330) 336-3974E-mail: [email protected]

Vol. 19, No. 1 The Newsletter of the Measurement Quality Division, American Society for Quality




The StandardG OES E LECTRONIC

By Jay L. Bucher Editor & Publisher of The Standard

As with most publications, costshave driven their editors andpublishers to make improvements and/or modifications if they expect to stay in business.The same is true for MQD.Printing and distribution costshave continued to grow, whileour membership has remainedsteady or declined slightly over

the past few years. The last printing in hardcopy of

The Standard cost more than $4,000, not countingthe time it took to write, edit, and compile eacharticle that ended up in that edition. With the goalof providing quality service in a timely manner, wecame up with three main reasons for changing to anelectronic format: 1) Timely delivery of news andarticles of interest; 2) Save on ever increasing paper, printing and delivery costs; and 3) A capabilityto post the newsletter on our website with live linksto other areas of interest. Hopefully, this will allowus to get the most ‘bang for our buck’ in each andevery edition, while providing you, the reader, the

most current information and news.

1ST ANNUAL MQDINSPECTION DIV . C ONFERENCE

Division Members Participate inJoint Conference in Midwest

-Compiled by Mollie Brown, Chair-Elect, Inspection Division with feedback from DilipShah

The Measurement Quality Division and InspectionDivision held a joint conference in mid-Septemberat the USAF Primary Standards Laboratory locatedin Heath, Ohio. Attendees and presenters weretreated to a two-hour tour of the United States AirForce Primary Standards Laboratory. Technicianswho care for the standards explained how the standards, from the tiniest to the largest, are stored andmaintained. Some of the technicians entertained the

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group with stories and histories of the standards.

The Conference offered a well-attended, one-daytutorial workshop on Metrology and Measurement Uncertainty Concepts presented by MeasurementQuality Division Chair, Dilip A. Shah. The secondand third day agendas had hourly presentationsfrom members of the two divisions. Division members provided many enlightening and entertainingsessions. Laboratory accreditation, UncertaintyMeasurement, Calibrating items formerly classifiedas “tools-not-needing-calibration”, the new Certified Calibration Technician exam, managing testdata, and quantifying the effects of Design of Experiments were all hot topics.

Duane Allen demonstrated management of GageRepeatability and Reproducibility (G R&R) andAnalysis of Variance (ANOVA) test data havingexcessive variation. Graeme Payne showed how tomanage unexpectedly tight thermometer specifications in the calibration laboratory. Karl Wigdal offered insight for exposing scientists to metrologybusiness processes. Tom Flournoy shared a changeof perspective that helped the Army StandardsLaboratory achieve ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.Robert Graham presented the three NIST recommended methods to calibrate Stopwatches andTimers. Corinne Pinchard talked about one com-pany’s training plan for Calibration Techniciancandidates and Dilip Shah gave a progress reporton the CCT exam process. Bill Kappele demonstrated use of Design of Experiment (DOE) to understand effects of foreign chemicals on a measurement system and use of the DOE study results tocorrect measurements in some situations.

During the conference, the Measurement QualityDivision made formal presentation of the Max J.Unis awards to the two past 2002 and 2003 winners(Phil Stein and Chris Grachanen, respectively), andto the new 2004 winner, Jay Bucher.

Inspection Division members gave sessions on thechanging role of quality professionals while reminding us to stay up-to-date with both technicalskills and personal skills; a review of the currentISO 9001:2000 requirements for inspection to“maximize quality’s impact”; and, how one com-

(Continued on page 11)





T HE L EARNING C URVE By Phil Painchaud

This is the thirty-ninth in a contiguous series of wordy causeries, which, by charter, are intended to promote the conceptof formal education in the measurement sciences, i.e., Metrology. However, it often driftsastray and dwells on other topics due to inexplicable whimsand desires of the author. This

one will probably be no exception; it will howeverbe in the usual format—an open letter to our Bossthe Most Magnificent Editor of this occasionallyperiodic journal.

Dear Boss:

In days gone by, an author would have said that“As I take pen in hand-------“; but today we mustsay, “As I squint at the screen of my computer withword processor opened--------“. So here I am, earlyin October squinting at the screen of my outdatedCRT monitor, realizing that the last time I sat downto create one of these columns was last June. Thatwas a sad occasion as I soliloquized on the passingof three great communicators. On the bright sidethat traumatic event provided material for an otherwise drab column as I explained our two institutions of interest were in the “summer doldrums”. Ithink that maybe they still are, as today I have nothad a word of progress from either. I guess thatwhen Doctors Drum and Watson left they also losttheir “Communicators.”

However on the bright side, a completely new potential venue has started to open, and in a locationthat might be of benefit to those of you in or nearthe Mid-Atlantic States. I will be the first to admitthat I had never heard of the institution or even itslocation, but a check of the 2004 edition of THEWORLD ALMANAC assured me that the WESTLIBERTY STATE COLLEGE in West Liberty,West Virginia is quite legitimate. It is a very normal four-year institution, founded in 1837, withabout 2600 students and 165 faculty (that’s slightlylarger than was Rhode Island State when I wentthere during the Paleolithic Era). The campus is

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located less than ten miles (that’s 16.09344 Km)Northeast of Wheeling, WV. The current Professorof Astronomy and Physics is Dr. Louis Hart.

Dr. Hart is relatively new to WLSC having priorserved a number of years in the manufacturing industries where he learned the value of both QualityAssurance and of Metrology. During his first yearstenure at WLSC he had become dismayed at thelack of either in the curricula offered at that institution. He wrote to Phil Stein for advice; Phil in turnreferred him to me. That referral has proven to bethe beginning of a very intense correspondence (Ithink that both of our e-mail message saved boxesare over filled). He has read every one of thesethirty-eight published columns to date. In addition,as a result he has started an intensive campaign toindoctrinate his hierarchy and get approval for theestablishment of a baccalaureate quality/metrologycurriculum at WLSC. Nevertheless, he needs helpand he needs it desperately.

I am asking each and every one of you, irrespectiveof your potential candidacy for matriculation into acollege level Measurement Science curriculum, toassist us here by writing him a letter that he can useas evidence to convince the hierarchy at WLSCthat a Measurement Science curriculum is necessary. Explain the need for measurement educationat all levels. Explain how the lack of properly educated Measurement Scientists is reducing our Nation to second class status scientifically which inturn is depressing our leadership in “high-tech “developments and manufactured products. Pleasedo in now—today. With a hundred good letters inhand he most assuredly will have an easier time inconvincing his hierarchy. His address is simple:

Dr. Louis Hart,CSC 172WEST LIBERTY STATE COLLEGEWEST LIBERTY, VA. 26074.

Also, while you are at it please send me a copy of your letter to Dr. Hart so that I may track progress.Together we can make this work.

COMMUNICATIONS—When I reviewed my previous Column before starting this one, I became





March 2005 The Standard MQD

The 2005 schedule for CCT exam offering are:CCT U PDATE By Chris Grachanen

MQD Certification Chair

As of this writing

(mid-February), theCCT alumni hasgrown to 348 individuals (see below).Congratulations goout to DEC04 grads!

Date of Exam Sat forExam

PassedExam

% Passed

7-Jun-03 97 69 71%

6-Dec-03 107 69 65%

23-May-04 4 4 100%

5-Jun-04 133 102 77%

4-Dec-04 139 104 75%

There will be a CCT Exam Review workshop onFebruary 18-19, 2005 at ASQ headquarters in Milwaukee, WI. This workshop will be focusing onthe June 2005 & Dec 2005 CCT exams. An ExamReview workshop consists of volunteer committeemembers (CCT graduates) who review test itemsfor accuracy, consistency, non-interdependencewith other test items, plausibility of answer choicesand reference traceability to published documentsavailable in the public domain. Prior to coming tothe workshop, committee members “take” a pilotexam(s) just as a candidate would. These participants are asked to comment on test items and sendthem to the Test Developer who compiles them forthe workshop. At the workshop, the committeemembers are trained in a variety of assessment issues and then asked to focus on items identified as‘problematic’ from the pilot exam(s). After all theissues in the pilot exam(s) are resolved, the committee then approves it for use.

Exam Date Application LocationDeadline

April 14, 2005 March 11, Cedar Rapids, IA2005 Special Exam

Administration

May 15, 2005 April 1, 2005 Seattle, WAWorld Conference on Qualityand Improvement

June 4, 2005 April 1, 2005 ASQ Local Sections and International Sites

December 3, October 7, ASQ Local Sec2005 2005 tions and Interna

tional Sites

For more information on the CCT program pleasevisit the MQD website:

http://www.asq.org/measure

From left to right: Roger Becker, Roger Spitz, KurtSims, Scott Morris, Ray Harkins, Claude Lane(background), Mike Gaddy, Rick Roberson, Steve

Niesen, Shane Wade, and Jay Bucher

E VENTS C ALENDAR

Quality Expo April 19th ~ 21st, 2005 Rosemont, IL 888-267-3794 www.quality.reedexpo.com

ASQ-WCQI May 16th ~ 18th, 2005 Seattle, WA 800-248-1946 www.asq.org

NCSLI August 7th ~ 11th, 2005 Washington, DC 303-440-3339 www.ncsli.org





M ETROLOGY J OB DESCRIPTION

INITIATIVE By Chris Grachanen

In 2005, the U.S.Department Of Labor, Bureau Of Labor Statistics will besoliciting input forupdating its StandardOccupational Classification (SOC) listing for its next for

mal release. The SOC system is used by all Federalstatistical agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. The SOC is updated every 10 years. Some of the general past criteria (substantiation) used by the SOC committeein determining a job description are:

• Unique occupation as recognized by employers/ industry (may be contrasted with other occupations. Example: calibration technician vs. electronic technician)

• Unique occupation education/training programs(degrees, certifications, etc.)

• Unique occupation skills sets• Unique occupation body of knowledge• Evidence of numbers in the occupation

The SOC's current job descriptions for calibrationpractitioners are grossly inadequate (see Note 1).Educators use the SOC to provide students withcareer guidance information. Without adequate jobdescriptions prospective candidates may not besteered into the Metrology field by educators. Inaddition, demographic information, such as howmany calibration practitioners are entering or leaving the job market, can not reliably ascertainedwithout adequate job descriptors.

ASQ’s MQD officers and the National Conferenceof Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI)Board of Directors have agreed this discrepancymust be corrected before the next publication of theSOC and as such has partnered to support the‘Metrology Job Description (MJD) initiative’. Tothis effort the MQD has retained Professional Ex

MQD

amination Services (PES) of New York, NY to administer the MJD initiative per a carefully craftedsystematic roadmap.

Chris Grachanen is the project leader for this initiative and as of this writing (mid-February) is currently putting together members of a core teamfrom the MQD and NCSLI constituents that will beworking with PES on various aspects of the initiative. Chris has sent an e-mail to the Bureau of Labor Statistics asking to "place a hold" on the following job descriptions for consideration by theStandard Occupational Classification (SOC) committee in preparation for the 2005 SOC FederalRegister Notice: Calibration Technician, Calibration Engineer and Metrologist. The following isPES’s contract proposal for MJD initiative:

PES proposes to assist the MQD in developingthese job descriptions through the structured process described below.

Step 1 Solicit job descriptionsPES will work with the MQD project leader toidentify parameters for soliciting job descriptionsfrom the U.S. metrology/calibration industry forthree specific titles: Calibration Technician, Calibration Engineer, and Metrologist. The MQD pro

ject leader will disseminate the request for job descriptions. PES will review the submitted descriptions and select up to 25 for each job title, such thatthey provide broad representation of the metrology/ calibration industry in terms of organization type,geographic representation, organization size, etc.If additional job descriptions are needed to fillcategories of representation, the MQD projectleader will solicit targeted descriptions.

Step 2 Identify commonalities and differences in job descriptionsPES will analyze the selected job descriptions toidentify commonalities and differences in the descriptions for Calibration Technician, CalibrationEngineer, and Metrologist. PES will prepare adraft summary of the job elements for the threepositions, and distribute it via e-mail to the coreteam for review and comment. PES will work withthe project leader to finalize the job elements.






T HE STANDARDS C OMMITTEE

ACTIVITY By Bill McCullough

Did you ever hear of the

“wise parent” dispute resolution method? Well it worksthis way with the two-childmodel: two children are givenone piece of cake and instructions to share it. The “wiseparent” (I wish that I hadthought of this) has one childcut the cake and the otherchild pick first. The child thatmakes the cut is likely to

make the cut with the precision that would impress

the most particular Metrologist. This solution ensures both party’s satisfaction and of course happyparents. This story was told my by Kerhaghan, theconvener of ISO 10001 and 10003 customers’ satisfaction standards.

My assignment at the November, Kuala Lumpur,ISO TC176 international standards meeting was tofind that “wise parent” balance on ISO 10001 and10003 two of three standards that provide guidanceon customers’ satisfaction. ISO 10001 documentshow to establish a customer code-of-conduct and10003 provides external dispute resolution guidance. We all know that ISO 9001 requires us toaddress customer satisfaction and gives little guidance. ISO 9001 is a high-level standard that relieson subordinate standards for specific requirements.We in the measurement world point to ISO 9001,paragraph 7.6 as an example. It requires calibrationand measurement control with some direction butfor details directs us to ISO 10012. It is possiblethat in the future ISO 9001 will suggest ISO10001-10003 for the detailed customer requirement.

Satisfying customer requirements has become veryimportant to companies. You may have noticedthat many retail outlets handle returned merchandise in the same manner, in every store, no matterwhere the store is located in the country or theworld for that matter. This is because these retailershave established a code-of-conduct that all of theirstores are required to follow. How does an enter

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prise put together such a code-of-conduct? OnceISO 10001 makes it through the various drafts andis published it will provide needed guidance onestablishing customer codes of conduct. That willtake a couple of years of processing through theISO committees. That leads me to a subject that Ithink will be of value to the readers of “The Standard”: how ISO standards are processed.

An ISO Technical Committee, TC 176 in our case,initiates ISO standards. The TC creates a Work Item tasking an International Subcommittee (SC)and its associated Work Group (WG), made up of experts from the various national Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs), to bring a standard to fruition. The WG creates a Working Draft (WD) andfine-tunes it until they believe they have created astandard that meets the objectives set out by the

TC. The standard is then elevated to a CommitteeDraft (CD) for the full SC, including the TAGs, toreview and comment on. This review can be iterative, because the committee can deem that the CDis not ready, down grade it back to a WD and sendit back to the WG for more work. At some point,the SC’s comments will have been satisfactorilydealt with, and the SC will feel that the standard isready for wider Distribution (DIS) to the TC andsometimes liaison organization. At this point it isnot likely that any substantive problems will beidentified, and the editors will clean up the stan-

dard’s form and release it as Final Distribution(FDIS) for a yes/no vote. When the member nations reach consensus, the FDIS becomes an International standard. This is the general procedure andnot cast in stone.

The operative word in this process is consensus.Until this international meeting, most of my experience has been working on US standards and withinternal US work on ISO standards. When work isdone on US standards, such as ANSI/NCSL Z5401, we are working to bring a standard to consensus

with enterprise representatives each with their ownagendas. In most cases the agendas are similar, representing how we do business in the US, and thedifferences can easily be worked to consensus by alittle wordsmith of the standard. The internationalprocess is fundamentally the same but of a higher






Metrology Community News

Note: neither ASQ nor MQD endorses any accrediting agency and this news is provided as a serviceto the measurement community.

Decision to Withdraw from NACLAMRA

February 1, 2005

The A2LA Board of Directors decided to endA2LA’s signatory status within the current National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation(NACLA) Mutual Recognition Arrangement(MRA) as of December 31, 2004. Recent eventsregretfully necessitated this decision. These eventsinclude NACLA’s disappointing lack of enforcement of the NACLA MRA obligations, such that itachieves the purposes and goals for which MRAsare established around the world.

One of A2LA’s fundamental goals is to increasethe acceptance of accredited laboratory data to facilitate trade. The internationally recognized meansof achieving this goal is through the establishmentof MRAs with other accreditation bodies, both domestic and abroad - MRAs that promote the concept of “one test accepted everywhere, one accreditation accepted everywhere”. (MRAs are signed

after accreditation bodies have been rigorously peerevaluated to ensure that they are performing competently. The MRA evaluation process also servesto establish confidence between the accreditationbodies.) When NACLA was formed, this was themain goal. NACLA would reduce the need for redundant accreditations of laboratories in the UnitedStates in accordance with the Congressional policyof the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act to reduce complexity and duplication. Anexcerpt from the NACLA MRA (December 2003)states the following:

The NACLA MRA signatories for testing and calibration shall:

ii) Recognize the operation of the other signatory accreditation bodies for testing and calibration as having met the technical requirements for competence set forth in this Arrangement. On this basis, each signatory accepts thetest reports and calibration certificates issued

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by signatory-accredited calibration and testinglaboratories;

iii) Acknowledge the calibration and testinglaboratories accredited by the other signatories as having met the technical requirements

for competence set forth in this Arrangement. In response to inquiries, each signatory promotes this MRA by recommending to users of laboratory services the acceptance of test re

ports and calibration certificates from laboratories accredited by NACLA signatories;

However, an MRA that does not support the basicprinciple that the accreditations issued by all signatories represent equivalent outcomes, and the testor calibration data produced by each signatory’saccredited laboratories should be promoted as suchby all MRA signatories does not support this fundamental goal. As such, A2LA cannot in good conscience continue to participate in such an MRA.

A2LA shall continue to encourage and work toward a viable system of MRAs among domesticaccreditation bodies. As such, A2LA will continuemembership as a stakeholder within NACLA andwe plan to continue participation on the NACLARecognition Committee in hopes of restoring theoriginal aim of NACLA. A2LA shall always support and assist efforts to reduce or eliminate theneed for redundant, duplicative accreditations. Bycontinuing our membership within NACLA, wehope to see this original aim realized in the UnitedStates.

We also want to see NACLA fully embrace theobligations of the MRAs. NACLA is a stakeholdermember of ILAC. Though membership does notconvey the same status as being an ILAC signatory, all ILAC members must agree to uphold thefundamental obligations of the ILAC MRA in thesame way that ILAC signatories do. Therefore anydomestic government or industry recognitions thatA2LA held when we were a NACLA signatorywould still be enforced through NACLA’s recognition of the ILAC MRA. A current list of government or industry recognitions held by A2LA isgiven in the table below.






MQD Teleconference Meeting Minutes20 January, 2005

MSC 2005 – Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CA By Jay L. Bucher, MQD Secretary

Attendees: Joining via teleconference :

Dilip Shah Randy Farmer Chris Grachanen Keith BennettJay Bucher Phil Painchard Graeme Payne Norm BeleckiDuane Allen Bill McCullough

Minutes:Dilip Shah – Called the meeting to order and we had a quorum, so we could conduct business and voteon issues as required.

Chris Grachanen – Briefed everyone on the current status of the Metrology Job Description Initiative.

Chris will write an article for The Standard and all the information can be found at that time. To summarize, we are on track and moving forward with the initiative.

Dilip Shah – MQD has a new administrator: Karen Prosser. She will be assisting with the web site, getting The Standard published under the new electronic format, and other duties as our point of contact.Welcome aboard, Karen.

Chris Grachanen – Ideas for pin designs should be submitted to the Share Point site. Since that time, weare considering possibly using a ‘Challenge Coin’ in the place of a pin. More to come in the future.

Jay Bucher – Will coordinate and publish a schedule for future teleconference calls. Once the finalschedule is determined, it will be posted on Share Point.

Chris Grachanen – All of our officers should submit their bios to Chris for posting on the MQD website.

Norm Belecki – Continues to work on the Joe Simmons scholarship.

Phil Painchard – Scholarship funds are still available at Dominquez Hills.

Bill McCullough – Will submit his written report on the Z540 updates, and it will be posted in The Standard.

New Business:The schedule for writing articles (bi-monthly) for Measure for Measure in Quality Progress will beposted on our Share Point site for future authors to review and coordinate their articles.

Dilip Shah and Graeme Payne will be attending WCQI and representing MQD and manning the booth.Navy Corona has volunteered to host the September, 2005 MQD/Inspection Division Conference inCalifornia.

The schedule for future teleconference calls has been posted on our Share Point site. Anyone interestedin joining, please contact one of the officers or committee chairs listed at the end of this newsletter.





J OE SIMMONS SCHOLARSHIP

AWARDED By Norm Belecki

Joe Simmons Scholarship Chair

The Executive Committee of the Joe D. SimmonsMemorial Scholarship has announced that M.Laine Mears at the Georgia Institute of Technologyhas been awarded the scholarship for the academicyear 2004–5. Mears is a mechanical-engineeringgraduate student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at GeorgiaTech. His course of study has a heavy metrologyand quality content, as is fitting for a curriculum inprecision manufacturing. Mears’ research dealswith accurately visualizing small geometric formsby analyzing ‘fuzzy’ data from microinterferometers.

The Scholarship is in memory of Dr. Joe D. Simmons, who was Chief of the NIST Calibration Program, NIST liaison to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories, recipient of the Measurement Science Conference’s Andrew J. Woodington

Award and the National Conference of StandardsLaboratories’ Wildhack Award , cofounder and past

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Chair of the Measurement Quality Division of theAmerican Society for Quality Control (ASQ), andfounding Chair of the Measurement Quality Conference. He devoted his later career to promotinginstitutional support for metrology as the cornerstone of quality. The Scholarship fosters the furtherance of metrology through education by striving to:a)

b)

c)

d)

support the academic pursuit of a metrologycareer by worthy students;promote and improve measurement scienceeducation and educational opportunity;encourage talented individuals to enter the fieldof metrology; andstimulate professionalism in metrology throughan annual award to a student exhibiting scholastic excellence in the study of measurementscience and quality.

The Scholarship is supported by the ASQ Measurement Quality Division, the Measurement ScienceConference, NCSL International and many individual friends and colleagues of Joe Simmons. It is tobe awarded annually, with the recipient’s nameannounced at the annual conferences of the sponsoring organizations.

ity.

’

(

"Y "

pany applies Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing(“Lean Sigma”) techniques to increase profitabil

Some conference attendees getting ‘ The Tour

Humorous lines and laughter popped up often atunexpected points in the presentations. CompactDisks of all the presentations were given to eachattendee and presenter. Evaluations showed thatmost attendees enjoyed being at the conference andfelt they were leaving with useful new ideas theycould take back to their jobs.

The Conference was hosted by Bionetics Corporation in the USAF Primary Standards LaboratoryConference and Cafeteria Facilities, Newark Metrology Operations. Great big THANKS go toCharlie Mays of the Air Force Primary StandardsLaboratory Customer Service and Facility SafetyOffice of Bionetics Corporation, for making allarrangements for the Conference.

Continued from page 4)

OU CAN ONLY MAKE AS GOOD AS YOU CAN MEASURESir Joseph Whitworth (1803 ~ 1887)





The Scholarship is soliciting candidates for an award of $1500 to support the study of metrology and

quality during the 2005–2006 school year. The award—to be administered by the school of theawardee—may cover tuition, fees, books and other incidental academic expenses for the winningscholar.

The Scholarship is in memory of Dr. Joe D. Simmons, who was Chief of the NIST Calibration Program,NIST liaison to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories, recipient of the Measurement Science Conference’s Andrew J. Woodington Award and the National Conference of Standards Laboratories’ Wildhack Award, cofounder and Chair of the Measurement Quality Division of the American Society for Quality Control (ASQ), and founding Chair of the Measurement Quality Conference. He devotedhis later career to promoting institutional support for metrology as the cornerstone of quality. TheScholarship fosters the furtherance of metrology through education by striving to:

a) support the academic pursuit of a metrology career by worthy students;b) promote and improve measurement science education and educational opportunity;c) encourage talented individuals to enter the field of metrology; andd) stimulate professionalism in metrology

through an annual award to a student exhibiting scholastic excellence in the study of measurement science and quality. The Scholarship is supported by the ASQ Measurement Quality Division, the Measurement Science Conference, NCSL International, and many individual friends and colleagues of JoeSimmons. This year’s winner will be selected by August 15 and notified shortly thereafter. Theawardee’s name will be announced at the annual conferences of the sponsoring organizations.

Educational institutions having curricula with substantial metrology content are urged to encourage

high-potential students to apply.

In order to apply, a potential candidate must submit:

1.a completed application form;2.a list of courses taken and planned to be taken in pursuit of a degree (Associate, Bachelor, Master,

etc.);3.an endorsement from one or more of the school faculty teaching metrology or quality-related subjects;4.a transcript of grades in all courses to date; and5.an essay indicating metrology and quality concepts learned and applied in academic or work settings,

and describing the student’s career aspirations. The essay need not be overly lengthy.

Submissions may be made either electronically or by mail (preferably the former) as indicated below.

The above materials must be received by the Scholarship Committee before May 1, 2005.Application forms are available from:

The Joe D. Simmons Memorial Scholarship7413 Mill Run DriveDerwood, MD 20855-1156<[email protected]>





2004-2005 Interim Treasure2005-2006 Treasure

I work inof

Corporation in Madison,Wisconsin.

that designs, manufacturesand sells

used in research, diagnos

certified. I performbrations and

jects.

then attended college

electronics.a business

I have presented papers at NCSLI conferences

tial artist (I hold a 3 rd

Karl ‘

NEW MQD O FFICER BIOS

Keela Sniadach MQD Historian

zations.

Karl Wigdal

the metrologydepartment Promega

Promega is aBiotechnology company

enzymes, reagents and other products

tics and law enforcement.Promega is ISO 9001:2000

calimost of the repairs throughout the

company, as well as specialized measurement pro

I started my career repairing electric motors andassociated equipment. Iwhere I received an associate degree in electronics.My next 15 years was spent repairing consumer

During that time I owned and operatedspecializing in repairing laboratory

equipment used for biological research at the Uni

versity of Wisconsin, Madison.

and at the recent MQD conference held at Heath,Ohio. I am certified by ASQ as a Certified Calibra

tion Technician (CCT). I have served as a SubjectMatter Expert during several writing and reviewworkshops held for the CCT exam.

My outside interests are many, and include: Amateur radio, I hold an Extra Class license (N9XVZ).You will find me operating CW (Morse code)/QRP(transmitted power below 5 Watts) on the HFbands (160M through 10M). If you hear me, sayHi! I am also an enthusiastic white water and seakayaker, runner, biker, ballroom dancer, and mar

degree black belt). My current passion is primitive archery – I make my ownlong bows in the styles that were in use thousandsof years ago.

shooting the rapids’

I look forward to sorting and organizing the various documents and information collected by MQDover the years. It is my hope to arrange the information in some format that will be easily accessible to anyone interested.

Here is a little background information about myself. I have worked at Promega Corporation, as aCalibration Technician in the Metrology Department for the last 8 years. I received my CCT fromASQ in December 2003. I am the membership

chair and also a member of the steering committeefor the Madison Wisconsin Section of NCSL International. I have learned a lot through both organi





(Continued from page 5)

aware that the three “Communicators” I discussedhad an attribute in common. They each had thatability to express thoughts clearly and distinctlysuch that ideas were unambiguously implanted inyour mind. When that occurs, communication isaccomplished. I believe that in an earlier column Imentioned that a former business associate of minehad a favorite expression:

“THE PROBLEM WITH COMMUNICATIONSIS THE ILLUSION THAT IT HAS BEEN AC-COMPLISHED”

Many people write, speak, preach, and lecture, etc.,but do they effectively communicate? Has unambiguous communication occurred? Have thoughts,ideas, facts, opinions, and rebuttals been transferred and implanted without error or corruption?What does this have to do with Metrology or withMetrology Education? It has everything to do withMetrology and Metrology Education! It has everything to do with any technical or scientific endeavor. A Metrologist or other scientific workerwho cannot unambiguously and clearly communicate his ideas, his measurements, his algorithms,his procedures, and all related factors is not muchgood to anybody. He is of little good to his employer, or to the employer’s customer, or to hispeers in the Metrology or other scientific community, or even to himself. A Metrologist as with anyscientific worker must be able to not only writeclear, factual, well-organized reports, but also beable to express orally his findings and opinions inclear, factual, convincing, well-organized volubleverbal intercourse.

I mentioned earlier that I was an undergraduate(during that Paleolithic Era) at another state college(I thought that I was to become a chemist in thosedays) in the School of Science. All Science Sophomores at that institution were required to take acourse in Public Speaking; it was not an elective. Inever became an outstanding orator. On the otherhand, that training gave me the insight to be able toanalytically critique presentations by others, particularly those of a technical nature. It did give meenough fluidity of speech to be able, when required, to present a discourse on matters withwhich I am familiar, in a manner that generally

MQD

does not anesthetize my listeners.

I have attended hundreds of conferences, seminars,and the like during my professional career. Unfortunately most of those “lectures” were little morethat someone reading a prepared paper and maybewith a few slides or other graphics. A paper, if notwell written, can often be considerably upgradedby a talented editor (or even sometimes by a goodproofreader). However, no paper, no matter howwell prepared, how timely, or interesting can survive an inadequate presentation. The best, mostinteresting written work becomes a boring sedativewhen read in a sonorous monotone. Communication has not been accomplished. Few if any ideaswill have been transmitted and received.

During the period we were developing the curriculum for the Measurement Science Option at California State University—Dominguez Hills, I forone made sure that a mandatory course in oral presentation was included; I didn’t have much opposition. All of the members of the Curriculum Advisory Board had at times had to cope with studentsand/or coworkers who could not express themselves orally and properly expound their ideas. Ihope that Professor Hart, when he is successful ininstituting a Measurement Science program atWLSC, will be able to harken to this plea and makesure that some sort of oral presentation training isincluded in his curriculum.

At Dominquez Hills, we found a satisfactorycourse already existed—In the Drama Department!“Why reinvent the wheel?” We just adopted it!We will just cut off for this issue and give our Editor space to print discourses that are more learnedthat mine. Please write to Professor Hart. If youwant to argue, I am still at the same old stand. Inow have DSL on my internet connection, so I candown load your lengthy communiqués. You canstill contact me at:

Phil Painchaud1110 West Dorothy DriveBrea, CA. 92821-2017Phone: 714-529-6604FAX: 714-529-1109E-Mail:[email protected] or [email protected]






Step 3 Develop and pilot test surveyPES will develop and pilot test a brief web-basedsurvey instrument including job elements that maybe specific to calibration technicians, calibrationengineers, and Metrologists in order to solicit inputfrom industry representatives regarding the job elements. Ratings for the job elements might focus onuniqueness to metrology and performed by. Thesurvey will also contain a demographic backgroundquestionnaire and an open-ended comments section. PES recommends that members of the coreteam nominate individuals to participate in the survey pilot test.

Step 4 Disseminate surveyPES will disseminate a link to the online survey bye-mail to a sample not to exceed 1000. The projectleader will be responsible for providing PES withthe e-mail addresses of the survey sample. PES willconsult with the project leader to identify the participants.

Step 5 Analyze survey dataPES will compile and summarize the survey resultsand present them to the core team for review andcomment.

Step 6 Generate job descriptionsPES will create 3 to 5 sentence descriptive narratives (i.e. job descriptions) from survey results tosubmit to the 2005 SOC for Calibration Technician, Calibration Engineer, and Metrologist. PESwill circulate the descriptions to the core team forreview and comment and incorporate their feedback into revised job descriptions as appropriate.

P ROPOSAL BULLETS• Management of the project by PES Research Di

rector• Analysis of 75 job descriptions (25 each for Cali

bration Technician, Calibration Engineer, and

Metrologist)• Compilation of summary document of job ele

ments• Conduct of e-mail review of summary document

and preparation of final draft• Development and dissemination of draft online

survey to pilot test group• Revision of survey based on pilot test results

MQD

• Consultation regarding the development of a survey sample

• Dissemination of online survey invitation, links,and reminders to up to 1000 participants

• Statistical analysis of surveys• Preparation of final written report to the Meas

urement Quality Division• Professional and support staff time to complete

the project

ASQ’s MQD and NSCLI constituents will be askedvia e-mail to submit job descriptions and to participate in the MJD initiative online survey. It isplanned that the finalized job description for Calibration Technician, Calibration Engineer, andMetrologist will be forwarded to the SOC in theFall of 2005. Progress on the MJD initiative will beposted on the MQD website and published in future issues of The Standard and the NSCLI Newsletter .

NOTE 1: The following are key word search results for: Calibrator, Calibration, Metrology, TestTechnician, Instrumentation Technician, Metrologyand Metrologist from the Standard OccupationalClassification (SOC) 2000 listing, administered bythe U.S. Office of Management and Budget andused exclusively by U.S. Department of Labor formatters relating to job classification.

SOC Job Classification Number, Title874 51-9061 Calibration checker, 874 51-9061Calibration tester, 874 51-9061 Meter calibrator

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers - Inspect, test, sort, sample, or weigh nonagricultural raw materials or processed, machined, fabricated, or assembled parts or products for defects,wear, and deviations from specifications. May useprecision measuring instruments and complex testequipment.

SOC Job Classification Number, Title775 51-2093 Calibrator, exc. Repairing, 775 512093 Electrical calibrator

Timing Device Assemblers, Adjusters, and Calibrators – Perform precision assembling or adjusting, within narrow tolerances, of timing devices,







such as watches, clocks, or chronometers. Exclude"Watch Repairers" (49-9064).

SOC Job Classification Number, Title743 49-9069 Calibrator, repairing, 743 49-9069Hydrometer calibrator

Precision Instrument and Equipment Repairers, AllOther - All precision instrument and equipmentrepairers not listed separately.

SOC Job Classification Number, Title155 17-3023 Technician, calibration laboratory,155 17-3023 Technician, test laboratory,155 17-3023 Technician, testing electronic equipment,155 17-3023 Technician, instrumentation155 17-3023 Technician, research instrumentation

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technicians -Apply electrical and electronic theory and relatedknowledge, usually under the direction of engineering staff, to design, build, repair, calibrate, andmodify electrical components, circuitry, controls,and machinery for subsequent evaluation and useby engineering staff in making engineering designdecisions. Exclude "Broadcast Technicians" (274012).

SOC Job Classification Number, Title143 17-2112 Metrologist

Industrial Engineers - Design, develop, test, andevaluate integrated systems for managing industrialproduction processes including human work factors, quality control, inventory control, logisticsand material flow, cost analysis, and productioncoordination. Exclude "Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors." (17-2111).Submitted by Chris Grachanen, MJD initiativeProject Leader

MQD


In the meantime, the regional international MRAsof APLAC (Asia-Pacific), EA (European) andIAAC (Inter-American) within which US domesticaccreditation bodies can participate can serve therole of reducing redundant accreditations. We are asignatory to these MRAs which are a prime vehiclefor achieving this goal and facilitating domesticand international trade by promoting “one test accepted everywhere, one accreditation accepted everywhere.”

A2LA remains a signatory to all other MRAs, including ILAC (global), EA, APLAC and IAAC.A2LA made very sure that our international MRAswould support our accredited laboratories and thatthe acceptance of our laboratories’ accredited testand calibration data by regulators and specifierswould in no way be threatened by our withdrawalfrom NACLA. We hope that the graphic belowclarifies A2LA’s standing within the internationaland domestic MRA schemes.

A2LA remains committed to relieving our accredited laboratories of the burden of duplicative accreditations, and we support any positive steps toward the achievement of this goal. We fully support and will abide by the obligations of the MRAsof which we are a signatory. To this point, A2LA isrecognizing the test reports and calibration certificates produced by the Laboratory AccreditationBureau LLC (L-A-B)’s accredited laboratorieswhose testing or calibration work falls underLAB’s NACLA Scope of Recognition(www.nacla.net/scopes/lab ). A2LA has the necessary confidence in the competence of the LAB’saccreditation for the programs on the NACLAScope of Recognition. Because of this confidenceA2LA is recognizing L-A-B even though A2LA isno longer a NACLA Signatory. A2LA and L-A-Bintend to sign a formal bilateral recognition agreement in the very near future. Additionally, A2LA ispresently working to establish bilateral recognitionagreements with the other NACLA signatories whosupport the goals of the MRA.






degree of difficulty because of differences in language and culture.

A very pleasant surprise to me was that the business of the international meeting is done in English. But there are different versions of English andthere are many different world agendas. It first,takes a bit of work to get American, Canadian,British, and Australian English rationalized intocommonly understood English. Just because everyone speaks and writes English does not mean thatthey understand the nuances of English. This isvery important because the Standards will be translated into many other languages. In some of thoselanguages the translation renders a meaning notintended or might have a legal or regulatory meaning.

International wordsmithing becomes a difficultprocess made near impossible when specific concepts are not part of a culture, as is the case of some Asian countries. The impossible takes a bitmore time to accomplish, and in some cases theresulting verbiage might seem curious or even confusing to American readers. If a requirementseems awkward or contains an “in the case of” likephrase it might be the result of a philosophical orcultural issue. Our WG had mixed results. We gotISO 10001 ready to be elevated to a CD but wewanted both standards to be reviewed together.Unfortunately, we ran in to a cultural snag withISO 10003, and it will require further time to complete.ISO 900x activity was restricted to creating a planfor the next major update. It was decided that current issues were not serious enough to affect thestandards’ usefulness. An interesting comment wasmade at the final meeting about allowing companies to self declare themselves as conforming toISO 9001. This is interesting to me, and I intend toexplore the issue fully at the next TAG meeting. Itmight be an international issue because I am notsure what’s to stop someone in the US from selfdeclaring at this time. I can only see minimal value,on one hand the company wouldn’t need to pay forthe certification costs but on the other hand wouldbe subject to countless audits to validate the declaration. The big sales point of ISO 9001 certificationis the elimination of numerous audits.

MQD

There has been a change in the relationship between CASCO and TC176. CASCO is the ISOcommittee that establishes auditor credentials, rulesand is the owner or ISO 17025. There have beensome questions raised about the rigor of the certification process and CASCO is addressing the issues. One of the corrective actions is a vow of closer cooperation between the two ISO committees. I am hopeful that the measurement world,MQD and NCSLI, would have more input to ISO17025 update in the 2010 timeframe. That wouldbe a great opportunity for the measurement community to lobby for the inclusion of the missingelements found in Z540-1. If that were the case,Z540-1 could be eliminated. The final vote on theminor changes to ISO 17025 will be this spring.

On the NCSLI front, Z540-1’s upgrade continuesto make progress. The NCSLI SC 174 WG completed a WD document of sufficient quality to besent out to the SC for comment. We got about a50% favorable result and some very good and focused comments on areas that can be cleaned up.The statistics were presented to the full committeeat the January ‘05 Measurement Science Conference. The SC gave the WG guidance to address atout next meeting in late February. We will addresseach comment and where appropriate make thechanges to the standard. The solution will be presented at the next NCSLI conference.

The next TAG will be in Atlanta the first week inApril.





M EASUREMENT Q UALITY D IVISION O FFICERS AND C OMMITTEE C HAIRS

Chair (2003-2005), Immediate Past Chair / Nominating ChairProgram Chair (2005-2006) Duane AllenJoe Simmons Scholarship MQD Representative U. S. Navy,Dilip A. Shah P. O. Box 5000, Code MS11,E = mc3 Solutions Corona, CA 92878-5000197 Great Oaks Trail #130 Voice (909) 273-4783 / Fax (909) 273-4599Wadsworth, Ohio 44281-8215 E-mail: [email protected] (330) 328-4400 / Fax (330) 336-3974E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Joe Simmons Scholarship

Norm BeleckiChair-Elect, Examining Chair 7413 Mill Run DrGraeme C. Payne Derwood, MD 20855-1156GK Systems, Inc. Voice (301) 869-4520 / E-mail: [email protected] Weston Drive SW, Suite BLilburn, GA 30047 USA HistorianVoice: (770) 931-4004 / Fax (866) 887-9344 Keela SniadachE-mail: [email protected] Promega Corp.

5445 East Cheryl ParkwayTreasurer Madison, WI 53711Karl WigdalPromega Corp.

Voice (608) 298-4681 / Fax (608) 277-2516

5445 East Cheryl ParkwayE-mail: [email protected]

Madison, WI 53711Voice (608) 277-2633 / Fax (608) 277-2516 Region 5

Regional Councilors

E-mail: [email protected] Richard A. Litts

Secretary, Newsletter Editor/Publisher, 100 Evergreen Dr

Share Point Administrator Downingtown, PA

Jay L. Bucher E-mail: [email protected]

Bucherview Metrology Services6700 Royal View Dr. Region 7

De Forest, WI 53532-2775Randy D. Farmer

Voice (608) 277-2522 / Fax (608) 846-4269 Metrology Solutions

E-mail: [email protected], 1488 Via Hacienda

[email protected] Chula Vista, CA 91913(619) 934-4948 / (858) 688-2672 cell

Certification Chair, Website Manager, E-mail: [email protected] International RepresentativeChristopher L. Grachanen Region 14Manager, Houston Metrology Group Hewlett-Packard Keith BennettP. O. Box 692000 MS070110Houston, TX 77269-2000Voice (281) 518-8486 / Fax (281) 518-7275E-mail: [email protected]

TranscatVoice (713) 465-4395E-mail: [email protected]

ASQ Division AdministratorStandards Committee Representative Ms. Karen ProsserBill McCullough Voice (800) 248-1946, x7471McCullough Consulting E-mail: [email protected] June CrCarson City, NV 89706Voice: (775) 883-3042 Fax: (775) 883-3042Cell: (775) 220-6424E-mail: [email protected]


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