Q-Cast

Tash R. Baksh is a seasoned expert with 20-plus years of international experience in operational management across various fields, including medical devices and responsible care. He's a member of the ASQ inspection division and holds three ASQ certifications. He recently wrote an article for Quality about training and workforce development in which he stated, “Pursuing entry-level training programs is not just an alternative—it's a strategic move to secure stable, well-paying careers in high-demand fields.”

The NDT industry has established in-depth guidelines and requirements for formal classroom training, but a shortfall in the standardization of on-the-job training (OJT) requirements remains.Donald Booth, CEO of the American Institute of Nondestructive Testing, explains.

Coy Limon of 3D Infotech explains the cutting-edge innovations that transform quality control inspection processes. From metrology automation to machine learning-driven defect detection, we will explore how these high-end technologies reshape manufacturing standards. One major trend? Augmented reality (AR) enhances inspection accuracy, and smarter defect detection, while automation is accelerating processes without sacrificing precision. But that's just the beginning. Here we break down the latest advancements driving efficiency, accuracy and Industry 4.0 integration in modern quality control processes.Watch the video podcast

Atty Chakraborty, our 2025 Quality Rookie of the Year, discusses her work in the emerging field of AI in the medical industry, including examples, predictions for the future, and how it may apply in your work.

Jim Mayer, the Manufacturing Connector, explains how culture starts at the individual level, offers an example of culture from the world of F1 racing, and how the proposed ISO standards may include a cultural component as well.

Meet our 2025 Quality Rookie of the Year, Attrayee Chakraborty. She is a quality professional in the medical field with a background in biotechnology and expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI). (Image courtesy of Attrayee Chakraborty)

Our 2025 Plant of the Year CEO Explains How to Train, Maintain High Quality, and Find the Right Software With a commitment to people, new technologies, and the highest quality standards, Spectrum Custom Packaging aims for zero defects in every product they make. “We keep scrap and defect rates low, we always aim for zero,” says CEO Shawn Pereira. “It's nearly impossible but we try.” (Image courtesy of Spectrum Custom Packaging)

Our 2025 Quality Professional of the Year has nineteen competencies listed on his CV as well as 50 skills listed on LinkedIn—if you're looking for a certified quality engineer (CQE) or an AS9100 lead auditor, you're in luck—but also stresses the importance of emotional intelligence. Here, Ben Tomic shares his insights from a long career in quality. (Image Source: Magenta Photo)

Donald Booth is the CEO and founder of the American Institute of Non-Destructive Testing. He will be giving a presentation at the Quality Show in April titled "The Evolution of NDT Education and Training." (Image courtesy of Donald Booth) ⮞ The Assembly Show South Agenda

Lisa Weis explains why asking questions instead of giving answers is the best way to get results, why talking things out is so helpful in learning, and how people centric leadership works well at work – and at home. She'll be presenting at The Quality Show this April in Nashville. (Image courtesy of Lisa Weis) ⮞ The Assembly Show South Agenda

Many of the concepts of lean manufacturing are deceptively simple. It's easy to read or hear about them without understanding how big of an impact they can have. Eric Hayler will be presenting a workshop called The Power of Lean at The Quality Show in Nashville on April 15. His hands-on workshop will include a manufacturing simulation and allow attendees to practice using lean skills right away. Hayler is the Principal of the Hayler Group, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and Adjunct Professor of Business Analytics at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He has led Continuous Improvement efforts at BMW Manufacturing and Amazon. He is a long time member of ASQ and has served in a variety of roles including Chair of the Board of Directors in 2017. Eric's workshop will take place on Tuesday, April 15, from 10:30 to 12:30. ⮞ The Assembly Show South Agenda Image courtesy of Eric Hayler

Like all successful journeys, some special preparations may be required like a positive attitude, good planning, seamless execution, and a solid end goal in mind. Susan Gorveatte shares her secrets from 25 years of auditing, including an important what NOT to do. (Be prepared to laugh.) Susan is an auditor, trainer, public speaker and coach is president of Gorveatte Consulting Inc. For more than 25 years Susan has trained Internal and Lead Auditors across North America. She is an active Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), holding positions with the Quality Management Division, Audit Division, and is Chair of the Technical Program Committee for ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement. Image Credit: Susan Gorveatte READ MORE Unlocking the Secrets of Successful Management System Auditing

Heather Wade offers a preview of her workshop entitled “The 3 Rs of Calibration; Reading, Writing, and Reviewing Accreditation Scopes, Service Requests and Calibration Certificates.” In the more than 100 presentations she's given – from Toledo to Shanghai – Heather Wade has offered practical and well-received information on metrology. Image courtesy of Heather Wade

Glenn Graney, QAD's Marketing Director for the Industrial and High Tech markets, is an optimist about AI. Here he explains how AI might work for your manufacturing application, how it can improve a business, and why a technology-first approach is not the best way forward. Image courtesy of QAD

A race inspired Dr. Rochelle Cook to share her insights on validation studies, also known as pilots. This type of trial can benefit manufacturers in a variety of ways, by testing a process, system, or product. Rochelle Cook, PhD, CMBB, PMP, CPHQ, is an Adjunct Professor, College of Continuing and Professional Education, California State University Dominguez Hills. She will be speaking at The Quality Show in Nashville on April 17th at 9:30 a.m.

If you're looking to recruit more staff, a manufacturing boot camp may be the answer. Ranae Stewart is the Senior Executive Director of the Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership, part of the MEP National Network™️. Image courtesy of Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Aleigha Schulke, application engineer at ANCA, describes the appeal of working in manufacturing, how to recruit the next generation, and the surprising travel benefits of working in manufacturing, including business trips to Germany and Australia. Image Source: ANCA

Nicholas Blake of Advex AI explains how synthetic examples can be used to help improve training models, what machine vision offers, and how AI inspection can cut training time down from years to hours. Image courtesy of Advex AI

Rodrigo Perez of MxD is here to explain this – along with the interesting elements of a career in manufacturing. Perez is a manufacturing systems integration engineer at MxD, the digital manufacturing institute and National Center for Cybersecurity in Manufacturing. Here he shares advice on recruiting the next generation to manufacturing, what someone new to the industry should know, and how digital twins can help your organization. Image courtesy of MxD

Alyssa Rodriguez, PhD, director of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center, talks manufacturing, labor, and more in Alaska. Image courtesy of Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership Center.

Dustin Smith, metrology & software training lead at Assurance Technologies Inc., shares common questions he receives in his GD&T course, why he still takes training courses regularly, and why he believes everyone - from sales to engineering and from production to quality – should have a base level knowledge of GD&T. Image courtesy of ATI

Paul Lang, chief global strategy officer for the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) and executive director for ASNT Certification Services LLC (ASNT CS), shares his thoughts on trends and liquid penetrant testing. Image courtesy of ASNT

In some industries, artificial intelligence seems cause for optimism – not alarm – according to a recent report done by Idera that looks at the impact of AI on Quality. Judy Bossi, VP of Product Management at Idera, explains how AI is reshaping the future of QA, common barriers to AI adoption, and what's needed to move forward with new technology. Image courtesy of Idera

Former Boeing engineer Jim Doxey explains a previous motto at the company, why people (and teamwork) are the most important part of a quality system, and offers advice for manufacturers looking to avoid quality woes. He also shares his thoughts on a 30+ career working in manufacturing and Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, Google and Dropbox.

Harshala Patil explains how she got involved in quality, the importance of quality across industries, and what drew her into the manufacturing world. Patil is a Senior Quality and Reliability Engineer for the world's second-largest semiconductor technology company, consistently ranked as a Top 10 global brand. As a Quality project leader, she brings expert experience in electrical and microelectronics engineering, with a career focus on process integration and quality reliability engineering management in the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry; designs, executes, and analyzes process flow experiments; and collaborates with fab engineering teams to mitigate risk and ensure quality standards.

Daniel Zrymiak profiles some recognizable threats to quality culture, based on actual experience. The quality function of an organization must constantly monitor the operations and discussions for the evident presence of these and other threats to success, and be prepared to take appropriate and commensurate actions.Watch the video of this podcast here.

Instead of telling people what to do, learn how to guide them to the best decisions. People Centric Leadership can change the way your organization operates. Lisa Weis, President, EngageExcellence, LLC; PCL Lead, AME Management Team, has taught a course on this subject many times and says it can change the way you lead, work, and parent. Instead of telling someone they can't do something, you can get your staff (or children) to think differently about their decisions and consequences.

Tim McMahon has more than 25 years of leadership experience implementing lean manufacturing. Here he explains why kaizen is a valuable tool that probably not enough companies take advantage of. If you want to be able to look at your process, if you want to uncover what pains you, these are the kinds of things that Kaizen allows you to do. And he recently wrote an article for Quality on Kaizen.

John Martin and Christine Bernat explain. John is the AM Research Director, America Makes, and Christine is the Associate Director, Standards Facilitation, American National Standards Institute. They describe how the latest standardization roadmap is affecting industry, trends with additive standards, and how doing the wrong type of inspection can cause you to miss out on the benefits of additive.

How much do you know about fatigue testing? Jarid Robinson, a product coordinator materials testing of Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, explains fatigue testing trends today, what quality professionals should know about using this type of equipment, and clears up some common misconceptions about the technology. For more on the subject, read this article on the subject: Adapting to Modern Demands in Fatigue Testing.

A ETQ survey found that 73% of respondents had a product recall in their company in the past five years, with costs reaching $99.9M in the U.S. alone for each recall. ETQ recently released findings from its formal survey of more than 750 manufacturing firms across the U.S. and Europe to understand the state of quality in manufacturing.  Vick Vaishnavi, CEO of ETQ, a Hexagon company, talks with Quality to explain the results, from recalls to AI.

The Coordinate Metrology Society just wrapped up its 40th conference. Justin Novak talks about what's next for the society, the future (and past) of electric vehicles, and how to do well at your next CMSC 5K.

Michelle Bangert, Managing Editor of Quality, welcomes Chris Cantrell of ASME. He's a Senior Managing Director of Standards and Engineering Services for the Association and author of a column on standardization.

Michelle Banger, Managing Editor of Quality, talks with Matt Noonan. He's the Quality Manager of Pratt & Whitney Measurement Systems, Inc.

Michelle Banger talks with Claire Hopkins, a document control specialist in Boston and author of a recent Speaking of Quality column for Quality called "Creating a Space for Next Gens." She's also the chair of the American Site for Quality's Next Gen Global Committee, which is a committee chaired by ASQ, formed in 2021. It's led by Next Gens, which is defined as people under the age of 40 or new to the quality industry. 

Michelle Banger, Managing Editor of Quality, talks with Greg Weaver of Weaver NDT about additive manufacturing inspection.

Michelle Bangert, Managing Editor of Quality, sat down with Senior QA Auditor, Paul Mignon, about his session at The Quality Show South.

Quality spoke with David Dechow of Machine Vision Source following his recent presentation at The Quality Show South about vision solutions for quality applications and integration that drives application success with current and emerging technologies.

It all started with her niece's Stanley cup. This lead Dr. Rochelle Cook into research on delighters and expectations for customization today. At The Quality Show South, Dr. Cook of California State University Dominguez Hills explained how kaizen is connected to mass customization practices.

Ed Goffin of Pleora Technologies explains what's happening with today's AI manufacturing applications – and what to look for in the future.

Justin Wise has had a long and varied career, including seven military deployments. He has two bachelor's degrees and is finishing up a master's degree in quality this year at California State University at Dominguez Hills. Quality has been a constant through it all. Here he offers his perspective on quality as well as how to say hello in Cahuilla.

Quality sat down with Jay Arthur, president and CEO of KnowWare International, to follow up on his participation in a recent Quality article and delve further into Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, or FMEA.

Quality is gearing up for the Quality Show South in Nashville, TN, in early May. We've got a lot on tap, but nothing more exciting than our learning theater sessions. Editorial Director Darryl Seland and Managing editor Michelle Bangert of Quality sat down to talk about it.

Andrew Hanuszek of Evident explains what quality professionals need to know about using XRF, the role of automation, and how it aligns with today's trends.

As the AI landscape for manufacturers continues to evolve, it is important to get a handle on AI responsibly and what that looks like. Justin Newell, CEO of INFORM North America, explains the importance of ethical AI practices and how manufacturers can take advantage of this technology.

Dr. Milton Krivokuca, our 2024 Quality Professional of the Year, shares stories of his round-the-world quality lectures, how he got interested in Quality 4.0, and how a quality career might lead to bringing ANOVA tests to your doctor. He also offers advice for his fellow quality professionals – such as get out there and meet others in the industry. He will also be speaking at The Quality Show South in Nashville May 1 at 2:45 p.m.

In their upcoming session at The Quality Show South, Sophronia Ward, PhD and Mark Nash CSSMB, will discuss the best ways to use data, how to use software without letting it use you, and other ways to improve your manufacturing processes.They will kick off the learning theaters at The Quality Show South at 10:30 a.m. on May 1.

Paul Critchley, president of New England Lean Consulting, explains what Lean and Continuous Improvement is truly all about, how to leverage it, and how to incorporate it into your culture to realize increased growth and success. Paul will be speaking at The Quality Show South May 2 at 12:30 p.m.

Micropsi CEO Gary Jackson and Matt Jones, VP of US Sales and Operations, explain that while AI and machine learning can seem like magic, there's a lot more to do than that. Learn how manufacturers can benefit from automating tasks that previously may have seemed impossible to automate.

Quality spoke with Praveen Gupta about how to expect excellence, strive for defect free manufacturing, and link the CAPA process, FMEA model and eventually innovation. Gupta has been in the field of quality for about 40 years, a Fellow of ASQ since 1996, an early practitioner of Six Sigma and ISO 9001 systems since 1987, a past member of US Tag/TC-176 (for ISO 9001), and current member of US Tag/TC-279 for developing Innovation Management standards. Praveen received the Quality Professional of the Year Award in 2016. He will be speaking at The Quality Show South Thursday, May 2 at 11:30 a.m.

How our 2024 Plant of the Year focuses on customer service, friendly engineers, and a strong work culture to make it the top choice for customers around the globe. Rob Glassburn, VP of operations at 3D Engineering Solutions, explains the company's environment and goals. To hear more from our Plant of the Year, visit The Quality Show South this May. Rob will be speaking Wednesday, May 1 at 1 p.m. View the agenda here.