Biography: Steve Prevette is a practitioner of Performance Measurement using the Theory and Tools developed and promoted by Dr. Walter Shewhart and Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He currently works as a statistician for Fluor Hanford in Richland, Washington, reporting to Occupational Safety and Health. He supports performance indicators in a broad spectrum of subjects, including safety, environment, operations, maintenance, and quality. His customers include the University of Washington and four DOE sites (Hanford, Fernald, Lawrence Berkeley and Los Alamos), and several Department of Energy contractors.  Steve provides his customers with more than 3,000 charts and files per month. Yes, Steve has a control chart of the number of charts made each month.

Steve has published articles both with the American Society for Quality, and the American Society of Safety Engineers.  “Lead to Succeed” for the American Society of Quality appeared in the September 2005 issue of Quality Progress and “Charting Safety Performance” by ASSE in its Professional Safety magazine in May 2006.  He has provided Dr. Deming’s Red Bead Experiment for more than 2,500 persons, and leads a monthly training session in performance indicators. He has taught evening statistical courses for City University's Richland, WA site. Steve holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech, and a M.S. degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Websites:
Work: www.hanford.gov/rl/?page=1144&parent=169
Home: model railroad: http://users.owt.com/prevette

Contact: Steve can be reached by e-mail at steven_s_prevette@rl.gov for additional information about this pre-conference session.

Biography: Lori Strom joined Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) in March of 2006. Her current role is in the Supply Management (SM) organization where she serves as the SM Pilot for UTC’s internal operating system, Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE). Lori is the current chair for the Process Certification board for PWR Canoga Park. Ms. Strom supports process improvement projects both within Supply Management and as needed throughout PWR. Her other experience at PWR includes advising on export issues and procedures.

In 2002, Lori earned a B.S. in molecular biology from Georgia Tech. While at Georgia Tech, she also studied computer science. Ms. Strom completed her M.B.A. at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus in the Deming Scholars Honors M.B.A. Program.

Prior to completing her M.B.A., Ms. Strom worked in several industries including financial services, real estate development, satellite operations, software development, and insurance. She has also served on the board of directors for several non-profit organizations.

Contact: Lori can be reached by e-mail at lori.strom@pwr.utc.com for additional information about this pre-conference session.

Biography: Mike Trimble is the Principal Partner at Transformation Leadership – an organizational development firm specializing in the successful application of strategic planning, problem solving, continuous improvement, Lean Six Sigma Quality, and portfolio project management methodologies.  In addition to on-site training and consulting, he offers a unique group based learning program that blends theory with the real world application of these proven methods.  His corporate affiliations include Boeing, 3M, SanDisk, PacificLife, McDonalds, Lacrimedics, Star Trac, TRW, Ford, Honda, Southern California Edison, and Western Gear.

Mike’s executive management experience includes over 10 years profit and loss responsibility leading dynamic businesses through periods of high growth, operational start-up, organizational transformation, performance optimization, and enhanced profitability.  His teaching assignments include Keller Graduate School of Management (KGSM), USC, and UC Irvine. 

Contact: Mike can be reached by e-mail at MikeT.email@yahoo.com and by phone at 714-738-4836 for additional information about this pre-conference session.


Workshop Title: From My Understanding Variation to Our Profound Knowledge

Date: Thursday, April 17th

Length: 2 hours (5:15-7:15pm)

Location: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne - 6633 Canoga Avenue, Canoga Park

Workshop Cost: None

Description: This workshop will help transform your Understanding of Variation to Profound Knowledge, through Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge.  We will demonstrate and define the effect that psychology, emotions, competition and cooperation, and learning have on measurement data.  Dr. Deming, a physicist and statistician told us “There is no true value of any measurement data.”  This workshop will show the meaning and business value of this statement.

The session will include an audience participation that will demonstrate the interaction of "data" and the System of Profound Knowledge.  You will see how “hard data” can be influenced by “soft” human factors.  More importantly, we will explore how to integrate logic and emotions, the “hard” and “soft” sides of quality for business success.

Target Audience: This workshop will build upon the morning session “From My Numbers to Understanding”, but attendance at that session is not mandatory.  Similar to the morning session, this session is intended for those who squeaked through their “Stats 101” courses, or even better, have not had any statistics courses in their background.

Organization Issues: Dr. Deming defined the System of Profound Knowledge for us in his final book, “The New Economics.”  With it, corporations such as Toyota and Honda have been extremely successful.  This session will help you towards a transformation in how you view your business data, and how to integrate it with the psychological and societal issues of the workplace.

Objectives: Upon completion of the workshop, the participant will be able to apply the System of Profound Knowledge to their own work, and help to influence others towards the transformation to a new way of doing business.

Workshop Handouts: Available for download after the Forum