The Right Measures

Mark A. Nash is Operations Manager for Pelco Products, Inc. He has over 25 years of process improvement experience, both as an internal and external consultant/engineer, in manufacturing, distribution, government, and healthcare. This diversified background allows Nash to work outside the box looking for process solutions many people cannot visualize. A multi-skilled Six Sigma Black Belt, Nash is also a certified NIST/MEP Lean Master trainer, having partnered with the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance to provide Lean manufacturing training throughout the state of Oklahoma. Nash has facilitated more than 400 Lean workshops and has facilitated kaizen events for more than 50 organizations worldwide. He is a Senior member of the American Society for Quality, and is a Senior member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. During his time at Pelco Products, the company has been recognized numerous times for their Lean efforts including Quality Magazine's presentation of the 2010 Quality Plant of the Year Award, and being named a 2011 Lean Best Practice Finalist by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Prior to joining the Pelco team, Nash served as a managing director for an international process engineering firm. Nash was a member of Iomega Corporation's process improvement team, which was named a finalist in the large manufacturer category of the 2000 RIT/USA Today Quality Cup competition. He has presented at numerous conferences around the world including the ASQ Six Sigma, IIE Lean Management Solutions, American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine, Association for Manufacturing Excellence and Lab Quality Confab. Additionally, Nash served as an advisor to the University of Central Oklahoma's Center for Strategic Improvement. Nash is a contributing columnist to Quality Magazine, and has been published in IE Industrial Engineer magazine and The Bulletin of the Royal College of Pathologists (United Kingdom). He is a coauthor of the 2006 Productivity Press book, Using Lean for Faster Six Sigma Results: A Synchronized Approach, and is a coauthor of the 2008 Productivity Press book, Mapping the Total Value Stream: A Comprehensive Guide to Production and Transactional Processes. Sheila R. Poling is a Managing Partner and Owner of Pinnacle Partners, Inc. With more than 25 years' experience in the quality and productivity industry, she previously served as vice president of two nationally recognized consulting/training firms and a book publishing firm. Her management responsibilities have included managing over 35 consultants and administrative staff. Poling's broad professional experience includes work in operations management, product, training materials and seminar development, marketing and sales, client interface, and customer satisfaction initiatives focused on business excellence with an emphasis on leadership and quality. A prolific writer, Poling has coauthored several books, including the internationally recognized Customer Focused Quality, a book on customer satisfaction and service, and Building Continual Improvement: SPC for the Service Industry and Administrative Areas. She has served as a primary editor for a featured monthly column in Quality magazine and is coauthor of Brain Teasers: Real-World Challenges to Build Your Manufacturing Skills, published by Quality. McGraw-Hill's The Manufacturing Engineering Handbook, released in 2004, features her chapter on "Six Sigma and Lean Implementation." She is a contributing columnist to Quality Magazine and is coauthor of the 2006 Productivity Press release, Using Lean for Faster Six Sigma Results: A Synchronized Approach, and the 2008 Productivity Press release, Mapping the Total Value Stream: A Comprehensive Guide for Production and Transactional Processes. Poling has also coauthored several work manuals, including "Perfecting Continual Improvement Skills" and "Strategy-Driven Six Sigma: A Champion Overview." In addition, she has helped design multiple course offerings focused on leadership training, organizational and operations excellence, Six Sigma, Lean, and statistical process control. She is currently serving on the American Society for Quality's Six Sigma Committee and on the Innovation Research Committee. Poling holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee and is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality as well as a member of the American Marketing Association and American Management Association. She has also had the privilege to study and work closely with many distinguished industry leaders, including W. Edwards Deming.