The American Society for Quality (ASQ), formerly the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC), is a society of

quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

professionals, with more than 30,000 members, in more than 140 countries.

History

ASQC was established on 16 February 1946 by 253 members in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, with

George D. Edwards George DeForest Edwards (1890 – 1974) was a 20th-century quality control expert most notable for having served as the first president of American Society for Quality Control. Edwards' reputation in quality control had been established by his ...

as its first president. The organization was first created as a way for quality experts and manufacturers to sustain quality-improvement techniques used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1948, ASQC's Code of Ethics established standards for members to conduct their activities and business. Business writer Armand V. Feigenbaum served as president of the society in 1961–63. In 1997, the members of the organization voted to change its name from "American Society for Quality Control" to "American Society for Quality".

Quality

ASQ provides its members with

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

, training, publications, conferences, and other services. ASQ is a founding partner of the

American Customer Satisfaction Index The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the United States, U.S. Economic system, economy. It is produced by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI LLC) base ...

(ACSI), a quarterly

economic indicator An economic indicator is a statistic about an Economics, economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles. ...

. Since 1989, ASQ has administered the annual

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...

. The ASQ also gives the

Dorian Shainin Dorian Shainin (September 26, 1914 – January 7, 2000) was an American quality consultant, aeronautics engineer, author, and college professor most notable for his contributions in the fields of industrial problem solving, product reliability, an ...

Medal, which is awarded annually for the "Development and Application of Creative or Unique Statistical Approaches in the Solving of Problems Relative to the Quality of Product or Service".

Certifications

ASQ offers 18 professional certifications relating to various aspects of the quality profession. Professional certification exams are translated into five languages included English, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish. Exams are given nationally and, to a limited degree, worldwide several times annually. The

body of knowledge A body of knowledge (BOK or BoK) is the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as defined by the relevant learned society or professional association.Oliver, G.R. (2012). ''Foundations of the Assumed Bus ...

for each certification is maintained through

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

every few years on a rotating schedule. In 1968, the first ASQ certification was offered.Newcomb, William O. "ASQ Certification: A Brief History". ''Quality Progress''. January 2010. p. 43. In 2016, ASQ's certification exam delivery method changed from paper to computer-based testing at Prometric nationwide testing facilities.

Publications

ASQ publishes a range of magazines and journals: * ''Quality Progress'' * ''Journal for Quality and Participation'' * ''Journal of Quality Technology'' * ''Quality Engineering'' * ''Quality Management Journal'' * ''Lean & Six Sigma Review'' * ''Software Quality Professional'' * ''Technometrics'' * ''Journal for Quality Perspectives in Knowledge Acquisition'' * ''Quality Management Forum'' * ''Primers on Human Development and Leadership''

Conferences

ASQ hosts a number of quality events and annual conferences worldwide:

References