ASQ Automotive Division and Carnegie Mellon GSIA to Host Conference on Lean Quality: The Coming Revolution in Reducing Warranty Expense

--

What:       More than $10 billion each year is spent in North America 
            on direct warranty expense in the automotive industry (AMR
            Research). And, while quality has improved greatly during 
            the last 10 years, it has not improved in the last two. 
            Join industry experts as they explore how the current 
            warranty analysis process contributes to this costly 
            dilemma and provide practical ways to resolve it.

            Attendees will come away with a better understanding of:

            --  The warranty process today, including its strengths
                and shortcomings

            --  The real -- and surmountable -- issues OEMs and
                Suppliers face in collaboratively solving quality
                problems

            --  How Lean Quality, a unique, text-based defect
                documentation approach originally developed by data
                analysis software provider Attensity, can deliver
                dramatic insight into the quality chain, and drive
                quality improvement

Who:        David Andrea, Vice President of Business Development, OESA
            Joe Barkai, Principal, Diagnostic Strategies
            Andrew Cummins, Executive Director, AIAG
            Lou Ann Lathrop, Chair, ASQ Automotive Division
            Kevin Mixer, Automotive Analyst, AMR Research
            Debra Shumar, Senior Vice President of Continuous 
             Improvement, Quality and Engineering Technology,
             ArvinMeritor
            Dr. Sundre Kerke, Professor of Manufacturing and
             Operations, Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Business

When:       8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Where:      University Center Dining Room, Madonna University, 
            Livonia, Mich.

Contacts:   Space is limited. Attendees can register by contacting 
            Clarity Patton at clarity@costello.cc or 313-965-8989. 
            Interested press should contact Tara Smith at 
            tsmith@sterlingpr.com or 503-292-6776.

About ASQ Automotive Division

ASQ Automotive Division is committed to becoming the worldwide leader on quality issues related to the automotive industry. The organization facilitates continuous improvement and customer satisfaction by identifying, communicating, and promoting ways to advance quality-oriented learning and knowledge exchange to improve business results. The ASQ Automotive Division is part of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), the world's leading authority on quality since 1946. For more information, visit www.asqauto.org.

About Carnegie Mellon GSIA

The Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA), located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consistently ranks among the top business schools in the world, including its latest ranking as #6 in the world in 2003 by the Wall Street Journal. It is also consistently among the leaders in a wide range of specializations, such as Finance, Entrepreneurship, Operations Management and Information Technology.

About Attensity (Corporate Sponsor)

Attensity Corporation is an emerging leader in advanced data analysis software for commercial enterprises and government agencies. Attensity's solutions are the first to join structured and unstructured data, enabling organizations to perform analytics that speed response to critical events and issues that, until now, have been difficult to detect and resolve. For more information, please visit www.attensity.com.