US companies that want to be around to see in the 21st century realise that they have to match the Japanese attention to detail that is seen as such a chore by most people in the West. Now, in yet another addition to the fast-growing roster of industry bodies, a crowd of North American chipmakers has come together to form the Council for Continuous Improvement. The specialist in the field is Jones Reilly & Associates Inc, San Jose, California and members of the Council, dedicated to building documented system for improving quality, include Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Atmel Inc, Intel Corp, Motorola Inc, National Semiconductor Corp, Northern Telecom Ltd, Siliconix Inc, Texas Instruments Inc and Varian Associates Inc. The system, called the Continuous Improvement Implementation System, is being created by council members and Jones Reilly: it builds on the real-world experience of each member and includes their most successful quality improvement techniques – and gains from knowledge of the members’ pitfalls and failures.
