2019 Quality - South Conference
The Quality – South Conference took place for the fourth year at the SCE Be’er Sheva campus, becoming a tradition in the Negev. Quality experts and professionals from the worlds of industry, service, commerce, the military and academia participated in the conference. The various panels discussed impacts, changes and continuous improvements in quality assurance areas on the backdrop of technological advancements and cyber. Among those who shared their experience were representatives of the Negev Nuclear Research Center, the Israeli Air Force, HP Indigo Israel and others.
The Negev Badge of Quality Excellence was awarded at the conference for the third year. This year the Badge Committee decided to award the Quality Excellence Badge to Ms. Leah Shaked (51), a resident of Meitar and the VP of Quality at Gavish Sapphire Products located in Omer. Shaked has 20 years of experience in a range of positions in industry, holds a BA in Industrial Management and Control and is a certified quality engineer (CQE). Among the reasons for awarding the Badge to Shaked the committee noted that she has led the quality and excellence field as the quality manager in a medium-size industrial company, including its continuous improvement. As the person responsible for quality in the company Leah led a revolution over the past decade in quality control, technological automation, employee training and criteria development. Shaked thanked the committee members and the conference organizers, and in her speech underscored the importance of the quality field for her: “It is significantly important to establish the professionalism and importance of the manager of quality in organizations. I hope that in many more organizations senior managers will understand the contribution of the quality profession so that we see a perceptual change that will help advance many organizations”.
In her speech Prof. Dorit Tavor, the conference chairperson, noted “the extensive participation in the conference on the part of industry and academia. We as academia will continue to lead in industrial and research fields for the benefit of the quality and excellence field”.
SCE President, Prof. Jehuda Haddad, welcomed the conference participants: “Quality is among the processes we at the SCE promote, as we believe that in doing so excellence can be achieved. At one of the previous conferences we proposed to consider together with you how to address quality in education. This time I propose thinking about quality in service. Nowadays service is found in every place and accompanies us at every stage. There is no excellence without quality, and therefore it is also important to explore how we can promote quality in areas that touch upon service to customers or citizens. I am glad that we are partners and hosting the conference, and I congratulate Leah Shaked for receiving the Badge of Excellence award".
The mayor of Be’er Sheva, Mr. Ruvik Danilovich, said that: “Our country exists in an unpredictable and turbulent area only owing to quality. Our existence here depends on our mental abilities. The State of Israel is a strong country because it always thinks several steps ahead of everyone else. The day we will lag behind the world, and not the world behind us, this will be the biggest problem for the State of Israel. Today we are continuously advancing, continuously creating a new reality, and this is in large part thanks to academia and to the desire to improve and to achieve the highest level of quality. One of the things I took upon myself is service quality. WhatsApp is my main work tool. I taught the residents of Be’er Sheva that they can feel free to contact me. We must get used to the fact that we serve the public. Any development is ultimately intended to impact the citizen and for the citizen. This is the meaning of quality and we must consistently improve".
