Citation
Sampaio, P. (2017), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 146-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-12-2016-0225
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited
For the first time the International Conference on Quality Engineering and Management (ICQEM) was organized, taking place at the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, in the historic city of Guimarães, Portugal, in 2014.
This event combines two areas that are not usually brought together: quality engineering and quality management. The Organizing Committee hopes that the results of this effort will translate into a successful venture, to be repeated on a periodic basis, making gradually of this conference an important scientific event in the field of quality.
As was our aim, since the beginning, the conference covers different topics related to quality management and quality engineering, including standards, continuous improvement, supply chain quality management, management systems integration, Six Sigma, quality tools, quality management in higher education, quality management in services and total quality management.
Approximately 100 papers have been submitted to the ICQEM14 and almost 80 were accepted for presentation, after review from the Conference Scientific Committee. Papers accepted corresponded to authors from all around the world, with 20 countries represented at this level. The success of the ICQEM first edition derived from the efforts and participation of those quality researchers and quality professionals that had attended. In total, 11 of the papers presented in the conference were selected for this special issue. This list of papers covers different topics in the quality field – standards and management systems, Six Sigma, quality in healthcare, quality tools, Quality Improvement Programs, among others.
With this special issue, the ICQEM14 Organizing Committee intent to make a small but important contribution to the development of the quality field, both in terms of the scientific perspective and the practical and managerial one. We hope we did it. Enjoy it!