Seventh Annual ENBIS Conference

Abstract

This special issue of Quality and Reliability Engineering International contains articles based on presentations at the Seventh Annual ENBIS Conference in Dortmund, September 24–26, 2007. Foster and facilitate the application and understanding of statistical methods for the benefit of European business and industry. Provide a forum for the dynamic exchange of ideas and facilitate networking among statistical practitioners (a statistical practitioner is any person using statistical methods whether formally trained or not). Nurture interactions and professional development of statistical practitioners regionally and internationally. An important part of the work of ENBIS is the organization of their annual conferences. The first six meetings took place in Oslo (2001), Rimini (2002), Barcelona (2003), Copenhagen (2004), Newcastle (2005) and Wroclaw (2006). In 2007 we were happy to welcome around 120 participants at the ENBIS conference in Dortmund. The organization of such a meeting would not have been possible without the help of many people. We take this opportunity to thank the members of the scientific committee and the organizing committee for their work. Sincere thanks are also given to the Department of Statistics at the University of Dortmund and the collaborative research centre SFB 475 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for their support. The sponsorship of several industrial partners is also gratefully acknowledged. At the conference in Dortmund, there were over 90 oral presentations and posters. The local organizers invited the authors of 9 of these presentations to contribute to this volume of QREI. While the selection of these articles was certainly subjective, we think that they give an interesting overview of the general attitude of the ENBIS conferences. The presentations range from case studies to methodological developments, they present overviews of applications of statistical methods in certain areas of industry as well as the individual experiences of statisticians. The common factor however, is the interest in application and usefulness of the methodology. We are grateful to the authors who accepted our invitation and provided interesting articles. These articles were carefully refereed—we are particularly grateful to the referees who did a wonderful job, providing timely and thorough reports.