
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 22, 1993                   TAG: 9312300042
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

QUALITY REGION?

WHEN THE Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce surveyed its members about Total Quality Management last fall, fully 70 percent said they'd never heard of TQM.

Some respondents may exercise the ideas in their work places without having heard this particular buzzword. Still, it's a telling figure.

It is doubtless lower now, fortunately, and seems sure to drop further as TQM gains attention and momentum - and as efforts continue to promote the philosophy locally.

Some employers have started or are well into their Total-Quality-Management or Continuous-Improvement voyages, including Carilion, General Electric, ITT, Ingersoll-Rand and this newspaper.

Last January, the Roanoke chamber begot the Western Virginia Quality Council. Its purpose: to promote a reqional quality culture, particularly among businesses, but also in government and the non-profit sector.

The group has made a good start, holding seminars and monthly meetings and, in the fall, the first of what promises to be annual symposiums. Some 40 organizations are now members.

It would be worthwhile, to say the least, if this number grew. Worthwhile for the organizations committed to quality management and making use of the tools Deming and others have promoted.

Worthwhile, too, for the region - if it were to gain a reputation as a place where commitment to quality is part of the culture.

by CNB