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

DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994                   TAG: 9409060048
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

TOGETHER, SMALL COMPANIES CAN DO BUSINESS IN EUROPE

Small companies in the New River Valley now have a chance to become certified to do business in European countries by getting together for joint ISO certification classes.

D'Ardenne Associates Ltd., a 2-year-old firm with offices in the former Jefferson School building in Pulaski, are consultants and trainers for companies working toward certification in what is called ISO-9000 - the standards necessary to do business in the European Union, aimed at infusing quality into business practices.

D'Ardenne represents Quality for American Communities, a Texas-based company, by holding free ISO-9000 introductory seminars in Southwest Virginia on how medium-sized businesses in this region can achieve certification at affordable prices.

Quality for American Communities has been helping establish alliances of smaller businesses across the country to take classes together. The cost to each participating company is based on its number of workers.

``You slice the cost down to a manageable level,'' said Roy D'Ardenne, president of D'Ardenne Associates. ``You not only save costs, but you give them the opportunity to share ideas.''

The alliance concept will be introduced at gatherings at 1 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Salem Holiday Inn and 8 am. Sept. 9 at the Marion Holiday Inn, D'Ardenne said. ``We're focusing on Southwest Virginia.''

The region in which alliances will be offered through D'Ardenne Associates stretches from Covington and Clifton Forge to the Virginia-North Carolina border.

D'Ardenne Associates will guide companies administratively through the various stages of the certification process. Quality for American Communities provides materials, resources and background for the work.

The firm's founders - D'Ardenne and Vice President Joyce Ingram - have now been joined by Jim Littlefield, a marketing professor for Virginia Tech, who has worked in a variety of industries and done consulting work.

D'Ardenne Associates has already taught more than 65 ISO 9000 courses. It has memorandums of understanding with New River and Wytheville Community Colleges to do training there, and has already taught classes at Virginia Western Community College and Virginia Tech.

It also conducts ISO 9000 training on company properties.

D'Ardenne emphasized that ISO-9000, while a helpful tool, is only a starting point and that is made clear to companies looking into certification through his firm.

``ISO-9000 is not intended to be the process for a quality system. It is the platform,'' he said. ``Once you have the platform in place, you need to assess what you're doing and improve it.''

by CNB