Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 25, 1994 TAG: 9401250259
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
They make up a new Pulaski-based consulting firm, D'Ardenne Associates Ltd., that will help prepare client companies to gain certification as ISO 9000 companies.
Say what?
Well, ISO 9000 is a term for quality standards set by the International Organization for Standardization for manufacturers and service companies.
But don't worry about the initials and numbers. ISO 9000 simply sets out in an organized form common-sense precepts such as defining management responsibilities, establishing systems to assure quality products, controlling the process and pleasing the customer, D'Ardenne said.
Such certification is rapidly becoming a requirement to do business in European countries, D'Ardenne said. Even the U.S. Department of Defense will require certification for its suppliers starting in 1995.
Franklyn Moreno, executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, said 48 of the valley's 151 manufacturers are involved in exporting. These business account for 13,719 of the valley's 18,269 manufacturing employees.
D'Ardenne, who worked at a variety of management levels before he and Ingram went into their new business, said certification is also a good marketing tool for companies that achieve it.
It helps them internally as well, he said, to manage change and improve operational control of what they do.
He and Ingram had to complete courses themselves to qualify as representatives of Perry Johnson Associates, the world's largest distributor of ISO-9000 materials.
Quality controls of this type actually began in the 1940s, when the U.S. government set standards for companies providing products to the military. In 1987, these were combined into a single set of standards.
The ISO-9000 consultants spend at least two days evaluating a company's work site, see samples of its products, document any existing quality control policies, and do a ``gap analysis'' of where the company is and where it needs to be to meet international standards.
``It's one thing to put it down on paper, it's another thing to actually do it,'' D'Ardenne said, because often it means a companywide change of philosophy.
It means team-building and training all employees so they understand and work toward the same goals. It means continuously monitoring quality and adapting to new technologies. ``Change is the name of the game,'' D'Ardenne said.
``We're not talking about something that's here today and gone tomorrow. It's here to stay,'' he said.
ISO 9000 is no replacement for other kinds of quality management systems that companies might have in place, Ingram said, but it does provide a good foundation for such systems. If a company has such a system but not ISO, she contended, it probably does not have that good a quality management program
There is a belief in some quarters that improving quality means higher business costs, she said. ``That's what ISO 9000 proves wrong.'' She said improved efficiency actually reduces costs.
Managers and employees must all buy into the system, D'Ardenne said, because they are the ones who will end up putting it in place.
The consultants guide them through the process and provide training ``but we will not do the work for them,'' he said.
The two have more than 65 years of business and 35 years of training and education experience between them.
D'Ardenne, currently a member of Pulaski Town Council, grew up in Baltimore, Md., graduated from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. He was senior aide-de-camp to the 1st Infantry Division general in Vietnam.
His first job, as quality control inspector at an industry in West Point, Pa., foreshadowed the kind of work he does now. He also worked for Pulaski Furniture Corp. about 15 years and Radford Arsenal more than three years.
Ingram grew up in Kansas City, Mo., and graduated from the University of Missouri where she also earned a master's degree in counseling. Since moving to the area 13 years ago when her husband was transferred here, she has taught English and music appreciation at New River College and Radford University.
It was music that brought Ingram and D'Ardenne together.
Ingram is director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Pulaski and D'Ardenne is a member of the choir bass section. They have known each other since 1984.
Ingram, who performed as a singer at USO clubs in Kansas and Missouri while in high school, has directed a number of local musical programs over the years, including the ``Salute to Pulaski'' in which D'Ardenne and his wife were among the singers.
D'Ardenne said they work well together because Ingram has teaching experience and he has worked at various management levels. ``We also work well together because he's serious and I'm not,'' said Ingram.
D'Ardenne Associates incorporated last September. At first, D'Ardenne and Ingram worked out of their homes.
In October, they rented office space in the former Jefferson School building owned by Pulaski County.
They are working with New River, Wytheville and Virginia Western Community Colleges, as well as Virginia Tech and Radford University, on ISO 9000 sessions at those schools. They are starting a regular question-and-answer column on the process in the quarterly New River Valley Economic Development Alliance newsletter.
They have signed up a number of clients including Magnox Inc. where they will trainall personnel by the end of the year. They also are helping to set up an ISO users group covering the Roanoke and New River Valley region.
As a representative of Perry Johnson, D'Ardenne Associates will be in a position to offer its services in one package to groups of small businesses which would not be able to afford them individually.
``They indicated a very strong willingness to us to work in that light,'' D'Ardenne said. ``This is just the type of thing that we can do as consultants to help the whole New River Valley economy.''
by CNB