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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 13, 1994                   TAG: 9405130094
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

CERTIFICATION SICK?

"It's been said that if ISO 9000 certification was a disease, it would qualify as an epidemic," said Strohm, provost of Radford University's College of Global Studies, who said she hoped the learning process wasn't already making the business people sick.

Sick, no. But for companies like Vertex International Inc., working toward certification is like getting a dose of preventive medicine. Without it, in a few years, the company just might not make it.

Vertex and 10 other companies from the New River and Roanoke valleys were awarded $10,000 matching grants by Virginia's Business Modernization Program to work toward the certification that qualifies them for international trade. Their representatives were at the fourth of six workshops being held at the college.

The European Community developed International Standard Organization 9000 certification in 1987 to create an across-the-continent set of uniform quality standards. Since then, the standards have spread worldwide and are fast becoming a prerequisite to doing any business linked to overseas companies and industry.

"We have to be ready to protect our position in the market," said Roger Bennison, general manager of Vertex, a four-person Roanoke operation that makes electronic measuring equipment for companies to do quality testing, which means its own quality standards are paramount. It supplies equipment to Coca-Cola, and "the accuracy of their products depends on the caliber of our measuring equipment."

But achieving certification won't be cheap.

Larry Maccherone, owner of Christiansburg's CCS Data Station, a 16-employee computer systems firm, said the company expects to spend $30,000 to $40,000 toward it. That means sacrificing some profits, he said, but when its largest customer, GE Drive Systems, demanded certification of its suppliers by 1995, there was no question about what to do.

"It'll help," agreed Tom Nichols, production manager for Wythe Precision Machine Co. of Max Meadows. The 25-employee machine parts manufacturer hopes to get more contracts from companies such as Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. once certified.

"They really don't have an alternative," said Rob Blackmore, deputy director for Virginia's Department of Housing and Community Development, which started the Business Modernization Program. The General Assembly has ordered a study on ISO 9000, so it can decide what steps it should take to help companies become certified.

"What used to be something that's desirable," Blackmore said, "we're now seeing ... that it's required."

Mega-sized companies like DuPont, IBM and AT&T already are asking or requiring their suppliers - in many cases, much smaller companies - to become ISO certified.