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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 23, 1995                   TAG: 9508230034
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

IN SEARCH OF QUALITY BUSINESSES

But that was just coincidence, Rdultowski said.

The visit was purely for business reasons.

He came to the New River Valley to learn from a local consulting firm and area businesses how to apply quality management to small businesses in Poland.

Rdultowski, a business consultant, is one of some 70 representatives of Poland as well as Romania and Hungary visiting the United States this year under the auspices of a Washington organization called Partners for International Education and Training. Their visits are funded by the U.S. Association of International Development.

The itinerary for each participant was worked out in Washington "and they chose this place," he explained. "It's coincidence ..."

This was Rdultowski's first visit to the United States, although he had visited other countries. He had to demonstrate a knowledge of the English language sufficient for him to benefit from the trip and undergo two weeks of preparation. His stops included Kansas and Ohio as well as Virginia and West Virginia.

One of his stops in Pulaski earlier this month was at the office of D'Ardenne Associates, specialists in ISO 9000 training for companies wanting to meet international standards of production now required to do business in some countries. ISO, in fact, stands for International Organization for Standardization.

He conferred with company president Roy D'Ardenne and consultant Ronald J. Friant about quality management implicit in the ISO standards and how they might be applied to consulting and engineering services and other businesses in Poland.

"Of course, you can just get all that information theoretically from books. It is not the same as to talk to people," he said. He called it "the difference between practical and theoretical knowledge."

Rdultowski also visited the Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. plant near Dublin, already ISO certified, and the Lightnin' plant in Wytheville, a client of D'Ardenne Associates.

He wanted to see a range of companies in different stages of ISO certification. "If I cannot be persuaded myself totally, how can I persuade my customers?" he asked.

And was he persuaded?

"Yes, that's for sure."