Spectrum - Volume 20 Issue 29 April 23, 1998 - Faculty members featured presenters

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including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Faculty members featured presenters

By Catherine Doss

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 29 - April 23, 1998

Seven Virginia Tech faculty members will be featured presenters at the 15th annual Virginia Forum for Excellence to be held in Richmond on April 29. The forum is the largest productivity and quality event in the state, drawing nearly 1,000 participants representing businesses, school systems, and local governments.
The event features a dozen workshops led by state and national experts in productivity and organizational performance. Among those leading workshops from Virginia Tech are: Eileen Van Aken and Ray Butler, Industrial and Systems Engineering ("Deployment's Missing Element: A First-Hand Experience of Systems Management"); Philip Huang, Management Science and Information Technology ("Kaizen Tools"); Konstantinos Triantis and L. Kenneth Harmon, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Outcome Measurement: Beyond the Traditional Concept of Customer Satisfaction"); Bob Sturges, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering ("Getting It All Together; Modern Manual and Machine Assembly Measurement"); Harold Kurstedt, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Building High-Performing Organizations through Solution-Focused Leadership").
National keynote speakers for the event include Robert Kriegel, NPR commentator and best-selling author of Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers ; George R. Perry, president and chief executive officer of Siemens Automotive Corporation; Diane McFerrin Peters co-author of The Customer Comes Second (and Other Secrets of Exceptional Service) ; and William J. Henderson, chief operating officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Postal Service.
A highlight of the annual event is the presentation of the Senate Productivity and Quality Awards (SPQA). This year, 16 businesses, organizations, and municipalities from across the state will be recognized during a luncheon in which Senators John Warner and Charles Robb will present the honors. Recipients are selected by a 25-member SPQA board whose members collectively represent more than 250 years of quality and productivity experience. Selection is based on a written application and on-site visits that evaluate quality and productivity results.
Virginia has the longest-running quality-and-productivity-award process in the country. Virginia Tech has been instrumental in organizing and administering the award process since its inception in 1982.
The forum is presented by the SPQA Board of Directors, the Quality Council of Greater Richmond and the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce. Siemens is a corporate sponsor for the event, and Virginia Tech is a university sponsor.
For more information, contact Jyl Smithson in continuing education at 1-3144 or e-mail her at jylsr@vt.edu .