NEW DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION QUALITY COALITION FORMED

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) initiated an industry-wide quality forum on Friday, May 24, 1996 in Washington, DC. Persons in attendance represented architects, consulting engineers, constructors, contractors, federal agencies, private sector owners, quality management consultants, construction managers, subcontractors, internal organization quality directors and coordinators, automotive industry-specific design and construction firms with certified quality management systems in place or in process, society and association staff, and others.

About thirty (30) persons met to dialogue regarding four topics:

  1. Share each organization's quality initiatives, and experiences with quality systems, including ISO 9000;
  2. Discuss other quality improvement initiatives , e.g. QS 9000;
  3. Review the experience to date with the use of the ASQC-DCD Interpretative Guidelines For ISO 9001/9002 ( IG ), an industry-specific application of ISO 9000 to the design and construction industry; and,
  4. Consider forming a coalition to address common interests, and determine what the next step in such a coalition might be.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants were unanimous on two counts:

A. Together we are smarter than any one of us is alone, in the development, establishment, implementation, and improvement of an APPROPRIATE design and construction industry-specific quality management system.

B. A Quality Coalition (Q*C) was formed, independent of any one organization, to plan and participate in an expanded meeting for Monday, July 22, 1996,in Washington, DC. The purpose of the July 22 meeting will be to become more specific as to what the points in A. above might mean operationally. The group did agree that they would make no attempt to re-invent a quality management system itself i.e. ANSI/ASQC Q9000-1994, a.k.a. ISO 9000, is the starting point.

Early unresolved issues for the July 22 meeting include, but are by no means limited to:

a) Cost of ISO 9000, internal and external for a firm.

b) Application of any standard for a small and medium size enterprise.

c) Making ISO 9000 a contract requirement.

d) Education on the efficacy of quality management system thinking to the industry segments.

e) Guidance and tools to support system development and operation.

f) Dialogue on where the subject of quality is going in the global design and construction industry.

g) Considering Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Criteria, Peer Review, and other quality programs as supplements/complements to an ISO-like system.

h) Political and other institutional barriers to implementing a system as a contract requirement.

The Q*C formed a steering council of eight persons, who will help shape the meeting's agenda/process for the July 22, 1996 meeting.

INVITATION

This process is intended to be inclusive, and so your input is both invited and appreciated. For input to this next step, please consider contacting anyone one of the following persons:

* Marla McIntyre, 73264.532@compuserve.com

* Jim Pierce, jpierce@nspe.org

* Bill Hayden Jr., wmhayden@ix.netcom.com

We all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. Their efforts have taken us along the quality journey to where we are today. Now it is time to evaluate, plan, control, and improve the next leg of the journey. You are invited to contribute to this adventure.

Best regards,

Bill Hayden Jr. 

* * * No one of us is as smart as all of us * * *