Just as a reminder the American Society for Quality was begun in 1946 for the purpose of advancing learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide.

The mission of our local organization ”is to provide pertinent information to local area companies and qualified quality professionals and to enhance job growth for local professionals in the area of quality services and innovation by:

• Providing informational and training opportunities for local quality professionals and for corporations
• Providing certification and recertification services and information for job opportunities
• Supporting local college and university ASQ student sections

The focus of our organization, both national and local, in the past has been on manufacturing. Unfortunately we have seen a decline in membership similar to the decline in manufacturing. What is even more unfortunate is that the goals and objectives of our membership are quite the same as those of any organization, we are all looking for that competitive edge that helps our organizations excel for our stakeholders and perhaps garner a larger share of our respective markets. In spite of this it does not appear that service organizations, governmental organizations, or educational groups look to the ASQ for tools and talent to help with those goals and objectives. The local chapter of ASQ has a great deal to offer the community. There is a huge wealth of knowledge that can be found in our membership and we should work hard to share this knowledge with our non-manufacturing counterparts. We work at developing an understanding of quality concepts and tools for students through our support of student sections at BU and one at BCC and we should try to do more here also.

With your support I would like to introduce the local business community to the ASQ through an introductory article. I will be offering an open invitation to all businesses, service sector organizations, public and private; and government organizations towns, villages, cities, and county, along with educational organizations to join our organization and learn what we have to offer. Membership is open to anyone interested in learning and using quality as a tool to help meet goals and objectives. I will also be doing a monthly column to share with the community what the local section and the national organization are doing and to provide a little detail on what quality is and how some of the tools can be used to help.

Anyone who would like to help in this endeavor will be most welcome. The active participation in the local section activities is very limited and I hope that even if you cannot participate in our monthly dinners that you could support the sections activities in an off-line fashion – send your thought and ideas, help our section grow and meet our goals and objections.

Best regards,

Robert Napoletano
    ASQ – CQA – CQ Mgr – CQIA
    Binghamton Section 0205 Chair