Wharton forum discusses quality control in business

At a forum about quality control in modern business presented yesterday by Wharton's business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi, executives talked about quality's role in the production process. "Placing increased production ahead of quality amounts to one thing -- shipping the shit faster," said XEROX manager of quality and safety Kenneth Flach. The event was moderated by Wharton and Engineering junior Adrian Fung. In addition to Flach, the event also featured Susan Stuntebeck, supervisor of quality excellence at AT & T Bell laboratories, Anne Priester, senior vice president of MBNA America and Christopher Ittner of Wharton's Accounting Department. Stuntebeck spoke about the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award. The award was named after Baldridge, who died in a tragic rodeo accident in 1987 and rewards companies which provide outstanding quality. Firms are evaluated in seven categories, with customer satisfaction given the most weight. Awards were given in 1991 to Marlow in the small business category and Solectron and Zytec in the manufacturing category. Stuntebeck noted that nobody was awarded in the service category last year. "The idea is to reward excellence, not merely being better than others," she said. Flach spoke about customer satisfaction, a prime objective at XEROX, which he said helped it win the 1989 National Quality Award. XEROX makes over 100,000 customer contacts a day, which helps it maintain an open and responsive channel with its customers. "Customer satisfaction isn't a business objective at XEROX," said Flach. "It's a business obsession." Priester said that for companies such as MBNA, which supplies credit cards, quality means excellent service. "If our staff think of themselves as customers, and treat them the way they would like to be treated, then they can't go wrong," she said. Finally, Ittner spoke about the lack of quality classes in MBA programs across the country. Only 12 percent of MBA schools had mandatory quality classes. Students said the discussion was timely because of the recent flood of criticism about the quality of American industry. "I thought it fit in very well with my classes in management. It's a very relevant topic in the industry," said Wharton junior Esther Harrison. The event was coordinated by Wharton and Engineering senior Erika Vernon and Wharton junior Brad Wolfsen of Delta Sigma Pi professional activities committee. Wolfsen said that he is eager for feedback and invited people to give him a call at 222-8925.