"Quality is Our Main Ingredient."
A History of The Mid-South Quality-Productivity Center.

Southwest Tennessee Community College and The Memphis Regional Chamber have a winning recipe for economic growth within the Mid-South. One of the secret ingredients is called the Mid-South Quality-Productivity Center (MSQPC).

The origin of MSQPC-The Quality Center began with an introduction of the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement during the late 1980's. Under the visionary leadership of the presidents of the Memphis Regional Chamber and the former college known as State Technical Institute at Memphis, a Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) grant was applied for and was awarded to develop the only Center of Emphasis in Quality and Productivity in the State of Tennessee.

The close alliance that was forged between The Chamber and The College during late 1985, made possible the formulation of one of the nation's first public-private partnerships devoted to improving quality and productivity within a major metropolitan area of the nation. A formal dedication of MSQPC occurred on April 21, 1988, with the assistance of Dr. Myron Tribus, a national leader in the quality movement.

The Mid-South community derives extraordinary benefits through MSQPC as a total quality-productivity improvement resource. The Center is unique in its program offerings to service, manufacturing, educational, small business, governmental and not-for-profit organizations. The Center has maintained a reputation as a cutting edge resource center for Mid-South organizations by providing innovative consulting, training and public workshops in ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Assessments, benchmarking trips to world-class organizations and teleconferences featuring nationally renowned quality-productivity experts.

MSQPC promotes continuous learning with Mid-South businesses by offering college credit courses through our partnership with Southwest Tennessee Community College. Taught by distinguished faculty, these courses allow individuals in area businesses to expand their knowledge of quality and productivity "best practices" while earning college credit.

The road to quality for MSQPC is never ending. A group of area quality professionals known as "Consulting Associates" - independent consultants, trainers, and facilitators - work with MSQPC to assist area organizations in their quality improvement efforts.

In addition to providing training and consulting services to Mid-South organizations, MSQPC includes among its national and international clients:

Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corporation, the U.S. Air Force, American Management Association (AMA), the Republic of Mauritius, Hong Leong Management Corporation, (Kualu Lampur, Malaysia), Federal Express Corporation, (Dubai) and ISK Biosciences (a Japanese Holding Company), and Naval Support Activity-Midsouth.

MSQPC launched a service line of benchmarking trips to assist Mid-South organizations in their continuous improvement efforts during 1995. "Quality Journeys" to Saturn Corporation in Spring Hill, Tennessee, were conducted.

Participants learned first-hand the processes Saturn has developed and implemented to address extensive training of their workforce and their successful development of self-managed work teams.

The Center has offered over 50 national teleconferences over the past twelve years, conducted over 50 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Assessments of Mid-South and national organizations during the past eight years, delivered ISO 9000 training to over 800 Mid-Southerners and hosted over 1000 participants on benchmarking trips. This Center has conducted thousands of hours of consulting, training, and public workshops through the Consulting Associates network and helped over 70 Mid-South organizations to apply for and win state, city, national and international quality awards.

MSQPC through the Memphis Regional Chamber and Southwest Tennessee Community College is helping Memphis and Mid-South organizations compete in the global market place. The Center's offerings contributed to The Chamber's mission of building a thriving economy through leadership in economic growth for Memphis and the Mid-South.