Patron Welcome
I have been surprised and enormously pleased to see how QUALCON organisers in 2006, 2007 and now 2008 have selected Conference themes that challenge conventional management thinking – issues that are as difficult as they are important.
In Sydney it was “Thriving and Surviving in the 21st Century” and we were challenged to open our minds to the need to rethink the quality management that was written in a manufacturing age - an age long gone. The world we now live in and must manage our organizations has been transformed in the last two decades and what worked in the 80s and 90s when quality management was developed and popularized is unlikely to work today. In Melbourne it is to be “From Quality Management to the quality of management” – a topic that asks us to lift our heads above the detail of quality management and the quality management system and think about the organization itself and how to establish a quality of management that will produce sustainable success.
In Adelaide 2008 it is to be innovation, and its bedfellow, adaptability. Innovation is an issue that quality management has thus far had difficulty with. It has been ignored, or skirted around and never integrated into the quality management model with the consideration it deserves as the engine of growth in the knowledge economy. Of the many challenges faced by quality management few, if any, are more significant as the effective treatment of innovation – a management aid that does not give central place to Schumpeter’s “perennial gales of creative destruction” (and quality management does not do that at present) will be like Hamlet without the Prince.
Prof Kevin Foley
President Welcome
It gives me the greatest of pleasure to offer you a warm welcome to Qualcon 2008. As President of AOQ (South Australia) and National AOQ President, this is a very exciting time for us as this year is AOQ’s 40th Anniversary since forming in 1968. Following on from the successes of Qualcon events since 2003, Qualcon has developed into a highly successful forum that offers something unique to all business professionals over a variety of business areas.
Qualcon 2008 theme of "QUALITY: Process, Innovation and Adaptability" was chosen as part of the theme stemming from the ‘Third Generation of Quality’ being explored by leading researchers in the quality arena. The essence of the theme is central to the challenges faced when developing business systems required in a growing competitive environment. Introducing Innovation and Adaptability into the theme will ensure the conference provides a forum for leading-edge academic debate coupled with practical application to support business in its quest to be more innovative and adaptable than allowed under traditional process-driven paradigms. The challenge today is to develop lines of thinking never seen before in the business quality field.
Over the past decade, AOQ (SA) has built strong links with a number of membership-based organisations with similar or related interests with whom we will team to provide our delegates, presenters and sponsors with the most memorable conference programme ever.
Qualcon 2004 attracted a total of 198 attendees and larger premises have been secured for Qualcon 2008 to cater for the expected increase in attendance. Around 12% of the delegates attending Qualcon 2004 represented eight overseas countries and around 66% travelled from outside of South Australia. Qualcon 2006 attracted a greater percentage of international delegates from a much larger range of countries. We are anticipating a stronger result for Qualcon 2008.
Topics
proposed for the conference include Innovation, Environment, Business
Excellence, Best Practice, Corporate Governance, Quality Management covering a
wide range of standards and the eight quality principles covered in ISO 9001:2000.
Although the program is still under development, industry-based streams
are planned for Environment, Research, Information Technology, Training, Health,
Automotive, Lean, Six Sigma, CMMI, Defence, Government, Manufacturing and
Service industries. We are calling for abstracts and outlines now with a final
acceptance date being
31 March 2008. Accepted proposals will be notified in April with final papers
due 31 July 2008
The programme aims to be the most exciting ever proposed by AOQ so with numbers limited, take advantage of our early bird discounted rate before 30 June 2008. Please also take the time to enquire about our group booking packages.
I look forward to meeting with you at Qualcon 2008. Remember it’s our 40th Birthday and there will be a party theme in the air so be prepared to celebrate.
Craig Ottaway
last update Trent Kroeger, 13 May 2008