FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Book Questions - With Outsourcing to India and China, Why is the Supply Chain Abandoning ISO/TS 16949 as the Supply Chain Standard?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Contact:   Glenn Bugala
                                              Omnex
                                              734.761.4940
                                              gbugala@omnex.com


New Book Questions: With Outsourcing to India and China, Why is the Supply Chain
             Abandoning ISO/TS 16949 as the Supply Chain Standard?

ANN ARBOR, Mich., August 11, 2004 ? A newly available book issues a wake-up call
to domestic automakers and suppliers saying they will face continued market
share loss and hard times ahead unless top management realizes the importance of
implementing ISO/TS 16949:2002 to affect change in the bottom line and the
fundamental processes of their organization.

The ISO/TS 16949 Implementation Guide: Gaining Value from Your ISO/TS 16949
Implementation addresses issues critical to deriving monetary, long-term benefit
from moving beyond a "compliance-driven" business management system to a true
"improvement-based" system.  The author, Chad Kymal ? a noted and respected
author of quality and process improvement books ? dives deep into understanding
just how far a compliance-driven manufacturing model can take companies and why
it does not deliver on any tangible long-term benefits, or stop the continuing
market share loss by domestic automakers and their suppliers.

Published by Paton Press, the book covers a broad range of topics all tied to a
common theme of the need for management ? not just quality professionals ? to
embrace ISO/TS 16949:

·    Outsourcing of manufacturing and services to China and India and the need
for strong systems for supplier development and monitoring
·    The need for relevancy of standards and management systems at the highest
organizational levels for true cost reduction, lead time reduction,
time-to-market improvements while delivering healthy financial performance
·    Managing the global supply chain and meeting customer expectations and the
requirements driving strategy, processes, measurement
·    The importance of implementing an enterprise wide quality management
software system

The next 20 years will be the most challenging ever for the domestic automakers
and their suppliers.  ISO/TS 16949 Implementation Guide: Gaining Value from Your
ISO/TS 16949 Implementation provides excellent insight and examples to energize
industry decision makers and encourage their embrace of a true improvement-based
process and quality system.

Author Availability
Upon request and availability, Chad Kymal can be reached for interview to
discuss excerpts from ISO/TS 16949 Implementation Guide: Gaining Value from Your
ISO/TS 16949 Implementation.  Kymal is also a featured speaker on business
process and quality improvement topics and has also authored How to Audit ISO
9001:2000?A Handbook for Auditors, released in 2002.  Please contact Glenn
Bugala at Omnex to arrange for an interview or speaking engagement:
734.761.4940.

About the Author:  Chad Kymal is Chief Executive Officer of Omnex, Inc, an Ann
Arbor, Mich.-based international consulting and training company.  He founded
Omnex Systems, makers of the Enterprise-wide Quality Management System, or
EwQMS. He also founded AQSR, an accredited registrar that is qualified to
conduct ISO/TS 16949:2002 assessments.  Kymal has served on the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award Board of Examiners, has a BSME from General Motors
Institute, a MS in Industrial Operations Engineering, and an MBA from the
University of Michigan.

Book Availability and Pricing
ISO/TS 16949 Implementation Guide: Gaining Value from Your ISO/TS 16949
Implementation retails $39.95 from Paton Press (www.patonpress.com) and Amazon
(www.amazon.com).

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