Walters, business management graduate co-author article in ASQ publication

School of Business Associate Professor Lisa Walters, along with Fredonia alumna Jillian Kessler, co-authored an article in Quality Progress, the flagship publication of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), an international organization comprised of approximately 80,000 professionals engaged in the pursuit of operational excellence.

The work, “A Sustainable Supply Chain,” published in August, represents the research and development of a sustainability tool that may be readily used by organizations to measure the sustainability of their supply chains. To develop the tool, Dr. Walters and Ms. Kessler reviewed secondary literature to identify extant methods for sustainability measurement and adapted that research to tools many organizations are familiar with, specifically the Failure Mode Effectiveness Analysis (FMEA) and risk matrices.

The resultant product, the Sustainability Measurement Tool (SMT), was validated by several businesses for refinement. The SMT is adaptable to single suppliers as well as entire chains. The publication represents the work completed by Ms. Kessler as an undergraduate student in an independent study with Walters.

Kessler serves as a PAC-3 delivery assurance associate for Collins Aerospace Co. in Vergennes, Vt. She received a B.S. in Business Management in Spring 2020. Kessler was a student member of Fredonia’s section of ASQ and a recipient of the Yellow Belt Award.

ASQ was founded by management scientists/professionals W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, Walters A. Shewhart and George D. Edwards in 1946.