Sutherland's talk covered some of the basic concepts enumerated by W. Edwards Deming in his work on quality management during the 20th century.  These concepts included the need to attack the root causes of quality problems as opposed to catching the defectives before they leave a manufacturing facility and reaching the customers. Sutherland (pictured left) then discussed how Deming's ideas have relevance to environmental engineering. We should spend more time and effort in preventing waste as opposed to containing, controlling, and treating waste streams.

The National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF) is a trade association whose mission is to promote and advance a sustainable future for the North American surface finishing industry. NASF represents the business, technical and scientific, and educational interests of the surface finishing industry, as well as the advocacy efforts of the surface technology community in North America.

To learn more about the National Association of Surface Finishers, visit: http://www.nasf.org/

To learn more about Professor John W. Sutherland, visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/EEE/People/ptProfile?resource_id=57089

To learn more about Purdue Environmental and Ecological Engineering, visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/EEE