Dennis R. Arter, CQA

Dennis Arter is an independent consultant and trainer. He instructs large and small firms in the fields of management auditing and quality systems. Arter has served clients in the fields of government, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, research, aerospace, and food processing. He has been auditing since 1975.

Six years as a nuclear submarine officer and five years as a staff support engineer (QA and QC) to a nuclear utility gave experience in project planning, facility operations, supplier relations, and government regulation. Five years as a quality advisor to the Department of Energy provided exposure to research, contractor operations, program development, and training. 15 years as an independent consultant to large and small business and government organizations required hands-on solutions to real world problems. Recent participation in USA standards development has provided a global perspective on quality issues.

Arter has presented papers on the subject of quality auditing at numerous conferences. He has presented his course on quality auditing to over 6,500 people since 1980. In 1988, Arter was selected by ASQ to present his auditing course nationwide on behalf of the Society. He is the author of the book Quality Audits for Improved Performance, published by ASQ Quality Press in 1994.

Arter is an ASQ Fellow and an active member of the Society’s Awards Board and General Technical Council. He is responsible for coordinating all quality, environmental, dependability, and statistics standards within the ASQ. He was on the team that developed the ASQ Certified Quality Auditor program and holds a CQA charter certificate. He managed the team that developed the Quality Audit Handbook, published by Quality Press in 1997.

Arter’s industrial experience includes nuclear power plant components and operations, high level nuclear waste research, shipyards, food processing (soup, poultry, potato), telephone switches, large software design and maintenance, chemical processing, government (FAA, IRS, USDA, FDA, EPA), aluminum, zinc, and steel foundries, building wire, aircraft components, aircraft assembly, automotive components, computers, fiberglass, carpets, medical devices and hospital kits, blood banking, appliances, and composites.

Arter has a degree in biochemistry from the University of Illinois and is a licensed mechanical engineer. He has traveled extensively throughout the USA and Canada, as well as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, and the Peoples Republic of China. He resides in eastern Washington State.