When I first started my career, I knew nothing about ISO.  In college, I got about a day's worth of ISO explanation in business school.  It was summed up as, "ISO 9000 is a management standard.....Deming.....Japan....quality management.......any questions?" 

There seems to be an increasing emphasis on the supply chain in recent years.  As the product lifecycle speeds up, so does the need to source the right suppliers that can dance in step with our drive to meet demand and remain competitive. 

My daughter has been learning how to ride a bike for the past year.  She's actually become quite adept at it, and for someone who loves to cycle, I am certainly proud.  But there were certain obstacles to overcome to get to this point.  We started simply with the tricycle - learning to pedal.  Then we switched to a "run-bike" to help learn balance.  Now we are on a two-wheeled bike with training wheels, and slowly beginning to take the training wheels off.  With each step forward, my daughter expressed a certain degree of fear - "will I be able to do this?," she intimated. Once she made the leap to the next level, she realized how much easier biking can become.  Leaving the training wheels can be scary, but the freedom of two wheels is much better.