MOURADIAN, George 1927-

PERSONAL:

Born May 2, 1927, in Detroit, MI; son of Vahan (a pyrometer reader) and Armenouhi (a homemaker; maiden name, Nercessian) Mouradian; married Marguerite Rose Hachigian (a homemaker and company president), December 16, 1950; children: Michele Mouradian Mnatzakanian, Anita, Vaughn. Ethnicity: "Armenian." Education: Wayne State University, B.S., 1951, M.E., 1952, B.S., 1960; also attended University of California and University of Michigan. Politics: "Compassionate conservative." Religion: Armenian Apostolic. Hobbies and other interests: Golf, swimming, camping.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—MAG and Associates, 4489 Marcello Dr., Commerce Township, MI 48382.

CAREER:

Massey Ferguson, Inc., Livonia, MI, senior reliability engineer, 1969-82; Consumers Power Corp., Jackson, MI, senior quality engineer in Jackson and in Ann Arbor, MI, 1982-84; Rockwell International Corp., Troy, MI, senior reliability engineer, 1984-86; AM General Corp., Livonia, reliability engineer and manager, 1986-96; American University of Armenia, Erevan, teacher of reliability engineering and management, 1997; MAG and Associates, Commerce Township, MI, quality and reliability engineer and specialist, 1997—. Schoolcraft College, teacher of reliability engineering, 1990-92; American Society for Quality, instructor in quality engineering, quality management, reliability engineering, and quality auditing throughout the greater Detroit area. St. Sarkis Senior Citizens Corp., treasurer, 1986-2002. Military service: U.S. Maritime Service, 1945-47; became lieutenant junior grade. U.S. Army, 1952-54.

MEMBER:

American Society for Quality (fellow), Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (president, 1997, 2002), American Society of Materials, Society of Reliability Engineers, Society for Armenian Studies.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Distinguished Service Award, American Society for Quality.

WRITINGS:

Armenian InfoText (encyclopedia), Bookshelf Publishers (Southgate, MI), 1995.

Handbook of QS-9000 Tooling and Equipment Certification, Society of Automotive Engineers (Warrendale, PA), 2000.

The Quality Revolution: A History of the Quality Movement, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Design News, Machine Design, and Quality Journal.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Armenian Atlas and Encyclopedia, completion expected in 2004; Never to Die; An Engineer's Approach to an Enhanced Marriage.

SIDELIGHTS:

George Mouradian told CA: "My primary motivation for writing is that I believe first of all I enjoy writing, then I have a desire to inform or provide assistance to people. I enjoy reading about history, and then I like to write about what I learned. I think I retain what I learn much better that way. I believe that, when you write something, you actually live the situation, rather than just reading about it. My work is also motivated by my desire to be somewhat creative. Trying to be inventive can be a difficult task (especially if you are not the inventive kind), but reading about a topic that is interesting and hopefully disseminating it to others gives me a certain amount of pleasure.

"The writing process is long and laborious. The ideas come to mind first. Then I put them into perspective with the thought, 'Would this information be useful and interesting to someone?' When I wrote Armenian InfoText I wanted an affordable book that any Armenian (or other interested party) could use to find information about history, major events, famous personalities, and his or her culture. The book was a mini-encyclopedia for all intents and purposes. I wrote Handbook of QS-9000 Tooling and Equipment Certification and The Quality Revolution: A History of the Quality Movement out of a desire to assist organizations to obtain QS-9000 certification and to provide readers with a history of the quality movement. The writing process entailed a tremendous amount of research. Then organizing the material in logical format was another job. Hopefully the contents will be interesting to the reader.

"Armenian InfoText was written to provide Armenians with basic information at their fingertips. There was nothing in English like it, and I felt there was a tremendous need for something comparable to it. Comments from readers have given me an enormous amount of pleasure. I'm in the process of expanding the book. I plan to include pictures and photographs of the major topics I discussed in the original book. The Handbook of QS-9000 Tooling and Equipment Certification had a similar inspiration, in that there was no book on the market to provide guidance for obtaining the certification. My manuscript An Engineer's Approach to an Enhanced Marriage has the same type of inspiration, because I wanted to help couples improve their marriages. However, I have not found a publisher who believes an engineer could assist others in this way. I guess not being a doctor, psychiatrist, or talk-show host has its shortcomings, but I cover a lot of territory that other books do not."