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Why manufacturers should get ISO-certified
Reasons, benefits, and steps to certification
- By Edward Jones
- November 9, 2015
- Article
- Shop Management
As ISO certification becomes increasingly more important to the manufacturing industry, every manufacturer should consider getting it.
ISO is an acronym for International Organization for Standardizations. It was established in Switzerland in 1947 by a host of technical committees focused on providing guidelines for a vast range of organizations in the manufacturing, processing, service, printing, and electronics industries.
In 1979 an ISO Technical Committee was formed to create a set of guidelines that would unify and standardize all industries. In addition to its acronym, ISO also comes from the Greek word isos, which means “same as,” with the implication being that customers will get what they expect: consistent product quality whereby each manufactured piece is the same as each part previously produced.
The Three Main Reasons to Consider ISO Certification
The etymology of ISO, therefore, points to some of the primary reasons your manufacturing operation should consider obtaining an ISO certification:
- To ensure products and services meet customer requirements
- To guarantee consistency in the day-to-day operations of your manufacturing facility’s output
- To guarantee processes are repeatable and predictable
Other Reasons to Consider ISO Certification
Here are some other reasons that your manufacturing facility should consider ISO certification:
- Customer acquisition. Many customers require that both their manufacturer and its subcontractors are ISO-certified. If your company is not ISO certified, you will not be able to do business with many high-profile clients, which means less money for your enterprise.
- Marketing. Manufacturers can use their ISO certification to seek out new customers and open up new markets. Once you have passed your ISO certification audit, you can advertise your newly achieved standing to bring in more business.
- Fewer customer complaints. Customer complaints can kill your business via word-of-mouth. Time and money are wasted reproducing products that did not meet customer expectations. Fewer complaints means a better reputation for your plant.
- Quality improvement. By creating quality objectives and a set of formal metrics, you can better understand your business and focus on problem areas to improve overall product quality and productivity.
Advantages of ISO Certification
Many manufacturers do not have benchmarks and formal metrics in place to monitor whether they are meeting quality objectives. Having these can prevent your organization from repeating the same embarrassing errors. Here are some advantages of ISO certification:
- Improved company culture. You can improve your company culture and employee empowerment with clearer expectations, better tools, and better feedback, which will result in a more professional staff. Again, objectives and metrics not only keep your customer happy with your plant’s quality, they create a better work environment where employees actually have the tools needed to do their jobs.
- Improved consistency. Quality variations hurt your business. Few, if any, customers tolerate quality fluctuations.
- Increased team focus. The ISO certification process often results in a more focused management team and better overall employee performance, thanks to internal and external auditing. Your products will only be as good as the team producing them. Auditing keeps everyone on their toes.
- Better efficiency, reduced waste, and cost savings. Every manufacturer should continually be looking for ways to increase output and reduce waste. ISO processes aid these endeavors.
- International recognition. Your certification could result in industry-specific honors and awards, which then can be used to promote your products and services around the world.
Reasons Not to Consider ISO Certification
There really is only one reason to eschew ISO certification, and that is the cost involved. The most prohibitive of these expenses include employee training and consultation fees. Still, the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term costs of certification.
Offsetting Costs
Since the costs of becoming ISO-certified are considerable, you have to offset these expenses. Here’s how it’s done:
- Increased efficiency. ISO certification helps you streamline your processes, which increases productivity. The faster your operation can produce quality products, the more money it makes.
- Higher employee morale. The more employees you can retain and keep productive, the more aggressive and motivated your staff becomes. ISO certification gives your team credibility and builds staff members’ confidence—tremendous morale boosters by any estimation.
- Expanded market penetration. ISO certification is an internationally recognized designation that has the potential to open entirely new markets. The more markets you penetrate, the more impressive your annual reports look.
- Better supplier relations. Efficiency guides everything. The less time wasted correcting quality issues, rerunning jobs, and reordering supplies, the stronger your supply chain, your reputation, and your business relationships.
- Consistency. Customers do not want to roll the dice each time they buy from your company. Runs that are completed on time and executed correctly the first time improve your customer standing and elevate overall production quality.
- Customer satisfaction. Let’s face it, the customer must be satisfied or your reputation within the industry suffers. A poor reputation potentially can be catastrophic and virtually irreversible.
The Four Principles of ISO
Each of the four ISO principles can help your plant achieve greater levels of performance:
- A customer focus. ISO is all about the customer’s needs.
- Good leadership. If your management team comprises great leaders, your ongoing ISO certification audits can yield stellar results.
- A process approach to quality management. Maintaining ISO certification involves scrutinizing your processes and updating them as needed to ensure quality.
- Continual improvement. Ongoing audits create innovations that prevent your plant from entering a state of stasis and foster continuing improvement.
Tips for Getting Certified
Thinking about certification yet? Here are tips that can help:
- Conduct a cost-benefit analysis. This analysis is not just the resource you need to help you become certified, it also provides insight into any additional overhead your organization might incur. It also can identify new companies and markets you potentially can do business with when certified.
- Involve staff. Attaining certification is a team initiative, so be sure your staff understands the value of certification. Enlisting your team’s help and gaining staff member buy-in can go a long way in ensuring the success of the initiative. Plus, because team members must be trained in ISO best practices, they are more apt to embrace the changes if they’re involved early. Consider offering incentives to everyone for passing the audit the first time.
- Hire a quality assurance expert. Some companies promote someone from within for this role. Others hire an outside specialist on a part-time or full-time basis. Since ISO certification is an ongoing process, it is best to hire someone on a full-time basis from the outset.
- Document. Certification requires documenting all of your organization’s processes and procedures, which are altered and refined as your ISO certification development unfolds. Make sure that all procedures are written in such a way that a new employee without years of experience in your industry can understand them.
- Hire a consultant. This person’s job is to make sure you pass your ISO certification audit the first time. Check references to be sure they have a long, rich history of ISO success.
Earning an ISO certification requires a lot of work and money. While the process can be daunting and draining, the rewards for gaining this honor are virtually immeasurable. Not only does your estimation rise among your customers, your staff and management teams reap the benefit for years to come.
About the Author
Edward Jones
1 Spring Ave.
Lansdale, PA 19446
215-368-7700
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The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
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