ISO
Using ISO standards to scale your business
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ISO: Using ISO standards to scale your business
By Andrei Kossyrine
© Xpress Software Inc. - All Rights reserved
http://www.xssoftware.com
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As more and more business goes global, international standards are crucial not only in ensuring quality control, but in allowing organizations the opportunity to compete in a worldwide marketplace. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world's largest developer of standards, and implementing ISO procedures is key in allowing your company to compete in the 21st century, as your biggest customers, from government to industry, no longer are confined by national borders in purchasing goods and services.
For customers, International Standards mean that technology is compatible worldwide, so they can choose from a wide array of suppliers, increasing global competition. Although ISO standards are voluntary, many nations have adopted them as a framework for health, safety and environmental regulations.
For example, the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI), which certifies the biohazard clothing worn by emergency medical personnel, abruptly decided to require manufacturers to complete ISO certification. A Massachusetts company, Ricochet Manufacturing Company, was able to implement ISO standards in three months, staying in compliance with SEI rules and gaining a competitive advantage over its rivals.
And as ISO standards become a widely accepted seal of quality, more and more businesses will require ISO certification of their suppliers. Such was the case with Concrete Sealants, which learned that one of its customers would soon be requiring all its suppliers to implement ISO standards.
Most ISO standards are specific to particular products, materials or processes. But the ISO's most widely known and implemented standards are the so-called "generic" ISO 9000 series for quality management and the ISO 14000 series for environmental management. These are management system standards, and the advantage of implementing them boils down to efficiency. The most effective way to manage an organization is to systemize its procedures, so that everyone knows their role, saving time and money, and so that the system can survive the loss of any individual. The ISO standards provide a model that experts in the field have determined is state-of-the-art.
Baxter Pharmaceuticals chose to undergo ISO 14001 certification after the company was embarrassed by several chemical spills and Superfund sites. ISO 14001 standards not only improved Baxter's environmental record but its public perception as well.
When Workhorse Custom Chasis was spun off from General Motors in 1998, the new company found that GM's quality management system was appropriate for a company of GM's size, but it didn't meet Workhorse's needs. So the company adopted ISO 9001 standards to quickly establish its high-quality bona fides.
The ISO 9000 series defines quality as all those features of a product that are required by a customer. These standards not only aim to help you meet your customers' quality requirements, but regulatory requirements as well. The ISO 9000 series calls for introducing several important management principles that can bring your organization numerous tangible benefits:
Customer focus: A customer-focused approach to management ensures that the goals of your organization are linked to customer expectations, and that those expectations are articulated throughout your organization.
Leadership: People will be motivated to meet the company's goals, and all activities will be aligned toward those objectives.
Involvement of people: Employees will understand their role in the organization and identify constraints to their performance.
Process approach: Developing a clear process reduces costs and cuts cycle times, and establishes accountability for results.
System approach to management: By creating consistency, you give your customers and other stakeholders confidence in your organization
Continual improvement: By making improvement a permanent goal of the organization, you can provide a superior product to your customers.
Factual approach to decision-making: This will give you the ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions based on factual records, as well as an increased ability to review, challenge and change decisions.
Mutually beneficial supplier relationships: Solidifying your relationships with your partners will allow you to optimize resources and respond more quickly to market changes.
Implementing the ISO standards that are unique to your organization's products will help you expand your customer base and will stamp your products with a seal of quality. Implementing the ISO management system standards will maximize your efficiency and enable you to respond to an ever-changing marketplace.
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Since 1996 Xpress Software Inc. has provided
technical assistance in lean manufacturing methods,
computer systems and business process automation
to maximize manufacturing profits.
Visit its website www.xssoftware.com or contact
Andrei Kossyrine at andrei@xssoftware.com.
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