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11
<br /> 11 ISO 9000,a generic set of quality management principles,lies ! tern,says Paul Thomsen,the company's director of purchasing,
<br /> at the system's heart,while its different branches,such as QS millwide systems,and total quality manager. "We identified
<br /> 9000,TS 16949,and ISO 13485 all apply additional standards that the common theme was a lack of an organized,systemat-
<br /> • specific to industries and products within industries,such as is structure to do what we wanted to do,so we decided to pur
<br /> automotive or medical products.All standards come up for sue ISO certification to mold those systematic methods,"he
<br /> ireview and possible revision every five years.A new ISO 14001 says,noting that the low-priority problems that once were
<br /> standard applies to environmental management practices,and ignored,only to resurface months later,get logged,reviewed,
<br /> I' a new international occupational health and safety standard is and corrected.
<br /> in the works. "Think of it as building a house,"says Ochs. Previously adopted almost exclusively by manufacturers,
<br /> "The foundation is pretty much the same;additional specifics ! the ISO 9000 standards—the latest revision being the easiest
<br /> by industry are like some of the walls being different." yet to adapt and follow,companies say—have been expanding
<br /> The 325-employee Duluth plant of Stora Enso,a$9.9 billion rapidly to service industries such as banking and telecommu-
<br /> paper products manufacturing company based in Finland,got nications.Although ISO 9000 encompasses a wide range of
<br /> its ISO certifications for quality and environmental manage- standards and many industries,the latest quality management ■
<br /> 1 ment in 2002 after doing a self-assessment according to the certification standard, published in 2000, is called ISO
<br /> quality principles of Malcolm Baldrige,a tougher quality sys- 9001:2000. "There seems to be natural progression with the
<br /> standard to more of a business management system,"
<br /> says Myron Dummer,director of quality for Win-
<br /> . d. • „,,,&,:7,-,41'4:43--- • :� land Electronics,a Mankato-based manufacturer of
<br /> �'� , � ' tics , �v.' • products such as motor controllers.With about 90
<br /> _ ° ..is A'',':';;=;:7,' -�” "`
<br /> a� l';':;::--;
<br /> a, � ,�7
<br /> �,, ' employees and$18 million m annual revenues,Win-
<br /> ': � r `�'' land first earned its basic ISO 9000 certification in
<br /> F,�� - ,' , v, 1999,upgraded it to the ISO 9001:2000 standard last
<br /> 1,. 41 = September and is now pursuing the ISO 13485 cer-
<br /> 2 A tification for medical devices."Under the 1994 stan-
<br /> r {/ dard it was hard to address your business manage-
<br /> ' «;7,. ment systems,but with the 2000 revision it's a lot
<br /> ,»`' better fit. I have a further appreciation of how our
<br /> Y £.
<br /> systems work together."
<br /> -* - Consultants and companies like ISO 9000 because
<br /> of its practicality and flexibility."Every organization
<br /> in the world should operate according to ISO 9000,"
<br /> says Mark Ames,president of AQS Management Sys-
<br /> ` tems,a St. Paul-based quality consulting firm. "It
<br /> contains the basic requirements about how to get
<br /> organized and run your business in a thoughtful,
<br /> planned fashion instead of in a reactive mode.
<br /> ` ,;,. ' ` The quality standard is organized around eight
<br /> .. v.:
<br /> r principles:customer focus,leadership,involvement
<br /> of people,process approach,a systematic approach
<br /> to management, continual improvement,factual
<br /> d approach to decision making,and mutually beneficial
<br /> _ 4 _ N supplier relationships.But ISO leaves it up to indi-
<br /> _+i® vidual companies to interpret how to apply and carry
<br /> `^'^ out the principles,so each business's ISO 9000 system
<br /> � Parties.
<br /> Pani Manua "m
<br /> U 4��- will be different.That helps overcome a major hur-
<br /> ,„,.:4 ,5-..'''' "�` dle to acceptance of a quality program—thinking that
<br /> -40 �'' one's processes are too unique to be codified—while
<br /> still providing unique ownership of the processes.
<br /> "Once you've defined your processes and "A lot of people feel like their processes can't be
<br /> you've controlled them,then you defined,or they can't be responsive to their customers
<br /> if they codify them," Ochs says. In fact,the oppo-
<br /> can improve them.Until you've defined site is true,she adds—once a company documents
<br /> and started to measure them,it's hard how to do things,it makes it easier to identify excep-
<br /> • to realistically improve." tions and be more responsive.Perhaps a pattern of
<br /> exceptions will in turn lead to revised and improved
<br /> practices.
<br /> 12 MINNESOTA TECHNOLOGY I WINTER 2004
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