Posted on 10/11/2018 at 10:36 AM by Joe Sampson
Henry Ford not only revolutionized transportation in America but he also created American manufacturing as we know it today. As you walk through manufacturing facilities all over the world you can still recognize some of Ford’s original principles: assembly lines, high wage production workers and conveyed parts are just a few examples from Ford’s principles that still exist in ubiquity today.
ISO (International Standards Organization) 9001 was first published in 1987 and later revised in 1994. The basic premise of an ISO certification is built on some of the principles Ford established: understand customer needs, commit to quality and constantly improve.
We received our ISO 9001 certification in 2015. It took a two year commitment to get our certification. When we originated the idea of ISO back in 2013 we knew we would have to take an “all hands on deck” approach. We share that same philosophy today. From the top down our policy remains ingrained: to provide a quality product that satisfies our customers needs and expectations the first time, every time. We do this by committing ourselves to the following:
1. Understanding and responding to our customers ‘needs, expectations, and other
requirements, including internal and external interested parties and issues and related risks and opportunities
2. Providing “proven innovation” products
3. Improving the systems of production to generate continuing quality and
productivity improvements
4. Developing a well-trained and motivated workforce with full accountability
and responsibility
5. Establishing long-term relations with suppliers
6. Continually improving on all of the above
Our process is “ours” but we take lessons and achieve wisdom from those like Ford before us. Perhaps the most important lesson is to never stop improving. This motto that Ford lived by resonates in our factory today.
"We know from the changes that have already been brought about that far greater changes are to come, and that therefore we are not performing a single operation as well as it ought to be performed." -Henry Ford
