Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994 TAG: 9405070009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Huh?, you say. ISO 9002?
For most people, it's probably a foreign term. In a sense, that's exactly what it is, referring to a standard of excellence for manufacturing systems developed a few years ago by the European Community. During efforts to unify 12 European nation's into a single economic market, it was found that having different product certification requirements made trade among European countries difficult and costly. The ISO standards became a solution to the EC's trading problems.
Since their introduction in 1987 by the International Organization of Standardization in Geneva, the standards have been adopted by 74 countries - including the United States - as national standards. ISO certification has become a near necessity for Virginia manufacturers wanting to sell their goods in the global market. Even if they are not exporters themselves, companies are paying attention to the standards if they are suppliers to other U.S. manufacturers who are in the export business. Companies that are not certified find themselves at a competitive disadvantage to those who are.
The international standards trace their roots to the tough quality standards imposed by the U.S. Defense Department for its suppliers. Now, the Defense Department is accepting the ISO standard as an option to its own military standards.
Sybron's Salem plant makes bio-chemicals used in wastewater treatment plants and in the clean-up operations after chemical spills. Three years ago, Sybron began exploring ISO certification at the urging of one of the company's large export customers in France.
To achieve certification, the company spent $80,000 and many worker hours. It managed to do it even though a $1 million expansion project was underway at the same time, plant manager Lois Davis said.
To qualify for certification, Sybron made several changes in its manufacturing processes, changed the way it deals with its own vendors and improved its record-keeping, explained George McMillan, the plant's quality-assurance manager.
The decision to pursue certification and the subsequent investment has already paid off, said Mike Krupka, general manger of Sybron's bio-chemical division. Locked in a bidding battle over an order from a company in Idaho, Sybron won out because it had ISO certification and its competitor did not, Krupka said. He said the company also hopes to increase the 15 percent share of its business that it currently exports.
Sybron, a Birmingham, N.J.-based public company with $140 million in annual sales, plans to go after ISO certification at other plants in South Carolina, New Jersey, California and abroad. Those plants make chemicals for water softeners, textiles and reverse osmosis water purification.
Company CEO Richard Klein told employees that Sybron has recognized the standards as the wave of the future. Through its efforts to win certification, the Salem plant has put a basic quality system in place, he said.
It is a program that will guarantee the company's continuous improvement, Krupka said. It's a program that forces the company to identify problems and correct them, he said.
In addition to passing a rigorous audit to win ISO certification, a company has to under go follow-up inspections every six months.
Mike Byrd, a teacher at Virginia Western Community College, who trains companies how to obtain ISO certification, said interest in the program among companies in the Roanoke Valley really took off about three years ago. Some companies were losing contracts because they weren't certified, he said.
Exporting has not been the main reason companies have pursued certification, Byrd said. "A lot of folks in the valley are into it because the people they sell products to demand it," he said.
But ISO certification is important for Optical Cable Corp., another Roanoke Valley company, because a lot of its business is with overseas clients. To obtain certification, the company had to demonstrate it was capable of controlling the manufacturing process so that every product that is produced is the same product.
The expense of obtaining certification was well worth it, marketing manager Susan Smith said, because customers feel more secure with the quality of the company's product.
by CNB