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BSI
Name:
BSI
Address:
12110 Sunset Hills Rd.
City: Reston
State:
VA CEO:
Robert Perry
Products:
Metal Grinding
Employees:
4900
Manufacturing firms
worldwide are gaining real business advantage from BSI
registration to the ISO 9000 series of management standards,
according to a new survey.
The research, carried out for the
global quality assurance leader BSI by the European Centre for
Business Excellence at
Leeds
University
, showed impressive benefits for
both large and small firms in different sectors of industry and
commerce. Companies were surveyed across
North America
, the
UK
and mainland
Europe
, with staff numbers ranging from
five to 71,000.
In the
UK
, two component manufacturers had
impressive results. Norgren saw cost savings of 50 percent over
two years, and Super Turn’s sales increased by 40 percent.
Similar successes were seen in the
North American manufacturing industry. Rubbermaid Commercial
Products saw its sales increase by 70 percent since registration
in 1994, and complaints fall by up to 6 percent a year. American
Video Glass was able to speed up its response time to customer
complaints by 40 percent.
Other benefits cited by the companies
included a greater understanding of how their organizations
worked. This, they report, led to shorter training times, clearer
communication and accountabilities, and significant reductions in
product development time and customer complaints. Registration to
ISO 9000 was also recognized as a powerful means for recognizing
best practice and adopting it elsewhere, and for identifying the
issues that contribute most to customer satisfaction.
Robert Perry, president of the
Reston, Va.-based BSI, Inc., said: “Everyone likes to hear
success stories, and this survey has revealed some truly
impressive achievements. These firms have shown that they are
reaping major benefits through their registrations. More than a
quarter of a million firms worldwide are enhancing their
efficiency by operating to the BSI way of implementing ISO 9000
and by continually improving their performance against the
standards.”
One of the North American
manufacturers in the survey, Rubbermaid Commercial Products (www.rubbermaidcommercial.com
) is a 300-strong team based in
Cleveland
,
Tenn.
, making cleaning equipment. In
addition to seeing its sales increase by 70 percent over seven
years and complaints fall by up to 6 percent each year, the
company reported major efficiency improvements from the
registration process, through having key procedures documented and
readily available to everyone across the company.
The other North American manufacturer
featured, American Video Glass, has 480 staff and is based in
Mount Pleasant
,
Penn.
The company makes glass products
for video displays and cathode-ray tubes for the television
industry, supplying its products solely to Sony Electronics. In
addition to speeding its response time to customer complaints by
40 percent, the company was able to continuously monitor its
production quality and so reduce defective products. Training of
contract employees has been improved thanks to the enhanced
documentation and record systems introduced by ISO 9000.
The registration for the UK-based
manufacturer Norgren (www.uk.norgren.com )- which makes pneumatic
components and automation systems- covers its seven sites across
England
and
Spain
, and around 1,400 staff. In
addition to seeing 50 percent cost savings over two years thanks
to enhanced operational efficiencies, the company now has an
electronic manual for its business, available to all sites. This
development, which came out of the company’s registration
process, means that all locations now share best practice, with
less duplication of effort. On a wider basis, the global impact of
the integrated approach within the company is already being
realized, as other sites outside
Europe
recognize the benefits and
standardize on the same system.
The other UK-based manufacturer,
Super Turn (www.superturn.co.uk ) based in
Leicester
,
UK
, makes components like fasteners
and hydraulic and pneumatic rings for the aerospace, medical and
engineering sectors. Using computer-controlled machines, the
company handles a wide range of materials. These include
super-hard materials like stainless steel and titanium, specialist
steels, the new generation of sophisticated high-temperature
super-alloys, and other exotic materials used in the marine
industry. In addition to sales increasing by 40 percent due to
their registration, the company is seeing the benefits of boosted
customer satisfaction, with repeat business now accounting for
around 50 percent of sales.
Perry added: “I am particularly
proud that these firms have said that it’s not just the
registration, but also the business partnership with BSI that they
value. BSI has registered over 35,500 companies worldwide to ISO
9000. We pride ourselves on our partnership approach to
registration with our clients, who are seeing real commercial
advantages from their registration and their relationship with
us.”
BSI has a wide range of resources to
help firms succeed:
•Communication Days- free
business-improvement events, run throughout the
United States
and
UK
•Consultancy and training
•Literature- Two of the
US
case studies
are featured in a new book published by CEEM, a member of the BSI
group. Called “ISO 9000:2000, The Route to Registration,” the
book is available from www.ceem.com
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