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Brush ISO
Certification Brush Industries' Quality Policy Statement Brush
Industries, a leading provider of magnetic heads and magnetic card readers
recently transitioned its existing Quality Management System to meet the
requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard and earned certification by the
International Organization for Standardization. Previously, “ISO
9000-certified” organizations were actually certified to one of the
three certification standards in the 1994 version of the ISO 9000 series:
ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003. The scope of these standards differed,
but they were of equal rank. Therefore, it was acceptable for
organizations publicizing their certification to use either the generic
term “ISO 9000 certification,” or to specify ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO
9003. On 15 December 2000, the
revised and improved ISO 9001:2000 was published to replace the three 1994
versions and thus became the only certification standard in the ISO 9000
series. Organizations certified to the 1994 versions were given a
three-year period, until 15 December 2003, to make the transition to ISO
9001:2000. During the transition period, new certifications to the 1994
versions remained possible. Some of the main
differences between the ISO 9001:1994 approach and the ISO 9001:2000
approach include the use of the process approach to focus the Quality
Management System on the interrelationships between processes that result
in customer satisfaction and a profitable business, making quality
planning concurrent with business planning, and taking customer
satisfaction measurements to provide feedback to improve performance. Brush officials organized
a project team in November 2002. The team was made up of 6 employees
representing all aspects of the organization including executive
management, clerical and manufacturing employees. In March 2003, members
of the team were trained on the new ISO standards during a three-day,
off-site seminar. The team started the
transition by performing a gap analysis to identify where the company’s
focus should be for the transition. The team then established a process
map of each quality system within the organization. The process maps
provide all employees with procedural guidelines that help to ensure
quality. In April, the team was
ready to have internal auditors inspect their work. Ten Brush employees
performed the function of internal auditors. As this process was designed
to do, the internal auditors uncovered a handful of nonconformities, which
the company was able to correct. The third-party audit for ISO
certification occurred in July. In recognition of the diligence of the
project team, the internal auditors and all Brush employees, the company
passed the third-party audit and earned certification.
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