Eye on the prize

Modern Machine Shop, March, 1994 by Chris Koepfer

In the heart of Silicon Valley, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, things electronic rule manufacturing. It's where Hewlett-Packard, Apple and almost any other computer company one can name are located or represented. It's also home to a host of supplier companies who make their living supplying things for these "big boys." One such supplier, MASS Precision (San Jose, California), is the focus of this story. They design, fabricate and manufacture precision sheet metal parts for the electronic industry. Card carriers, cabinets, doors, chassis and other components are made to demanding standards of quality and production control.

However, saying one "manufactures in a quality manner" is easy. Proving it is another matter. In July, 1993, this 200-person job shop completed a major step toward substantiating their claim of quality manufacturing by becoming certified compliant with ISO 9001 standards. This story is about how and why they did it. Getting ISO 9000 certification is the beginning of a never-ending process of continuous improvement for every aspect of the business. It may sound tedious and, at first, it certainly is. ISO is not a set-it-and-forget-it system. Daily attention is needed to keep the system operating. But once properly integrated as part of company culture, "doing ISO" becomes second nature.

The question is: How does a company go from ISO "wannabe" to ISO-certified? For MASS Precision, the process started with a decision by top management to pursue certification. Next, the company began a search for someone to help do the job. Coming into a company as a turnaround specialist, Jim Johnson began the daunting task of documenting all of the company's activities.

In the form of procedures, these documents became the base for ISO

certification. Included in the system was a mechanism for handling changes in procedures. Showing how these changes could be quickly implemented in the operations helped win over skeptic employees that ISO could help. To keep the process working, employees were charged with periodically auditing their operation. These audits revealed problems which they, as the auditor/employee, were encouraged to solve. On-going training and attention to systems maintenance makes the system part of the company culture. Here's their story.

Getting Started

MASS Precision's pursuit of ISO 9000 certification was born of a need for the company to gain more control over its manufacturing processes. Surprisingly, the decision had little to do with global marketing ambitions--the usual motivation for getting ISO certification. According to company president, Al Stucky, Jr., "Although we had a good reputation, we remained concerned with increasingly frequent problems of delayed deliveries, lost parts, changes not communicated in time, and labor costs exceeding estimates." These problems resulted from the company's rapid growth. Simply put, the business had out-grown manage-ability using its traditional means.

For three years, the company worked with full-time specialists in an effort to gain control--to no avail.

It was at a seminar sponsored by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) that Mr. Stucky, Jr., heard about ISO 9000. It sounded like a possible answer for MASS Precision because of the standard's holistic nature. ISO standards permeate an entire organization from shear-to-ship, bottom-to-top. Mr. Stucky, Jr., believed this was the key difference between it and other improvement systems the company had tried implementing by force-feeding from the top down.

Next came a search for someone to help the company prepare for the audit which leads to ISO certification.

Step One: Select A Champion

The starting point for pursuit of ISO is selection of what MASS Precision calls a champion. A champion is a change agent, an individual or team charged with getting a company ready for an ISO audit. MASS Precision chose Jim Johnson, a management consultant, as their champion. He carried the title Director of ISO Certification. While it's not unusual to go outside for help negotiating the ISO maze, many companies choose a champion from their own ranks. "This may even be more effective," says Mr. Johnson.

Characteristics of a champion include, most importantly, a process-oriented person or persons as opposed to those who are task-oriented. In an inspection-driven quality system (which Mass Precision had prior to ISO) the focus of quality control activities is on the task of inspection. That focus changes with installation of a holistic quality assurance system which puts QA in every step of manufacturing rather than just the last one. "Things flow smoother with a process-oriented person heading up the certification effort," says Mr. Johnson. Organizing and assimilating large amounts of information, so it can be accessed easily when needed, is vital to the success and expedition of an ISO certification effort.

Interpersonal communication skills rank high on the requirement sheet for a champion. Much of the work involved in gathering information about how a shop works comes from interviews of employees rather than managers. "There is no other way to get the real picture," says Mr. Johnson. A secondary benefit of this information-gathering phase is that, by soliciting the input of all the employees, their involvement comes along too. More about that later.