The company said the ISO approval gives DBT customers added confidence that the company’s products, support and business processes satisfy or surpass universal standards for customer requirements and expectations.
DBT began developing a fully integrated Business Management System for all facets of its business in April 2002. Extensive brainstorming sessions were conducted to analyse internal processes and reach consensus on efficient processes for each element of the business.
Involving over 100 management personnel from all over the organisation, each business unit developed key processes for product realisation, customer satisfaction and support. From this emerged a framework employing proven management principles to ensure a steady supply of quality-engineered products and continually improving services. A small project team then began a simultaneous implementation of the system in all 18 of DBT’s facilities.
DNV Certification, a leading independent international certification body, conducted rigorous, on-site audits of all the key processes affecting quality at DBT America, from contracts to customer interaction to production, packaging and delivery of products.
Sherry Bennett, lead auditor for DNV Certification, complimented DBT America on its customer centric approach. “After auditing the majority of DBT America’s facilities, it is obvious that commitment to quality, continual improvement, and customer satisfaction is a top priority in the entire organization.”
ISO Certification is important to DBT America for several reasons. The most widely adopted standard in the world, it is a routine requirement for conducting business overseas, and customers in the United States are increasingly demanding it from their suppliers.
Since DBT America’s Business Management System goes beyond simple design, manufacturing and purchasing to also incorporate Intellectual Property, human resources, accounting, delivery, contracts, quotations and other atypical peripheral support systems, ISO Certification helps DBT maintain uniform standards of quality throughout its operations.
“ISO 9001:2000 Certification for all of our facilities underscores the depth of DBT’s commitment to ensuring quality and the highest levels of customer satisfaction at every echelon in the organization,” said Roger O’Quinn, vice president of Engineering Services, DBT America.
“It also lays the foundation for us to continually measure, monitor and improve every year as part of our ongoing dedication to meeting customer needs now and in the future.”
Typically, organisations seeking ISO Certification seek unit-by-unit approval because submitting an entire organization for evaluation risks the whole company failing should one unit not satisfy ISO guidelines. DBT elected to submit all of its sites (parts support, production, rebuild and repair, etc.) for approval because it felt strongly that one certificate would illustrate to every employee and facility that each is an important part of the company’s quality assurance.
“Applying for one certificate for our entire organisation required major consensus and full cooperation between each business process within each facility,” said Bruce Muretisch, BMS Implementation Manager, DBT America. “Having one common direction and one business model is critical to our success, because when it comes to quality, consistent output is most important to our company.”
DBT is currently analysing models for quality assurance used in Germany, Australia, China and other countries to develop an overall business strategy that will exceed the ISO Standard.
“We want to go beyond ISO Certification to continue to improve the tools we use to manage our business and take our self-evaluation processes to an even more stringent level,” said O’Quinn.
