QA004 REV NONE 2/28/2007
ALTON MANUFACTURING QUALITY SYSTEM CERTIFICATION
A brief history
Throughout the past decade there has been a dedicated focus in this country to
develop, maintain, and achieve recognition for working to a quality system
that promotes continuity, improvement, cost reduction, and total customer satisfaction.
Many standards have been developed to provide guidelines to promote these disciplines.
Many firms encouraged their suppliers to conform and seek certification to
these standards with promises of new and sustained business partnerships. Alton
Manufacturing embraced these standards as a bono fide methodology for running
our business. We developed policies and procedures, purchased ERP and quality
system software, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on training and consultants.
We eventually were certified to the QS9000/ISO9001 standard by a certified
registrar.
The costs to achieve and maintain this certification were not insignificant.
Alton felt it was money well spent when compared to the cost of poor business
practices. When our registration was due for recertification Alton took the
time to evaluate the current standard, our customer requirements, the benefits
of registration, and the increasing cost of maintaining 3rd party registration.
It was finally determined that we would uphold all of our existing policies and
procedures. There would be absolutely no change in our business practices or
quality systems. The only outcome that deviated from our previous activities
was the consensus to no longer seek certification to an accredited registrar.
The guidelines set by the RAB (Registrar Accreditation Board) have made it
genuinely cost prohibitive for waste conscious businesses like ourselves to
seek a stamp of approval for the systems we develop, we maintain, and we improve
upon.
Alton promises to all our customers the highest customer satisfaction, lowest
cost, and quickest response possible.
QA004 REV NONE 2/28/2007
