Re: ISO 9000 (longish)

[Ginna Watts <gwatts -at- PIM -dot- BC -dot- CA>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK>
>Whatever your definition of quality I don't think you'd buy without
>checking first.  You might see Ford as a "Quality" company; it might have
>ISO 9000 (or whatever) but you'd still test drive the car before buying.
(much snipped)

I have been reading these messages with interest. I don't claim to be an
ISO9000 expert, but I do have some direct experience that may shed light on
the discussion.

Back in university, I worked summers at a screen printing factory. In my
third summer there, the company was going through the certification process
in order to satisfy an overseas client. The problem was, the client wasn't
buying the "%15" rule. This rule (of thumb) says that in any given job,
about %15 will be spoilage. The client wanted us to have less spoilage, so
we jumped through the hoops. As the only student on staff, it became my job
to track the errors and begin writing reports. What I discovered was that we
were right - %15 is about the best you can do.

I found that while there were some die-cutting and laminating errors, by far
the bulk of the spoilage came from the printing.  As you screen print, the
screens gradually become clogged with ink. They also gather dust, and errors
occur. When the screen gets too clogged and dirty, you clean it with a
solution (the chemical name escapes me). The solution cleans rather
efficiently, but it also gradually degrades the screen itself. Shooting
screens is quite expensive, so you attempt to limit the cleaning.  When you
compare the cost of spoiled material with the cost of re-shooting screens,
it made sense to let around %15 spoilage be the guide. Anything over that
and it became cheaper to re-shoot the screen.

So nothing about our procedure or quality level changed, but we had well
documented proof of the %15 rule to show the client. We won the contract, I
went back to school, and never went back to factory work.

The moral of the story is that sometimes ISO9000 doesn't mean higher
quality, but simply more accountability.

Ginna
Ginna Watts   -  Technical Writer
Pacific International Mapping
Victoria, BC
(250) 727-0727
gwatts -at- pim -dot- bc -dot- ca

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