Maintaining a Sustainable Quality Management System (QMS)

PROBLEM FACED

James Geron, Quality Manager, of Muncy Corportation emphasized, “The biggest problem we had was getting people to do internal audits, because we don’t live and breathe the standard like your auditors do. It was a logistics nightmare for me and the rest of the company to get audits done. We couldn’t get internal audits done effectively, and then the Muncy auditor turnover was horrible.”

Geron says, “One thing that’s hard for me to do are CSRs. It is so hard to access all these customer portals and finding the CSRs, and they’re constantly changing.  I wish there was an easier way to find stuff.  I do a review every 3 months and have everyone sign off when a new CSR is issued.  It takes a lot of time.”

SOLUTION

Geron continued, “Then we contacted simpleQuE, who utilized past certification body auditors. SimpleQuE does an excellent job with their internal audits: Very thorough; providing assistance; developing systems to meet the requirements; giving guidance; and we’ve never had a problem with auditors. They’ve done a great job.  I like simpleQuE’s audit reports, as well as our certification body.

“SimpleQuE knew the standard like the back of their hands and pointed out things ahead of time to avoid write-ups by the certification body. SQ auditors did an excellent job keeping us focused on what the CB would look at.  Avoiding a lot of write-ups. We might get one or two, if any.”

As a “One-man show for the quality system,” at this company of about 60 employees, “SimpleQuE helped take a lot of burden off of me and my supervisor.”

RESULT

Muncy Corporation maintained ISO/TS 16949 certification for 7 years. SimpleQuE later assisted in upgrading to IATF 16949®.  “SimpleQuE helped out with implementing the AIAG core tools. We still use their tools and templates.” says Geron.  

A customer of simpleQuE since 2007, Muncy Corporation has had simpleQuE perform quarterly internal audits over the last 10 years to ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, and IATF 16949®.  “Muncy Corporation had several choices when selecting a consulting firm to assist us in achieving ISO/TS 16949 certification.  I believe our choice was well-founded. I wish to thank simpleQuE for your unrelenting efforts, professionalism, and commitment to our success.  Your knowledge of our business and the standard from ISO 9001 to ISO/TS 16949 made our transition painless,” stated Tom Erickson, Director of Sales & Marketing.

Geron says “It’s hard to get people to do what they’re supposed to.” Maintaining IATF 16949® certification was just too difficult.  “We were IATF® at one time, and backed down to ISO 9001, which went surprisingly well.  Primarily driven by our president because we weren’t going to do all the requirements imposed by IATF®.  It’s just too demanding, too many hoops to jump through, too many crazy requirements.” SimpleQuE provided guidance and options to do MAQMSR, but ultimately the leadership team wanted to maintain ISO 9001:2015 for third-party certification.

SimpleQuE continues to support Muncy Corporation with quarterly ISO 9001:2015 internal audits, including audits of CSRs, and annual internal audit schedules, along with coaching and guidance to maintain their quality management system. 

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