Posts Tagged ‘ISO’

Maintaining High Standards – Renewing our ISO 9001 Accreditation

Published on Nov 2nd, 2011 by James

I remember sitting my exams at school and asking myself why I was so nervous when all I had done all year was stay focused, work hard and be thorough with my work? A similar feeling crept up on me last Thursday when I arrived at Northstar’s Ebury Street offices to greet our ISO 9001 auditor from the British Assessment Bureau. The idea that our fate was in the auditor’s hands is a scary one even though the result was actually all down to our own hard work over the year since we were accredited.

Half a day later and we emerged proud and inspired. After commenting that our supplier evaluation database was “the best he had ever seen” (thanks to some fantastic programming by Katia), the auditor left us with some observations to consider for the future and accredited us again … for a further 12 months.

With ISO, we have not only increased the efficiency and quality standards of the business but we can also identify best practices for our industry simply through operational adherence. You soon see that tracking changes to proposals greatly aids in knowing who called, when and to say what.

It has been an all year round, all staff effort especially bearing in mind the schedule of internal audits we have organised! For that I have to thank the Quality Team (Liz, Jess & Katia – I can’t really thank myself can I?!) and all the Northstar staff who have put so much effort to keep the ball rolling and in ensuring the Northstar is the best it can be.

 

 

ISO A OK

Published on Jun 14th, 2010 by Jessica

The Benefits of Preventative Medicine

It’s a truism that whenever a business starts to review its working practices, to meet new demands, reach a quality standard or just tighten things up the process activates three separate sets of emotions – firstly the initial sinking “must we really” stage, then the mid activity discovery that this is working and  more needs to be done and finally the sense of achievement before a creeping unease returns as you realise that actually this is an ongoing process and now you need to look at something else!

We are currently in the process of becoming ISO 9001 accredited.

From the bottom of the mountain it looked a steep climb but since we set off we’ve actually found the whole thing quite therapeutic and rewarding. While every project we work on is different, the stages we go through each time can be quite similar. Identifying these stages has helped us to focus in on the individual steps, to tighten everything up and also to develop our internal training.

When ISO accreditation was first mentioned, eyes were rolled and questions were raised such as WHY? Having completed our Quality Manual (the bible!), I can say with confidence that it has been a very valuable exercise. I’m sure the team will agree once we get all the extra paperwork in place!

Of course like all improvements in working practice no one outside the company should notice the step change. It’s more a case of us tightening up our already thorough procedures. However, if implementing a few additional safety checks internally can safeguard against errors down the line, then it seems like a good thing to me!