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Certifications
Our many facilities are ISO and QS registered. Below is a brief explanation of these certifications.
ISO Certifications
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a global network that identifies what International Standards are required by business, government and society, develops them in partnership with the sectors that will put them to use, adopts them by transparent procedures based on national input and delivers them to be implemented worldwide.
ISO standards distil an international consensus from the broadest possible base of stakeholder groups. Expert input comes from those closest to the needs for the standards and also to the results of implementing them. In this way, although voluntary,ISO standards are widely respected and accepted by public and private sectors internationally.
QS Certifications
The QS 9000 series of quality management standards was developed by a joint effort of the "Big Three" auto makers, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, and introduced to the industry in 1994. Some heavy truck makers in the U.S. have also adopted it as well.
The program requirements are divided into three sections with the first section being an entire ISO 9001 program with some additional requirements focusing on automotive and truck standards.
The second section is titled "Additional Requirements" and contains system requirements that all "Big Three" automakers have adopted and are substantially more rigorous and comprehensive than the ISO 9001 standard.
The third and final section is titled "Customer Specific Section" and contains the system requirements that are unique to each and every auto or truck maker that installs this system. It defines the requirements they have developed that are specific to the needs of their respective company.
This system is only suited to very large organizations as they are the only ones that can justify QS 9000's enormous cost and requirements of time and resources to implement. While this standard is third party verifiable, only a very few registrars are even allowed to audit this industry specific quality management standard.