ISO certification is becoming more popular in the aviation community. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization and is a non-governmental organization comprised of the national standards bodies of 149 countries from all regions of the world. The 9000 family of certification covers quality management standards and the 14000 family covers environmental management standards. Last year FlightWorks, a charter and aircraft management company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia earned ISO 9001:2000 certification through an independent auditing firm, Vehicle Certification Agency, North America (VCA), located in Northville, Michigan. Aviation Maintenance visited with FlightWorks to learn more about the ISO certification process and the results of implementing and achieving the certification.
"Our decision to adopt ISO standards came from the top executive management and falls into line with primary concerns of FlightWorks: safety, planning for growth, and positioning ourselves as the most customer-focused company in the industry," said John Hatfield, director of operations. "We needed to put into place processes that verify we are doing what we say we are doing. If not, where do we adjust or fine-tune ourselves so that we can better do that? With this certification we have not only ISO certification, we have committed to have an outside auditor verify [adherence to processes]. And it requires us to keep on top of it, to consistently meet or exceed it."
Mark Richardson, director of customer service for FlightWorks, came from the telecom industry and was already familiar with ISO certification through his former employer. He was tasked with overseeing much of the ISO certification process, although more than half of the consultant process was already complete upon his arrival. "This is normally a two-year process and we did it in one and a half years. Our goal was to get it done. It was a high priority," Richardson said. "Things rolled pretty smoothly. We had strong leadership pushing this through. Everybody was highly engaged in getting this done."
The first step to achieving the certification is a pre-assessment by an independent certification agency. In FlightWorks's case VCA North America was that agency. "It's a no blood, no foul type of assessment, but it is just like a certification audit," said Richardson. Based on the results of that assessment, the company crafted a project plan. "We said, `here are our deltas, here are areas we need to fix.' It's not that hard. It's just tedious. There's a lot of follow up and follow through," Richardson added.
At that point processes are flow-charted. One area FlightWorks needed to focus on was records management, according to Richardson. "Record keeping is always an issue. We have to keep so much as required by the FAA and government entities," he said. That can breed the habit of keeping everything, which isn't the goal either. So from the guidance of both the FAA regulations and the certification agency, documentation and record keeping standards were detailed and put into a specific procedure.
Much of the certification process is about building a system and documenting that system or procedure. Everything the company does is subject to scrutiny during the documentation process. "We document how we book a trip," said Richardson. "If [part of the procedure] says `send a fax' and we now use email, I say fix it. This document needs to be changed to the exact process so there is accountability." "It's a detailed process but invisible. It should be: this is our process, not this is an ISO document."
During the period between the pre-assessment and the actual certification audit, the company focuses on working towards the audit. "During that process we came up with things the auditor didn't. I'm supposed to be harder than the auditor," said Richardson. Between surveillance and registration there is little or no contact. Once the processes were identified and documented, the official audit took place over two days, with two auditors in FlightWorks's case. FlightWorks's audit occurred in March 2005 and the company received its ISO 9001:2000 certification at that time.
"The benefit is, it really sets you apart," said Hatfield. "Very few aviation companies are ISO certified. We are in an elite class. We care about the way we do our business and hold ourselves accountable to that through a third-party vendor. We say we do it, the proof's in the pudding. The auditor says we do it. No excuses."
"When we did this, our expectations were: branding ourselves to a much higher standard, higher quality control, and an internal and external roadmap for training, validation, and accountability," Hatfield said. "It forces us to continually look at ourselves and our effectiveness to set our own bar. Part of certification and registration is that you can't set the bar and leave it. It's how did you continually improve?"
Part of FlightWorks's motivation to get the certification was growth plans. "We have doubled our operations in the last year. We needed a systematic approach [to deal with growth]," he said. In addition, the company recently opened a new facility in Manassas, Virginia with hangar space for aircraft charter and management and office space. FlightWorks is also moving into security and government operations at Manassas.
"From the owner's perspective ISO is a different level," said Hatfield. "To be ISO compliant, registered, it's more than a patch on your sleeve, it's in your blood. It's highly recognized in the corporate world that our customers come from." He added that high-level customers from large corporations were impressed that FlightWorks had achieved the certification. "It had the `Wow' effect. A couple of clients, as soon as we told them, they said `Wow.' They know right away what ISO is. Some of our clients are Fortune 50 companies who use ISO as well," he said.
Len Beauchemin, vice president, technical services, said he viewed the ISO certification with a technical background. "Even when you evolve from a technical role [into management] you never get away from the concept of the value that tools bring. I view this as a tool I can use in the management process. I said `Let's look at this tool with a maintenance hat," said Beauchemin. "You can use it to produce a higher quality product, to be more efficient, and for continual learning. I'm big on interpersonal skills and team interaction. This system demands a connection to the rest of the organization and causes me to have interface. It is a living document and like any tool you must send it out for recalibration." In the case of ISO certification it is continually being tweaked to maintain the system and incorporate any changes to the processes. "If there aren't that many maintenance organizations that have selected this program," he said, "it's because they haven't done a good evaluation. This can only be good for those that want to excel professionally and grow the maintenance end of their business," Beauchemin said the benefits of the ISO system include that it produces a better physical product, improves communications with customers, and it improves systems and processes. "ISO demands structure," he added.
Beauchemin said that he had heard people at other companies say they don't see the value of ISO certification. "I think if someone says that they don't see the value of it or we just got a bunch of manuals out of it, then they haven't looked at it right," he said. "ISO asks for a check-and-balance system. There is more acceptance to communication and I see it when we debrief on discrepancies."
According to VCA North America, developing and implementing a structured management system based on a recognized model such as ISO 9001 should promote the objective assessment of process efficiency. "I'm a process person," Beauchemin said. "Success comes from process. If you don't have the right process, that can get to be a problem. [ISO] gives security to know you have a system in place. Whether or not you use it is up to you. You have a tool to help drive the process. I sleep well at night. In the end if I get run over by a truck tomorrow, the business won't suffer, it will go on based on the processes set in place." The goal is to make the processes a company habit with the result being continual improvement.
FlightWorks's dedication to achieving ISO certification took effort and commitment. But the employees all agree that the process was well worth it. "It's great to work for a company that purchases the best tool to help the company manage our business," said Beauchemin. "It was a financial choice that took considerable effort to implement. This affects people and money. It's an effective system."
ISO 9001:2000 (and soon, ISO 9001:2008)
In a highly competitive marketplace such as aviation that is changing at the speed of light, businesses are looking for ways to deal with change and help their business grow. According to VCA North America, "The drive towards achieving global competitiveness, coupled with the relentless pressure to put in place and maintain continuous improvement programs, impel [businesses] to install effective quality management systems that enable them to achieve these demanding objectives." ISO certification can help with achieving whatever business objectives a company has. The certification is broken down into five sections:
- Quality management system
- Management responsibility
- Resource management
- Product realization
- Measurement, analysis, and improvement
The certification process involves a thorough evaluation of processes within those areas, an evaluation of any problem areas, and the implementation of corrective and preventive actions to those processes to promote improvement. Strengths and weaknesses are identified and opportunities for improvement are suggested.
To achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification it is necessary to demonstrate:
- Objectives are set to achieve the company policy and the needs of the customers
- Performance against the objective is measured with actions taken and shortfalls identified
- Processes are developed and followed to support the performance objectives
- A quality management system is developed that provides for continual improvement in performance
Source: http://www.aviationtoday.com