Another lively thread got me to wondering whether ISO would help non aero or govt machine shops get work.
I have a small shop, 2 full time guys ( including myself ) and 2 part time guys. We are a bit north of Houston. Almost all we do is oil related. I am having a tough time picking up new customers. Actually tough is an understatement. It has proven to be nearly impossible.
I have been evaluating weaknesses and trying to correct this issue. We do not have a quality problem. We do not have a delivery problem. I have been told directly that we are lower cost than other shops my existing customers deal with ( not that it matters-if you are cheaper you get it. Right? )
We do have a salesman problem. I am a terrible salesman, and not particularly likable. People dont dislike me, Im not a jerk or anything. Just not likable or fun.
We may have a size/image problem. We are small. 2 cnc lathes and a 4 axis cnc mill. This issue cant be fixed until business dictates it. Not buying machines for nonexistent work.
So maybe ISO would take some of the negative connotations of being small? Maybe if ISO certified, size would be overlooked?
Would it even matter?
Opinions?
ISO certification may not be for you right away, but the process of being ready for it would certainly benefit any company, IMO. Your company is no different than a shop with 30 employees and two full shifts in any way but scale. You have risks and opportunities to consider. You do sales (effectively or not), you quote, you define processes, you purchase, you program, set up, run and maintain your machines, inspect your work, train your employees, ship parts, invoice, collect payment and do all of the other administrative tasks associated with conducting business.
Put all of the preconceptions aside and all ISO requires you to do is, 1) document the process by which you do it, and 2) be able to demonstrate that you follow your OWN processes.
I suggest from my own experience that the first step – documenting your own processes – has a great benefit. I had documented processes from back in the old TQM days. ISO wasn't something we’d needed because most of our Customers were commercial and we were grandfathered in as approved suppliers for our DoD/aerospace Customers. It became an issue when we lost some commercial accounts to China and wanted to expand on the other side.
To get certified, I got a copy of the ISO Standard and adapted my system to the order and (tedious) language ISO. I ended up with a 40-page quality manual.
The certification process in two stages. The first stage assesses your readiness. I think it was a day and a half. What I learned in Stage 1 caused me to rewrite the ENTIRE QMS in the two weeks until Stage 2.
I learned more about my business in that process than I can begin to tell you. Among the things I learned was that when the QMS is woven into the business rather than a stand-alone entity, everything becomes easy. My revised quality manual was 12 pages long for the Stage 2 audit.
It put me more in touch with my company than I had been before and the process definitely resulted in operational improvements – not because of the ISO standard – but because it forced me to dig so deep into the company. It was eye opening and I thought we were top notch to begin with.
Also… we had accounting software, but managed the shop without shop management software back then. Today’s software offerings include packages that build ISO or AS certification right into the package – the “trick” I discovered between State 1 and Stage 2 of my first audit. For much less than the cost of an employee or a consultant, there are software packages available that make ISO compliance (compliance to your own procedures and policies) easy. Not only that, but they make the audit process itself even easier. The most time-consuming thing will be your own time documenting what you do and how you do it. That time will be very well spent because at some point in the process a light will come on that will cause you to make improvements.
My short answer is that ISO certification does not make you a better company. The *process* in advance of it does. ISO may give a small company “credibility” in some buyer’s eyes, but really small shops don’t have the capacity to take a ton of work from the bigger Customers, anyway. In fact, if you’re doing a lot of work for other shops, it may actually hurt because they will perceive that you’ll charge more because of ISO.
About your “not good at sales” comment, good for you! You recognize a where you’re not strong. Nobody ever said that the owner of a successful business needs to be a “suit.” There is nothing preventing you from hiring for the position you might think a “President” needs to fill. Run your shop as you see fit. If your strength is making machines dance, play to your strength and hire for the Customer development and administrative things. You still own the business. If you put yourself on the floor, you are hands-on in charge of the best sales tool there is – making delivery dates with parts that meet the print. If your hired admin help doesn’t perform to your satisfaction, make a change. You own the joint.
Last point: a well-done web page is a must. It will help sales over time.