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Original Date: 09/20/2004
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Information : Dynamic Quality System
Driven by the desire to improve its reputation for providing customers with high quality products, Forest City Gear implemented the Dynamic Quality System in 1999, which exceeds the ISO-9001 and AS-9100 elements. This system will assist Forest City Gear in expanding its customer base and give the company a better understanding of the cost of non-conformance.
Forest City Gear (FCG) has always been known for its extremely high quality products and timely deliveries. However, as the company reviewed the requirements for ISO 9001 certification, it concluded that its quality system was poorly documented and controlled and haphazard. Besides lacking trained auditors, the company’s quality system had no formal method for handling non-conforming material, corrective and preventive actions, or internal control. Set-up technicians checked the quality of each other’s product and took necessary actions to correct non- conformance conditions.
FCG’s new approach to quality began with the objective of becoming ISO-9001 certified. The company developed and implemented a Dynamic Quality System based on the documentation of all processes, conformance measurements, and continuous improvements. The Dynamic Quality System was designed to be a fully documented system with processes for internal auditing, corrective action, non-conforming material, and machine audits. The system is based on corporate vision and supports FCG’s Quality Policy, which focuses on customer satisfaction. This commitment to “Excellence – Without Exception” includes maintaining manufacturing systems and technologies best suited to the emerging needs of its customers, developing a highly skilled, well trained and motivated workforce, fostering long-term partnerships with committed and capable suppliers, and providing appropriate professional support staff and systems to the company. In addition, this commitment includes building an organization that embraces quality as its core value and promotes a commitment to excellence, along with assuring its customers the highest quality products and most responsive delivery performance, all at fair and competitive prices.
To accomplish this commitment to “Excellence – Without Exception,” FCG personnel consider all work to be a process, and that process must be controlled. They define the primary areas of quality management to be:
Monitoring and measuring products
Inspecting and testing all products received and internally produced products
Controlling non-conforming products
Consistent and aggressive corrective and preventive action program
Robust corrective and preventive action system that ensures success of the corrective and preventive action program
FCG maintains total quality of all processes with the application of each of these principles.
Annual audits cover all ISO-required elements and help ensure that the company’s ISO certification status is maintained. All audit non-conformances are analyzed to determine root causes, and appropriate corrective action is initiated. FCG has closed-loop processes for corrective action requests, non-conforming material, machine audits, and customer satisfaction. Corrective action requests and non-conforming material reports must be closed out within 14 days. These processes form feedback loops to all levels of the company from the supplier chain to equipment in the field.
FCG’s Dynamic Quality System provides clearly defined, documented policies and procedures, and a baseline for continuous improvement. Well defined methods for handling corrective action and non-conforming material and performing audits are clearly specified. The system provides internal control of conformance to requirements; allows for flexibility and variation; and provided the basis for successful achievement of ISO-9001 certification in December 2000. This in-place system was also instrumental in helping FCG obtain AS 9001 certification in December 2004.
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
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