Honingcraft has achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification, aligning quality procedures with international best practice standards and paving the way for company exports.

The certification process began in November 2008.
Announcing successful implementation of the ISO standard, quality co-ordinator Ray Wright said that Honingcraft’s decision to embark on the quality improvements had been taken to enable continued delivery of the best possible quality and service to customers.

He said that management had placed a strong emphasis on process orientation rather than document orientation.
“We wanted in place a system that would yield customer satisfaction as the end result, and we achieved this by enhancing the effectiveness of our everyday business activities,” Wright said.

“Where a documentation approach places emphasis on completing a set operation to a predetermined standard, the process mindset focuses instead on the links between the processes, and develops a clear understanding that the end product is the result of co‑ordinated and co-operative teamwork.

“The South African Bureau of Standards was the ideal certifying authority for this approach,” Wright said, “helping us to focus on product quality rather than delivery times, although we found that delivery times automatically improved because of the traceability system.”

From the outset of the quality upgrade, Honingcraft trained operators in their home languages, involving supervisors and translating the quality policy so that all staff could more easily understand the purpose of the changes.

Processes were made as visual as possible by implementing a system of symbols to indicate the status of parts as either meeting standard, failing standard or still in process.

At the level of foremen, training was undertaken in the purpose of all operations beyond their own responsibility, so that an overall understanding was built of the function of each operation in the process.

Wright said that ISO certification had been responsible for individual machine operators being trained to anticipate the requirements of the next manufacturing process, eliminating a previously common approach of ignoring those facets which did not fall under their direct responsibility.

“There were challenges, but Honingcraft has a very positive team which made implementation quite easy,” Wright said, adding that the road to ISO certification had largely been one involving efficiency and communication,