Adds Walsten: "The kicker is that the certification can include vendors. If you're not doing business in Europe, but one of your customers is, they may have to require you to have ISO certification. It's a pyramiding thing: it starts one place and just builds from there.'
Now in the middle of the process, Walsten and Sweningson both grant that it's a bit boggling. "People ask me about ISO every week,' says Sweningson. "And I confess to them that I was extremely excited about it before I started, then I began feeling as if I were standing in a swamp, with hip boots on. We're just getting out of the swamp, and when we do I'm going to be superexcited again. The thing I like about ISO in particular is that you have a blueprint to shoot for. When you're running any kind of a small business, that's so helpful.'
So What's Involved, Anyway?
Steps Completed: Month 1: Committed at a board meeting to be certified within 14 months. Month 4: Hired certified quality auditor as consultant to prep company. Month 5: Consultant spends one week talking with 17 of 40 staff people about how they do their jobs and about quality programs already in place. Submits to Job Boss 26-page document of findings and recommendations. Fee: $3,600.
Steps Anticipated: Months 6-8: Company writes down descriptions of quality procedures and adds other procedures as recommended by auditor. Company then files application with auditing firm. Month 9: All written materials completed. Company mails them to auditing firm, which will evaluate the quality manual. Month 10: Auditor reviews manual, makes suggestions. On-site visit is scheduled for 2 to 4 months later. Month 11: Company makes more changes as recommended. Month 12: On-site visit by auditor, up to 3 days. Concludes with sit-down meeting to hash out auditor concerns and company explanations. Certification is granted or denied right there. If certification is not granted, company still pays full fee and reschedules future on-site visit. If certification is granted, company celebrates.
ISO at a Glance
What
ISO stands for International Standards Organization. The organization was put together in 1979 by European representatives in the quality field. Also known as ISO, or ISO 9000, are the quality standards it worked on for eight years and published in 1987.
Where
The organization is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. "delegate" is the American National standards Institute, in New York City.
Why
ISO's intent is to create standards for products traded across international borders and within the as-of-January-1993 unified European economic community. Unified standards, the thinking goes, should minimize the need for on-site vendor visits.
How
Companies seeking ISO certification put to paper the steps in their operations that ensure the quality of goods and services. There are several certification options: ISO 9001 is the broadest set of standards, while ISO 9003 focuses just on final product inspections. Formal outlines detail what's necessary for each. An auditing firm visits the company -- as with a financial audit, the more-than-$10,000 fee is paid by the company -- with authority to grant or deny certification. companies must undergo two follow-up audits per year to maintain certification.
Who
Roughly 40,000 companies worldwide are ISO-certified. In the United States, slightly more than 1,000 mostly large companies and divisions of major corporations are.
To Get Information
Free information packets are available from the American Society for Quality Control (800-248-1946), the American National Standards Institute (212-642-4900), and CEEM Information Services (800-745-5565).
ON THE ROAD
Don't ask Harvey Mackay, CEO of Mackay Envelope Corp., in Minneapolis, what he carries in his briefcase when he travels internationally. He's apt to tell you. Five colors of Post-its, a dictionary, a Berlitz guide, earplugs, a Polaroid camera, a wad of 100 $1 bills, his passport, a tiny bottle of Bayer aspirin -- "for when your flight is four hours late and there's no food on the plane' -- book contracts, a "mini Rolodex' with the numbers of 400 people he'd most likely call. And much, much more.
"I'm a time-management freak, I guess,' says the man who wrote his latest tome, Sharkproof (HarperCollins, 1993), mostly on legal pads, scrap paper, and napkins while 30,000 feet up. "The important thing is to know what you have packed.'
And Mackay does. He packs everything he needs into one big briefcase that conveniently collapses, accordion-style, into one manageable over-the-shoulder tote. Well, almost one. Mackay cheats a little; he also carries a lightweight 18-by-36-inch artist's portfolio containing a photocopy of his passport and his stash of on-the-road reading: the hometown papers, prioritized magazine articles, and unopened mail.
But back to the incredible expanding briefcase. (He owns five exact duplicates; three are packed at all times.) From the outside, it looks like a cross between an attachÉ and a doctor's bag -- except it's soft. Two large zippered pockets on either side hold things he needs to get to fast, like his cellular phone, his itinerary, and a list of favorite restaurants.
The briefcase unlatches from the corner. A big flap pulls back to reveal four "accordion slides, each with pockets.' Mackay stores business papers -- recent financial results, acquisitions, contracts, speeches -- in what else but Mackay 9-by-12-inch envelopes.
A "mammoth pocket' good for storing larger items takes up the other half of the briefcase. And there are plenty of smaller pockets for little items like Mackay's Norelco Dictaphone, stamps, and sunglasses. Oh, and one more item -- a Snickers bar. "I haven't traveled anywhere over the past 40 years without one.' -- Susan Greco
