ISO 9001:2015 Machine Shop
Kylan Hastreiter – February 23, 2021
Hastreiter: An ISO 9001 Certifed Machine Shop
Hastreiter Industries is excited to announce our status as an ISO 9001:2015 certified machine shop! We made the decision to pursue ISO certification as part of our ongoing commitment to our quality system, and our desire for continuous process improvement.
In short, we’re always looking for ways to improve as a company, and ISO certified machine shops provide a level of comfort for those seeking out machining services. It was a win win for us at Hastreiter.
What Does It Mean For A Machine Shop To Be ISO 9001 Certified?
As you may already know, ISO 9001 is a certification that is highly regarded across a wide variety of industries. ISO 9001 is a series of quality management standards that indicate that a particular company has met the rigorous quality management standards put forth by ISO.
More than just quality products and services, being ISO certified also requires a strong customer focus, and commitment to continual improvement.
What Does ISO Certification Require?
For a machine shop to become ISO 9001 certified requires a company-wide commitment. Every aspect of the business is examined including: Operations, leadership, the quality management system, ability to meet customer requirements, manage nonconformities, processes, performance, criteria for measuring company performance, ongoing improvements and more.
It’s a long checklist, but at the end of the day it’s a great exercise and offers benefits both to the company, and potential customers.
Advantages of Being ISO 9001 Certified
It should come as no surprise that being an ISO certified machine shop has inherent advantages. Both for us as a machine shop, and for those who are researching which machine shops to work with.
For us, the ISO certification process involved lengthy and ongoing analysis, internal discussions, white board sessions, late nights, planning, change, employee feedback and participation. The end result is Hastreiter is stronger as a company, and we consider that a huge advantage for achieving our goals as a company.
In short, it made us better which benefits both us and our customers.
For you, if you’re researching which CNC machine shops to work with, an ISO 9001 certification can help to validate the decision about which machine shops to hire.
Let’s face it. If you’re shopping for precision machining services, including CNC turning, CNC milling, or even aerospace machining services, having an ISO certification matters. That’s not to say that only ISO-certified machine shops do quality work (we’re proof positive of this!).
However, there’s always a degree of uncertainty that comes with hiring ANY company you’re not familiar with. This is true for any industry, not just the machining industry.
You can have some degree of assurance that any machine shop with an ISO certification has had their operation thoroughly vetted by ISO, and is an indicator that you’re speaking with a machine shop who takes pride in their quality process.
Quality Assurance
Choosing from a wide range of local machine shops can sometimes be overwhelming. Machine shops with ISO certifications have made a commitment to quality, helping increase the odds that you’ll have a favorable outcome with your machining project. Here are five of Hastreiter’s key performance indicator sections:
Hastreiter: Our Experience In Becoming An ISO 9001 Certified CNC Machine Shop
As I mentioned earlier, we considered this an opportunity to not only up our game in the machining industry, but to learn and improve as an organization. Mission accomplished on both fronts!
Taking an approach focused on creating scalable, streamlined processes to bring value to the machine shop (and thereby value to the customer) resulted in achieving our ISO 9001 certification and no “lip service”. What do I mean by diligence?
Diligence in scalable processes allows our machine shop to expand, to grow alongside our customers and mitigate the growing pains that might otherwise limit our ability to flex and serve our customers.
We definitely don’t want to get caught flat footed, and we feel we’re in a better position to respond to challenges of all shapes and sizes than ever before.
The strong focus on streamlined, scalable processes per ISO 9001 enables stability and reliability in key performance indicators.
ISO 9001 certification for the machine shop marks traceability and documented procedures to ensure five of Hastreiter’s key performance indicator sections: quality, on time delivery, short lead times, fair pricing, and timely, transparent customer service.
Hastreiter’s main focus is to ensure a reliable, worry-free supply chain by optimizing these variables to bring value to the purchaser/customer.
In a remarkable feat during 2020, Hastreiter Industries’ ISO 9001 machine shop was up 41% in personnel count. With a sustainable eye to the future, over a quarter of new employees are part-time students, completing their education in machining.
While the current business climate has not been easy for many companies, part of Hastreiter’s continued growth can be attributed to the efficiency and reliability of Hastreiter Industries’ processes. Such dependability in machining processes creates value for Hastreiter’s customers.
While the push for certification is, in part, due to customer demand, Hastreiter is continuing to grow with customer needs by pursuing AS9100D, an aerospace addition to Hastreiter’s ISO 9001:2015 machine shop certification. Hastreiter Industries’ ISO 9001 machine shop primarily serves Aerospace, Defense, Energy, Rapid Prototyping and Industrial Equipment industries.
ISO 9001 certification is not the end goal but a framework for continuous improvement, ongoing technology adoption, risk mitigation and regularly overhauling departments.
Continuous improvement can take place on the micro-scale within a company culture of suggestion and implementation, always looking for ways to improve. This continuous improvement can also take root in a deeper, intentional ways.
Apart from the new ISO 9001 certification, another yearly focus for continuous improvement has been Hastreiter’s intentional, regular departmental overhauling.
In 2020 the two departments receiving such attentions were shipping and quality.
Shipping was rearranged to increase efficiency; they received new equipment such as skin packaging and foam packaging machines, and water-activated tape to increase part protection in transit.
Metrology/Quality received a new laboratory-grade CMM, an SPC shop-wide overhaul. This year (2021) Hastreiter will be adding to their ISO 9001 machine shop a new, ISO 8 clean room that is temperature-controlled to +/- 1 degree Celsius, humidity controlled, as well as the addition of another CMM and propriety technology and processes you can’t see outside of a tour.
By regularly overhauling departments every year, an ISO 9001 machine shop gets to the point where even aspects already ahead of the competition are being overhauled – but that’s how Hastreiter both gets ahead and stays ahead.
To top off an excellent 2020, Hastreiter Industries was recognized by Manufacturing Technology Insights magazine as a “Top 10 CNC Machining Service Company of 2020”.
Hastreiter Industries is committed to being progressive technologically and in continuous innovation.
Hastreiter Industries’ ISO 9001:2015 / Partial Design register is Perry Johnson, who is ANAB and UKAS accredited. The scope is: Manufacturer of Low, Medium, and High Volume CNC Machined Parts, Metrology Inspection, DFM and Engineering Support.
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