Heraeus: New ISO Certification for Outstanding Quality Management
Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG, a company of the worldwide precious metal and technology group Heraeus Holding GmbH, and Heraeus Tenevo AG, are the first companies in Germany to have been certified under the new, process-oriented quality standard DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 in conjunction with the Business Excellence Model. The German Society for the Certification of Management Systems, DQS, certified all of the two companies' German production sites.
DQS, an independent body, examined the crucial quality themes "Processes," "Continuous Improvement" and "Customer Satisfaction" in a four-day audit. Heraeus Quarzglas and Heraeus Tenevo not only met the new, high ISO standards, but uniform methods and procedures at all production sites also made it possible for them to receive certification for all of Germany in conjunction with the Business Excellence Model. Up to now, no other company in Germany has been able to achieve this. The sites certified were Hanau, Kleinostheim, Bitterfeld and Munich.
"We are very happy to have obtained this certification," said Dr. Walter Körmer, Managing Director of Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH und Co. KG. "It increases the confidence our customers have in us. This independent assessment gives them the added knowledge that Heraeus Quarzglas can guarantee the highest technical performance through the most advanced quality management systems. And this level of performance is consistent over several production sites."
"The new ISO 9001:2000 certificate verifies to us and our customers that we have not only defined and documented precise internal workflows but also that we put them into practice them every day. Regular process improvements are built into the production sequences. This not only leads to higher cost efficiency but also above all, to more employee and customer satisfaction," said Günter Bachmann, CEO of Heraeus Tenevo AG.
The procedure for obtaining certification under the standard, which has only been in force since December, was short and efficient. In January 2000, a comprehensive analysis of process efficiency was started with employees and executives at all four sites of both companies. In addition to the audit of the production processes, which is taken as a matter of course today, all service processes in marketing, planning, packaging, shipping and finance/accounting were scrutinized.
In doing so, the expanded standards of the new DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 were incorporated. The implementation of the improved processes was reviewed by internal audits at all sites. To prevent the results of this extensive work from being shelved away and so that new employees could be trained in them, they were documented in a new TQM (Total Quality Management) handbook. All employees of both companies have access to the handbook as an interactive platform in the Intranet.
Nonetheless, the ISO 9001:2000 standard is only a further step towards a comprehensive total quality management system for both quartz glass companies. In late 1999, Heraeus Quarzglas decided to create a total quality management system (TQMS) based on the Business Excellence Model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The benefit of such a TQM system lies in the expanded criteria for the continuous improvement of the work processes, the increase of customer satisfaction, improvement of employee satisfaction and not least, the improvement of the business results.
These standards of the EFQM were developed roughly 15 years ago on the basis of the experiences of many European companies. The assumption is that companies that meet these standards have greater long-term success than others. The winners of the annual European Quality Award (EQA) confirm this. Heraeus Quarzglas and Heraeus Tenevo intend to compete for this international quality award in the medium term.
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