ISO Assistance Supports Continued Improvement

About

Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, with six facilities throughout North America, Integrity is a global leader in the tool and mold industry, providing design, build, manufacture and repair and maintenance solutions for clients around the world. Integrity is known for the diversity in the projects they can handle – small to large scale, simple to complex and a complete range of mold commodities. The Pulaski, Tennessee, location is a fully-staffed 20,000-square-foot facility. This plant gives Integrity a southern presence to better serve customer needs with state-of-the-art equipment and 40-ton crane capacity. This plant operates 24/7 and is geared to support new design and builds as well as any engineering change or repair work that is required. The Tennessee location provides strategic proximity to many customers resulting in quicker turnaround times, less travel time, and drastically reduced costs.

The Challenge

After having worked with the TMEP team, part of the MEP National Network™, on a leadership development training and coaching project, the company requested assistance with preparing internal auditors to complete internal first-party audits to their ISO 9001 program. An internal quality audit is an important tool for any company that wishes to assess its quality procedures, compare performance against external standards, or prepare for an external audit. By conducting an internal audit, Integrity would identify areas where they needed to make changes or improvements.

"The Center was just what we needed. The training and guidance we received was extremely valuable. They listened to what we needed as a group and as individuals and provided us with the knowledge and information we needed to meet ISO requirements." — Sarah Kenley, Manager - Finance & Human Resources

MEP's Role

A TMEP QMS lead auditor certified consultants facilitated a two-day ISO9001:2015 Internal Auditor Training workshop. The workshop covered all requirements of the ISO 9001 standard with group exercises and case studies to help develop the required auditing skills. The workshop also covered topics from ISO 19011 including the auditing process and methodologies, e. g. planning and conducting an audit, writing nonconformity statements, preparing an audit summary and report, and verifying corrective actions. After the workshop, participants were able to generate audit findings that helped the organization make process improvements.  

Results

• $250,000 in cost savings
• $500,000 in plant/process improvements
• $250,000 in workforce investments