PRESS RELEASE
Ford Announces ISO 9001 Certification
20 February 1997
ISO 9001 at Ford: More Than a Plaque On the WallDEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 20 -- While Ford is proud to display its ISO 9001 badge of achievement, the real measure of the Company's success will be the positive impact its quality discipline will have on customer satisfaction. In December 1996, Ford became the largest automotive organization in the world to receive ISO 9001 quality certification, the result of an immense exercise in teamwork and cooperation among 109 facilities making up the Company's North American Operations. Ford's European Operations were certified in 1993. "Although ISO 9001 certification is certainly an accomplishment for Ford, the real payoff is in its contribution to the delivery of satisfying high quality products for our customers," said Ken Dabrowski, vice president, Quality and Process Leadership, Ford Motor Company, "The ISO 9001 process has forced us to be disciplined and focused on continuous improvement in our quality systems. We are using it as a positive internal force to keep moving the quality needle on all our vehicle lines, which will ultimately lead to increased customer satisfaction." Ford engineers now have a framework for a more organized and disciplined approach to making decisions about quality. Engineering systems are based on written process statements supported by formal "how to" procedures, which provide engineers with a straightforward roadmap for executing their responsibilities. "ISO disciplines are helping us keep track of important issues. A lot of effort and time is saved because people are more certain of their tasks. You can find the deliverables and due dates for tasks in your job and justify priorities for what needs to be done first and in what order," said Jim Eyre, ISO Core Team Manager, "This discipline also has made it easier to find quality documents like design criteria by putting them in a central location. In fact, many functions are posting and updating departmental records, problem logs, verification plans, test reports and other quality system procedures on the Company's Internal WEB sites. This has helped to eliminate cumbersome and out-of-date manuals." The next step on Ford's ISO journey involves ongoing surveillance to maintain certification. Generally, each activity audited in 1996 will undergo two surveillance visits per year. Ford also has established an ISO Integration Committee to communize its quality systems and merge the certifications between Europe and North America. Facilities in Ford's Automotive Products Operations (Automotive Components Division, Glass Division, and Electrical and Fuel Handling Division) are upgrading their certification to the QS-9000 Standard. QS-9000 is a fundamental automotive-specific quality standard, which incorporates ISO 9001, adopted by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors for internal and external suppliers. "ISO establishes our credentials in the marketplace," said Dabrowski. "It is now up to us not only to maintain our certification, but to keep striving for even higher levels of quality. This is about much more than hanging a certificate on the wall. It signals a drive for continuous improvement that will be clear to our customers, who are the ultimate judges of our products." ISO 9001 is an international quality standard developed by the International Standard Organization that defines generic quality system requirements for companies. Registration involves documenting the quality system and following quality procedures. Companies achieve certification by passing on-site audits performed by an independent third party. The certification covers design, engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, and marketing and sales. SOURCE Ford Motor Company
CONTACT: Carla Waddles of Ford, 313-594-4100