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Elevating Quality and Supply Chain Resilience
With the help of: Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS)
About
The Challenge
We are always striving to produce a higher quality product, and after being in manufacturing for almost 45 years, we felt it was time to implement ISO 9001 to be able to move up to those standards. We’ve partnered with CIRAS on a variety of projects with positive outcomes, so utilizing them as a resource for this project was immediately part of our thought process.
MEP's Role
In June 2022, Puck started working with CIRAS and a third-party advisor to implement an ISO 9001 management system. “Doing this on your own takes a lot of time and people power. We have fully vetted personnel who have a strong track history for being professional and knowledgeable about the standards,” said Ben Drescher, CIRAS project manager. “They are focused on getting the quality system up to speed and making sure as a company you are still producing your products and making money.”
There is a large learning curve when entering the world of ISO 9001 quality standards and a significant amount of record reviewing and paperwork. “When you read the standards, they are written with a very broad brush and sometimes are open to interpretation. Being able to utilize CIRAS expertise to further break down how a standard applies directly to our processes was extremely beneficial,” said Puck Custom Enterprise's Director of Business Development Laura Pepple. “The number one takeaway from working with CIRAS was their ability to explain the why behind the question and then present multiple avenues of approach to accomplish the task or procedure.”
“An ISO 9001 audit looks at the entire manufacturing system and quality processes, from how products are designed to how employees are trained on quality post checks and how committed management is to a quality system,” said Drescher. “It is a world-recognized standard for how manufacturing is done. Puck is a rapidly expanding company, and obtaining ISO certification will help them attract new business.”
Puck achieved ISO 9001 certification in April 2023.