“With the decision to take our company to the next level in Quality and Environmental Management made, we sourced IMSM to help us with the mammoth task of getting this done from our Durban office and then to three major branches in South Africa. Each branch holds its own certification, but the “mothership” is in Durban. What a pleasure it has been to work with their consultants and assessors. Invaluable advise and input was given, which made the whole process smooth and without problems. With certification done and dusted, it is with no surprise that we will not think of any other service provider to take us through the transition phase for the new standards. “

Anderson Dahlen are contract manufacturers, specialising in the machining, welding, fabricating and assembly of stainless steel.  80% of their business is related to the food processing industry, providing stainless steel equipment.  It took Anderson Dahlen 8 months to become certified. “Our IMSM Assessor put in a lot of time and effort; they did a really good job for us, helping to organise what we had here.  We had a lot of the pieces in place, they just weren’t put together, which IMSM helped us to do.  We have a system in place now and we continually follow up on everything. “The locality of the IMSM Area Manager was a real plus for us.  To have someone local to us who we could ask questions, get answers and go back and forth easily was a big factor for us. “The process went well, IMSM did a great job working with us, we really appreciate how IMSM helped us to organise the company.  IMSM made it a whole lot easier for us by pointing us in the right directions.  As far as the program goes, I think it has been a great success for Anderson Dahlen, by keeping us on track, improving the quality and being able to work with larger customers.”

Custom Computer Cables of America (CCCoA), headquartered in Garland, Texas, is a leading manufacturer of custom fiber optic and copper cable wire harnesses delivering to clients around the world. CCCoA became certified in 2010 and believe the ISO will act as a prominent vehicle to drive their business forward in 2011. “IMSM became a tactical team member in the planning and execution of becoming certified. Upon meeting with IMSM, who explained everything thoroughly, ISO certification went very well and we hit our due date of when we wanted to be certified. We already had a lot of systems in motion, so once IMSM helped us to realise exactly what needed to be done, it only took 6 weeks.”

Vaughan Industries designs and produces electronic components, based in Cornwall, manufacturing for the UK, Chinese as well as global markets. In the past 3 years, Vaughan Industries has doubled its workforce and capability and trebled the size of its premises. Vaughan Industries became ISO 9001 certified as a result of demand from a major Chinese customer and used IMSM’s services to acquire the ISO certifications. “IMSM were extremely helpful, our IMSM consultant was brilliant. There are a lot of peculiarities in our particular industry, and our IMSM consultant had plenty of ideas to help us work out how best to adapt the procedures. Rather than just telling us what to do like a Sergeant Major, our consultant established a strong relationship with us from the beginning, working with us closely to propose the best ideas and suggesting the best possible improvements. They were there when we needed them, but they never got in the way.”

The Cox Group is a multi-disciplined highly-diverse organisation that provides services to collect, manage, sort and recycle waste throughout South East England. Established in 1979, the company has grown tremendously, and today it is made up of 3 main divisions: Cox Skips, skip hire; Team Waste Southern Ltd., a multi-collection trade waste service; and The Recycling Partnership Ltd., a waste recyclables collection company. IMSM initially visited The Cox Group to implement the ISO 9001 Quality Management System, to complement this; The Cox Group subsequently acquired ISO 14001 Environmental Management. These Management Systems were further enhanced by obtaining OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management. “The Cox Group used IMSM’s consultancy services to obtain all of three qualifications. IMSM greatly helped us to increase the strength of its quality at work systems. The industry knowledge, experience and un-rivalled assistance that IMSM has offered us to date supported and continually developed our company with each quality system that we operate”.

DAU Components Ltd formed in 1977 and specialises in passive electronic components, electronic systems, thermal management and ‘e-mech’ components. Recently, they have made a successful move into supplying LEDs to a leading automotive supplier. DAU distribute throughout Europe and the Far East, working closely with customers to provide parts to their specific requirements, focusing their efforts on a core range of products, and recognising that holding an ISO accreditation is an essential prerequisite for business today. “IMSM is a highly experienced professional consultancy, delivering consistent ISO standards and other business services. They have added value to DAU Components by highlighting where we had exceptional business strengths, which differentiates ourselves from our competitors. DAU receive an annual ISO 9001 Quality Management System independent audit, which is very important to the business as we grow and move forward. The annual audit ensures we remain on track and that continuous improvement activity is tracked and in-line with developing the business.”

“I was surprised at just how smoothly everything went. IMSM’s Assessor first visited us in early September. By early November, we had received the certificate.”

After gaining ISO 9001 and BS OHSAS 18001 with IMSM, Mantis Cranes contacted us for help securing ISO 14001 certification. Already, the standard is proving its worth when approaching new customers. Based in County Durham, Mantis Cranes is the UK’s number one self-erecting crane supplier. The company supplies crane solutions for construction projects throughout the country. So it’s essential for Mantis Cranes to show it takes quality, safety and environmental standards seriously. “IMSM had been instrumental in gaining our two standards – so they were the natural choice for helping us become ISO 14001 certified. They were helpful throughout the whole process. Not only were they easy to work with, they were flexible too and always willing to fit round our schedule. Following a pre-assessment, IMSM’s assessor conducted a comprehensive audit.”

Inmar Automation, based in Southampton, is a family-owned business of some forty years standing, which inspects, repairs, tests and certifies industrial and marine instrumentation. Among its clients are BP, Carnival Cruises and Red Funnel Ferries. Until a few years ago, its longevity alone was sufficient evidence of its credentials, but increasingly the company was being asked whether it had any ISO standards, when pitching for new business. “IMSM happened to approach us at the right time, and we have been delighted with the service they have provided.” John added that IMSM’s service was a huge help during the process. “Our auditor has been brilliant. She looked really carefully about what parts of each ISO applied to us, and which bits were irrelevant, so it was tailored to our business and not the other way around.”

ACM Acoustic Engineering Ltd was formed in 1993, and was originally office based, having three staff. The business has been providing supply, design and installation of acoustic equipment specifically for the generator/stand by power market. ACM Acoustic Engineering began to experience clients requesting the ISO 9001 certificate. Chris Porter, Director, got in touch with IMSM to begin the ISO certification process. As it was a customer requirement they knew achieving ISO 9001 certification would be beneficial for the ongoing success of the business. Chris recalls the process of working closely with IMSM, “The process was easy. That said, we had previously used IMSM to gain ISO 9001:2000, which has now lapsed. However, many of the procedures were still in place which meant minimal changes to what we were already doing.”