The Company
Wegmann USA, Inc. of Lynchburg, VA, is a company of 30 employees that specialize in the manufacture of mechanical and electro-mechanical components. Wegmann produces such components as a subcontractor to other companies looking for a first class contract manufacturer, or in producing its own products. Wegmann uses a combination of machining, welding, assembly, engineering, quality control, and program management experience to meet its customers' needs. Wegmann's customers come from a variety of industries, including a substantial portion from the defense sector.

The Situation
Wegmann has always viewed its market advantage as being able to offer the quality assurance and professionalism of a large company while maintaining the responsiveness of a smaller company. Wegmann USA was seeing more instances where ISO certification was either a requirement of a potential customer, or it would have allowed them exemption from lengthy quality surveys and reviews.

The Response
A VPMEP project manager specializing in quality systems met initially with Wegmann's management team. The results of the meeting were that ISO certification seemed to fit well with Wegmann's philosophy of doing business. VPMEP then established with the management's input a future schedule of meetings and agendas to start the implementation process. The key to Wegmann's decision was that ISO 9001 could be implemented in such a fashion as to fit their way of doing business without becoming a burdensome paperwork exercise. VPMEP was instrumental in facilitating the ISO certification process by assisting with an action plan for implementation, coaching their management team on proper documentation techniques, and conducting internal quality audits.

The Results
Wegmann USA experienced increased awareness of potential for process improvements, improved accuracy of quotations and better documentation of quotation details. The certification also increased awareness of the company's commitment to quality.

Management's Comment
According to Chuck Warren, President and General Manager, implementing ISO 9001 was not a particularly difficult process. "I truly believe that ISO helps a company to organize their thinking in addressing some very basic business issues that any prudent business manager should want to address. I was pleasantly surprised to find that ISO 9001 does not have to become a bundle of red tape. It was quite easy to tailor the system to our way of running a company. The individual that VPMEP brought in to help guide us was a very down to earth fellow who understood that we wanted to take a practical commonsense approach to running our company."

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