Prestigious ISO accreditation award for Haworth Castings

Published - 10th Jan 2018

We’re delighted to announce that Haworth Castings has been awarded ISO 9001:2015 accreditation, following a 12-month assessment process.

ISO 9001 is one of the world’s most recognised quality management system standards. It enables organisations to demonstrate that they are meeting regulatory requirements and producing products and services of consistently good quality.

Many businesses, particularly those producing safety-critical parts, will only work with partners and suppliers who holds ISO accreditation. So, it can be an essential pre-requisite for some work.

Reflecting changes in the business environment

There have been various versions of the ISO standard. ISO 9001:2015 is the latest standard, replacing ISO 9001:2008 – our previous award.

ISO standards are reviewed every few years and updated to reflect changes to the way organisations do business. All organisations have been given three years to move to the new standard – with a deadline of September 2018 for completion of this work.

The latest standard has several important differences from earlier versions, including an even greater focus on risk management. This reflects a desire to bring the ISO standard in line with other accreditations – such as AS9100, which is widely used in the aircraft industry.

Operating in line with best practice

This latest award demonstrates that Haworth Castings continues to operate in line with best practice and that we manage our business safely and effectively. We’re proud that we’ve met these requirements almost a year before the deadline.

The certification process, which was carried out by independent, external assessors, got under way back in 2016. Internally, this programme was managed by our quality manager, but it involved people from across the business – from the shop floor to the Chief Executive.

The process covered a whole range of issues such as:

• leadership
• planning
• document control
• health and safety
• procurement
• supply chain management

The questions were wide-ranging – covering issues such as ‘what would happen if your main supplier for this element of your work went out of business?’ The aim was to identify how we would manage potential issues.

Working with the assessors

We worked closely with the assessors at every stage – providing them with various documentation relating to our manufacturing processes, training, planning, management and other issues. The assessors were able to start building a picture of the business – checking back with us for clarification on key points as required.

The assessors then carried out a formal audit in October 2017 to look in more detail at specific areas.

ISO accreditation success

Following the visit, the assessors reported that we had met all the necessary requirements – with just a few minor areas for improvement. One suggestion was to combine our training matrices for shop floor and other members of the team. We are already working hard to deliver this and other improvements as quickly as we can.

The assessors will return in October 2018 to look at the progress we have made in implementing these changes and audit other areas of the business.

As always, we will continue with our internal audit programme in parallel with this external assessment.

For Haworth Castings, the new ISO accreditation reflects our renewed focus on meeting and exceeding both regulatory and customer requirements.

It is testament to the hard work of all the team in striving for the highest quality standards across our work.

To find out more about Haworth Castings, please call us today on +44 (0)1794 512685 or email us: sales@haworthcastings.co.uk