Florida MEP: Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2003

For more information please contact:
Gene Lussier
Board Chair, Florida MEP
321-939-4000

ISO Certification Helps Sanford Company Attract Customers

SANFORD, FL - Automatic Coax and Cable of Sanford recently completed a program to become ISO 9001-2000 certified, according to an announcement made today by Maria Alfano, director of operations for the Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Florida MEP).

"Getting ISO 9001:2000 certification means Automatic Coax and Cable will be able to compete on an international basis and gain access to a large pool of potential new market," Alfano explained. "I congratulate everyone at the company who was involved in the certification process."

ISO stands for "International Standards Organization," and certification signifies the company has met a rigorous set of internationally observed standards.

While the process to become ISO certified entailed a lot of hard work, time and effort, it was definitely worth it, according to Tym Tucker, ISO management representative for Automatic Coax and Cable (ACC).

"We have already had a couple of new customers come on board because we are now ISO certified," Tucker said. "I know we would not have been able to attract those customers without the certification and that makes everything we went through worth while."

Tucker was especially pleased to have worked with the project managers at the Florida MEP. "It was a great experience," he said, "because they really knew what they were doing and we were able to leap right into the ISO process without doing it blindly."

In fact, Tucker said, the project managers’ insight made the transition to ISO easy and they definitely helped reorganize the way ACC does business.

ACC is a contract manufacturer of wire harnesses, cable assemblies and electro-mechanical assemblies. A woman-owned facility, the company was founded in 1987 in Central Florida and currently has 20 employees plus part-time flex-staff. ACC’s current customer base spans most of the United States and some international companies. While most of their customer base is commercial, the company does manufacture select military products.

"Recently, we realized many of our prospective customers are ISO certified themselves and wanted us to be," Tucker said. "It certainly makes sense because our certification has opened doors and shortened the time it takes between quotes and manufacturing."

Another benefit to ACC has been the impact the ISO certification has had on the employees’ morale. "Having documented procedures in place helps us to do audits and track quality objectives," Tucker said. "That means our employees get to see the results of their efforts and realize the company is doing the best it can."

Numbers really tell the story. Since implementation of the ISO quality system, ACC has noted that late shipments have dropped from 57 percent to just 2 percent; customer returns have decreased from 2.8 percent to .1 percent; and defects found at final inspection dropped from 5.26 percent to .08 percent.

Tucker was definitely impressed when one ACC customer recently audited all 65 of their cable suppliers in an effort to reduce the number to five. "We’ve now learned that because of our quality system ACC has been selected as one of the five suppliers selected," Tucker said. "That means additional contract work with that customer and increased revenue for our company."

The Florida MEP is an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The national MEP is a network of manufacturing extension centers that provide business and technical assistance to smaller manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Through MEP, manufacturers have access to more than 2000 manufacturing and business "coaches" whose job is to help firms make changes that lead to greater productivity, increased profits, and enhanced global competitiveness. For more information on the Florida MEP program call 321-939-4000.

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