Florida MEP: Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2003

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

Southeastern Radiation Products Attains ISO Certification

SANFORD, FL - Southeastern Radiation Products (SRP) of Sanford recently received ISO 9001:2000 certification, according to an announcement made today by Maria Alfano, director of operations for the Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

"Getting ISO 9001:2000 certification means SRP will be better able to compete on an international basis and gain access to a large pool of potential new customers," Alfano explained. "I congratulate everyone at SRP 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.

"ISO certification is especially important for us here at SRP," said owner Richard Sweat. "I have intentions of this company going international and having the ISO certification will now help make that possible."

SRP was founded in 1986 to provide custom blocking products to radiation therapy facilities around the world. The company utilized their clinical and manufacturing expertise to develop a unique Internet-based service/product called ".decimal."

"We are a contract manufacturer for the radiation oncology market," Sweat said, "and we service hospitals and private cancer care centers by manufacturing unique tissue compensators and radiation beam modulators designed specifically for individual patients."

While beam compensation has been around since the 1950s, most of the compensators were built in-house. "The problem," Sweat said, "is that if the compensator isn’t just right, an overdose or an under dose will result and healthy tissue will be damaged."

With the ".decimal" system, SRP’s products compensate for tissue density and surface (skin) topography. "When you deal with something this important, quality has to be a fundamental issue," Sweat said.

Quality has never been a problem for SRP, but Sweat felt the ISO certification would assure everyone that is the case. "I also knew that for cancer-care centers to trust an outside firm was going to take a very significant leap of faith," Sweat said. "Having the ISO certification would assure everyone we were certified using an international recognized standard of quality."

The problem, however, was where to start with getting ISO certified. "That’s why I called the Florida MEP. They are experts in the field and I can positively say that our current Quality System could not have been implemented along with our ISO 9001:2000 certification without the assistance and guidance provided by Florida MEP," Sweat said.

MEP project managers took SRP through the ISO process from A to Z, Sweat said. "We went very slowly - it took us almost three years to be certified," he added. "But I had no intention of just getting a mail-order certification. I wanted to look at each and every process and make sure it was the very best for SRP."

Procedures and processes were important to Sweat because production speed is tantamount to success for SRP. "When I get an e-mail order, I can take the specs that come from our software then manufacture the compensator in about approximately 40 minutes," he said. "Believe me, with every product being unique and custom built for a particular patient, things must be right and all processes have to work like clockwork."

SRP must be doing something right. Since implementing the ISO procedures, overall quality has improved dramatically. SRP’s Customer Quality Assessment rating is a strong 92% and growing. For the past 3 years, Compensator sales have increased on average 40% per year.

"Obviously, the ISO certification process is not easy," said MEP’s Alfano, "but just as obviously it can have a positive impact on manufacturers - both in overall quality and to the bottom line."
"We believe strongly in the procedures and benefits of ISO certification and would be glad to discuss the process of becoming certified with any Florida company," she added.

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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