Accurate Pattern Achieves ISO 9001: 2015 Certification
New quality standard heightens performance at company, opens new market opportunities
Posted: January 8, 2022
Accurate Pattern Inc. (Butler, Wisconsin) proudly announces it has received the Certificate of Registration for ISO 9001: 2015, effective July 29, 2021. The announcement was made by the new owners of the company, President & CEO Polly Sackett and COO Kevin Williams, who took the reins from Kevin’s father, Bruce Williams, on April 8, 2021.
As the ISO certificate states, Accurate has demonstrated that their Quality Management System complies with the requirements of ISO 9001: 2015 and, further, that the scope of this registration includes the design and manufacturing of patterns, tooling and gages for a variety of industries and provision of contract services for inspection and machining.
There are two distinct halves of this busy 25-person job shop, namely, patternmaking and fixturing. Each requires a unique set and President Polly Sackett comments, “We are so fortunate to have a dedicated group of employees who can work both sides of the operation to get the jobs done.”
Accurate performs CAD design services, manual and CNC machining up to 5-axes, CMM inspection and certification plus welding and spray coating, as it provides products to the automotive, metalcasting, marine and other markets nationwide.
In detailing the story of its ISO certification, Kevin Williams said, “The process actually began before Polly and I bought the business. Our quality manager Kris Bird has a passion for excellence and he was the key driver in this effort. But all our team really worked together, investing over 1500 hours in meetings, documentation, process and procedure development.”
Polly Sackett echoed that sentiment. “We partnered with the Waukesha County Technical College to obtain their Incumbent Worker Training Grant and it helped us train the entire team for the ISO audit, conducted by American Management Technology, Inc. (AMTEC) in Fontana, Wisconsin.” The result was a series of protocols and documentation on the entire production process at Accurate, resulting in an overnight success through the certification. As Polly notes, “We had the entire document prepped and provided it to AMTEC on a Thursday morning and we were certified by Friday night. We promptly threw a party for the employees and their families to celebrate.”
In practical terms, the benefits of achieving the ISO certification are many. The company anticipates it will explore greater opportunities in its core market of automotive, plus the ISO certification opens new market opportunities. “Those are both very exciting prospects for Accurate and we’re certain this accomplishment will lead to increased business for the company, a goal Kevin and I have set, despite these challenging times and business conditions,” she concluded.
Discussing the origin of this process at Accurate, Kevin noted, “It was a combination of customer-driven need and the passion of Kris Bird, who lobbied for the ISO certification. We quickly realized the benefits to the company and knew it would be worth the investment of time and resources to make it happen.” He further commented that the entire team at Accurate took ownership for the success of the process and the result was therefore more quickly achieved.
Polly explained the process further. “Seven or eight of us would meet weekly to discuss every stage of this endeavor and all the necessary documentation. Because we have both a metal and a model side to our company, it was a challenge to find one solution to fit both departments, but we did it,” she said, clearly proud of the achievement attained by the team at Accurate.
Kevin observed, “It was smooth sailing with very little pushback and that’s always a worthwhile experience.”
One other employee voiced his satisfaction with the accomplishment of the ISO certification. Armand “Mandi” Lulo, the company’s Director of Business Development, said, “As soon as we had the certificate in hand, I was contacting current and prospective customers to let them know. All of us at Accurate Pattern are very excited and very proud of this achievement.”
For more information, please contact: www.AccuratePattern.com