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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Smart Aviation Management Uses An As9100 Consultant For ISO Certification

By Judy Sullivan


Airline passengers care about safety, but most are convinced that at least statistically flight is one of the safer ways to travel. To the average consumer, aviation is like any other product, and little concern is given to the processes that must combine to deliver it. Improving efficiency to become a truly great provider of air movement, however, can be best facilitated by an as9100 consultant.

A serious challenge to senior leadership in any company that elects to pursue greater efficiency and quality is the reaction of their employees. To workers, any such management move smacks of danger to either changing or eliminating their job. Handled poorly, workers can not only resent the attempt to change things, but get very creative in the effort to thwart possible change, even without knowing what it entails.

One of the hallmarks of the airline industry is its remarkable safety record, where it ranks as the safest form of travel by distance traveled. This is due, among other factors, to the discipline of aircrews checklist use. This same rigid mindset, however, makes change problematic a necessary part of continuous improvement and ISO compliance.

The organization rising to that need is called ISO, a word that originates in the Greek word isos, meaning equal. Organized in 1947, this group of standards experts from more than 150 countries meet, debate and develop guidelines that ensure consistent, safe and equal products and services. Adopting these guidelines and gaining certification in them proves a commitment to excellence customers and competitors heed.

Formed in 1946, ISO has promulgated over 19,000 voluntary standards, covering nearly every field of commerce. When the ISO 9000 series of standards were published in 1987, the guidelines meshed with a worldwide push for quality management, and they gained unprecedented international acceptance. Having ISO certification now makes a solid statement that a company is dedicated to producing high quality, consistent products and services.

Unfortunately for businesses, this is not the kind of accreditation one can simply apply for and get approval. It entails a thorough, company wide analysis of everything that is done to produce the product or service, and the supporting functions, then an application and finally an independent externally conducted assessment of the company. It also means senior leaders cannot order it to be done, the workers supervisors and leaders will have to work together to succeed.

The kind of deep look at the business is unlike most management reviews, it entails every process accomplished by anyone working, from administrative support and training to operational flying. The goal of this first deep look is to assess exactly what is really being done, seeking those tasks that either hurt efficiency or do not help. This is a difficult step to accomplish without an independent outside assistant.

Once the new processes are well established, the hard part really begins, as the term continuous improvement implies, the effort is never ending. An as9100 consultant can help establish a maintenance process that helps prevent stagnation and encourages an environment of self inspection. Staying ahead of competitors is less the goal than simply being the best that one can be in given circumstances.




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