Masonry Magazine October 1995 Page. 46
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46 MASONRY-SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1995
ing major projects in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Chrysler obtained his BSCE in 1992 and is a member of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California, The Masonry Society, Masonry Standards Joint Committee and Masonry Industry Code Committee. He also participated in the TMS Northridge Earthquake Reconnaissance Team, is an active member of the SEAOSC Masonry Seismology Subcommittee and is on the Continuing Engineering Education staff at CSULB teaching Structural Masonry Inspection. Recently, Chrysler co-authored the third edition of the Reinforced Concrete Masonry Construction Inspector's Handbook based on ACI 530-92 and the 1994 UBC.
ΚΕΝΝΕΤΗ A. GUTSCHICK
ΚΕΝΝΕΤΗ A. GUTSCHICK is a consultant for the National Lime Association, Arlington, Virginia, having been with NLA since 1956, primarily in technical services. Although NLA covers a wide variety of chemical and construction markets, Gutschick has spent a large part of his career in highway and building construction, particularly in stabilization and masonry mortar. He has written many technical articles on lime, including several on mortar, he has also filmed and produced many NLA movies, including three involving the use of lime in mortar. He has served as secretary of ASTM C-7 on lime for over 30 years and has been a long time member of C-12 on mortar for unit masonry. He also won the Award of Merit from ASTM.
ISO 9000 STANDARD
Continued from Page 11
the product or service is what the customer ordered?
■Purchasing-Are systems in place to assure that you are purchasing what your employees are specifying for their customers?
■Corrective Action-Do you have a well-defined method of solving problems to eliminate customer dissatisfaction?
Training-Do you have a method of assuring that your employees are properly trained to take care of their customers?
These twenty standards are generic (and sometimes vague) and are not written for any specific industry. The company choosing to adopt the ISO 9000 Standard has a great deal of latitude in determining the way to operate its business in order to comply with the standards. But why is this important to us?
Why should we concern ourselves with a set of standards that have been developed and are primarily focused outside the United States? The answer is simple. Although initiated outside the United States, the ISO 9000 Standard is the most logical for adoption by customers in the United States. In fact, over 2,000 U.S. companies have adopted these standards. They have done so to meet their customers' demands.
Companies who determine that they want or need to comply with the ISO 9000 Standard must first understand and commit to the implementation of a quality process. This is necessary since the ISO 9000 Standard does not specify a specific process, simply that a quality process must be in place and must consist of the twenty elements of the ISO 9000 Standard.
Companies who need proof of compliance with the ISO 9000 Standard in order to meet their customer specifications will seek to be accredited by a recognized certifying agency. The national accredidation program in the United States is administered by the American Society of Quality Control's Registration Accreditation Board.
Like any other process,
complying with the
ISO 9000 Standard takes
a commitment of
time and hard effort.
This board certifies that companies are in compliance and does so through approved auditors who audit the programs of the applying companies. Like any other process, complying with the ISO 9000 Standard takes a commitment of time and hard effort. Some companies are there now. They have implemented the quality process. Others will follow. Some will not and run the risk of failure.
Quality is here to stay. Our customers keep demanding it. The ISO 9000 Standard is on the way. Are you ready?
AL ROACH is a general partner in Callahan/Roach & Associates, a national consulting firm in the construction industry. Callahan/Roach offers consulting and training in all business management areas, including quality implementation. To receive more information about Callahan/Roach & Associates, call 800-462-8217; Fax 404-393-8185.