raising the standard

ISO 9001 offers reassurance that we are a professional company dedicated to improving efficiency

>20 years of iso 9001

When BSIs quality management systems standard BS 5750 was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987, the ISO 9000 family of standards for quality management systems was born. Twenty years later over 776,608 certificates have been issued in 161 countries, and businesses continue to seek out ways to maintain the highest possible levels of quality management. It was this that attracted the earliest clients to ISO 9001. The Tarmac Group, itself over 100 years old and one of the UKs best known brands, was the first to achieve certification to ISO 9001 by BSI. Since then, the ISO 9000 family of standards has drawn thousands of companies seeking excellence in quality management. Citi Global Transaction Services Dublin is one such company. It was aware of the importance of having an internationally-recognized and proven quality management system (QMS) in place, to demonstrate to customers and staff an on-going commitment to quality and innovation. The organization is part of the Citi global financial services company, which has 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries around the world. The complex nature of the business demands a strong focus on consistently high standards and continual review and improvement of working practices, in order to provide products and
24 business standards October2007

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services in line with client requirements. Citi Global Transaction Services Dublin wanted to empower its staff, transferring power downward and outward, to foster site-wide employee participation in building a quality culture. The company wanted to commit to achieving set measurable objectives, communicating these to all staff, and subjecting the objectives to continual review. It has given us greater consistency across the certified areas, which is critical due to the complexity of the products we offer to our clients, says Juan Rio Salvador, Citi Global Transaction Services Dublin quality manager and vice president. It has also resulted in process improvement and innovations which help us meet customer requirements and improve our levels of client satisfaction. This has been achieved by monitoring defects and taking corrective action, which involves management reviews, monthly quality circle meetings, and internal and external quality audits. Quality and innovation are now embedded in Citi Global Transaction Services Dublin and are an on-going focus within the business. In July 2005, the company announced the creation of a Research and Development centre of Excellence with an investment of 10 million. This is the first dedicated Research and Development centre established by Citi worldwide and the first ever Research and

Development investment by a financial services company in Ireland. The tanker division of Turners (Soham) Ltd the UKs biggest independent haulage contractor turned to ISO 9001 as a way to improve its quality management systems and discovered that it offered additional benefits. We are forever tendering for new business and most companies look for some certification such as ISO 9001, which offers reassurance that we are a professional company dedicated to improving efficiency, says senior contract manager Terry Skelton. This certification also verifies that we are undertaking improvements which not only reduce costs and improve efficiency but also take into consideration environmental issues. One of the key areas BSI looked at was how the company could improve the use of tankers. A system has now been put in place whereby the larger tankers are matched to larger customers more likely to fill the tanks to capacity. This greener system now results in fewer journeys with reduced costs to both customers in the food industry and the company, Skelton explains. After 20 years, the ISO 9000 family of standards remains an ongoing success story TC 176, the ISO 9001 technical committee, has started its review on the next version of ISO 9001, with a planned release date of 2008.