“We have had an excellent internal quality system in place since 1993. Applying for ISO 9001 was a way of obtaining independent certification for our existing quality systems and working methods,” explains Ulf Pråhl, Managing Director of Galvatek.
ISO 9001 certification facilitates cooperation with customers and partners. Previously, presenting Galvatek’s own quality system and the audits conducted by partners took up a lot of time. The new ISO 9001 certificate explains unambiguously that Galvatek complies with specific quality criteria.
“No real changes were needed in our quality system or working methods, but everything had to be documented as required by ISO 9001. The only actual change is that more detailed notes of internal meetings will now be kept. Since we are a relatively small organization, a lot of things used to be agreed verbally,” Pråhl says.
Pråhl emphasizes that quality has always been an integral part of everyday operations at Galvatek and not just theoretical text.
“Our approach has always been to make sure that our working methods are in order and then document them in our quality system and not the other way round. This ensures that quality operations are routine and that there is no panic to make changes right before each audit,” Pråhl adds.
Obtaining ISO 9001 quality certification was an unusually straightforward process for Galvatek, also from the auditor’s perspective.
“Galvatek had a very mature quality system, and all the groundwork had been done very well. The process took half a year, and Galvatek passed the actual audit on the first try without any deviations,” says Lead Auditor Antti Reijonen of Bureau Veritas.