Quality Management: Manufacturing focused on quality

All four of the Instrument Sales & Service facilities are ISO9000 certified, and we carry TS16949 certification for our Tier One product lines. Our quality systems are not just a rubber stamp, but a grass roots backbone of our company culture. Low-volume high-mix business is very unforgiving and a single mistake in quality or in the logistics stream can wipe out all the profit. Originally certified to the old QS standard, ISS has been fine tuning our quality system for more than 15 years, and it shows in our efficiency and quality. We pride ourselves as being a company who focuses on “pennies, seconds, and ounces”.

Product Warrant Submission:

Our Product Warrant Submissions are very thorough and typically include the following elements:

• Final Assembly Print – (This is our product specification that specifies ISS requirement against the customer requirement)
• Pertinent Receiving Inspection print

Customer Requirement Specification

• Product Matrix
• Cross Reference List (Current Customer to ISS)
• Additional Cross Reference List (prior Supplier to ISS) – This allows current customer to still utilize numbers used by the previous supplier
• Listing of Product Matrix Against Release Status – Ongoing record of where we stand in the long term PPAP process for the entire Product Matrix
• Product Test Matrix – Specifies Final Acceptance Criteria by product in terms of guard banding/safety margin to wider/allowed product specification
• Labeling Scheme – Reference to customer product labeling requirements
• Factory Work Cell Layout – Output of product Realization Plan showing how production flow was determined and optimized
• Test Validation Log – Form completed that shows how Final Acceptance Tester is validated prior to, during, and after production is run through it
• Customer Statement of Requirements – Specifies the application and is utilized by Engineering during Product Development (DFMEA)

Outputs from the Product Realization Process (APQP)

• Product Work Instructions (Follows Process Flow diagram, specifies part numbers and special product characteristics, etc…)
• Process Flow Diagram (1^st Deliverable in Advance Product Quality Planning)
• PFMEA (2^nd Deliverable in Advance Product Quality Planning)
• Process Control Plan (3^rd Deliverable in Advance Product Quality Planning)
• Product Setup Card (Utilized for production planning Purposes – Visual including Bill of Materials)

Outputs from Initial Production (Measurement System Analysis – MSA)

• Attribute Gauge (R&R) – Used to ensure that operators can reliably and repeatedly determine visual requirements
• Another Attribute Gauge (R&R) – Used to ensure that operators can reliably and repeatedly determine functional requirements (sweep)
• Process Capability (Cpk) – Used to show that the production meets functional requirements with adequate margin
• Variable Gauge (R&R) – Used to determine the reliability and repeatability of the operators/testers used for product acceptance

Product verification activities

• 1^st Article requirement for Direct Materials
• 1^st Article Results for Direct Material
• Completed Product Audit Requirements
• Results of the completed Product Audit

ISS has long standing relationships with reliable high quality suppliers who have been vetted over years of doing business together. We also employ numerous disciplines, controls, audits, and other tools to assure consistent quality year after year. Attached is an example of one such tool called our Supplier Quality Manual.