https://www.zsi-foster.com/
ISO-Values, Values and Victory
Foster Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Missouri manufactures quick connect pneumatic couplings and a variety of other products for compressed air, pneumatic and hydraulic equipment. With over 70 years of experience, the company’s ZSI-Foster product line has earned them a reputation for quality, and they’re known for their ability to respond to industry needs with new products developed for specific applications.
For many years, their dedication to quality has meant they were strong adherents to the ISO 9001:2008 standards that are so important to their industry, but they were facing the challenge of transitioning to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard. They needed to make the change as quickly and efficiently as possible to ensure they met the new standards within the required deadlines.
For Foster Manufacturing, step one of the transition process was participation in a Missouri Enterprise ISO 2015 Transition Workshop and Readiness Assessment program. The workshop helped them understand important changes coming with the new standard and identify critical areas they needed to focus on. The next step was to call in the ISO transition experts at Missouri Enterprise, who performed a gap analysis to pinpoint the specific areas affected by the changes. Missouri Enterprise’s Project Manager developed side-by-side comparisons of the old versus the new standard requirements to facilitate the process of transition, then assisted Foster with documentation preparation, change implementation, mock-audits and on-site support.
“Many of our customers require ISO certification,” says Tim Preusch, Quality Management Representative for Foster, “and even for those customers where it isn’t a requirement, ISO certification offers a large degree of credibility and shows our commitment to quality. Because it’s such an important part of our quality promise to customers, it was critical for us to do a great job making the transition from ISO 9001:2008 to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard. Missouri Enterprise’s expertise made a challenging change more efficient, and dramatically streamlined the process.”
“A few weeks prior to our ISO certification audit, Missouri Enterprise conducted a mock audit of our newly implemented ISO 9001:2015 processes, and they gave us the confidence to know we were ready for the official ISO review,” said Preusch. “I’ve been impressed by Missouri Enterprise’s knowledge and professionalism. I highly recommend them to other companies looking to make the upgrade—or for any other reason to be more competitive. Missouri Enterprise truly is our partner in manufacturing.”