Integrating the different quality systems followed by each country into one unified system as ISO 9000 by International Standards Organisation, Geneva (Switzerland) in 1987, the system is well entrenched globally leading to a revised ISO 9001-2008. With many print related organisations opting ISO certification, D Ramalingam, resident representative, P&P, makes a brief study amongst a few Chennai based establishments.

Quality system, as defined by Feigenbaum who is initiator of ‘total quality control’, “is agreed on, companywide and planetwide operating work structure, documented in effective, integrated technical and management procedures, for guiding the coordinated actions of the people, the machines, and the information of the company and plan in the best and most practical ways to assure customer quality satisfaction and economic costs of quality.” This had been told during 1950s–60s. In 1987, the introduction of ISO 9000 presented exactly these, adding the ingredients for such programme as factory culture, its attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviour.

ISO 9000 is a system-based certification. Individuals have to adjust themselves to the system and adhere to the declared quality policy. There is a case study available on the concept ‘ISO 9000 + CQI (continuous quality improvement) = Profit’, describing the live experience by Menon & Menon Ltd, a foundry machine shop in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Factors involved in implementing an ISO 9000 programme are the company (in our case a print related establishment), quality expert to look into the technical aspects and the certifying authority.

Certifying authority

There are quite a number of certifying authorities. Registered with National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a certifying authority assesses the potentiality of the approached unit (or the unit approaching the certifying authority) and settles to work with it for all modalities, including the agreeable charges. Any unit micro, small, medium or big can go for certification. The stress remains on quality management.

Some three certifying organisations have given ISO-certification to various printing presses and e-publishing firms. These organisations include TÜD Süd South Asia (TÜV South), TÜV India (TÜV Nord = North), both based in Germany, and BSI, based in England.

TÜV Süd has certified the maximum number of printing presses (Nagaraj & Co, Lokavani Southern Offset, Print Shop, Mehra Computer Systems Ltd, Multivista Global to name a few). TÜV India certified Eagle Press group (producing the well known ‘Eagle’ brand diaries and security documents for global customers) and well established Newgen e-publishing company, while BSI certified the Bhavish Graphics (a unit of S Viswanathan Printers & Publishers Pvt Ltd). Except Newgen and Mehra, all others are second and third generation printing companies.

Quality experts

Quality experts for technical side lay stress on the three elements including: technical inputs, committed management and the right attitude. There are instances to prove why a few ISO certified printing establishments failed to make the system effective insisting more on the first element and ignored, more or less, the other two elements.

Certified establishments

Implementation

Nagaraj & Co Pvt Ltd, certified almost five years ago, has the CQI mentioned earlier very much in existence. A detailed report of production and waiting time with causes, wastage figures remains available on daily basis, explained MS Raju Seshadrinathan, director (marketing). It is a company having improved quality management system, post–ISO.

Being ISO-certified since last ten years, Multivista Global Ltd, as the name suggest, is a truly global company. R Karthik, manager (production), son of R Ravi, director (production), a Rochester graduate, looks after the quality management system. This professionally run organisation has also invested substantially in SAP.

Lokavani Southern Offset Pvt Ltd, ISO–certified since last four years, has gained immensely from the system. “Certification led to better organised workflow, decentralisation, and responsible as well as performance oriented employees. Due to this, we are able to concentrate on bringing the company to the next level,” stated Anu Varghese, director of the company, proudly adding, “During pre-certification, it was only financial results of the job we were generating. But post certification, it includes the whole gamut of our organisation. We have introduced a customised software for the work-flow which has also found usage with our assistance in a press in Pondicherry and another one in Coimbatore. This software, namely Alwen Job Standardisation Software, has been supplied by Cadgraf. What takes three days for us to standardize earlier is done now within an hour.”

Bhavish Graphics has prepared a very detailed quality assurance manual for working procedures down the line. Nanditha Srikumar (daughter of V Subramanian, managing director) director of Bhavish prepared the complete documentation and is involved in day-to-day implementation of the quality procedures. They have also got ISO 27000 for software security.

Divergent View

Mehra Computer Systems Ltd, a first generation company involved in business since October 1989, has always strived for quality and customer satisfaction right from the beginning. ‘Mehra Forms’ is the brand of the computer stationery they produce. ISO 9000-2000 certified since last five years, the company has also entered digital printing, stuffing and mailing services. With a lot of vision, they have doubled their turnover in last five years and are aiming to achieve eight-fold growth from now in the next five years. The company has plants in Cochin and Bangalore, a liaison office in Mumbai and a digital print shop in Madurai.

All these would not have been possible without a proper system in place. As per Praveen Mehra, the young and energetic managing director, their vision is “to attain wholesome success and deliver ‘real value’ in all our endeavours.”

Insisting on the requirement of ‘real value’ in ISO certification too, he pointed out, “Though being ISO certified, we have quality manual and other related documents, but we were well organised even before ISO certification. Generally, ISO certification body only interact with top and middle management, and leave the quality training to the company executives to take it to lower levels. Resultantly, this training is not happening in many of the certified companies due to lack of qualified staff at every level. By this process, the auditor may be satisfied, but certification and re-certification do not give ‘real value’ to the system. So, ISO certification body should involve themselves more in peculating the quality management concept down the line to workforce. Otherwise, it would remain a farce.”

When asked to comment on this, Raja Chidambaram, senior quality system auditor, TÜV India and Geetha Prasad, executive planning, TÜV Süd South Asia, accepted that hardly any representative from the workforce is called for the meeting or interaction. However, various training programmes are available and the presses can take due advantages.

ISO 9000 for MSME sector

What about micro, small and medium enterprises when they want certification? Mathew Oommen, asst director, MSME Chennai gave some useful information on this: MSME Ministry provides subsidy to MSME sector up to Rs 75,000 or 75 percent of certification expenses whichever is less; the certifying body needs to be registered with NABCB; and the quality expert should be registered with National Registration Board for Personnel Training (NRBPT). The expenses for consideration would comprise of consultation fee, certification charges and calibration of instruments. Two units in Chennai, who have got certification through this channel, are Print International, SIDCO, Ambattur and Softech, Vadapalani.

Peculiarity of e-publishing

Newgen, e-publishing unit as mentioned earlier, received ISO certification through TÜV India who will guide them continuously. The company also got re-certification. That means they will be following to greater QMS as of printing presses. While TexTech International Pvt Ltd, a younger e-publishing unit making strides in the field, is looking for eSCM–SP certification, according to Premamala Ramalingam, chief operating officer.

What is eSCM–SP?

The eSCM-SP is an American Certification, and its expansion reads the eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers. Service providers use the eSCM-SP and its accompanying capability determination methods to evaluate their eSourcing capabilities, and to become eSCM-SP certified. This status provides advantages over their competitors.

The fiveeSCM-SP capability levels indicate the level of an organisation’s capability: level 1 - the organisation is providing a service; level 2 - the organisation has procedures in place to enable it to consistently meet its clients’ requirements; level 3 – the organisation is able to manage its performance consistently across engagements; level 4 –the organisation is able to add value to its services through innovation; and level 5 – the organisation has proven its sustainable excellence over a period of at least two years.

Conclusion

In a renowned quality (technical) expert’s words, “Say what you do, do what you say, document what you do, check the results, and correct the difference.” So, for a successful QMS, one needs to follow PDCA concept: ‘plan’, ‘do’, ‘check’, and ‘act’.