Full HWI Manufacturing Network Becomes Certified to New ISO Standard

HarbisonWalker International’s new South Point facility was recently awarded certification to the ISO 9001:2015 Management System standard. The South Point plant became the 19th and final HWI global site to earn recommendation for certification to the new ISO 9001:2015 Standard.  Sixteen (16) sites in US and Canada were assessed and recommended for certification by SRI Quality System Registrar.

Established in 1991 as Steel Related Industries Quality System Registrar (SRI) to serve suppliers in the steel industry, SRI was one of the first five registrars in the U.S. SRI now serves the accreditation needs of business in over 40 major industries across North America, Asia, and Europe. HWI’s global operations in Mexico, Indonesia, and the UK have also achieved certification based on assessment by other recognized registrars.

ISO 9001:2015 is process-based, and recognizes organizations that can link business objectives with operating effectiveness. Achieving this management system certification demonstrates HWI’s effective implementation of documentation and records management, the company’s commitment to their customers, establishment of clear policy, good planning and implementation, good resource management, efficient process control, measurement and analysis. Continual improvement has been institutionalized.

Edward L. Maschmeier, Associate Vice President, Certification for SRI, recently said, “We are pleased to acknowledge that HarbisonWalker International, Inc. has demonstrated effective implementation of a management system. ISO 9001 certification provides evidence to customers, suppliers, employees, and their community, of their commitment to producing a quality product and providing customer satisfaction.”

Joe Schartner, HWI’s Director, Quality and Process Control adds, “Companies world-wide, which were formerly certified to the ISO 9001:2008 standard, were faced with the challenge of upgrading management systems in order to successfully transition to the new version of the standard.  Certifications issued to the 2008 standard expired for all companies in September 2018.  The decision to pursue certification to the 2015 standard was an easy one for HWI based on the synergies between the requirements of the new standard and HWI’s ‘HarbisonWalker Business System (HBS)’ initiatives which began in 2016.  Additionally, we know how important it is to many of our customers to have a sound, validated, continuous improvement based management system.  HWI is proud of the successful 2018 journey to achieve certification across its entire manufacturing network.”