Quality System Certificate EN ISO 9002

In 2006 it is ten years Huta Łabędy received the Quality System Certificate EN ISO 9002 for the first time

This motto opened the folder of the Quality System of Huta Łabędy S.A.

The coping stone of the long way of certification of our steelworks was granting us the first Quality System Certificate for the conformity with the standard EN ISO 9002. The Certificate was granted on 11th April 1996, and the ceremonial awarding took place on 28 May. The Certificate was collected by the General Manager Mr. Wilhelm Stanisław Kirsz.

The historical moment of awarding the Quality System Certificate
The certificate is handed in by the Manager of the TÜV NORD Certification Body Mr. Henryk Łukaszczyk.

But everything started much earlier ...

1. The history of establishing the Quality System in Huta "Łabędy"

Changes occurring on the market caused the requirements regarding the produced goods to be higher and higher. Therefore it was necessary to orient the activities first of all towards quality. High quality of the produced goods was the condition to win and maintain a customer and the decision on high quality has been and is still taken by the customer. The assurance of high quality of the produced goods enabled us to conclude profitable contracts. The complex attitude towards quality required adequate tools – the Quality System. The system creates a clear management style in the enterprise. It also provides chances of improvement for firms and protects the customer, because it decreases the risk of meeting a product of unsuitable quality.

Acceptance of the motto that the enterprise must be competitive in order to survive on the market and to develop and that quality is one of the most important elements of competitiveness was basis of the decision to work out and implement the quality system according to ISO 9000 standards in Huta Łabędy. The will to do so was expressed by the General Manager of Huta Łabędy at the end of 1993. By the order of the General Manager a working team was appointed (its members were among others persons responsible for the Quality System: Mr. Stanisław Moj, Mr. Bogusław Lewandowski, managers of departments) and main goals and tasks were defined. The work started with training courses for the team members regarding quality systems and ISO 9000 standards and with collecting and getting acquainted with the few publications available at that time. The concept and schedule of works on the system was worked out. One of the three ISO 9000 standards was selected i.e. the one which corresponded to the needs and requirements of the steelworks. This was ISO 9002. The first large document was the description of the actual state that means the description of what and how it is made, who is responsible for the particular operations, what is the documentation circulation like and what kind of forms are applied. The description of the actual state enabled us to accept the assumptions concerning: the structure of the quality system documentation and procedure of drawing up this documentation. It was accepted that the quality system documentation will have the following structure:

Quality Book - the main document describing the quality system, rules of quality management to be a constant reference for procedural documents;

System Procedures - ocuments describing the purpose, scope and methods of execution, control and registration of the activities according to the requirements of the ISO standard;

Work Procedures - documents constituting a detailed expansion of the issues covered by the System Procedures, which describe thoroughly the methods of processes and activities.

The mode of drawing up the documentation was as follows: the document draft was worked out by the person directly responsible for the execution of activities covered by this document → the draft was read on the meetings of the working team and was subject to critical remarks concerning clarity and comprehensibility of the text, its logics and conformity with the standards → after introduction of the amendments the draft was studied again by the working team → the agreed text was finally checked and approved by appropriate representatives of the steelworks management. The Work Procedures were completed in April 1995, when each employee covered by the quality system received an individual set of the system documentation.

In this way the system implementation in the steelworks departments began. New versions of the technological documentation in form of Technological Instructions (IT) were worked out. They contain the description of the whole technological process divided into particular operations. The Quality Book and the System Procedures were issued in October 1995 after their approval by the General Manager. In summer 1995 a series of internal training courses for all steelworks employees covered by the system started. The subject of these training courses comprised: getting acquainted with the requirements of ISO 9000 standards → requirements of the quality system → documentation of the quality system (Quality Book, System Procedures, Work Procedures) → internal audit (rules of performance, requirements) → discussing the results of internal audits → certification → certification audit.

Other forms of transferring the knowledge about the quality system were also applied, among others: articles in the company press → posters → information billboards. In order to define the extent of the system implementation in the steelworks departments and to recognize the basic obstacles hindering the system implementation internal audits were organized and carried out. The internal audits ended with “Audit reports”, which were the basis for the managers of departments to work out and implement correcting activities.

The results of the second series of internal audits enabled us to start talks with the certification company. TÜV CERT was chosen as the certification body. The cooperation with TÜV comprised the following activities: preliminary audit together with the assessment of the quality system documentation and submitting the report of this audit → self-estimation on the basis of the received questions → certification audit covering: checking of the system documentation, including the remarks in the report, transfer of the plan of the certification audit and set of questions for assessment of the documentation and the system, performance of audit tests, submission of a report presenting inconsistencies.

For certification purposes the steelworks presented a well-made quality system documentation and good knowledge of the system rules by the employees.

From the preliminary audit carried out on 7 – 8 December 1995 resulted that the described system was applied to a large extent and after supplementing the documentation by the remarks included in the report, the company could enter the certification. On 11 and 12 March 1996 the certification audit took place. The certificate was granted on 11th April 1996 and ceremonially awarded on 28th May 1996.

At that time Huta "Łabędy" was one of the first steelworks, which obtained the certificate.

2. Kaleidoscope of events 1996-2006 (system in figures)

Ten years – how quickly the time has passed. This decade was particularly event-rich. On 1st November 1996 the General Manager appointed Mr. Stanisław Szopa to a plenipotentiary for the Quality System in the company and he holds this function up to now. For the purposes of supervising the task implementation and the system upgrading the Quality Assurance Department was set up. After several years it was renamed for the Quality Management Department (at present it is subordinated to the Head of the Quality Department NJ).

In 2002 Huta Łabędy was one of the first to prepare and submit for assessment the documentation according to the amended PN-EN ISO 9001:2000 standard (Re-Certification Audit). The result was positive.

During this decade the company image and the system range has changed. Huta Łabędy was transformed into a stock-joint company and independent companies were established out of some departments. At the beginning of the adventure with quality, the system covered the following units: Home Market Office, Foreign Trade Office, Medium Rolling Mill, Universal Rolling Mill, Yoke and Clamp Department, Quality Inspection Department, Tool Unit, Head of the Power Engineering and Mechanical Department, Chief Marketing and Technology Specialist, Head of Management and Human Resources. At present the audited areas are: Trade Office, Rolling Mill Department, Yoke Department, service units of the Quality Manager, Chief Engineer and Personnel Manager. In each of the mentioned units internal audits and in some cases (recent years) special audits were carried out. External audits took also place at the suppliers'companies.

List of performed audits:

The document ending the audit is an Audit Report. The report contains a list of remarks and inconsistencies stated by the auditors during the “control”. The audited persons determined and carried out correcting activities for all inconsistencies. The task of the service units of the Quality Manager was to carry out the control and assessment of the performance of correcting activities. The number of inconsistencies and correcting activities carried out in the period 1996-2005 is presented below:

In result of internal audits totally 325 correcting activities were carried out and assessed. Apart from internal audits, a systematic control is carried out by the certification body TÜV NORD.

The calendar of audits is as follows:

Due to efforts of the company management (constant upgrading of the quality system) and employees (quality of the performed job), our company has had up to now no problems and has passed each examination perfectly. In recent years a substantial drop of the number of claims for the produced goods has also been noted, which is presented by the table below:

In this case the good quality translated also into meeting the requirements and expectations of our customers. A great change took also place in the method of supervising the documentation – procedure of its transferring and making it available. At the first stage written procedures were obtained by all employees covered by the system. At the next stage the documentation was divided into particular posts (easier access for employees). At present the service units of the Quality Manager supervise the documentation in written form and in electronic form (computer basis – access to readout or documentation management). Since 1999 under quality promotion, a Quality Corner has been carried on in the Steelworks Bulletin, which is regularly issued. The Quality Corner includes current information on the system in the company (results of internal audits, reports of the most important events in the company, training of employees on quality, audit of the certification body TÜV NORD), Polish Quality Award Competition, approaches to quality issues in Poland and abroad. Within this 10-year period three competitions on the quality system knowledge have been organized. In the course of these competitions we aimed at bringing the participants closer to quality-related issues. There were of course wonderful prizes (prizes in money, vacations, prizes in kind). For quality promotion purposes information posters related to the system appeared several times at the company area.

3. Today – the year 2006

At present we are already after a subsequent supervision audit. Our company has received the confirmation that the Quality Assurance System is applied in Huta Łabędy in accordance with the requirements of PN-EN ISO 9001. The auditors ensured that this opinion will be submitted to their superiors in the certification body and that the certificate will be prolonged for the next year. We are now only waiting for the written confirmation of this information.

The fact of obtaining even the best note in the course of an audit cannot change our approach or “ dull our vigilance” to the subject of quality in our company. Already now due to an organized competition (on the system in the Organization) in this jubilee issue of the Quality Corner we have the possibility to look again at the standard requirements and to recall the most important rules, which a modern company should apply in its daily operation. Since it is well known that only due to constant upgrading the company can develop and compete on the market and fulfill the expectations of our customers. Therefore WE all are responsible for the quality in the company. Starting with the employees on the workers’ posts, through intermediate inspectors and managers of departments and ending with the company Board. Our Organization has understood that - that is why the quality of our products is competitive and provides their users with the feeling of security.

CUSTOMERS WILL ALWAYS RETURN TO A GOOD RODUCER

And here we are again coming back to our field of “good quality”. The service units of the Quality Manager responsible for the quality and its management in the company, take up another challenge: the next ten years of still better quality of products and services offered by Huta Łabędy S.A. The cooperation of persons responsible for the quality in the company will contribute to the implementation of all concepts. We cooperate systematically: with the service units of the Chief Engineer in order to assure the appropriate supervision of the applied technical documentation and trade units with regard to supervising the commercial documentation (wherein the correctness of issuing the documentation, carrying out audits at the suppliers’ firms). We cooperate closely with the management of departments in the range of the quality of our product (self-inspection, final inspection resulting from Quality Guidebooks). In relation to the stated inconsistencies we undertake immediately correcting activities (Reports of inconsistencies, special audits). We organize regular training courses concerning the quality system. Together with all persons responsible for the quality in the company we do our best to upgrade continuously our work and system by undertaking and supervising preventive activities and determining the quality goals. The activities undertaken by Huta Łabędy S.A. more than 10 years ago have brought the intended result. We cannot withdraw from this way any more. Good quality of our products and services is our priority aim, which will allow us to meet the expectations of our customers to a full extent.