ISO AND BEYOND: RESULTS OF A SURVEY OF ISO 9000-REGISTERED GEORGIA COMPANIES

by Jan Youtie, Economic Development Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640 USA, email: jan.youtie@edi.gatech.edu ; and Michael Lane, Cameron Meierhoefer, Marc Cummings, Philip Shapira, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0345 USA, email: philip.shapira@pubpolicy.gatech.edu

June 1996

ABSTRACT: This report summarizes a survey of 77 Georgia firms registered to the ISO 9000 series of standards. Among the findings of the study are that most companies register because of customer requirements, that the costs of registration appear to be declining, and that greater employee involvement was among the most common lessons learned from implementing ISO 9000.

In April 1996, a survey of firms registered to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 series of standards was conducted in Georgia. The purpose of the survey was to obtain information which would help further improve services provided through the Center for International Standards and Quality (CISQ) at Georgia Institute of Technology's Economic Development Institute. ISO coordinators and quality managers from 77 registered firms participated in the survey, providing a 52 percent response rate. This report presents results focused in the following areas: reasons for pursuing ISO registration use of internal and external resources benefits and costs of registration future plans. Highlights of the results follow.

Customer requirements were the most important reason for registering (reported by 60% of responding firms), followed by expectations to improve the quality of procedures, processes, or systems (reported by 39% of responding firms). CISQ-assisted firms were more likely to mention exporting as a reason than those not assisted by CISQ.

All firms currently realized or expected to realize benefits from ISO registration. The top benefits by percentage of firms currently realizing or expecting to realize them are:

• Better internal communications (96%)
• Reduced scrap and rework expenses (85%)
• Enhanced productivity (83%)
• Fewer customer complaints (83%)
• Increased domestic sales (73%)

Of the 74 percent of firms reporting benefit-cost data, 74 percent said that the benefits of ISO registration equaled or exceeded the costs. About half the firms kept track of the costs of registering. The average company that tracked costs spent $50,000 to $100,000. Registration costs were generally higher for companies registered for more than two years than for those registered within the past year, suggesting that the cost of registration may be declining.

The most common lessons learned from implementing ISO 9000 were to have greater employee involvement, improve the handling of (and, for some, reduce) documentation, increase training, seek external assistance, and improve time management of the process. The top next steps companies are planning to take to improve operations are:

• Additional training (78%)
• Increased employee involvement (69%)
• Additional efforts to satisfy customers (68%)
• Requiring additional efforts from suppliers (63%)

Becoming registered to ISO 14000 was the most commonly planned management system initiative; 29 percent of the companies surveyed had plans related to ISO 14000. Companies registered for more than two years were more likely to have ISO 14000-related plans than were recent registrants.