HODES COMPANY'S QUALITY SYSTEM EARNS ISO 9001:2000 CERTIFICATION      Have you noticed how quickly you receive shipments from Hodes Company these days? Accuracy, speed, fill rates, and processing have seen dramatic improvements over the past few years. Quality control meets levels never before attainable. Our systems have been improved so your lives can be easier.      The quality system responsible for the distribution of Hodes Company products recently earned ISO 9001:2000 Certification. ISO 9001:2000 is a standard for establishing, documenting, and maintaining a system to ensure consistent quality throughout the organization's process.      This article will detail what ISO 9001:2000 Certification means to you, and explore the areas at Hodes Company that have been reviewed and approved. WHAT IS ISO 9001:2000?      Recognized worldwide, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the standard universally accepted to facilitate trade in the global marketplace. The question ISO essentially asks is, "How are you meeting the needs of your customers?"   ISO 9001:2000 addresses five main issues:   Identifying our customers   Understanding your precise needs   Saying what we do, how we do it, and then doing what we say   Measuring customer satisfaction   Constantly reviewing the system to improve performance   Successfully working through these issues both on paper and in practice earn the ISO Stamp of Approval. WHY ISO 9001:2000?      Three main factors lead most organizations toward pursuing ISO 9001:2000 Certification. The most common is usually customer demand or expectations. Second is growing the company's marketplace by adopting international standards. And third, it is a logical solution to begin improving quality.      Hodes Company's weekly Tuesday morning meeting involves everyone at the company. Operations team members, financial officers, the sales and marketing staff, and customer service representatives come together to review performance, set goals, and discuss key issues. After investing heavily on operations and really fine-tuning our shipping process over the past five years, the idea of ISO 9001:2000 Certification arose.      Customer demands did not drive our goal of certification. And our focus remains on servicing America's quality-minded plumbers. But soon we learned how valuable the process of attaining and maintaining the ISO Approval would be to our system. More importantly, we realized how much better we could meet and exceed your needs.      "Quality people shipping quality products" has been a staple of Hodes Company for 55 years now. The difference with this certification is that all procedures are documented and understood by everyone with responsibility in a particular area.      Third generation owner Joe Hodes says, "The quality system forces our departments to work in unison. The left arm knows what the right arm is doing, which alleviates many inconsistencies for our customers."      No one else selling directly to plumbers has a certified quality system. Unfortunately, you are the ones who ultimately pay for this fact. You lose valuable time and money when orders are not shipped correctly, when you get trapped in a returned goods nightmare, when orders do not arrive on time and are incomplete. You should not have to bear the burden of your vendors' shortcomings.      In a nutshell, Hodes Company pursued ISO 9002 Certification because we must study and understand how every internal decision will affect our customer. AREAS OF REVIEW      References to the "quality system" at work describe Hodes Company's shipping process from beginning to end: from the time an item is purchased to the time our customers pay an invoice for merchandise received. Procedures had to be documented for each step of the shipping process. Employees had to be trained and learn the documented procedures.      In an assembling operation like Hodes Company's, many opportunities exist for employees to handle similar situations quite differently. Package quantities, labeling products, assembling kits, and packing orders are examples of stops along the way where inconsistencies can occur.      The ISO process means that whether Dwayne Jones or Bill Weigland perform the final inspection of an order and pack it, you the customer can expect to receive packages that arrive in tact and are easy to check-in.      Cycle counts of inventory, stocking items, handling, packaging, and product identification are more areas that required documentation and review.      One particular area that has seen great improvements through the process is the control of non-conforming products.      You've felt the effects of this if you've received incorrect items, defective goods, or needed to return merchandise for credit for any reason.      Ron Valenta, of Valenta Plumbing in Iowa, relates, "It doesn't take an act of Congress to return goods and get credit from Hodes Company. With some suppliers getting credit isn't even worth the struggle."      A three step plan with non-conforming products enables easy processing for customers like Ron. These step are: identify the problem, resolve the problem, and prevent the problem from happening again. The system's traceability of items makes it easier to identify problems. Bottlenecks are quickly exposed, and the system flow allows employees to pinpoint what may have caused the problem under investigation.      Inconsistencies at order entry have dramatically decreased, again thanks to the documentation and training implemented.      Remember that ISO 9001:2000 is a standard for establishing, documenting, and maintaining a system to ensure consistent quality. The pressure remains on Hodes Company as there will be ongoing audits of our system to remain compliant with the standards set.      Joe Hodes mentions that some states now require professional plumbers to participate in "continuing education," just as a Certified Public Accountant does. Laws and plumbing codes change, so these states are re-examining plumbers each year or by-annually, instead of simply renewing their licenses.      Quality and consistency are the key terms associated with the Hodes Company system's ISO 9001:2000 Certification. You will feel the effects of this certification today and into the future.