Boeing Defense & Space Group Complies With International Quality Standard

Seattle, July 17, 1995 -- Boeing Defense & Space Group has completed an extensive internal audit that found the group is in compliance with ISO 9001, the international standard that governs the quality of goods and services. The adoption of ISO 9001 will allow Defense & Space Group to remain competitive in both domestic and international markets.

One of those quality standards, ISO 9000, already adopted in 90 countries, originally was established by the International Organization for Standardization in 1987. ISO 9000 refers to a series of five documents numbered 9000 to 9004 describing how to select, develop and implement a quality management system.

ISO 9001 is the more rigorous of the quality standards, encompassing the entire cycle of a deliverable product or service, beginning with the business acquisition phase and continuing through to post-delivery support.

"This accomplishment is unique in that we implemented ISO 9001 with the full participation and support of our Defense Plant Representative Office personnel," said Jerry King, Defense & Space Group president.

"Both our foreign and Department of Defense customers have adopted ISO and we have begun seeing the ISO 9001 requirement in our contracts."

Early in 1994, the Department of Defense authorized its program offices to use the ISO 9000 standards. At that time, Defense & Space Group already had initiated its efforts to comply with those standards.

The 12-person audit team was led jointly by certified lead assessors from the Defense Plant Representative Office (DPRO) and Boeing Information & Support Services, with representatives from Defense & Space Group engineering, manufacturing, materiel and quality assurance organizations, along with corporate-level internal auditors.

"(This) self-declaration establishes Boeing as the defense industry leader in planning for the future with ISO 9000," said Col. Gregg M. Hughes, commander of the U.S. Air Force DPRO at Boeing.

"As partners in laying the groundwork for self-declaration, we saw first-hand the rigor and integrity of your approach, and the credibility of your results."

Hughes added that Boeing "should take great pride in this significant achievement."

Karl Becker, Quality Assurance director for Defense & Space Group, noted that "the rigorous nature of the audit process confirmed the disciplines of our quality systems.

"We believe this qualification to ISO 9000 enhances our competitive posture while deploying quality responsibilities throughout the organization, in every function and within every process," Becker said.

The self-declaration came at the end of several months of work in which the joint Boeing-DPRO team assessed how the group ensures product quality at every step of the product and business cycle. The team coordinated necessary changes in command media and business practices with support functions and product line programs until existing processes were in compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001. An audit to determine if a company meets the ISO 9000 quality standards is required for certification.

The declaration of compliance is for Defense & Space Group activities in the Puget Sound region only. Other group locations have implementation programs in various stages of progress.