A purple tractor?

Anonymous Poster · Nov 14, 2001

ISO9000 certification means nothing about the quality of a product or even if the product works well. The ISO9000 certification just means that the company has a documented process that the employees can pretend to follow when the company gets audited for certification. The process can be flawed and it can produce a poor product, but as long as the process is followed consistantly the company will be certified. I would not let that certification sway me one way or the other when buying something.

Andy

newbie501farm · Nov 14, 2001

Good answer! You are correct, sir! I have 11 years experiance in a company which is "QS-9000" certified and when it's convienent for them, they "allow" trained personel to audit.
All it boils down to these 3 steps:

#1: Do what you say you are doing
#2: Show proof that you are following procedure
#3: Prove it (by having proper documentation)

Anonymous Poster · Nov 15, 2001

Ahhh look a can of worms to open!!! Ain't it great someone comes up with a great idea (ISO 9XXX) and the workers, management, whoever. Has to screw it up by not going along with the guidelines THEY set. It's what takes good companies and makes them worthless. If you don't put out a good product after time people find out, Firestone comes to mind, maybe that's what they were doing when all of those worthless tires went out the door. I bet they wish that they hadn't sidestepped the rules! Maybe I'm wrong (I don't know all of the particulars). I worked for a food plant and they had to follow the rules! It's great to know people out there are ignoring the rules and doing whatever they want.....in foodservice, manufacturing etc. I hope the companies I buy from follow the rules, at least during the time my stuff was being made!

Whatever happened to taking pride in what you or your company makes??

TonyC · Nov 15, 2001

Charlie, I looked into the Longtrac line extensively before purchasing my Kubota. Everyone I talked to had good things to say about Long. They are well made and well supported and at a very attractive price. I came very close to buying one. To be honest, the only reason I have a Kubota is that I ran across a used one, exactly what I wanted in perfect shape and at a great price. Otherwise, I'd be driving purple right now!

Good luck!

TonyC · Nov 15, 2001

Yeah, and a big Ditto on the ISO certification. I was involved in several ISO projects here and in the UK. I can't believe the billions of dollars spent acorss the globe on this useless process. I used to joke that if you hit your final product with a sledge hammer and cracked it to pieces at the end of the assembly line, it was okay as long as it was part of the documented procedure. It is truly a meaningless standard.

Anonymous Poster · Nov 15, 2001

<font color=blue>...ISO certification...</font color=blue>

Tony,

Are you basically saying the certification is more of a marketing ploy than anything or what...?

I thought to be certified, certain equipment was required {depending on type of industry}, a level of training for employees, industry standards are followed, etc...

In other words, it was to prevent the guy working out of his dingy basement, hang up a shingle outside and say..."Discount brain surgery performed by experts... Prepaid only..."

Anonymous Poster · Nov 15, 2001

I own a landtrac 410DTC which is 41 hp I looked at every color and decided that the Long had the most for the money. I have a Long 5340 loader on mine am very pleased so far. I have a very good dealer. I found a few commercial farms that have them and they use them hard with no problems. I tried a 360 with a loader but at the time I was able to buy the 410 for the cost of the 360. feel free to to post back to me if I can offer an help

TonyC · Nov 15, 2001

Ha ha...well, John, I think the restrictions on who does brain surgery is controlled by another government entity. As far as ISO, I am no expert on their intentions but I am well versed on the outcome. The intent, I believe, was to provide uniformity and quality in the manufacturing and service processes (short version). I would like to think the original plan was honorable with the hope of the ""best of the best" achieving certification. Through the bureaucracy it became a paperwork jungle. You pretty much have to hire a consultant at great expense to lead you through the paper maze. Much more emphasis is placed on the documentation of the process than the process itself. My example of the sledge hammer is a bit exaggerated, but the principle is true. I led four manufacturing plants through the certification...3 domestic and one it the UK. Nothing improved afterwards.

Anonymous Poster · Nov 16, 2001

Basically, the way I understand it anyway, ISO certification was born out of the fact that different countries needed a standard to go by but, they didn't want to be dictated to by someone(country) that they basically don't like but, want to sell to. What the company does is draw up it's OWN set of guidelines(documented of course). They submit them to whoever they are making the product for. They know what the people they are making the product for expect so they make it seem better than it really is, the other company accepts it and so on. All nice and documented. It may be junk but they documented it and built it just like they said they would. Basically it's one of those instances where "It looks good on paper but don't work in real life"

Anonymous Poster · Nov 16, 2001

<font color=blue>...Basically it's one of those instances where "It looks good on paper but don't work in real life"...</font color=blue>

Hey... that's part of everyday life... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I understand what you're saying, but some standard is better than no standard...

I would assume most of the time, the ISO certified company will have a more consistent/standardized product that comes out their doors over the "sweat shops" type of factory... they spent a few dollars getting certified and have to maintain some level to remain so...

{One perfect example...That had been one of the main problems in the past with the Chinese tractors...}

Of course, as in the "real world", we will always have exceptions to every rule, but that is normally not the rule...

and now back to the original thread.../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif