Click Here for Printable pdf Version of Seoil-America Client Success Story

Attaining ISO quality status helping firm compete

Industry                                                                               
Automotive Adhesives and Sealants

Company City
Tallassee        

Company State
Alabama                                             

Company Name                                                                     
Seoil-America

Project/Activity Year
Quality Systems, ISO 9001-2000

Company Profile
Seoil has called Tallassee home for more than five years. The company employs 23 and manufactures some 50 metric tons of automotive sealant and adhesives each month for Hyundai. The firm may soon also supply the new Kia plant near LaGrange, Ga. Its product is used primarily to control noise and vibration.

Situation
Seoil was led through the preparation, audit and registration phases by ATAC Quality Specialist Chuck Mcpherson. “Seoil, like most companies
that we work with, already had some good quality management components in place,” Mcpherson said. “However, their system needed to be organized into a single, integrated process that would stand up to stringent auditing and one that can be sustained on a continuous basis. We
achieved that over some 15 months of training and quality management system development.”

Solution
ISO certified companies stand among firms that operate under a business culture that practices the process approach to quality management systems -- excellence in such critical areas as product delivery, customer service and continuous improvement.

Already a key supplier to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama, Seoil America of Tallassee is moving into expanded markets, thanks in part to its recent attainment of ISO 9001-2000 quality management status.  With assistance from the Auburn Technical Assistance Center (ATAC) at Auburn University, Seoil became a registered ISO company in June.

Results
“ISO certification has given us a stronger standing by getting us in line with top performing companies,” said Joely Stewart, Seoil administrative manager. “The process of establishing our quality management system has better organized our quality program with other business components. We now have a single integrated system to control and measure our performance by. We are more standardized as a company.”

A finished product undergoes more than 20 different quality checks at Seoil before being shipped to the customer, said Quality Assurance Manager Mikel Stroud.

“Going through the ISO certification process has made the assurance of those tests more precise and more cohesive,” Mikel said. “Everyone and everything now are on the same page, if you will.”
     
ISO standards are created by a 91-nation organization to define the basics of a quality system for manufacturing, business, and industry. ISO certification is one of the primary measures used worldwide to gauge a company’s quality management, customer service and business performance. Companies must undergo re-certification every three years.

Benefits Summary:
Seoil officials also credit its association with ATAC and success in undergoing the ISO quality management systems process with the following additional business impacts:

Investments:
$60,000 in new plant equipment

Job Retention & Job Creation:
One job retained
One job created