Understanding ISO 9001’s Importance in Certifying Custom Wheel Finish Quality

The terms “top quality” and “high quality” are used so often by manufacturers to describe their products that they’ve all but completely lost their impact on a skeptical buying public.

Certifications, on the other hand, are another matter—particularly certifications that are known and respected the world over. These kinds of certifications provide third-party validation of quality using the most stringent standards and continual reevaluation.

One of the world’s most respected manufacturing certifications is ISO 9001:2015.

Wheel Craft, the leading provider of luxury wheel/rim finishes for BMW, Lexus and Infiniti factory-installed wheels, is extremely proud to say that we have been ISO 9001:2015 certified for four consecutive years.

What Is ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 is the international standard that specifies requirements for an effective quality management program. Companies and organizations use this standard to demonstrate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. Certification to the ISO 9001 standard can enhance an organization’s credibility by demonstrating to customers that its products and services meet expectations.

ISO 9001 was first published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987, which is comprised of national standards bodies of more than 160 countries. Important components of ISO 9001 include customer satisfaction, establishing processes for continuous improvement and compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, all of which Wheel Craft values highly. ISO 9001:2015 is the latest version of this standard.

Wheel Craft has built its quality policy around the cornerstones of meeting customer requirements, delivering on time and continually improving to streamline costs—all of which conform to ISO 9001 evaluation criteria.

How Did Wheel Craft Attain ISO 9001 Standards Certification?

Attaining ISO 9001:2015 certification isn’t easy by any measure. It takes lots of advance preparation, and a full team effort to ensure that all requirements are met in advance of an on-site audit. In Wheel Craft’s case, no one on our team had previously worked through an ISO 9001 certification initiative. Yet, our entire team felt strongly about the benefits of ISO 9001 certification, so they worked collaboratively toward achieving it, which we did in 2016.

Since then, we continue to undergo extensive annual on-site audits. Auditors go department to department and speak with every employee. Time and time again, these auditors are blown away by two things:

• We have no engineer on staff who oversees our ISO program
• Every employee who speaks with an ISO auditor speaks very precisely about our quality standards and our process. “You can’t find folks across the board at a company who can tell you what the expectations are under this certification—except you guys,” the auditors tell us each time.

We believe that’s a reflection of the passion of our ISO lead, Mike Queden, a 20-year veteran of the wheel finishing business, and the care that our team shows—not only in meeting customer expectations, but in being part of a quality organization that delivers the world’s finest luxury wheel/rim finishes for factory-installed BMW, Lexus and Infiniti wheels.

We claim ownership of quality in the custom wheel finish market because repeated third-party laboratory testing validates the quality of our PVD Chrome^™ wheel and rim finishes—and because we are proud recipients of renowned certifications like ISO 9001.

We hope this blog helps you understand the importance of world-renowned certifications like ISO 9001:2015 when it comes to evaluating custom luxury wheel and rim finishes. If you’re looking to Arrive in Style wherever the road takes you, contact us for more information on our custom wheel and rim finishes for factory-installed luxury car wheels. For dealers, we welcome the opportunity to discuss how Wheel Craft can deepen customer loyalty and drive unit sales, productivity, revenue and CSI.

Please contact Wheel Craft at 833.639.4231 or email Ed Hollinshead, company President.