Even Engineers Can Spell ISO

So what is so special about ISO 9001:2015?

So, after high school, I decided to be an engineer since I loved the idea of driving a locomotive. No steering wheel, you never get lost and I am sure they have coffee cup holders. (If anyone reading this article drives trains, let me know if they have coffee cup holders.)

So after six years of math, physics, chemistry, delivering pizza in thirty minutes or less and drinking lots of coffee, the big day came.

Talk about a shock. Come to find out that being an engineer does not mean that you get to drive locomotives. Now I know why my guidance counselor would just smile, talk softly and tap me on the head when I shared my career goals.

So, with that dream dashed, I moved on to designing LCDs. Which it turns out was a good move since my spelling skills where lacking. But Hey! I could spell LCD.

Then one day someone at the company decided that we should become ISO 2015 certified. Engineers fear change and taking on projects that don’t involve soldering irons or making coffee are generally avoided. But once again, this was a project that looked attractive since even I could spell ISO.

Anyone know what ISO stands for? Let me know.

Well, it turns out that becoming ISO certified is not that easy of a process. In fact, if it were not for our General Manager, we would have crashed and burned. But we made it and are planning a big party to celebrate.

As it turns out, ISO 2015 is a good approach for our business since it focuses on the ‘What ifs’ and how to handle them.

In other words, what happens if a chip supplier for one of our TFT displays shuts down due to an earthquake? How fast can you recover? How do you recover?

The way it works is that a total stranger comes into the office and looks for things that could go really wrong and hurt our customers. After the list is made, we have to come up with written solutions on how we will fix it fast.

This may sound really simple, but the truth is: We learned a great deal about where we were week (sure, some people spell this weak, but engineers know better). We now have plans in place to reduce the impact to our customers.

Of course, the best way to prepare for disaster is to keep extra bags of coffee in your desk drawer with a battery backup grinder.

By the way, we use SAP software. How hard can that be to spell?

Now, where and when is the party?