We recently had a chance to talk with long-time customer Nick Shonsky, Director of Quality Assurance at The Standard Group. He shared with us one of their most recent wins - passing their latest ISO audit with flying colors after moving their ISO certification processes into KaiNexus. 

Read below to learn more about this organization’s unique way of using KaiNexus: 

The Initial Challenge

To receive and maintain ISO certification, organizations must first earn their certification which can take some organizations years to do. From there, the organization must maintain company certification for the next three years & is required to go through one audit each of these three years.

Although The Standard Group has been ISO certified since 2015, gathering and tracking all the appropriate materials required to maintain certification using Excel and Word documents started to become cumbersome and overwhelming. This audit process demands clear documentation of processes and evidence that is easy to look up and retrieve for the auditor.

With such an extensive process to prepare for the audit, the organization must have everything in order. Many of The Standard Group’s customers come to them strictly because they are ISO certified, so maintaining ISO certification is a big deal. However, Nick and his team struggled to maintain visibility into the information that ISO requires, causing delays and frustrations within the organization.

That’s why while prepping for their audit for this year, Nick decided to try using KaiNexus, which they already used for their continuous improvement work, to centralize and standardize their audit process. 

This year, they have slowly been integrating more and more of their ISO elements into KaiNexus so that their documentation and evidence are all in one place. 

Nick shared, "This was the year that I was able to feature all of the things that we have been putting together with our auditor and he was blown away! We passed our audit with flying colors!"

Streamlining Processes in KaiNexus

One of the critical features that greatly benefited Nick and his team was KaiNexus's document management capabilities. The platform allowed them to centralize all their ISO documentation, making it easily accessible and searchable for employees. This streamlined their documentation process, ensuring all necessary documents were up-to-date and accessible during ISO audits.

Within KaiNexus, Nick has an ISO Documents Board where he converts his ISO document PDFs into images and hosts them on Cards for visibility across the organization. Additionally, the auditors do not like copies of processes and work instructions all over the plant because if a process gets updated, they do not want employees to have access to old versions of the documents. Now, if a revision is needed, Nick can easily replace the files in KaiNexus. The KaiNexus ISO Documents Board is a one-stop shop where they can reference all of the documents.

Additionally, before the "real" audit, Nick assigns internal audits to their internal audit team through KaiNexus to ensure their processes are in order before the "real" audit happens. All that is then documented within a KaiNexus project, with nested tasks, labeled by year. He then sets up a Board with a Gant view so that they can easily track all the items being worked on for ISO. 

Thanks to the adoption of KaiNexus, The Standard Group's journey of maintaining ISO certification became significantly more manageable. Nick and his team not only passed their audit with flying colors but also emerged from the process as a more efficient, adaptable, and innovative organization. 

"This process has been one of my biggest accomplishments with KaiNexus," Nick shared. 

Conclusion

Nick's experience with KaiNexus and its transformative impact on The Standard Group's ISO processes is a testament to the power of continuous improvement and innovation. 

The story of Nick and The Standard Group highlights the significant benefits of adopting a comprehensive improvement platform like KaiNexus. It's not just about maintaining ISO certification; it's about fostering a culture of continuous improvement that can drive success across an organization. With KaiNexus, organizations like The Standard Group can embrace change, streamline processes, and ultimately thrive in an ever-evolving business world.