When you need custom precision springs or wireforms for high-stakes industries like aerospace or defense, there’s no compromising on quality. These products serve a critical purpose in high-risk applications, so they must function exactly as intended.
Since 2016, Gifford Spring has been an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer. This certification indicates that our Quality Management System has been determined to meet the ISO standards for consistency and continual improvement.
At Gifford Spring Company, being ISO certified is more than checking a box. Quality is our purpose – it is behind every product commitment we make to our customers.
What It Takes to Be an ISO 9001:2015 Certified Spring Manufacturer
All of our customers in the many industries we serve benefit from our quality standards:
Documented processes. We carefully document each step of production, from material sourcing to part tracking. This ensures the repeatability and consistency that are vital to satisfy our customers for every order.
- Rigorous inspections. Before advancing a part from prototype into production, we closely inspect all critical features to ensure that we’ve met all specifications and manufactured to print. We conduct first part inspection, in-process, final part inspections, and First Article Inspections as appropriate and required for each order.
- Carefully vetted vendors. We require ISO 9001:2015 or higher certification or a thorough quality evaluation from each of our vendors, raw material providers, and outside finishing services. We continually monitor each vendor’s quality and on-time delivery to ensure we can continue to exceed our customer’s expectations.
- Measurable goals. ISO certification sets baseline standards for quality management, but baseline has never been good enough for us. We set our standards well above the norm and do whatever it takes to follow through. For instance, we consistently deliver each of our orders on time with 99-100% accuracy, which isn’t an ISO requirement. We’re proud to have a customer return rate of less than 1%.
- Quality audits. We have an annual quality audit that is conducted both internally and through a third party. Auditors define specific areas to review and also spot-check others to make sure we’re meeting all quality standards. They evaluate each of our processes, from our method of tracking and cataloguing incoming orders to our system of receiving payments—and everything in between.
We are proud to be an ISO 9001:2015 certified spring and wire form manufacturer, but ISO certification is only a starting place for monitoring and improving our quality systems. Excelling beyond those standards required steadfast internal review and a commitment to setting and achieving the highest possible goals. When a procedure or activity results in us not meeting one of our standards, we create an immediate action plan to improve it.
When you need a high-quality custom precision spring or wire form, you can depend on Gifford Spring Company to deliver. Request a quote today – we look forward to working with you!