Southwire’s Plant and Customer Service Center (CSC) in Denton, Texas were recently recommended for ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) certifications. 

Obtaining this ISO certification achievement means the organization has met the requirements in the ISO 9001 Standard, and, according to Tim Reid, Denton’s plant manager, it gives confidence to the company’s customers that processes are in place to meet their needs and deliver consistent performance.

“This achievement demonstrates that we are committed to developing and producing world class products not only for today, but for tomorrow and well into the future,” said Reid. “Our quality journey does not end with this certification and, in fact, it has only just begun! My sincere gratitude goes to Denton’s quality team and their outstanding efforts to reach this milestone.” 

According to Robert DiNicola, Denton’s quality systems and support manager, the Denton plant showed its commitment to achieving this certification since the day it joined the Southwire team. Prior to being acquired by Southwire, the Denton facility had never pursed ISO certification. 

“This challenge was a fundamental culture change to the facility’s previous approaches to quality,” said DiNicola. “The entire process was predicated on a commitment made by the plant leadership team. Countless time was spent educating our workforce and supervisors on our QMS, its value, how it could ultimately help us drive improvement and be the very basis for how we manage quality at the Denton Plant on a day-to-day basis.” 

All of the efforts made by the Denton team were showcased primarily during the registration stage two audit. The process leading up to stage two focused on internal audits, management review and risk assessment for months. Then, during the stage two audit, there was a high level of participation and engagement from all functional areas, which resulted in the facility completing the seven-day audit with no nonconformities and one opportunity for improvement.

The Denton CSC received their recommendation for 9001 certification one week after the Denton Plant.  

According to Richard Long, Denton CSC site manager, they are celebrating this ISO certification and look forward to the next challenge on their path to quality.

“We view this accomplishment as a signpost on our CZ journey to improve our customers’ buying experience,” said Long. “I am very proud of the Denton CSC team, the site quality team and the corporate quality team as this ISO certification demonstrates our commitment to delivering products in a manner that meets or exceeds our customers’ expectations.”

CZ is defined as Southwire’s company-wide effort to strive for zero incidents in safety, quality, environmental health and safety (EHS) and cyber security. As the distribution organization continues to mature through the quality CZ journey, the Denton CSC ISO 9001 certification achievement is another significant step to this milestone.  

Todd Chikodroff, Southwire’s quality director, said that with the addition of another CSC facility becoming ISO 9001 certified, CZ growth can be accelerated through process standardization, not only through Denton, but across all CSC sites at Southwire. 

“While opportunities do exist to continually develop, the determination to make great strides in these early stages has been remarkable,” said Chikodroff. “This is a great accomplishment by the entire Denton CSC team, through the leadership of Richard Long and Joe Brewer.”

To find out more about Southwire’s commitment to sustainable business practices, click here.