The 1990s have brought tremendous change to manufacturing industries worldwide. The focus on the bottom line, downsizing and heightened global competition has increased, and an even greater emphasis has been placed on quality. An organization's reputation for all-around quality has never been more important. As such, the implementation of total quality management has become the highest priority. The real challenge for each organization is surpassing its current level of quality despite the fact that one person is now doing the job of three.

 For many organizations, survival in today's economy indirectly relies upon ISO 9000 certification. Organizations are turning toward this certification to control the quality and effectiveness of management systems and reduce costs associated with poor quality (e.g., by reducing scrap and waste and increasing awareness of customer requirements using corrective and preventive actions). Some seek certification simply because their clients demand it or because their competitors are certified. Still others become certified to grow market share and sell overseas. Whatever motivates an organization to seek certification, a company in this economy entrusts its registrar with monumental responsibility. When a registrar's performance doesn't live up to expectations, organizations will (and should) change registrars.

 Organizations become dissatisfied with their registrars for a variety of reasons; the majority of them stem from the registrar-client relationship. A company seeking ISO 9000 registration is embarking upon a long-term relationship with its registrar (a typical registration contract is for three years), and thus expects—and is entitled to—a high level of service.

 Unfortunately, according to Terri Lamsdale, president of Lamsco Consultants, "inadequate client service" tops the list of reasons why many of her clients have changed registrars. Further, Todd Irion, vice president of Engineered Materials Systems Inc. in Delaware, Ohio, comments about his direct experience with registrars: "I was frustrated with their level of unresponsiveness. We were never given a 'point person' as a registrar contact and they were nonresponsive to phone calls." Irion adds that his company's registrar "greased the larger wheels first"—in other words, it paid more attention to larger clients. Other companies we contacted were disappointed with their registrars for constantly rescheduling audits, billing undisclosed expenses and reporting audit findings in an untimely fashion.

One company's quest for certification

 For example, consider the following situation that arose at J.B. Tool & Machine Inc. in Wapakaneta, Ohio. As an automotive supplier, J.B. Tool was required to become ISO 9000/QS-9000-registered. The company believed in the value of regis-tration and pursued it as a means of improving its quality system.

 J. B. Tool's first registrar had been recommended very highly by a consultant because it was one of the largest and had highly experienced ISO 9000/QS-9000 auditors. Trusting in the opinion of its consultant and its initial conversation with the registrar, J.B. Tool began its relationship with the registrar. After the certification, during the company's first surveillance audit, its dissatisfaction began. The list of complaints grew with each continuing surveillance audit: The com-pany was visited by a different auditor for each assessment (as a result, there was no "point person" for J.B. Tool to contact); the auditors didn't listen during the course of the audit but only dictated their stance on issues; they weren't responsive to follow-up questions; and they were often arrogant and argumentative.

 After confronting the registrar, J.B. Tool's management attempted to resolve these issues on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, the registrar continued to disappoint them, which left them no choice but to select a new registrar.

 "We experienced what I would call a total breakdown in communication," remarks Neal R. Yantis, president of J.B. Tool & Machine. "Although we still believed in the value of ISO 9000/QS-9000 as a license to manufacture in the new millennium, we were not willing to continue our relationship with this particular registrar. We wanted out."

 To ensure that J.B. Tool wouldn't find itself in a similar situation if it changed registrars, Yantis began a thorough research process. He interviewed clients of prospective registrars, asking questions about the registrar's business style and professionalism and the client-registrar relationship.

 J.B. Tool finally decided upon a new registrar, and Yantis was able to disengage the company from the previous registrar within 10 days. Additionally, there was no cost involved with conversion, because the current registrar was able to conduct a conversion audit at the time of the previous registrar's scheduled surveillance audit.

What to expect from your registrar

 Any organization should be able to rely upon its registrar for the services promised during contract negotiations. A registrar should hold credentials (accreditation) that specify its areas of authorization or scope from an accrediting body such as the RvA (Dutch Accreditation Council) or the U.S. Registrar Accreditation Board. At a minimum, the following points are required of the registrar from its accrediting body (such as Guide 62, ISO 10011, or the ANSI-RAB R1.2, Requirements for Accredited Registration Bodies):

 A registrar shall establish and follow policies or procedures to provide services to organizations in a nondiscriminatory manner not used to impede or inhibit activities.

 A registrar shall make its services accessible to all applicants—access shouldn't be conditional upon the organization's size, the organization's membership in any association or group, the number of organizations already registered, or any undue financial condition.

 A registrar shall assess an organization using the applicable criteria outlined in the published quality system standards as agreed upon contractually.

 A registrar shall confine its registration requirements, assessment and decision to criteria specifically related to the scope contractually agreed upon with an organization.

 Additionally, an organization and its registrar may discuss additional services as part of the contract negotiations. Examples of additional services include:

  Issuance of an accredited certificate. Some registrars do issue unaccredited certificates, usually in scope areas that are typically not main expertise areas. However, these aren't sanctioned by an accrediting body.

  Assignment of a particular auditor or auditors with specialized experience or training

 Availability of a specified contact person to discuss appropriate issues (disallowing in-house training or consulting)

 Particular travel and expense arrangements

 Project management services such as consistency of audit team members

 Sales and marketing use of accreditation marks

 Issuance of accredited or unaccredited certificates

 When there is dissatisfaction with the services delivered, companies must address and resolve issues with their existing registrars before moving on. It's important to make the decision to change registrars based upon solid business reasoning rather than on emotion.

 Once a company has made the effort to resolve any issues and is still dissatisfied with the registrar, it shouldn't hesitate to change registrars at any stage during the ISO 9000 contractual agreement. Typically, an organization is not obligated to fulfill the term of its contract with its registrar before changing registrars, but review your contract carefully. The terms of the contract should detail the transition process.

Analyze your selection process

 There are many reasons why clients choose to part ways with their registrars: different philosophies about ISO 9000 implementation, conflicting business expectations and unexpected costs are just a few. Sometimes the two organizations simply "outgrow" one another. However, once the decision is made to move to another registrar, the organization can take positive steps to ensure that its new relationship will be in line with its expectations.

 The first step in selecting a new registrar is to analyze both the process used to select the existing (old) registrar and your company's relationship with it by asking the following questions:

 On what features or benefits did you base the selection of your existing registrar?

 What worked and what didn't?

 What did you like about the registrar and what left you dissatisfied?

 What expectations were met, and where, specifically, were they unmet? Why were you disappointed?

  How would you characterize the beginning of the relationship? Was it friendly, tense, amicable or awkward?

 Did the problems stem from the registrar's policies and procedures or staff, or a combination of both?

 How did your registrar respond when you had problems or questions?

 What kinds of "surprises," such as additional fees or policy changes, did you encounter from your registrar once the contract was signed?

 Solicit input from a variety of people within your company's departments that have been involved with the ISO 9000 quality management initiative and the registrar. Document your staff's feedback in a format that can be shared, understood and analyzed. The answers to these questions will provide the necessary foundation for developing the process and criteria for selecting your new registrar.

Narrow the field

 Quality Digest's annual Registrar Buyers Guide, featured in the March issue, is an excellent source for a complete listing of registrars. In addition, Quality Digest's Web site (www.qualitydigest.com) features a database of all ISO 9000-registered companies in North America.

 There are more than 50 registrars that serve U.S.-based companies, so you can't reasonably consider all of them as potential registrars for your company. The feedback that you have collected and reviewed will allow you to establish selection criteria and narrow the list of potential candidates. List all of the features that you want your prospective registrar to have, and classify them according to the following categories: "absolutely essential," "need to have" and "want, but aren't necessary." The features classified as absolutely essential will allow you to cut down your list.

 For example, some companies want their registrar to be accredited by a European-based Notifying Body because the company does business in Europe. This is an essential requirement for those companies, whereas other companies may not care about the origin of the Notifying Body. Other features that might be considered essential are the ability to register companies in your industry (by SIC code or NAICS code), experience auditing companies in your industry and having local audit staff (a critical issue for managing international engagements).

 Some questions you might want to ask include:

 What is the scope of activities the registrar has been accredited to audit?

 What accreditations does the registrar hold?

 Does the registrar participate in the Independent Association of Accredited Registrars? (The IAAR is a self-governing group of accredited registrars.)

 You may also consult national and international accreditation boards' Web sites to research the accreditation status of registrars. The RvA ( www.rva.nl ), the RAB ( www.rabnet.com ) and the IAAR ( www.iaar.org ) audit such organizations for compliance with accepted criteria and officially accredit such organizations if they have been found competent.

 Your elimination of those registrars unable to meet your essential needs will reduce the number of candidates to a more manageable number. Make the next cut by identifying features that you need but that maybe aren't show-stoppers: references from other companies in your industry that have been registered by the candidate; a long-established registrar with an international presence; clear, published pricing schedules and terms and conditions; and experience with companies that are demographically similar to yours (small or large, single or multiple locations, service- or product-based, etc.).

 Continue through this process, further defining those features that you would like to see in your new registrar. Using the results of your research, you can assemble a registrar profile, and by gathering publicly available information on each registrar, you can narrow the list even further. For example, if you require a U.S.-accredited registrar that is able to register companies in SIC code 28, you can contact the RAB or use Quality Digest's Registrar Buyers Guide to obtain a list of registrars and search for those that meet your criteria.

 Select a number of candidates that is broad enough that you'll be able to make a good choice but small enough to ensure that the selection process doesn't become long and confusing. This list of candidates leads to the next step of the process: interviewing.

Interview prospects

 Although a registrar's reputation should always be taken into consideration, don't base your decision upon reputation only. Dig deeper; ask to speak with current clients. Ask for clients in your industry that are similar to your organization in size (i.e., with roughly the same number of people, shifts and locations). Ask those clients how the registrar brings value to their business, and ask about the issues that plagued you in your first registrar engagement. If your registrar was unresponsive, ask questions about the prospective registrar's timeliness in returning phone calls, delivering reports and acting on findings. Don't hesitate to ask questions about how the registrar-client relationship works. Tour your facilities with the prospective registrars; test their knowledge of your business processes and equipment.

 Ask the registrar about the certificate conversion process and find out about the details of their procedures if you should decide to change registrars. Some registrars will charge a fee for changing before the end of the contract. Find out how much of the work done by the previous registrar can be used as part of the recertification process. Will an audit have to be redone, will the new registrar take the old registrar's word (reports) verbatim or will the process require some combination of both? What's the cost structure for the conversion audit?

 Also, ask registrars to show you a sample certification audit report, a copy of their audit questions and a sample finding including the associated response from the customer. Conduct face-to-face interviews with the prospective registrars, making certain to assemble the same internal review team for each interview.

 Plan the interview process and outline questions to be asked. This can be accomplished by requesting printed material—such as a sample contract, a pricing scheme, sample audit reports, an audit questionnaire and the procedure for transitioning to a new registrar—in advance of the interview so that your team can review it and prepare questions accordingly. You will then be able to decide what information you will need in order to select your new registrar.

 Next, craft questions that will yield the information that you need. For example, if you had a problem with the inconsistency of the registrar's audit team, you might ask questions about how the prospective registrar ensures consistency in audit styles, how it selects audit team members and what amount of input you have in the audit team composition. If the answers don't address your concerns, probe for additional information and be clear about the issue you're trying to resolve.

Select your registrar

 You will have invested a significant amount of time identifying your issues and needs, analyzing the options, and collecting data. Use this information to select a registrar based upon its pertinent experience, industry knowledge, business style and philosophy. Consider pricing policies, terms and conditions, and contractual issues, and be sure that you feel comfortable with the auditors who will be working with you. Listen carefully to what their clients share with you—and more important, pay attention to the things that have been left unsaid. Ask for clarification on any vague or unclear items prior to signing a contract.

 Last, and most important, use facts to make an informed decision. You'll be left with the security of knowing that you've chosen the right business partner.

About the authors

 Jill C. Smolnik is the director of marketing for HSB Engineering Services in Hartford, Connecticut, and former director of HSB Registration Services ( www.hsbiso.com ) . She has also been involved in the specification, marketing and sales of industrial products and services. She can be reached by e-mail at jsmolnik@qualitydigest.com .

 Phillip C. Dobyns is technical manager for HSB Registration Services. He is a senior IATCA auditor (RAB, QS-LA) and a QS-9000 auditor (AIAG) and holds a teaching certificate (MI). Dobyns has managed ISO registration activities for more than seven years, working with the RAB, RvA, AIAG, A2LA, IRCA, NIST/NVLAP and the IAAR programs. Contact him at pdobyns@qualitydigest.com .