ISO 9002 as the cornerstone for continuous improvement

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 87, No. 982, 1994

Robert Kelly and Keith Eldridge, Iron Ore Company of Canada

Quality management has always played an important role at the Iron Ore Company of Canada; particularly since the early eighties when the iron ore markets favoured buyers os opposed to sellers. Since that time, IOC's quality system has evolved from bosic quality control to the Deming philosophy and its 14 points, and on through various other phases to the ISO 9000 series. ISO 9002 Registration was' first requested by IDC's customers and development plan were prepared in 1988. At this time, Quality System Registration was unheard of in the mining sector and TDC found itself struggling with the concept. The next three years saw the company develop a Quality System to meet ISO 9002 in a two phased approach, setting new standards for the mining industry when registration was achieved in December 1991. The company now sees ISO Registration as the cornerstone of its future quality efforts. IOC's quality system has been integrated with several other initiatives such as loss control and functional training, both of which focus on training and management the workforce to do the job safely, the right way. This paper addresses the steps required to develop a quality system for the mining industry within the guidelines ofthe ISO 9000 Series and the subsequent integration of other quality related initiatives.