Diego’s Talk: ISO 9001

In my opinion, the ISO 9001 Quality Management System – Quality Management System – as the owner of Masutti Marmi, has a single precise objective: optimization of business processes, to obtain full customer satisfaction. I believe there are two ways to approach this system: the first is to do it because you believe in it, the second is to do it to have it; I think this is a very important aspect to consider before starting a path to be carried out with commitment and dedication.

Back in 2002, I was one of the pioneers with Cesaf s.r.l., at the time s.a.s., to obtain the Quality certification; likewise, I did with Masutti Marmi s.r.l., as soon as acquired, in 2018. I am convinced that the Quality Certification, through its activation process, helps the company in a valuable way, it is an added value, for the benefit of the end customer, the one who then buys your product or service; I consider it a system of protection towards him.

If the criterion to approach certification is to believe in what you are doing (in my case, many, too many times, also in contrast to the interpretations of consultants and certifiers), you must absolutely be able to incorporate the rules and basic indications outlined from the norm in your business reality, trying – even if it is often very difficult – to modify your normal (and perhaps wrong) modus operandi. I have defined wrong the way of operating, because as long as you don’t try others, you are convinced that yours is the best, but believe me that it is not so, there is always something to learn and improve

Having completed this necessary premise, it is right that I provide clear elements to try to make people understand what I mean by “believing in this qualification”; the first concept that this rule teaches you, is order!

Order is fundamental in everything, especially in the business world! Realizing the procedures that bring you to order is important: once a good level of application is reached, it becomes a priceless satisfaction, with tangible results also from an economic point of view; if everything is in order, it is easy to find what you are looking for and need, you lose little time and have precise information immediately. I think it’s interesting to give you a concrete example: when I worked in the world of mobile telephony, building many radio base stations, it was satisfying – after years of completing a job – that people called you to get specific information on construction sites carried out maybe 5/6 years before and in a flash you were able to give an answer, both by finding files in a well-organized digital archive and by having original documents in a well-structured paper file. The phone calls always started with a question: can you, who have everything in order and always find everything, help me? This is ours, my satisfaction. Believing in a quality system means setting goals and – consequently – valid tools to tangibly measure the positive or negative results; in addition to this, it means changing your point of view, getting out of the classic patterns of habit and custom, it means changing the mentality of the structure that governs and manages the procedural phases as a whole, regardless of the production activity.

The entrepreneur who chooses this path must commit himself personally, he cannot delegate! Strong decisions and strong actions are needed, without neglecting the economic commitment necessary to obtain the result. I have personally invested a lot of time in these certifications; the reference standards – in my opinion – have the function of making you think, therefore – once read, studied and still re-studied, deepened, understood – they must be discussed with the help of specialized consultants and then they must be included into your business reality and in the related management processes. Being certified does not mean upsetting your company, but it means improving it, it means making it an effective tool for your customer.

Setting goals means investing in the collection and analysis of data, to find out the degree of satisfaction of your customer; you can’t complain about the fact that your company isn’t doing well, but instead you have to treasure the feedback and understand where you are wrong. Being certified proves you have the strength to get involved every day, admit defeat, with the awareness that you have not lost a war but only a battle. This concept is what has always animated me in the certification process of my companies. For an entrepreneur, admitting that he was wrong is never easy; the certification tool helps you to take note of it as well as giving you the tangible opportunity to read the data you have collected and make you understand where you have gone wrong and – more importantly – it offers you the tools to repair the mistake.

I often wonder if the context, my customers, are aware of the benefits they receive, after the Quality Certification of my companies. The answer is not simple: not everyone appreciates it, not everyone realizes it, but slowly they begin to positively evaluate the results of a demanding and constant job, which turns out to be very effective especially for them.

In Masutti Marmi, the Quality System has led to important results, which have been achieved with the order and constant analysis of the data collected. The zero breaks policy, the information and training that we are giving and distributing to meet the needs of our customer, the cancellation or almost of the errors, are all factors that give us clear signals that we are working in the right direction and, slowly, we begin to see that customers too are aware of the degree of Quality we express.

Diego Pol