ISOMulti-Site Registration - "First in Class"
In December 2000, Boyd achieved North America's first International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Multi-Site Registration in automotive collision repair when its entire Canadian operations (37 company owned locations) were granted ISO 9001:2000 Multi-Site Registration. The ISO standard provides independent, third party verification of the effectiveness of the Boyd Quality System. This ISO achievement is an extension of an initiative that began more than three years ago when Boyd's King Edward Street facility, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, became the first full service automotive collision repair facility in North America to earn ISO registration.
Prior to implementing the Boyd Quality System and the ISO standards across its Canadian operations, the Company integrated and implemented a core set of Standard Operating Procedures across its diverse geographic markets. In doing so, however, special attention and recognition was given to regional diversity as well as acquisition integration sensitivities. This important initiative demanded the full-time attention of Roland Borsato, Boyd's Vice-President, Quality Systems, as well as significant amounts of time and effort by virtually every level of operational management.
The benefits to these achievements are many. In addition to standardizing procedures to realize greater consistency in repair quality and service, the ISO standard and process also creates a structure for continuous improvement. With its quality system in place, Boyd now has a system and discipline, which will encourage and promote opportunity for continuous operating improvement. Embedded within the system are formalized procedures whereby every employee has the right as well as the responsibility to document and present areas where they observe opportunities for process improvement. Equally important, the system formalizes procedures that require every opportunity for improvement be given consideration and a timely response.
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The Company sees this and the entire quality system discipline as a foundation which will yield meaningful bottom line results through less waste, less re-work, greater efficiency, and higher levels of quality and service.
Because of the magnitude of a Multi-Site ISO registration undertaking, Boyd elected to focus on its Canadian operations as a first phase of company-wide implementation. Its U.S. operations also represented more recently acquired businesses (ones acquired in 1999 and 2000) and in keeping with its integration strategy, it was deemed desirable to ensure that time was given to successfully integrating these new acquisitions before introducing these "industry-first" systems to them. The Company now plans to introduce its quality system to its longest held U.S. locations starting in 2001, with further plans to extend the introduction to new acquisitions at later stages of their integration.
Response to the Boyd Quality System and the ISO Registration from customers and the insurance industry has been extremely positive.
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