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Premier Automation's panel building team is now ISO 9001:2015 certified. Eagle Registrations Inc., an independent registrar, has audited and registered Premier's Quality Management System and manufacturing activities, giving you formal, third-party assurance of the standards applied to every build-to-print project Premier delivers.
To explain what the certification covers and what it means for your next project, we spoke with Josh Miller, Premier's Quality Assurance Manager.
The certification applies to Premier's build-to-print work, formally defined as the manufacture and assembly of industrial control panels, automation systems, and drive solutions to customer drawings and specifications. Covered operations include production, inspection and testing, shipping, and support across Premier's Pennsylvania facilities. Each of those steps now runs within a quality system an independent registrar has reviewed and approved.
According to Josh, Premier's commitment to quality was in place well before the audit. Premier's long-standing customers and industry partners have plenty of options for where to build their projects, and they continue to return. "You don't really get the high-profile, repeat customers that we have gathered over the years unless the equipment we are delivering is world class," Josh said.
The certification process changed how that knowledge is captured. Over the past year, Premier's team took practices that had developed organically on the shop floor, the tribal knowledge experienced people carried with them, and built them into documented forms, procedures, and everyday processes. Josh sees this as essential for any growing company, because it allows the next generation of engineers and technicians to carry forward the habits that have made Premier successful.
The result for you is more consistency from one build to the next and more information about your project. With tighter record keeping, traceability, and formal communication systems, Premier can now share far more quality data with you than before.
Issues will come up on any manufacturing project. Under ISO 9001:2015, Premier responds to every reported quality issue with the same structured process: immediate containment, root cause analysis, and a documented corrective and preventive action plan. The quality team then tracks each issue over time to confirm the fix holds, and if the problem returns, the corrective action is reinforced.
Josh describes the process as consistent in structure and specific in practice. Every issue follows the same steps, and every response is built around the particular problem so it cannot happen again.
A recent customer quality alert shows how quickly that process moves from a report to action on the shop floor.
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The added testing protects the customer's equipment in the field, and the records Premier keeps along the way give the customer documented data to bring to their supplier. When you raise a concern with Premier, you can expect it to reach the shop floor quickly and come back to you as information you can act on.
Auditors look for objective evidence, and Premier's Quality Management System has earned strong feedback. The comment Josh hears most often, though, is about the team. "Every auditor that has come through Premier in the last year always makes the same comment: 'You have some great people here,'" Josh said.
For Josh, that feedback gets at what the certification represents. "The certificate is just a piece of paper. It is the commitment and people that make the difference," he said.
He points to the full range of people behind every build. Designers create the prints, assemblers tighten the screws, electricians handle the wiring and bussing, and engineers support each job both in the shop and on your site. Dozens of others work behind the scenes to keep the rest of the team moving. Josh notes that auditors tend to be skeptical of the phrase "quality is everyone's responsibility," but at Premier he sees it play out every day.
In Pennsylvania, the quality team will continue maturing the system through ongoing improvements and training, including internal audit training for several Premier managers this December. Companywide, Premier is working toward expanding the scope of its certification to include its Alpharetta, Georgia shop.
If you are evaluating a build-to-print partner for industrial control panels, automation systems, or drive solutions, contact Premier Automation to talk through your next project and the quality documentation you can expect with it.
Whether you're planning a modernization project or facing a system issue that needs answers now, Premier Automation is ready to help. Tell us what you're working with, and our engineering team will bring the expertise to move you forward.
