"We" (former co.) registered 2 sites, 125 souls each, to 9k94, in 9 months, in 1998, 1st 3rd party audit. Secrets:
Good, strike that, excellent steering committee (1 non-managment rep. from each dept.) at each site.
1 knowledgable and intelligent CQE/CQA at each site (besides me, the QMgr.)
Good consultant, knew the standard, keen on process maps, death on overwriting/overdocumenting (they were 9k94 registered).
Near fanatical support from the Pres & CEO (just don't let him talk too the registrar too lon).
Fair and reasonable auditor(s) from NQA-USA (select a registrar that fits you).
We had a couple of minors each site, related to not doing what we said (due mostly to the speed and abbreviation of training and internal auditing required to implement the system that quickly).