Special Thanks to Everyone in this Forum!

[the47guy]

I do have one question, but first I would like to thank everyone in this forum for the help and information that I received from so many people on this forum. This is one of the few forums I have been on where everyone is professional and tend to stay away from opinions. My company was giving a short deadline (6 months) to reach AS9110 certification. I was put in charge and had some, not much, AS9110 knowledge. It was very daunting to say the least. I found this amazing site and with the help of some amazing individuals, we passed our initial certification audit last week. I want to hand out a special thanks to a few people and I know I am missing a bunch of people, but trust me you are not forgotten. Marc, Big Jim, AndyN, Sidney Vianna, John Broomfield, Somashekar, and sooo many more..... Again, thank you and I hope to expand my knowledge on AS9110 and be able to provide support to individuals like so many of you have to me.

Now, on to my question..... lol.

I know there are some things you can't say when it come to AS9110 certification. I want to thank my employees in a short paragraph that I will be putting in our new Quality Pamphlet that we will be putting out. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to start this out? I know it should be in my own words, but I dont know exactly how to say it.

I was starting with:

Congratulations Y-Tech employees on receiving AS9110 certification. I want to thank all of you.... and so on.

It just isn't sounding right. If anyone has some insight it would be greatly appreciated. I am sincere about our QMS and I want to ensure that I thank our employees the right way that shows they are integral. Thanks again everyone.

 

[somashekar]

Hi Ronald.
Remember to say that the established QMS belongs to everyone, and to their individual part, they have to keep maintaining and improving, with communication and learning being the vital in all the processes. Certification just happens to come along with you since you desired it. When you own, maintain and continually improve your system, certification remains with you without any added efforts.

 

[Jamie_]

Hi Ronald.
Remember to say that the established QMS belongs to everyone, and to their individual part, they have to keep maintaining and improving, with communication and learning being the vital in all the processes. Certification just happens to come along with you since you desired it. When you own, maintain and continually improve your system, certification remains with you without any added efforts.

This is really well said and it's SO TRUE. As brutal as a short timeline for initial certification can be, you have to hand it off to the process owners and the first couple of months especially are crucial. They need to see themselves as owners and the head of QC will be less hands on not because it doesn't matter, but because that's the only way it's sustainable.

When we got our initial certification (6 months 3 weeks from not one written procedure to ISO 9001-2008) we had a company celebration (catered food on the clock) to thank everyone - one of our company owners and I spoke thanking everyone and as soon as we got the greenlight I sent a pretty heartwarming email (if I do say so myself) to all users because as out of character for me as it was I was sincerely moved by how hard everyone worked and how remarkable they were.

We don't have any kind of quality pamphlet, so I'm not sure exactly how you'd thank them there but a general thanks not naming individuals...I wouldn't get too stressed about the exact wording since it's not likely anyone takes general thanks all that personally. I did it as I mentioned above, because you need to acknowledge the huge accomplishment and when everyone is involved it gets hard to mention everyone by name. I just know for me and most people if it's general to a group it's nice and you might notice if it's not done, but it's not that meaningful personally.

The year we got our initial certification they backed up their thanks with something extra in the bonuses for everyone. And I was very vocal to tptb about who went above and beyond and who should have a particularly large thank you in that bonus check. And the people who showed they were capable of way beyond their current position/pay rate I was very noisy about that as well.

Verbal (typed?) thanks are nice and necessary - but the best way for an employer to thank people is money. If people manage to pull off an extraordinary achievement in a very ambitious period of time and they do it well, while still keeping up with their regular responsibilities? Those are people you want to keep around and imo that's worth throwing some money at them. I know it's my favorite way to be thanked.

 

[Big Jim]

My suggestion, even if you go ahead with the other suggestions, is to hold an "all hands" meeting to announce the achievement of the certificate. Hold up the certificate, plaque, banner, or whatever, and tell them:

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL - THIS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DONE WITHOUT ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS - THIS IS REALLY YOUR CERTIFICATE

 

[John Broomfield]

the47guy,

This celebration is a wonderful opportunity for the top manager to reinforce the points made above.

This further emphasizes that it is not your system.

May everyone now continue to use it and improve it.

Congratulations,

John

 

[Moonlight17]

Hi All,

We have been certified to 9001, 14001, 18001 & 27001 for many years,
and after every assessment I send a message (by e-mail) to all the staff thanking them for their continuing efforts throughout the year.
I also send a 'special' to those directly involved in the audit for showcasing their experience and knowledge that in turn gives our auditors confidence that we are running a very successful business and all staff are part of the success.

For those members of the production team that are not on the e-mail system, this message is posted on their Notice Boards.

The directors of the company are always cc'd in these messages.

I find the production employees especially like to have their name in lights! It's nice.

 

[the47guy]

Well, we ended up throwing a Company-wide party for everyone. It was a very fun night for all the employees. I handed out our Quality Pamphlets and had a small speech to the employees thanking them for all their hard work. Our president flew in and offered his own kind words to the employees as well. We had a raffle and music and dancing. I received nothing but good feedback from everyone. So far this journey has been a wonderful experience for not only myself, but every employee. Thanks for all the advice guys and gals!!