{"72565":{"#nid":"72565","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Assistance Boosts Battery Company","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen U.S. Battery Manufacturing Co. wanted to enhance its competitiveness by obtaining ISO (International Standards Organization) certification, company officials turned to Georgia Tech for help.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFounded in California in 1926 and later expanded into Evans, Ga., in 1986, and further expanded into south Augusta in 2000, U.S. Battery produces deep-cycle batteries servicing the golf cart industry, sweeper-scrubber market, aerial lifts, commercial marine use and special applications.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the company was profitable, management knew there was room for improvement across the board. U.S. Battery\u0027s challenge was to figure out how to increase production with a minimal investment of new resources, but without sacrificing quality.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022They knew where they wanted to go, but they didn\u0027t know how to get there,\u0022 says Elliot Price, region manager in the Augusta office of Georgia Tech\u0027s Enterprise Innovation Institute.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat destination for U.S. Battery was the ISO 9001-2000 standard for quality management systems. It mandates a number of requirements an organization must meet to achieve customer satisfaction through consistent products and services that meet customer expectations. Georgia Tech helped the company obtain ISO certification three years ago for its two manufacturing plants in Georgia.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022They had no formal quality management systems or system to look at opportunities to improve their processes,\u0022 Price explains. \u0022Everything was informal, and because of that there were chronic problems in the facility and a lot of hidden costs to the company.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo get U.S. Battery started in the right direction, Georgia Tech helped the company implement a documented system based on the ISO 9001-2000 standard that addresses inefficiencies in manufacturing by first providing a clear, impartial picture of how processes are actually working, according to Price. \u0022At that point, they can determine whether those were the best ways to do things or not,\u0022 he explains. \u0022They could get a feel for what processes could be changed to make the overall manufacturing scheme more efficient and more effective.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech also coached company employees on implementing the documentation system so that everyone followed it, he adds. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe objectivity of the ISO process was essential, according to company President Terry Agrelius.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The certification helped us look at some vital factors that served as focal points for achieving our corporate goals without letting feelings or the touchy-feely stuff get in the way,\u0022 he says. \u0022We could start measuring and monitoring ourselves through those corporate objectives to increase the output without increasing the burden to the company.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPursuit of ISO certification is a long process that began in earnest for U.S. Battery in 2002, when a handful of employees attended a Georgia Tech-sponsored workshop on internal quality auditing. Bruce Eaton, U.S. Battery\u0027s quality control manager, was among the first group of attendees.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Our domestic customers were the ones encouraging us to obtain ISO certification,\u0022 says Eaton, noting that the company also sells batteries all over the world. \u0022And Georgia Tech has been involved with that effort every step of the way since the beginning.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEducation and development through classes and workshops are major certification requirements. U.S. Battery employees have taken advantage of Enterprise Innovation Institute education opportunities with instruction - usually conducted in Augusta but occasionally at the Atlanta campus - on numerous substantive topics including the aforementioned internal quality auditing, plus customer satisfaction, continual improvement, root-cause analysis and environmental issues.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso, Tech helped the company conduct a pre-assessment - a dry-run of its quality management procedures to ensure compliance with the ANSI\/ISO\/ASQ Q9001-2000 international standard before the system is opened up to the ISO registration auditor.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We walked right though it,\u0022 grins Eaton.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the hidden resources uncovered by the work was employee involvement through their valuable ideas, solutions and approaches, according to Eaton.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We thought we had - quote - employee involvement,\u0022 he says, \u0022but it wasn\u0027t to the degree required by the ISO standard. But employee involvement has played a major role in reducing our costs.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEmployee buy-in was also important, Agrelius says, in part because it empowered everyone to look deeper into the process.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022From the points of view of management and labor, we had a central focus and central goals that we used as the methodology to come to a lot of resolutions,\u0022 he says.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELessons learned and applied from the ISO certification process have proven their worth by helping keep the company upright in stormy times.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We were really hurting at the beginning of 2006,\u0022 Eaton notes. \u0022The price of lead had gone so high that we were almost giving batteries away. The profit margin had been squeezed right out of them.\u0022 But U.S. Battery weathered the market far better than it would have pre-ISO, Eaton says.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EProcess improvements along with falling lead prices have also made good times better, Eaton adds. \u0022Our quality system is recognized across the world and it has tremendous dollar value for the company. Sales have gone up each year since we\u0027ve been certified.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAgrelius credits the company\u0027s improved performance and increased stability on U.S. Battery\u0027s management team, its labor force - and Georgia Tech. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We had a great facilitator in Elliot, whose understanding of the ISO program brought many things to light for us,\u0022 he says. \u0022The ISO program was like opening a door to a whole new arena of high-caliber events that we would have been unable to touch without the assistance of Georgia Tech.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute assistance with quality and international standards, please contact Elliot Price (706-737-1415); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:elliott.price@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eelliott.price@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Tim Israel (404-894-2272); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tim.israel@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etim.israel@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or contact your nearest Georgia Tech Regional Office.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejohn.toon@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Gary Goettling\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Help with ISO (international standards) certification increases sales"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"When U.S. Battery Manufacturing Co. wanted to enhance its competitiveness by obtaining ISO (International Standards Organization) certification, company officials turned to Georgia Tech for help.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech assistance helped U.S. Battery Co."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2006-10-20 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:29","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-10-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2006-10-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72566":{"id":"72566","type":"image","title":"Conferring at U.S. Battery","body":null,"created":"1449177934","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:34","changed":"1475894661","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:21"},"72567":{"id":"72567","type":"image","title":"Company sign \u0026 logo","body":null,"created":"1449177942","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:42","changed":"1475894661","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:21"}},"media_ids":["72566","72567"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/","title":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"}],"keywords":[{"id":"3465","name":"certification"},{"id":"1802","name":"international"},{"id":"1677","name":"quality"},{"id":"170894","name":"standards"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}