In a globally dynamic marketplace, the need for a standardized benchmark to evaluate quality and measure performance can be critical. The ISO 9000 family of compliance standards for quality management systems provides a framework which defines customer expectations and enables enterprises both in the manufacturing and service sectors to foster continuous improvement of product quality, safety and security, leading to improved productivity, profitability and customer retention.

AS9001 standardizes the quality system requirements of the aerospace industry, and TS16949 is the automotive industry equivalent. Standardization results in greater productivity and profitability due to the elimination or reduction of unique requirements developed for each different customer.  As the pace of manufacturing advances, however, many large corporations have implemented ISO 9000 on a site-by-site basis, with little or no regard to sharing best practices between sites or using the ISO 9000 as a framework for continual improvement across the corporation.

Pilgrim Software supports ISO 9000 compliance, including AS9100 and TS16949, through process improvement, increased quality awareness, and consistency in operations. These standards require manufacturers to develop a quality management system that provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste across the supply chain. Like the standards, Pilgrim takes into consideration the complete lifecycle of its customers’ manufacturing operations.

With Pilgrim’s solutions you:

1. Ensure Compliance

Like the companies they supply, automotive and aerospace manufacturers must meet their respective quality and compliance requirements, including ISO AS/TS, ISO 14000 environmental standards, OSHA guidelines, and even customer-specific quality requirements such as FAA, FAR, and ASQ QMS standards and guidelines. This directly impacts companies’ revenue growth and market expansion.

Through a fully integrated and closed-loop system, Pilgrim’s solution helps manage risk, identify and resolve customer complaints, document SOPs and best practices, support change control, identify and resolve nonconformances, calibrate equipment, and audit the company’s state of quality and compliance, across the enterprise. The results are improved customer satisfaction and brand reputation, and reduced cost of poor quality, and cost savings to pass on to the customer.

2.  Improve Efficiencies and Accelerate Production

The global race is on to produce increasingly complex products under the textbook principles of “lean manufacturing.”  For contract manufacturers, this means improving supply chain management, process cycle management, and product release management. This is driving contract producers' need to implement standardized processes within their organizations

Pilgrim Software, like the ISO 9000 regulations, takes into consideration the complete lifecycle of manufacturing.  It solution is built on best practices from ISO and GMP standards, provides closed-loop change management, corrective and preventive action, trending and analysis of cycle times and costs, facilitating root cause analysis and ultimately improving efficiencies and boosting production.  For the customer, this means the contract manufacturer eliminates the customer’s capital investment in potentially underutilized production capacity; eliminates long lead-time to build and validate a cGMP manufacturing facility; and avoiding the development and scale-up phases in a cGMP environment.

3. Capitalize on Quality and Customer Satisfaction

Poor, or poorly-perceived quality can result in high costs associated with warranty issues, recalls, litigation, and negative marketplace perception.  Compliance with quality standards in your products is critical to successfully exceeding your customers’ expectations.

Pilgrim’s solution supports manufacturers by helping to ensure the quality and safety of their products, and to secure the trust of their customers.  Advanced Quality Planning (AQP), risk management, supplier and internal audits, and calibration software are essential quality solutions for the entire product lifecycle and drive customer satisfaction to new levels.

Added Support

Pilgrim Software provides valuable Professional Services to help ensure that your compliance program is a complete success.  Pilgrim’s expert staff of consultants provides everything from project management to system customization to validation, and helps you minimize your risk and maximize your return on investment.