SMMA Meets ISO 9001:2008 Requirements

At SMMA, we have always said that we are dedicated to quality and design excellence. Here’s proof to back it up: Using guidelines set forth by the International Organization of Standardization, the largest global developer of voluntary International Standards and the benchmark of standardization worldwide, TÜV SÜD America recently recertified SMMA as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. This certification is valid through 2018.

We are one of a handful of architecture/engineering design firms in the Northeast to comply with the rigorous requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 International Management System. The ISO program requires a top-down, company-wide commitment to learning and following its high quality standards—a commitment that SMMA made in 1996, and has continued to honor since.

“Consciously and subconsciously, our Quality System guides our actions every day, in our pursuit of continual improvement, customer satisfaction, and design excellence,” says Jessica Smith, SMMA’s Quality Manager, and the person who spearheaded the firm’s recertification efforts. “After 19 years, it has become part of what we do, so it is validating to be recognized for it.”

The ISO system provides a means of standardizing processes and evaluating project performance to ensure that the end result meets client design and cost expectations. It is based on the philosophy that “attention to client needs is job one.” Our ISO 9001:2008 certification demonstrates our commitment to integrating quality management into all of our project designs. These processes include best practices, benchmarking, and client service evaluations. SMMA also evaluates processes for tracking trends in areas such as errors and omissions, work plan effectiveness, reduction of rework, training, and change order management, and how these items affect SMMA and the clients we serve. The high level of quality service provided by our ISO 9001:2008 system enables us to address specific project needs and to deliver products that respond to these needs.