AST(R) Bearings Receives ISO's Highest Quality Management Systems Certification

The very latest ISO Quality Management System certification, ISO 9001:2008, is earned by AST Bearings and acknowledges their unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction and improvement

MONTVILLE, N.J., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- AST® Bearings, a leading supplier of high precision bearings and related products, has received ISO 9001:2008 re-certification after an extensive analysis of its quality systems by Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc.    While AST was previously certified compliant to ISO 9001:2000, re-certification with this latest revision represents yet a further commitment to quality and reliability that customers can expect from the company and its many product offerings.

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ISO 9001:2008 - The Latest Quality Management Standard

Released in November of 2008, ISO 9001:2008 is the fourth and very latest release of the standard set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  Unless companies comply with the more rigorous 2008 revisions by November 2010, their existing ISO 9001:2000 certifications will no longer be valid.  A business seeks to attain this latest certification as recognition of efforts made to adopt a quality culture, continuous process improvement, to ensure consistent results and maintain peak customer satisfaction.  

ISO 9001:2008 provides a number of requirements that must be fulfilled to achieve customer satisfaction through products and services which meet customer expectations. This includes a requirement for planned and continual improvement of the Quality Management System.  Specifically for AST, key components of their quality policy require:

• Verified customer satisfaction
• Continuous improvement
• Understanding and conforming to customer requirements
• Maintaining a compliant ISO 9001:2008 Quality Assurance System

The certification represents affirmation by a third-party registrar that when purchasing AST products and services, the customer is assured of world-class quality and reliability.  The ISO audit of AST was carried out by Southfield, Michigan-based Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc., one of the world's foremost authorities in quality certification.