BORIDE Engineered Abrasives develops and manufactures abrasive products for metal and ceramic finishing as well as grinding applications.

In business for almost forty years, BORIDE Engineered Abrasives is committed to quality and continuous improvement. When the company decided to apply for ISO 9000 certification in 2004, the framework for compliance was already in place. The only missing component was a way to effectively manage ISO documentation requirements.

Choosing Qualtrax

Placing a high value on Information Technology (IT), BORIDE Engineered Abrasives made thorough comparisons of several compliance software packages before selecting Qualtrax. The revision control capabilities in Qualtrax impressed BORIDE, as did the strong technical roadmap that closely matched its own IT initiatives. The software selection team decided on Qualtrax after enthusiastic reports from other customers about support and attention given after the sale.

“I sold software at one point in my career,” said Steve Alexander, IT Manager at BORIDE. “It was very important to me that Qualtrax would be responsive after the initial implementation.”

Managing Information

Every employee at BORIDE Engineered Abrasives has a login and basic understanding of Qualtrax in order to access job-specific information such as position descriptions and work instructions as well as material safety data sheets (MSDS). Human Resource forms, meeting minutes, and BORIDE’s employee and quality manuals are also stored and maintained in Qualtrax. The solid document control function satisfies ISO requirements and makes retrieving accurate information much easier for BORIDE employees.

Robyn Ruth, Administrative Assistant at BORIDE, says that using Qualtrax workflows and reports has streamlined processes that were once paper-based and hard to track.

“It helps us stay organized. Qualtrax is a hassle-free way to monitor IT work requests, nonconformance reports, and training records.”

BORIDE plans to expand its use of workflows to further automate business practices and improve accountability.

Preparing for (and Acing) Audits

As a “quality first” organization, BORIDE Engineered Abrasives is always well prepared for its ISO 9000 audits. Qualtrax is a valuable tool used to expedite its readiness efforts and speed up the entire audit process.

“The audit is really a no-brainer for us. We simply set up a view-only account for auditors and give them access to our quality system,” Ms. Ruth reports. “We passed our very first audit with flying colors. The auditor even called BORIDE the ‘poster child’ for how people should run their ISO certified companies.”

Moving Forward with Qualtrax

In just four years, BORIDE Engineered Abrasives has grown over 85%. As it continues to grow, so will its usage of Qualtrax. By taking advantage of some of the services the Qualtrax support team offers, such as onsite training and custom reports and scripts, BORIDE is able to incorporate Qualtrax into its standard operating procedures. The company also participates in the annual Qualtrax User Conference where it provides feedback and input directly to the software developers.

“They actually listen,” Mr. Alexander told Ms. Ruth when she first became involved with Qualtrax administration. “The support is outstanding and they want us to be involved with the evolution of the product. When other software companies might laugh, Qualtrax works with us to make the product work for us.”

Category: Manufacturing