A certified quality system implemented at an enterprise provides a basis for a sustainable production operation in the market economy conditions and a method for enhancing the products' competitive edge and gaining the consumer confidence. 

The modern customer, especially a foreign customer, wants to be confident that the products he purchases will be of consistent quality and delivered just-in-time.  A quality system certificate issued to the supplier by an independent reputable certification agency is conducive to such confidence. 

The management of OAO Chusovoy Metallurgical Works resolved in October 1997 to set up a quality system complying with the ISO 9000 requirements. 

Before this work was successfully completed, it took the factory’s services almost three years of painstaking activities to develop new documentation and rewrite the existing quality system documentation and bring it in line with the ISO 9000 requirements. 

The organization structure of OAO CMW was revised, as well as the organization department regulations and job definitions.  New documents concerning all production and management levels were developed.  A quality policy of OAO CMW was adopted, with the main task being maximum satisfaction of consumer requirements for our products quality. 

The factory undertook a personnel training program – from the general director to a job worker – to ensure the understanding of each person’s place and role in this system. 

CMW trained a group of internal auditors who, along with their principal duties, help the quality service audit the quality system in the organization departments to bring out and eliminate inconsistencies in a timely manner. 

In 2000, the quality system was successfully certified by TŰV CERT of Germany for compliance with ISO 9002:1994, while in November 2003 the auditors of this very firm confirmed the quality management system’s (QMS) compliance with ISO 9001:2000. 
In switching to the new version of the standards, the following has been accomplished: QMS documentation revised, corrective amendments made according to ISO 9001:2000, customer satisfaction assessment procedures developed to promptly respond to consumer preferences, QMS processes developed, their efficiency criteria defined, their monitoring procedures worked out, as well as inputs and outputs of the interrelated processes made consistent. 

The long-term activities include developing and implementing a quality cost accounting method, which would allow expenditures for preventing and adjusting inconsistencies to be identified and prompt measures to be taken to reduce them. 
In the present-day conditions, the main component of any enterprise’s competitive edge is to be able to provide for ever increasing requirements of the consumer market and specific customers. 

The Chusovoy factory is constantly improving the quality of the products manufactured.  To date, over 100 spring types produced by OAO CMW are certified within the GOST R certification system.  There has not been a single failure sustained by the CMW springs mounted on the Russian KamAZ trucks during the Paris/Dakar transcontinental race.  Dia. 10-25 mm and dia.28-32 mm A500C reinforcement steel is certified within the Mosstroysertifikatsiya (Moscow Construction Certification) system by NIIZB-sertifikatsiya, a certification authority.  Crushed stone for concrete production and road construction, a new product produced by the factory which is in great demand by the road builders in the Kama river region, is certified within the GOST R system by Permstroysertifikatsiya (Perm Construction Certification), a certification authority.

ЗаDuring the time that the quality management system has been in operation, the Chusovoy metal-makers have achieved certain results in streamlining the enterprise and enhancing the competitive edge of the products manufactured:

• the sales of ferrovanadium increased by more than 3 times (versus 2000); 
• the sales of springs – by almost 14%; 
• the sales of rolled metal products – by 24%.

The number of consumer complaints concerning the quality of the products supplied by OAO CMW has dropped by almost 2 times. 

To further develop the enterprise and improve the quality management system, OAO CMW has developed a technical upgrading program as part of strategic planning.  The program developers have provided not merely for production improvement technologies and manufacture of new types of products, but also for a package of measures to further increase the quality of the products manufactured and ensure the ecological safety of the metallurgical enterprise and its vicinity. 

To enhance the quality of the products manufactured and increase the volume of output, OAO CMW repaired blast furnace No. 2 in 2004, making use of the 4th generation refractory materials made in the People’s Republic of China, which are more resistant to the aggressive action by cast iron and slag.  This will allow extending the furnace's service life, increase the air-blast temperature, and reduce the coke consumption. 

A new stand has been mounted on the 550 mill, which will ensure a higher accuracy of geometrical dimensions in rolling special shapes. 

The mounting of two bending and quenching units is underway in the automotive spring workshop on heat treatment line No. 9 intended for the manufacture of springs with bulk surface hardening.  This will allow the output of heavy-duty springs to be increased. 

In the long term, the goal remains unchanged, i.e. the guarantied output of products complying with the consumers’ demands, ensuring a sustained profit for the enterprise, and conducing to expanded market outlets.