TARMAC TOPFLOORS 30 YEARS

EXPERIENCE OF THE ISO 9001 APPROACH

by Simon Copeland
Contact: Penny Bradley, PR Officer, Tarmac Ltd.

E: penny.bradley@tarmac.co.uk

W: www.tarmac.co.uk

A lot of good
business process
and customer
performance data
has been captured

Simon Copeland,
Tarmac Topfloors
Technical Manager:
I believe that ISO 9001
certification has made
us a more effective
organization.

Tarmac Topoor is a leading supplier of prestressed concrete oors

and stair solutions in the United Kingdom and part of the international
Tarmac Limited group that employs 12500 people worldwide. Tarmac
Topoor can speak with authority on the impact of ISO 9001 since it
has been certied to the International Standard, or to the British
quality management standard that preceded it, for 30 years. Simon
Copeland, Technical Manager for Tarmac Topoor, shares the companys
experience in this inteview by ISO Management Systems.*
ISO Management Systems (IMS) : Tarmac
Topoors ISO 9001 experience can be said to
precede ISO 9001 by 10 years. Can you explain?
Simon Copeland : Tarmac Topfloor first
achieved certication to BS 5750, the British
Standard for quality assurance and quality
systems which preceded ISO 9001, on 3 January
1978. At that time, before we became part of
Tarmac, the company was called Richard Lees
Ltd. We hold the very rst certicate issued by
the British Standards Institution (BSI), number
FM 00001.
IMS: Today, ISO 9001 is possibly the worlds bestknown standard what made the company decide
to implement its predecessor 30 years ago?

It was a perfect t
with what we were
striving to achieve
as a business

Simon Copeland : As a company whether

Richard Lees or Tarmac Topoor weve
always been a market leader and held a
respected reputation for high quality products
and excellent service. So implementing
the preceding standard three decades ago
was really an extension of this and a way
of affirming our quality systems with a
recognized standard.
IMS: When did you migrate to the International
Standard and when did you upgrade to ISO
9001:2000 ? Did you extend the scope of
processes to which your quality management
system applies ?
Simon Copeland : We migrated to BS EN
ISO 9001:1994 when this was published and
maintained certicate FM 00001. We began
migration to BS EN ISO 9001:2000 in 2001
and certification was officially granted on
20 August 2003, again still with certicate
FM 00001.

Because as a company we were already

registered for design and manufacture, our
registration didnt actually change. However,
the upgrade enabled us to bring more
key, customer-facing departments, (i.e. sales,
marketing, estimating) into the process,
although the scope of our registration
remained the same.
IMS : What made you decide to seek and
to maintain certification instead of just
implementing the standard ?
Simon Copeland : It was the obvious and
natural progression for the business. It provided
a chance for us to embrace the more modern
principles of the standard and focus on things
like customer satisfaction it was a perfect
t with what we were striving to achieve as
a business.
The quality management system approach was
aligned to our general management system
goals. Also, we have always been proud
of achieving certicate FM 00001 and wanted
to maintain this.
IMS: Over 30 years, ISO 9001 and its predecessor
have evolved how has the use you make of
the standard evolved over this period ?
Simon Copeland : The fact that we have ISO
9001 certication has helped us to secure work
and get our products specied. It is becoming
increasingly common for ISO 9001 certication
to be a prerequisite on projects. We have
used the standard, its requirements and the
principles on which it is based to act as the
foundation for many of our quality assurance
processes and the way in which we monitor
and measure data.
* ISO Management Systems magazine www.iso.org/ims

BSI Management Systems ISO 9001:2000

ISO 9001 certication

has helped us to
secure work and
get our products
specied
IMS : How have you been able to maintain
m o m e n t u m a n d m o t i v a t i o n t o w a rd s
implementing ISO 9001, which now formally
requires continual improvement ?
Simon Copeland : Continual improvement
and setting consistently high goals is one of
the objectives of Tarmac Topoor as a business.
We use the frequent BSI audits and our own
internal audits as tools to help identify areas
for improvement.
IMS : Have the type of benets you achieve
changed over the years ? Have they been
principally internal or external ? Have you ever
tried to measure the extent of these benets
over 30 years ?
Simon Copeland : In recent times, we have
beneted from the monitoring and measuring
side a lot of good business process and
customer performance data has been captured
and we believe that continual improvement
items identied have led to us developing and
implementing more efcient ways of working.

IMS : What advice would you give to

other organizations contemplating the
implementation of ISO 9001:2000 ?
Simon Copeland: Go at it with an open mind.
Do not rip up your companys existing quality
management system and start again. The ISO
9001 process is all about evolution and if you
understand the basic principles of the standard
rst, then youll have a head start. It is a good
idea to involve your certication body at the
start, as they will be able to give you a lot of
help and guidance throughout the process.

IMS : How would you sum up the impact of

ISO 9001 on your company ?
Simon Copeland: With regard to Tarmac Topoor,
I believe that ISO 9001 certication has made us a
more effective organisation, with a more joined
up approach. Its enabled us to place an even
greater focus on customer satisfaction.

If you understand
the basic principles
rst, youll have a
head start

IMS : Are there any changes you would like to

see to ISO 9001:2000 ?
Simon Copeland: Not really. I personally think
the current standard works well, you just have
to understand the idea that if your management
systems and processes all work correctly and
efciently, then you will achieve a compliant quality
product and achieve customer satisfaction.
IMS : Do you have any plans to integrate other
management system standards with your
quality management system ?
Simon Copeland : Tarmac Topoors ISO 9001
certication is for both design & manufacture
therefore the majority of our processes and
departments sit within its scope and there is very
little left that would benet from integration
into the ISO 9001 system. Topfloor also
has environmental management certication
under ISO 14001, but we have a separate
environmental management system in place.

This article is reproduced with the kind permission of ISO Central Secretariat www.iso.org
It rst appeared in the September-October issue of ISO Management Systems magazine www.iso.org.ims

BSI Management Systems ISO 9001:2000

BSI/UK/XX/XX/1007/CW

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