The development of the Defence Materiel Organisation Quality Management System (DMO QMS) took another step forward in June with the external auditor, SAI Global, awarding ISO9001:2000 certification to Industry Division.

This certification was part of Phase 2 of the three-phase DMO QMS Project.

Phase 1 was achieved in October 2006 with certification of the processes and procedures used by the DMO Executive. Phase 2 involves the documentation and certification of a range of DMO corporate processes. Phase 3 will ensure that all areas of the DMO are part of a certified quality management system, with the integration of new components of the DMO QMS with existing quality management systems used within Systems Divisions and business units.

Industry Division staff took ownership of their project and achieved the June 2007 target set by the CEO by methodically examining what they do, and developing and implementing simple and concise documentation. This process requires staff to identify and think about who their customers are, and what they require, and has often led staff to question their current processes and procedures.

This is the heart of Quality Management, understanding the needs of your customers, developing a system of processes and procedures to ensure their needs are met, reporting on and reviewing how the system performs in practice and identifying and taking ongoing action to improve the systems effectiveness and efficiency.

This latest achievement does not mean the activity is finished. In fact, the certification body will return every six months to ensure the DMO QMS is being maintained and improved. In addition Industry Division will now commence work to include the DMO Regional Offices later this year.