Accuride ISO 17025 Case Study

ISO 17025 in 4.5 Months

Evansville, Ind.-based Accuride Corporation is a leading manufacturer of steel and aluminum wheels, wheel-end components for commercial vehicles, and gray ductile and austempered ductile iron castings. The Henderson, Ky. testing lab performs testing of truck wheels produced by all of Accuride’s North American operations. This state-of-the-art testing facility conducts physical and metallurgical testing per American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Technischer Überwachungsverein (TUV) and Association of European Union of Wheel Manufacturers (EUWA) standards.

CHALLENGE:
As Accuride looked to expand its sales to new international markets, several of its targeted countries required testing results from ISO 17025 accredited laboratories. That meant Accuride’s Henderson laboratory needed to get accredited quickly. Outsourcing its specialized testing of truck wheels to third party labs was cost prohibitive, and global options were limited.

SOLUTION:
Accuride itself was already IATF 16949 certified, and the test lab fell under that quality system certification. Since a robust quality management system was already in place, we just needed to focus on the extra requirements for ISO 17025. After Accuride evaluated several consultants and chose simpleQuE for their approach and fit.

RESULT:
With help from simpleQuE’s team, Accuride updated the test lab’s quality management system to meet ISO 17025 requirements in just 4.5 months. Support from simpleQuE resources and expertise helped Accuride pass its accreditation audit with ANAB (ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board) on the very first attempt. Paul Simms, Accuride laboratory manager, said: “Thanks to the three of you for helping Accuride achieve this milestone. Without simpleQuE, we would not have made it here in such a short amount of time. That’s a great testament to your abilities and expertise. Thank you and your team for preparing us so well for this process.”
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