2024 Noncredit Exemplary Award Winner
NONCREDIT WORKFORCE PROGRAM
Clark State Community College, OH
Clark State Workforce Development ISO 9001
Clark State’s Workforce Development department has developed a way to make ISO certification more affordable for area businesses. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) sets the standards worldwide for quality management systems. With over one million organizations certified across the globe, ISO 9001 is one of the most used management systems in the world. Suppliers to most original equipment manufacturers (OEM), as well as other large organizations, must have this certification to do business. In Clark State’s service area, this includes major manufacturers such as Boeing and Honda of America, as well as the United States Air Force and Department of Defense. With recent revisions to the standards, all businesses were required to transition their ISO 9001 system by September 2018, creating an urgent need. B
usinesses can benefit immensely from receiving contracts from these large organizations; however, the ISO 9001 certification can be cost-prohibitive, preventing many small businesses from getting the certification and resulting in lost opportunities for major contracts. The typical process for certification includes hiring a contractor to come to the business over the course of several months to learn about the processes and procedures and educate the company about the ISO standards and how to meet them. Clark State Workforce Development has found a way to flip the process and reduce the cost. By providing the training as an online course, businesses are still able to learn best practices for meeting ISO standards without having to pay for several months with a consultant. This significantly reduces the training cost and has made it much more affordable for a business to get certified.
The Clark State Workforce Development ISO 9001 program launched in 2017 and has served around 50 companies. This has resulted in 1,500 jobs, either through layoff aversion or new positions created, and will have an estimated $302 million economic impact on the local economy over the next 5 years. Without the ISO 9001 certification, many local companies would have gone out of business, and others would not have had the growth they are now seeing.
Upcoming & recent events
The 2024 NCWE Annual Conference was a huge success! Leaders in workforce education shared insights, built connections, and explored innovative ideas.
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