[BULK] - Re: [TowerTalk] Amidon customer satisfaction

[Tom Anderson]

Steve:

The older man you're referring to was named "Joe" as I recall.  I 
ordered from Amidon years ago and Joe answered the phone and when I told 
him the problem I was trying to solve (apparent RF on the shield causing 
TVI) he sold me the right cores that solved the problem as soon as I 
installed them.

Tom, WW5L



Steve Katz wrote:

>This is getting pretty far away from Tower Talk, but actually ISO9000:2001
>has changed a great deal from the old, original ISO9000:1994, which was the
>previous revision of the standard.  The 9000:2001 is much more focused on
>customer satisfaction and measuring continuous improvements, tracking
>customer satisfaction levels, taking surveys and plotting analytical results
>than the old standard ever was.
>
>Amidon's ISO9001 registration, assuming it's valid, would indicate they have
>registered as more than a distributor of products, since 9001 also details
>methods for design and engineering that a distributor isn't required to
>maintain.  
>
>The way to maintain a registration under the new standard is to be able to
>demonstrate to the registrar auditor or audit team that you have methods in
>place to improve customer satisfaction, are tracking that data, and either
>have proven improvement or documented plans for same.  If, after two
>consecutive audits, you can't demonstrate any improvement, you could risk
>your registration.
>
>Of course, how much anyone actually *cares* about all this is another story!
>
>Back to the "Amidon" story: I remember when they used to be local to me, in
>North Hollywood I think, many years ago.  Then, they moved to Dominguez
>Hills or somewhere, and I see now they're down in Orange County, in Costa
>Mesa.  That makes three locations in about 15 years, so maybe ownership has
>changed (I don't know).  But when they were local to me, I used to drive
>over there a few times each year to pick up toroid cores and such -- very
>nice older gentleman ran the company, and I don't recall if he was a ham or
>not but he certainly knew quite a lot about ham radio.  If I needed just one
>core for a project, he'd just give it to me and not ask for payment or do
>any paperwork.  *That* was "customer service* that would probably go a long
>way in today's world! 
>
>WB2WIK/6
>
>
>
>
>OK, so after searching the web I found http://www.amidoncorp.com/ and they
>do claim to be ISO 2001 compliant.
>
>How many really know what that means?
>Unless ISO has changed greatly since I was involved it meant the absolute
>minimum documentation for any ISO document.  It meant stay away from
>details.  The vast majority who failed the first time through did so because
>they were "too detailed" in their documents.  ISO is not and should not be a
>detailed description of every step.  It can be very vague (unless they have
>changed) and even if it's been changed there is nothing to prevent a small
>company from deviating from any written procedures.
>
>So, unless ISO has changed greatly in the last 7 years it means very little
>beyond the company having procedures to do certain things, most likely none
>of which would address the make up from the manufacturing end.  For customer
>complaints it could be nothing more than "We try to address all customer
>complaints within six months. Or it might be nothing more than we have a
>telephone number for customers with problems.
>  
>
>It might not be anything more than "If they have a problem they are on their
>own", but I doubt it'd be quite that blatant. <:-))
>
>The one thing the auditors pointed out again and again, was to say away from
>any details.
>
>Roger Halstead (K8RI, EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
>N833R, World's Oldest Debonair (S# CD-2)
>www.rogerhalstead.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>
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>
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